Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: -gg- on August 07, 2022, 12:30:54 PM
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Do you remember life before the internet and cell phones?
I grew up in the 70's. We had no idea what we were missing by not having the internet or cell phones.
I rode my bike everywhere. I stayed outside or went to see friends and we played. Listened to records, played board games sometimes.
Some of my friends did have an Atari or maybe Intellivision at some point. I really liked Intellivision biplanes, but we mostly just played outside.
As a young adult, PC's began popping up at work. I worked for my dad and we had a couple of DOS only PC's, and then later 386's with Windows. This was mid to late 80's and still no internet. You could call other computers on a modem sometimes- and my younger brother would randomly dial numbers until a computer picked up - but we used the PCs for book-keeping and also a super crude word processor.
I look back and try to picture living without the internet. I find it hard to remember how I would find information or certain items needed. You had to use the Yellow Pages or read or maybe see an ad in the newspaper. I remember meeting people to join bands through a local music paper called New Times.
I remember one phone in the house. No caller ID. You had to wait by the phone for a call if you were expecting one.
Finding directions with maps.
A totally different world, but it was no less fulfilling.
Would I go back? No way. Everything we have today is better. I love that I can go on the internet and find information about anything. News is no longer filtered through the nightly news on three TV stations or radio.
Some things may seem better looking back, but I think we still had all of the same problems and life challenges.
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I remember the dial wheel phones well and how fascinating the new button phone was! Definitely an improvement. But that didn't happen all over the country at the same time: At the age of 16 I had a summer job at a summer camp and there you had to call the operator to place a phone call.
As long as I can remember we had a television, most likely we got one when I was about 4. At the age of 5 they showed the Batman series "on the same Bat channel at the same Bat time". We also lived near the capital so we had both TV channels - something that e.g. my wife had to wait a decade longer, living close to wherer we now live.
The quality of dental care still seemed to vary. Before my time getting false teeth as a confirmation present at the mid teens was very common, still people younger than me say that their teeth are bad because there was no information available about mouth hygiene. To me that sounds odd since both me and my wife still remember the advertising jingles of various tooth pastes. So most likely their parents just didn't care, possibly thinking that bad teeth were hereditary and that Pepsodent is snake oil for the wealthy but stupid people in the capital area.
So many things really are better than they used to be.
But I still miss the printed Yellow Pages. Many of my customers used to find my services through them - the last edition was back in 2017 and before that smart phones weren't as common as they now are. But even today there's still many elderly people who either don't have a smart phone or can't use the google search to find a service to fix their Internet connection. An ad in the local Yellow Pages was also somewhat of a proof of a honorable company.
Paper maps... I've had a navigator for some 15 years now and it truly helps to find an address. But: The data may be incorrect, you still have to look around. Trying to find the "fastest" route I've been guided to grass covered field roads instead of the tarmac, most likely because the smaller roads were marked as "common speed limit" instead of the lower limit through the village. That has improved through the years, though. But recently we found a paper map invaluable. We were returning from a road trip back to Helsinki. As we were heading East the navigator tells to go through the city but the street from the harbour is narrow, there's crossings with multiple lanes to several directions etc. and the row of trucks is endless. So my wife took a paper map of Helsinki and advised us to choose the first street to West which then led us to the Western end of the ringway. The navigator went nuts, asking to make a U turn at every corner until we reached the ringway.
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I do not miss it. However, I feel bad for the generations of kids coming up who will never know the freedom of anonymity that we were possibly the last to experience.
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People are more educated because of the internet especially the Colonials.
If you write more than three paragraphs you have nothing to say.
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I do not miss it. However, I feel bad for the generations of kids coming up who will never know the freedom of anonymity that we were possibly the last to experience.
Me either
I can't imagine what I might be doing now if not for these technologies.
I love that I can collaborate on music over the internet. Massive storage and fast computers that make music production possible for anyone. At my age, I'm not sure what I'd be into if not for the internet. I know that I've met lots of friends that I never would have met otherwise.
I remember what my grandparents did at my age. Read books, take naps, play cards or board games. Watch TV. Go to a movie
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I had a LOT of adventures in the 90's that I wish I had more pics of so ya it's kind of a bummer that we didn't have the tech back then we do now.
I started on a TRS80 when I was 15. Got into message boards early on. Then I discovered girls and kind of lost interest. In retrospect I probably should have stuck with the horses and the computers :) Hookers are relatively cheap when you do a cost comparison :)
Sorry GG... gross generalization and a bit misogynistic I'm just a tad bitter right now :)
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ha!
:)
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Yes.
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If I could go back in time I would assassinate the guy who invented cell phones.
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If I could go back in time I would assassinate the guy who invented cell phones.
that would be whoever invented 2 way radios. perhaps even Tesla or Marconi depending on who you believe invented the radio. maybe the telegraph too.
semp
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Alexander Graham Bell is the devil
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Ugghh, printed porn, it was such a hassle trying to hide it from the parents.
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If I could go back in time I would assassinate the guy who invented cell phones.
Or American mustard
Or yellow poster paint
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People are more educated because of the internet especially the Colonials.
If you write more than three paragraphs you have nothing to say.
Seems to be working for you. :aok
Keep being you.
Coogan
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Seems to be working for you. :aok
Keep being you.
Coogan
You don’t read books.
What was the last book you read
The internet was made for you
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As a tech for years, I saw a few friends that were still in the field lose their jobs once they install gps in the trucks
Big brother didn't approve of all their travels even though it didn't affect job performance or productivity
Glad I missed that "improvement "
Eagler
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I remember when NFL games and NBA games were on regular television channels. Even the playoffs and the super bowl.
Not that I watch those sports anymore but every once in awhile I would want to see a certain game recently and it's nowhere to be found without paying for a service to watch it.
You guys remember ON TV and HBO with their little microwave dish antennas with the scrambled signals? This was before cable TV and you could buy HBO as a single channel and you would have to install a microwave dish on your house and aim it at their Tower. I don't remember what the cost was but I remember they had the Playboy channel. LOL.
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I remember putting tin foil on the TV antenna and taking turns standing next to it touching it to provide better reception. But it beat watching the radio.
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MDS is single channel microwave tv
Did it in 1979 thru 1983 in north east Florida
Climbed rohn 20 and 25 towers to up 200' to swap down converters and aim wineguard dishes
The towers were nothing compared to the 50 foot 4 way guyed pushup poles they would install of some very steep two story roofs..
All for Showtime and a grainy pix that would change with signal strength varying as is shot through every changing foliage..there are some tall trees in NE FL
Eagler
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I remember when NFL games and NBA games were on regular television channels. Even the playoffs and the super bowl.
I've never had an issue finding playoffs or SB on regular TV with a digital antenna.
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Born in '73. Low tech, but happier times.
EGG
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..... when cable had no commercials.
Born in 1959.
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Only the being young part.
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I'm a '68 model. I don't mind the tech. I do miss when MTV actually played music videos.. :old:
Coogan
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Coog and I are the same age. We're old enough to still remember before tech took over and we could grudgingly go back to it (could you imagine having to hand write a spreadsheet??) if the powers that be flicked the switch. We are also the pioneers that ushered the tech in, so we have a firm grasp on it.
We are the best generation of all.
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Firm grasp on something, alright.
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You don’t read books.
What was the last book you read
The internet was made for you
Classic 'I got dropped on my head as a child syndrome'. :rock
You Britt's are just so fancy free. (kinda light in the loafers.)
Coogan
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MDS is single channel microwave tv
Did it in 1979 thru 1983 in north east Florida
Climbed rohn 20 and 25 towers to up 200' to swap down converters and aim wineguard dishes
The towers were nothing compared to the 50 foot 4 way guyed pushup poles they would install of some very steep two story roofs..
All for Showtime and a grainy pix that would change with signal strength varying as is shot through every changing foliage..there are some tall trees in NE FL
Eagler
not to mention 'code' allowed for up to 15% deflection at least in 2004. 15% deflection on a 100' pole is 15 feet each way folks. Ever wonder why your cell signal is good in the morning and sucks in the afternoon? There's your answer.
Guyed towers are the worst.
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I'm so old I remember my Dad used to give me a couple of bucks to ride my bike to the 7-11 and get him a pack of Marlborough Lights and I could buy a cherry slurpie with the change.
And the guy behind the counter never blinked an eye about it.
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I remember that too. My friend could go buy cigarettes for his mom. LOL.
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I'm so old I remember my Dad used to give me a couple of bucks to ride my bike to the 7-11 and get him a pack of Marlborough Lights and I could buy a cherry slurpie with the change.
And the guy behind the counter never blinked an eye about it.
I was asked for ID Friday. the girl looked like she was 12. she was embarrassed but register asked for proof of age.
semp
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As a tech for years, I saw a few friends that were still in the field lose their jobs once they install gps in the trucks
Big brother didn't approve of all their travels even though it didn't affect job performance or productivity
Glad I missed that "improvement "
Eagler
Roflmao....hahaha
Back when I was living and working in Florida.
They hit me up one morning on nextel and asked where was I
My response was you know exactly where I am, I am on my way to Tampa and Clearwater Florida and running nearly 100 mph, which you are watching the PC 🖥 and it's showing my marker for my vehicle, where I am and how fast I am going....
They replied, yes we see it....be careful and have a good day...hahaha
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While on call for that mds outfit in the late 70's early 80's we didn't have a dispatch..
To get calls on the weekend and after hours you called the service number where the customers called and left a message with their problem..
To retrieve your calls you would ask to borrow their phone and dial the service number..
While the recorded message played you had to put this extra large looking beeper speaker up to the phone mouthpiece and push a button to start a very loud and steady tone which would interrupt the default message and rewind the messages the customers left about their tv issues..
If it didn't rewind back far enough - to the messages you'd heard you'd have to send the tone again..
From that setup to beepers and beyond..glad I went from the field to software development in 2000..don't miss the 24/7 on call for cable outages but the on call pay with almost unlimited overtime paided the bills back in the day
Eagler
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I grew up during the fifties. It's hard to believe now when people have their cell phones in hand every minute of the day. during the fifties and 60s when the phone rang during daylight hours no one wanted to answer the dam thing. Especially during the evening when the family was being entertained by actual entertainment on the TV. "Someone answer the phone!" "You get it!" Nope.
Today we are bombarded by noise. Advertisements, spam and false news from every angle. If you believe the information passed around on the internet I advise you to get help.
In the early 80s' I purchased two cell phones. My first one actually. The only reason I did was because my father was ill. Both phones had separate numbers. This would give our father the ability to get in touch with me in case of emergency. Today I still have my cell phone and the only ones that have my number are the ones that I wish to communicate with.
In essence I use it as a phone only.
So ya! I miss those days.
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Hajo, that would put you close to my dad's age.
You got in pretty early on those cell phones. Did you have the Motorola brick phones? Do you remember what you paid to have those? I remember how expensive those plans were. Pay by the minute and very few people could afford those.
I remember installing some of the very first car phones that were available to the general public. Big transceivers that had to be mounted in a trunk usually. Giant data cable that had to be run up to the handset and another very thick cable that had to be run directly to the car's battery..
When I was a kid I remember the same deal with the telephone. No one wanted to answer it. Especially when it might have been your work trying to call your stupid teenage butt into cover somebody else's stupid teenage butt. Lol!
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I just looked up the price of the original Motorola brick phone. $3,995 back in 1983. That's more than $10,000 today
Then you had the pay by the minute service plan. Very expensive!
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Motorola bad cell phone was first cell phone I used in 94/95
Better than nothing but felt more like a fancy leash..
Eagler
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The talk time on those original brick phones was only 30 minutes and they took 10 hours to charge.
They were 1/10 of a watt in power I believe. Then they had this bag phone that had a big battery in it that was a quarter of a lot of power which was the same as what a carphone would be
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Actually I got that wrong. The brick phone had one watt of power and those bag phones and regular car phone had 5 Watts.
Today's digital phones have at a maximum I believe 1/10 of a watt but they vary their power output hundreds of times per second so that they can share bandwidth with all the other phones.
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The talk time on those original brick phones was only 30 minutes and they took 10 hours to charge.
They were 1/10 of a watt in power I believe. Then they had this bag phone that had a big battery in it that was a quarter of a lot of power which was the same as what a carphone would be
30 if you were lucky. yesterday I was on a call for 5 1/2 hours. thank God I got 3 phones. none of them had more than 20 percent battery.
semp
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One good phone will suffice today. You can get more cheap phones but they will not do what a good phone will do. LOL
Heck I noticed the wifi speed in my truck yesterday was 436 mbps. Not bad for a mobile wifi.
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I like having a good phone. I was just forced to upgrade to an s22 ultra plus 5G after my Note 10 plus started dropping service all over the place suddenly. And then when I got the s22 my Note 10 suddenly started to work again. LOL
But I won't buy a phone just to buy the latest phone. When I do need to get a phone I will usually buy one of the top-tier phones though.
Even though my company gave me a work phone, it's an older iPhone and I can't stand it. So for most functions I use my Android phone. Things like submitting pictures, email and most of my phone calls. Also using the internet.
I don't understand how people can be such Fanboys of apple. I do not like their built-in apps and I really can't stand the fact that they make you sign into their app store with a code.
To me everything seems like more of a pain in the butt. It might just be that it's a few years old, but I can't stand that stupid iphone. Even the tiny little screen and the functions of the email or even the typing you have to change screens to get to the numbers or special characters. Nothing works intuitively.
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I miss the times when people were using their brains.
(https://imgs.search.brave.com/A-v52zlFIZUW1bWqbiZA436_fd_xKwRzyQDYZ_PodDU/rs:fit:800:419:1/g:ce/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5l/bWluZW50bHlxdW90/YWJsZS5jb20vd3At/Y29udGVudC91cGxv/YWRzLzIwMTcvMTEv/TWF5YmUtSWYtV2Ut/VGVsbC1QZW9wbGUt/VGhlLUJyYWluLUlz/LUFuLUFwcC1GQi5q/cGc)
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I miss the times when people were using their brains.
(https://imgs.search.brave.com/A-v52zlFIZUW1bWqbiZA436_fd_xKwRzyQDYZ_PodDU/rs:fit:800:419:1/g:ce/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5l/bWluZW50bHlxdW90/YWJsZS5jb20vd3At/Y29udGVudC91cGxv/YWRzLzIwMTcvMTEv/TWF5YmUtSWYtV2Ut/VGVsbC1QZW9wbGUt/VGhlLUJyYWluLUlz/LUFuLUFwcC1GQi5q/cGc)
a phone could be a tool to use your brain. or you can just complain.
semp
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The phone today is a hand held computer used to distract one from everything else..talking on it is secondary
Eagler
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a phone could be a tool to use your brain. or you can just complain.
semp
OOo yeah. Smartphonezombies are the ultimatum level of human development for sure.
How many phone numbers do you remember now by heart and how many you did before cell phones came?
How many kids are reading books instead of fiddling with their phones?
How often you see people gathering in restaurant or somewhere else, w/o talking to each others but just playing w/ their zombieboxes?
How often you see family sitting outdoors, on a beach, in a park and both parents and kids just with phones, w/o seeing, hearing or understanding anything about the world around them?
All of them, and a lot!
My son is 11. He has just a normal gsm. I offered my old "smart" one, he didn't want it. He reads a lot. He was 2nd in the whole school in the end of last session. He swims like a dolphin, practices taekwondo and bikes a lot.
Adults are often stupefied to see young boy sitting outdoors reading a book and ask how it is possible. I always tell them it is a combination of example and common sense. And he still don't want a smartphone, even I told he can have one if he feels so.
His mother (we are divorced) does not go anywhere w/o her phone and gets furious every time if disturbed while writing "important things" in faecesbook or some other stupidity. She spends most of her time awake just banging the phone and never goes too far from closest socket... Yes, power of example, as even bad one is an example.
Smart phones are useful in many cases and places, but instead of being servants and tools, they have become masters for too many. Mine is used as a phone, navigator in my motorbike and a translator, as I live nowadays in a country, which's language is not my strongest one.
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My youngest daughter, in her 30s, is an avid book reader. Mostly on animals, plant, and weather.
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OOo yeah. Smartphonezombies are the ultimatum level of human development for sure.
How many phone numbers do you remember now by heart and how many you did before cell phones came?
How many kids are reading books instead of fiddling with their phones?
How often you see people gathering in restaurant or somewhere else, w/o talking to each others but just playing w/ their zombieboxes?
How often you see family sitting outdoors, on a beach, in a park and both parents and kids just with phones, w/o seeing, hearing or understanding anything about the world around them?
All of them, and a lot!
My son is 11. He has just a normal gsm. I offered my old "smart" one, he didn't want it. He reads a lot. He was 2nd in the whole school in the end of last session. He swims like a dolphin, practices taekwondo and bikes a lot.
Adults are often stupefied to see young boy sitting outdoors reading a book and ask how it is possible. I always tell them it is a combination of example and common sense. And he still don't want a smartphone, even I told he can have one if he feels so.
His mother (we are divorced) does not go anywhere w/o her phone and gets furious every time if disturbed while writing "important things" in faecesbook or some other stupidity. She spends most of her time awake just banging the phone and never goes too far from closest socket... Yes, power of example, as even bad one is an example.
Smart phones are useful in many cases and places, but instead of being servants and tools, they have become masters for too many. Mine is used as a phone, navigator in my motorbike and a translator, as I live nowadays in a country, which's language is not my strongest one.
lol, I can't remember a single phone number, couldn't do it then, can't do it now. I actually it's hard for me to remember names I constantly mix the names of my two sons.
I have several appointments on procedures or tests all set up on my phone, lot more convenient and faster.
I can check bank accounts or see if my credit card is being used. once I got a text my card was declined at wall greens, took me a few seconds to lock it and reported missing. no charges were made.
phone is a good tool to have. if you use it for that purpose. and yes you can also use it to communicate with people thru Facebook and it's a good thing.
but if you spend your time doing research on Facebook or conspiracy theories sites both left and right the it's a waste.
btw I have a tablet I read books there. not often because it's hard for me to read but it's books you cannot find at the library.
semp
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Tools are neither good nor bad. How they are used is another topic.
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Tools are neither good nor bad. How they are used is another topic.
Exactly. :aok
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Weird Al should do a parody of the Cranberries Zombie. We go out many are walking around looking down at their phones oblivious to what's around them.