I miss the feeling of walking into a blockbuster but still appreciate the convenience of streaming
I miss the feeling of walking into a blockbuster but still appreciate the convenience of streaming
I did Blockbuster's attempt to compete with Netflix DVD mailings. It was awesome because they let me bring a mailed disc into the store and exchange it for a free rental. They would send the nest disc when it was scanned at the store, so I was never without something. I didn't miss a new release for about 2 years.
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Working at Blockbuster circa 2002-2004 era, I gained a little insight to their future outlook from internal memos and other training documents that I was able to sneak a peak at from time to time. They somewhat accurately predicted that VOD would ultimately be their greatest competition and downfall. Although Netflix isn't exactly VOD, direct to consumer video is what they believed would cost them market share. They didn't count on the ability and agility of Netflix to outflank their rental program.
A few flaws that I recall that hampered their business greatly:
Cross-store computer systems were not in place. This meant:
-You could not return a movie to any rental location. The system would not make it possible to register the rental's barcode because each rental barcode had the store's unique 5 digital code in it. Customers, of course, returned their videos to the wrong location often and we had to UPS/Fedex the rentals back to whatever location it belonged. (This was a well-kept secret since we ate the fees)
-We could not check other store's inventory. We literally had to call to see if another store had a movie in stock. This meant on say a busy Friday night, we had to not only try and check out as many customers as possible but also phone multiple stores. We'd also have to call and check if there was a balance on customer's accounts from other store.
The computer system being ancient also hampered their ability to pivot and rollout the competing online rental program.
I also happened to be a Netflix customer while working at Blockbuster (yes, between free rentals and Netflix I was watching 7-10 movies a week). At the time, the painpoint in Netflix's system was with the turnaround on the DVDs. It could be days at a time before people would get their DVDs. The USPS was also unreliable with breaking lots of DVDs. Netflix was able to address this before Blockbuster even tested their DVD program in rollouts.
When Netflix became a threat they implemented a shitty mail service that had hidden fees renamed as restocking fees.
You're mixing up two separate events.
Blockbuster rolled out its own dvd by mail service in early to mid 2004? This was also around the time that they decided to have "no more late fees". Since late fees made up something like 30% of gross revenue, they soon added the restocking fee instead of the Late Fee. They eventually just went back to late fees.
I remember I rented Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 from Blockbuster and returned it 5 minutes past the 12 noon deadline. I was still charged an extra $5 for that.
They kept mailing me letters and invoices to pay every month but I refused, because it was a bullshit charge. I eventually waited them out long enough that they went out of business. Fuck you, Blockbuster. I won!
r/pettyrevenge
I never saw late fees as a BS charge, especially not for hot items (not saying THPS was, depending on what year you rented it). It’s not just to spite you, but to make up for potential lost revenue. If someone comes in looking for a movie or game and it isn’t in stock, that’s a potential lost sale. Those fees are to offset this.
Yeah, I hear what your saying but the late fees were higher than the expected revenue for that title. Not every title is rented each day, and rentals were often discounted by vouchers or deals but the late fees were always the standard price.
I can’t recall how it worked at Blockbuster, but at Hollywood video it was literally just the same fee as if you rented it again. So if you were late at all, you might as well keep it the full rental duration.
It varied over the years, but Blockbuster was usually pretty punitive with the late fees. Definitely much higher than just renting it again. You also had to be careful about waiting to drop it off at the counter and getting a receipt - merely dropping it off on time could still result in late fees as often as not. The worst period was when they'd put all the local places out of business but Hollywood hadn't gotten widespread yet.
Edit: oh, and the odd "rewind fee" for failure to rewind your rental DVD.
Yeah, I googled it. In the mid 90's the late fee was the same fee as the initial rental charge. Not a big deal on the new releases (as they used to be just one day rentals), but on the "classics" you would get hit proportionately harder, as they hit you with the same fee for every day of that 3 day rental.
You'd expect your edit to be sarcasm, but I can totally see them trying to pull that.
It was there at 1205 they definitely lost revenue in that 5 minutes
Gotta have the cut off at some point. They already gave you the additional morning.
Right but this guy is calling 5 minutes for the charge ridiculous not the entire concept of late fees.
At some point there needs to be SOME onus on the customer. You had 5 days, PLUS the additional 6th day until noon.
Ok and a reasonable person would just take it 5 minutes after noon. Idk why you are getting on a high horse for blockbuster late fees...
Again, there has to be a cutoff at SOME point. You already used the additional late period of the half day. If 5 minutes is okay, is 10? 30? An hour? The most fair way to do it is to just do.
It's binary. It either can be rented, or it can't be rented. So the fees are binary, regardless of how late it is.
I understand the concept of late fee cutoff so you can stop restating that. The guy didnt pay because he felt 5 mins was ridiculous. A reasonable person wouldn't have charged him for 5 minutes. Idk why you keep defending blockbuster late fees still
Just a pet peeve of mine is all. People always blame the stores, without taking any responsibility as to why late fees exist and what happened to get them this far. You could have returned it any time in the 5 day period they give you. The “noon” time is on the 6th day. It’s a grace period.
They already used up the extra grace period to get it back, as technically it was late the night before. So it was more than “five minutes” late. And again, at some point, the customer needs to be responsible for their own actions. If “5” minutes is cool, is 10? Do we draw the line there? Or 30? What if some kid working the store thinks 10 is okay, and a different thinks 20 is okay? Now it’s luck of the draw as to who is working when you return it. (Generally it’s done by computer anyway, so you’d likely need a manager to override the fee anyway)
Having it be binary is the most fair way to run the system.
Everything you just said is obvious. Please stop restating the concept of a late fee like it is a new point. Yes some kid could say 10 minutes another could say 20. The computer doesnt give the human the chance to make a judgement call. I think before they do the post 1200 restock would be a reasonable timeframe to not charge a late fee. A computer forced the late fee so this dude didnt pay it and never had to pay because blockbuster had shit practices(late fees being just 1 of them) that caused them to go bankrupt.
If a manager was on duty, they could override it should they choose. He/she would have had to have brought it up at the time of return. Trying to fight it (or just ignoring it I guess) after the fact was folly.
It worked out fine.
It's not even true. Unless they got rid of the 1 hour amnesty after I left. Maybe another former Blockbuster worker can chime in.
Literally Netflix's marketing campaign when it first became prevalent was DIRECTLY shitting on Blockbuster for exactly this. Late fees are the primary reason Blockbuster lost to Netflix, I'm convinced. Not that late fees are necessarily wrong, but the way they were structured, Netflix was perfectly able to take the nagging issue people had with Blockbuster and capitalize on it.
I remember I rented Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 from Blockbuster and returned it 5 minutes past the 12 noon deadline.
Never happened. People didn't know this but the deadline was actually 1 pm in the computers.
I also worked Blockbuster in the exact same time period. What a nostalgic trip you took me on! A few amended points, at least where I worked in the Northeast:
I remember them rolling out the bullshit 'no more late fees' promotion. The spin of it was that more people forgot to watch their movies in the alotted time so Blockbuster "gave" them 12 extra hours and the return time went from midnight to noon the next day. They did this to confuse people, knowing they wouldn't remember to drop them off before work. Instead of late fees, it was a re-rental fee. The cutoff off was actually always 2pm in the computer for our store but we didn't tell customers that. So, if you got like 6 new movies for $4 each and forgot to return, you now had a $24 balance on your account to pay. We had Goodwill credits to subtract balances but were discouraged from using them.
As for the OPs response, I remember us having a mandatory meeting about Netflix and REDBOX. There were supervisors and management from all the district stores and we were explicitly told to talk shit about Netflix to customers if they asked. The bosses all laughed off the competition and said it would never catch on (this was before Blockbuster jumped on the bandwagon way too late with a mail system). I remember thinking "Then why the hell did we get dragged to this meeting?" We were told to push more Direct TV satellite systems (they gave us foam hats to wear in the shape of satellites with the logo on it) hard and to take out employee's picks section. Thanks, Viacom.
I always had the HIGHEST goodwill credit tally of any CSR in my store for as long as we were able to give them out. I also always had the highest amount of cash in my drawer on busy shifts because I wasn't wasting time trying to schill DirecTV.
Fun fact: I turned the antenna on my foam hat into a penis and the DM never knew.
Oh man, we should have a subreddit support group for former employees. Fuck those stupud Guinea Pigs and those awful promo videos playing on a loop. The amount of Nerds Rope candy I stole from that place hopefully evened out my shitty assistant manager wages.
Ha! You're right, there's a facebook group for former employees, but most of them remember the place very fondly. I do too for the most part, but I was a terrible employee when it came to following the sales rules and bought into absolutely nothing when it came to corporate pride.
I didn't mind the people on my level. But middle management sucked. I didn't last long there and stepped down to being a CSR. I got scolded for not selling enough Rewards Program memberships one busy weekend night. So i sold 31 in a night with zero extra compensation or incentive to do it again so I never sold another unless someone asked. It sounds angsty now that I'm typing it out. But I didn't feel right scamming those poor, sad dads who were just trying to rent an erotic thriller to see some boobs.
I see that we were a similar type of employee. I would only sell a rewards or pitch a direcTV if I thought it would actually save them $$$ or they would ask about it. I liked my job and my customers, but the DM would just look at rewards numbers and scold me.
Another time, we had a new hire who was stealing credit card info. I honestly had no idea he was even doing it, we hardly ever worked together. Long story short, I got dragged into the office by the loss prevention rep and interrogated for what seemed like forever. He was a dick.
I walked out mid-grilling and told my store manager just to fire me if he had to, but I didn't know anything about it. Fortunately he was a great dude and stuck up for me.
I worked there from 99 until about 04. Man (or woman) you are right on the money. Also factor in all of the annoying marketing and customer retention procedures they had in place and by the time we left it was hell for customers...and staff. "No more late fees" got me screamed at more times than I can count...and who walks into a video store wanting to be sold cable TV? It was a wild west shit show in that place by the time I left.
.and who walks into a video store wanting to be sold cable TV? It was a wild west shit show in that place by the time I left.
Precisely. Their marketing attempts were almost always awful. I can't remember some of the items we were pushing but in 2006 or so, I recall going in my old store, and they had a shelves of, I kid you not, Mass Market Hardcover books filling up an entire shelf on the new release wall.
Something else I remembered now that I didn't include in my original post. We had this book book of movies and actor. Almost like a telephone book. Ours was already outdated. I asked the district manager if we could use the one computer that actually had web access to search on IMDB (thankfully I knew what it was way back when) and they blew the idea off.
It just seems like blockbuster didnt do a lot of things that are reasonably common sense. From the economic side of the things, making sure the system they were using was like how libraries make sure other libraries in their system are in stock.
That's actually not true. They had a video streaming service under development that would have destroyed netflix. Unfortunately, the company they contracted to develop just so happened to be Enron.
I was a manager at Blockbuster. Actually what that other poster said was all pretty much true. They lacked so much foresight and had incredibly bad top level management. In the early days Netflix offered to sell themselves to blockbuster. Blockbuster refused! Lol
Good thing for Netflix. People believe that Blockbuster buying Netflix when given the chance would have kept Blockbuster as a viable and still fully existing company today. It's just as, if not more likely, that Blockbuster buying Netflix would have killed Netflix. At the very least, had Netflix been bought and run by Blockbuster, it would have turned out differently than it has. We can't say for certain whether it would have ended up better or worse (though we can say it wouldn't be the same). However, given Blockbuster's lack of foresight at the time, it's very likely Blockbuster would have simply taken Netflix down with them.
Their hidden fees says loads about whether they would have been good or bad company in present day. Looking back at all those crappy fees, I'm glad they went of out business
No kidding. The ability to keep a dvd for as long as you wanted with a flat fee was literally what got people to sign up for Netflix and leave blockbuster. Blockbuster could have fixed that but their broken business model was too dependent on the fees and their stock would have tanked for a while.
Streaming vid would’ve happened by now, regardless of what company started it first
Wait, for real?
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so i would have a 100gig line hooked up to my business and they would provision it up when i bought capacity and back down when i didn't? lol
We have that now. The bandwidth is a few TB but the latency averages a few days. The protocol has a few names but USPS is a popular one
lol
USPS really cornered the market on that one.
Which is a bummer, because I think IP over Avian Carriers could have been great.
Info about IP over Avian Carriers: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers
And the actual RFC: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149
Maybe this Enron Broadband ad will explain.
We got fibre hooked up to our house by the government. They were going to do 97% of residences or something but the government changed hands a few times and it got political. I'm just glad I got in early.
Probably would've been cheaper to send the data via physical delivery service.
I don't think there WAS streaming video in 1999. Not the way we think of it now. It didn't...stream.
For real for real, [here's one link] (https://www.forbes.com/2000/07/20/mu4.html)
I'm from Houston, it was quite interesting and made no sense. I had an interview with them before the collapse, so glad I didn't get that job.
I remember it took forever for somebody to rent their old office in Greenspoint. That Enron Broadband sign was in front of the building was up for a long time.
I interviewed in Tower 1 Downtown, while they were still building Tower 2 across the street. Crazy times back then.
I bet this is gonna appear on the front page of TIL in less than 24 hours.
We have an old, early generation Roku that has a Blockbuster button.
Streaming? In 2001 at the absolute latest?
??? How do you get 2001? Enron ceased operations in 2007. Blockbuster went bust a few years after that.
There is one blockbuster store still open in the USA ,
Blockbuster corporation. One franchise Blockbuster does not a corporation make.
I had 15 mbps cable modem service back in 2001. Definitely enough bandwidth for streaming, although things might have been iffy in the codec side.
You're hitting on the big problem: the video codecs of 2001 were atrocious to say the least. DivX, XviD, Real....[buffering]]...Player, and Windows Media Video were about it in terms of "this codec can produce 480i video without barfing all over itself", but even they were truly miserable experiences. I mean, about all that probably remains of those codecs is some pirated content from the mid-naughties, and it's ghastly to behold. Don't believe me? Go find an old hard drive from that era you used for piracy purposes and try watching it. It's gonna be bad.
Pretty much anything prior to H.264 was going to produce a gruesome viewing experience. No streaming service in 2001 would have been successful.
Enron? I thought that was an energy company.
they implemented a shitty mail service that had hidden fees renamed as restocking fees
I worked there during the program. The restocking fees were if you took a rental from the store and kept it more than a week.
As you could get a free rental whenever you turned in a mailer at the store (and they mailed out new ones when the mailers were scanned in the store), people would end up with 8 or more dvds from the retail stores and that was just unsustainable.
$1.35 to keep a rental you got for free (in addition to the dvds they mailed you) for more than a week and up to a month was more than fair. The vision was that they needed some way to keep the brick and mortar locations going and they thought offering the free rentals would get people to spend money once they were in the store on concessions and other things. They were wrong, of course.
They did keep changing the pricing and how many movies you could change in each month, etc, and that's what ended pissing people off.
Blockbuster also at one point had the chance to buy Netflix, but didn't.
I can't speak for how Blockbuster operated as a whole, but the one near where I lived growing up offered a monthly paid service for several years that allowed you to rent games or movies (the number depending upon your package) indefinitely. You could choose anything in the store or create a list from an online catalog that would be mailed to you. You then had the option to either mail the disc back or return (or exchange) it at any store.
From your list, the only things this Blockbuster weren't doing were the kiosks or streaming service. This program began (in a more limited form) before Netflix even existed and later expanded to include the online site and mail delivery service around the time that Netflix began to gain traction.
They definitely did kiosks at one point. It might have been too late, but I remember seeing them in Publix where I am before they got replaced by Redbox kiosks.
Good to know. We certainly didn't have any kiosks in my area, but it's interesting to hear that they tried kiosks as well. I had assumed that the presence of brink and motor stores would have made kiosks appear redundant.
A restocking fee for a business whose entire premise is rentals is South-Park-Comcast level assholery.
Blockbuster will go down as a business lesson talked about in universities and colleges for decades.
You're right. I worked there in '99-'00 and they didn't even have DVDs yet. The locally owned competitor had them available for many of their movies already while we still only had VHS.
And now that CEO is the CEO of PF Chang’s. Let’s see see what happens.
They had kiosks here and my neighbours used to use them (a young couple). In fact I think there's still an in-use kiosk at a nearby mall.
Hell, they were even offered to BUY Netflix at one point...
Growing up, seeing the tech change from blockbuster to redbox to netflix seemed Amazing. Now when they release new stuff, it hardly grabs my attention unless like something serious space shit is discovered or something
I worked at Blockbuster UK between 05-08, a lot of the reason they went downhill here was they tried to move away from rental and into the retail sector.
They lowered the number of rental copies they would receive of new releases, and then order more retail copies which would be priced anywhere between £5 -£10 more than the closest competitor.
Blockbuster was launching a competing streaming service that got tanked by the Enron scandal. People assumed they just didn't want to innovate but they just got unlucky. Years before Netflix was dominant and before BB was in financial troubles they noted that streaming was the next new thing to jump onto. Goes to show how even when you're right history can still get your story wrong.
I have sent emails to DirecTV, Amazon, and Vudu that if they would just lower their digital rental fees to $2 per movie, they could put Redbox out of business. And yet they still charge $4 or $5 to rent a movie. I can almost BUY the movie for that much.
Most often do just buy it. I think that’s the idea. Make the difference so negligible you may as well spend more and buy it.
Right those guys are such idiots. When I see their prices I’m like I’m not renting it. If they had it cheap they’d make up for it in volume.
I dropped my Netflix subscription temporarily when Blockbuster did away with late fees. They charged you a $5 restocking fee for movies if you kept them past a certain amount of time (30 or 60 days, I think). Also they’d order in a movie if you wanted it. So that was how I bought DVDs for awhile. Rent it, pay the initial fee, pay the $5 restocking fee. At the time I couldn’t have gotten those DVDs on amazon for less than $25 (I know because I looked). I can’t be the only one-that must have hurt their bottom line as well? Seems like they dropped the ball overall. People are so nostalgic for places like this. Some company is going to capitalize on this somehow.
Edit I realize this isn’t coming back for many reasons, I was saying their last ditch attempt to compete (no late fees) was one of the worst to choose because people like me took advantage of it.
There still are video stores, and no it won't work.
Virtual video rental place
I have Family Video stores all around me. No, I have no idea how they stay in business. I guess internet sucks around here despite it being a fairly well-populated area so that helps.
I think I read an article that said their core business is areas with bad access to internet or areas where not as many people are online. That, and they'll build another business next to the video store that'll also be owned by them. Like, for example, a pizza place you could order at, then wait for the food in the video store.
They're selling CBD at the Family Video near me
Mine too. Is there a flower market across the street?
The Family Video by my house, a not had off area I'll add, has started fixing phone screens and selling CBD to stay afloat.
dude if you ever come across a time machine pls take over blockbuster these are great ideas
When Netflix started online streaming, that was the end.
Dude do you know how expensive it is to run brick and mortar stores? Netflix had next to zero overhead. Blockbuster was an old company with debts and a corporate structure it had to manoeuvre within and rent to pay. It couldn’t have moved as fast as brand new Netflix that had its plan set from the get go. The mail order dvds were phase one, but they had an end goal in site. There’s no way any brick n mortar store at the time could’ve manoeuvred that fast, predicted he get out plan and beat them to it. Just no way.
forget competing. blockbuster could have owned netflix. netflix offered them to buy it out. we would know netflix as blockbuster online or something.
The 8 part podcast business wars netflix vs blockbuster on this topic is really good.
They were owned by the mormans, which is why they didn't have "naughty" videos.
Too many established brands like blockbuster, in the UK woolworths didn't the internet would take off like it did. Sad to say the lack of vision of the leadership teams helped their demise.
As someone who worked for a Blockbuster competitor, I can tell you you're oversimplifying things a bit. The end product is right but the process of modernizing a crusty old business model is almost impossible. You have to consider that Blockbuster had existing contracts with studios, existing inventory to deal with, aging real estate often with little value, and little to no background in where the market was going. A website wasn't going to save them.
Compete? Blockbuster had the offer to PURCHASE Netflix...
I had a deal at Blockbuster that allowed me to have two movies at a time and just trade them out whenever. Blockbuster was between my house and my university, so i would just stop by whenever and change then out. It was a good deal.
id be willing to bet that most of the top competent employees were bought by netflix, leaving all the not so competent employees to ruin the company, usually the explanation for most companies demise.
Adding more fees to a dying company is a last ditch effort to survive.
I knew one of the VPs of Blockbuster. Met Wayne Higuenga via him. The guy got hooked on drugs and died. He was in charge of a lot of this stuff.
Netflix DVD mailings are totally worth it my opinion. Their movie selection is really shit but you can get any movie in a day or two..
I still have my 5 at a time plan from the early 2000s. I'm a horror movie fan and most aren't available for streaming.
Have you checked out Shudder? Purely horror streaming site.
No, I have not, I will check it out. Thanks! My birthday is at the end of October and I just can't get enough of horror movies. :D
I can’t recommend Shudder enough. It’s super cheap, like 5 bucks a month I think. They have a good selection and they have Joe Bob Briggs on now. He has multiple marathons you can stream on demand and new weekly double feature right now.
If you also like anime, VRV includes Crunchyroll and Shudder with some other random stuff for $10 a month.
Add get Xbox c AEGGatgzg
Yup, I still get the DVDs. All the indie films and classics!
I need to up my movie game. I've been rewatching the same shit over and over
It's also a good way to get things that they can't put on streaming because of contracts. I've watched a few TV shows on DVD Netflix that weren't on streaming at the time.
I prefer torrents with 3-4 minutes of download and a movie selection that is better than several streaming services combined.
Wasn't worth it for me once they slowed the turnaround. I could rent those movies on Amazon/iTunes/Youtube/Whatever and still come out cheaper at the end of the month.
EDIT: Words
FUCK I JUST RESUBSCRIED THANKS
And if you returned it early in the day they'd ship the next dvd out that same day. It was awesome.
Yeah I did that too, I was grandfathered into the $17.99/mo price until the end of the run. It was great at the beginning - rent 3 at a time, take them back to trade for 3 movies, and then while you had those movies the next 3 would be mailed and I'd get them about the time the store's 3 would go back. I was never without a movie. I think I usually rented 25 movies a month (6/week + 1 bonus).
Then they caught on to this and upgraded their system to not mail out the next set until the store's set was returned. Man that pissed me off, because they tried spinning it as a perk. I usually just ripped the movies and returned them the next day to keep the 6/week rate going, and watch the rips as I waited for the next mailers.
Yeah, going into Blockbuster to return was awesome. I had that and Netflix at the same time. When Blockbuster doubled their rates, I was done.
Yup it was great. The convenience of swapping it in store was awesome. No waiting in the mail like Netflix for every other movie.
This was the best! I binged so many TV shows this way:
Wash, rinse, repeat.
I much preferred this over Netflix when it was only about DVD rental services. I paid for 2 or 3 dvds out at a time, kept a queue to be shipped to me, plus with the in store exchange option as well I could always have a movie to watch on my own at home, a movie at my girlfriends for us to watch, and another en route or ready to exchange at the location around the corner. Best part about back then was the physical DVDs were the kind of medium our licensing setup was actually built around so shit wasn’t all spread across services or plain not available like in streaming, worst case scenario you would have to wait a week or two till everyone who requested the movie before you got their turn with the DVD.
I did blockbuster mailing... until for some odd reason they refused to carry only certain seasons of Oz. Then I stopped. No one knew why.
Omg I absolutely loved blockbuster for this. I didn’t understand why everyone liked Netflix when blockbuster was clearly the better option before online streaming.
About ten years ago they had a monthly gaming service where I could rent a game, keep it as long as I wanted then exchange it for a new one once I beat it or got sick of it, or just swap it out that day if I didnt like it. It was perfect for a casual game like myself
I did the games version right up until they all closed, which had the same concept. Had a monthly pass for 2 at a time. Could walk in day of release and get new games then return them when I was done (as opposed to shelling out the money to buy the game or hoping Gamefly would send the one at the top of my queue and that I'd get it somewhere near release date). I miss that system.
This. Blockbusters mail service was way better than Netflix at the time. In addition to the perk you mentioned, they also gave you like 3 free new release vouchers a month as well.
They killed their own brand. Expensive rental fees for newer movies and games and expensive late fees
yeah I used that as well, was pretty solid with a store right next to me and they even added redbox type boxes for a stretch and the gas stations they were at would give away free rentals fairly often. They tried, they died.
Yes. The "event" that was going to a blockbuster. It wasn't always just about getting a specific movie, (although sometimes it was.) For me, it was perusing the horror movie section when I was 13. The boxes were always so interesting. Then you would find that one movie. The PERFECT movie. Then the ritual of holding it while you continued to look. Carrying it home with the anticipation of watching this specific video cassette that you picked out. That was the best.
Then, when I met my now wife, we would spend forever debating the right movie to watch. We will pitch our choice and wander around forever until we found the perfect movie for date night.
With so many movies available at my finger tips with no waiting or extra cost even, I just don't find myself watching or enjoying movies as much. Maybe it's just me, and I've changed. But I do miss the ceremony and ritual that was involved in renting a movie.
If streaming services would let you browse through their complete catalogue alphabetically, some of the magic could be restored. Netflix has a lot of hidden gems that we will ever find because we haven’t watched “similar” movies or shows.
I reeeeally hate this aspect of netflix. I keep seeing the same old shit, and it makes me feel like Netflix isnt even trying.
Hulu allows you to view by all, and it's glorious
With every update, I miss the old layout of Netflix more and more.
I miss other peoples coments. Why did netflix tkae that away? It always reminded me of going to the video store and getting the clerks into an arguement about weather the movie i picked was worth the fee. I moved away from the city that store was in. But luckly they are still around. So every time i visit my parents i can still get that trip to Vulcan Video
They're doing exactly what YouTube did and I hate it. I used to love YouTube for music, find a song you like and browse through the recommended ones at the end and discover cool new music. Now it just shows me the same ten songs I've already heard, every time, or some bullshit reaction video or YouTube "personality" shit.
I wish I could wave my Spotify account infront of my Netflix account and warn them their on thin ice too. I've been debating between Hulu and Amazon but... I'd really rather Netflix just stopped being shitty, honestly.
Amazon is hard to browse in a firestick, but you can at least log in to your prime account and browse, then just tell alexa what you want, and it's there.
Hulu also has simulcast which plays shows the same time they air. If they dont do it for your show, it's up there the next day.
I would recommend hulu for TV shows, as their movie selection isnt exactly top notch, but if you have amazon Prime, you already have access Prime TV, which has a shitload of great movies, and some older shows too (Bonus: the Expanse is airing on Prime).
Netflix is losing a lot of my interest with the loss of the Disney contract. Pixar, disney, fox... a lot of solid studios are going to be moved to Disney+. I am excited to see which of my friends picks it up for us.
Thing is, this is exclusive for USA and not all of us have access to the same catalogue :(
There needs to be a better way to sort. If I want horror, I should be able to see all the horror movies, arrange them however I want (year, rating, alphabetical) and should also be able to do this for "all movies" I'd love to go find the worst thing on Netflix and watch it while drunk or something
I agree. It is really hard to find something on Netflix if you don't know exactly what you want. They have improved by adding more categories recently but it still only has like max a dozen movies per category that it will show me and then it starts repeating.
Basically, if you want to find something on Netflix, just type in the title to see if it pops up, whatever it is. If you look at movie sites like IMDB, Flick Filosopher, or Mubi,for example, you're find a lot of interesting obscure stuff. I hate that Netflix no longer has those two-sentence description of what a film's about in each box like they used to. I've also noticed and seen a couple of films that were taken off their streaming a while back, but somehow they popped up back on there again. It's not hard to find something, it's actually harder sometimes to decide what you want to watch first, since there's way too many choices, lol.
If their search included parameters we could sort by recent, coming soon, leaving soon etc.
I wonder if a lot more titles would start with an A if that were the case.
Ritual and ceremony in general create a life that is rich and vivid and satiating. I try to create and adhere to my own rituals nowadays. I really love the way you expressed this idea.
Thanks. I think it is something that comes to more people with age. I never realized how much of my life was actually made up of my own little rituals. As my daughters get older, I hope to pass on my own rituals to them. But I keep noticing things that have disappeared, and that makes me sad. But, I guess that is what getting older means. Celebrating the new, and lamenting the loss.
Your earlier comment really resonated with me but this comment helps. Because the next generations get their own rituals. Our parents never had the experience of going to the video store as a kid. They probably had going to the record store or riding their bikes to the vacant lot or whatever. So even though we can mourn our lost rituals, we can trust that our kids will form new ones. And maybe if we’re careful enough, we can experience those rituals with them.
When I was a kid, we had a Blockbuster about two minutes' drive away. It was cheap, but it was probably only about 6 or 7 short aisles, and at any given time a few of them would all be taken up by a single popular movie, which we almost never watched (mostly because New Releases were due back sooner).
But my mom and I used to spend easily an hour at a time looking around in there, sometimes as often as every week. When I was younger, I would be so excited to rent a game from their tiny selection, or to get to pick a movie. We'd go through the shelves pulling out old favorites, wondering if we wanted to rent something we knew we liked, and then we'd browse through all the rest, all the hundreds of one-off copies. My mom would find some movie she used to love that she had totally forgotten about. And, if/when I was old enough to see it, that was when she'd get most excited to show it to me. The store was there for years - long enough that I remember growing up and moving from the family and kids section while my mom was looking elsewhere to browsing alongside my mom looking at the new releases (and neither of us ever picking them) and digging through the older movies with her asking her if she'd seen movies that caught my eye or if they sounded interesting to her. Becoming an equal with her while looking through movies there was a huge deal, and looking back on it now I think it was a pretty big part of the foundation for the family relationship we still have today.
Probably half the time we didn't even watch them before we ended up returning them (we always returned on time). My mom especially, since she worked 9-5. And even once we started browsing together, we almost never actually watched movies together. We honestly might have spent more time in that Blockbuster browsing than we did watching movies from it, and it's time that is a lot more memorable to me than anything we rented there.
There's nothing like it today. There's no sense of browsing. You never think about picking out what you're going to watch in a few days, and there's not really such a thing as never getting around to watching something since you only ever stream it when you're ready to watch it. There's nothing like taking a gamble on something knowing you can't immediately change your mind and watch something else (which also means there's a lot less a sense of "old standbys" - if you don't like something, you can just try something else, instead of erring on the side of caution and picking an old standby because you were stuck with whatever you chose).
It's hard to even like movies anymore without the approval of the internet hivemind. Or to get people to watch them. One of our favorite movies, which we rented all the time, was Mystery Men. I still love that movie. My mom and I still quote it when we talk on the phone. But now it's almost impossible for someone to see it without knowing that the average reviews of it are only so-so. Every person I've ever watched it with has enjoyed it, but the last time I thought someone would like it, they immediately looked up the score on Rotten Tomatoes and decided they'd rather watch something with a higher rating. Instead we watched another polished, but formulaic and predictable Pixar movie. And I know they would have loved it. And I'm not different - I absolutely look up the Metacritic score before watching things, or skim the Netflix reviews, or whatever. It's lost to me too.
Or look at kids' favorite movies. How often do you find kids with weird favorite movies anymore? My little sister is a late-millenial and her favorite movies as a young kid were the 50s Davy Crockett movies. No one in the family has any idea how or why it started - presumably she just pulled them off the shelf from the family section at some point. I used to know tons of kids with weird stories like that. It's hard to imagine something like that ever happening today.
I think we're going through a weird cultural phase right now where a whole generation is very suddenly realizing that they were thinking about a lot of things in vastly oversimplified terms. Are there advantages to streaming now? Absolutely. But I think that we all thought it was only advantages, that we weren't losing anything. And I think watching kids today we're realizing that we lost some really profound things. With so many things that the internet has changed, we were all so excited to cut out all the crap and get to the good part. Almost none of us - not us, not our parents, no one who lived through it - gave it much thought. And it turns out we didn't realize that, in hindsight, a lot of the crap was actually the best part. In particular, it was often the most social part, the part that glued people and families together.
Mystery Men looks good. Thanks for the recommendation.
The ritual of holding your choice while continuing to look hit me hard. That is a feeling i haven’t had in a long time.
I think the transient nature of the rental plays into this too. It was high stakes because it was your choice for the week, but it was still only a few dollars. Now if you want to try something and it’s not on streaming’s you have to gamble if it’s worth paying $13-20 for. Also, the physical aspect of examining the cover, looking at the art on the front and reading the back, holding two choices in your hands and debating which one. Jesus, I do miss that.
I read a joke tweet/article (maybe the onion) where it said “Netflix debuting new $5 option to browse endlessly.” My husband and I now make jokes that we’re getting our five dollars worth.
More importantly, I think, was how important that choice was. When I was younger, we would put that tape on a loop until we had to return it. That movie was the most important thing in the house. With Netflix, everything is just sort of always there. I am always adding movies to my list and never watching them. The decision to watch a Netflix movie feels less important than a blockbuster movie.
The decision to watch a Netflix movie feels less important than a blockbuster movie.
This is 100% true and I feel like there’s no way to convey this feeling to people who haven’t lived it.
This is why I love libraries, often they have pretty new movies. Soon you're perusing the shelves finding older movies you've forgotten about and it's like experiencing those older more obscure movies all over again.
This is why I still buy records and books from real shops. Ritual is very important part of enjoyment I think.
Or games. My best friend and I used to just go to Blockbuster (or Hollywood Video, now that's a blast from the past) and rent a game for one weekend. We'd usually play the fuck out of it till we had exhausted its entertainment value, then you take it back and never play it again.
We've tried to replace it with just going to a store and buying a game when we get a weekend that we can chill together, but it's not quite the same.
Plus, couch co op is hard as fuck to find good games for now.
I loved browsing movies at blockbuster. In a weird way scanning over Netflix title s for an hour without being able to make up my mind is similar.
This comment took me to a really nice place in my childhood. Thank you for the comforting wave of nostalgia.
I used to work at a blockbuster, it was and still is my dream retirement job (and sadly it is only a dream now) nothing made me happier then talking about movies all day. There were regulars who’d come in and ask me for recommendations cause I’d usually have something good for them.
Now I feel so out of touch with movies.
There was something much more grand about reading the synopsis on the back of a movie. Between already having the cover catch your eye and the mystery you reveled in when reading the synopsis rather than a 30-second preview of actual scenes like on Netflix along with its vague one-liner description, I was able to build this idea of the movie I was about to watch in my mind and that created a strange bond between me and the movie from the time I picked it up until the time I dropped it off.
The movies were also your public profile as a sneak peek into who you were as a person when a passer-by caught a glimpse of them. It was a small bit of pride you had that came along with the collection of movies in your hand.
This sounds amazing and I'm sad I missed this generation.
It was/is amazing. If you have a Movie Trading Company in your area you can still experience it!
Picking the movie at the video store was half the fun.
Am I you? This is eerily too similar to what I had intended on posting.
We went from a Friday night ceremony where we alternated selections, looked for Blockbuster team members recommendations... it seemed simpler.
My local video store had a huge games rental section with an awesome wall painting of Mario and Lara Croft. It’s a restaurant now and I’ll never look at that awesome wall again
Exactly, once you walked out the store with the movies, you were locked into the choice!
It was a dance of getting the popcorn ready, everyone was topped off on their sodas, you could not hit play until EVERYONE was ready. Someone had to go to the bathoom? too bad, we are not pausing it, should have went before we started!
I worked at the local movie store in high school for four years. Thank you for this post. It brings back so much nostalgia.
Make an event out of going to your local Redbox.
My husband and I do this all the time now at the library, except the movies are free. :)
And the unique smell of Blockbuster was linked in your mind to Saturday nights, fun, take-out food and a lie in the next day. I lived in the UK and the States and I swear the smell in every store was the same
You could spend an hour or more looking for a movie. It was awesome
I totally relate and feel the same way... Browsing my own catalog of movies, i sometimes just pass on all of them, channel surf a bit, and delve deep into reddit till sleep overcomes me....
Not to mention being able to play the demo games they had set up. Oh the memories.
still appreciate the convenience of streaming
It's getting harder and harder. Getting hulu, amazon prime, hulu, a subscription to HBO, to other services...
It's now so common to make a list of like 10 movies people recommend to me and looking them up to learn that all of them are only available to rent for 24 hours for $4 on Amazon or $6 on Vudu. Recently I got an urge to watch Annie Hall and it was actually on Netflix, I was blown away. It was the first time in months that something I wanted to watch was actually available on one of the streaming services I pay for.
Which is why torrents are still a thing and will see a resurgance as more and more services appear
-stage whispers- I get a taste of that feeling at my local library. You can browse if you wanna and if you don't you can request for the movies you want online (from my library or from other ones in my state) and just waltz in and pick em up. There's also the fun of ye olde late fees too lol
Did anyone else have a Hollywood Video rental store in their area instead of a Blockbuster? It was basically the same thing but I have no idea how big the HV chain was. It’s definitely nostalgic for me!
HV customer here. A while ago, there was an ask reddit question that was something along the lines of “What business took over your neighborhood Blockbuster?” I can’t even remember where the Blockbuster was, but the Hollywood Video is a daycare, and the Video Update is now a pet food supply store.
We had both, but the Blockbuster was a drive and the Hollywood was a short walk away. I always preferred Hollywood Video over Blockbuster. They (or the one I went to, at least) always seemed to have a better and larger selection.
Yeah it was a Friday ritual with me and my friends after school, it wasn't a blockbuster but a mom and pop store.
We'd spend hours trying to pick 5 movies to watch over the weekend.
And it was complicated because they had a deal where you got 1 red sticker movie two greens and two blues in a combo.
Basically 1 new release 2 released in the last 5 years and two oldies.
We'd almost spend longer choosing the movies than watching them.
My friends and I had a ritual every time we’d have a sleep over at someone’s house, where we’d go to the video store’s horror section and everyone would pick 3 movies they wanted to watch.
We’d then line them all up on top of the shelf (roughly 20 or so movies) and everyone would take a turn vetoing one movie, whittling it down to the 3 or 4 that we would end up watching.
You had to be strategic in your selections, sometimes putting in decoys that you knew would get vetoed to keep the movie you really wanted to watch alive.
Hello from Bend, Oregon 👋🏼 Home of the last Blockbuster in the world!!
https://imgur.com/gallery/6xqeTJf
Same. I honestly don't watch movies as much as I used to before streaming. It's not an event anymore, nothing to get excited about when I have everything at my finger tips.
As new streaming services begin to surface, I have a feeling there is a very slight chance video rental stores may make a little comeback
It would be even nicer if streaming weren't more expensive than Blockbuster was. $4.99 for 24hrs, and i can watch it once? What the fuck?
I dont miss getting a late fee on every single rented movie because my wife forgot to drop it off. Became cheaper to buy a used copy and only watch it once.
feeling is something different
Go to your local library. You will immediately remember how disappointing it truly is.
Maybe I just missed the mark on a lot of it. We lived rurally, my mom left the house as little as possible. So even with VHS tapes at local gas stations it was a rarity to rent and then never more than two, one for the adults and one for the kids because we couldnt afford, especially with DVDs in blockbuster. That was an hour drive round trip. Then I didnt have a job, I didnt watch with friends, it didnt have anime. And but the time I was in highschool I could pirate anime and movies and stream them online.
Living in the country really puts things in perspective compared city and town dwellers. I get anime I liked, books I liked, packages I liked through the internet and when its streaming or an ebook I get it immediately. And I dont have to worry about late fees. It's even preferable to a library because it costs just as much on gas for two unneeded round trips, as to just straight up pay for the item and own it or rent it.
Yeah, people miss movie rentals, and it was indeed a pretty cool experience. But the reason it was pretty cool was TV sucked and there was nothing to watch ever.
Like, today there a million great shows and movies you can watch on your giant 60" TV. There is such an abundance of awesome shows you can watch whenever you want.
But back in the day, if you had half a brain everything sucked. I hope you like Friends reruns, or watching COPS, or something so bad I don't even remember it anymore - that's all that was on. Maybe if you were lucky you'd catch an episode of The Simpsons you hadn't seen yet, or a halfway decent movie on Sunday afternoon that was interrupted by lame ass commercials every 15 minutes.
Disagree. Lots of good shows in the 90s.
the convenience of streaming
Titles related to [thing you wanted to watch]
Disc quality > streaming quality.
I still visit my brick and mortar video rental store for 4K movies and blu rays I really want to see with the best quality. Plus, it’s cheaper than renting digitally.
blockbuster was always overpriced, I never understood the appeal. Other stores were great though, Rented so many videos from family video and other local stores.
I'm regretting DVD rental stores closing. Streaming is convenient, but the selection is in no way comparable.
Things have almost become too convenient. Sure it's nice to never leave the house but Blockbusters had a certain smell to them. And they started selling snacks at the front so you didn't have to hit up the corner store. That was convenience! You could really turn a regular friday night into a fun movie night for the fam and friends just by going on a Blockbuster adventure.
Now I binge movies like I'm a god damn crack addict.
Used to love the smell of those stores.it was like hundreds of VHS tapes had been baked in a VCR and gave off the most distinct aroma.
Knowing there were a thousand movies I wanted to watch, then getting to Blockbuster and totally blanking and browsing the comedy section hoping to find something.
Streaming can be annoying if you're watching on a non-expensive PC because of the constant buffering, especially with an HD purchase. DVDs will play smoothly no matter what (if they're not scratched up that is).
Jokes on you, I still have a blockbuster.
Yeah but if I open a block buster are you coming to it ? I have a local chain of rental stores I never go to because it’s a hassle and there is just so much content on the streaming services.
I could rent something specific on a rental streaming service but never do.
Came here to say this.
The funny thing is I had no problem forking-out cash a couple times a week to rent some VHS but with streaming sites like Hulu/Netflix/Prime, I essentially only stream stuff that's included, never pay to rent a specific title.
Me too. Ours used to sell games old and new. You could rent or buy games in the evening when other shops were closed. Sometimes I used to just go in for the kids to get pick n mix. I’m not one for films but the game aspect of it, I loved.
That smell
It's only a 30 minute drive for me to get to a Blockbuster. I don't really take the time, though.
We still have a DVD like Blockbuster open in Australia
I still have some DVDs
Weve still got a building thats still got blockbuster signs on it it close fair few years ago and no ones bought the property yet
But now there is so much choice that one doesn't know what to watch...
I like streaming but I do worry that now I'm just paying for things I don't own and could have owned for the same price.
I don't miss a Blockbuster at all. I kind of miss my old non-chain video rental place but I think that was mostly because it was part of a ritual as a kid to rent a movie every Friday night. But then you had to rewind and return it.
I live in Bend, OR where the last blockbuster stands and I go every weekend with the fAm!
I read stealing lol
That feeling of it being Movie Night and driving out to pick up a couple of movies and a pizza helped add to the anticipation of the evening.
We have a couple family video stores stil alive and kicking in Terre Haute, IN
When I was a kid, every Friday night we'd go to our local blockbuster/video ezy and choose a movie to watch for the night and get take out. Back then there was McDonald's, Nando's, subway, pizza hut and this. Chinese place that we would cycle through. My brother moved across the country after high school, and when he came back on semester holidays we'd cycle to that complex and do the same thing... Now we just watch Netflix
I had so many stoned adventures with my best mate growing up going to the blockbuster laughing our heads off while trying to find a movie. Then spending all our coin on lollies before walking home, getting into more adventures. Netflix ruined that for this generation.
Oh buddy. I had the Blockbuster game pass membership thing when I was like 10. My mom paid monthly, and I was allowed to go in and get video games whenever. I could go in, get a video game, play it as long as I wanted, then take it back and switch it out for a new game. It was so fun. After school/work, my mom and I would go into Blockbuster, and she’d get herself a movie and I’d pick out a game. It was great. I cannot tell you how many times I played their copy of the 2005 King Kong game for PlayStation.
I remember Blockbuster dates in college were the best. You got to wonder around getting to know someone through movie trivia.
I miss small things like this. Got the neighborhood together, you’d see friends and family and end up spending way more time there than intended. It was always fun and felt like I had a wide range of QUALITY choices. Now I feel like I just scroll through shitty movies on Netflix all day.
FBI wants to : Know your location
Here in tucson we still have a large vhs and dvd rental place called casa video its awesome
Blockbuster dates were the absolute best. Meet at Blockbuster on Friday after work, chat with each other about your week while browsing the store, choose a few movies, get snacks then home for the evening.
In 2015, I moved to Halifax, NS and was shocked to find they had a privately run dvd rental place that was miraculously still open (It was called Video Difference). I went in one day for the novelty, figuring it would be a fun, one-time palette cleanser that would shake up my streaming habits.
Soon, however, I was returning just about every week, but no longer for the novelty: I kept going back because the selection was so much better than any streaming service available online. Like, by a mile. This rental shop had just about every movie I could imagine, save only the newest international releases. So, basically, if there was a film I wanted to watch, Video Difference could help me watch it. Rarely is Netflix able to scratch this itch for me.
Unfortunately Video Difference closed about a year after I moved to town. I was really sad to see it go.
I say the same thing about Amazon. Am I sad that Amazon killed off loads of stores on the streets? No. Am I sad that I rarely go out to shop anymore? No. Am I happy that I can shop for anything I want from the comfort of my desk? Yes.
When I browse Amazon and notice the Prime Subscription in the top right corner, I just tip my fedora and say a small prayer for the scrubs either hustling still on Oxford Street or having to pay for delivery.
Go to Family Video
You can get this experience at a library. They tend to have rather eccentric collections of DVDs and it's fun to browse.
Then I remember none of my 3 computers has a disk drive.
The anticipation as you went towards the covers off the not new release to see if there was a DVD behind and of them. Oh boy.
Same here. When we first had kids, and couldn't go out, Saturday night at Blockbuster was an "event". We'd see all our neighbors there as well.
My memories of blockbuster are good ones, even if a bit different.
We did not have much money, parents divorced, my mom worked hard to keep up with the bills, my dad had a bad accident at one point, he was in the hospital about a year, so he did not work which meant no child support. Point is, money was tight!
Anyway, dad gets released, gets to the point where he can handle visitation again (4 kids, oldest was 12 so not like he could handle us right off the bat). So when we visited on friday nights he would take us to blockbuster, trying to make it up to us. The closest one was quite a bit away.
He also drove a pickup truck, ford ranger, not extended cab. He had a tonneau cover though. So he take the my youngest brother in the front seat along with my sister. Open the tail gate, and me and my older brother climbed in under the cover, and he would close the tail gate. Effectively locking us in, in the dark, unrestrained metal tub.
We would bounce around the back of the truck bed for 12 miles or so, never knowing when the next pot hole would hit next.
He would then back in near the front doors, open the tail gate, we would file out while other parents looked in shock. Pick our movies, then get back in the covered cage on our way home. Sometimes he would stop at a small store to get soda or popcorn, but not tell us, so we would know we were stopped somewhere, truck shuts off, but nobody letting us out. Eventually the truck would start up again, finish the way home, and he would let us out.
Good times. I honestly miss those days. It was an adventure.
There's still one Blockbuster left iirc - in Bend, Oregon, USA
Yup, i miss the human imdb that was whoever worked at blockbuster, all of them had seen every movie and was ready to discuss
There was nothing more I loved than asking my parents to drive me to blockbuster and stroll through the aisle looking for something to watch. Browsing through the weekly sections looking for a movie you'd heard was really good and finding those gems was fun.
I think you'll enjoy this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkeszbSOCF0
I grew up in a small town, and we never had a Blockbuster. We had one locally owned video rental place and eventually a Movie Gallery. The town I now live in is 30 miles away from my hometown and had a Blockbuster and I always wanted to go every time I was in town, but that’s a pretty far drive just to return a movie, so I never did. After I moved here in 2010, the Blockbuster went out of business within a month. I was bummed.
I've got a Family Video on my way home from work and their movies cost a fraction of what they do to stream so it's been a no-brainer for me to stick with the "old ways". It makes me remember a lot of good times with my parents growing up. I do stream rentals on occasion though, simply because no pants
man i miss blockbuster, my mom and i would always go every other weekend to rent new movies for a movie night and then buy snacks and candy there. now those were the days
Blockbuster was an American institution. Now there is only 1 store left. Sad
The nice thing about that era was being able to walk into Blockbuster, find a movie you want to watch, then go home and watch it to completion. Today you have too many streaming services, too much content on each service, content that's intentionally poorly organized to give the impression of infinite options (suck my ass, Netflix), etc. that you end up taking an eternity to find something to watch, and when you finally do, you might just tap out after 20 minutes.
I miss the feeling of walking in, but not the feeling of disappointment when everything I wanted is gone.
Specifically, the thrill of going to Blockbuster for that hot new release and finding none left on the shelf, but then asking the employee to check the return bin and finding one in there!
There's a Family Video near our house. Lots of nostalgia walking in there. And $1 / rental (not new release) - it's pretty cheap entertainment for our kids.
I pay for Netflix, Hulu, and amazon prime. At one point I also shared my Hulu account for access to someone's HBO Go Account. Yet if I think of a movie I actually want to watch, the odds of me being able to find it on any of those is still extremely low. Then, even if I want to pay to rent it for 3.99 on youtube, it's not available about half the time. I miss being able to go to blockbuster and get pretty much any movie you could think of.
I always preferred the local video shops to the chains. They tended to have weirder movies and also porn. I'm pretty sure my very first experience with porn was looking at the back covers of VHS pornos in the back corner of our local shop.
My family used to take a vacation every year to New Hampshire and on the first night we would always go to this little local video store and rent some movies on VHS. I always got An American Werewolf in London which is still one of my favorite movies. Yeah streaming is great but I miss stuff like that.
Modern society is weird, we have greater access to the shit we want so it's like we experience more while simultaneously having less actual involvement with the world around us.
I really liked that short period of time where Netflix streaming and my local blockbuster was still open.
Get the fellas started with some games on the PS3 while I'm running to blockbuster for any and all snacks we ever need then start the Netflix app.
And the $45 dollars in late fees
Blockbuster took about $900 in late fees from me. I don’t miss them one bit, they were predatory exploiters.
I don't miss the video store. "Oh crap, it's 8:45 and I have to get these movies back to Blockbuster or they'll charge me $4 per movie!!"
Using VUDU I can now buy movies I like for $5-$8 per movie, and own the digital version with no return date.
BBS systems.
When I was a kid there were local Bulletin Board Systems. We chatted, we left messages, arranged Doom death matches and played Door games.
Then you'd see those people in real life, at school and user meetups. It was all local.
That's how I met my husband. We met through his BB when we were 16. Been married now 18 years, together for 23 years.
I met this girl in school by leaving tiny messages written on the corner of the classroom table where the cleaner would often miss them. She was morning class I was afternoon. We went from that to leaving actual letters tapped under the table. It was exciting. When we met physically the excitement stopped suddenly though...
I was a HS teacher and I used to sit boyfriends/girlfriends in different class periods at the same desk (so they could leave each other messages like this).
You are a noble and worthy creature.
That teachers name? Albert Einstein!
Tell no one.
F
Why?
Turns out it was the teacher
His name was Steve
Aaaeeehh well, yaknow I got a best friend now. We write each other notes on a desk every day. Iiiiit's pretty great. Things are really looking up for Coach Steve.
F
*Sbeve
^/s
And I’m the bus driver!
Cuz she was most likely unattractive to op
Yup.
I mean how ugly we talking? I would've still gone for it 👀
But how ugly are we talking are you?
I've got three explanations so far haha
I'll put my money on "she was a big girl"
Because "she" turned out being a "he"
[deleted]
This joke wasn’t funny in 2015 and it still isn’t funny today. Amazing how that works
Are you assuming that was a joke?
What joke was it
“Did you just assume my gender” variant
Wack. Nice response time on a 3 week old post btw. Figured i would check back tomorrow for an answer lol
Yeah I have mobile notifications lol
nah that shits pretty funny albeit a little edgy try hard
definitely not bad enough to give a stern “thats not cool bro”
I’m not offended it just isn’t funny
No but you're assuming sexuality
F
Because I was told that having black friends was "bad for my reputation and he didn't want to ruin his". 1972-73, Alabama.
F
That reminds me of a movie called The lake house
John wick and the bird box lady am I right?
Nah that's Speed
yup
F
Fuck man
What happened?
F
I still have a number BBS friends from that long ago.
I remember using the Newgrounds BBS, made a couple temporary friends. Not sure how they're doing now :(
Yeah Newgrounds BBS was my goto in my teens. Was even a Mod for a while
I don't know why this makes me so happy.
I don’t mean to be rude but this actually reminds me of the time that a couple met on club penguin and got married 10 years later
Had to give you silver! Made me smile so much :)
Thanks! :)
And now I feel old
That was the same with me and my wife. Too bad I let the cat out of the bag that I like doodle! She's moved out now.
Bulletinder BS
I met my husband on ISCA out of UIowa. We've been together 22 years and married for almost 17.
this is the wholesome content I came here for.
Does he love dolphins too?
I prefer cephalopods.
He does not, but for our 10 year anniversary we had a "2nd honeymoon" and we swam with dolphins. :)
Yes, the Main Man loves dolphins
You made it!
Lucky girl!
Congratulations!
Some of my best Friday nights were spent in a computer lab with pizza and 8 other people, all chatting on the intranet.
And cussing up a storm when the "internet dropped" because you had to re-log on and hope you didn't wake everyone in the house up!
TIL there were girls on BBS's :)
I used to run a fido net backbone address I miss those days playing postman for the IBM XT's of rural Connecticut
Wait... So when you met him on through BB, you were married to him, but didn't know??
We met when I was 15, he was 16. We lived just across town from each other. Started dating. Got married when I was 20. We'll have our 18th wedding anniversary in July. We were together for 5 years before we got married.
Same here with me and my wife. Met her in 1995. Been together ever since.
Congrats
Ok
BEY BEY IIGHT
That's how FUCKIN Rey says FUCKING BB8. Whenever I see "BB" somewhere I just think of "BEY BEY IIGHT" and it fucking pisses me off that these fucking unnecessary fucking characters exist.
I remember playing a bunch of different door games. Trade Wars comes to mind, but I know there were several others.
I paid some guy in Canada for a Trade Wars 2000 program. Underwood or something. It would map out the entire system so you could set up your base in a small cul-de-sac of space that had a one-way exit.
It would map it out by logging the game text as you played. You could browse that star map offline, too, that was so cool. It was also useful for locating the space station where you could buy all sorts of stuff.
Man, memories.
P.S. The game's name was Trade Wars 2002.
I think the port was called Alpha Centauri?
No, I learned on [the Wikipedia page] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Wars) that it was called the Stardock. It also reminded me of sector 1, where you could buy fighters/shields/holds. Read it, it is a nice nostalgic trip. :)
I used to have to hunt for the dead sectors! There was a certain type of scanner that could help you find them, I recall. I remember one guy on our BBS somehow managed to find a THREE SECTOR CHAIN that dead ended. He literally built a fortress of a planet in each of the three sectors. It took several of us several days and tons of resources to take him out.
The Pit, LORD, Tele-Arena...
LORD and Usurper were soooooooo good.
I played the shit out of LORD. Even bought a legit copy from the actual author.
I feel like his name was Seth Able? If that right?
I played the crap out of LORD on multiple BBS. I learned that if they had the black market available in other places you could beat the game in a day. Just gamble till you had a lot of money and then buy drinks to buff your attack and defense. Then train up to the final level and search for the red dragon. The problem was that you then had to wait for the game to be reset. So usually I just got buffed up and quit to the fields to see if anyone tried to fight me.
Hated that. People at level 2 with like 3,000 ATT/DEF and hundreds of millions of xp just chilling in the field waiting for higher level characters to log in and come back to life just so they could kill them.. cause they knew nobody could attack them because they're level 2.
I only played on boards that had a version without other places. Or if they did have other places, a limited number of them.
I never attacked anyone. I let them fight me. Sometimes they'd lose and then go to Socrates shop and trade weapons with me. So I always fought unarmed and logged in to find I had new weapons. (which I then sold)
I was a dick as a teen...
Trade Wars was epic. Drug Wars was better.
Barren Realms Elite was the shit.
Yes, I will never forget Barren Realms Elite.
Mutants 2000, Tele-Arena, Crossroads of the Elements...
I liked Operation Overkill. I think that was the name!
I miss trade wars!
And don't forget the beautiful ANSI art made by some local kid with a comic book collection and lots of spare time. But god they were impressive as they scrolled by.
I used to make a lot of those when I was a teenager! Had ACiD and iCE people make the logo and menu images for my BBS I ran from my bedroom at like 13 years old on an old 386. I think the smart guys were scanning images and using GIF to ANSI converters and touching them up manually though.
I used to call a local board operated by someone from ACiD :)
The one in Hawaii?
Sweden, and even more local, in fact a regional BBS.
~~as they scrolled by~~
As they slowly loaded on your 1200 bauds modem
N00b I had a 9600
Try 300 on a c64. 1 character at a time like a teletype. But then I was also a LPB with DSL for Duke3D/doom/quake
Putting time in the time bank 😀
Waiting until 11:45 to use your moves in Netrunner, so you could use the next day's moves at 12:01, making a double length session.
I did that all the time with Legend of the Red Dragon.
Don't forget to bet -1000000 coins on the vigilante. If he lost, you won the opposite amount.
Yeah, I think I pulled that trick for any game with a daily move limit. That way you could do your tuens without worry that someone came in and set a bomb or something while you were away.
Oh man, I never played red dragon, but I spent a while on Legend of the Green Dragon. I miss those times when the internet was for more than Facebook, reddit and YouTube.
I realise that a lot of that old stuff is still there and I don’t use it because I lost interest, but I spent countless evenings just reading through archives of webcomics like megaTokyo or Goats or Penny Arcade. If I did that now my wife would think I’m weird for not spending all evening on the Xbox.
Wow memories!
Thank you so much for this!
Lord was such an amazing rpg. PvP, character building, Getting married, random encounters in the forest.
Bonus points for the polite, informative, and thought provoking discussions on there. I learned more on BBS systems in a year and a half than anytime afterwards.
Related and more niche, ham radio. Before the internet, being able to find a stranger to talk to directly– for free, no less– from my rural home to places all over the world was insanely interesting. Now it is absolutely mundane, completely unexceptional. We are used to being connected to everyone, everywhere, all the time without having to worry about insane "long distance" charges, terrible audio quality and relegating the idea of international video chat as some kind of exotic science fiction involving a van with a satellite dish on it.
I researched ham radio a bit recently and was fascinated, it's like the internet but the infrastructure is just... the universe. That's fucking cool in an age where the stuff that makes everything work is owned by someone or other. I want to get a set and listen in now, maybe get my license and start broadcasting. You can send data like images over it too. I think it's much less mundane than the internet, even if it's old technology and less powerful. I think maybe because it's so old, I was never taught or learned how radio broadcasting works and never really gave it a thought. But when I did think about it a little it became very interesting in comparison to the internet, which is also mind-blowing, but has been a given for most of my lifetime.
Mean while in Taiwan, a BBS called "PTT" has 1.5 million registered user (6.5% population) and 100,000 average concurrent user. Sometimes when a major national event happen there will be 100,000 people flood into a single board called "Gossiping" to share and gather realtime information about the event. As the technology improve now we have BSS client on all plateform that provides different kinds of feature like image render, hand gesture, subject subscription, article linking (inside PTT). The URL is telnet://ptt.cc but you can visit more easily through https://term.ptt.cc/ (Unfortunately it's all in Traditional Chinese.)
Can confirm, partner is Taiwanese and uses it all the time!
Can confirm, I'm Taiwanese and I'm on PTT all the time!
Bulletin board system systems
Using your PIN number at the ATM machine
I miss the BBS scene too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Dl-HJx7kY
Fighting for use of the phone line. Telnet commands and modem sounds. Then begging for money for more time when they went to pay models. I met my first 3 boyfriends at GTGs.
What about the next three?
Ex husband via a friend. Then all relationships up to and including my current husband came from the good old world wide web!
I actually think that these have a chance (albeit remote) of coming back. People are getting real tired of the censorship and baloney. There's a subreddit about them too. /r/bbs
I have a BBS running in my office. Granted you can only access it via 2 way radio and all its really good for is sending messages, but it's there in case we need it. Packet Radio is still alive.
There was plenty of censorship and BS on BBSs.
'censorship' suggests that they were ever open forums. When I ran a BBS, we all had a sense of which Sysops were cool with whatever being on their board. SoS wouldn't allow even swearing, while Laputa was all about hacking and the Hole in the Wall was just a free for all.
It was like going to a party at someone's house. The guy throwing the party makes the rules, and can throw you out.
That's no 'censorship' in the classic sense of a larger entity taking control of the narrative, because the people running the BBS were peers.
Not so much on Usenet. Besides that sysadmins like anybody else aren't perfect. Also, there wouldn't be the stark privacy problems we have now.
I've actually been doing stuff with meshnets. They're slow and you have to be in range. But, for text only, it's fine.
I've never heard of that, but after looking into what it is, thanks for the heads up.
Very cool stuff. Now that Wifi equipment is so cheap, you can start to imagine people just carrying an extra little box with them to exchange information with things they walk past in an anonymous, local, free, way.
I'd like to set up nodes around my city where you can do just that.
meshnets are cool, but even just peer-to-peer mobile stuff is cool and seems so rare.
I feel like the world might be a cooler place if we had smartphones before the internet.
The issue is you can't do things with a smartphone anonymously. So, I'm avoiding those as well.
I don't understand what you mean. If you're not connected to the cell network how would you not be anonymous? are you talking about the fact that you're physically nearby to someone else and they could likely see your face?
Perhaps I wasn't clear when I said "peer to peer", I meant "mesh net without necessarily much/any of the actual _mesh_ing part"
Phones are tricky. They communicate with the cell tower even when you don't want them to. The control over those subsystems is locked from regular users, and often features are buried so deep in firmware blobs that are closed source, that you can't even check to see what it's doing.
However if you aren't registered with any plan there's no identifiable data that would be possible to send. Stuff unrelated to the phones basic operation (ex images or text on the device, contacts, etc.) is not sent.
Not only that, but what you're talking about is sometimes/sort-of overblown. It can be justified/accurate when the user doesn't have control of the software running on their device (ex. Android), or when they have a cellular plan (particularly one registered to a name), but otherwise isn't really much of an issue.
If you don't have a plan, it may as well be a tablet. Apple is as bad as Android, and you don't have a ton of options outside of that.
You're right about it being overblown though. I think of it as more of an academic pursuit. Besides, I can build devices in the $10 range that connect to a mesh. If privacy is the fun part, why not gonall the way with it?
I'm reffering to alternatives such as LineageOS (without google services, either at all, or by using non-Google alternatives like MicroG) when it comes to software. Or when it comes to plans, using an anonymous data-only pre-paid plan (although depending where one lives it might be difficult to do anonymous pre-paid data, or at least be more expensive. I think it's pretty easy pretty much anywhere, just more expensive)
These aren't things normal people do, but it can be done, at least.
I'm heading in a whole separate direction. Making wearable 'scouters' you can monitor local mesh activity with, and it connects to a computer or phone allowing you to send data over the mesh, but it's a 'dumb terminal' connection, so you don't need the internet at all.
This allows people local to one other to make a mesh between themselves, like in a march for example, and allows people to find local BBS systems as they walk past.
The mesh grows with its userbase, so covering an entire town is possible.
This is the one of the steps to our world becoming cyberpunk
I guess it makes sense for people to see it that way, since Cyberpunk was popular more when BBSs were, and the internet sort of killed that too.
Wow this really takes me back.
I used to run BBS's. When I was first introduced to them I thought it was amazing that a 300 baud modem could print text about as fast as you could read it.
What are door games? They sound fun
ANSI based text adventure from what I remember. My favorite was always legend of the red dragon or LORD. It was an mmorpg with text, chat, email, pvp, pve with random encounters, bars, markets. But you had to read so some people are not fans.
I don’t know if I miss them, but they were very formative for me when I was 11-13. I started with a 300 baud modem on my C64, and I eventually got a 2400 baud a couple years later. It seemed lightening fast! And it helped with being accepted on the elite boards. It seemed so goddamn important at the time.
I was in a c64 demo group, and all of my friends at the time were from BBSs. They were from all around the country. I formed some great friendships, and we worked together on demos. It was very eye opening to have these friendships with people that were not from my home town, especially when the European demo guys made an appearance.
Man, looking back on the demos they had back then it's wild what they were capable of doing. I think my first encounter with a demo was Jesus on E's on youtube a few years back. Seeing that done on an Amiga almost 30 years ago was pretty wild for me watching it in 2013 so I can only imagine what that was like viewing that when it dropped in 1992.
I always wanted an Amiga. I always cry at how Commodore dropped the ball on a machine that was so ahead of its time.
I still keep up with what the demo scene is doing on the Commodore 64. It’s pretty amazing. My 13 year old mind would have been blown in 1989 if I saw a production from today. When I was involved, it was still evolving out of the “cracktro”- group logo, scroll, some raster bars, sprites bouncing around, maybe some unique routine. Aesthetically, it was pretty garish, but it quickly evolved. I’m always surprised that the demos I was involved with are archived online, and I can watch them on an emulator. I always figured it would be lost, as ephemeral as the machine it was made on.
To bring the conversation back to the main topic- I miss the ephemeral! I can’t imagine being younger and having some shit from when I was a kid be so accessible. I can’t even stomach reading blog posts I made in 2005 without cringing at my writing!
Play-by-post games
Play-by-mail games
For those interested in learning more on the subject, or those nostalgic for it, here's a great five hour documentary on BBSs.
Isn't that still technically the internet? If you meant the web, then I agree that changed things in huge ways, especially "web 2.0".
No. BBSes were accessed via dial-up. Not a TCP/IP connection, but a direct computer-to-computer connection. The BBS software would set the modem to Auto Answer (ATA) and wait for incoming calls. The client terminal software would dial (ATDP for Pulse, ATDT for Tone) the BBS number. While the handshaking noise and modulation/demodulation of data, etc was the same, the type of connection was not.
While you were connected, no one else could reach the BBS - they'd just get a busy signal, so your terminal app would attempt to re-dial until you got on. You could leave it and have it play an alert when it got through. SysOps with the interest and money could setup multi-line boards and those could support multiple users at once, though they were a rarity.
You could even do this and have a real-time, full duplex conversation with a friend, if they just used ATA in their terminal app, you could dial their number and it would look basically like editing the same Google Doc.
Don't even get me started on using Telenet to access other types of forums and Talkies and the like.
But I digress...
You also had "On-Line Services" during this time; AOL being the most famous of them of course, but even they did not provide actual Internet access yet. While the Internet did exist at this point, access was still limited mostly to Large companies, Universities, other research institutions, and the Government. (AOL did eventually support an Internet e-mail gateway, and Newsgroups access, even before it supported any kind of browsing - they were still mostly a walled garden and preferred you use Keyword: Whatever.)
It wasn't until the mid 90s that Dial-Up TCP/IP (ie, Internet) connections started to become ubiquitous, thanks to Windows Sockets (Trumpet WinSock, etc, and others.) Windows 95 actually shipped with a native WinSock from Microsoft, so that was when it really started to take off, and AOL started supporting not only full Internet access but a WinSock as well (You could technically connect to AOL then minimize the app and use whatever TCP/IP program you wanted.)
The Web itself had already been around since '91 though. "Web 2.0" wasn't until the mid 2000s.
This got waaaay longer than I intended. Sorry, old geek here, and I also miss the days of BBSes. Honestly, I think before anyone is allowed to use the Internet they should have to learn how to behave in the world of the 1980s BBS first. Learn Netiquette. Learn to own their words. Experience 300 baud connections. Now getoffamylawn!
You must be older than me, or at least had the ability to use BBS as a kid. We didn't even have cable television. I started using the web first in the early 90's, then later in the 90's backed up a bit to the internet with newsgroups, IM's, IRC, ftp, and telnet. Library search too. I think that was Gopher.
The closest I got to BBS was a friend that was into it, so not close at all.
Thanks for the lesson!
That was fascinating, thanks for typing it all up. I learned several things I didn't know before!
The endless summer is, well, endless
I loved BBS systems back in the day. Getting on playing games like Legend of the Red Dragon was awesome.
I mean. I don't know. I've been in both boats. Discord is pretty great and by far more social, even for real life friendgroups. I know so many people who just have IRL community Discords.
Ermagherd I opened this up to say exactly this! BBS was probably just coming off the height of its short lived popularity when I was first introduced, and it was a really cool community. Seemed like everyone knew everyone and all hung out at computer shows.
Good times.
I ran Delayed Confusion BBS out of Houston. I competed with The General BBS. I had 4 nodes each with out dials. :>
I know BBSes and Doom, but what's a Door game?
So, they had games the BBS would host, and that would allow the players to interact with one another. They were the first MMORPG games ... sort of. Lots of time that interaction was turn based, but the other players could effect the game for everyone on the BBS and that was a big deal.
Usually referred to as MUDs - multi user dungeons
No, MUD was really an internet thing. Many BBS didn't support multiple connections. So, the games were mostly turn based. You could leave measages, but not have real-time interactions for the most part.
MUDs started in the 70's on PDP10's, x.25 or telnet, and arpanet. By the end of the 80's there were easily a couple dozen, plus modified localized versions (your BBS may have made tweaks just for their version). Plenty of BBS's supported multiple simultaneous logins, just not untold hundreds at a time. Maybe a couple dozen or so tops, more likely around 10 or so. You may have only had the opportunity to use small local ones.
I'm trying to differentiate between MUDs and DOOR games here. Not prove MUD games didn't exist.
So, they had games the BBS would host, and that would allow the players to interact with one another. They were the first MMORPG games ... sort of. Lots of time that interaction was turn based, but the other players could effect the game for everyone on the BBS and that was a big deal.
Ahh the old BBS’s, I do miss those. We used to meet up at Pizza Hut and hang out. Those were good times.
Wasn’t alive to experience them but from my (poor) understanding isn’t reddit and forum websites in general pretty similar in concept just more of a natural evolution of them?
Sure. I haven’t been wrong on the Internet in recent memory, so I’ll go ahead and be wrong here. I’m a tad bit too young to have used BBSs back in the day, but had occasion to see if I could make a kind of retro-throwback with smartphones and something stupid...
Anyway, I would consider the situation analogous to the modern World of Warcraft — or really any remake of a game that’s quite old cough cough Final Fantasy VII — and the original WoW. Yes, they’re ostensibly the same, much like how both BBSs and modern Internet forums are, well, forums, but from that perspective, you’d miss out on what made them unique. For example, the limitations of hardware and networking of the day forced communication and thus interaction into a different kind of experience that is some parts both impractical and undesirable to reproduce.
Let’s imagine some point, say, 30 years in the future where VR was both ubiquitous and sufficiently immersive such that it would be somewhat difficult to discern its failings compared to Reality. In this future, denizens of the Internet share and discuss ideas on a VR platform — we’ll call it Vicarium, as a portmanteau of vicarious and simulacrum. Now, we’d hopefully still be around and would most likely be interacting via this newer social platform because it would be superior both in terms of technology and user experience. After all, what mode of communication can beat face-to-face in terms of information bandwidth? And that’s ignoring the quality differences in media sharing; how could a flat video compare to a full Virtual Reality Environment? Why even bother with 2d videos anymore?
So, everyone is using Vicarium — or maybe 42-chan or whatever the hell comes out of that situation — and the topic of old technologies comes up, and you decide to reminisce about the old days of Reddit. You describe how people used computers of varying portability to communicate information over networks with weakest links of about 100Mb/s to share textual and media information and held multiple conversations simultaneously on a single topic while constantly perusing a semi-live stream of new updates. A younger user admits to never having gotten the chance to use Reddit, but asks what the whole deal was; after all, was Vicarium not just a natural evolution of the technology behind forum-based interaction? Yet, in terms that might not be easy to quantity, there seems to have been things lost along the line.
There was something quintessential to how users interacted with Reddit that are probably not worth trying to replicate. Imagine someone trying to use this new VR platform to recreate that experience. You’ve got a VR — well, AR, I suppose — simulation of a smartphone and a laptop which run the mobile app and website respectively. The system would need to convert native VR content back to text and flat media. Even if this effort could even be accomplished, who would want to use it? I mean, would the future Internet prefer a video of a cat or a full VRE where you could watch and even interact with the cat?
My point is, such technologies are a product of their time and can only be best appreciated because of that. Final Fantasy VII was praised at launch in 1997 for having amazing graphics. As someone who played it much later, when rendered graphics of the latest consoles would make even the FMVs look dated, the best I could manage was to pretend that the 21st century hadn’t yet begun, and even that was a conceited effort. VII might be my favorite game, but I can’t wait until the remake happens and I can properly marvel at this game with its amazing visuals and gameplay just as those who played at launch did for the original game.
Of course, this is the Internet and I’m probably just full of it, so feel free to ignore me.
Actually you’re right and I appreciate using games to clarify it. It’s similar to how I feel with the 2D sprites vs the 3D models in the Pokémon games. I miss the animated sprites from 5th gen because and the 3D is the natural progression of things and younger people I’ve talked to who only played newer games don’t agree with me about liking the 2D over 3D. You just had to be there to understand. :\
In any case I’m glad websites like this exist so we can all reminisce about the past and feel old together haha. :)
It's tough to explain the differences, because in some ways they were more cultural than technical. You can't just look at the two things, from 2019, and understand the difference.
A BBS was like a local club. Because phones could only call some small area for free, a BBS would have a limited userbase of the local area. There were ways around that, but even if you made long distance a non-issue, you still wouldn't get much out of your area code unless you were advertising nationally or well known.
So, it's a lot more like a local club. You could expect more in-person meetups. You expected people to figure out who you were, most of the time.
Also, there was a sense that the Sysop owned the system. You didn't feel entitled to cause trouble, because you were a guest. People would read the rules, and then actually follow them, because they just didn't want to be known as a dick, or lose access.
So, yeah .. Reddit, if it were almost entirely local to your town, and everyone acted like they were physically there. It had a very welcoming, helpful, vibe that you don't see in online communities very often since the Eternal September.
That would be neat to have a local version of Reddit. Give a better sense of community. The user base on any given subreddit is pretty insanely large.
I was also thinking this
Fidonet was my favorite BBS feature. Asynchronous usenet-like messages system that covered most of the BBS across the world, relying on exchanges from an ordered network of BBS that took place overnight. It took a few days for your message to be relayed across Fidonet and to get answers. It felt like magic when you dialed up with your modem and uploaded&downloaded packets of new messages.
I still remember all the software we used: Telix for dialup and BBS, then Bluewave as Fidonet reader.
This and when Sysops suddenly popped in BBS live chat to ask if you needed help.I was 13, and it felt like I was a hacker
LAN games
A friend of mine once told me all about the BBS and how he had one of the most extensive ones in Cincinnati I think back in the 90s (even made the news he said) and then the internet came and he just wasn't ready for it. Now he hosts gaming servers.
Yeah, we had cheap internet finally move into our free calling area (AOL was still long distance), and once you could have it for $15/month, everyone did, and BBS systems disappeared over night.
Then you'd see those people in real life, at school and user meetups. It was all local.
I have a feeling that this is why a lot of people my age (42) find the "younger" parts of the internet to be incredibly toxic. For at least the first 3-4 years that I used the internet regularly, the only people I corresponded with were work colleagues, people who I'd run into on the elevator or in the breakroom. I wouldn't dream of being obnoxious online, because there was no difference between online and off.
For reference, I graduated from college in 1998. All students had email addresses by then, and some message boards were starting to spring up. We were allowed to submit assignments via fax (!) but not via email. Anybody whose email address you used was by default going to be someone who'd given it to you in person.
One thing that also hits me is that I used to run a BBS, and so naturally, I'd moderate conversations. Sometimes I'd have to delete something, or talk to a user, but most of the time it was fine because people said things like 'You can't do that on User1539's board!'.
There was a sense that you were in someone else's house, and a guest.
Now, when people are on Facebook or Twitter, and they spew some hate, they scream 'I've got First Amendment protection! You can't censor me!', as if Twitter is a public good, and not a private business.
How people see these things as so impersonal and entitled is beyond me.
Wow - this takes me back. There was something so cool about the delayed gratification of waiting until everyone was off the phone and then using it to call into my favorite BBS systems.
BBS system = Bulletin Board System system
Bulletin Board BBS System
Yes, it does ... and yet that's what people say. Weird huh? There are lots of those in English if you go looking for them.
I always knew internet message boards were based off of a system that was used offline, but I've also wondered how it compares to online forums.
[deleted]
For instance very few BBS ever supported using a mouse.
The discussion isn't about technical similarities but social. Nobody cares BBSs didn't use a mouse. Nor do modern forums use VGA graphics or modems but so what?
Don't know why you are getting down votes.
Shitty attitude
Socially speaking, it was entirely different.
A BBS was a local club. You knew the owner, if not in person, then by reputation. If you started trouble, he might talk to you, give you a warning, etc.
So, people knew what would fly on that particular BBS, and what wouldn't. Most people acted like guests. It was all free, so no one felt entitled to cause trouble.
The entire scene was far more polite in general. Even the hacker boards were just people excited to meet other people who cared about the same things they did. It was far more collaborative, with very little gate keeping and chest beating.
In short, it was a welcoming community of people who were excited to help.
Barren Realms Elite and Tradewars
Came here to post exactly this. Our local newspaper ran one and I remember dialing in after school to set up where we would meet to ride bikes and be little hellions. Thanks for the memories.
I would hardly call that killed by internet. Rather upgraded and transcended to a new level of BBS.
Door games! Food Fight and Red Dragon (basically the same game) were the popular turn-burners in my circles
MUDs, too. I had several online-offline friends in 1991-2 from KOBRA MUD who'd get together a few times a year in Athens (GA) and we'd hang out, get stoned, and talk Star Wars and music. Good times.
There's a great documentary called BBS
There are still a few up, if you know where to look. They use telnet and dialup.
Never heard of this. Wow.
The BBS in Megaman battle network will always be missed.
https://www.telnetbbsguide.com
YES!
I wonder how many people had to google what this is.
I’ve always heard of it but struggle to understand it
I miss my TradeWars (tm) and Solar Realms Elite (tm)!
I used to be part of a BBS. We played L.O.R.D alot.
NETRUNNER was my jam, really.
That game was great too.
I've only seen them in documentaries and games. I kinda wish I could have been there to see them, but I'm sure I'm romanticising them a bit too.
It was just very different. More like going to a local club than a big festival. It's hard to explain that it was both better and worse, sometimes at the same time.
I lost days off my life in LORD... Dialing into the 4 local systems each afternoon after school was the highlight of many days.
BBS systems
Bulletin Board Systems Systems?
Yeah .... I know. But you're fighting against decades of 'That's just how people say it'.
I was a sysop back then -- TAG BBS software.
I too, genuinely miss it. I have a sweet US Robotics modem sitting behind me and I have a vague plan to run a BBS again in hopes somebody might actually use it.
I ran WildCat on a Tandy T1000 with a Zoom modem ... at least, that's the configuration I remember best.
I've toyed with the idea of running a BBS, but honestly, I think we need something new, not something old. The internet just isn't everything it was promised to be, but I don't think a set backwards is the way to go.
Maybe find some way to do wide area packet radio? Meshnets? I'm fine with text-only, but people just aren't realistically going to use their cell phones to dial into other people's modems.
Interesting ideas.
It may be a location-enabled app. Not too difficult to build, really. That’s what I do for a living.
Sure, but I think then you just end up with Facebook but with location as the factor rather than a friend network .. Which might be interesting in its own right.
I've been playing with meshnets. The idea being you have to be physically close to communicate, and privacy is easier since you're not connected to anyone else.
You never know, it might be useful if the internet ever slows to a crawl. I work with a DMS system that still runs off 9600 baud terminal emulator. So it runs fine even when the simplest thing won’t load off the internet. :).
I just missed out on this. Had an Amiga growing up and all my cracked games had cool phone numbers on it for BBS's in the intros. As we didn't have the internet (and I had no idea what it was really) I had no way to connect!
BBS worked without the internet. You needed a MODEM, which was a box that connected to your computer and the phone line, so you could call other computers directly without an internet connection.
Right, when I said internet I should've said "a method of connecting to a BBS"
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That's pretty early, really. I was running one until th early 90s.
Legend of the Red Dragon
Bulletin Board System was how my parents met.
Trade Wars
I remember finally giving up trying to explain to my friends that we couldn't play the computer game they wanted to play, because my mom was on the phone. The notion of a network that connected my computer to another one across town was so foreign that it didn't make sense to them.
I'm not bragging or anything, but the bar maid in in Legend of the Red Dragon was all over me.
Usurper, global war, and downloading porn
I ran a BBS, and went to those meetups. What an awesome time for the internet.
Dark Tower BBS was the one that changed my life. Never felt I fit in with any group at school. My BBS friends are still my friends today.
I do miss tradewars :(
I remember downloading Commander Keen when I was a kid from a BBS. On at 14.4 modem it took ages hahaha. Good memories with my dad.
This is how I downloaded Wolfenstein 3d and Doom!
Same here! In high school I was on the local BBS all the time. It was called the “Virtual Dimension”. We chatted, had Doom and Duke Nuke’em death marches, and played Legend of the Red Dragon.” Good times.
Have you tried meetup.com?
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Have you heard of internet MUDs? Those are multi-user text games that have been around as long as the BBS. You can find how many players are currently on many MUDs here. Most of them are connected through telnet or you can use a mud client. There are a few that have their own optional client, like Batmud.
Oh my god. This reminded me of Achaea. What a fun and exciting game. Reading up on it now, I believe when I first played was around the time they introduced mining. I remember being a jester with a crafted spade, and hunting rats, pixies and imps(?) So much fun and so many killed hours. Brb gonna give it a run...
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Ah you legend, having DOS machines kicking about at your age. What have you got installed currently?
I remember being excited when QBASIC got bundled with DOS back in the day and playing the busked Gorrilas game. Also then modifying it to make the bananas go at light speed through the buildings.
I’m 39 now and cut my teeth on screwing about with CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT with menus for loading EMM386 and HIMEM with different profiles for Windows or games.
Those certainly were the days!
As somebody who was born in this century I understand what some of those words mean individually but put together like this and I don't understand any of it
I miss smart conversations in general. Twenty years ago you talk to the elite of the world, to the best and brightest, to the creme de la creme and was one of them. Now, everywhere you go stupidity sets the rules...
r/iamverysmart
We would have Saturday night conference calls!
one of my first roleplaying experiences was on a BBS. I was SO excited to go home and see if any one replied to continue the role play.
Ever since that roleplay site died I never found another that was as fun/as active.
Oh, man! I remember playing text-based games like Barren Realms and Arrakis. And growing up in a cult, the chat rooms allowed me an incredibly rare outlet into a social arena that was not within the church. That’s actually how I met my first girlfriend. BBS’s were amazing!
Just going over to your friends house or the park unannounced to see if they were there and hang out.
I miss this. When you had to physically go hunt your friend down and link all the clues you had together. Like “well her mom said she left for the corner store like 10 mins ago, but her bike is parked at the river so she probably to x path to get there and bla bla bla” until you found them lol.
now if you try to do this, you just find out theyre busy with something else, or they get weirded out like youre trying to stalk them.
Lmao yeah - didn't have a phone for three weeks and people got pissed at me just showing up at their doors 😂
I live in the middle of a bar area and have given a bunch of my friends keys. I wake up to friends in my house that weren't there when I went to sleep fairly often. Sometimes I come home from work and they've left me food and I never even saw them. Both are actually pleasant surprises to me.
This is nice
This is so wholesome! Sounds like you have a great relationship with your friends. Definitely meeting some friendship goals there haha. How do you know who to thank for the food if they're gone before you wake up tho?
Sometimes they message me, sometimes I just don't thank anyone. They have free access to my house pretty much whenever even when my wife and I are out of town, so I don't think they expect thanks a lot of the time. It's just their way of reciprocating.
Just like I don't expect a thank you every time they come. I know they're quality people who are grateful, or I wouldn't have given them keys in the first place. So little gestures every now and then are our language for that.
How does your wife view this?
They're not just my friends they're our friends. I mean that fully, these aren't people I or her knew growing up and about half of them we've met in the last two years. They're also not all originally friends with each other there's 2 maybe 3 distinct groups. They're becoming a single group to some extent through the linchpin of our house.
This is a part of our general life philosophy, it was all very intentionally done by us as a couple as a way to combat the isolation and inward lookingness that we saw marriage tends to engender. We think a community is really important, a real one where you really feel you can trust people and they can trust you beyond just your relationship partners. We couldn't find one so we created one. And this was an important aspect of creating that feeling amongst our friends.
That sounds like a great community you have
Thanks, we're pretty happy with it and it's really made our lives better over the years
Edit: also, I want to add that it helps our marriage a lot. Now there are a bunch of people who love us individually and collectively, and are emotionally invested in the success of our marriage and know both of us well. So if I'm really frustrated and want to bitch about her and vent, I've got people I can do that with trusting they're not gonna think less of her or give me advice without keeping us both in mind (which can be fucking hard to do yourself when you're pissed at your partner) and isn't her so I can just let rip and it doesn't create defensiveness or long lasting wounds in our relationship. And she can do the same.
I think sometimes people and definitely I, just need a space where I can safely bitch about my wife to calm down and release some resentment and built up temporary negative feelings. These people help create that space for us.
Thanks for your insight. Super helpful!
And super dangerous if one of them turns out to be a psycho killer.
I appreciate your mental state, but what the hell
If a psycho killer really wanted to kill my wife and I, having keys would only make life marginally easier tbh.
That's probably true, but I think psycho killers are comparatively rare. I'd be more concerned about money and valuables. If someone hits a rough patch financially an otherwise lovely person might be... tempted.
tl;dr because i got kind of windbaggy there: We don't have much that I'd mourn getting stolen for very long, and the people who stay are very low risk in that regard.
We don't own many things that we couldn't replace easily. My wife and I have moved around a lot over the years we've been together so we're relatively materially 'light' for our age (I'm 35 she's approaching 30). Looking around my place right now the most expensive thing someone could steal from me is my gaming laptop which cost \~$1100 bucks, I could replace that fairly easily in 2-3 months and in the meantime just not play videogames. We have various photographic prints and art pieces which would be irreplaceable, go for a decent amount, but also be really hard to sell (and also we got all of them for free as gifts from the artists and photographers).
Generally we're just not that attached to our things. We don't acquire a lot of expensive stuff and a lot of the stuff we have if it breaks, stolen, or gets lost it's just like well whatever. Also the people who have keys, they're not all rich, but all of them would have really far to fall before they got to the point of stealing our shit. Not just in their own personal finances but they'd have to burn through multiple different layers of family and friend support before they got to the point where stealing our stuff and selling it would actually make pragmatic sense for them in terms of effort v. reward. These aren't people staying at ours because they have nowhere else to go, they're staying at ours because they like the company (us and whoever else happens to pop up) and it's easier and safer than getting at home drunk late at night (and then they often just stay a day or two to hang out).
I see - seems like a good arrangement and environment you have!
See, you should probably think about it though
Would you mind expounding on some of the ways you’ve formed a community in the last couple of years?
Sure what would you like to know? I can give a quick run down of some important points I guess and then I don't know you can ask more specific questions if you want. warning wall of text because I'm on holiday and just had a fuckton of coffee and I actually have thought deeply about this a lot because I do it intentionally:
Had to chop it into two because of the word limit.... Good god I have had too much coffee.
Part 2
This is a little interesting (I guess?).
I can't help but wonder though why are these people relying on your guys' place for a place to sleep, though?
It makes it seem like they either don't have a place to go back to themselves, or it's not a place they can reliably just go back to. It seems quite a bit extra to decide to actually enter somebody else's home (and it is, no matter how "open" it may feel..) rather than just going back to your own. Why even have a place, then? If it's related to logistics when going out, that still seems a little strange (perhaps especially so nowadays with Uber/Lyft so prevalent).
I did find the last part a little funny - harping on quite a bit about money and reading into it so much. You mention not paying attention to money or caring if they pay it back or not (because 'it's no problem..!'), but then go on to say that if they don't reciprocate then you do care, which then also means you actually were paying attention the whole time, lol (else, how would you ever even notice this??). I know for me at least, I wouldn't seem to apply to either of your two constraints (that people are either: people who exploit, or people who fear being exploited). For me, I just don't like people handing me things or buying me things, giving me hand outs. Not because of any reason other than I just simply don't want that and I expect to provide for myself - I'm very, very independent as a person. So this then obviously would not put me in as a person who wants to exploit, but I'm also then not a person who "fears being exploited" because.. there's nothing to exploit? And even if there was, I wouldn't be having that - people know not to try silly things with me. There seems to be a strong, natural, friendly and mutual respect - that I'm authentic, that I'm not there to f' around, and that I'd be there in an instant if you ever needed help.
Anyway, interesting.. feel free to ignore the last part (above), it wasn't really relevant - the parts before that really were the more applicable parts.
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EDIT: I just realized on the first post you said you basically just so happen to live smack in the middle of a major, central social hub - which includes many bars. And these are all literally within easy walking distance from your place. I assume this is actually why people will just be at your place randomly, lol - not really so much because it's your place, but rather because it is convenient (ex: they're out late and it'd be easier to just crash there - or they're going to be out and so are arriving at the area early to chill a bit while things like the social plan come together, so they can then just quickly roll out and meet up with the people). This actually seems backed up by the fact that you said:
We initially lived ... still in the central city [but it] didn't really have any major draws around to anchor why they would be there in the first place except to come see us.
Basically saying, "So I mean.. yeah why would they want to actually come see us?" So unless there were other things that they benefited from personally, this wasn't just some set up that has people coming over truly at random to be in your life - it's that your place seems to happen to be convenient for them, and so they use it. And they'll appreciate it and show appreciation for this by leaving food for you guys every now and then.
Definitely in your initial post none of this was clear, lol - you were presenting it as if you had set up some sort of situation where friends were just completely randomly coming over and having time with you, as if you lived together and they were your brothers/sisters. Instead it seems it's actually such a highly specific situation that needed to be created (literally moving smack into the middle of a very, highly populated area that is also within very easy walking distance of a ton of social and night life things, so that it's convenient for other people) in order for it to actually even work (and again, citing the fact that when you guys lived in a place that didn't benefit people in ways that had nothing to do with you, none of this actually happened). This actually oddly sounds exploitative, I just realized - which is a little strange I guess to think about considering you specifically said you'd no interest in having such around. Myself being rather social, I could see the enjoyment of having people around in general, but it's I guess funny because I would assess this totally differently (I wouldn't convince myself that I'm valuable in their life personally - that they actually authentically care about me - rather, it's the things I have that are valuable to them, and I'm not constructed of material, so I'd feel like it's a bit phony, which I of course wouldn't like and would call out.. but again, what people are willing to accept or how they see things is always different).
Interesting, though...
i can't help but wonder though why are these people relying on your guys' place for a place to sleep, though?
First off you have to understand we live in Manila. People who haven't lived or been here find this difficult to understand, but the traffic is literally soul crushing. Moving around this city is exhausting, difficult, expensive, and unreliable. Every method of transport short of having your own car and driver is at least two if not all of those adjectives. Having one just makes it exhausting (actually I guess it makes it expensive too). I really can't overstate this enough. You take things for granted like Uber/lyft being prevalent. We have Grab, it's a monopoly, it's got a shortage of drivers, getting one can be impossible at times. Taxis will regularly turn you down because they just don't want to deal with the traffic and then you're just shit out of luck. Walking blows because there's barely any sidewalks and what sidewalks there are crammed with stalls, parked cars, etc. Traffic is a continuous all week all day force and entity in the lives of Manileños. During the day you don't run "errands" you run "errand" you can plan one thing a day to be done. I really can't over emphasize this enough, if you ever meet someone who's lived in Manila, ask them what it's like dealing with the traffic.
This affects our lives in all sorts of initially unforeseen ways when a person who works in a functioning city thinks of traffic. Over the course of time you just... Stop seeing your friends for the most part, or see them far less than you would like to. It's such a major effort to get to them, you're tired from work (and your evening commute) and you immediately think well if I go to them then what? How do I get back? Am I going to be stuck there? So this is partially also my adaptation to that. How do I make sure the people I like are around, remember I already like them before I'm asking them to stay over. They already like me also. It makes their lives easier to have a place to stay that's open to them and it makes my life easier to not have to go to them to see them. The bar stuff is just the initial excuse to get them comfortable with the idea (as you said most people would want to go home or feel awkward about staying at someone's house so it's just an icebreaker)
And finally reciprocation. Reciprocation is not only about money, in fact its primarily not, it's about gestures. For example, my wife is away a lot. For weeks and months at a time, in fact she's currently away. My friends know this, two of them hit me up on Sunday and said "hey we wanna come over and cook dinner and chat, maybe you can help us with our grant idea" we didn't talk about their grant idea and they never intended to, they came because they knew I've been on my own for quite a bit of time now and just wanted to do something nice for me but pitched it tht way so there's not an air of "oh poor thing we'll come help you" (because no one really wants that). We just end up talking about where I'm at, how I'm doing, anything else and spending time. It was a very thoughtful way to go about things in my opinion. We also all had Christmas eve at my house, before we either left for our families, or holidays, or generally split up (about half of us are expats and have no families here).
You're mistaking an entry and evaluation strategy with budding friends which is mostly what I described, with how it continues. I'm not going to describe all the ways my friends have and continue to be lovely, I mean that would be kind of weird and ultimately not that helpful to anyone else on reddit.
It's also not a step by step instruction guide for other people. As I told the other dude from tel Aviv, the idea is to look at the thought, intent, care, and application of effort on how to start building a community out of the blue. It's about working with or around whatever given set of factors a person may have, which is why I gave the various details for myself because I only know how I went about it what I used and why. It's up to any reader to figure out which parts apply to their lives if any.
Thanks for reading though, that's at least two people who read my crazy wall of text which is far more than I actually expected when I wrote it.
Interesting post - definitely a lot more context.
What you said about Manila and the level of traffic there - well written. You can really sense, almost palpably, just exactly how it must feel. Very frustrating! This then also gives many insights into the real how's and why's behind the whole setup, and really exactly how/why it works and comes together that way.
I couldn't imagine living in that type of traffic situation. In the United States, it'd be like living in San Francisco (not the surrounding/rest of the Bay Area), or New York City (Los Angeles is large enough though that it's really more conditional/situational). You can basically forget trying to get around normally, but it sounds like Manila is like a whole other level of craziness. At least New York City has a more extensive metro system. Getting around San Francisco is fine if you happen to be going somewhere the train (called "BART" there) takes you. Otherwise you're just jumping from train to bus, to bus, to bus, etc... you're so reliant on public transportation that you can basically kiss that independence goodbye. So much for just getting in your car and "going to that awesome place" or "this one place I wanted to check out real quick" - everything becomes (by necessity) so much more planned out, so I can only imagine how crazy these same types of things must be in Manila.
I've heard nice things though about the Philippines in general - how nice it is, there's tons of beaches.. a real, tropical island like Hawaii and the Caribbean.
Thanks for the post, and interesting read. That was nice to hear also about the people that came over really just to be there, taking consideration that they knew you were probably a bit alone with your wife being out of the country for so long on her current trip.
Surrounding yourself with actual, good friends is something I think too many people lie to themselves of nowadays. Everybody wants to act like "they have so many friends" when really what they have is mainly just acquaintances. Friends would actually think to (and actually) do what you'd mentioned they did, so, that's nice to hear!
What you said about Manila and the level of traffic there - well written. You can really sense, almost palpably, just exactly how it must feel
Sometimes i'm 5 kilometers from my home, it's the rainy season, and it's payday friday at 5pm and I want to die. Either that or I want to kill everyone around me and then die. It's that bad.
fake edit: people who live here literally track payday fridays (2x a month) because traffic jumps to insane amounts (people who live in manila during the week and then go home to nearby provinces go back to the province when they get their pay). During rainy season, it always rains right around 4-7 pm. And when I say it rains I mean it's like someone is pouring a bucket of water down from the sky continuously for 2-3 hours, and our infrastructure sucks so tons of streets flood, some up to waist level or higher, winnowing available routes (of an already shitty road network) even further. Like you get stuck far from home on one of those days and all you can feel is a sense of doom. I am not exaggerating. this is what the entrance to our light rail line looks like almost every day. sometimes it's slightly better sometimes its slight worse. Sometimes it breaks down and people have to get off and walk on the tracks on Waze's driver satisfaction index Manila is 170 out of 186. Another Philippine city, Cebu, is 186 out of 186. It's absolutely crushing. Sorry to go on about it, but it's just the worst thing and the #1 thing that really holds Manila back from being quite a decent place to live.
The islands are fucking gorgeous though. Some of the best beaches I've ever been on, the sea in many places (less and less these days because of our major plastics problem sadly) have beautiful soft white sand and these clear turquoise waters that I just can't describe and pictures usually do not do any justice to.
Glad I caught you in your caffeinated state! I appreciate the information. I’ve been living in Israel for the past almost three years and have definitely experienced the isolation you’ve described. I also met my girlfriend shortly after moving here and could totally relate to your statement of relationships leading to inwardness. I’ve found I am less likely to pursue other friendships since I have my girlfriend as a crutch, and I believe she does the same thing.
In terms of changing location, living by the bars in Tel Aviv costs probably 5x the average rent in Manila, but I definitely see the value of being in a more happening area. Luckily we’re moving slightly closer to the city in a few months so I’d like to think that will help me form new connections.
In general, I think being in a community was so engrained to my life growing up that when I graduated college and moved on it felt like I needed to learn an entirely new and uncomfortable skill. It truly requires an immense amount work to form connections and hopefully I can continue to slowly improve until I find that core group you refer to.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
Awesome I'm glad you actually found value in it. I was writing it laughing to myself about how I'm such a windbag online and that no one would read this shit but just kept plowing on anyway.
I’ve found I am less likely to pursue other friendships since I have my girlfriend as a crutch, and I believe she does the same thing.
The totally natural inertia of a relationship. Meeting new people is hard and kinda scary and makes a person feel insecure. It's super emotionally uncomfortable. Like inertia it takes energy to change the momentum, and it's always easier to not exert that energy. I probably have physics errors in that analogy, whatever.
In terms of changing location, living by the bars in Tel Aviv costs probably 5x the average rent in Manila, but I definitely see the value of being in a more happening area
I mentioned that part because that's what worked for us and it was within our reach. Our rent actually dropped significantly in the move and our space got bigger (Manila has weird real estate dynamics that would bore you to death) my main point of recounting my details wasn't to say this is the answer, but to obliquely say look work with what you got. Underrstand which parts of the structure of your life need to be overcome or adapted to to create community and which can be leaned on and used as a strength. That was also the point of me talking about my extroversion and my wife's minor fame. Those are useful characteristics we leveraged in pursuit of the goal. Don't follow our track, use what you got, I'm sure you've got something and build around that. What matters is the intention, the thought, the care, and the application of effort.
In general, I think being in a community was so engrained to my life growing up that when I graduated college and moved on it felt like I needed to learn an entirely new and uncomfortable skill.
Yeah definitely, and no one really thinks or teaches about it from what I've found so far in life. We (people) take it for granted because most don't have to actually figure out how to do it. It's given to you by the vagaries of life usually (and many people don't actually like the social groups they've been given I've found). And then when our life circumstances take it from us we don't know how to make a new one, and then we get sad and start acting out in bad ways because we're, evolutionarily at the very core, social animals. But we don't know why we're sad, and we end up blaming other things, our partners, our jobs, our desire for certain material goods. I really think we hunger for sincere emotional connections, a romantic partner is not enough, and can never carry all the emotional burdens a person has, it's best to spread them out amongst people who love you and you love in return to spare your partner all that weight. So how to go about getting that has been very important to me the past few years.
She enjoys the extra-muhritals
Asking for a friend... Is it extra if you're both there?
Uh, yeah...Extra awesome
😂
You are your friends are awesome dude. Made my day to hear this :)
How do you know who to thank for the food if they're gone before you wake up tho?
You generally don't, at least in my case. A buddy left you some food. You scarf that shit down. Fuck that fool and his leftover lo mein. That's real friendship lol.
Once a friend & I were on our way to the bus station for a pre-planned day out. On a whim we decided to go ask another friend if she wanted to come & turned up at her house, got let in by her mum, went to her room where she was still asleep & woke her up. She got up straight away wanting to come, had cereal in bed, got ready & we were on our way again on foot with an additional member. We had a really nice day.
So simple, so effective. Whilst nowadays we have money, cars, independence to stay out all day & night & so much more to do around here, but we’ll plan on WhatsApp for months to do something & get nowhere.
Turning up at your friend’s house was the key to keeping friendships alive for a long time. You rarely said no to anything in that moment unless you really really couldn’t.
Turning up at your friend’s house was the key to keeping friendships alive for a long time
Exactly. This is why we live the way we do, it was exactly to recreate this aspect of friendship. It was very intentional on our part to structure our lives this way and then get these people comfortable with the idea that when we say "drop by anytime" we really mean "drop by anytime"
This is one of my favorite pick up strategies: I'm constantly giving women my keys. So far, none of them have shown up. Matter of time. And I've been robbed twice.
If only the women had come over, maybe the robbery could have been avoided. You HAVE to start giving your keys to more women.
Something you got to see that might count as unpleasant?
Our buddy and his new girlfriend, who wasn't his girlfriend then, kept banging on the couch for some reason. There's a bed yall, you're adults use it. Also the couch is harder to wash ffs. I'm a big fan of her though in general shes an excellent addition to the roster and got me soup once when I was devastatingly hungover without asking. Which pretty won my heart forever.
Edit: oh and there's smaller hassles like, sometimes some of them will come in a bit drunk and want me to go out and it's hard to say no because "going out" is literally just going downstairs for me. It can be difficult to resist the temptation.
do you live in a sitcom?
Pretty much except they keep closing my regular bars down wtf. Two that I've been going to for almost a decade closed in the past year. And the local residents didn't even rally around and try to save it with a hare brained scheme and a song and dance number. They just... Closed. I am bereft.
I am now convinced of this.
Oh man. My other half is like this and I had to be very forceful about people NOT getting the keys to my house.
His best friend is super sweet, but an ex con with weird paranoia issues. Like, their bromance is adorable but no. I don’t want to wake up to Mr Always Has A Weapon chilling on my couch with a bong.
Is this an Internet thing, or an adult thing? I'm skeptical that it was socially acceptable even back in the 80s, as an adult, just to show up unannounced and ask Jim's wife if Jim could come out to play.
Right? We definitely did this as kids and teenagers.
MAYBE if your friends are close neighbours you can continue that a bit longer..but I don't see adults doing that lol
I once went out bike riding and happened to go to my friend's neighbourhood. I texted her that I was outside her house but no worries if timing wasn't good to say a quick hi.
That's one time in 15 years lol
I'm skeptical that it was socially acceptable even back in the 80s, as an adult, just to show up unannounced and ask Jim's wife if Jim could come out to play.
Well if Seinfeld is any indication, "the pop in" was a common (painted as inconvenient) occurrence where people would just come to your place without notice. Also, according to Seinfeld and Friends, adults just spend 5 hours at a diner/coffee shop every day and their other friends would sometimes show up looking for them.
This is still how it goes with us haha, internet and calls arent common here in ours
I had a co-worker who lived a couple houses away from me and we had been spending a few evenings together at each others' places. One evening I went to visit her and she got upset I didn't message her beforehand to check if it was okay for me to come over to knock on her door.
Or they wouldn't answer their door. It's 2019. We don't answer doors.
Yes we do. If we don't answer within 5 seconds the UPS guy will leave.
now if you do this they're at home in their bed on their phone...
and they tell you "nah, im busy RN" when you want to do anything with them.
Lmao facebook told me you where here having a coffe alone i know you have some time to kill mate
I mean I sometimes walk over to my friend’s houses but I don’t hunt them down if they’re not there
I think I would have been weirded out even as a kid...
Because in this day and age people expect texting. It implies that you texted but they didn’t reply and you tracked them down anyway.
That's what the Waitress keeps saying! (Except in Charlie handwriting so: "❌⏪🤷➡✨👸✨🏦🗣⚠🗿")
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yea, it sucks growing up and seeing everyone so busy but at the same time still having free time; just not to spend with you.
Stalking... is weird?
Yeah, you can't go visit someone without texting or phoning them about it beforehand now. I can't even show up unannounced to my best friend's place
Really? I still do this, or I’ll shoot them text saying “I’ll be at their place in 3 minutes” lol
Nothing worse than a 3 minute warning after you've spent an hour getting the perfect balance of Pornhub tabs active and Feng Shui'ed. Or so I've heard.
Tabs? Shit man I just pick whatever the first video is and handle my business lol
It's pretty evident how differently we are wired based on those two answers. I still love you.
Love you more
Just do us both a favor and fucking knock. Assume I didn't hear the text over the multiple streams. I'm working on it.
Now kiss~~~~
My friend in high school did this. He'd load up 20 tabs of videos and pics and that's the only way he could jerk off. I remember thinking how weird it was, but he defended his jerk off habits vehemently
It IS almost stalking; that is why I used to just wait for them
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So much of pre 2000’s sitcoms wouldn’t even happen today with everyone having cellphones. How many Siendfeld episodes start with “Jerry didn’t get that important message”?
Rose colored glasses is right. I’ve got every song every made in my pocket. The future is fucking awesome.
And so many shows & films still try to make those far more interesting events happen by having scenarios like lost phone, dead battery, no connection or going as far as setting it in the 90s.
Hell there’s an entire series of movies about the cell phone frequency being a gateway into another dimension leaving humans to only live outside of cell coverage areas.
What movies are those?
Pulse. The later movies expand on the after math of the first and that’s where you learned humans have moved out of cities and have shunned technology.
There's more than one Pulse movie? Are the others good?
No. No they aren’t.
Trying to think of an episode that starts like that. There is a good one where George is trying to stop a girl hearing an embarrassing message all episode and it turns out someone had played it to her anyway.
Or the one where they’re in a garage trying to find where they parked. One person finds the car but doesn’t have the keys so they go and try to find the other person and everyone just keeps missing each other.
It’s kinda crazy though. Recently I took a business trip to LA. The morning of my iPhone just turned off and never turned back on. Thank god Apple is so cross device because I just used my iPad as my phone until I landed in LA and got a replacement at the first Apple store I could find. And on top of that because I use iCloud EVERYTHING!! On my old phone came back on my new phone automatically.
Didn’t mean for that to turn into an Apple infomercial but the point was I was panicking because all my flight details and contacts were on that damn phone. I didn’t even know how to reach my boss because I don’t have a house phone. And I was locked out of most accounts because I use a password manager with 2 factor authentication. And guess what? The second factor was my non functioning phone.
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how is this different from Android? I can answer my phone from my tablet and computers when using Chrome(haven't tried using other browsers). I'm not trying to bash Apple, but I just personally do not have any apple devices. They make good products, just not my cup o tea. :)
The last android phone I owned was a galaxy 3 which was a POS. So I really can’t compare. Have no clue how I would go about business had this happened to me on the android side of things.
What I can tell you is that I only signed into iCloud when I first got my phone about 3 years ago and that’s it. So all of this was just automatic. I picked up my wife’s iPad and wiped it. Set it up with my iCloud account and all of my stuff was there. Even iMessages. Only issue I had was the 2 factor authentication. Now had I had an LTE enabled iPad I probably could have made it work (just a guess).
I will be changing my 2 factor authentication over to a google voice number though because not having access to SMS when the phone is no longer available is a major single point of failure I’ve never even considered before this incident.
I will say I’ve got an android fanboy as a friend and speaking to him it seems like android has copied a lot of the iCloud syncing stuff. At my bachelor party one of my groomsmen lost his android and I said too bad it wasn’t an iPhone because you could have used find my iPhone. My android fanboy said there’s a similar feature and we found his phone using it.
With that said from my experience there is no way to wipe an iPhone and use it if you don’t have the iCloud account that phone was tied to so stealing an iPhone that’s locked is useless. On android however you can get root access and presumably do whatever you want with the phone so it would be worth it to steal an android phone.
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
The best was when they're trying to meet at the cinemas
Did you see a doofus looking guy?! Lol
I think you're partially right. If I had to do that shit now I'd just say fuck it and stay home, but as a kid it was an adventure, plus I didn't have much to do at home at that age anyway
I'll never forget in 1997 when I planned to meet my friend at a mcdonalds on a specific street.
I arrive, waiting.
Waiting...
It's freezing rain, it's cold. I wait an hour before going home pissed.
We call each other, she sounds pissed too - turns out she thought we were meeting at the mcdonalds inside of the mall (the street and mall has close names)
She also waited an hour lol.
Yeah there's a lot of good stuff about being free of technology but we definitely had our annoyances not being able to reach people lol
I was a kid in a small town during that time so no public transport, didn't care if they didn't arrive. It was cool knocking on someone's door and asking their parents if they can come play with us.
This is why I'm glad I grew up in apartments. It wasn't a very big area to track someone down, but there was still plenty of doors to knock if someone was busy.
I don’t think it’s entirely rose tinted, it seems annoying to compare directly with today’s convenience now, but back then we didn’t know anything better. It was just..normal life & we lived accordingly.
The average person’s day would be less filled up with so many plans, the lifestyle was slower & allowed for more time to meet someone & spend time together even if you were late. And things like the risk of both do your day being ruined was annoying, but just that, a risk which everyone equally had in society so we lived accordingly.
On the same note people were less likely to be causal about timings & late as you couldn’t just update the other person about your progress. If you decided to meet with someone you both fully committed to it unless something really big happened, just flaking out of plans last minute for something that can be helped wasn’t an option unless you were a bit of a jerk.
This whole post is people with rose tinted glasses talking about how much they loved ignorance and inconvenience.
Holy shit I relate to this so much.
I’d ride my bike over to one friends house, but he wasn’t home.
Get back home and use the house phone to call other friend. (Not home).
Ride bike to a 3rd friends house. (His Mom said he walked off into the woods in random direction).
Gather the information and head to very specific river way back in the woods.
Find all friends at location looking for salamanders, frogs, fish, etc. in the river.
Stay around there for the next 6 hours then walk bikes back to our houses together at dark.
And you wouldn’t be hurt that you weren’t invited because it was just up to everyone to find each other & join in for things if they wanted to play that day.
/r/unexpectedStrangerThings
Man I always wished I had a childhood like this. We didn’t really have cell phones until we became teenagers, but even by then the culture had changed enough that kids just didn’t really go roam around and hang out. Everything was normally prescheduled at school and involved getting a ride to someone’s house from parents.
Of course I never had many friends anyways, so maybe all that shit was going on and I just didn’t know haha
Assuming you're an adult now, that would've stopped already. You just miss childhood
Not necessarily lol. Im referring to the nostalgia of having to track someone down. As an adult your’re probably too busy to take 2 hrs of your time to track someone down. But like maybe on a weekend? Lol
Yep, I remember when me and my friends would be out bike riding and we would ride by our friends' houses just to see if there were any other bikes in the yard. If we saw bikes, we knew friends were there so we'd stop. No bikes in the yard, keep on going.
Now i have to commit a crime to get this much fun!
This sounds like the last part of the sentence would be 'floating face-down in the Potmac with 37 stab wounds to the face and torso'
Yeah totally true
That doesn’t sound very fun lol
Yep. You only do this now if they've gone missing
And most of the tracking down takes place online lol
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Lmao
as a kid its a fun puzzle. as an adult u a stalker.
I still do this, but the attitude has changed from it being friendly to stalking someone. My friends luckily see it in the former perspective. Also, it's no longer acceptable to ring someone's doorbell it seems,you have to call them. UK.
Same lol
I wish I could miss this. I was a country kid who grew up miles away from civilization with parents who didn’t want to drive me the half an hour it took to get to any friends. I used to always wonder what it’d be like to just bike down the street and visit people.
I can kind of relate. Grew up in a rural small town. Half the kids were on farms, and even among the kids who lived in town people didn’t really just randomly meet up around town. Everything social was generally planned out at school, through landline, or just a result of people hanging out after school.
Part of that just might have been a shift in culture though. I mostly grew up through the 2000’s, the internet existed and was big but definitely wasn’t what it is now. Cell phones also existed, but kids didn’t have them. It was just kind of a weird in between point, but I think by then the age of just letting your kids roam around all evening was pretty much over. Our parents wanted to know where we were going whenever we left (if they didn’t just give us a ride), and if we didn’t come home after school we were expected to call and let them know.
Damn lol. How far was your closest neighbour?
There were a few farmhouses on the same street as my place, but none of them had any kids for me to play with. I used to visit the neighbors’ cows or run around the woods with my dog, but I rarely got to see any friends outside of school. The idea of biking around suburbs with friends seemed like a fairytale life to me.
Damn that sucks. Tell me you at least had siblings?!?
Nope! Just me and my dog. I once begged my parents for a sibling but my mom had some medical issues after the first time and didn’t want to risk it again. Sometimes I’d call friends on the house phone and talk for hours, and eventually that was replaced by instant messengers online. Everyone here is talking about how much better it was before the internet but for me it was one of the only ways I could talk to my friends!
Quest markers really do kill the immersion, but the convenience is just too great to pass up.
I still do this cause I have a friend who NEVER ANSWERS HER GODDAMN PHONE
Yes. Now you have to schedule time for kids to play. Play dates. I liked it when kids just went outside and found each other.
Now we have just blue checkmarks.
The downside of no phones was "that friend" who could never be on time. Eventually you'd all agree to just stop waiting for them.
Sounds like you enjoy mindlessly wasting your time.
As a kid i most certainly did lol
I remember following a friend's foot prints in fresh fallen snow, all the way from his house to a pub a few blocks away. I probably would have eventually found him there, but it was so convenient to be able to follow his steps.
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Need? Ouch lol
Today it’d be stalking
Now it’s weird if you hunt and kill your friends.
My friend doesn't have a phone so I still have to do this lol
I have one friend like this but we have made it clear it’s her responsibility to get a hold of us lol.
I should probs do that
Whatever now if I let my kid go to his friends or cruise around on his bike it negligence and being a bad father. He turns 10 in a month.
I think you just miss being a kid
welp this certainly doesn’t happen today and it sounds kinda fun to be honest.
Eh I think it just kind of depends honestly. We didn’t have cell phones during my childhood, but it still wasn’t really a thing because we lived in a small rural Canadian town. Half the year it was too cold to be out randomly roaming around, and even if it wasn’t half the kids in school were from farms so they sure as hell weren’t spending all evening riding around town on their bikes. And among the ones that were, the town was lacking in density enough that your chances of just setting out on a bike and finding your friends outside doing stuff were slim to none. There wasn’t any designated neighbourhood we were all from, there was only one school in the town so all our classmates could have been from anywhere in that town.
On the flip side, when I moved up to the city I found I randomly came across friends out and about way more even though we all had cell phones and shit. The neighbourhoods are way denser, which means more people I could potentially be friends with in a closer area. On top of that, there’s actual kind of designated hubs that you’re more likely to meet people at - malls, train stations, bus depots, downtown in general. We didn’t really have that in my small town, if other kids were out doing stuff they could be literally anywhere in town and could have taken any route to do so. Where as now, most of my friends live relatively close by, go to the same locations, and often take the same transit there. I feel like if I’d grown up here I definitely would have still had that experience of just... going out and finding friends to hang out with. But that just wasn’t as feasible where I grew up, regardless of whether we had cell phones or not.
And to be fair, even tho we didn’t have cells it was still the 2000’s and culture was changing. Parents in general were a lot less likely to just let their kids roam until they decided to come home. But even if they did it still wouldn’t have been as effective for us in our small cold hometown to just phone friends over the land line and make designated plans before leaving, which wouldn’t have mattered as much in a denser environment.
The other side of this...
Just going about your day and all of a sudden your friends show up unexpectedly. I really miss that.
Or the other, other side: that one kid who knew where you lived and came over all the time until you eventually had your whole family pretend no one was home
Ah yes there was always that one kid that was super keen to play all day long, everyday.
It sounds like you have a story that you need to tell us.
Not comment op, but pretty much at this stage right now. I live in an apartment complex with my wife and our school age kids. Theres a bunch of other families with kids around our boys' ages and most days after school the kids go around door knocking to see who's home and if they want to come out to play tag or football etc etc.
For the first 6 months it was great, but it has become apparent that one of the families aren't really the kind of people we want our kids hanging out with, and our kids dont really want to hang with their kids either. For a while we made up excuses so the boys didnt have to play but still, almost every afternoon we were met with knocks and "but why??? It's not fair!" From the neighbour kids.
My wife has taken to parking her car down the street some afternoons and we often pretend we aren't home. When we hear them coming (9 times out of 10 we can hear them before they make it to the door), we shut off the tv, lock the front door and play "the quiet game". If the boys want to play outside we go to the park straight after school.
It feels immature to be avoiding these 7 and 8 year olds like this, but we still have to see these kids and their parents fairly regularly around the complex. And besides, how do you tell a kid your child doesnt like them and we dont like you much either?
You could be honest but that would probably cause unnecessary drama, just say your kids do after school stuff and are too tired to play.
Lol remember trying to do this only my mom usually wouldn't play along and would "Oh hi Billy I'll go get him."
I moved to the capital for studies and work, and I sometimes go to my old town to see my mom and my pets. If it's a weekday, I may even go to my old school to say hi to the teachers I cared, it is a honest smile they give me back :)
That still happens to me.
This still happens to me now though. Friends will just show up at my house to watch a movie or something, or vice versa.
Thing is, none of us would be having that experience at our current age anyway. Takes my group of friends weeks to arrange a time where we can meet due to all the obligations of adulthood :(
I was thinking this too, it's more to do with age. When I was out walking my dog a couple of days ago I saw a kid ride his scooter over to this friend's house to see of he was home. His mum said they were about to go out. When I walked back around there he was still out there on his scooter waiting for his friend to come back. It made me realise exactly what you said, it's adulthood that killed it.
Adulthood makes maintaining a social life so much harder. I have to plan meetups with my friends a month or two ahead of time because everyone has different schedules, Friend A can’t take off this weekend, Friend B lives in the next state over, Friend C is on vacation that week, etc.
Like that one friend's house you spent so much time there you don't even need to knock anymore. You could just walk in and their parents wouldn't care.
My older brothers used to have friends who showed up and started making coffee and no one noticed he was there until he asked if anyone else wanted coffee. And everyone was ok with this like it was normal. My brothers might not have even been home always they just came to chill at our house. I my self am a decade younger so when i was at that age me and all my friends had mobile phones so this kinda stuff weren't a thing anymore.
This experience must be what inspired that old sitcom trope of a new character just being added to a household out of nowhere, with either the thinnest of explanations or none at all. And yes, I'm aware that the use of this trope was usually to try to inject some life into a sitcom that was starting to get stale. But what I'm saying is that the experience you're describing is what made it believable.
That was me. I just showed up at my friend's house whenever so often that his parents don't even acknowledge me.
That's always been my house lol, my mates just come in and my dad doesn't mind. I'm kinda glad my place is the most used hang out spot. For having a piss up or just hanging out to play video games or whatever
I have that experience a teeny bit as a current teen. Trying to arrange shit (especially with few close friends) takes forever to do nowadays which is so backwards considering I can reach out to them at the drop of a hat. A few weeks ago a friend of mine and I got together at the local WAHO and were thinking of what we wanted to do, so we headed over to our other friends house who never checks his cellphone, parents (who I've met twice since he's a new friend to me) didn't bat an eye and hung out with us and then sent us on our way when our friend came out. Then we went driving just to drive. Honestly, no plan is the best plan.
When you're trying to have a nice relaxing day at home and suddenly some fuckers walk into your garden looking for you
This. I absolutely hated when a friend of mine would show up unannounced back when I was in high school and then later when I had an internship (first time working).
Coming home from work and trying to relax when suddenly the doorbell rings and it's him who wants to play FIFA or go to Maccas. That shit pissed me off so hard.
But that taught me the valuable lesson of telling others that I am not available on normal weekdays unless we specifically make out a time to meet up. No spontaneous shit - when I get home at 5pm, I want to chill.
I don’t mind relaxing and playing FIFA with people, because we just play on our franchise and pass the controller back and forth (he plays one game, I play the next). I get to chill in between and all that. Watching a movie or Netflix is a whole different beast though. If someone wants to watch a movie with me after I get out of class or off work, they better be ready for me to fall asleep.
I worked at a summer camp like 5 years ago and we couldn’t have cell phones. It was cool on our time off to have to go look around to find people to hang out with around the camp grounds. Or you’d just find a group that’s already doing what you wanted to do (swimming, playing in the rec room) and play with them. It was really refreshing
I'd say this was killed by phones, not specifically the internet.
I remember reading a post on here that was something like "older people of Reddit, what's changed since you were a kid" and one of the best replies was a guy who explained how you used to call places, not people.
Like you would call Bobby's house and ask his mum if he's there. She'd tell you he's over at Jimmy's house so you would call Jimmy's house and ask his parents if Bobby is there. They'll tell you that Jimmy and Bobby went over to someone's house but they're not sure where so you would start calling a bunch of other people's houses to see if they've seen them.
Or if you want to talk to your dad you would try calling his work. They tell you he left an hour ago so you try calling the local pub.
Nowadays you just call the person's phone and if they don't answer then you give up and try again later.
For sure. I was a kid in the 80's and unless you lived very close to me, I called before I visited.
Killed by friends having kids and unable to do spontaneous things
Remember the few weeks of Pokémon Go mass popularity that brought people outside absolutely everywhere and people were amazed? I had more casual conversations with strangers in the first two weeks of that game coming out than I’ve had in years. It was incredibly pleasant.
Please don't ever show up at my house unannounced unless you're prepared for the doorbell to be ignored if I'm busy with something.
Yeah, it's rude as fuck to just show up expecting the other person to drop everything for you.
Fuck those times
I'll try
Exactly. Text me a couple hours early, and you'll get lunch or afternoon tea. Text me an hour early, and you'll get biscuits. Don't text me at all, you'll get ignored.
I hated this and made people call me first. Still do.
Sad this one is so far down the list. That is what has been truly lost. The mystery of who you could find. It could be very lonely until you found a friend to play with.
Along the same lines, having to call your friend on their home/landline number and sometimes even having to talk to the parent/sibling asking if the friend is there. I still remember the phone numbers of my best friends from 7th grade. And the joy when the family member recognised your voice.
Technology ironically helps in dealing with social anxiety and awkwardness, but making one all the more socially awkward and anxious.
Edit: I remembered another thing along more similar lines. With the ease of contacting that comes with technology, it's easier to piss people off. If someone doesn't reply quickly, or if someone misses a call, people could take it personally nowadays. I understand it's the assumption that the purpose of a cellphone is faster communication, and there is a modern etiquette involved. But what if I am not up for talking, in any form, be it texting or calling? There's so much intrusion in one's psychological and emotional space. Sometimes you just want to have some space, a certain away-time, me-time, but technology comes in the way here.
Or the One Ring code to avoid parents. Call, ring once and that person was supposed to call you back. Lots of “Was that you that just called me?”
Ah, yes! And making up other codes so that anyone else overhearing the conversation couldn't guess what we were talking about.
I'd suggest that the internet didn't kill this, mobile phones did. We used to have to plan things with each other, or just show up and hope people were there. Then it became really easy to meet up wherever, then it was so easy we stopped doing it. Then social media etc put the final nail in a coffin built by cellular, not internet technology.
Lol I'm only 21 and most of my friends still come knock on the door out of nowhere. It's a nice surprise when I'm bored doing fuck all and one of my best mates shows up to hang
I did that all the time. I was so close to the family that his mom would just let me in even if he wasn't going to be there for a couple hours lol
I used to have a friend who did this almost every day in high school and I hated it. I'm an introvert and expecting me to socialize because you are bored is not cool
i moved back to the town where I grew up specifically to be able to do this on a daily/weekly basis. plus I know some local business owners or executives and it's much nicer to go places. seeing familiar pharmacists and cashiers is also a great pleasure to me. now I realise it's partly about being humbled by failing a digital nomad dream and coming to terms with what I can and cannot do and enjoy in life now.
I never knew i missed this until now
I’m not even going to lie, all of my friends can vouch that I still do this. If I’m in the area and I’m free I just drop in unannounced lol. And no my friends don’t think I’m stalking them. In fact most of them have told me that they think this whole showing up randomly thing is kind of cool because it always seems to happen when they need me the most and all of the adventures that have happened because of me doing this have been really fun.
I honestly believe that if you want to have fun and still remain young mentally you just have to keep that mindset. I say this as if I’m 80 but even being 27 I’ve noticed the amount of responsibilities we all seem to have now leave us feeling overwhelmed and sometimes I feel like I’m living in a life that isn’t mine because of it. We all need to just remember those peaceful childhood days (we’ve all had at least some) and roll with that mentality sometimes. So I encourage you to actually just do this. Your friends will actually probably enjoy the thoughtfulness of it all.
Yeah, as a parent this sucks because it feels like everything has to be some sort of formal invitation or get together. When I was younger, I remember going over to a different friend’s house every day after school. It was just a given. You get home from school and then we 3-way call to decide whose house it was that afternoon.
I never experienced this, and that makes me sad.
Yeah I remember always having friends over and just hanging out and talking about nothing. We would play football outside all day long and watch movies at night. Go to the park and hang out at the mall. Then instant messenger happen and Facebook and I started to see my friends hanging out in front of computer together and then slowly by themselves or on their phone. People are just addicted to screens and monitor now.
I know a person who still does that and it's really annoying. No regard for whether you have something to do right now. No thanks, I like appointments and plans for everything. I have 36 things in my calendar for this week and I'm not even a manager or something like that.
To be fair, you could still do this but people nowadays are so, so much more anti-social than people were before.
Technology has become a sort of social crutch - people detach themselves by using technology, and while technology of course isn't bad, the issue is that people have come to use it so extensively, that they then lose actual social skills. And what's weird is we all seem aware of this, but so few people seem to care enough to do anything about it - they'll just continue this habit.
I think we've become so hyper-aware of what everybody's doing, that everybody wants to pretend they're just "always doing cool shit." There's this huge flex culture. We started de-valuing actual personal connections (and interactions), and at that point, we've conceded to losing a good bit of our humanity. The only interactions we start to prioritize are ones that "make you look cool" - when back in the day, people hung out because they just f'ing liked it. You went over to your friends house because it was fun, and you knew they knew it was fun too, and so you just did it. Nobody thought about "yeah but is this cool??" - people just f'ing did it because we acted from the heart.
We've become so infatuated with other people's lives, we've forgotten how to actually live our own.
What used to be considered "normal" would now be considered "so outgoing."
And that kinda bums me out.. 😩
I was anti social before I even had a cellphone lol
There's this huge flex culture.
You said it. Bums me out a great deal. Nowadays even meeting up with friends is all a flex. "Look what a cool group of friends I have and we are all meeting at this cool place".
Edit: Fortunately, I do have good friends with whom I am friends because we like hanging out. But the flex culture exists, not just among the younger kids but also in my generation. I am in my early 20s.
Yeah, exactly - nobody does things from the heart anymore.
Really, just so few people live anymore.
We're too afraid to expose ourselves. We're always seeking validation. We don't feel secure enough nowadays, everybody's always seeking the approval of others - from people who themselves don't actually care, because they're just looking at your timeline to "prove" they're just as cool or cooler. There's no legitimacy there. So why are we seeking validation from people who have no validation to give? It's like, forget these people, live your life, do you. By continuing to post things up like that, you're letting the world know that you're living for others. And not in a benevolent way..
Like you said: "Look what a cool group of friends I have and we are all meeting at this cool place"
That very succinctly summarizes seemingly the whole culture now.
It's not cool enough to just have authentic human interaction. It's not cool enough now to just meet up with our friends for the sake of seeing them. And so then it's not worth meeting up with our friends because, "why meet up unless we're like, climbing Mt. Everest or something!" And then we wonder why we're so lonely. And then we seek validation from others, to "prove" that our existence here is meaningful because "look we're doing something! Something soo cool, look at how awesome our life is, definitely life well spent here!" - when in reality you're really spending 95% of your life doing nothing and only 5% of it doing the stuff you post about. The problem then is that now you're lonely for the 95% of the rest of it, where we used to spend 95% of our time with actual people, and only 5% of it talking about it. We weren't so lonely before. That 5% used to just be reminiscing or talking about things on random downtime - which then spurred you to do more stuff together, and for the sake of just doing it. It was legitimate. It was authentic.
We were committed to action before. Now we're just committed to reactions.
Absolutely. It's like you are constantly looking at yourself through the eyes of other people. I doubt even those who 'claim' to be authentic, because it's possible that too just could be a personal marketing gimmick. People have forgotten how to just be.
Its like playing a dating sim without a walkthrough vs playing a dating sim with one.
I was never sure if this died or I just aged as the internet grew so it naturally fazed out in my life...
Still do this in Pakistan
I still do this. I’m 15 and my friend doesn’t have a phone. I just skate over there to see if he can hang out.
My kids will never know the joy and struggle of this.
I mean I think this goes more with growing up.
I still do this sometimes :)
To me this still isnt dead quite, instead we go to a park to see if anyone is there
Hey I still do that
Or even calling them. Nowadays some people only goes by wi-fi. Or straight refuse answering calls.
My dad still makes me do this
We kinda still do that. When my friends text me if I'm home I know damn well they're already standing in front of my door with their shoes off.
That’s more a cellphone/messenging kill than internet kill
I agree with /u/idealfury88, that seems to be killed more by mobile phones than the internet.
at least in my personal experience, back during the nineties when more and more of my friends got online access, it didn't change our behavior in regards to meeting up that much.
mobile phones however (and the concept of always being able to reach someone) did very significantly.
I consider myself quite lucky to be still doing this whenever in my hometown.
I still do this
As someone born in 2000, I never got to experience this :(
My friends do that,it's great and annoying
Born in the 80s. This for multiplayer video games. "Hey I got double Dragon 2." Plugs in second controller.
Couch co-op was the only co-op
I didn’t realise that I missed that haha, Finding your friend was basically like a irl adventure game.
adulthood killed that for me.
F
This seems like more of cell phone thing than an internet thing but that’s just me being pedantic
This... doesn't happen? I'm 35 so well old now :P But... really? Everything is now so scheduled?
I lived in the woods basically, so never experienced that.
I'm 29 and I never had that.
I grew up partly on an island town. Every Friday the downtown dock would have 50 people laughing and socializing and skating and so on. Today by 8pm the town is dead. I’m too old for it but I miss the old gatherings.
Pop-ins were not welcome then either (see Seinfeld).
I see this all the time and this was one of my mothers biggest pet peeves. She hated people coming over unannounced. "Is it so hard to pick the phone up and call to ask first!?"
It happens on discord / teamspeak now :)
Yeah the ole door knock because mom's were always on the phone or meet up spot.
Canadian here we used to go to the local arena/hockey rink play pinball and eventually someone would show up and we'd go from there.
Y'know you can still do that, that didn't go anywhere
I do this in university. Sometimes after an afternoon class or tutorial, I hit my friend up, ask if she's in her room and if she is, I tell her to come outside to let me in.
I remember having a special knock so they knew who it was. Then we would hang out until late at night and their parents would make dinner, same with when they came to my place.
I feel like an important part here is that you never knew if they were available or not.
And you never got mad if they were already there playin. Now people get hurt if they see their friend post shit about being together.
Oh man I enjoy doing this sometimes. A good number of kids in my class are in my neighborhood and after going over to their houses a few times I have started being able to do it unannounced. Or text them on my way over and find something stupid to do.
I love it
That isn't the internet, that is aging...as you get older it just becomes stupid to randomly show up unannounced to somebody's house.
Most my friends dont have service so i still do this today
I had an old friend drop by after I missed his FB message recently, I was like on red alert til I saw it was him, ready for police or something. I realized though that this type of interaction went from something normal to something that well, put me in a slight panic. Tech has changed us.
"excuse me miss Jones is Jimmy home?" "JIMMY, THE FAT KID WANTS TO PLAY OUT"
Yeah I'm only 21 but I mostly grew up without Internet until I started high school. Anyway back in like 2012 I went round to see in my friend wanted to hang out and he actually got angry with me when I showed up at his door because apparently I should have called a couple hours before hand or even asked the day before.
He proper made me feel like I was crazy showing up to his house without any warning.
It was so cool missing them, walking back home disappointed, and catching them in the street.
I never liked the walk to the park though, there was always the chance that they weren’t there
Right in the feels
To be fair, showing up at peoples houses unannounced has never been appropriate
So much yes. My best friend lived in the house over the back fence and every weekend one of us would slide through this gap in the fence to see the other. I miss local split screen as well, it was so much fun taking turns and switching every time you died then backseat gaming until they died and they did it to you. I miss that more than anything, the being there and acknowledging each other’s presence
Yeah but if you’re old enough to remember doing that then you’re old enough to know that you’ll never to that again regardless of weather it not it’s still acceptable.
Aaaactually... Me and my friends still do that
I feel like this is a positive change
I definitely don't miss that to be honest.
You didn't call first?
Still do this drive 4hour to my parents house and just show up at a friends as well.
Mobile phones killed this not the internet
I think it was cell phones much more than the internet which killed this
I get that this used to be normal but also wtf I don’t want my friends showing up out of nowhere that’s creepy no
Did they not have home phones back then?
I still do this with my friend, I just show up and I'm like "Sup bitch, I'm here now and I'm not gonna leave for a few hours"
As children, did anyone ever have a group of friends so large, that we ended up seeing if kids could come out and play, and they were standing next to us?
Golden times
I do this all the time still. Friends don't mind and they do the same for me.
"Can Mark come out to play?"
Being off the grid. Internet and cell phones ruined it. Nothing stresses me out more than a string of texts in the morning. I feel like I have to check it in case it’s work related. Email used to be fun. Now it’s just a series of people needing something from me or trying to sell me something. Maybe I’m just an old cranky man.
If being stressed by morning texts and e-mail means being old cranky man then I'm definitely an old cranky man at 26
I'm an old and cranky 19 year old if that's the case...
Too true man, too true...
Me too
I’m 24, work in construction. God forbid I take the day off and my phone rings/email at any time between 7am and 4pm. Instant dread before I even see who’s calling/sending it
I work in construction too. Definitely relatable :/
No shit. The schedule is there for a reason. If I'm not on it, then it's my time.
Do yourself a favor and link a Google Voice number to your real cell. Instantly identify work calls and proceed accordingly
Let’s make a Cranky Group! I’m 28
I am 12
There are rules and one of them u have to be older than 18. Sorry bro!
lol I’m 18 and I get stressed out when I get a call from a number I don’t know
I used to react this way. Now I literally never answer a call if I don't know the number. 95% of the time they don't call back or leave a message, so it's fine.
Ok I’m not the only one then.
Definitely not. My go-to tactic too, almost never failed me
I'm 22 and feel the same way. There's always something my Co workers on night shift need to tell me bout what I did that day or something that I told them about that they forgot that can't wait till hand over in there mind . How do u expect me to fix it I'm 1trying to sleep and 2 an hour away.
Cranky 26yo hag reporting!
I'm 17. Fuck people wanting you to be available all the time. No, teach, I didn't get the message you sent 1900 last night about us starting class earlier. Fuck off.
Getting emails for me has become "okay what ELSE do I have to pay" and "oh fuck only 3 days to file my returns or else I get a fine"
I don’t know why strings of texts stress people out. I’d rather have a complete thought to respond to than waking up to someone who texted “hey can I ask you something?” Like goddammit just ASK.
I have a friend that texts me : "guess what?", all the time.
Fucking annoying as hell 😂 "guess what" works in person and on the phone.....by text it's like "uhh you texted me this 3 hours ago, am i really expected to make a true guess?"
I think I'll just answer "you won the lottery?!?" Every time she does that til she stops lol
See, THAT stresses me out. Not seeing a bunch of texts that I can all read and respond to without needless back and forth.
Exactly!! It truly is stupid even though I love my friend
Texting just doesnt work that way lol
The other side is annoying too when you need to send a long text to get a lot of info across and then your friend is all like “wow thanks for the wall of text.”
Ok... would you rather I call? No?
Email, then? Still no?
Multiple little texts? No?
Ok. Then I guess you’ll get one long text unless you really just want to be left in the dark about whatever is going on.
And then you copy the “text wall” into a word document and it barely covers a single line. 😐
People will think anything is too long if it requires them to scroll.
That's hilarious haha I definitely appreciate a wall of text, it's efficient!!
RIGHT!!!
I had a terrible coworker/superior in my old job that did this. I'd just get short, cryptic emails with a subject line like: [Project Name] - concerns?
And the body of the email would just say "I have questions, please call me."
Like just TYPE THE FUCKING QUESTIONS RIGHT HERE! At least then I can call you back with the answers, or better yet TYPE the answers to you so 1) They're permanently documented for both of us, and 2) I don't have to speak to you.
If that's the case I'm an old cranky man at 14
I'm 32 and I feel the exact same way. I absolutely miss not being able to be reached 24/7. If your phone rings or you get a text, you are expected to answer and will surely get some sort of lecture coming your way if you don't. It was the main reason why I deleted all social media accounts, changed my number, and only gave my number to a select few. I don't like feeling I owe anyone an explanation for anything I do, only one person gets that honor and I'm married to him. Everyone else can fuck off.
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For me family members, friends, work colleagues, my employment, they all feel entitled to know exactly where I was or why I didn't answer/reply straight away.
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Toxic definitely, I've gotten better at setting boundaries in recent years and learned to stop apologising for not instantly replying. But given the popularity of the 'off the grid' comment in this thread bizarre perhaps not, it would seem many feel the constraints of being connected 24/7.
I absolutely hate that my manager and all of my “teammates” have my cell. Makes it so I can NEVER be offline. I’m not getting paid to text at 6 in the morning...
I guard my cell phone number, I have a second number that is forwarded to my cell phone and I turn off when I want. Only very few people have my actual cell number.
Turn the phone off if you're not working
It’s my personal phone...
Most smartphones give you the capability to make it so only permitted numbers / alerts can make noise / alert you.
Ah well then you're screwed. Nobody I work with ever gets my number
Turn it off anyway. You have it if you need to call 911, but otherwise screw the world.
You can just tell them all to piss off in nicer words though. The only real exception being if you took a job where you're on call, but that's a willing choice. All the rest can be answered when you feel like it, and tough shit if they don't like it.
Right? If I go out for supper and a movie with friends, my phone is on silent the entire time and I honestly won't check it for 4-6 hours.
I'll text and call you back when I look at my phone, deal with it lol
Luckily no one complains if I don't answer or else we'd have an issue lol
There's a weird group age-set who now uses modern contact like cells and text, but still has the mindset of older contact styles where people picked up/got back to you as soon as possible. They aren't of the more current generation that just knows that part of 24/7 contact is that no one expects texting to be a constant form of live contact.
We have a company policy that no email goes 24 hours without a reply. Even on vacation unless you're literally off the grid (Everest?) Then you need to put a coverage plan in place. Work related texts require a reply within 12:hours, 24/7 365
That's a choice to work for a company like that, and not a choice I'd likely ever make.
Wow, are you working in nuclear safety? Or is it just that work thinks that work is the most important thing in your life?
more importantly are they paid salary or hourly start billing them lawyers hours
If you're not active special forces or a doctor or something, consider working for a different company.
My mom flips out and texts me like 10 times in a row if I don't immediately answer her call or text her back instantly. I am also 32.
Hear me out. And I don't mean to be condescending, but just don't read it/answer it. I used to be like this too. Then I just stopped. Eventually people lower their expectations about your responsiveness. People don't expect me to answer immediately anymore. I'm not always available. That's it.
Yes, yes, yes you go and power to you. I want and need to feel this liberation from being connected 24/7, honestly my stomach sinks each morning as I look to see the notifications on my phone. Nor should anyone feel the dreaded pressure of having to explain why you weren't instantly available.
I recall my first office manager helping me set works emails up on my phone many years ago, gosh I felt so important, responsible and mature in my first job, little did I know how mentally draining it would be, chipping away daily at what's left of ones sanity.
I like to ask people (outside of work, that is. I'm a GM, open door policy) if they pay my phone bill or do anything to contribute to me physically earning my paycheck & usually silence coupled with the dumb look on their face slows their roll. & If I get a text that's "???" after I haven't responded in 10 minutes, you just bought yourself a good hour.
The only reason people feel like this is because we allow it. Just simply be that person who doesn't answer their phone. Set the boundaries early. I tell everyone, work included, that I will not respond at early or late hours if I don't want to.
I put my phone on Do Not Disturb a few months ago when I was on night shift (fucker was going off all the time), so basically every alert is blacklisted by default, with my kid, wife and parents on a whitelist for calls only -- no texts. I'll get to the other alerts whenever I feel like it; quite liberating. Emails have no notifications whatsoever. That and nuking Facebook a few years ago did it.
Recommend removing layers of notifications. Good shit, not having many things to check habitually.
Same. I catch flak for my vehement unwillingness to give my number to anyone and for not having social media, but frankly I have no interest in talking to anyone but the "inner circle" of about five people. Sometimes, even they are a pain in the ass.
I absolutely hate being expected to always answer the phone and if u don't want to it's the third degree as if u have to answer the phone every time the job calls on ur day off and u couldn't possibly have a life.
Turn your phone off
34 here and the day I get a lecture from my boss about why I didn't answer my phone on the weekend is the day we start talking about getting paid for being on call. I had to do that at my last job and wouldn't you know they quit needing me to answer on the weekends after that conversation.
... I think I found Calvin's dad, and I approve. Good for you.
I have turned off audible notifications as a general rule. If I don't see it, it doesn't exist. I just pretend to be an ostrich.
...and the worst is when you get a message from someone you havent talked to in months. You know they want something...
I don't feel obligated to message back or pick up the phone unless it is a family member or my boss. The phone I am more likely to pick up, a text not as much
Everyone who knows me knows my phone is on silent 24/7. If you never let yourself get to where its expected to be available instantly you never have to deal with it.
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7pm is still too late imo but better that policy that none at all
AOL early days:" You've got mail"
Me: "Yay!
Email now: "inbox 123 unread"
Me: "Fuck"
Yes, I'm literally a tech savvy 34 year old curmudgeon. Any day now I'm gonna start yelling at kids to turn off that damn music and stay off my lawn, if I ever see any outside.
I forgot who said it, but "email is just someone else's agenda in your inbox" (something like that)
Unless your job is so important you're working even when not at work, you can setup filters that get different kinds of mail into different categories, meaning all job related stuff can fuck off nicely in it's separate list that you don't need to look at when checking your mail on weekends.
Old cranky lady here. Try putting your phone on do not disturb for certain hours everyday. It’s something small, but it is very nice to not hear any hum dings between the hours of 8 pm and 8 am.
Sounds like you need to go camping or renting a log cabin for a long weekend in the woods though! It’s like hitting a reset button on your soul.
I disagree. I went off the grid this past vacation and it only made me hate coming back that much more.
That’s funny. We actually go camping every year for a week. We rent a cabin in a park with no cell reception.
I leave work at work. I only have my work schedule and paycheck forwarding to my personal account. I generally don’t mind, but social networks are rather cancerous. Especially since people treat you like a space alien when you say you don’t have or use any.
Old cranky man here. I'm with you brother (note I didn't use the term 'bro' here. That's how old and cranky I am).
Word, I'm an old cranky man too. Working in an IT company :D
Yup, am a web developer. I do not have a smart phone and work stays at work unless extraordinary circumstances
Find a hobby that won't allow you to check your phone while doing it. For me it was motorcycling. The 30 minutes each way to work and the longer rides on weekends really helped my mental health to unplug for a while. Also, if you live near water, try small boat sailing, it's surprisingly affordable and wonderfully low tech relaxation.
It's like your cellphone has to be an extension of yourself rather than just an accesory. Even worst, people expect from you to answer everything at once, or that you live with the phone in your hand. I can't stand it.
I'm doing stuff and just check the cell every now and then, and after replying to someone I haven't even left the phone on the table when it's vibrating again. Is people staring at the screen 24/7? Do they live just to answer a text? My god, smh.
Edit: typos.
You can still do it, it just has social repercussions now which I hate.
But you can definitely still do it somewhat, not like the old days.
Exactly, even then they can tell if you're screening them easily through info given and basic logic.
What's worse is people abide and expect everyone to be instantly contactable, It's maddening.
I've noticed myself feeling the same way about emails. I have made a conscious effort to unsubscribe from every single email I instantly archive unless it's a receipt or something like that.
Strongly recommend that everyone unsubscribes from most emails
Recently decided to make a new e-mail after having my previous (and still used) for something like twelve years. That crisp, new e-mail feel is lovely; I've done it around once a decade. A bit of a pain to transfer some of your heavily used stuff and subscriptions, but it's nice to get rid of spam and people hasslin' you.
What’s stopping you from going off the grid, exactly?
Maybe I'm just a cranky old man stuck in a 22 year olds body but I agree.
I've been solving this by going off the grid, I'm only having internet where I have wi-fi, and apart from that no-one expects me to answer at once, because they know that I'm not going to be always reachable.
Yeah email used to be forwarding an email to 20 more people so bill gates will give you 1000 dollars and youll find love
There's great swathes of land on mainland Europe with no coverage at all. It was incredibly liberating to be completely disconnected.
i just want to move to Iceland or Ireland and build a homestead there, a fresh start
I hate constantly having notifications and I’m a teenager so it’s definitely not you
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Here here! It's the brightside of the aftermath of depression. I also deleted social media. My life is so much more peaceful now. :)
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Yes! And the way I see it if someone doesn't respect that I'm not available 24/7 they don't respect me at all and we aren't meant to be friends in the first place.
Joke's on you -- nobody ever texted me to begin with!
I mute notifications from my boss from 6pm to 6am. I also let him know that while I am occasionally willing to work overtime, unless someone is actually (not figuratively) going to die unless I answer the phone, I refuse to answer calls or texts during the muted hours. We're currently running a third shift composed of salaried workers, but I won't come in to work it. Just plain said "No," with one exception, which is that I work straight through IN LIEU OF, and not in addition to my regular hours, and not more than the once or twice I need to in order to finish my special project that can't be done during regular hours.
Learn to say no. Accept that you may pay for it by having to turn down higher paying jobs that won't let you. But decide the value of your free time, and don't settle for less. It's just a job; it's not worth your happiness, your health, or your relationships. You are selling your time for money, and that's all. All of the grandiose mission statements, "team player," "work is life," "get that bread" bullshit is just that. Bullshit. Fuck it all. I work exactly hard enough to get what I want, and my job has been made to understand that.
VIPs, learn to use it, you'll love it. I've decided to disable my phone's notifications between 20:00 and 09:00 everyday. And my work emails dont even sync on the weekends. Apart from VIPs, they can vome through. My wife and kids can call me, my team have a certain phone app to use that will always go through etc.
I no longer get stressed.
Not only that, notifications for emails can be changed, you can have only certain keywords or people cause a notification and the rest, well, you can check whenever. If it was important it'll be a vip, right? Otherwise they'd call you between 9 and 20
YES! Same here 100%
No, definitely not a cranky old man. I avoid text, Facebook, and email at 28. Then, you have people angry at you for not being reachable 24/7. It's amazing
Spot on
I'm lucky.
I can go days without texts and barely use my email anymore.
It's so relaxing
Close to home. I was a late hold out, too. Last person I know to get a smartphone, because I didn't want that tether.
Maybe I’m just an old cranky man.
Easy test for this.
Get a bucket of small green not ripe apples. The kind that are about the size of golf balls. Then take them to your porch and have a sit with them at arms reach. Do a little people watching.
Now, when somebody's foot touches your lawn, do you find yourself hurling the apples at them while hollering about your grass?
Few weeks ago, I accidentally dropped my phone and it broke. Going a full week without my phone was so blissful, whenever someone got angry at me for not responding I can just say my phone broke. Now it's fixed and I hate it.
You're not that cranky. When I get a work related email especially off hours, my blood pressure goes up.
I hate email now. The only time I actually use it to send a message to someone is for work or other professional related purposes. Anyone else that I talk to regularly I can just text or call. Email is just as dead to me as regular mail is, cause all it’s good for is signing up for shit and receiving endless amounts of junk mail that you can never opt out of.
I simply state that I will not answer any work calls or reply between 1880-0730. A couple people have tried to call and I just hang up. People get the hint, even bosses. The texts will stop. Well they did for me. Now people actually wait because they know that regardless of what they send, they won't get a reply until then. It may not work for you depending on what you do for work, or the expectations of that work. But maybe have a quick sit down with your boss, explain that your time is your time and that you will be more productive if you are not stressed because of texts and emails in your time. Just food for thought.
My email is just a series of advertisements that I’ve unsubscribed to at least twice.
I just turn off my work phone after work and leave my personal downstairs lol
Lmao no one texts me
You're not old and cranky. You might be viewed as such but privacy is sacred man. I feel more and more it's just the norm (in America at least) to just be available 24/7 to answer every text or email thrown your way, no matter the time, and it's just expected. Every time my phone goes off my anxiety spikes because it's never friends texting me to hang anymore just my fucking boss asking about some menial shit that could have waited until the next day. /rant
No you're not. The constant and unrelentless flow of information caused me to stop answering phone calls altogether, even if it's from my own parents. I installed a call blocking app on my phone.
A few times a day I'll check it and for the rest of the time it's on airplane mode. If anyone has issues with that, it's their problem. Not mine.
Set firm boundaries. Time off the clock is “me time,” no exceptions. Someone needs a phone number? Great, talk to Karen. Respond to an urgent email chain about a time critical issue? If it was really time critical you would have told me about it earlier and on my time. Whoever’s on shift right now will find a way to muddle through. The office is literally on fire? Great, tell me about it when my shift starts.
If your company isn’t hiring people who can lock that shit down while you are gone, then they aren’t hiring or correctly training the right people.
Delete your social media, best decision i made 3 years ago!
I keep LinkedIn because it’s pretty benign. I have no other social media. Facebook was tedious.
Fair, i should open linkedin for my own benefits. Facebook is a poisonous tumour right now.
Well look at you getting texts in the morning
I agree about emails. I hate waking up to emails from work and some of them are not pleasant. Kind of sets the day for me. Have to answer them before I’m out of bed or I forget them lol
Thats awesome.
Something that's killed dating for me is people's expectations for communication these days. My last boyfriend expected me to contact him 24/7. Would get mad if I wanted to sit at home after work and play a video game for a couple hours without bother. Lots of guys in the dating scene expect you to text them constantly, otherwise you're not interested.
I miss the days I could just chill alone in my own world disconnected without worrying about satisfying someones communication needs. My relationships always feel stronger when we save our communication for when we meet in person.
As someone who is required to always answer their phone, I sincerely hate my cell phone. Whenever I hear it chime or ring I can feel my blood pressure spike.
I am curios how this "always on" lifestyle we are leading now will effect our psyche, physical health and evolution. I know my BP jumps everytime my phone rings. Due to many years in IT, when your phone rings, usually not good news.
That's not the internet's fault. Don't bring home work if that makes you unhappy. That has nothing to do with technology. Try having a private cell phone and one for work. Leave the work phone at work. If that's not accepted, then get a new job that works for you.
LOL blindspots for days
What do you mean? I've only heard of blind spots regarding driving.
The worst thing about phones is the expectation to be available 24/7. Businesses have abused this to make employees on call at all times. I fell into this when I was younger, trying to make it in an industry and it burned me. I was exhausted. I actually refuse to put my work email on my phone now.
i actually feel the opposite.
I’d use to have anxiety every time I go on vacation because i have no clue if things have gone off the deep end at work, and I won’t know til I come back. being on the grid means that i can keep myself abreast if there’s anything wrong but ignore the day to day work that you’re avoiding by being on vacation.
It has also killed being unplugged, having quiet time to yourself to THINK about your life and self reflect, now there’s a constant need to be entertained.
It’s pretty easy to stay off the grid. I’m practically a ghost the amount of disinformation I provide.
God how free I feel when I have no cellphone. I have a tendency to break, lose or get it stolen. Unfortunately, every time one of my relatives end up buying me one cause they're tired of not being able to join me.
When I was in high school, my friends and I regularly sent each other emails. I miss getting meaningful emails.
I'm the opposite. Nothing stresses me out more than being off the grid.
email/texting is great (I lived before it was invented), but it doesn't entitle ANYONE to demand space in your head. You have control. Put your phone in a hard to reach spot each night and refuse to look at it til it's the actual start of your work day. Unless you are a superhero, then you have to answer the pleas for help as they come in.
I used to love my email, now it is a steaming pile of stress.
Was rewatching Seinfeld and he actually mentions this in I think the first episode.
He's talking about people going out, and mentions how you try and call someone but they don't answer so you just assume that they are out.
It honestly kind of scared me - that idea of not being able to get ahold of someone. I remember it very clearly as a child, calling a friend to see if they were home and if I could come over, but things are so different now. I have instant immediate contact with everyone I know, and if they don't answer I begin to worry something is wrong.
I think it's kind of good though. I know not everyone feels the same way, but we are way more connected on not just a physical level but emotional level than ever before. We can get a real glimpse of people, who they are, and how they are immediately.
Ghosting people is so much harder with social media and the constant flow of information.
Turn off the phone and go to a state park. Enjoy what remains of the birdsong as everyone freaks out trying to reach you but can't be bothered to actually travel a ways.
Social Media has also made people more flaky than usual. Before, if you said you were going to show up to a party or a meeting. You basically HAD to show up and go the distance. Now there is ghosting (Which is by far the dumbest shit on the planet.)
You're not required by law to have a cell phone, I didn't until a couple years ago.
Same. Although I appreciate how far tech has come to where you have these tiny little pocket computers with fast speed internet access and access to countless apps and services, it comes at the price of everyone expecting you to always be connected and be available on a whim.
I'm a bit more traditional than my other friends who are around the same age as me, I like to enjoy what I'm doing in that particular moment, whether it is traveling, or hanging out with people, and leave my phone in my pocket where it should be. If anyone calls or messages me, I wait until I'm actually available and return their responses, much to their annoyance because they complain that I take too long to respond to their messages. I mean, I don't like being rude with the people I'm hanging out with!
Plus having a smartwatch makes things worse, because ppl somehow think that I should be able to get back with them ASAP.
Nothing stresses me out more than a string of texts in the morning.
You don't have this problem if you don't have any friends.
we're all cranky old men. thanks internet.
I also miss being out and about doing my thing without interruption. Now, no matter where you are or what you're doing, ppl expect to be able to get ahold of you. I'm busy or trying to enjoy the moment, sorry that I didn't have my phone up my ass and didn't see your text, get over it lol
At 4pm till 7am my phone goes in a box on dnd. I do have it setup for parents and siblings to get through. I dont check email after that time too. Now it took me the better part of a year to explain and get people to really believe it. What it has led me too is deleting social media entirely i just got to a point where i dont give a fuck.
And its not just me. House rules. Phones in the box after 4.
Even if it's just family trying to organise something it is still stressful.
I'm 19. I wish messaging wasn't a thing
I'm 18 and feel exactly the same.
Waking up and looking at a bunch of new notifications, dreading the fact it's likely work..
With a name like u/IncognetoMagneto i say you're far from being old and cranky.
Dude I'm only 25 and I fucking hate email. It's so obsolete now but we continue to use it for some reason. My entire job can be easily done from my phone but I still have to use a shitty HP desktop that was made in 2013.
You don't hate email, you hate capitalism.
That sounds like a personal problem
I don't know if you should be angry that you get a lot of people contacting you. I get so few messages that I get excited when I hear my message ringtone and then realize that its just the pizza notification I ordered 10 minutes ago.
I'm not sure what everyone ITT thinks "off the grid" means, but the grid refers to the electrical grid. It just means living off your own electricity rather than the city's.
I just ghost. idgaf how that makes me look, my personal peace and space is more important. I used to get tonnes of DMs and whatsapp messages from mainly different women and it was beginning to stress me out. People who glorify a playboy lifestyle have no idea how absurd it is trying to juggle several different women.
Its taxing, stressful and gets you nowhere. My close friends and I have a private whatsapp group and that's enough!
The excitement of waiting for a certain CD to come out, going to the store to buy it on that day, getting it home, and listening to it on repeat while studying the liner notes.
The excitement of waiting for a certain CD to come out
cries in Chinese Democracy
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Right!!! It was a great feeling.
Still do this, still love it!
One of my favorite bands I came to love because I read their liner notes and only then really understood what they were doing.
I don’t know when I last saw liner notes.
Absolutely. You can have all the music in front of you now, yet that simple thrill is practically gone.
It’s slowly going away, but this is definitely still a thing with video games. Appreciating it while it’s here.
I still do it. There’s something so special about holding the music in your hands and looking at all the beautiful art and literature the musician has produced.
Yes!!!! It makes it such a more personal experience
Nintendo Power
Oh man. I had a subscription for a year as a present. I still remember reading about the winning config in a Custom Robo tourney. Had an absolute blast reading every one. Don;t remember what happened to em though.
The winner of that contest posted the statue in /r/CustomRobo a while back.
Or the Power Glove for the Nintendo.
Its so bad.
Eyeballs explode
Still have mine in the special carrying suitcase
God, I just miss custom robo
They have a podcast I'm pretty sure.
Ah custom robo. I was maybe 10 when I got it, and I remember being so happy about the amount of customizations there were, etc... 4 player death matches took up most of the night at sleepovers too. Thanks for reminding me of that great, great game.
Oh man. I made crazy builds for the lols. Especially using the trap gun. The one that shot bubbles but only after a full second or 2 after the trigger was pulled and from a seemingly random direction.
Remember how after you beat story mode you could go unto 1pv WHILE BATTLING?!
The main things I remember are, A) the ape looking robo being my favorite robot, B) the drill gun being my favorite gun, and C) the oriental take out bowl being my favorite level.
And although I do vaguely remember the story, and enjoying it... I sadly don’t remember the 1PV at the end :( I still have my GameCube. So it’s looking like I’ll have to get the game.
Yeah me too. I got the final year as a gift and my mom kept the final magazine in the sealed bag because it might be worth something someday. I was salty when I was younger and really wanted to read it but now I’m glad she did haha
I never won anything except for a Metroid Prime 2 t-shirt that was way too small to comfortably fit me =(
I have this Zelda collectors edition disc for the Gamecube that I got for subscribing though, has OoT and Majoras Mask on it.
I liked reading Nintendo Power in 2010. When my family moved to Malaysia, I bought a magazine and inside was a subscription card. I said I would subscribe once we moved back to the U.S. When we moved back in 2014 NP was cancelled.
The fold out maps were freaking awesome. The first one I remember using was for The Legend of Zelda.
I once won a Pokémon limited edition game boy color with Pokémon yellow Pikachu edition from Nintendo Power. Was the 2nd best day of my childhood 😄👌🏾
I cant imagine what could be your first best day. What could possibly top that?
Sorry late reply. I won the original Xbox from Taco Bell’s “Win it before you can buy it” contest. My family always called me Mr. Lucky because I always won stuff as a child
Winning not one but two game consoles during your childhood? Bru you are blessed. Only thing I remember winning is a dinosaur balloon and a book about misfigured animals.
I still have the first hundred issues or so at my dad's house, with my hand drawn maps and lists. Somewhere there is the map I made with my cousin for the second world of the original zelda and the sites for the bombs along with the one NP sent out.
No one man should have all that Nintendo Power.
I found an ancient issue of Nintendo Power in my closet. It belonged to my neighbor's older brother. It came out right after Super Mario World and had a brief walkthrough of the game. There was a foldout advertisement for F-Zero. It's in rough shape, but it's glorious.
Awwww man, I loved F-Zero. I haven't met anyone else who has even heard of that game other than my brother's, the ones I played with! Thanks for the memory!
Robert is that you?
Omg I remember AVGN did a video about that.
"It should just say Get the Power! Nintendo Power!"
That's the Castlevania 2 episode 😂
I remember when Animal Crossing came out in like 2004 there was a collection of Mario themed furniture pieces that was distributed through codes monthly in Nintendo Power. You popped the code into the game and got your furniture, which was stuff like Warp Pipes, blocks, etc.
I got so excited about the future furntiture. I remember people trying to brute force and guess codes.
Those Animal Crossing codes were game changers. I remember finding codes for all kinds of cool shit online. That code for 30k bells was fucking clutch.
Check out the Nintendo Force patreon. Their magazine is basically new Nintendo Power. I get a huge blast of nostalgia reading through them. I know its not exactly the same since magazines are basically obsolete, but its still fun to get something besides bills in the mail
A year or two ago Archive.org put up the full library of Nintendo Power scans and Nintendo promptly demanded it removed. I've been looking since and can't find anything, just paywalls and dead links.
The first 93~ issues were still there when I checked last month.
Link please...
Wow hey, you're right! It looks like they were put up in 2016, Nintendo took them down within a week, and then about a year later they were put back. Looks like I'm not sleeping tonight and i have you to thank!
Can you please post a link?
www.archive.org search Nintendo Power
It was only up to about issue 150 though, but I remember seeing something on the site that actually made the scans talking about how they wanted to get every issue up
Not to mention, phone numbers to call to get help when you get stuck in a game. God, I called the local Nintendo tips line SO many times when playing through Ocarina of Time, lol.
It’s back in podcast form now
Yeah...not anywhere close to the same.
Or even as good when you factor in the apples-to-oranges comparison
Well of course, one was a magazine the other is a podcast.
They had some great subscription bonuses, too! Remember when they offered a disc with ports for The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask? I'd never had an N64 growing up, so that was kind of a God-send for me.
Don't know about the disk, but me and buddy were just talking yesterday about how revolutionary Ocarina of Time was! With the graphics and overall look, feel and power of the N64, it was amazing. Many many hours of Zelda on that console!
I remember getting the mini disk before the GameCube came out, with the SpaceWorld promos on it.
That was a fun day of "how is this disk so TINY??" followed by "HOW ARE THESE GRAPHICS SO GOOD???"
Yes that was awesome.
I still have the letter where Nintendo Power apologized for their magazine closing and the last magazine too...
Look up Nintendo Force magazine.
Yeah and the official Nintendo mag. I loved some of the captions on the pics. They were so funny. Websites and YouTube not the same as coffee and a proper magazine.
I loved dreamcast(Sega?) magazine! All the great demos! And PlayStation. Good times :(
I was pissed when the Dreamcast magazine stopped including demos.
If you guys have ever wanted a replacement for nintendo power, nintendo forces on patreon is a pretty good stand in.
that Megaman X special edition foil cover and pogs was the greatest thing ever when I was a kid.
100% this and old school game informer
My mom took me and my brothers to the library every Saturday. They had Nintendo Power there and we would bring pencils and spiral notebooks and comb through looking for cheats and would trace out pictures from games we liked. We also found at a garage sale a book that was called something like "How to win at Mario" that had all the possible combinations to the spade game in Mario 3. I kept that book until last year when I was finally like yeah,the internet probably has that dear, time to let it go.
I still have all mine!! Every single issue
I may have some Nintendo power from back in the early 90's. Is it worth anything?
I had a subscription for years and would cut all the fold out posters to put up on my room when I was a kid.
I still have one somewhere!
I was so upset when Nintendo Power stopped publishing.
I have several Nintendo Power covers framed around my house. That way their memory is honored instead of stuck inside a box.
The internet was alive and booming when I was in middle school and I still got Nintendo Power.
That’s how I kept up with all the new games when I couldn’t afford them or their systems growing up!
EGM was my jam. I used to steal the posters from the copies in the library.
Man I was subscribed around the time issue #200 was getting close. I used to live for any Animal Crossing content and vividly remember vibrating with hype every time another story covering the development of Twilight Princess would drop.
Smash Bros Brawl and the "nintendo revolution" later named as the Wii were also very memorable.
My sil's ex use to write for them, before they got divorced I would check out his stash all the time. A lot of cool stuff.
I remember reading them in my elementary school, I was quite sad when they stopped making them
Found some of these in mint condition at a sweet retro video game store in Seattle. It was a pleasant surprise.
Photo albums. My parents have all these awesome albums from when they were kids, and then when they got married and then from my childhood. I love leafing through them when I’m at their house.
My own photos are all on Facebook or Instagram and it’s not the same at all.
Snapfish, Walgreens, etc let you get prints of digital photos. They aren't always as detailed as 35 mm prints but work pretty well.
The first time my girlfriend was like “I’m gonna go to Walmart and print off these pictures so we can hang them up” it blew my mind. I hadn’t ever really considered showing off some of the fun times we had been having! Now the house is filled with fun memories.
I get my best photos turned into photobooks or canvases. Like my dad says, "what's the point in taking thousands of pictures if you're not going to do anything with them?"
It's really worth going through all your photos and collecting the best ones every now and again. You can turn them into a calendar or book, but even if you don't then you won't lose them amongst the thousands we take these days. I try to do it at the end of every year.
Since my very first Avril Lavigne concert in 2005 (I proudly attended an Avril Lavigne concert, yes), I've collected every single gig ticket I've ever had. And for those that are online tickets or purchases, I print them, crop them and then put it into a proper album.
The memories may eventually fade. Physical photos and physical objects will still be there.
I solve this by just never taking pictures of anything
My dad is the same! He hates the idea of swiping through photos on a phone and wants everyone to print them for him. I actually really like printing them for him! He puts on his glasses, picks each one up in his hands and makes some kind of Ahh or Oohh sound lol. You definitely see the photo in a different light when it’s sitting in your hands like that and not on a screen.
Digital picture frames are also great. I have one in several different rooms, and curate the content for each.
Can I ask which one you have? I bought 2 different ones and they were so bad, the color looked washed out and they were blurry. I'm looking for a decent one.
I recommend the Google Home Hub. It's very expensive, but the quality is great and it does a lot more than just photos.
Yeah, never saw the point in obtaining one exactly because of the terrible screen quality I've encountered in these.
A cool (rather diy requiring some wiring) idea would be the oldest (cheapest) iPad you can find with a good screen with some kind of charging mod for aesthetics
Back then you'd have photos of friends and family in albums and hanging on the walls, now people think it's weird if you want to have their photo in your house. I'm currently working through a project to do portraits of as many people I know to decorate my house with, I'm pretty pumped about it.
Man I wish my girlfriend was as cool as yours and I also wish I had a girlfriend...
Marie Kondo would be proud
Awwww that is so sweet!! I didn’t even think about doing that but it’s a great idea!
That’s so true! Totally going to do this for my place with my boyfriend!
I have a similar story!
Whenever I get homesick (I’m in college), I used to go through my phone and reminisce about all the good memories through my photos throughout the years.
I decided to take ~50 or so photos and arrange them on my wall next to my dorm room bed!
Another great thing is that I’m constantly looking out for good photos- to hang up on the wall.
I'm with you, but my wife is proving to be a hard sell. We bought our house a few years ago, and since Day 1 I've been trying to convince her to help me choose and put up photos of friends and family. She has no interest, but is slowly growing accustomed to the idea. In her mind, photos on the wall are "clutter". I say it makes a house feel more like a home.
Eventually, I'm going to go out and buy a few hundred dollars' worth of frames, print off photos that I think we'll both like, and put them up wherever I please. Either she gets involved, or she gives me a free pass. Either way, my walls will no longer be bare and I'll be able to see the smiling faces of people I care about.
For some reason I’ve held on to this feeling that camera phone pics aren’t as good as physical camera pics. I think it goes way back to the grainy pics my flip phone would take, to some of the crappier pics I’ve attempted to print from older phones. Phone cameras have come a long way but there’s still this part of me that wonders if those pics are worth printing. (And sometimes, if you’ve zoomed in a lot, the picture quality really isn’t that good.)
I mean, idk if I would try for a full 8x10, but we have a bunch of 4x6 pics around that look great! All shot on some version of an Iphone.
I did that one year for my girlfriends birthday, printed out a bunch of photos from when we backpacked through Europe and put them in frames for her. Super easy and she loved it.
I like to get stuff printed on canvases. Walgreens does deals a lot to get them cheap (search Slickdeals) and they print them in store with same day pickup. I have a bunch of small ones of my dog in my room.
For our two year anniversary this year, I learned very basic photoshop skills and put mine and my gf's faces over an old king/queen painting, and added our puppies/kitties around our feet. Then printed the monstrosity on a canvas and put it in an obnoxiously gaudy frame. She loved it.
When my kid was very small, I used to get a few of these photo sleeves, put photos in of fun things my kid and I did, and hang them on the fridge at his height. He loved pointing out, "Here's us on the slide! An' here's me in the pool (blow-up kiddie pool) at Granny's!"
There’s an app called FreePrints. You get 100 a month for free and all you have to do is pay for shipping. Its really convenient. I remember having to download them to a disk/ USB to take to Target/ Walmart to print. Now they just arrive at my door without that extra step!
I did this for a couple years! Have boxes of cute little photo albums with nice cover designs. Thin photo paper but otherwise decent quality. Was like $4/month or something.
That's awesome! Downloading that now!
Thank you for the suggestion, just placed my first order now!
That's a great app. I also use Photobooks to collate all of the really special ones or to give to people as gifts.
Is this an ad? Cause if so it worked.
How's the quality? I use the one hour photo app because I'm impatient. Still super cheap and sends to my local cvs/Walgreens/etc
Call me a hipster or a nerd but I still shoot about 50 rolls of 35mm a year. I develop myself to save money. The photos are timeless and a few times a year I go to costco and print a whole bunch. It's nice not needing to print the missed shots though.
Where's that xkcd of the digital age comic?
They also allow you to create a photo book with all of the pictures printed right on the page. I have one of a Disney vacation that my family loves.
And they are CHEAP. Way cheaper to get prints now because you don’t have to develop film. Just plug in your phone or bring a usb stick and you’re set.
Snapfish is really good, recommend them. My friend and I hosted a "decade party" two years ago where we celebrated 10 years of living in London and it was the first time in ages that I printed out digital photos. I wanted to decorate the party with memories from the past decade and it made me realise what a fruitful exercise it is to dig out photos and print them.
It was also time-consuming. I had photos scattered everywhere: FB, memory sticks, an old laptop... I decided to pick out the highlights and place them in one folder, then printed them out. This means my memories from that era are now collated, curated and easily accessible. Once the party was over I put all the pics in an album.
The thing is it often seems like so much faff. Or you think, well, the photos are there, on social media or the cloud, so why bother printing? Yes, but it's often not an organised system and there's 1000s of photos to sift through. Plus it's a fallacy that they're safe -- pre-cloud, I had a laptop stolen plus the external hard drive where everything was backed up.
Maybe a fun exercise would be to print 50 to 100 "best of" photos every year. I feel like our future selves would be grateful we'd made the effort (those of us who enjoy photos at any rate).
Agreed and most are CHEAP AS FUCK for a zillion nice quality prints
I try to do this every year so I have new photos for my office, and the old photos go into a Walmart photo album. It's really nice and helps me get through rough work weeks.
If you have high quality photos you can get some gorgeous prints.
I get a photo or two from each vacation I take printed on metal which looks gorgeous.
I use snapfish a lot more than I'd admit tbh
If you get a standard 4x6 photo from a jpeg that is about 1 megapixel in total, you can see the pixels. I know because I did that with my first crappy camera that took 1.3 megapixel images at best.
The average widescreen monitor background these days is in the 2 megapixel range (1920*1080 comes to just over 2), take a print from that and the grains are getting small enough that if you look at them like you do a normal photo, it's hard to tell the difference.
Consider that most phones these days are in the range of 6MP and up, if the picture isn't blurry you're getting just as good a picture for a photo album as a shitty cheap camera did.
I have printed some photos but not as much as I wanted
We had pretty good luck with Snapfish, but our Walgreens prints were horrendous quality.
We sent professional photos to both. The Walgreens prints looked like they were done on a mid-90s inkjet printer.
I didn't want to hurt my wife's feelings because she was so excited to get them and seemed fine with the quality. If I had been the one to pick them up, there's no way I would have paid for them.
Maybe other Walgreens are better, but our experience was not good.
If you download the Shutterfly app, you get unlimited 4x6 prints for free. You just pay shipping.
I have two kids, 5 and 7yo. Every year for their birthday we use an online service to make a photo album of all of the best pics from the last year. We now have a whole shelf of albums and the kids pick them off the shelf to look at probably more than any other book. I do the same. Sometimes I’ll just sit down with a random year a look through it and reminisce. Highly recommended for any new parents, though it is a ton of work
This is such a great idea, I’d love to start doing this for my son when he’s born.
Definitely do it. You will have hundreds of pictures of your son within months. You are far more likely to look at a picture book than you are to go scrolling through your photo history in your phone. Also, it will mean a lot to him when he grows up.
I've started doing that with my dog: 'he' gets a calendar for my wife every year for Christmas with the best pictures I took of him in the previous year.
Pretty easy in Lightroom, as you can filter by year/month really easy to narrow down the choices.
I love this idea! 2020 cat calendar coming up
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Not OP but I do something similar - I make a little softcover book every year of two photos per month for each of my boys. Printing them in order by month is fun because then you can line up the kids at various ages. I make it a point to take shots of them individually a fair amount to be sure to have some good material by the end of the year. Every couple years I'll also make a bigger hardcover "Brothers" book of photos of them together when I feel like I have enough material. They're 3 and 6, so I've got a library of like 12 books now, and the grandparents all get copies straight of the presses as well. I just make it a point to tag potential shots with "[Name] Year Book" or "Brothers Book" as I'm going through and importing from my camera throughout the year, so ideally it's just a matter of narrowing down something like 100 photos that I've tagged to the 24 that will be printed for each year book.
Yes there are overlapping photos, though each kids album has photos primarily focusing on them. So both kids albums for the same year might have a few of the exact same photos (with both kids in the picture), some may have very similar photos from the same event, each with a focus on the individual kid.
Can't recommend this enough: we do one photo book every year (though I have to admit we're a few years behind) and the kids love pulling them down and looking over them.
We also did one book for each child of photos they took using a toy camera when aged about 4: makes for an interesting view of the world.
Last year we did a holiday-of-a-lifetime trip up the East coast of the US, and for that we did a book for each child, to start their own collection.
We have definitely gotten behind. We’ve caught up by doing one album for multiple years. Worked out fine. The important thing is that they get done. I think we have 10 albums for 12 total years at this point
I don’t know if you use Google Photos, but my wife makes albums like this about my son every year. Google photos breaks all your photos into dates so you can do pages for each month, they also are searchable so you can group like photos for a montage. It’s made things super easy when creating the album at the end of the year.
Google Photos is like an album on steroids.
Want to have pictures of your kids playing with a dog.
"(Kids name) with dog" bam pictures
It's just much more convenient and you don't have to spend time triaging your photos. Just let the AI do it for you.
To cut down on the work whenever I upload albums to my google photos account I also sort them into varying albums. One is " photobook age 2-3" so when I do the album at the end of this year I already have a shortlist of photos I want to use.
This is such a great idea, though a bit overwhelming!
if you want to do this but you're overwhelmed I recommend using Google's option. If you're on Android, odds are all your photos are already being backed up to Google Photos and it's as simple as selecting the ones you want.
The quality is not as high as some of the more upscale options but it's relatively affordable and really easy.
Thank you!
We’ve gotten behind a few years. Both kids have an album that is two full years instead of one because we couldn’t get it done and pushed it to the next year. I’ve learned over the years to go easy on myself. I probably end up putting 5-10 hours into each album, sorting and arranging
What service do you use?
Picaboo
Thank you
This is an excellent idea!
I do this exact same thing for my kids!
Fuck I need to do this.
What service do you use? The one’s I’ve tried before have been pretty disappointing quality. This is a great idea!
Picaboo, I’ve had mixed results. The pictures sometimes come out a little dark and the album software can be frustrating but overall I’ve been really pleased. I would recommend them
Thank you!
Since my first was born, all my parents (well, my mom) has asked for for Christmas is a book with photos from the past year. It's a GIANT pain to put together and it literally takes like 10 hours to make it something I'm proud of. It feels like the majority of those hours are spent just sorting through the thousands of photos I took to pick which ones are worthy of inclusion in the book.
But I always order an extra and it's been AWESOME having those books. The images are all printed right on the pages and it's definitely missing that "feel" of seeing real photos glued to a photo album, but it's honestly the next best thing and both my kids love looking through them.
That's an amazing idea! My mother has book cases of photo albums from almost every point of her life. At least from young adulthood until now. My wife and I are about to have our first child and I always think about what she will think of our photographs when she grows up. Photos felt more rare for my parents generation, but my mom has had a camera for at least my whole life (30+ years). I hope that we can give my kids that same experience, maybe we can doing something like what you do!
Google Photos does it all for you and makes it easier to find photos.
You can do search like.
"(First name) at the beach"... To get photos of that person at the beach.
You can do "(person 1) and (person 2)" to find pictures of them together.
For me Google Photos is an easy replacement to the printed album by a big margin for all the convenience it add.
It’s not just about finding photos, for us anyway. It’s about having a physical album my kids and I can look through together
Fair enough, I was mainly addressing your comment about it being a ton of work.
You can order physical album from them. They often suggest you album or you can make your own.
You could generate an album for fathers days by quickly searching for pictures of the kids with their dad, for example.
With the amount of photos we take these days for us Google Photos is a blessing.
Best of luck.
This is a great idea, thanks!
You can still make photo albums from your digital stuff
From your phone, even. Plenty of apps that do it these days.
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Every six months or so every photo I've taken gets moved to my file server and imported into Lightroom, which also syncs to Google Drive. (The whole thing is also backed up to air-gapped hard drives)
Keeps the phone relatively clean and I still get to access the photos through Google Photos (using their AI searching which is quite good)
That AI search is amazing. Last time I logged on Google Photos was like 'we made something for you' and they had made some 3-4 frame animations from my wedding photos. It was a little creepy but also I was so happy seeing those moving photos (we didn't have a videographer) I teared up.
My photos now just go directly from phone to google photos. I stopped bothering transfering files and it keeps the phone clean too.
My parents took so, so many pictures. They have several folders of both myself and them at childhood. I have one I keep with me. It’s comforting at times when I’m homesick.
Additionally, when my SO was in boot camp for the navy (not anymore, he quit), he kept a small picture of our cat and I in his wallet. Cell phones weren’t allowed; the picture was the only reminder he had.
While I greatly appreciate the convenience of digital photo albums, there are times that call for physical copies of photos.
It should be noted that one can print good quality, color photos from one’s phone. An actual camera isn’t necessary.
You know there's nothing stopping you from printing those photos out and putting them in an album, right?
I had my first baby 8 months ago and I have made it my mission to document her life at various events etc and make actual tangible photo albums for her. She’s only 8 mo the old and one album is already halfway filled. Thanks Snapfish.
So I’m a professional photographer and started getting burned out by doing photography full time and still having the drive to document my life. I remedied this by buying a point and shoot 35mm camera from the 90’s setting the goal of shooting a full roll of film every month. Once a month I take the film in to get developed and get hard copies of every photo I’ve taken which then go in a photo album. None of them are as technically good as the photos I shoot professionally, but every one of them have so much more life than the digital photos I take or photos from my cell phone.
They still sell disposable cameras and you could even get them developed at Walmart. I highly recommend this!
Please tell me you have a backup of all your photos. You don't want it to get lost like when MySpace migrated servers. The TLDR is that when migrating servers they lost irrecoverably years of user generated content in the span of a few months.
I'm always afraid someday when the apocalypse happens, those will disappear. So every year I make a point to do a Shutterfly or iPhoto book with my favorite pictures from the calendar year. Then I still have photo "albums" to look through.
This is my thinking! Then I remember that we'll probably have to go on the run for survival and we won't want to be lugging around 20 huge heavy photo albums.
Paperback bindings! They weight almost nothing. And if the glue comes undone, a copy store can put one of those spiral bindings on it.
Google will occassionally prompt me to buy a physical "photo album" it compiled on it's own from all the pics in my phone. Usually titled "Fall of 2017" or "Christmas of 2018" or such. I'll usually buy them because I'm jealous of my parents and their mounds of photo albums from when we were all younger.
You can still buy Polaroid cameras in this day and age. The film is a bit expensive, but it makes the photos more meaningful. There is also space at the bottom to write things in.
Instax bud.
It's cheaper than Polaroid and looks slightly better.
while this obviously serves only as anecdotal evidence, it's interesting how the "limitation" almost immediatly prompts a difference in usage: when the twelve year old daughter of a friend discovered her mom's old (but still working) camera and started to take pictures with it, it didn't take long for her to not "randomly" photograph anything but to be more deliberate in the choices of what exactly she wanted to take a photo of.
My wife and I make a physical Google photo album every year, go through our phones, click the pictures, add them to the photo album, pay and a week later we have a photo album in the house.
Google photos lets you make photo books, it's how my wife and I did our wedding album!
Taking 3D stereo video/pics with my Lenovo Mirage is taking me back to the days of memorable media cataloging. With 1803DVR video and images you get the 3D scale of the environment and the subject so I am taking capturing moments of my young daughter so when she gets older I will still have these immersive moments I can look back on and 'be there'. I can see how tiny she was better than any 2d image could. I am storing them in an Oculus GO so I can take it over to relatives houses so they can see them, like passing around a photo album in my youth. VR and stereo 3D media is bringing back the "Dad's taking our the camera" type moment because it takes time, it's expensive, and new. It's not something you do for every second of your life like with a phone. You take it out, set it up and capture memories like never before. It's so cool.
Almost all pictures of me from before I was 10 burned in a house fire. My kids pictures are on so many clouds they’ll never be lost. Point internet.
Did you take the time to also name them and add metadata properly? Unfortunately the sheer amount of digital data we produce can make things lost in a different way. It's great that you will always have them (and I mean that, too many people thinks "saving" means moving them from one point to another and then deleting one set), but you also need to be able to find specific ones or later know where, when and who is on them.
I'd pick a few favourites each month and year and copy them to an extra folder, so they don't get lost in the plethora of them you'll have over the years.
did you make sure that if you were to die today they A. know these pics exist and know where to find them, and B. have access to them?
You know, this isn’t dead, it’s your choice to print them out and make a physical book
That's on you, not the internet. Get them printed.
Check into groovebook. IURC you get a monthly photo book of all your social media pictures.
One of my husband's favorite gifts I've ever gotten him was a huge book from Shutterfly full of pictures of our son, our vacations and just fun little day trips, and his father who he had just lost.
I grew up in a house of photos. Got my own and the first thing I did was go back and print off years of photos. Just 3x5s but a lot of them and then hung them all around my house. It's great to pass memories just walking around. Every year or so we go through that year and pick out more to hang up.
Your photos: once a time to reminisce with loved ones and now challenge material on FB.
I’m actually making an effort to try and make photo albums that span over certain events, such as college, so I can show them to my kids one day
Did you know they still make photo albums and it's very easy to print your photos at a K mart? It doesn't take much time and is a fun afternoon activity to make one!
Conversely and theoretically...you will be 80 and looking at accurate photos of your teens and 20's..
I think of 12 to 25 and lament that there is nothing kept. At all..If I'm lucky some friend will stumble across a photo she took and I can see it..
It seems amazing and terrifying that most people's lives are being recorded permanently on a day-to-day basis just because that's technology.. This whole excommunicating someone because they said something 5 years ago is gonna go bye-bye lol...Everyone is on record, all the time!
I'd love a photo record of all the other, non-vacation mmoments.
You could print them.
We’ve been doing annual photo books for our fam and they’re awesome.
I'm 35. When I was a kid my parents got me a memory book and I filled it with photos and mementos until I was in college. I still love to leaf through it once a year or so.
I really should take all my digital photos and continue to propagate the physical collection.
I make a point of printing out my favourite pictures every year. My SO and I add them to our Excellent Adventure photo album :)
Sounds like someone wants to pick up scrap booking.
When my wife and I got married 6 years ago we elected to have digital copies of the photos only.
I've really only printed out one of them: to make a canvas as a present.
I put together a photo book each year in Lightroom and print it through blurb.com. I also print photos each year and store em in shoe boxes cause, ya know, it feels old school. I want my kids/grandchildren to be able to browse the actual things.
I totally recommend the hardbound photo books though.
Important to print some!
But having the always available camera takes a little off the beauty and fun out of it. We look back at pictures and we may have one slightly fuzzy pic of an event and someone's face is kind of weird and a kid is peeing on the background. But it's a moment frozen from our life and it's a beautiful thing.
Now just take 200 pictures of the same event and look at the "perfect" ones only and then because they eventually get lost in the thousands of other image files, they never get looked at again until you're super nostalgic, worried you lost some files, or someone dies and you need some pictures. Having fewer photos made them much more memorable and much more important!
Be the change you want to see. The anniversary for my partner and I is in a few days and I'm making a photo album with the adventures we've been on and a small paragraph for each one.
You can make books of digital pictures. Add captions lay it ou any way you want. My wife makes one for every big vacation. Make your book, save it, wait for a sale or coupon and then buy your book.
People would have to go to your home to potentially be shown embarrassing childhood photos. Now they’re on Facebook. At the same time, I wish we had backed up photo albums to some digital format before a flood ruined them so we could print them again.
There are services that allow you to design photo books digitally and then print and ship them to you. Absolutely worth it if you plan on looking at your old photos ever again.
I mean, just take personal photos and either 1999 it by printing them out and putting them into a book or 2010 it by putting them in a private dropbox or something for you and your close family to view from.
I miss those too, but I now make a photo book for every family holiday. The presentation is much better and I end up culling most images, keeping only the best ones so the end result isn't boring to look at.
There's loads of services that do photo books now, but I tend to use b blurb.
Printed photos fade, digital ones don't. And if you want to print a digital photo, you can do so at any time and with any resolution or degree of professionalism, but digitalising printed photos is very difficult and often doesn't result in a good quality.
Also, if you have an Android phone, you might have Google Photos preinstalled, which has an option to order a photo book of your selected digital photos. Or just any online service or shop for that.
Seriously, people, put some effort in printing your photos! I have a ridiculous amount of early childhood albums, but hardly any photos from my teenage years. Why? Because it was the transition period to digital cameras. My mom had a digital camera that she used to take photos of the family, then let them all sit o her laptop and external hard drive. Then, one day, both were stolen and never recovered. She had a back up drive, but it was apparently corrupted. If she had printed them, we still had (at least a part of) them! All the photos I have from my teenage years were those my mom sent to my grandparents, who printed them because they were "old fashioned". Since I moved out and became responsible for my own stuff, I have taken up the task of printing memorable photos at least once a year. I'm going to be a mom soon as well, and I will definitely have albums of my future child. Even though we are now spoiled with cloud based back ups and everything, you could still lose these photos. The service could stop, you could lose/forget your password, you name it.
It's really not that hard or time consuming, some online printing companies make it really easy for you by taking them off your social media or phone and placing them automatically. In the past, people had to put effort in getting their photos printed to even see them. That reward is gone now, but you will thank the day that past you decided to print photos once you've lost the digital ones.
I think I've found a nice balance to this that I enjoy personally:
I use Snapfish to make physical albums of all the important memories: I have ones of my years at university, one of my Uncle's wedding in Thailand, one of mine and my fiance's trip to Disneyland etc.
I then use Facebook to dump mass albums of everything else. Day out on a scenic walk? Facebook album. A few snaps while I'm down in London on business? Facebook.
And then I use Instagram for a few really select selfies or landscape shots that I want to process/edit and highlight by themselves.
My Camera Roll on my phone also automatically backs up to OneDrive and Google Drive, so I won't lose anything if my phone dies :)
Way underrated comment. I need to make photo albums for my kid.
I have a photo album and I feel guilty for not keeping up with it. It went from only having a couple photos of yourself over the course of a year to... hundreds. It's almost exponential, which makes for an odd book
I just went through my whole phone the other week and got 3 photoalbums filled with prints from a shutterfly. Worth every penny.
I recently got to go through 4 boxes of old pictures and picture albums with my grandmother. We sat there for HOURS talking because each photo brought up more and more stories. It was a great memory.
After I was a bridesmaid in one of my friends weddings I printed about 40 pics from the wedding to have. My fiance was so confused.
For the last few years, my fiance and I have made wall calendars that have a few pictures of the two of us from the previous year's version of the month on them and then a bunch of blooper pictures from the past year of us with all of our friends on the cover.
My husband made me a Christmas present our first year together of our favorite photos through the year with our friends and each other in a photo album, and he's done it every year since! I love them, they're gonna be great coffee table books 🙃
I have been taking my photos to walgreens and printing them out even though they are still on my phone. You should still do the same! Itll be a shame to lose all of them if something goes wrong. You should look into it!
I make these every year for our parents and grandparents for Christmas using Shutterfly. I like it because, unlike making honest to goodness scrapbooks for people, you only have to make it once!
I still adore printed photos. I moved to digital scrapbooking with an app called project life. They print your pages you make and I keep them in a scrapbook. I also make photo books on shutterfly often and they're some of my favorite possessions.
I used to have the same feeling as you until my dad passed away and I went through his Facebook, looking at all the photos, mentions of me, and statuses he made. He was great dad and I loved him, but he struggled a lot with his inner demons and I could see that on his profile at times.
He made random statuses about how much he loved us and I turned my initial "thumbs up" like to the new heart react.
For better or worse social media really is an open record of our lives
We have physical photos up until my brother is like two. My younger siblings there’s almost nothing, aside from a couple that we took last Christmas with a Polaroid my brother got
Dude I’m gonna start printing out pictures now;-;
It's easy to take those photos and print them off though, especially since you likely have HD backups in the cloud.
Every couple years I still slap a couple dozen of the precious ones on a USB stick, take it to the pharmacy and fill up an album.
I started buying disposables and turning them in at Walgreens to get developed. Sort of gives me that feeling from back in the day when I pick them up.
Oh shit I have one too. From my birth up until I was 10 or something. Scrolling on Facebook is not really the same as flipping a book. :(
I'm not saying that I miss it so much as I liked it better. Currently it's like, "oh you want to see my baby photos? Just be my friend on facebook, I friend people there I dont even hardly know". Back in the day if you wanted to see those baby photos youd have to like, have dinner with my parents and only if it went well would the photo album come out. That's a whole different level of friendship.
My GF made us a scrapbook of photos of us, really great gift!
I don’t even really take photos at least not the way my parents do. There’s so many photos of me before the age of 12 but barely any of my recently. It kind of makes me want to take more photos of doing things instead of just the rare occasional selfie.
My Mother still does photo albums. You should too!
FreePrints is a great app for that.
Chatbooks will easily print these into little photo books for you!
Snapfish always has specials and every month they send you a code to get 100 prints for free and all you pay is for shipping. For me, it’s usually around $8.
Honestly me and wife like having all od our photos backed up on Google photos because pretty much means we with never lose them. Physical pics can get destroyed. And anytime I want photo albums I can print out all the photos or I can make a electronic photos book and share it with the people I love 🤷🏾♂️ technology doesn't always have to be bad.
Google photos occasionally guilts me into compiling my photos into a photo book, and I do it on the spot. Never regretted it.
A month ago I wanted to surprise a special friend with a personalized photo album with 15 years of memories. It was a pain in the ass to find a business witch could print out the album and quite expensive, but in the end it was all worth it
I think we are all going to end up losing our photos and no one will be able to see them because our devices won’t work anymore. Like it will all be lost to history in 100 years.
I have a 4 mo and i've already started on making him an album. I have one from my own childhood. Those albums are priceless.
Totally agree. I have very few photos of my two youngest children because they were born at that time when we were all switching from print to digital (well, I was at least). They're all stored on a hard drive somewhere that I suspect my ex took when he left. I'm currently in the process of going through my mum and dad's photos to make sure they're kept in books and not just in boxes to waste away but also to identify who they are so future generations know who their ancestors were. My parents are the only ones left who can do that. This became apparent when my niece visited recently and didn't know who my grand parents were in photos.
Yes! I print all of my photos and my parents think I’m insane for spending so much money on ‘stuff’ but I actually lost all of my photos not once but three times off hard drives. After the third time I started printing my photos and paying extra for a CD copy of them.
Sure, they take up a little space in a storage box, but I love being able to take them out whenever I want and flipping through!
Nothing is stopping you from getting photos developed at Walgreens. I have hundreds developed, and newer ones from 2011-on.
I love hanging them on walls and making a nice collage.
I do not even think there are any photos EXISTING of me between 9-16 or longer hahahaha
Got the same problem, but I recently restarted getting photo albums for ever trip we take, we end up going through all of them at least once in 2-3 months. I tell u , it's worth it
I still make them, just that I bought office type inkjet that uses affordable ink and bulk photo paper. Everything else is same, including writing some notes next to photo.
Albums just get stored on shelf and viewed after 5+ years go by.
I bought my now-Ex, a photoalbum as Christmas gift. We both enjoyed watching in albums at our parents when we grew up, and I believed/still believe that she is the one etc etc.
Our parents enjoyed seeing our adventures.
It changed so much my dorm room after I printed a bunch of pictures of friends and family and hang them. It gives such a good mood !
We have like 50 photo albums and god knows how many my nana & grandad have
But a few years ago my mum started using photobox for albums for the big holidays they went on
My wife still prints out photos to continue tradition and have it in the coffee table. I don’t use Facebook and I haven’t posted on Instagram since three years ago. We just got married so she took her time and made this awesome photo album about that and the other one about our honeymoon in the Utah national parks.
That's why film cameras and polaroids are making a comeback.
I miss albums. Nothing replaces the smell of freshly printed photos.
FreePrints yo. It’s awesome, and free.
I had to move from my house that I had been living in for 9 years to a new place and stumbled upon a box of all my family’s old photos. My mom wants to get albums for all of them, and I’m totally down for that, but I also want to keep a digital album of them just so we have copies that won’t deteriorate over time. You can definitely make albums of all your favorite photos, it’s just hard to since you have to make the space for all the albums.
Go to free prints we have over two thousand pictures of our two kids
I have 100s of pictures saved on my PC, not one physical photo album. My mum still gets them printed but because of the digital photography they are so many Noone really looks through them.
You can still do that. Can't force others to have physical albums but oh well. There are also sites that let you pick up pictures you want, add some description/fun bubbles of text etc and print it all in a form of a little book.
This is where I have a fun idea. If I ever find someone and we get married, I would love to have all our wedding photos printed out and then on social media just put up a text saying "hey, our wedding photos just arrived. If you want you can stop by for a cup of coffee and we'd be happy to show them to you!"
None of them will find their way to Facebook or Instagram.
That is if I can convince my future SO
I have TONS of pictures up in my room of just people I love. If you want your photos physically you can still get them.
And there was something about film, knowing you don't have space for 10 billion pictures meant the ones you had were even more special. Even the really crap ones of your horribly red eyes, some weird artifact over one corner and your dad topless drinking a beer in the background. There's just something that was captured in that moment that you feel every time you look at it.
Event planning/announcements didn't rely on Facebook. I mean social media was in full swing by the time I was 19 so I only speak of teenage/childhood memories but I feel like when event planning involved phone calling, texting, and speaking to each other face to face you really had mutual connection from people who were as into the idea as you were. Nowadays someone ticks that damn maybe, interested, or yes button or says "oh sweet I' ll get back to you" in Messenger and that's the last you hear from them until they don't show anyways.
And yes I'm bitter from being on the receiving end of many people doing that.
This was my first thought too. It used to be normal to RSVP to something well in advance and follow through with your commitment to attend an event. And it was yes or no, never: maybe. I swear the evite and Facebook “maybe” attendance option did more to break down the social fabric than anything else. And the digital interface makes it somehow okay now to never respond at all or to bail last minute. It’s sad.
This was happening well before Facebook. Mobile phones allow you to cancel plans at the last minute or turn up late. Before then you had to turn up on time or risk everyone moving on to another bar, or not waiting around for you to order dinner etc.
If someone can’t pick up the phone and call me to invite me to something, I don’t think I should be obligated to respond to their e-invitation. Heck, I only check my Facebook account every couple months anyway.
Saying you’ll go and then bailing last minute (without reason) is definitely not cool though.
Deleting my Facebook was the best choice I've ever made. Now I only get invited to things by people who care about if I'm there. People I invite to events will honor that commitment. It's wonderful
Same. It's been almost a year for me. I never realized how exhausting it was. I laugh when ppl finally see me and go "oh, I forgot to invite you since you're not on fb." No, you forgot to invite me because you just forgot about me. I'm ok with that, it makes you realize who really wants you in their life. Time spent with people who actually care for you is so much more rewarding. Also, it makes for better conversation when you don't know what's happening in someone's life 24/7.
From the other side of this: I have so little time that if not for FB messenger I'd be completely socially isolated, and spend a fair amount of time so heavily mentally occupied (almost overwhelmed, even) that I can't remember normal shit, much less that big event coming up, who I have and haven't invited, who all I even want to invite, and forget keeping track of any of that if instead of being accessible on FB it were "did I send that card"
I’ve been battling with whether or not to delete mine - your comment has massively helped with the fear of missing out. And the knowledge that I’ve been so bad myself for forgetting about people if they’re not on facebook.
I tried to delete my Facebook about 3 years ago, I found it way to hard to stay connected. All my basketball games where organised through a group chat, all my band practice was through group chats. What I ended up doing was just deleting the app from my phone but keeping my account and using messenger for group chats. It's been the perfect solution, I don't waste time scrolling through garbage, and I can still stay in touch with my social groups without being a burden of being the one person they have to individually chase up
Most group chats I’m involved in are via WhatsApp - but we do have a big family chat which I might not want to get rid of - OR I could just visit my family more... 🤔
Just a heads up, on your birthday you will get a massively less amount of birthday wishes. I knew it was going to be less, but I went from like 100+ to 5 haha. I don't regret it, but it gets annoying sometimes when planning things. I wish you could have a facebook messanger account without a facebook account, that would solve like 99% of the hassles I have had.
I don’t think that would bother me to be honest. I’m crap for remembering other people’s birthdays and I rarely do anything exciting for my birthday anyways. As long as I get cake on my birthday (which I’ve no problem buying myself) then I’m happy :)
I'm the same way but with pancakes lol
I actually hid my birthday from view a few days before I turned 30 because I suspected absolutely no one would remember if not for that reminder. I was 100% right... and honestly don’t care.
I’m happy for you guys that you broke something that was bad for you.
But it does make me sad that there is a decentralization of networking as the guy who moved abroad and has a Facebook but it only has one picture and zero wall posts and I really only use messenger rarely to keep up with people. I have lost touch with a lot of folks this way.
Dude, me too. It took me 7 tries to finally break my Facebook habit for good. I only kept it for the events. But one day I realize I could just make sure the people I care about had my number ask them to text me the info for things if they wanted me there. Best decision ever.
I did the same and have experienced this same phenomenon. I am much happier, realistic and clear headed about my life. I highly recommend this.
The *ONLY* thing I miss about Facebook is the ability to plan and communicate about events. (And Facebook became increasingly useless at that.)
I'm SHOCKED no one has stepped in to replace this single Facebook function.
Social media has taken the social out of socializing
or if you're like me and gave up Facebook completely, you miss out on events because it's assumed EVERYONE has a FB account.
I still don't regret deleting my account though.
You have to take the initiative and make the connections yourself! People don’t show up to events hosted by FB invites because they are lazy and impersonal. Not the invitées faults really. I don’t feel too obliged to go to any events where some one didn’t even take the time to message me to come. Why should I put in work if the host won’t. I privately message every person I invite to parties and my husband and I generally have about an 80% turnout rate.
My wife and I have a rule about large gatherings that we have to take into account that one to two thirds of the people who RSVP will cancel the day before or the day of.
My social circle has done this, when I quit FB I told them and said you need to call me (phone number hasn't changed in 20 years) when you are organising something. That was 4 years ago, not one call since :)
:(
It works both ways, though. Some people blast invites for every little thing to everyone they can cram on a list and then I wake up to a notice that “you have 26 events this weekend.” 22 don’t remotely interest me and at most I’ll go to 2 because I’m an introvert and that’s my limit. There are not enough hours in the day to keep up.
I still remember event planning before cell phones. Amazingly frustrating, I have no fond nostalgia of that.
Yeah, and to be brutally honest... without the convenience of shared calendars with 'availability' slots and the likes there is virtually zero chance of any of my recent events with friends having happened. We're all just too busy as adults with responsibilities to not have some sort of planning tool to aid it.
We still send out formal invitations and have a dato for replies. We NEVER arrange through Social Media, because no one ever takes it serious and it’s all just a bloody click without any concerns and personal connection.
Yep! I’ve thrown two surprise parties that were catered in the past few years and personally emailed each guest. It telegraphs: you’re an important friend, we really want you to be there to celebrate with us. Then they feel compelled to give a yes/no sooner and stick to it.
I think every group or party is going to have some flakes, but a group invite is only going to alienate an individual guest, whether anyone realizes it or not.
Very true! That initial interaction gave a nice push for people to fully commit instead of saying “maybe”. It’s too easy to hit the “maybe” option nowadays :-/
Along those lines, what’s with people putting open ended invitations out on Facebook for things like weddings and surprise parties? I miss the personal invites.
This is up to you though. I'm doing my thesis defense and giving a graduation party soon and I invited all my friends over e-mail. I'll be dropping a text in some WhatsApp groups soon to remind people to respond.
It works fine. In my social circles actually only the "big" open parties and events are done through Facebook. Anything else is done through just a WhatsApp message or mail.
seen at 10:20
I used to organise punk shows back in 2009-2014 and the difference between how I used to promote shows then and how shows are promoted now is insane. Back in 2009 when I started I'd actually print out flyers and go to other shows to hand them out and go round town putting up posters in record shops and other places punks hung out. Not too mention all the mass texts and e-mails we use to send out. We even had our own WordPress blog to inform people of our upcoming shows!
Nowadays people just make an event on Facebook and invite all their friends. Even when we first started using Facebook to promote our shows you couldn't just click "Invite All" when inviting your friends. You had to go through and manually click on each one or find a code to type in to the address bar that did it for you!
In high school I was on my local concert venues email list and I was SO excited when I got those emails so I could see who was coming to play a show. Now their events are on their website or Facebook and I never even check.
Fucking true. I hate Facebook events
I mean from my point of view Facebook seems to be dying. People are getting tired of the overwhelming amount of information gathering ect. Many of my friends and family no longer use it so if I don't have people's numbers I'm kind of screwed.
Lol no it was so much harder to plan things. Did I remember to text everyone? Ok now I need to text everyone all the details, oh there was a slight change gotta text everyone again, oh now everyone is texting me asking things I've already sent them.
Yep!! I missed the excitement of receiving a birthday party invitation. These evolved to digital ones (photo) and now they’re just facebook events. :(
And yes I'm bitter from being on the receiving end of many people doing that.
I'm a bit confused. if you're the organiser, why don't you just invite people using the phone?
I was at university when Facebook appeared and it was a revelation - in the days before group texts it was so hard to get people together!
And instead of calling around everyone to see if they wanted to get lunch or whatever, you could drop them a Facebook message for free. It cut my phone bill in half.
In the early days social media was an amazing tool for getting people together.
My family still does mailed invites for birthdays and whatnot. I don’t have Facebook so if I do miss some events but usually someone will text me.
It was better and worse at the same time. It was better because, as you said, people actually had to make a plan and stick to it. There seemed to be a lot less flaking. However, it was worse because if someone got delayed, or sick or something and genuinely couldn't make it, you had no way of knowing
I’ve stopped planning parties because of this shit. I tried to have a proper birthday party for myself last year (never really got them as a kid), so I made an event, conscientiously invited people I actually wanted to come, contacted people I knew had food allergies, bought tons of snacks and mix because a bunch of people clicked yes, whole 9 yards.
Maybe 10 people came.
In the days of one computer per household, with dial-up Internet and no social media, I used to spend hours designing invites to my birthday parties on Publisher. I used to really look forward to it and seeing people's reactions to my designs!
People being allowed to apologize for saying something stupid. Thanks Twitter.
Or not having your life ruined today for something you said 6 years ago.
Just had this discussion with a friend. The internet killed the ability for the world to forgive and forget. It sucks. People can change but the internet can punish us for every little mistake even if we learn and change who we are. It's one of those aspects where it's truly horrible for society.
Edit: I'm not saying I condone racists and rapists. I'm just saying that it's much harder for anything anyone did in their past to remain in the past.
Not the Internet. Social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc.. When Forums were predominant, the Internet was still a much better place than it is nowadays. Also, see Cancel Culture. It's a lot more devastating than one might think.
Thank you. Civil discussion is basically dead and social media killed it. Welcome to the age of the Facebook Lynch Mob.
The internet has given people another platform for being the uncivil assholes they've always been. What they used to share over the backyard fence, or whisper in church, they now post on facebook. And I don't think blasting things on social media is all that much more effective than sharing them person to person either. If anything, you are better off now because you are more likely to find out what assholes are saying about you, then you were back in the day.
Sadly relevant username.
Forums were no different, simply less used. The internet is the root. Social platforms are just an evolution of the cause with the foundation being public archiving of stupid shit.
Social media is the worst because it begs people to overshare what previously would have been kept relatively local. It wasn't newsworthy that so-and-so college kid did something controversial or took a stupid picture. It essentially allows people to have their stupid moments immortalised on a level that was previously exclusive to the rich and famous in tabloids.
The internet was great up until the smart phone made it so that everyone with small little device could effortlessly access the Internet. Seeing things over the last few years I can see why some people complain about Eternal September.
People didn't forgive and forget tho. There's probably more of a chance of you being reminded of any particular celebrity's missdeeds these days, but among family and friends and your circle of acquaintances, there's always been people who delighted in bringing up old gossip. The Internet's just made you more aware of it.
Both these things have always been true. The internet didn't change people's behavior that much. We've always been a vindictive species with a good memory. Within the tiny world that was your community before the internet, something you said or did would always stick like glue and people would gossip about it forever. The only difference was the ability to move someplace new and start over, which doesn't exist anymore, but wasn't really a realistic possibility for most people unless they'd really, really messed up, anyway. Leaving behind everything you knew, every support system, all your references etc behind was a bigger deal in a world without instant communications. We've become much more mobile since the advent of the internet. It used to be harder to pull up stakes and start over somewhere else.
Accountability is great. Hypocrisy is bad. Everyone always acts like they don't have a few skeletons in their closet too. I'm not saying everyone has sexually assaulted someone, but I am saying that everyone has said something stupid at one time or another. IF someone apologizes for saying something stupid, in most cases I believe we should move past it, unless they keep doing it, of course. A lot of people like to say, "They're only apologizing because they got caught!" And that may or may not be true, but I still think they should be given a chance.
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What do you use to download?
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Basically it goes a little like this... I bounce out a song as a WAV, and then convert it to a 320 MP3 using iTunes. iTunes compresses very well (imo), and so if you compare that WAV with that 320, they will sound practically identical. I then take that 320 and Convert it to 128 in iTunes. The sound is STILL practically identical. (Because it is a good 128.) There may be a little rolloff around 8-10k (super high end) but it's more of a "sound change" than a "degradation". This conception that 128's are drastically inferior to 320's mostly comes from 1. people reading bullshit on the internet, & 2. people downloading BAD 128's!!!! Seriously. Not every WAV is equal, not every 320 is equal. I could take something at 92 KBPS and rebounce it as a WAV. does that make it a lossless audio file? Fuck no. Who knows how many times it' been downconverted/upconverted etc. Just because you downloaded a rip on /xtrill and its a 128 and it sounds bad doesn't mean 128's sound bad. Just because the apple I bought was rotten doesn't mean all apples taste awful. Basically if I listen to a song and it sounds good, I will play it. People knock me for playing 128's and I'm just like... If I can't tell the difference, then neither can you. And the bit about playing it on big systems and it sounding like shit is also a load of crap. TL;DR: If it sounds good on good headphones, play it. (That said, anything below 128 and you will notice audio quality deteriorate VERY quickly.)
[edit: i'd like to thank /u/ekalimusic for this delicious pasta, it has provided sustinence for all those arguing below me. jesus fed 5,000 with some fish and bread but ekali's pasta feeds me eternally]
That's going to end up giving you worse quality than just directly ripping to 128. you're taking a 128, making it a WAV, making it 320, then 128 again.
regarding 320 vs 128, there is definitely a noticeable difference. During my uni course we did blind a/b tests (sure you could find some online) and even with relatively cheap headphones we could all tell.
And as a sound nerd, we absolutely can tell when someone is playing a youtube/soundcloud rip on the $20,000+ system, sub bass sounds thinner and high end loses harmonics. You might think you're killing it but the sound guys will be cringing.
He clearly said that not all >128 are better than 128 because you don't know what compression came before it. You could compress to a 96 kbps MP3 and then make it a 320 or a 128 that is still actually much lower. And since most undiscerning rippers settle on 128 as the ideal between compression and quality, a lot of the source material you get will be at that bitrate, including audio from YT.
If I can't tell the difference, then neither can you
That's objectively untrue. Not everyone's ears are equal. Heck, your ears can even change over time. Five or four years ago when I was really into this stuff, I was able to hear the difference between lossless and V0 mp3 and V2 mp3 (LAME encoded) on $200 headphones. I used to be able to blindly tell which was which without needing a comparison. Nowadays I've let my ears get lazy and can no longer discern between lossless and V0 in A/B testing.
V0 also got a lot better, current LAME is much better than before.
would you mind sharing for lazy asses such as myself?
Can it just convert videos to mp3? I've been looking for a good, not virus-y Youtube to mp3 converter since youtube-mp3 shut down.
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Cool, thanks!
I've been using both of these online converters ... you can choose the file type you want to convert to.
Because we all want to take 128kbps audio and convert it to a WAV and produce with it
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Is there barely any point in saving it as wav then
But then you might as well save it in its original opus and let you DAW deal with it.
It's a little higher than 128k, but regardless, samples are where you find them. Not going to turn down something that inspires just because it's lofi.
What the pseudo-philosophical fuck are you saying?
Youtube videos use 192k aac for hd which is like 320k mp3, and 128k aac for sd which is like 192k mp3.
Haha I have a nearly identical script for that exact same purpose written in bash!
Look over here we got ourselves a shell script writer over here
I don't understand any of this but you are doing God's work son
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No thank you sir, I am basically computer illiterate. But I can imagine many other people have benefitted from your other comment so cheers!
If you do redo or make your script more comprehensive I'd recommend using PowerShell. Working with variables is way easier than with Batch. You can call the dot net framework from it if you wanted to add a GUI to it
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PowerShell, for me, is way more intuitive to write. I've seen a lot of people recommend "learn PowerShell in a month of lunches." A quick Google will help you find a free pdf download.
The syntax is easy to get used to.
Verb-Noun -Opperand and if needed | the output to another set of Verb-Noun -Opperand
Once you have the hang of the syntax it's a matter of finding out what you want to accomplish and phrasing your Google searches to help you accomplish the steps you are stuck on
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No problem! Have a great day fellow redditor!
We're so freaking interested, dude, you're the fucking MVP. I'd use the shit out of the same sort of script that just ripped audio only.
I used to have an app that I could use to download from YouTube so I could watch offline later. Do you know if there's any apps like that? Thanks for the info.
Yes.
It is called Newpipe.
Definitely bookmarking this for later.
As a fellow dank beat boi I thank you for the knowledge to stop using random YouTube to wav websites
Nice try, but I make so many typos with my chaotic typing, 50/50 working spacebar, and an Enter key too small to hit reliably 100% of the time that I can beat you in the edit game anytime.
Please share your script, or at least the arguments you use for this? I'm reasonably good at picking which streams I want, but I have to then use other tools to convert the format. Would be super convenient to do it in one step.
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You're a lovely person. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.
I use it for some similar purposes. Is WAV any better than Mp4 in any regard?
Not only that, but it has an absolute treasure trove of options. When used with ffmpeg, you get lots more functionality out if it. I've written a batch file specifically for ripping YouTube videos directly into WAV format for use in (non-professional) music production.
Edit for those interested:
This is the easy batch script I slapped together in a few seconds to rip youtube videos directly to WAV format. This script requires that you copy the URL of the video and paste it into the cmd prompt, then press enter. Just in case anyone doesn't know how batch files work, copy the five lines of text from @ECHO OFF to PAUSE, and paste it into notepad. Save the file in the same place as your youtube-dl.exe and change the filename from "whatever.txt" to "whatever.bat". Now that you know how to do this, DO NOT go copying any random code from the internet to use for a batch file unless you know it is not malicious. Batch files are just automated command line inputs, and they can really mess up your computer if the writer has ill intent.
@ECHO OFF
cls
SET /P url= "Paste the youtube URL you want to download: "
youtube-dl -x --audio-format wav %url%
PAUSE
If you want to create your own batch files to download in different formats, simply change the variables in the fourth line. You can see all command flags by going to CMD and typing in "youtube-dl -help". Keep in mind, sometimes Youtube-dl needs to update before it will work properly. To accomplish this, simply navigate to the yt-dl folder where the .exe is and enter "youtube-dl -U"
Hope this has been helpful!
Looking over it again almost gives me the itch to make a bit more comprehensive batch suite for different conversions. Let me know if anyone would be interested!
EDIT 3: I think I'm going to log the most edits on a single comment in Reddit history. Anyway, thanks for the gold stranger!
Thanks for the notes on youtube-dl.
Second this one
from pretty much anywhere by just giving it the link.
Works on most porn sites too.
can you alter start/stop times?
because I missed being able to do that :( so many good songs were gotten because of that
I had a motorola that could make MP3s go directly into google music (apple music but cool), but then the site redirected to a 2048 clone because it had to be taken down.
edit: found the one the OG site recommended. cant name it the way I used to, but its good enough. Yout
Additionally, if you're on a youtube video, you can download it by simply adding the letters "ss" before "Youtube.com/....
It'll bring you to an easy to use downloader with your video all set to download. Pretty sure you only have to click one button and you're good.
Got anything for mobile?
YouTube Downloader by dentex. Works like a charm.
Oooo
youtube-dl works amazingly with qutebrowser, I can download any video from search results with just a couple of keystrokes
Wouldn't be surprised if this website were shut down permanently within the next week.
youtube-dl is years old.
Thank you!!
Certain languages (Python for example) also have FFI wrappers for it, meaning that with trivial research in your free time, you can create a tool where you drop all links at once and it downloads them all instead of having to do it all manually through 3rd party sites.
only up to 720p which sucks
If you use it with ffmpeg you can get higher resolutions
Really? I'll have to try that. I tried to download the 4K borderlands trailer, but it only downloaded the video and not the audio.
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Because video and audio are streaming separately in higher resolution, YouTube dl need ffmpeg to combine them together. It will download lower resolution if it can't find ffmpeg.
Only basic HD? Is this some sort of peasant service?
youtube-dl + mpv + feh + a plumber script + rtv in your favorite terminal = all the dank reddit porn with no ads, and without a browser window eating up all your ram. Don't even need a private tab or anything. It is the comfiest porn watching experience in the world.
Way back in the day I used to use Zamzar to get mp3 files from youtube videos to stick on my Zune. They probably have an option to get video.
Zamzar and Zune. Never thought I'd hear those words again.
Do you remember the cucusoft converter? I used that thing all the time
Omg IKR I forgot completely about zunes.
Zune was the best. It had a better format, better look, and better name than ipod. I feel like Microsoft just said fuck it too early
And their marketing of it was terrible. But man, the Zune HD was a beautiful device. I'd buy a phone with that aesthetic in an instant.
I forgot those even words existed!
My Zune HD still works and I still use it fairly regularly, the little thing is bomb proof. Definitely beats the iPod I had that lasted all of about a month over warranty before it refused to ever turn on again.
Limewire for life. I still check sometimes to see if it’s returned.
This comment is like a time capsule
I've still got my zune 12gb model. Got it maybe....5/6 years ago? I'm gonna be upset when it dies. On a side note, any good options that's not Apple related?
A few companies still make media players, the catch is they’re audiophile targeted now and have nice dacs and support tons of file types (lossless and stuff, in addition to mp3 and whatnot) so they’re a bit pricey. Last time I looked cowon made some.
I believe fiio makes some affordable audiophile ones
It's not relevant but memba Limewire?
I memba
I'll just say this here and hope Microsoft somehow hears it: the Zune software was the prettiest way to play music ever. Its design was ahead of its time.
That, and the original WindowsPhone7, minimalism before it was the modern trend in software, so well proportioned!
I would use mp3skull to download my muisc and i would use this app called pocket tube and would also use this mp3 app on my iphone. I also remember i wasn't around to ear phones so i would blast my muisc in public i know it sounds like a dick move but i was young. I would play bands like Hollywood Undead and i set my friends on fire and also my chem. Also attack attack and asking Alexandra.
Yeaaaa I loved making ringtones for my flip phone out of youtube clips. Good times.
YouTube Downloader HD is a solid option.
Yeah. Even though it has kind of a tendency to crash, at least for me. But it still gets the job done.
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youtube-dl also works on pretty much any major video site (including many porn sites), and will make an attempt to grab an HTML5 video from even unsupported sites. I think the -x option will automatically extract the best audio track, though this is usually opus so old phones and iOS will not be able to play it
VLC media player allows you to do it! You copy the link from the video to VLC and play as a network stream. When you inspect the video, it gives you the actual address instead of the youtube link. Then, you can just go there and click "save as".
4K Video Downloader works dang good too.
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so it cna do other then just youtube?
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All good, didnt know or even think to try it with other sites, will have to give it a try!
Not who you asked but I use 4k Video Downloader. It's fucking awesome and will strip audio too if you find something you just want the MP3 of.
\^\^\^ They even have an Instagram downloader wink wink
Ignore what everyone else is saying. When it comes to downloading videos off the internet, youtube-dl is king. If you're not comfortable with using the command line, there are a few different GUI frontends out there.
You can just use VLC
Soneone has probably allready said it
But there is a cool lil program called youtube-dl, and it can download videos from tons of different sites
VLC media player can save youtube videos pretty cleanly I think, in addition to watching them in the player without the rest of the site.
I've been using Wondershare video converter. Download YT vids in video/mp3 format and convert your video files. Family loves it bacause they have chromeOS and it can only play certain videos.
Same. Its got a lot of extra stuff too like a screen recorder, dvd burner and media server just to name a few
I use youtube-dl.
I use the program + a simple script i made for linux to quickly and easily download the highest quality version of a video from a URL. I didnt like having to go through a website every time I wanted to download a youtube video and this program+script works so quick and so well that I dont ever have a reason to look up anything else.
Nice try cop.
Check out Video DownloadHelper, a browser extension. It can download from all sorts of other sources, I haven't found anything it couldn't detect and download, including several things which numerous other downloaders failed to find.
Another handy tool is convert2mp3.net. If you are on a computer without install privileges, you can use it because it's just a webapp, but I think it's limited to YouTube.
Yeah I'd like to know/watch as well! Thanks if you tell us.
Use youtube-dl. See /u/photodiode's post and children here.
I would recommend youtubemp4.site. Works great, no ads, just give it the link.
y2mate.com
If you just wanna download from the browser, savefrom.net is a pretty good alternative
onlinevideoconverter.com
What did the deleted comment say
Along the lines of “YouTube before big labels and false claim chopshops ruined it. I’ve started to download more obscure and niche videos because I have no confidence that they’ll be there in a year.”
Just copy the link of the youtube video and paste it into a YouTube video downloader like y2mate.com or something
Copy pasta URL to website, gives you a download link. No need to install anything on your computer.
https://www.4kdownload.com/
If you're an android user, there's this app called SnapTube that lets you download any video from everywhere. Even pornhub.
Nice try, F.B.I.!
Good trick, M.I.6
Not today, C.I.A.!
I'll have it MY way, N.S.A.!
Wow really surprised nobody mentioned JDownloader, I thought it was pretty big. It's like Youtube-DL but with GUI, works great for a ton of websites. When you download a YouTube video you can use the drop-down to select quality, format, and even just download the audio if that's all you want. Jdownloader works for other types of media too like images or music. You can even download entire playlists from SoundCloud, which I do a bunch.
AnyVideoConverter
Its one at a time but its perfect and since its free and well made there is NO LIMIT...
type vd before the youtube in any youtube URL and hit return. You'll be redirected to a site to help you download it, in a variety of formats.
This is just good practice. If you find something you like on the web, download it. It sadly won't be there forever.. :c
This has made me wonder what the hell historians are going to have to go on 1000 years from now when trying to get an accurate picture of life in the 21st century. I mean, I have burned CDs from not even 20 years ago that are already dead due to disc rot.
I know that some things are being preserved for this reason (like twitter), but it ain't like they're etching the shit into stone tablets and burying them under a mountain. Storing hard drives, sure...but how long is magnetic storage really going to last? And software...I read an article about NASA not long ago where they are scrambling because the languages used to program our earliest probes are so long dead that no one has bothered studying them in generations, and they've got people well beyond retirement age that can't retire because there's nobody to replace them. If they're having this trouble now, 50 years down the road, what hope do people 1,000 years from now have? Might as well be programming in Sumerian.
How much abandonware do we know exists only because it's mentioned in some article of some tech publication? The code is long gone...and again, we're talking a mere 20-30 years later.
Very good points and even I am running into this on a personal level.
It's not just software or language, but hardware as well.
I had old computer disks that today wouldn't be readable today because the floppy disk (that save icon in MS Office) is gone for decades. I had the foresight to transfer the data to hard drive, but even then there were some problems, most notably, not being able to transfer the data into usable format because of proprietary formats.
I used this shareware program called PC-Write as a word processor but it's long since dead. I had to scrape out the text by hand into ASCII format just to recover it. Even today we have old versions of WordPerfect or even MS Office which aren't compatible with today's versions and so much data can be lost.
This is within my lifetime, so like you said, what happens in a thousand years, especially if civilization degrades for whatever reason?
Oh yeah, I've got audio files on an ancient hard drive from a program I had in the very early 00's, kinda like Acid Music where you could make electronic music out of prerecorded clips and beat generators, but it was by some random company that I got out of a discount bin somewhere for $5 that was obviously made by hand, like they printed the inserts on their fucking inkjet as the orders came in and quick burned a disc and slapped a label on it. It had a lot of quirks and was definitely in that bargain bin for a reason, but I had a lot of fun with it anyway. I made a bunch of tracks that I was really proud of, multiple CDs worth of music, but they exported in some goofy-ass file format that nothing else knew what to do with at all, last time I tried anyway, which was admittedly probably 15 years ago.
The software is long gone (I don't even remember the name of it to look for it online), and I lost that disc probably 3 or 4 moves ago...the computer it was installed on has been replaced at least 5 times by now, I think it was a Windows 95 or maybe 98SE program. I still have the drives, but I don't even know if they would fire up at this point. They've been in the bottom drawer of my PC toolbox since 2004. I should give it a shot again and see what I can recover.
/r/TipOfMyTongue and/or /r/WhatIsThisThing might be able to help.
As a general class of programs I think he might be describing a tracker (that perhaps came with a library of sample, well, samples). Obviously if you have the file extension that will help a lot /u/angrydeuce
Super Duper Music Looper
Was it Super Dooper Music Looper?
The same thing that's always happened. Cloth and paper are just as susceptible to destruction and decay as digital bits, just the modes are different.
We've probably lost the same, if not more, amount of stored information than what we still have. Most of the stuff from 500 years ago survived specifically because of 500 years of careful caretaking.
I'm going to be that guy. Actually, paper is pretty resilient, so long as it's not stored in the elements. We can dig up landfills and find papers from the 20's that look as crisp as if they were printed that day. We still have papyrus from Ancient Egypt that are perfectly readable (if you know your hieroglyphics).
In a way, perhaps old and new tech can come together, giving us near-flawless OCR with a lot of textual data stored on paper (or paper-like) surfaces.
Then again, I keep hearing about diamond quantum holographic storage being a thing, eventually, so... have hope?
But even with future storage mediums, someone still has to have a working copy of the original data, and has to go through the effort to archive it in the first place.
I really do think there's gonna be a digital dark age at some point.
There are lots of people already archiving tons of stuff.
Theoretically as long as it's not opened, hard drive data will be there forever too, paper is no better than what we have.
Normal hard drives will slowly demagnetize over time. And in SSD's, the transistors lose their charge (your data) eventually.
I did not know this. This whole comment chain is slightly terrifying but also cool. And now I'm convinced that the next apocalypse isn't going to be zombies or nuclear warfare, it's going to be loss of digital information.
I wonder if a kind of digital migration can be set up? Some kind of ongoing transferring of our version of the Encyclopedia Galactica to either new versions of our current storage systems or to better systems, then repeating the process?
It'd have to be cost-effective and something enough of us decide is worth doing, of course. That might be the biggest hurdle.
Also the lubrication in the bearings can dry up, and the logic boards often fail before the mechanics do. IIRC modern hard drives have to be calibrated at the factory for the unique quirks of each platter, so you can't just solder a new board on, though I imagine very well-paid data recovery experts could have a go
Looking for this reply, our idea of the past was probably just bullshit to the people who actually lived it
My guy, think about the papyrus they dig up in Egypt. Once digital shit is gone, it's gone. We still have books from a couple of centuries bacl, even older.
And think of all the papyrus that didn't survive. Archives take effort. They take energy, and care, and money. The same as with digital information. You have to figure out a storage medium, and keep it refreshed, and make sure your formats are open and readable. You have to care. Sure, that thumb drive full of sentimental data might not work in 20 years, because it was left at the back of a drawer and all the data on it was saved in some god awful format from some company that went bust 15 years ago. It's gone. Same way anything on paper I don't purposefully save is gone. Same way all the shit at the Library of Alexandria is gone.
because the floppy disk (that save icon in MS Office) is gone for decades.
Surely you wouldn't have to specify... right?
Oh fuck I'm old.
At least there's virtualization. That and a USB floppy drive will get you some of the way there.
The thing I think is going to have more of an effect is software-as-a-service and phone-home DRM. How long has it been since you've actually seen a game disc that includes the game, and not just a Steam installer and a one-time-use code? So many things now are tied to individual user accounts and they aren't going to be abandoned into the wild like in the past, they're going to be gone or bricked when the owners stop caring.
This scares me a lot. I'm a young woman who wants to spend my retirement years catching up on my Steam backlog.
Yeah, I don't like how we don't truly "own" the data we possess, especially if it's all stored in a centralized location. IF that service goes defunct, then what? Hell, if you get banned for a bs reason, now what?
Honestly, there should be a clause in the contract where you can get banned from the communities and key perks and features, but not your games. You should be able to download all the games you purchased still. And if Valve does go under one of these days, I would HOPE they would allow us to download our games and back them up ourselves. I don't think many of us would have the space or desire to grab the entire Steam library, but at least the important ones. But a good part of me fears that if Steam is going bankrupt, they're not going to bother paying server fees anymore to give us time to download our stuff.
Pirates to the rescue!
This is already happening. I have a large library of Desura games, but Desura itself is gone. If the library were to disappear for whatever reason, then I've lost all of those games.
Steam however is much more worrisome because of the phone home idea. If they went out of business a LOT of people would be screwed.
As much of a pain as physical media was, you knew it was always there.
You probably know this, and it flies in the face of the cathartic grumbling, but some people here may be less tech savvy, and I want to throw them a bone.
Notepad and Text files are your friend. ASCII is so fundamentally baked into every modern system that it would probably take a full-on tech collapse for it to go away.
JPEG, GIF, and PDF formats are probably going to last basically forever.
MP3 and MP4? I have less knowledge about those, but they're so widespread I have to assume they'll at least be readable in the future.
Anything else might be iffy, but if you stick to those you're probably fine.
You can kinda through CSV under ASCII there.
Yeah, for sure we'll lose a lot of data due to physical destruction and overwriting, but we are never going to forget how to decode an MP3. In fact I'll bet we'll be able to pull up the versioned history of ffmpeg's source code 200 years from now, unless global society collapses
Even if we did lose it, we've deciphered plenty of things that were meant to be hard to unscramble, so I'm sure we can handle some basic media formats using fairly predictable techniques. A minor example is ASCII. Even if we collectively forgot ASCII, or you used some obscure character encoding, a tiny bit of frequency analysis would save the day (TL;DR: the most common byte in an English corpus probably represents "e")
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I already use that for sending out documents since it protects them from unauthorized editing (by most users) and also because it shows it the way I want. Compatibility also isn't a concern with it.
Also it's simple to open. Don't send resumes as Word documents people, PDFs are way nicer to open as the interviewer
This, please. Even simple documents produced by Word can have weird rendering bugs in Libreoffice
Backward compatiblity?
You didn't have foresight, that was the problem.
People used to have no way to store things easily.
The www wasn't a thing in the early internet. Newsgroups were where it was at, and they were all ascii. uuencode and uudecode were key if you wanted images.
I transferred stuff from old tape cartridges a few years ago and had to install Windows 95 to make it work. Also converted old Microsoft Works docs from school days. But my Amiga docs, though accessible, aren't transferable to a format we use today.
If you are missing DOS games, there are a few here https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games
Thanks!
No worries :)
If you want the mother of all archives, look for "ExoDOS 2.0" which has a couple thousand games. It's on torrents and is about 375 gigs in compressed format. If the game isn't there, it doesn't exist.
There's a similar project for early Windows games called Win3x0 as well.
funnily enough I've started taking notes & such all in notepad, that thing is gonna be here forever :3
If you ever feel the need for a bit of formatting, use Markdown - it's what Reddit comments are written in. The idea is that it looks sorta formatted even as plain text, but you can also render if to PDF or HTML using many tools. The tool "pandoc" will even let you insert LaTeX anywhere without needing the full boilerplate of an actual tex file
I do use simple formatting of sorts, but I'll definitely look into that, thank you.
If you are lucky to get hold of old software, you can run it in emulator the same way it was ran back then on real machine. Then, on that same old machine, program it to be output in whatever format you need.
That, of course, requires to also be lucky with finding emulator that can run the operating system of that time, or knowing enough to build one yourself.
It's a tedious process but possible. Even if you have very old format and manage to (better case) get it into modern storage, and can find any information about it, data is recoverable even on modern machines.
Not only that but if you write the biography of someone who lived pre-digital, you had maybe boxes of letters and written work to sift through. Now you'll have to go through thousands of emails, texts, and reddit posts to get a proper history. Most of those emails will say "Got the doc you sent, thanks"
Oh, for sure. Anyone trying to glean anything meaningful from my email aint gonna turn up much. So much of my personal communication is via text message and IM nowadays that has no record at all. I honestly hardly use my personal email account for personal communication anymore. It's all just billing reminders and order confirmations and a handful of newsletters I don't even read anymore.
"her hobby was paying bills. She had, over the years, assembled a sizeable collection of different bills which she arranged, in her particular manner, to receive every month, in a pleasing periodical manner."
That's actually not that far off from what I remember happened in regards to Roman history. Most of the sort of messages that we send in text now used to be written on a sort of wax tablet, and sent via a runner to the recipient, who would then wipe the tablet and write a reply.
So we have a lot of the fancy, formal letters that are meant to be well thought out and flowery, and little of the day-to-day informal communication.
Welcome to the world of archivists. The digital world is both the best and worst thing that's happened in terms of keeping, storing and transmitting information. There's no complete archive of the internet, and unless someone puts serious money behind it there won't be. US library of Congress tried to archive all of Twitter but the project died due to lack of funding. Support your archives at local, state and national level.
Wow the thing about nasa is really interesting! Do you by chance have a link?
Awesome! Thanks!!
If anyone wants to help, there's a project that downloads sites/services when they're announced to be shutting down. It runs a VM on your machine that slowly downloads content a little at a time and forwards it to them.
https://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=ArchiveTeam_Warrior
On the other hand, if historians in the year 3019 (Hi guys!) could recover ten full seconds of Facebook activity, they'd have more information about our society than we have about, say, all of the Roman Empire.
This an idea that makes A Canticle for Leibowitz ring even more true for me ... what happens post-apocalypse when the only documentation that survives is a scrap of paper (skipped the writing on paper to avoid spoiling the reveal)
Well, all the stuff on Wayback Machine is safe. They have a good chunk of the Internet from 1996 onwards. Even geocities is on there.
The Wayback Machine is fantastic. But so much of what we do on the Internet these days is isolated behind logins or paywalls, and therefore is not open for them to collect.
It is being collected. In the UK we have non print legal deposit https://www.bl.uk/legal-deposit/web-archiving and UK Web archive https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/uk-web-archive Of course, parts of it are embargoed for copyright etc but it will be available for historical research purposes.
CDs that die in less than 10 years? The only ones that did that for me were the ones off-brand without labels $5 per 200-pack.
Even chinese knockoff "eProformance" or something went all yellow but still play perfect. Memorex is going strong, a couple of Verbatim's died out of roughly 50 (funny enough those have been the most expensive and making the most reliability claims).
But yeah, whenever I get a new album I like I tend to copy it to reel or at least cassette. 'Cause I've had tapes from early 60s still play perfectly fine but some CDs went within a year.
As far as the recordings themselves, I remember hearing that my college would back up student records every year on tape reels and store them in three distant locations to Ragnarok-proof them. And I'm talking last ten years, probably to this day. I think there was something about that form of storage being more permanent, if tougher to access.
Until about 10 years ago when he suffered a bad stroke my father in his 70s at the time was highly sought after by the aerospace sector. He was one of a few people left who knew some old systems inside out. He had worked for McDonald Douglas for 50 years. He wrote code for them that was the foundation for many projects. He was hired to teach it to new people and to rewrite it.
My dad does scientific modeling and also has expertise on an obscure invertebrate. His employer moved them to open plan and said they couldn't take more than one of those storage tubs full of stuff.
His office had been lined with bookshelves. Such a loss.
If you've got stuff, please rip it and upload it to archive.org (or send it to Jason Scott). Jason has doing a fantastic job trying to keep old software and stuff preserved. (Did you know, you can play Oregon Trail, among many other abandonware titles, on the Internet Arcade at archive.org?)
Historian here. Your question about source materials is interesting--it's discussed within the field but not nearly to the extent that it should be, probably because we as a discipline think more about the past than our present, or the kinds of work historians will have to adapt to in the future.
To not be super boring about it, historical record is always fragmentary, even when it is profusely detailed or abundant. Histories are always reconstructions of the past, not reproductions. I presume that the process of ascertaining the most insightful sources and records of our time will take time, as all things do, but history as a discipline is self-correcting in that way. There will doubtless be a debate over the credibility of different social media and their uses for understanding different aspects of society. There will be researchers analyzing large mines of archived tweets, facebook posts, Youtube videos, Reddit subs. Subscriber counts will be instrumentalized as proof of mass audiences, and in fewer cases, misused as proof of the popularity of certain ideas as reflected in posts, whether or not likes or comments reflect agreement or disagreement with content. Personally, if I were to (ahistorically) insert myself into a hypothetical future debate, I would argue that Youtube videos are a less accurate representation of social reality and cultural values than their comments. Youtube content is highly tailored and curated to a specific audience, driven by monetary incentive. While Youtube comments reflect an even more restrictive audience, the liberty of expression is far greater than the content they are ostensibly responding to. Reconstructing that cultural awareness of what Youtube is, means, and does will be far more difficult than accessing it, in the case that it will be accessible to begin with.
The materiality of digital source materials is a different question altogether. Like printed materials in libraries, digital sources are information contained within real, material objects. Their longevity depends on attentive care and maintenance over time. At the moment, most of that information is privately owned and archived. In the case of catastrophe or even far less (a bankruptcy, corporate merger, dissolution, etc.), that record might very well disappear, and our catalogued knowledge of our present world may, like the Library of Alexandria, be destroyed in time.
I read an article about NASA not long ago where they are scrambling because the languages used to program our earliest probes are so long dead that no one has bothered studying them in generations, and they've got people well beyond retirement age that can't retire because there's nobody to replace them
Eh, that's because government pay is crap for the level of effort involved in those projects, not because capable people don't exist. The work will end up shopped to a contractor that will charge...well, enough to pay market rate + profit & overhead.
There is going to be stuff lost over time, but there are some problems that are exaggerated.
Our technological power is increasing with time. Perhaps we'll have huge information banks in the future where we catalog internet data. Maybe home computers will come standard with petabyte hard drives with software that automatically store information. Historians will have a better picture of daily life in the 21st century than any previous century specifically because of our ubiquitous tech.
I used to rail on the internet all the time in my 20s for destroying history. Glad I’m not alone.
There is the internet archives. But it only really catalogues more obscure websites if it has a reason to.
And then you also have people like EL James who use takedown notices to get rid of all the timelines and evidence of what was on their websites. Not that EL James is going to be history worthy beyond maybe being an anecdote of popular media frenzy, but still.
That’s why I print all of my favorite YouTube videos as PowerPoint slideshows.
that's why i love internet archive/wayback machine. it really is a nifty tool in finding literal internet fossils
I guess learning BCPL and Ada in college might not have been a waste of time.
Disk rot?
A type of bacteria gets in between the sandwiched layers of a CD or DVD and eventually renders the disc unreadable. If you've ever seen an old disc that looks "cloudy", it could be disc rot.
Same thing ours do, except they will have a lot more problems, a lot...
Don't worry, we won't last long enough to find out.
This is why I have etched the words of Gangnam Style into the wall of a cave near my house. Somethings cannot be allowed to die.
What's the article about NASA? Can you post a link?
I've heard that once on internet, always on the internet. Now you're telling me that everything in the internet will eventually disappear. I dont know what to believe anymore.
It's the internet paradox.
It will always be on the internet, but you'll never be able to find it.
it doesn't help that Google basically has a search engine monopoly and can just delist anything.
Same with Youtube.
Same with Chome.
Same with Android.
Use duckduckgo. They havent sold out so far
As I understand it, they're basically anonymizing the query and then passing it through Google. So you're still getting Google search results, it's just that Google's not pre-tailoring the results to your profile as much.
if google delist it, good luck finding it with ddg.
I think it goes through bing not google.
I think you're describing https://www.startpage.com/ instead
+1 for DuckDuckGo.
It's nice not having my data run back to Google by the tiny bitch ass searchbar gremlin.
Great site name if I can say so myself
Give it time, everyone succumbs to the search for gold.
I see in your words the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when DuckDuckGo fails,
When it forsakes anonymity
and breaks all bonds of trust.
But it is not this day!
An hour of scrappers and targeted ads,
when the age of encryption comes crashing down,
But it is not this day!
This day we Browse!
By all that you click on in this vast web,
I bid you Search, Anons of the Net!
/r/lotrmemes
Except DDG's only reason to use it is that it doesn't spy on you. Why stick with DDG if it decides to give that up?
They'll do what other companies do when doing shady things. Do them and do their best to avoid being discovered until it is too late.
Those are all developed/subdivisions of/by google
Edit: I think i'm seeing a pattern here.
You're very perceptive.
I assumed the /s was obvious. But yeah, Google's gotten pretty crazy evil in the last decade or so
[deleted]
I don't like it...
Uhh no it's still there.
Yeah... but it's the very last sentence in the whole thing. Give me a break
Degoogling android shouldn't be a 3 month resesrch project
LineageOS is pretty good if you have a phone that's supported.
It gets complicated fast. I want to remain able to make purchases through google play, and then install those purchases on my phone, but I want to be able to do it without having google play. There are options, but it will require time and effort to trym install, configure, and troubleshoot, where I work 60 hours a weeks and simply don't have the energy.
The Chome company maintains a tight grip on all trade
Now if it weren’t for that damned Guild...
Recently google has been utter shite for me. I can’t find anything with a basic search, and the first five results are always pinterest.
Ha! I use Firefox. I also use the search engine ecosia.
Privately run Websites have a shelf life. Once the page Creator ceases to continue the site you get the "this domain is available...". I have also learned to respect the bookmark.
Nobody's forcing you to use Google though. Using another search engine takes a bit of getting used to but it's not that unthinkable.
I just switched to ecosia for my searching. They use the profits to plant trees around the world. I haven't noticed much difference from google, tbh.
Yes! Ecosia’s the best!
Google has no power.
I needed to download emu8086, which isn't even sold anymore, and trials are just trials.
Guess what helped me? Torrenting networks. Someone just happened to have shared it before it was gone.
Also it's fucking disgusting that it's actually still on internet but most common form is modified versions on shady sites that also install 30 additional bloatwares, and you're lucky if it actually also gives you the original program with it, and you know, that will, most of the time, install so much adware, you will have porn ads popping up even in steam client (it's web based client FYI).
Laughs in TOR
More like: If you don't want it to be on the internet, it's there forever. But if you want it to be there forever, it disappears.
That nude you posted to myspace while drunk in undergrad? All over the place.
RIP to all those old forum posts explaining how to repair that thing you broke, but all the images were hosted on some defunct website.
Unless you don't want to be able to find it. Then it'll be right there up the top
but you'll never be able to find it.
Unless you run for a political office.
It will also always be in the decimals of pi. As is every piece of media that can be expressed in binary, from past, present, or future.
Having something permanently archived doesn't mean much, unless you can retrieve it.
The distance between the internet and the outernet is constantly expanding so it's only a matter of time before we reach the heat death of the internet.
The things you want to keep will disappear. The things you want to disappear will stay forever. That's just how life works.
So you're telling me Jake and Logan Paul will always exist?
well fuck! If I wanted to look at turds, I'd stare at my toilet but I'd also flush it once in a while.
This.. is a hell of our own design.
iMurphy's Law
So the solution is to not get attached to things.
Ahh the tetris logic, mistakes pile up wile achievements disappear...
It'll be somewhere, but it doesn't mean it'll be easy to find.
Like all the machinima videos :/
nope. tried compiling a very old program that requires an even older library. could not find library even with months of effort. even tracked down the two authors and both no longer had the code. One simply didn't keep it and the other lost it in a hard drive crash years prior.
It won't disappear, you just have to be willing to get it from sources that compete with the commercial providers.
The Pirate Bay embodies the fundamental spirit of the internet far more than YouTube, Facebook, or Reddit.
I don't even know what's real anymore
It's the truth. I can remember lots and lots of stories and videos that have been lost to the ether. And these are just the stories and videos that changed my perception about something, not your usual run of the mill stuff.
The whole perspective on the internet has changed, there was a time where you were told to not talk to strangers on the internet. Now we use it with the goal to meet strangers
Think of it like this. Imagine you had a newspaper story written about you as a kid. You know the story existed, but you don't know the date, the name of the newspaper or anything specific enough to find it easily. Imagine trying to find that one particular news story out of millions of archived newspaper stories.
That’s only for embarrassing videos and pics of yourself... those are permanent.
Stuff sticks around on the Internet precisely because of people who act as if it won't and download it themselves (then often reupload it elsewhere)
See archive.org and Jason Scott. The stuff you want removed from the internet will be preserved forever, the stuff you want to keep will disappear.
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
If it's something you don't want online, then obviously be careful.
But if there's something online now that you'll want later on, you better back it up in multiple locations because there's a good chance it won't be there forever.
People thought that about MySpace content.
That was before google ended up basically owning the internet, and a load of the old stuff shutdown.
There are still copies around, but they just won't resurface unless it's important.
So rest assured, embarrassing stuff will always be somewhere. But that funny video that got a bogus DMCA against it isn't going to be easily searchable unless someone wants to do footwork to get it back up.
It kind of will be. My website I wrote 15 years ago is still online, and it's through no effort from me.
I'm 47 and I've been doing this since I first got the internet as we know it in 1996. In the last 10 or so years, I've seen the confidence among younger people in stuff just "being there," and I started to question my old habit as perhaps being antiquated. To some degree I guess certain content has become so ubiquitous that it's not necessary to lock it down. But, you know, it's easier to just keep than to evaluate that way sometimes.
May I point you to some likeminded individuals at r/datahoarder
Unless it's crappy websites you need for school. Those will be there until the end of time.
especially porn.
But everyone says nothing ever truly disappears from the internet.
I learned this early on, so I would keep the original url and copy the web page. I find it mystifying that people would redesign web sites and move every last page making every link to it obsolete.
On the other hand, sometimes you can find it again using https://web.archive.org/
Can you archive it on archive.org?
r/datahoarder would like a word.
/r/datahoarder is leaking
This goes for porn as well
/r/DataHoarder
Then you need to burn cds, print photos, and bind your own books because PCs won't last forever either.
Unless it's something embarrassing, of course.
Just like the comment you were replying to...
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I miss YouTube Poop and 10 minute limit videos.
I might be going against the grain, but that stuff is still there. The algorithm is basically you are what you eat, like food. I get recommend good things because I click "not interested" on stuff I don't like.
Also subreddits like YouTube haiku and deep into YouTube. There's plenty.
I feel like YouTube is very different depending on if you use uBlock Origin or no blocker.
I can't handle the ads. I just give to their Patreon accounts for people with them. Or buy merch. Helps them way more than a few pennies for ads
r/deepintoyoutube is a good place for more obscure videos
Yeah but it’s more a place for the random silly content people find DEEP in the system. I unfortunately didn’t take part of internet culture in its golden age, but I do enjoy looking through the archives of the net and finding all of those old viral videos or watching old episodes of game grumps, and old markiplier, and looking at memes that actual tried to be comical instead of the THANOS! E! CHRISTIAN MINCRAFT SERVER! LEMON FIRST MEME OF 2019 RAKDOM XDDDDDDDD!
From what I’ve seen the most massive pivot on the Internet happened started around the ‘adpocolypse’ and really got bad around the time fortnight got big. Now everything has been hijacked by advertisers and search engine optimization and other bullshit.
Youtube from 2006-2013 was a golden era
I feel that 2013 is when it fully went commercial but there was still lots of advertising before that. I would say 2010 was the last year YouTube was pure. But maybe that's just my mileage.
Remember. The comment section was butchered in 2013. I think it's safe to say that youtube started to die when the main mean of communication between users and creators became crap.
Nah, after 2013 it went bad. See: YouTube rewind 2014-2018 for proof.
google+ was implemented in 2013 thats when everything started to turn into shit
I've been wanting to do this for some of my favorite channels but we are talking thousands of videos and I don't have the timeto really do it, organize it, etc...
Like I keep worrying about if a channel like The Great War gets axed...what a loss that would be.
I remember when YouTube first launched and was full of quirky shit and reuploads from places like ebaum's world and black albino sheep. Now it's full of celebrity branding and creators advertising crap. I miss Youtube before major Youtubers became a thing.
YouTube still has stuff like that. I feel like I'm so opposed to what you guys are saying. If all you get recommended is weird celebrity stuff, I'm sorry. Just click not interested for the channel on the recommended page.
There is a video from Leonard Cohen's 2012 tour of him reciting a poem that was a riff on his song a Thousand Kisses Do - it's haunting and beautiful and heartbreaking, and of course not online anymore due to copyright. fortunately I had downloaded it, but I so wish there was a way I could post it for others to see
Especially when incidents like with Machinima happens and lots of videos get purged without a word. Nobody can be certain now with how long videos will last. I say, don't rely on some big company to handle your videos.
Honestly I miss when the internet was just a bunch of random people trying to figure it out. Now it’s just a huge corporate playground playing money games and politics and the average person’s content suffers because of it.
I know what you mean. I used to be subscribe to a channel called Buffalax and his video Saint Sea Hat cracked me up. His channel got deleted for "copyright infringement" even though it his videos were fair use parodies.
I remember that channel!
Minor bun engine made Benny Lava...
Down with this. Used to just be full of interesting creators wjo got paid correctly and now it's full of fakes making money and people too scared to go against the rules.
Don't get me wrong I do understand the rules but it's been implemented badly and it's fucked everything up
If you want to save stuff just add web.archive.org/save/ before the url. It'll be saved forever¹.
The internet killed YouTube?
DMCA takedown trolling is killing YouTube.
DMCA takedown trolling killed YouTube and there is absolutely no hope for the website unless someone creates a new video streaming service and takes down Goliath but we all know that will never happen because it would be impossible and the internet is fucked forever
FTFY
Man... there was an awesome metal cover of post Malone' s "rockstar" on YouTube. It was perfect. Got a few million views and got taken down before I thought to download it. It has now become my internet White Whale.
Ah, early youtube downed my daily browsed pages from 20 to like 5.
Now my feed is polluted with suggestions based on my kids using my account to watch shit.
My saved list has too many videos either deleted or private.
That reminds me I need to download Batman vs. Vader https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv6saLrn3UY
There should be a search function on YouTube where results show only videos from 2010 for example. Wouldn't be hard for YouTube to implement.
False claim chop shops?
It’s when you can falsely claim “copyright” and YouTube wouldn’t bother to investigate it, they just take the video down without second thought.
/r/datahoarders
Its also that half of youtube is basically clips of cable TV shows now.
Youtube was an amazing site in the early days specifically because it wasn't cable tv. The content on it was wild and different and stuff that major studios would never put out. Edgy, stupid humour or really niche communities. Now everything is overproduced, under the thumb of investors, and filled with ads.
Without having to download an app, just share>copy the link of the YT video; Paste in a new page of your default browser (you can skip this if you're already browsing YouTube on a browser and not the app itself) and let it load. Then, Click on the URL and add "SS" (Without the parentheses of course) between the "m." and "YouTube" from the link you pasted. It redirects you to "Savefrom.Net". From there it's straightforward (choose quality and mp3/mp4 format) and boom- Who needs YouTube red?
Honestly, I'm not troubled by any of this stuff. I find YouTube hones its recommendations pretty quickly to the kind of content I like/search for/watch - eg classic movies, vintage comedies, certain singers.
I just checked now and it's encouraging me to X or accept certain Recommendations that aren't for me (goodbye Fitness, goodbye Fashion, hello Europop).
Thank you! I feel like I'm going crazy here.
If you have uBlock Origin on and you subscribe to good channels, you're fine. That's it. Then give to their Patreon or buy merch. Boom, done.
People seem to not realize you can change your recommendations. Just click the little settings on each one and choose not interested. The algorithm adopts to it.
I see plenty of great content. It's as great as it's ever been. Been using YouTube since the beginning.
And there's plenty of subreddits with great YouTube links.
Help good channels out by doing Patreon or buying a merch item. They would much rather have that than the few pennies of ad revenue per person.
Pretty sure you couldn't use YouTube before the internet, but I'm new around here
Youtube has this video, called A hunter shoots a bear, one of the most awesome things on the website. They ruined it. The video and the channel are still there, but the cool part is gone. I think it was an elaborate ad or something. I'm glad that I got to experience it before Youtube broke it, but from all the shitty updates, I'm still pissed about the one responsible for it, almost as much as the one that fucked the comment section.
If I look through my liked videos playlist the majority of videos from a long time ago are gone
You’re going to become the Globglogabgalab of YouTube videos.
I love YouTube videos, and this basement is a true treasure trove...
I have an old video of cutiemish (if anyone remembers her) lip syncing the Pokemon theme song, it makes me smile. Glad I was able to file it away for a rainy day
CHARLIE BIT MY FINGER
This was always the fastest way to a c&d letter in college.
The other day I tried to look up a video that I watched a decade ago and was always there. It was gone. I was hit with a profound sense of loss.
Chock-a-block full of porn it was. Those were the days.
Youtube's golden age (2008-2013) was a fun time in a lot of ways. I miss all the indie content.
What are false claim chopshops?
you got a playlist? i do the same
Early youtube was great. "Will it blend" and The Mean Kitty song...
Yeah I downloaded my meme collection before 90% of them go due to Article 13.
some what related but you know it really says something about youtube and the state of the internet when the top youtube account with the largest amount of subscribers is a corporate company
/r/deepintoyoutube (or deepinyoutube, I forget) /r/obscuremedia
Having a mental catalog of great jokes that most people hadn't heard. It was so much fun to drop a few at parties and get some laughs.
I remember how people like that were always the best to have around.. They were like Joke Wizards.
I remember a while back, a family friend made a quick joke as a response at a party. We were around high school age I think. His dad asked him if he was developing a "rack". We didn't know what that meant, so both of our dads explained that it was like the rack at a dry cleaner, except for jokes. You gather a bunch of jokes over time that can be pulled out quick when the situation calls for it.
Yeah, I was thinking boobs
100%. Everytime
24/7/365
Pussy stays on my mind
even when i am not awake
Well, you could pull those out at a party too.
As an overweight gentlemen can confirm.
Not as fun as you’d think though.
Hell no, you know the party is heating up when the fat guy takes his shirt off.
Source: Am fat guy who like to take his shirt off at parties.
Woohoo!
Hah! Very true. Especially at pool parties. Sauce: Fat dude too.
Porn on tumblr is what I miss 😢
I still am.
Username checks out
Snack tray - aka boobs
Boobs everytime
Well, TBF, if you're a guy with moobs, a good sense of humor can get you to an otherwise difficult goal post.
Maybe that part of his rack
I was thinking an iraq joke
I got a boob load of one liners and most of them are titillating
I got a motorboat load of one liners.
Why not both?
Great rack son.
When my dad asks if I'm developing a rack, he's referring to my weight problems.
Dad, the war is over. Why do you keep trying to ship me back to Iraq?
"Gotta find those WebMD's, they keep telling me I have cancer"
I was just going to say, "developing a rack" is not the same thing as "developing Iraq".
Corrected a word
truebluespirit. truebluespirit had bitch tits.
Hah!
F
r/2meirl4meirl
F
I remember an ex once gave me a gun rack and I thought that was weird since I didn't even own A gun.
let alone many guns, that would necessitate an entire rack.
She's a psycho hose beast, it sounds like.
she has nice legs, but no self-esteem.
Was her name Stacy?
Yeah... Last time I saw her she had a neck brace.
My Mom tells people that she's heard my Da's jokes so many times, they've numbered them to save time. "22!" my Da shouts and he and Mom start laughing their asses off.
A guy walks into a bar he's never been in before. He takes a seat and orders a beer and notices that every 30 seconds or so, someone will shout out a number and the bar will erupt with laughter. So he asks the bartender what's going on, and the bartender explains that all the regulars have heard each other's stories so many times, they decided to number them to save time. So the man decides to play along and yells out "38!" and everybody laughs. He tries it again, "52!" and everybody laughs again. Then he yells out "345!" and everybody's going nuts with laughter. Some are in tears, others are falling out of their chairs. He asks the bartender, "what's that all about?" The bartender says, "they've never heard that one."
I don’t get it I feel very dumb
People laugh at jokes and funny stories. People laugh harder at jokes or stories when they hear them for the first time.
In this case, the bar patrons are laughing because every time they hear a number, they're recalling a joke or story from memory that they've heard before. When they hear the new number, they laugh the hardest because they've never heard it before. The joke is that there is no joke or story associated with that number.
Good save, Dad.
“Hey, ya growin boobs?”
Wait, this is a thing?! I started doing this recently completely of my own volition. Nice to see that it's an actual thing that other people do too
I think it's something that comes naturally as you age. You develop canned joke responses for things people say.
How does one even prepare themselves in different situations with jokes? I would love to do this, enlighten me please
just.. jokes/retorts that could be used in all situations, e.g. 'You look like your parents are cousins'
It's similar to r/showercomebacks. People say things, and later on you realize the perfect response. But the moments gone. But eventually someone will say that line again and you'll be there with the best line ever. Like, if you were being robbed, and the guy yells "Don't move" at you, you could immediately respond with "Why not, is there a bee on me?" and then while he's distracted you throw a table at him.
Converse to the other response- word specific prompts, e.g. 'Don't call me Shirley' anytime someone says surely.
Still no clue what else a rack would imply, sounds very familiar
I often pull out quick when the situation calls for it.
Just don't give that advice to your daughter. "hey sweetheart, how's that rack coming along?"
I call those pocket jokes. Jokes you keep in your back pocket for just the right situation.
Former bartender here. Second best skill you can have after mixing drinks.
What's a dry cleaner?
It cleans the dry
That was me. Now it only works with my parents and other baby boomers.
Idk I use the same two pickup lines I stole from /r/tinder all the time on tinder and I keep getting points for originality
What’s the line?
"I'd take you to the movies but they don't let you bring your own snacks"
"Are you a bank loan? Cuz you've got my interest."
Pickup lines are just bullshit icebreakers anyway so fuck it and just copy/paste.
How about "are you trash? Cuz I'd like to take you out"
I asked a girl if she wanted to go get tacos. After she didn’t respond for a few minutes I sent “it’s ok if you don’t want to taco bout it.” We’ve been dating almost a year now 😊
That’s cute... and kinda baller, actually. Good job, man!
We met through a Facebook dating group so it was all online at that point. I’d been trying online dating for a while and had reached that point where I’d just say whatever I found funny and see what happens. Once it clicked that the worst that could happen is just no response it got so much easier
Please tell me you two have seen this video.
We met through a Facebook dating group
Guess the internet killed your loneliness. Good for you dude.
Brilliant! In most surveys women say a sense of humor is a man's most attractive trait.
[deleted]
Your wife has been responding to a FB dating profile of a guy she actually finds funny? 🙃
He should use another line on her when he proposes. I say go with:
"My love for you is like diarrea. I just can't hold it in". Then he gets on one knee.
Hahahah!
Relevant username?
That's nacho girl, man!
😅😅😅 i love corny jokes
Why taco bout it when you can burrito bout it, amirite?
She single?
I’m gonna do something like that
You: 'Do you like tacos?
Her: 'No'
You: (╯°□°）╯︵┻━┻
I was on the topic of tacos with her when I saw this comment I was like I’m gonna do this. We ran outta things to talk about so I said “what do you want to TACObout”
(╯ಠ_ಠ）╯︵ ┬─┬
[deleted]
the point of asking to get tacos is so that you can use the funny taco line
[deleted]
because if she's online and immediately agrees to get tacos, you don't need to do the line
>keeping a relationship for more than a month
Teach. Me.
Why is it that puns are the only thing that seem to get women to respond on tinder, it baffles me
It's mainly due to the fact that girls get an ungodly amount of messages on dating sites. Well most likely any site. So anything that helps you stand out from the rest of the dudes, is probably more likely to get a response.
10/10, would get tacos with a guy and give him a chance to shoot his shot if he said this
"Are you a girl? Because I'd like to take you home with me and chain you up in the basement with the other ones." - not very effective
"Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?" - not effective online at all
Neither is, "Are you retarded? Because you look special to me."
This would work on me
Are you special because im retarded.
Me 2!
Are you retarded? Because you look special to me.
I do. ♥
If you were a booger, I would pick you.
I'm melting
Nice, I'll start planning the honeymoon.
Oh yeah, you like that you fucking retard?
-- how to talk dirty to a special person
Not bad actually
How many Tinder girls does it take to change a lightbulb?
Well, my basement is still dark, so it must be more than seven.
"You should have sex with me because I'm gonna tell everyone you did anyways." - not very effective either
😳
I laughed way too hard at this
I'm calling the FBI.
Full Blooded Italians?
Whataya doin on reddit Tony it's late! You gotta be up to open da store at 6 thoytee, I'm cookin roasted potatoes an sausage
I used to have a pin that said "I'm already picturing you with duct tape over your mouth." Not ot many found the humor in it like I did. Some did, but not many.
Marry me.
..😳
Are you trash? Cuz I’d like to clean you up. #trashtag
are you a firetruck? because you're mad fucking loud and annoying
Yus
I tell them Id like to clean their gutter while fingering my belly button. No bites yet but I have a good feeling
It's a numbers game, just keep on trying!
My favorite that got my current gf who’s going to med school.
Are you my appendix? Cause I don’t know much about you but this feeling in my gut has me thinking I should take you out.
"Are you trash? Cuz I'd like to leave you on the side of the road tonight."
Shit
"You remind me of fast food."
...
"Cuz I wanna take you out and eat you in my car."
"You remind me of fast food"
"Cuz I want to eat you out..." "Shit. Take you out. Sorry, I was getting ahead of myself"
"I can type 130 words per minute. Just imagine what else my fingers can do" - me in high-school
“Are you the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, because I’d really like to take you out”
FTFY
Dun dun duh nuh nuh nuh nuh! Take me out!
I've used a variation of that, that has weirdly worked "Are you my appendix? I don't know what you do, or how you work but I feel like I should take you out"
my mate uses, "I have a below average sized penis"
I don't understand it, but it weirdly works. I haven't been game enough to try it yet.
I dont know much about you but I feel like I should take you out
Lol'd
Lol, has that one ever worked for you!?
Are you an archaeologist? Because I have an old bone you can examine.
Pretty good
I like, are you trash cause I like really dirty sex. Not that funny but honesty is the best policy.
"Wanna have my next abortion?"
“Are you trash? Cuz I never wanna leave you outside or replace you” FTFY
Alternatively, you can steal my line to dump some one. Roses are red violets are blue trash is dumped are so are you
I (female) enjoyed using this one just for laughs wayyyy back when:
"My. That shirt is very becoming on you. Of course if I was on you, I'd be coming, too." It has it all: a terrible pun, excessive dirtiness, and ridiculous.
It's terrible, but hilarious
I prefer “are you a 0apr loan? Because I don’t understand anything about you and you keep saying you have no interest.”
My favorite icebreaker is “what’s the worst ice breaker ever?
The titanic.”
Totally using this
it works every time. 60% of the time
Good enough!
Too soon
"Are you a bank loan? Cuz you've got my interest."
I saw a reply to that recently on r/tinder
" I'm more like a paycheck. I'll show you every other Friday and you blow me over the weekend"
That was the post I stole it from lol that's if the girl uses the line on you and you respond with what you said
You must be handsome.
Don't get excited I still haven't had sex in almost 3 years. Dates go well but they also go nowhere
That’s a /r/suicidebywords if I ever saw one
Dates aren’t going that well brother.
It's frustrating as hell that I keep having to restart the cycle with a new woman every other day and it just goes nowhere. It makes no sense because I make them laugh and we get along well but at the end of the night they don't want to do anything physical with me and it makes zero sense.
Meanwhile my friend who's 30 pulls girls my age and younger effortlessly and they just send him sexy pics without him even asking. It's just super fucking frustrating because it feels like I keep getting super close to what I want and it just falls away every time.
Dating is getting boring because I'm not getting any of the exciting parts out of it.
I'm just gonna come out and say it. Do you think your photos on Tinder accurate represent your IRL appearance?
Yes they are. All three are recent and one of them shows me standing with two people so they know I'm not lying about my height.
How would I be able to use this as a measure? I don't get complimented on anything really
No I was just thinking that maybe if you looked better in your profile than irl that it might be the reason your dates never go as planned. Just spit balling trying to help you figure it out.
Maybe change what you want out of the dates and the rest may come more naturally? Idunno. I can’t give relationship advice my man. Switch up the strategy, change your focus. Don’t go for anything physical, go for having a good time and let the rest take care of itself.
Ask them back to your house earlier and just go for a make out session. If they are not interested or turn you down you are no worse off than your other dates. I would imagine that some of them like you but they could tell that you had low confidence. Men being more assertive towards that end is what many women want.
Just a guess, but I use to have the same problem, tons of fun dates with no interest later. After trying a lot of different things I found out that many just wanted me to make a more clear and risky move.
When I ask them if they want to come back to my place it's always a no, or they're not comfortable yet. I had one where we were back at her place and cuddling and when I made the move she backed off and said "you're still a stranger" and it was super humiliating.
I really don't know. None of it ever makes any sense.
Yesterday was my third date with one of them who I had a good feeling about from the start but it's still just a one arm hug at the end and nothing else. I just texted her asking why she seemed reluctant to hold my hand when we were sitting on a park bench with her dog and if this is going anywhere.
I know that's an immediate death sentence but I'd rather get my feelings out there than continue to waste time with someone who doesn't seem interested in me.
That's rough man and I know the feeling well. Maybe try dating some less attractive women to get your confidence up? Then pay attention to how you act with them and how you will automatically assume that they want to hold your hand, it's never a question. That is how you should act with all women.
Also, I didn't say it earlier but when asking them back make sure to use some excuse like lets have drinks or watch a movie at my place. This part is also a lot easier if you plan the date close to your home to begin with. Either way good luck and don't give up. You have the hardest part down and you just have to figure out the last 10%.
That's usually how I do it. "Wanna come back to my place/hotel/etc and watch Letterkenny/movie/etc?"
"Uuuuum I need to be up early tomorrow..." Etc
I would recommend not actively looking to date or sex anyone. It helps you be more yourself around anyone and, as such, anyone who wants to go for a date is more likely to stick around because they already knew what you were like beforehand.
This advice does not work in a small town
Maybe try for second date, rather than sex on the first date? Sorry if that sounded shamey, try to read it in a kind non judgemental tone.
Two of the girls I'm talking to still want to go out and either one of them would be relationship material imo. They're both very different and I like them each for different reasons. Until I know what our sexual chemistry is like idk how I'm gonna choose so for now I'm just trying to enjoy it but the uncertainty makes it tough to do that.
One I've been on three dates and we haven't even kissed, the other one a single date and we made out in my truck before I dropped her off and she was much more physical. Made me feel awesome the way she was holding on to my arm and touching me
Hey man, want a new pickup line that actually works pretty well and filters out not-fun people? I also stole it from a post on r/tinder. Just remember not to copy it word for word because it's better to just try to be authentic about it. Keep in mind that I'm a bit rusty because it's been nearly 3 years since I used Tinder.
"Thank goodness I've found you! I've been having the absolute worst day. The mission was simple. All I had to do was sneak into the secret base and steal their evil plans. I managed to evade security cameras, dodge lasers, and subdue the guards. I finally got to the terminal with their evil plans all to have my efforts thwarted by something so simple. Before I ask for your help, can I trust you?"
Says something like "absolutely"
"There is a passcode I need to type in to the terminal to gain access to the plans. After running a diagnostics I was able to determine that I only have 3 attempts to type it in before the entire building goes into lockdown, which would kill my cover. Do you have any idea of what it could be?"
Gives a suggestion
"Let me try that. Nope. That's not it. What else do you think it could be?"
Gives another suggestion
"No cigar. I only have one more shot at this. We HAVE to get it right or else the world is doomed. Wait, there's a clue that the terminal is giving me! But it's not very helpful to me. Maybe the clue would be better for you. It just says ______'s phone number. Do you know what that could mean?"
Gives you her phone number
"Eureka! That was it! I got the plans and we saved the world! Thank you so much! As a way to pay my gratitude, I would like to take you out for some nice coffee."
If she plays along then you know she could be fun and a good fit for you. If she's like "what the fuck is this you're a psycho", then you quickly learned that she's not worth your time.
Had about a 35% success rate.
My favorite was always "how heavy is a polar bear?... Heavy enough to break the ice, hi, I'm Kim!"
"Can I offer you a nice egg in this trying time?"
An old favorite of mine that had decent success: “my grandma once told me that I shouldn’t get a nose ring because she didn’t like how they looked, but I’ll bet if I showed her someone like you, she would agree that they can look pretty cute.” Followed up by a second message that said “shit, I’m sorry, stupid autocorrect. That was meant to say: ‘hey’”.
Worked like 5 out of the 6 times it was deployed.
Saved in case I match with someone with a nose ring
Could work with tattoos, unusual hairstyles, etc. I'd steer away from physical deformities though.
My grandma says to stay away from people with a cleft lip...
BLOCKED
Good luck! It seemed every other girl on there had one when I was on so it was often a good fall back if I couldn’t think of anything else.
“Are you an ideal amount of red phosphorus and am I a tiny wooden stick because we’re a match.”
They are meant to be that. If you are on the same page, you will get an agreement, if not you now know that and don't have to straight ask if they don't like you.
A response/conversation doesn't mean they want to have sex with you. It's like you have to constantly prove yourself AND have the stars align.
I was not talking about sex but rather about being at least one step closer. Like, you have the ability to know if they want to try one step further without blindly trying and having being rejected or to make them reject you, which is usually quite embarrassing and harsh.
Rejection never happens lmao you just stop getting responses.
Okay I lied, I've been actually rejected once. Once out of many ghosts, my shits haunted.
Yeah, cause rejecting is quite not easy for a person. Not everyone has guts to just say no. People usually start ignoring.
I got the movie line once- didn’t realize it was a line until I saw this lmao. I actually thought it was creative, probably why it works so well for you. 100% copy & paste
I don't get it? Is he calling you a snack? It's really going over my head
Urban dictionary. Snack means an attractive person.
Its slang for someone hot
Are you the son of Sparda? Because I like a noodle al Dante.
Take me now you stud
“My dick died, can I bury it in you”?
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I suck at poetry
Show me your tits
Girl, are you a laptop? Because your bottom is hot and I'm getting nervous.
Girl, are you a 0% APR loan? Because I don't understand your terms and you keep saying you have no interest.
Girl, are you Dr. Seuss? Because Green Eggs and DAMN!
I've heard both of those lines in a pick up video on YouTube from some top YouTubers.
I'm sure they stole them from Reddit too. YouTube is absolute garbage.
It is. Daily dose of internet I'm sure uses reddit. Then a bunch more of them do too.
I mean youtubers read reddit too. Hell there is a YouTube channel literally dedicated to reading conversation from r/Tinder
😂😂😂
Those are amazing
Pretty solid, might try these
Eh, I don’t respond to obvious copy paste.
Definetly stealing the snack line
This is smart
Ill never get a girl woth tinder cause I can't allow myself to type out something like this
How much does a polar bear weigh?
Enough to break the ice! Hi, I'm FatherTim.
My personal favorite (obviously not original):
I'm going to go file a complaint with Spotify because you're not listed as the hottest single of the week.
I'm stealing that first one. It's amazing.
Why is that a thing? Is that how straight guys talk to girls? (Genuinely curious, not trying to be bitchy)
I use it as an opener and then either immediately ask if they wanna get a drink or have a back and forth but try to ask them out within like 4 messages.
These are just 'funny' conversation starters. The intention is to be silly/jokey and break the ice. It's more tactful than sending I WISH TO MATE (in all caps!), though that approach would probably work sometimes too.
I shat my pants can I get in yours?
"Are you wearing moon pants? Cuz your ass is outta this world."
Found the hot guy
😭😭😭
My interest in you is like explosive diarrhea, I just can't keep it inside
[deleted]
Is your nickname cigarette? Because I'd like to get you lit and suck on your butt!
U
“On a scale of one to America, how free are you tonight?”
Okay katy-kat
East Berlin : (
Honestly fewer people are aware of Reddit than I generally used to think. You can steal shit from here to use IRL and pass off as your own and I'd say the chances of anyone catching on are far smaller than people on here think. If you were that way inclined.
Hell I'd make jokes I heard on reddit all the time and either it ends in a good laugh or get called out and a quick "haha, guilty as charged" usually still ends in a positive interaction.
I hit a woman on POF with this Pokémon themed bad boy:
"I'm gonna need a Paralyz Heal, because you're stunning!"
We're now engaged
I always use the vending machine line
What is that?
“F7” “Huhhh?” “My bad I thought this was a vending machine because you look like a snack”
What are the lines?
"I did not hit her, it's not true! It's bullshit! I did not hit her! I did not! Oh hi, Mark"
Oh hai
You’re getting matches? I have zip. Probably in the account that I don’t really have an interesting bio
If it makes you feel any better, most of the conversations go no where and I've been out with 10 different girls, two I'm still talking to, with no sex so far. It's a struggle when you're 24. Once I'm 30 and even sexier than I am now it's gonna be a breeze. Girls in their 20s love hooking up with men in their 30s.
So it turns out I’m bad at math. 7 1/2 years until I’m 26
When I was in my 20's, I preferred going out with guys in their 30's because they seemed to have gotten their lives together; had great jobs, homes, cars, could afford to go to nice dinners, go on vacations. Plus, they were mature, had experience in the world, & were interesting to talk to. (Just my two cents...)
What did you have to bring to the table besides sex?
Who said I brought sex?
/r/suicidebywords
👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯
So many jokes you cant tell anymore that we told as kids. Half our day in 1984 was telling Ethiopian jokes. Or no arms no legs jokes. Or dead baby jokes. I mean, they weren't PC but they were funny and passed the time.
I mean those got told all the time when I was in grade school in the 2000s but they're just not as funny around adults. I dont think it had to do with people being more PC just that those jokes tend to be a little bit childish.
Yeah but kids dont tell jokes at all anymore. They are all Dad jokes now. According to my 16 yr old.
My experience is that grade-school jokes that were already old in the 70s pop up as most of the "OC" on reddit all the time. Want a bunch of post karma? Go find a decades-old joke book and watch it roll in!
Oh man. I remember meeting this one older dude who was pretty funny, and then I was flipping channels one day and stopped at a standup comedians act. I discovered that the guy I met literally recited this one comedians entire act and acted like he was coming up with it ugh I hate that guy now.
Hey man, you gotta bring that shit back out.
I was on a date a few months ago and I dropped a joke I like, and she was fucking floored that I told a joke.
People miss human connection more than you think
Dude I'm sorry to say but so many of those jokes came from Vaudeville
"How many legs does a cow have, if you call a tail a leg?"
(Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one.)
Abraham Lincoln told that one.
That's not important, what's important is that not many other people knew them.
Yeah, friend used to work at a nonprofit where the average age was 50-70. They were a riot with the coworkers.
Me too.
RIP my personality.
I can often use jokes on people who I know don’t browse Reddit a lot.
With my brothers, not so much.
Alternatively, being able to improvise humour is the new tell-tale sign of a genuinely comedic person. On the flipside, people that try to crack a joke with old memes and washed up internet jokes everyone has seen are the ones that raise red flags in unoriginality and arguably un-fun in general.
Now adays you have to be quick witted and reactionary. You have to read the situation and read the people and say something. It doesnt always work but when it does it is an amazing feeling to be able to make people laugh
Nowadays??? I mean, it's pretty much always been like that.
I'm obsolete now, fifth generation jokester here
I guess that makes me the Saruman of jokes then.
Thanks buddy
This is true! But then there are the people that totally overdue it! And you’re stuck there.
; or how I lost all my friends.
The Joke Wizards have adapted. You may have heard the joke before, but their delivery still generates suspense and gets you laughing every time.
Nowadays this role is filled by that person who is both a great storyteller and has some great experiences to share. I love hanging around people like this.
Joke wizardry was an art man
There is a trippy Isaac Asimov short story called Jokester about a programmer who knows a lot of jokes and tries to get an omniscient computer to help him figure out where jokes come from.
*stealers
I remember this old dude at a local breakfast spot that would alway ask “do you want to see my pride and joy?”
He’d then pull out a $2 off coupon of the soaps ‘pride’ and ‘joy’.
He’s probably told that joke 3 times a day for 10 years and it never got old to him
This still happens, you just have to specialize in situational humor and be quickest on the draw.
source: am Situational Joke Wizard
Nah we just read "Truly Tasteless Jokes" books in the bookstore (Waldrenbooks or even better - B. Dalton.)
I know hundreds of jokes, and the ones I bust out are ones that most people won't have heard before. Your comment made me feel warm inside!
My grandfather was a truck driver. He spent 90% of his time chatting with other truckers on his CB radio and they were constantly telling each other jokes. Every time he'd come home, he'd have some new joke he picked up to tell me.
In the 80's I worked at a popular hotel in a large city. The traveling salesmen were the best source for new material. Some were regular visitors, so I got to know them over time. They would always seek me out when they arrived, and we would exchange the latest jokes. It was such a satisfying feeling to tell them one or two they hadn't heard, knowing they would spread them during their travels.
Yeah, i feel you man.
I still have a few that I drop every once and a while and most of the time people have never heard of them before.
There's 3 old ladies on a bench and a man comes up and exposes himself to them. Two have a stroke but the third couldn't quite reach
Found Biden's account.
man
That's a bit too old for Biden
That’s still a really impressive party trick t have a bunch of jokes at the ready.
Tell me your favs! I’m intrigued haha
Why does the Norwegian navy have barcodes on their ships?
Why?
So they can Scandinavian.
They said 'great' jokes.
That’s why you’re here.
You can do better.
But you would be surfing the web for jokes and see the same one Johnny said and you would be filled with disappointment...
When I was in college (2007) I had a science class where the prof would give extra credit if you turned in a science joke & it was funny enough to read out loud. Social media was brand new, & lots didn’t have it. People just didn’t realize everything they could use the internet for. I used to look up jokes each week & got so much extra credit I never had to buy the book to do any classwork. In a lecture hall of 150-200 students, no one else thought to do that.
You should meet my boyfriend. He tells old, obscure and hilarious jokes. Lots and lots of them.
❤️
Is he single?
Not with her sewing skills. Imagine what he saved on clothes.
No but I am ;)
Tell me an old, obscure and hilarious joke and I'll consider your proposal
I have Indian blood in my family. We're from the fugari tribe. The story behind their name is pretty interesting... The tribe had been traveling hills for weeks and they finally stopped on top of the largest one. The chief looked out at all of the land and hills around them and said,
"We're the Fugari"
10/10
What's the opposite of swiping right?
It's what happens to me on tinder :(
What is it?
My favorite joke is the one about the two friends who are sitting around talking about what they got their wives for Christmas. The one friend is a banker, and has a lot of money to throw around. The other guy I don’t know what he does, but he doesn’t make a lot of money.
So the the banker guy he says, “I got my wife a diamond tennis bracelet, it cost 10 grand. “Whoa,” the friend says. “Nice!”
“What did you get your wife for Christmas?” banker man asks his friend.
“I got her a pair of flip flops and a dildo.”
Hedge fund guy is a little taken aback, and perplexed, he says, “So...what’s with the dildo?”
“Well that’s in case she doesn’t like the flip flops. Then she can go fuck herself.”
My favorite joke is the one about the two friends who are sitting around talking about what they got their wives for Christmas. The one friend is a banker, and has a lot of money to throw around. The other guy I don’t know what he does, but he doesn’t make a lot of money.
So the the banker guy he says, “I got my wife a diamond tennis bracelet, it cost 10 grand. “Whoa,” the friend says. “Nice!”
“What did you get your wife for Christmas?” banker man asks his friend.
“I got her a pair of flip flops and a dildo.”
Hedge fund guy is a little taken aback, and perplexed, he says, “So...what’s with the dildo?”
“Well that’s in case she doesn’t like the flip flops. Then she can go fuck herself.”
Well, that’s the thing... he’s my boyfriend sooooo
Has anyone seen my fabric shears?
There's a shop in the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland, OR that shares your username.
I was at a bachelor party for a friend. There were two factions here - the old high school (and before) gang, and the friends he made in college and after. Some of the "other" group were telling jokes, trying to one-up each other. One of the guys didn't have any jokes, and he really wanted some because for some reason he was trying to impress a wealthy man who had come along with my friend's father-in-law. Someone saw him upstairs at the house, on the phone with his cousin, begging him to give him so jokes. He was kind of panicking, and actually said "I can't go back down there!"
Seent it
Oh I can still tell plenty of jokes people haven't heard. I mean, most are not for mixed company, but still.
Helen Keller walked into a bar.... And then a chair..... And then a table
a klansman, a wife beater and a murderer walk into a bar
the bartender goes "whatll it be officer?"
Well have you heard: Have you heard about mad cows cow disease? Well if someone played with my tits every day and only got screwed once a year I'd go crazy too.
Maybe it's just the comedian in me, but I constantly have a catalogue of rotating jokes to drop in conversations or at parties.
But yeah, not nearly as common with people as it used to be.
Share one please.
[removed]
Do you mean just being funny-looking?
Yeah what's his point? You can still have a catalog of jokes that are funny. Even if I start to hear a joke I've heard before. I love to hear how they tell it to those that haven't.
Back when buying the books with all the jokes was worth it
You can still do this but it's all in a practiced delivery. Even better, take some common joke and subvert it. Turn it into an anti-joke, pervert the punchline, deliver it in a bizarre way, something like that.
To be fair you can still do this at pretty much anywhere but a comedy club or with someone actively seeking jokes.
Browse through some older comic strips of say, Dilbert or even Garfield and you'll pick up decent one-liners. As these strips haven't been published for years you can appear fresh.
Works fine for me and my friends, who tend from mid-20s to mid-30s. However, I spend the most amount of time on Reddit by far of all my friends, so I'm able to grab stuff off /r/dadjokes and slay them.
One of the great joys of getting older was that each new generation had never heard my jokes before. Now my entire repertoire is a reposted screen shot on imgur somewhere.
Now it's important to have "that story." That one you bring out that always guarantees laughs.
The “dirty joke” books used to be the ultimate
There was a new girl in my geometry class who maintained a binder of jokes, some of them pretty filthy, and she’d pass them to me during class at times to break up the tedium. Think I fell a little bit in love with her for that.
Eh, imo i like it better now because you can tell if someone is being original with there jokes or if they just found it online.
I find you get laughs with jojes everyone knows easily, you just need to apply and time them correctly.
Now it’s just, “let me show you this meme I have saved on my phone.”
Dude, just subscribe to r/showerthoughts. I get one or 2 doozies a day from there. Drop em in casual conversation and all he sudden you are the current day Seinfeld, but funny.
My favorite lately is ‘the washing machine is the only appliance that cleans itself, how thoughtful!’
Dishwasher?
Any Seinfeld joke is better than that stinker.
Know who else is a real stinker? You guessed it, Frank Stallone
Sup Norm?
Oh yeah, well I had sex with your wife!
How do you get a gay to screw a lady?
???
You shit in her cunt first.
-Jimmy Carr
Free Speech
well most of my friends aren't on reddit, so i can still do that
This would’ve been great to experience. Like finding treasure. Idk. I’m high
This was so much fun. Most people knew at least a couple jokes and it was a great way to break the ice. I tell you one and then you tell me one. Now nobody bothers because it isn’t funny to look up a joke on your phone and we have probably all heard it anyways.
Gotta come up with your own!
you can still do that but you have to work harder
No, I've still got that.
I was never good at coming up with jokes so it's the same for me.
I have a friend that today I see him only two times per year. Our conversations always has a topic about the new jokes that we learn just to tell each other.
I still have this. They are all either terribly corny or extremely racist.
I find the best way to do this now is to read a variety of books.
Or something similar. Realizing you aren’t as clever as you once thought.
Every reddit post where I want to comment something funny or witty I see other commenters who had the same idea.
You know, with the massive backlog of jokes that are easily accessible today, I find myself repeating something a week late for a few laughs that some people just miss. Like I have friend groups with entirely different sets of humor and they straight up find stuff I bring over hilarious. But it’s a hit or miss thing that does make me sad more people weren’t aware of the funnies.
Haven't a mental note of sooo many things. I don't put in the effort to truly remember things anymore.
At least the internet taught me how to tell a good story
I think my High School was just recycled “Your momma” jokes.
Having a mental catalog of dozens of favorite websites to check. Now I cycle between about 5 URLs.
I try to tell jokes with my daughters when we're driving. Then I have them tell me jokes back. It keeps us amused when driving and it's better than listening to their terrible music.
I get my jokes from obscure normie proof subreddits. Hopefully none of my friends find them or they will have no use for me
Those were pity laughs, DAD. We’ve all heard those jokes. So many times.
Just be friends with non-redditors it’s basically the same thing ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I dropped the “whats a pirates favourite letter?” At a party once, everyones like “rrrr” looking at me like im stupid for dropping a kids joke. Then i go “you think it be rrrrrr but it actually the C” and it took a few seconds and everyone lost it.
That will never happen again.
Now ya just gotta whip out the little wiener to get the laughs at a party.... sigh, yea times really have changed.
Boom! You lookin' for this?
The Internet killed jokes?
Somehow I have yet to actually meet anyone who's heard the Brick Joke before.
Reminds me of those “dirty jokes” that some kid always knew back in like 4th grade.
But now you can watch so much standup comedy on Netflix you can figure out how to be funny for yourself
What are ya a gay fish??
I kind of like how nowadays everyone is in on the same joke, it allows for much more genuine comedy and freedom to experiment with existing jokes
Because of sites like this one and the internet in general, even having an original thought isn't original anymore. You might think you're being clever but there's always some killjoy waiting around the corner with a "yeah I saw that meme too."
Really? Did you? Which of the millions of memes was it, because all I was doing was making a goddamn joke and now you're here trying to make me look like a fraud for your own entertainment.
Or being able to steal a comedian's stand up lines and be thought of as super witty. Now the best jokes spread so fast I have to come up with my own shit.
Ready to head some mate what is the best joke you have in your bag
I checked....roughly speaking, less than 2% of the US population is subscribed to /r/jokes, so you should be fine.
Once when I was a kid me and my friend were having a yo mama joke battle but she kept Googling jokes...
On the other hand, you can now say stuff like "ant man bathes in hot sauce for extra damage" without having to explain the joke
(And before you ask, yes I stole this from somewhere else)
wanna hear a joke about ghosts
Conversely, having the internet has given us the means to hear what the most creative perverse minds have to offer and I would say I've found quite a few rare gems online my friends have bust a gut to.
That's why I love the girl that I'm seeing. She doesn't spend a lot of time on the internet, so she hasn't heard most jokes. I can tell some old-school-ass jokes and she laughs so hard... makes me feel like I'm on top of the world
Jokes IN GENERAL are on their way out when you think about it. We tell jokes much differently from 10-15 years ago. Now it’s just memes.
I still have a friend who will drop the perfect joke at the perfect time, and it’s awesome. I don’t know about you, but just looking up jokes isn’t really that fun.
I still do this. You just look weird if you google jokes.
Now you have to check if they have been on reddit first but by then the mood is wrong
Oh look at him , invited to party's and knowing jokes
You can still do that. Its just now that you actuallly have to be good at it.
Delivery, timing and reading the room is the most important part now.
If you drop a meme quote correctly its just as funny as a joke. Key word being correctly.
I have a ressevoir of jokes ready to use that ive collected.
Most of the time i tell a joke (or fairly random fact) to someone they simply reply with „old but gold“. Everyone seems to have heard of everything already - really kills cool topics too sometimes.
Damn digital age forcing these millennials into improv classes /s
User generated web content with no thought to advertising, search engine optimisation, monetising.
SEO is an industry I would love to see die in a fire. It has the worst incentives. It encourages people to make garbage content stuffed with keywords and other "tricks". I've seen people here on Reddit complain about how recipe sites have lots of bullshit fluff content; that is entirely due to SEO. It also encourages an entire scam industry of people who claim to know all the "new tricks" whenever Google decides to change their opaque processes/algorithms. I've seen small business owners fork over thousands of dollars for "SEO".
Yeah screw SEO.
Edit: Had no idea people would feel so passionately about SEO! I have received roughly the same number of responses defending SEO as responses saying it needs to go DIAF. I won't dispute that there are honest and reputable people out there who do SEO as part of their job, but I have encountered exactly 0 companies who specialize in SEO that were honest. It is those companies that are the target of my ire as opposed to the practice of optimizing content for search engines itself. Sorry, too many bad actors and foul players have ruined my trust of any company that sells SEO services.
I maintain some sites where I work. The marketing area gives up a few points on SEO (just the standard ones, like keywords, page title, H1,H2,H3 etc). We do not really use tricks ourselves.
I read many travel sites, and you get these pages that give vague general information that isn't really of any use, then at the bottom of the page, links to commercial tours, agencies, etc.
A lot of travel pages do waffle on which I find annoying. I wish they would just get to the point... (except their point is probably to sell you stuff)
I casually play around with web pages. Because of that fact alone, the targeted advertising I personally view is overwhelmingly people selling SEO "services" and Instagram followers.
A SEO expert walks into a bar bathroom tiles kitchen cabinets custom installation.
I never thought I would see a new and witty "walks into a bar" joke.
My favourite reply so far!
Bravo.
I seriously just signed up to Reddit to say thanks for the nerdy joke of the year - howling!
😂😂😂
"We got to move these refrigerators, we got to move these color TVs."
Search engines are a thing of the past. They were replaced with sales engines.
"Hi I was just browsing your website. The content is fantastic, but there are a few tweaks that could get your site onto the front page. Let me know if you'd like a copy of my report on your site."
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I heard they use those typos as a vetting process because if you’re willing to look past awful English you’re willing to look past anything. Then they don’t have to waste time with people who know better. Not sure if true tho, was on Dr Phil haha
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Pay your domain provider to register your info as private and remove email addresses from your website. Form fills are more than fine. That should reduce it considerably :)
Maybe your website just sucks and everyone knows it but you.
But if everyone knows their website sucks then their seo must be amazing.
CAPTCHA is free my friend
I am so fucking tired of getting this email I could scream.
Just ignore the fact that you’re sending me this email about my personal blog, to which I don’t fucking care about “lost sales” because I’m not selling anything. It’s just a blog about programming. Not everything on the Internet exists to make money and needs stupid ass “SEO services.”
And as I’ve been doing web development for 20 years now, I think I got it figured out, which they probably would have concluded had they looked at the site for longer than it took to find the contact link.
I got this email multiple times a week. I finally set up a rule in my MDA to send anything with the phrase SEO in it straight to the junk folder.
SEO firms need to die.
Jump into your hosting and pay for the private listing so those guys can't see your email address. Also if you don't list your email address on your site it helps too.
Those emails you get are usually because you've not payed to keep your ownership data for that website private.
Those companies are almost always Indian and no legit company I've ever seen does that.
I colo my own server, so I am the host. :) I have private registration on all my domains as well, and the ARIN look up for the IP lists the colo provider.
Often these scammers are literally using the contact form on my site.
Oh look at Mr self host over here! How many do you get then? I've had so much less between my two sites when I registered one private.
So shocking that it’s the Indians (and Chinese) that are deceitful scammer scum - why is it always them? Why can’t they be decent people and you know, make an honest living?
I don't agree it's always them man but as to why it often is I'd say culture maybe? Both those cultures are incredibly driven but also tend to cut some corners which leads to some dodgy tactics I guess.
Honestly don't really know
Or it could just be that lots of countries in Asia have governments that are less strict than the US and it is easy to evade US regulations and prosecution if you are operating outside of the US.
The US has a broad customer base, but relatively strict regulations. Countries in Asia either have less strict regulation or they are not enforced consistently. Given the nature of services delivered over the web, it makes sense why so many of those scams originate from there.
Try not being racist.
Not to mention the fake sites shown in Google Analytics that visit the site I work on with a referral link to their sites smh
I hate those more than the email ones.
I love these spam comments when my site is already on the front page. Finally caved and started paying for an anti spam plugin. Time is too valuable.
I did market research for a while. There's nothing that makes me close off a site faster than content written around keywords.
I have passionate and fiery hate for affiliate marketers too. I know a guy that puts it like "the Google algo is always trying to work against you." Yeah, you. The Google algo is trying to find the customer the best information possible. You would know that if you weren't writing bullshit reviews about some obscure product you're trying to sell.
If I ran a blog, it would be something that I am absolutely passionate about. Not stupid trinkets. The last thing to cross my mind would be what affiliate links can I put in this. I'd want to make good content.
Let's get serious what most affiliate marketers are as well: people in a pyramid scheme. The guy I know is "doing so well" that he teaching his tips and tricks to others in a shitty pdf he sells. Then those people that buy that shit go on to discuss the secrets of affiliate marketing and so on.
...an entire scam industry of people who claim to know all the "new tricks" whenever Google decides to change their opaque processes/algorithms.
The Google algorithm loves something I wrote a while back (not at Reddit). It's become one of the top returns on a particular search even though I didn't put any special effort into optimization. The piece takes a skeptical approach to a fringe healthcare "treatment."
It's been getting an amusing series of responses. Not sure whether the replies are organic stuff from people who believe in pseudoscience or whether it's really inept reputation management on the part of the people who sell that treatment, but the responses themselves seem to be what's driven that piece to the top of the rankings. Keeping this comment vague on specifics because I like to separate my Reddit life from my real life, yet it's pleasant to see that steady traffic.
On behalf of health care workers, scientists, and proponents of evidence based medicine I would like to extend to you a sincere thank you for maintaining skepticism in this era of ubiquitous mis- and disinformation.
I love how waffle is used as a verb.
Everyday I'm wafflin'
Have you tried to get actual travel advice on the net recently? I assume it is still out there but the first hundreds of hits are just optimised dribble to sell hotel beds or packages.
Yes. I tend to use tripadvisor forums, and wikivoyage.org.
One annoying thing is that google brings up really old tripadvisor forum posts. A five year old reply about bus schedules is usually of little value - they do often have links but many are broken after that long. Yeah just googling questions will bring up pages of optimised commercial sites.
Thanks for that. Wikivoyage is great actual useful info!
Similarly on craigslist when people copy/paste lists of text at the end of posts. There are a couple models of cars that I’ll periodically peruse the sale sites for to see if any good deals catch my eye out there on them, and then there are a couple makes/models that are different but share some relations or parts or whatever that’ll pop up in the same searches here and there, but far too often I will see some totally different and unrelated vehicle come up and I’ll check out the post wondering how that ended up in there, and at the bottom of the ad will just be lines and lines of text listing the majority of common car manufacturers and all sorts of different models and various other automobile related companies and products and parts, and every time I can’t help but have a brief fantasy of a whole world run kinda like China where sons of bitches like that can have any semblance of internet ripped right out from under them for that kind of asinine behavior.
I've been seeing that a lot while searching for houses lately. You wouldn't believe how many "ranch houses" have three finished floors
I hate those! The last time I searched for cars on Craigslist, lots of people were listing it as "$1" and then stating the price in the ad itself which was ended with paragraphs of unrelated keywords.
See I had the opposite experience. I just left a company working on their site. The marketing team was absurdly adamant about SEO to the point of sacrificing performance and dictating design. I hate seo.
Worked in SEO for many years. While I do agree that page ranking can, and has decreased the quality of content online, I must say that it has gotten much better over the years. Folks at Google, Bing have really headed towards algorithms that detect quality, organic content of interest to users. Simple tactics such as link and keyword stuffing have become outdated and can even hurt an webpage’s rank. Basically, I know it can be frustrating sometimes, but for the most part today, quality content always wins search engine results pages.
Remember experts exchange and other SEO spammers? Search results got much better because Google is trying hard to watch the right signals.
I heard Google flat-out delisted Experts Exchange. I hated that site.
And thus recipe pages where I get their whole life story with the recipe buried in the middle somewhere.
I completely agree. Anything if used incorrectly turns bad. Don't do evil stuff with SEO and everything is just fine.
I would find my life very difficult with SEO. I need people to filter the data I receive on a daily basis.
Folks at Google, Bing have really headed towards algorithms that detect quality
I don't know about that. I find search engines are less effective at getting me the answer to my question than ever. I'll ask Google a specific question and it'll point me toward websites of generalities (that entirely fail to provide the information I'm looking for) because they've clearly been playing the SEO game.
My favorite is when I try to Google an unknown phone number, it gives me pages and pages of entirely different numbers. I am not always trusting of the algorithms.
Google has been getting pretty good at solving that issue with there Google-friendly SEO guidelines and it will likely see it's fiery ending soon. Making quality content should be the only reason a website or image is on the first page.
I would rather Google be upfront and transparent with how they rank sites and how to optimize websites. Eliminate the need entirely for third parties being "experts" with Google.
Husband used to work in Seo and I used to be in digital marketing. Going to conferences even 5 years ago and it was important then that "seo tricks" were being penalised. Google is really smart so things like word stuffing can actually have a massive negative effect.
There are so many rogues out there and it pissed him off. Rogues are happy to take money and give those in the industry a bad name rather than trying to optimization of a website to improve the users experience and chances of finding what they want.
Seo done right, especially technical seo, should make websites better for users not worse. It is a shame as it is a lot of bad eggs ruining an industry that should be making things better. Bad eggs train more bad eggs too so it is only getting worse.
The same has been happening in social media for the last 5 years where people are very happy to claim to be experts yet know nothing. I started to work somewhere where my new assistant claimed just this and was being stubborn about me taking away her access. She quickly learnt that she knew nothing but I've met to many people like her who think they are experts.
Social media managers are soon going to have a worse reputation than seo. Especially with all the meddling from the elections around the world from Facebook.
It is a huge problem of rogue or idiots causing such problems that the industry is now seen as horrible by so many - it changes so quickly and often that there's no way to set up a way to ensure quality control or a standard qualification. One tip though, with any digital marketer, ask if they have their Google analytics certificate. Having that is a good sign. If they aren't even aware of it or a decent handle on Google analytics, even for social media roles, then you are probably going to probably be wasting money.
Also those pr/journalists turned social media "experts" are 99% of the time useless. If they were a good pr person or journalist they would still be doing that and I've only met one that made a decent social media marketer. The rest just are a waste of money and give the industry a bad name.
Add in "social media influencers" and bloggers, the social media world was bad enough. Social media marketing is getting a dirty name that I'm not sure if it will recover from.
The same has been happening in social media for the last 5 years where people are very happy to claim to be experts yet know nothing.
I agree and that is the phenomenon that is at the core of my ire. The technical practice of optimizing a website is not what I have at issue. It is the business practices and the industry that popped up which is dominated by bad eggs.
I also agree on the influencers and social media managers. The bad eggs outnumber the good eggs. Sadly, when the bad eggs outnumber the good eggs, an entire business can be ruined. It doesn't matter at that point what the good eggs do.
The real problem is that Google has an absurd amount of power over what people see.
I agree and I almost added that in my comment, but I felt that fact deserved it's own entire thread.
My father is redoing his company website. In his area he's the 2nd company for most keywords relating to his business. But he's obsessed with rewriting it because some SEO software he bought says it's only Yellow and he wants it Green (whatever the hell that means). The problem is that it's almost unreadable by humans now. I told him that when I land on his page, I wasn't to click away as quickly as possible because it's nothing but a wall of text build around every keyword he can think of. Sigh.
Yoast? Sounds like it anyway. Those tools are always only a loose guide and will always screw up details when bringing a complex topic to a basic understanding for an unsophisticated audience. It's like having a course for basic first aid on your computer but no actual training by people or feedback. Sure you might know the motions but you're not an ambulance officer
That's it! I could not remember the name but now that you said it, that's it.
And your description is perfect.
Bloody yoast lol. I mean I use it too but it's just created so many headaches by pretending it makes SEO easy
What is SEO
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization.
It's like how at work there's always that guy that isn't really a good worker and he's not knowledgeable either, but he happens to just say some buzzword laden bullshit at the exact moment the boss wants to hear it so he gets the big bonus and stuff. Yeah that's SEO.
Most accurate description ever.
Its the reason all food recipe articles have a 5 page essay and two dozen photos before the actual recipe.
I was wondering why the hell I was reading someone's life story when all I wanted was the damn recipe.
SEO is my job, man
And I agree 100%
[EDIT] Since SEO dweebs are sensitive souls and are getting all butthurt, let me clarify:
Phil the Dentist should not need to keep a blog with daily or weekly posts featuring Highly Compelling Relevant Content so he can compete with the other dentists in his area. That is patently ridiculous.
OK, but he does. So he does, and the blog posts must constantly be edited to feature x number of references to Focus Keyphrase (a series of words which are present in nearly every paragraph) - this phrase can never be repeated outside of this Highly Relevant Post, because he wouldn't want to compete with himself for Google ranking (hahaha).
These articles must also be written in such a way that a fifth grader would have no trouble reading it - the fewer long sentences and big words, the better, because of something called the Flesch-Kincaid Readability score, because you wouldn't want to present information to consumers in such a way that they feel they are not Lowest Common Denominators, would you? So once the Highly Relevant Content is written, you've got to strip it of all the hard stuff, like words even the President of the United States might not understand, and make sure the sentences are less than 20 words as much as possible - got to stay within their attention span. (This comment fails spectacularly in that regard, as you have no doubt noticed, having become more and more optically painful with every word.)
So now that you've dumbed down your Highly Compelling Relevant Fresh Content in spectacular fashion, you're ready to rank! (Let's assume all the boring, more level headed bits are already in order - the good stuff, like accessibility (honestly, the one thing you should be doing no matter what) and having your more static content massaged into fine order (same sane rules apply!), and linking out to other Good, Relevant, Non-Competing Sites, and having excellent, semantic HTML, and organizing it all into a very good structure which makes sense). Only, Bob and Jerry and Louise are also doing the same exact thing, using the same exact metrics - in some cases, possibly even outsourcing their Highly Compelling Relevant Fresh Content to the same writers pool, or even the same writers, all writing about the same group of Extremely Compelling and Relevant Topics re: dentistry, teeth, gums, care, mouth, hygiene, etc. Since you're all doing the exact same dance, jumping through the exact same hoops, you're all also wondering why you're not consistently outranking each other, naturally. Some clients might understand, and some are simply paying money for the right to blame the webstudio for their net loss of 2-3% in clickthrough that month or whatever. THIS PARAGRAPH IS TOO LONG
From a small Midwestern SEO Fucker's standpoint, this is all kind of painful and humiliating. I'm servicing small boutique local clients, not national or global corporations and brands.
From a consumer's standpoint, which is the crux of the problem we are actually discussing, this is stunningly ridiculous. I just want to get my teeth looked at, and I've got six practices to choose from, and all of them have web sites which are stuffed to the gills with uninteresting, grammatically correct (technically) but absolutely irrelevant garbage. I honestly don't care one whit to know anything other than what I came for, which is to find out what the hours of operation are and the address. I already decided on the practice I want to clean my teeth NOT BY SEARCH RANKING, but by reading reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc.
Yes, there are good points to SEO. There's also a lot of crass bullshittery in this business.
Then you're doing your job wrong...
SEO has a bad rap, deservedly, due to the old school practices like keyword stuffing.
Modern SEO is about utilizing proper structure, naming convention, and quality content that uses verbiage that will rank for high volume keywords.
I do some freelance SEO work and you’re 100% correct. If you’re keyword stuffing for SEO, then you’re just fucking yourself over because that hasn’t helped in years.
Want good SEO in the modern age? Then create good content. There you go.
Modern SEO is about utilizing proper structure, naming convention, and quality content that uses verbiage that will rank for high volume keywords.
I mean, when I looked into it, I just assumed that’s what it was. So, keyword vomit and rambling blog posts are more prevalent than well-worded content? Hmm. I probably didn’t need to ask that...
It's still skeezy af, and the point is still to outrank better sites
That's the "bad" point, yes. But the "good" point is to properly structure your site so that it is the top result for searches that your site is the best result for.
A better site SHOULD have better SEO. This is like saying the point of proper grammar is to outdo better writers.
Back in the day, sure. There was a lot of black hat things like link banks, keyword stuffing and the like. But these days, having shit content isn't going to do squat for better ranking. If you aren't providing a good user experience or relevant information, you DON'T have good SEO. That's the entire point.
Is the value of SEO that it protects against older SEO practices? Also using terms like "good user experience" or "relevant information" is vague. If your only metric for good user experience is the search result rankings then you run into the same problem you have with the old practices, which is that being higher in the rankings is a poor measure of site quality. I'm sure there are some cases of SEO specialists fixing an inefficiency in the results, but just like advertisement the end goal of SEO is not to provide customers with the best content, but to increase profits.
Somewhat. A lot of the older SEO practices that people would find unsavory are actively penalized by search engines these days, so anyone that is properly optimizing a website would avoid them (keyword stuffing, buying backlinks, deceptive content or low effort content.)
What makes up a good page optimization often times coincides with what makes a page valuable for a user. Things like a proper content hierarchy, having a high readability score, being media rich and linking to other relevant content within that keyword group; all of those help a user understand the information that is being provided to them while ALSO helping search engines understand and correctly rank a page.
And users also play a huge role in modern SEO. If I have a crap page that somehow makes it to the top ranking, users are probably going to click on it, see that I have no idea what I am doing (or that my page is so buggered it can't be properly read) and they'll click away and move onto a new page. Search engines can see when that happens, and if it happens often enough they're realize my page shouldn't be so high in the search results and drop me back onto page 2 or 3.
There's still some annoyances, like backlinks being weighted pretty heavily when ranking a page and thus giving older pages a inherent advantage over new content. But overall a page that's been properly optimized for search engine SHOULD also be a page that is valuable to the end user as well.
Moz has some great articles if you're interested and want to know more, just hit me up and I'll see if I can find some good ones.
What makes up a good page optimization often times coincides with what makes a page valuable for a user. Things like a proper content hierarchy, having a high readability score, being media rich and linking to other relevant content within that keyword group; all of those help a user understand the information that is being provided to them while ALSO helping search engines understand and correctly rank a page
This is fine but this is more the benefit of a good search engine algorithm than the benefit of an SEO specialist. It seems to me that the value of an SEO specialist from the consumer standpoint is that they can provide information to website owners who are unaware of how search engines operate. But, the problem is the SEO specialist doesn't help the website they think has the best content or the best potential, they help the website that pays them. It's really the same criticism you can make of advertisement and rhetoric in general, the ultimate goal isn't to help the consumer, but the company. As a last note, Google didn't become the best search engine because they sent out a dispatch of SEO specialists to help websites produce better content, they became the best search engine because they had the best algorithm.
That's true, ultimately professionals working in search engine optimization are going to do work for those that pay them. If there there are three websites selling blue dresses, and one of them is willing to fork over money to have their site optimized to appear higher in search results, they're obviously going to be the one I work with.
However, that work I am doing DOES help the consumer. Because if you are searching "blue dresses for sale" I'm incentivized to match your expectations and answer any questions you have related to that search term, because that is what will ultimately make that page rank better.
Its the same as say....hiring an editor for your book. If there are a dozen books out there on the same subject, and one of them paid an editor to work on it, they're book is going to do better. Sure, they hired the editor for a selfish reason (to make their book better than others) but its ultimately helpful for the end user.
And Google having the best algorithm is why there are SEO specialists, it wouldn't be a profession without Google. The entire point is "how do we satisfy the algorithm's expectations to the best of our ability?" And these days, you do that by providing a great user experience.
It's still skeezy af, and the point is still to outrank better sites
No the point is to BE the better site for that particular search. If you think every site is better than the one you're trying to rank and you don't deserve to rank above them then you're better off quitting cos you've got it twisted
I think you're ignoring that part about quality content. Trying to get your quality content to rank is not really sleazy.
And like the other dude said, if you really think that the other sites have not to offer the user then you're doing you and your clients a disservice by trying to rank higher.
Why? Because if you're not providing the content the user is looking for then they won't be clicking through to your site in the future. So sure, you may beat out that 'better site' in the short term, but don't expect to hold it without that aforementioned quality content.
It sounds like you might have a bit dated view of SEO, my man. Things like keyword stuffing, it might have helped in the past when nobody knew what they were doing and Google's algorithm was (relatively) primitive. But if you're putting out shit content these days, you aren't going to rank unless nobody else is competing.
Just saw your edit, why would you be doing blogs for a dentist? First off, that isn't SEO. That is content strategy, and while you can improve said blogs by following SEO best practices...nobody who remotely knows what their doing for local search would actually recommend a dentist keep a blog for search. Again, this seems like maybe you're working off a dated view of SEO, I don't doubt there are companies trying to sell that but there's going to be shit companies with no idea what their doing regardless of the industry you're in.
I can't imagine anyone competent would sit down with a dentist or plumber and say "you really need to write blogs!" That would be a huge waste of time for everyone involved.
Dentistry is just an arbitrary example. Constantly updating content is always recommended (not by me!) to increase rank. Small boutique web studios all use WordPress, they all use Yoast or some other godawful SEO suite, and they and clients all want to see some kind of idiotic measurable by which they can gauge their perceived "active-marketing" SEO strategy, even though inane shit like that is all barely^(not really) provable quackery.
It's all bullshit. SEO wonks are right when they say "that's not the right way" and wrong when they say I don't know what I'm doing or that I'm bad at my job. I know what I'm doing... and it's dumb, arguably unethical, and practically pointless.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not in charge of my job, I just do what the boss and the clients want, and this is only one relatively small part of my job anyway, thankfully.
I think we're just coming at this from two different angles and perspectives. I've worked about five years in digital strategy, usually healthcare related like hospitals or medical schools. I very rarely would recommend blogging or evergreen content for a healthcare client, for them its just optimizing pages for the best user experience (which, more often than not, matches what search engines rank content for) along with GMB and local stuff.
I haven't really worked with small boutique websites in a long time, so I can't really speak to the experiences you are having. It sounds like maybe you're being forced to slap on a kind of "SEO checklist" to clients that don't really need it. As ya said, if the boss and client want it, you're stuck doing it regardless.
Thank you for your thoughts. I agree.
Remind me not to hire you.
Definitely please don't
Even your edit shows a fundamental lack of knowledge on the matter.
Enlighten us, please.
I had someone try to sell me YouTube ads The ones that show up as a banner at the bottom of the video. She told me about how we would be guaranteed a million impressions. I asked her, when was the last time she saw one, what was it about, and when was the last time she clicked one.
She got really quiet and said "You're right. Let's look at something else."
I'm pretty sure it never occurred to her that impressions are not sales. I may have ruined her life. We still work with her, but she's never mentioned YouTube since.
SEO gets a really bad rep because of the majority of companies in the space. I did SEO for five years, eventually running the SEO department of the company I worked for. We operated with integrity and had written guarantees for results. We used what you’d describe as “SEO tricks.”
The people using keyword stuffing and spammy tactics are the ones who get noticed because they’re doing such a poor job. Actual good SEO won’t be noticed because you’ll be leas down a natural feeling path that ends in your question or need being addressed. Basically useless content breeds useless results. This comes from companies selling a number of clicks or impressions vs a number of real leads.
I think the SEO industry will get better at the younger generation grows up and become business owners. Right now it’s really easy to dupe some boomer or Gen Xer into believing your BS because they truly don’t know how the internet works.
I think the SEO industry will get better at the younger generation grows up and become business owners. Right now it’s really easy to dupe some boomer or Gen Xer into believing your BS because they truly don’t know how the internet works.
I see that happening. Many of the people duped are boomer/gen-x small business owners who know about their business, but not SEO.
I hate it too because I have to put in a lot of effort to be optimized. You cant keyword stuff, Google penalizes it. You actually get higher ratings for your website if you create unique content, or content that is informative and is relatable to your post. I'm learning it all right now, and it's actually very interesting. I do hate the time it takes but Google has to have some way of putting sites on the front page. It is hard for small business so that's a big challenge I'm facing.
How did you get into SEO? Do you have a technical background? I'm a recent graduate with a BA in economics trying to find a job in digital marketing and I'm having a rough time so far
I work in PPC. If you’re interested in learning more, I’d start with the Google AdWords Fundamentals training + tests. The answers are easily found online, but I encourage at least going through the study guides beforehand and learning the basics of what the material covers. PPC can be redundant, but it’s fairly enjoyable most of the time, and relevant.
Yeah I've been going through all the digital marketing courses on LinkedIn Learning, they are useful but seem to only scratch the surface of the topics. I'll look into getting my certification from Google.
They won't necessarily land you a job alone, but they definitely show the extra initiative you took to learn more when you weren't necessarily told to. The best practice is the real experience, which is tough when you're still looking for that first gig.
Ugh tell me about it. Every job posting wants at least 2-3 years experience. Even big marketing agencies aren't willing to train their new hires, it's been really discouraging. And of course now that I'm out of school I can't really do an internship either :/ Just gonna try to keep training myself and hope that someone sees the potential in me eventually.
One thing I always recommend to people who are looking to get into SEO is to start your website. Take what you have learned so far and apply it to a website, test out different tactics to see what works and what doesn't. You will be surprised to find out everything you learn. If you are looking for a job look for more on the associate type levels at medium-sized companies.
I'm actually self employed. I go to my local SBDC for help with web development and SEO, business development, and financial structure. I got a BA in Psychology but I didn't like the work so went with the construction industry. So now I am learning a ton about SEO. I recommend checking out Yoast for information on how to optimize, and anything by Neil Patel.
Oh I hadn't heard of yoast before, I'll definitely check it out. My current job is actually customer service and some marketing for an HVAC contractor, so I've looked into local SEO a bit before my boss told me to "leave it to the professionals" (he refuses to pay professionals for this stuff too).
I'd avoid Neil Patel stuff. He just outsources content writers and slaps his name on it.
Moz has a great beginners resource, Search Engine Land for up to date news, Rand Fishkin's white board Fridays are good videos, and Google Analytics/AdWords courses are great places to start.
Oh funny. Yeah, that contractor should definitely be willing to put more emphasis on SEO. It's kind of necessary. Hey with the knowledge you may be able to find a certificate program or a license of some kind. Then apply for work in that realm. It can definitely pay well from what I've heard.
Neil Patel is just the bane of actual SEO's. He's like pop SEO for the uninitiated. If you want solid advice you need:
Moz blog Backlinko (aka Brian Dean) SEO Journal SERoundtable
Not a comprehensive list but a better go to than Neil imo
Thanks man! I hadn't heard of him. I'm definitely interested in learning more and getting more extensive experience in the field.
No problem.
SEO is important. Despite how it’s often gamed, the fact that you rarely have to go past the first page of google to find what you want is largely due to good SEO. Like most things though, a small minority have ruined it.
I agree, but I'll add that SEO should be more about 'correctness'. It should be honest and complete about the content that is there. Ideally the search engine would then promote the content that is most useful to searchers and not those that are deceptive.
This is total B.S., Google rose to prominence by always finding relevant results before SEO was even a concept. SEO is the reason why if you search 'things to do in [city]' or 'how to [common task]' its always years-old garbage from the same 5 websites at the top.
the fact that you rarely have to go past the first page of google to find what you want is largely due to good SEO
No that's the search algorithm optimization. SEO is the thing that requires the algorithm to be updated and continually optimized and obscured.
Chicken and egg mate. Search algorithm optimisation relies on people actually doing the things that would benefit them..some of which are not natural to them or are above their head. Ie outlinks to other relevant websites from your own site, HTTPS (huge hassle if you're just running a blog or something), providing descriptive alt text for images which is used in algos and for visually impaired people.
Dude called an egg a chicken.
Search algorithm optimisation relies on people actually doing the things that would benefit them.
No it doesn't. It tries to avoid the BS and irrelevant spam that was created to game the system.
.some of which are not natural to them or are above their head. Ie outlinks to other relevant websites from your own site,
This is the entire point of HTML. If you don't link to other sites and they don't link to you. You're the definition of irrelevant.
HTTPS (huge hassle if you're just running a blog or something),
No it isn't. It's simple and free. And again it's an attempt to avoid spam, ie low effort SEO BS sites.
providing descriptive alt text for images which is used in algos and for visually impaired people.
This is pretty basic too. Captions are natural and can be used as alt text. If you can't be bothered to caption your pictures, are you likely to be relevant to the information being sought? Turns out you're more likely to be a low effort SEO BS site or simply irrelevant.
SEO isn't helpful for people using the search engine to find information. It's not useful for the search engine which would rather you simply buy ads than use SEO. It's somewhat useful for people that want to drive traffic to their site.
Wow you're cynical man.
Search algorithm optimisation relies on people actually doing the things that would benefit them.
No it doesn't. It tries to avoid the BS and irrelevant spam that was created to game the system.
Ok sounds contrary to Google's own help page on it.
.some of which are not natural to them or are above their head. Ie outlinks to other relevant websites from your own site,
This is the entire point of HTML. If you don't link to other sites and they don't link to you. You're the definition of irrelevant.
No mate. HTML is HOW you link to other sites it's not why you link to them. The vehicle is not the reason. Many website owners don't want to naturally link out because then people might leave their site and not buy it whatever. That's why it's counterintuitive to many.
HTTPS (huge hassle if you're just running a blog or something),
No it isn't. It's simple and free. And again it's an attempt to avoid spam, ie low effort SEO BS sites.
Yes it is. If you're a standard business owner or blogger with no web experience. That's the point mate. For them even basic things like registering the domain was stressful. Implementing https and forwarding from a non-secure site can be extremely problematic.
providing descriptive alt text for images which is used in algos and for visually impaired people.
This is pretty basic too. Captions are natural and can be used as alt text. If you can't be bothered to caption your pictures, are you likely to be relevant to the information being sought? Turns out you're more likely to be a low effort SEO BS site or simply irrelevant.
First, captions aren't alt text. One of the many reasons alt text might be used instead of a caption might be just plain old appearance. Additionally, you could add more description in the alt text that makes it easier than a caption. Ie if the image is of a flowchart. Instead of describing everything in the caption you put alt text in behind it for the people who can't make it our properly.
SEO isn't helpful for people using the search engine to find information. It's not useful for the search engine which would rather you simply buy ads than use SEO. It's somewhat useful for people that want to drive traffic to their site.
Just factually incorrect. So laughably off base it's astounding. You're mega bitter, I get it. But youre either disingenuous or just wilfully ignorant. It's useful for both of those things. It's also not always good or used well. But it is useful for both searchers and search engines.
Your ad homonym attacks are indication that you're bitter and disingenuous.
Take your head out of your ass and look in the mirror.
First of all my friend it's ad hominem.
A homonym is a completely different thing.
Secondly, although I did say you're bitter I'd say that's an accurate assessment given you've pretty clearly made a case of bit a) misrepresenting basic facts and b) dismissing them in favour of your own opinion. I cant imagine what the alternative is. You're hardly level headed about it all
You're hardly level headed about it all
Neither are you.
Any time you have something highly valuable that is allocated based on some algorithm, you're going to have people who are highly paid to optimize for it.
And I mean algorithm in the general sense, extending to the meat space.
If you can save or earn a million dollars a year doing a year's worth of work, do the math: it makes a lot of sense to pay someone good money to do that.
interesting example: https://youtu.be/1PGm8LslEb4
The day after I registered my DBA I started getting bombarded by SEO scammers. It has been nonstop. Really sad that some people fall for this.
When I am driving between appointments I try to lead them on, asking a lot of questions, haggling them down on price, giving incorrect credit card numbers, trying "another card", etc. My record is 46 minutes of wasting their time. That guy was pissed.
Pay your domain provider to register your info as private and remove email addresses from your website. Form fills are more than fine. That should reduce it considerably :)
It wasn't a website (I don't have one. It was the business registration with the TX Secretary of State. No hiding that.
Ah that sucks much harder lol
I mean that's just bad SEO.
Algorithms are constantly evolving to try and target the best content, so if you want good SEO you should focus on that. Keyword stuffing is already a relic of the past, and the only reason you still see it everywhere is that people haven't caught up to the algorithm.
As a front end engineer, I fucking hate this fucking shit. I’ve seen so many choices made that were nonsense for users just to “increase SEO”. My job just hired an SEO consultant and were redesigning the site in ways that suck for the users just so we can cram as much googlified bs as we can. Google claims they are against “black hat” shit and people making their sites to trick their seo, yet all sites now are made to cater to their algorithm over the user. It’s total ruining the internet.
Don’t even get me started on AMP.
I used to work in SEO. Everything you say is true.
EDIT: I've been out of the industry for years now, and am grateful for this fact.
I am always so sad when puns are missed because it wouldn't work with SEO
Good thing keyword stuffing doesn’t work anymore. Real SEO now is very different from the things you’re thinking of.
It encourages people to make garbage content stuffed with keywords and other "tricks". I've seen people here on Reddit complain about how recipe sites have lots of bullshit fluff content; that is entirely due to SEO.
It's entirely responsible for clickbait titles/thumbnails on Youtube that everyone complains about too. Youtubers don't do that because they like clickbaity thumbnails/titles. They do it because the algorithms favor clickbait and if they don't do it their content does not get seen.
The click bait titles are what people are searching for, so it makes sense to provide the content that searchers are requesting. It’s basic supply and demand.
I feel my resume has been personally attacked
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If you're learning to cook for the first time can I suggest you watch "Good Eats" with Alton Brown? He explains things quite well and he's still my first stop for finding a new recipe.
Where were you that you actually had first hand experience in seeing small businesses pay thousands of dollars for bad SEO
A friend of my mother is a business owner (auto body shop) that got suckered in.
For this comment, I Googled "SEO Cost" and the first result below the paid ads quotes "$80-$130 per hour" and monthly costs of "$750-$1500". People pay big money for SEO.
People pay big money for SEO.
I know, and sometimes it's worth it. People used to pay thousands for an ad in the yellowpages because that was the thing to do. Often times showing up on Google is now the thing to do for a local business.
Absolutely there are scumbags out there (see Internet Advancement in Redmond, WA) but good SEO absolutely has it's benefits, hence some the prices for good, actual results.
http://www.heavensgate.com/
Highlight the bottom of the webpage...
I do SEO for a living and I have to tell you these days more GREAT content is published because of SEO than poor content.
EDIT: Thanks for the gold, friend! I'll never forget this moment.
Funny because all I see is SEO ruining YouTube and causing all media and information to come from the same 9-10 cookie-cutter corporate websites. The internet before this became commonplace was a wealth of smaller, more personal and interesting websites that weren’t all about shoving ads and buzzwords in your face and selling off your information. It’s pretty much ruined the internet for anyone but big corporations
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SEO is just making your website more trustworthy and helping more people find your article.
or gaming the system to make you website look more trustworthy and getting more people into visiting your site
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you are assuming the higher ranking and more visitors from SEO are justified, it could be or it could be crap that gamed the system to get to the top
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Reddit circle jerk.
You’d go to look up “how to file taxes” and get an article explaining the wrong details.
If I google "How to renew drivers license in Virginia" today, I will get a bunch of those fake scam websites that charge a fee to "prepare the paperwork" for you.
I also don't think big corporations are inherently more trustworthy. They just have large marketing budgets; that's all.
Has the content itself improved because of SEO, or is it only more successful? Because there's a pretty big disctinction between those
Also, it's extremely ironic that a comment praising SEO has gold
So the first thing to understand is that SEO begins way before a post is written. It encompasses the "what" of the post and the "why" of the post way before the "how" of the post. You identify problems that people have, questions they're asking, etc. (based on what they're searching Google for) and you seek to solve those problems and answer those questions as well as possible.
Of course there are still things regarding markup, site structure, variations of words and phrases that are only done because of SEO, but these days for many different industries it's very tough to compete unless your piece of content is a genuinely great, informative piece of content. (In other industries it's a total poop-show of over-optimized garbage. :) )
Give one example.
Agree. I own an seo agency. Our only “trick” is created quality organic content and backlinks. The “ tricks” don’t work. You have to earn your ranks and you’re working with ( well against) some of the smartest AI in the world. The only way to win sustainably is to do it well and organically. I’ve done every type of marketing, at least with seo I’m just helping consumers find what they’re looking for instead trying to persuade them to want something they don’t necessarily need. Without it at least for consumer brands ppl will only find the big gun huge corporations when they search. With good seo they can find quality small brands. Now influencer marketing... that’s annoying.
Nice jargon! Where's my example?
It’s hard for me to grab links on mobile... but for example for a kid centric client we made very comprehensive guides on like best local birthday party places, best summer camps and research them really thoroughly and make them chock full of all the relevant details. They were full of competitors but we just wanted to make the most comprehensive lists possible so the provide value to the reader and are relevant to their queries.
Another local client has this gift card app. We have developed hundreds of the same well researched comprehensive lists of best local places for xyz as gift guides for different occasions or tastes.
They provide value and what the people are searching for really in-depth.
That’s just 2 off the top of my head. It depends on the client.
You're a modern day copywriter even if you dress it up. SEO has turned me away from online reviews almost entirely, at least reviews found through google. If I want "help finding something" as a consumer, it is now harder to find a quality product because of the crap that gets written nowadays. I can't find a decent list of routers, for example, but boy I can find a bunch of marketing.
I’ll admit I have a love hate relationship w marketing in general, it’s a career that I fell into after studying to work in arts management and I had to adapt to the latest digital avenues. I personally am not a copywriter but my staff sort of is, sure. The thing is in both examples I shared we either we write equally in depth listings for their competitors or in the case of the gift card client the businesses we list aren’t even competitors theyre just good suggestions on the industry the post is focused on. We also always grab a well written yelp review and link to their yelp page as well. Not all seo is equal of course. Plenty of ppl do it cheap, quick and biased- gray and black hat tactics.
Hey, thanks for the chill reply. Sorry about being a dick earlier, I appreciate your perspective
Do you have any advice for a recent graduate trying to break into the digital marketing industry with limited experience?
If you haven’t done a relevant internship start creating your own content so you can get hands on experience in every platform. Learn different blog platforms, ppc, social ads etc.
I can’t speak to content, but I can speak to a positive application of SEO: it’s great for small businesses who want locals to discover said businesses based on searches for services that those businesses offer. When SEO is applied, you can actually monitor the increase in traffic to your website, and that can be a really good thing when you’re offering a service that people might otherwise not know about.
That being said, it’s a double edged sword. In my example, the result is getting people in touch with services that might be very useful to them....in a broader internet sense, it can often lead to generic, cookie cutter results that don’t provide us with what we’re actually looking for.
So, like many things, SEO can - and does - do a lot of good. But it also can - and does - do bad.
I’m not knowledgeable enough to to declare that it does one more/less than the other - just trying to add my two cents to the discussion
Great. More marketing jargon. Still no examples for the other gilded comment.
Sorry, I thought I made it explicitly clear that I had no examples - nor knowledge - to offer to support the gilded comment. I wasn’t trying to make some epic defense of SEO....it may very well be terrible on the whole. It’s not even remotely related to my profession - I have no dog in the fight. I was just contributing to the broader conversation.
Though, to be fair...you say “great. More marketing jargon” as if I’m some salesman who’s pitching SEO to reddit. All I said was that it can be great for small businesses (which is true), but also bad in many other ways (which is true).
"you can monitor the increase in traffic to your website" made me think you were speaking in bad faith. That's not seo, that's just analytics. It just made me think you were trying to sell seo as a good thing because traffic increases or something
SEO is the bullshit marketing science that uses analytics to exploit search engine ranking.
Give an example
But, don't analytics and SEO go hand in hand? If your traffic isn't doing hot, then you change up the SEO. Or, if you make a change to your site and suddenly the analytics show that traffic died, then you know to go back to what you were doing.
That is, if you're doing it right.
Hey, I also do SEO professionally for the medical field. A couple years back there was a big change to Pharmaceutical testing standards called USP-797. This created a need not only for new testing devices but also for info and clarification for Pharma manufacturers. Since the law was so new searching for USP guidelines would return outdated, false answers. In this situation it was important to ensure that new testing materials and instructional pieces would rank higher than the old pages available online. Using SEO techniques allowed me to get the new, relevant results where they needed to be in minimal time, preventing a lot of potential issues with new pharmaceuticals. In industries that undergo major changes regularly, it can be imperative to keep relevant pages as well-optimized as possible.
The wire cutter
I had no idea that site even existed until now.
The one owned by NYt, right?
you asked for an example, you now have one
You didn't even build off of why or how SEO made it what it is. I responded by saying I had no idea it existed, because if the SEO really worked all that well, why haven't I seen it? How is it even really an example?
You asked for an example of great content because of SEO (it's a website driven by affiliate revenue; paid media is not an option). Ergo, this is an example of great content written because of SEO. Also, the fact that you in particular haven't seen the site doesn't mean its SEO is poorly done.
It's ranking doesn't even break 1,000 on similarweb in the US. Globally the website is lower than 7,000.
Yet the site was bought for $30 mil or so by the new york times. You think they didn't see their analytics before buying it?
How the hell does it having affiliate revenue even necessarily imply seo is the reason it exists?? There have been sites with affiliate revenue streams since the nineties...
SEO is not the raison d'etre for this, or any website for that matter. I never said it was. Money is. But the particular revenue model for this website implies that it must rely on SEO for its revenue, as most paid media channels of consequence have rules in place to bar affiliate websites.
Having said that, the reason why the content of TWC is such good quality is because that's what it takes to achieve user trust, and with that higher rankings, these days. Google's algorithm, whilst not perfect or foolproof, is pretty damn good at filtering out crap these days. Have a look at /r/juststart to see what modern SEO really looks like: 90% of it is writing quality content.
Well the guy I was replying to specifically was saying that. The comment that I responded to, asking for an example.... And, again, TWC is not well ranked... You can talk about "better" rankings or whatever but TWC is not a company that exists because of seo, and that was the argument I was seeking examples for
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Woah holy shit who knew that a site that sells things makes a lot of money, even with low rankings. Crazy
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"great content that exists because of seo"
Posts a website that isn't well ranked, and makes money through affiliate business. Demonstrates nothing about why seo is good or the cause for the website's existence.
Jesus, is this hard to see? Are you ignoring the rest of this comment chain? You're not contributing anything relevant, just saying a company that you work for that isn't that popular is profitable. Which, again, isn't surprising if they sell things, like every e-commerce firm. Commerce is in the name.
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I worked for an SEO whoring business. My department was comment generation. So we would have a customer who does like... landscaping and tree removal... and we would google search things related to the keywords they wanted their various URLs to come up on. Then we would find something like a home improvement blog where some people bought a house and the yard was shit, so they spent a couple weeks ripping out trees and doing some flowerbeds and whatever. We would go down to the comments with our fake personalities, write our fake name and fake email address, put the customer’s URL in the “website” field [removing this would SLAUGHTER seo whoring businesses like this], and write a 3-5 sentence comment about their article. Skim it, find something to comment on, keep it relevant to the topic. For example:
Wow, that transformation is incredible, and the house looks so much better without the tree covering up that beautiful window! I have some dead trees in my front yard that I need to have removed. It always seemed like something I would need to hire a professional to do. Was it expensive to rent the equipment?
Then the customer’s URL is linked on a website that has high SEO, which boosts the customer’s SEO, and boosts the SEO of the person we leeched off of, so they pass it off as a win-win. Even though it’s all fake.
We also wrote articles and blogs for the customer’s websites. But a HUGE chunk of what we did was spam comments.
For real, go look up “commentluv landscaping [city]” and your major area on google, find a wordpress blog and scroll down to the comments section, and read the comments. It’s all fucking fake. All of it.
Thank god that isn't a tactic that works anymore
I still see it though!
SAD
Recipe sites have bullshit fluff content for copyright, not SEO. You can't copyright recipes unless they're part of a narrative story. You can copyright a story, but not a list of instructions to build something.
That's a great explanation for someone who doesn't understand what SEO is.
I’ve worked in it (was on stamps and needed a stable paycheck), and I can say that’s exactly correct lol
I will say that understanding the algorithms is fascinating and if you’re good at your job and like your work, the limitations create great content (necessity is the mother of invention). For instance, when I’ve done it for non-profits or charities it can be a very cool challenge.
That also said. I despise what it’s done to the Internet, most content (because people don’t want to hire good writers for their price; they hire shit writers and get shit content because they don’t actually value writing) is shit, and how it has led to the evolution of machine learning and digital marketing at large is very troubling to me.
At my previous job, I was a Software Engineer for a big templated website company. We had an SEO department, and they staffed that department with people who knew absolutely zilch about SEO or even technology in general. They'd add the most garbage HTML into a WYSIWYG widget in the site footer and break the entire site, and just close their ticket and push their work live without even performing any QA on their work or the site. Then Support would get an angry call from a client about their entire homepage being broken, and they'd have to escalate a ticket to us to fix it. We'd pull the changelog and find that the SEO department broke the site, then we'd reach out to both the SEO Analyst and their manager to let them know that they broke a site
That just sounds terrible and stupid all around.
You're tellin' me
Yes, I write blogs for the company I work for as a small part of my regular duties, and they're purely SEO-driven. I don't think anyone ever actually reads through them, though I take time to make sure they're readable. But the purpose isn't really to be readable, it's to draw people to the site. Kind of a bummer because I actually enjoy writing, but there's really no added benefit to making the blog high-quality; the entire purpose is just to get clicks into the website.
SEO isn't keyword stuffing anymore. That stopped working like 8 years ago.
The way Google works now, most metrics for actually effective SEO coincide with metrics for page usability: load speed, readability on mobile devices, or content that truly answers the user's questions will have vastly more of an effect than keyword stuffing or creating doorway pages or exact-match anchor text links.
TLDR: SEO in 2019 is basically "site usability optimization".
That said, yeah there are 90000 firms that "do SEO" for a billion dollars a pop that are worth nothing.
That said, yeah there are 90000 firms that "do SEO" for a billion dollars a pop that are worth nothing.
Which are the target of my ire and my post. I should have made it more clear that it was the industry and business practices I am targeting as opposed to the raw concept of optimizing a page.
The recipe websites are pure cancer. Have a personal tale to illustrate why you're sharing your recipe? I don't give a shit, I want to make some fucking food!
. It has the worst incentives. It encourages people to make garbage content stuffed with keywords and other "tricks".
Not really. It used to be like this but keyword stuffing doesn't get you far any more with Google and it's becoming better
I wonder if a recipe site without all the extra fluff still exists. Could call it jumptorecipe.com or something.
I’ve grew up with the browser and content has just gotten more and more meaningless
just had this a few nights ago. all I wanted was a barbacoa beef recipe for instant pot. every recipe website had so much crap you had to wade through just to get to the ingredients list.
This exact thing happened to me today and it was infuriating. My son had emailed me about a gift for his wife’s upcoming birthday. They just bought their first house (and by ‘just,’ I mean their offer was accepted about ten days ago). He sent a picture of a vertical, wall-mounted coat rack in an antique bronze finish and as I later found out, they’re not too common. I saved the image and did a Google search for ‘vertical wall coat rack,’ then looked at images. Maybe six or seven lines down, there was a picture that looked really close. I clicked on its link. It was more than close- it was the exact image my son had sent, and the description was: “vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall coat rack vertical wall”
It went on like that for a ten or twelve lines- an entire paragraph. I have no idea what the point was.
Now that's a lot of keyword stuffing...
It's a mix of SEO and the fact actual recipes aren't protected by copyright.
I work in web development; most of the dirty tricks have been eliminated from actual ratings calculations at this point and the search engines don’t look for them anymore. However, it feels like way too many people don’t know about this and just keep on doing the bullshit anyways.
I've seen people here on Reddit complain about how recipe sites have lots of bullshit fluff content; that is entirely due to SEO
"The important thing about cooking is to take it EASY. DINNER doesn't need to be stressful, it can be fun! Sometimes you can smell my baking down the STREET. FOOD is so important to growing children, which is why I love these buns made with whole milk and WHEAT. FREE up your counter, get ready to knead, and take it SLOW.... COOKER, FUCK IT, THAT'S WHATS TRENDING"
I work in SEO and what you described is reffered to as 'blackhat SEO' and no longer a thing except for shady companies. Nowadays we do everything to make usability better since many ranking criteria is based around satisfied users. We fix loading speed, site structure, etc. Keyword stuffing is not a thing for many years now...
That is not how the entire industry works, and if it where, it would die. 5-10 years ago, though, was really bad.
Ex digital marketer here, I agree completely. I was the guy in charge of copywriters who would have to write content for websites with the primary purpose of generating traffic and improve search rankings.
You know how fucking soul destroying it is for a writer to make an article designed to be understood by a search algorithm? And how awful it is to shoot down perfectly interesting articles because it's not full of fluffy keyword bullshit? It's awful.
Yes absolutely this. I worked at a small business that was one of these SEO mills. Needless to say it was expensive, it didn't work, and people would end up out of a LOT of money. For almost $1,000/month you got a shitty website that looked similar to a lot of other sites (that had a lot of "SEO" terms on it to make it look like it's going to the top of Google), the most generic and brainless social media marketing that was on par with spam emails (which I did but wasn't allowed to be creative in because fuck my horse-looking coworker), among other things that weren't worth the cost. I felt so grimy whenever I had to call our clients for money, like a shark.
Also, they were faking reviews. ALSO I was the person that would post stuff on social media and would get yelled at by my dumbass, idiot coworker when I wouldn't post on Google+ every week. Google fucking plus. Also this is another reason why you should NOT believe Yelp or Google reviews. These companies fake reviews to make it look better than it actually was and would actively work to push the bad reviews down.
SEO bullshit has been around longer most people think. Check out the suicide cult Heaven's Gate's website which was made in like 1997 (and it shows). Scroll to the bottom and highlight, there's hidden text down there with words like "UFO, Yoda, Allah, Atheist, Buddha, and Yoga" just to get more web traffic.
Unfortunately there's no way to kill seo. You can try, but so long as there is some type of criteria that search engines use to decide which results to display above others-- and there has to be, otherwise it would literally just be random links-- then there will be ways to exploit that criteria, and some people will figure it out and abuse it
Damn this is what single handedly killed the internet and i never thought about it.
Doesn’t sound like you know a lot about SEO
Is this why every recipe I find online has 2500 words written about how the author was feeling that day and how long it had been since she last had this dish?
I do seo for a living, both black hat stuff and "white hat" stuff.
I agree the user experience is worse, blame search engines, I just make what they want. I tried to build a site for the user and made money through FB ads but it never caught on with Google.
I do seo for a living, both black hat stuff
Well fuck you then
Why?
The Black hat stuff is exactly what causes shit sites to rank. Contributes to the problem and frustration of legitimate sites trying to rank too
I just do what works since what Google tells you won't work.
Either play the game or get out of it. I don't do anything illegal, I just learned how the algorithm works and game it.
Any type of link building aside from viral content is considered blackhat by Google, good luck beating out guys like me with that!
Is this the reason I get like 3 calls a day from people wanting to list my website on Google. For 399$ a year or month or something
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But my business is on Google.
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Yep, I assume they're scam artists. Especially after they tell me Google will never contact me directly and then after finally taking no for an answer they get really rude.
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No clue, tbh I don't even know who they are assuming they get my number from some government website
I do SEO type stuff when I post art on Instagram, but that’s moreso because the more people see my work, the better chances I can get a job, the better chances I can create the stuff I really want to.
I've seen small business owners fork over thousands of dollars for "SEO".
I know 2 small local business owners that have been there. They paid $1500-$2000 for SEO from some developers and didn't really get anything for it.
SEO is an industry I would love to see die in a fire. It has the worst incentives. It encourages people to make garbage content stuffed with keywords and other "tricks".
That's lazy af SEO and that's why it's so common.
I've seen people here on Reddit complain about how recipe sites have lots of bullshit fluff content; that is entirely due to SEO. It also encourages an entire scam industry of people who claim to know all the "new tricks" whenever Google decides to change their opaque processes/algorithms.
This happens way too much. SEO is actually conceptually easy although it's a deep topic. And not one many people wanna learn when they'd rather run a business. I don't agree with it encourages an entire scam industry. It does however possess a large scam industry that's true.
I've seen small business owners fork over thousands of dollars for "SEO".
Well yeah, things cost money. Those businesses should've been getting their money's worth but would SEO that's a hard measure. It's sort of like finance. You can follow the rules and try and do the right things but it doesn't guarantee riches.
Yeah screw SEO scammers
This, but I’d like to take it a step further. Advertising being the primary form of monetization of internet content needs to die
I miss the first wave of blogging. It was more like reading a diary from someone you could never possibly meet. One of the first micro-blogs I really liked was someone who posted strange conversations they overheard in NYC. It felt like a window into a foreign land. Blogs don't feel like that anymore.
Yes, so much this! I miss when blogging was about reaching out and connecting with other people and not about selling stuff.
There are still old school personal blogs around though. Blogs by people who still do it just for fun and without ads or sponsored posts. I have one myself and know a handful of others, but... we are few and far between. And it's ridiculously difficult to find if you don't already know them.
Holy cow, there's at least a half dozen of us!
i was a blogger from 2004-2007 ish. it was kind of awesome, and i had a lot of friends, some of whom i’ve still never met but am in contact with still on facebook or whatever.
my peak was a post about feminism and hairy legs, which sparked a comment war and brought a LOT of angry lesbians down on me. what a time to be alive.
Livejournal!
There’s much less personal websites now, most of internet usage is concentrated on a lower number of websites
edit: and with that I have a quarter million karma! :)
No HTML knowledge necessary for Instagram. I do miss the “public access” feel of the old web.
Whenever I stumble upon an old website I think that someone created all the formatting for this and all their opinions are theirs
Once upon a time in middle school we made personal websites.. mine was hilariously about the power of cheese.. people would stumble upon it years later and we'd have a great chuckle. Man I miss that shit.
[deleted]
RIP his discount shared hosting if he does deliver
Good ol hug of death
Seconded
Thirderated
Fourthdebated
Fifthteded
\^
ilovecheese.freewebs.com
wait, is making a website something that middle schoolers are capable of understanding and accomplishing? I've been considering learning to make a website for some time but the idea of it seems overwhelming
Easily. Years ago (around 2008-2013) there used to be a really popular Facebook clone with thousands of users that was run by someone ~12 years old. Not just a basic web page with words, but he made a full registration system (with modern security), live chatting, user profiles, forums, and applets. All of this designed to run on the Nintendo DSi browser. I was around 10 at the time and it's the whole reason I got into programming.
Browsers are a lot more complicated in 2019 so there's more stuff to know, but that's easily offset by the insane amount of resources online. Endless YouTube series for every corner of development, not just web dev.
I know a guy who built a rudimentary website in 5th grade about 15 or so years ago. It wasn't much to look at, even by the standards of the time, but it was at least more than text on a white background. Basic HTML is easy to pick up, which is enough to make a site with text, pictures, and links. From there all that's left is hosting and domain registration, which is as simple as throwing a little bit of money at a company like GoDaddy and having them do it for you.
Once you have HTML down, there's more to learn to really flesh out your website, like CSS, JavaScript, etc. but take it one step at a time. There's a ton of books and online resources that will walk you through everything you need to know.
My mind exploded when I first typed
I miss all the flashy, tacky websites. Each one was unique, even if they were employing the same general techniques. It was blogging in its truest form, where people were exploring some part of you and what you thought looked good, what you liked.
But don't you have to know a thing or two about networking and security to make sure nothing bad happens to your website?
A bit, but a lot of the major concerns would fall on your hosting company unless you have your own server, and if you're at the point that you've set up your own server, you can probably figure out the rest by yourself.
Yeah you got this. I made one back when I was in grade 9. Obviously it wasn't the best, but it got my point across
https://www.w3schools.com/ is a great resource for all things related to developing a website, but there are also plenty of other tutorials and examples around
I would rather learn up to date information from Mozilla over w3schools
I would use Mozilla, but I use my school Chromebook for coding (I do mostly JavaScript, plus I can code in school) and my school blocked Mozilla. I don't have a great proxy, just a few good ones, so it would be difficult to navigate websites and Google well.
Your school blocked Mozilla‽ What the fuck. They had problems, sure, but they are still a bastion of open standards on the modern web. Jesus your school is ridiculous. I'm about to go to sleep and I'm a little drunk, but if you pm me I might still be willing to buy you a VPN tomorrow.
Nah, it's ok, thanks. I don't think I'd even be able to use the VPN since restricted Chromebook and all, and I have a couple proxies my school hasn't blocked yet anyways. I think my school blocked Mozilla because of websites like browserquest.mozzila.com, and since they have a crappy blocking system (I had to tell them to block websites in iframes!) they didn't realize it was Mozilla they were blocking.
I made websites in fourth grade. Some used easy platforms with templates or drag-and-drop properties (AOL Hometown, GeoCities, Tripod), but I did make a couple (mostly as school assignments, so they never actually got online) from the ground up. The 1990s were a good time... and then when MySpace came around, a lot of us kids got to play with HTML. I think you'll find that tech literacy kind of peaks in the 25-30 demographic, with older and younger people being generally less literate and more used to "I click it and it works."
My friends and I made basic websites as early as elementary school back in 2000-2001. We'd mainly make them about like Pokemon or something. I remember learning from http://www.funkychickens.com/main.asp
Never learned more than HTML, CSS, and stopped after starting PHP.
Www.Freecodecamp.org
You can learn the basics of html in an afternoon.
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-html
If it's just static text, images, and some formatting tags yeah.
stuff like sql might be a bit of a hurdle but just placing text and images where you want them is pretty easy. I learned by making something in microsoft frontpage and going in and editing the code, removing redundancy and simplifying wherever possible, and cleaning it up to be more human-readable. a lot of people learned on xanga, myspace, etc. back in the day too, but I think making tumblr layouts is probably your best bet if you want to go that route
Kind of like the real ultimate power website or maddox.i miss the old internet.
The best page in the universe? That was my shiiiiit
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TBH, I would have loved a website dedicated to documenting all of the different breakfast foods and their personal histories. Once upon a time, Wikipedia was this... now it's just blurbs...
to me it sounds more exhausting (and kind of a boring) to go through countless websites that are all about the same/similar topics.
Even purple a website that just was purple for a decade sold out to some mattress company.
I remember something.com was just a website with text at the top like it was done in wordpad and it just said something.
I made a fan site for the wrestler Triple H when I was in 8th grade. It wasn’t anything special but I remember I was really proud of it, floating text and all. It was on geocities. Wish I still had the link.
My friends and I made a blog in ninth grade. We essentially used it like today's Discord; writing up stupid shit, communicating with each other when we couldn't be together in person. I lost the URL years ago and I just wish I could get access to it for nostalgia.
Yess! We all had to learn front page. Then in college I had to learn html formatting. Getting 10 Mb of free personal web space from your ISP. Sweeeet.
every once in a while I get a new visitor to my old website that I've taken great care to keep off the surface web. still don't know how people are finding it. never any referrals and they almost always just go to to the index page, click through 2 or 3 links, and never show up again. it doesn't even display properly in modern browsers, you've gotta be running an 80 column terminal with like lmb or something for it to show up right
Bots from search engines.
you'd think so, but it's normal browser useragents. I do of course get the occasional request for robots.txt (which in this case politely asks bots not to crawl my site at all) and the constant bombardment of people trying to trying to exploit an sql installation that doesnt exist, but never anything else except maybe once every six months someone comes along and pokes around for a few minutes. the kind of bots that ignore robots.txt dont just click one or two links 30-60 seconds apart either, they crawl the whole site in 2 seconds.
it's too bad so many people have dynamic ip addresses, if it was all the same IP I might be able to find out who it is and why they're doing it.
User agent can be faked, page requests delayed to make a crawler appear like a normal user. Unlikely in your case, but possible. If you're really interested in these people (?) you could set some kind of tracking cookie.
holds up spork XD
Mine was megaman animated sprites.
Oy I made a Geocities Farscape fan site back in the late 90s... (hides head in shame) I did all the HTML by hand.
...I even had the blinky text shit....
Grass seed. I need grass seed!
https://www.spacejam.com/archive/spacejam/movie/jam.htm
I think it is great that someone actively keeps that site alive
That is awesome. Very old school internet.
a national treasure
Some of these are still around. One of my favorite sites on the web is one a russian linguist created for his hobby. He just reviewed hundreds of classic rock albums. The site was hideous and therefore beautiful. You go there for one thing, and one thing only. It was dense with pure content. I really wish the internet were still like that.
http://starling.rinet.ru/music/indexb.htm
OTOH, I do not miss
Haven't checked since 2017, but at that point my old website still existed. I thought Angelfire had died over a decade before.
They should keep Angelfire up as sort of a UNESCO heritage site.
Welp, just checked, site still exists but a lot of it is broken. Not sure why - I went to the effort of stealing all of the images used rather than hotlinking and internal page links should still be good.
Ah well, soon my crappy Stargate SG-1 fanfic will disappear from the interwebs forever.
I was recently looking for info about the D&D Mystara arcade game and stumbled upon some dude's early 2000s website which really only featured a guide for the game, a collection of email pranks and a cartoon portrait his wife drew. I was so happy it's still online.
[deleted]
Comic Sans FTW
There are many internet sins you can commit and be forgiven for. This is unforgivable.
Papyrus
There are a whole ton of old '90s- and Aughts-era websites along those lines that I deeply miss. Old games with mods aplenty, old silliness I posted as a teenager.
Though, some of it is still around at least.
You just reminded me about Hypnospace Outlaw. Going to go play now.
I work for a major web host and one of the best parts of my job is seeing some of these personal or niche sites that still carry the DIY torch. Wordpress is great in that it makes creating a website accessible to even the worst of Luddites. But it has created a homogeneity that really kills the spirit of the internet of the 90s.
Yeah the homogeneity can get tiresome, even when the style is good in a vacuum. When Bootstrap first came along it meant you could get a great looking website set up in no time; now I just roll my eyes when I load yet another generic Bootstrap-templated site
Now websites are drag and drop design. I used to make my own websites and I recently started a business and discovered a drag and drop tool, much easier haha.
Squarespace! Build it, beautiful!
I was an internet nerd growing up in the 90's and I remember when Angelfire, Geocities, Xoom, and a few other DIY website portals were pretty popular. And webrings. Definitely had a completely different feel than modern social media.
Yeah, even the Geocities and Angelfire amateurish pages had some gems, somehow they just don't feel the same when they're Pinterest or Instagram content.
The internet has really shrunk. It feels like there's just a handful of sites now.
The digital roadways grew just like real roadways. It's much more efficient and effective now, but you lose the charm of finding your own route, getting lost, or stumbling upon something great along the way.
It was dubbed the "Information Superhighway" in the 90s, but it has really earned that title now.
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I'm so guilty of this too. I read the headline and think 'I'll check the comments to see if it's actually worth reading' and 9 times out of 10 i don't get back to the article for whatever reason.
Most of the time it's because those websites bombard you with pop-ups, "please disable adblock", horrendous UX, tons of unrelated article previews that make your eye wander, and a small column of the actual article that uses less than half of the horizontal space at best, and spans multiple pages at worst. "Click here for Part 2" my ass.
Yeah I guess also the content of the article might be biased in numerous ways.
I wonder how accurate a representation of any given article the top comments give though.
"Information Super-bypass"
yeah social media wants you to stay on their platform as long as possible
There's so much amazing content hidden behind unsearchable forums, discords, phone apps, private sites, it's quite sad.
which is a pain when you need information
Everyone uses social media, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Therefore, people have no incentive to put up personal websites, since maybe fifty people a year will see them.
yeah it’s a little like talking to a wall
I used to spend ages clicking thru various fansites. I remember when affiliates were just links to other fan pages, not clicks to make a dollar.
The craftsmanship too. I would be in awe of the web design of some pages I visited and then I would spend all day reading tutorials and practicing in Paint Shop Pro 7.
Don’t get me started on animated gifs. That was another thing I would get lost in.
I hate that everything is called a blog now. “Make money blogging!” To me, a blog is a personal journal or a site that you provide some personal knowledge about something. All these “blogs” are just websites with affiliate links and ads.
Originally blogs were just lists people made online of sites they found interesting; a log of web addresses, "web log" or "blog."
It seems to have died down now but a few years ago there used to be frequent debates about whether the paid writers for $tech_site were "bloggers" or "journalists". IIRC it even came up in court in the context of journalistic rights to protect sources of leaks
This. I miss forums
I remember as a perk of having roadrunner internet when it was new was having a personal website with 50MB of traffic free per month. (Circa 1998)
I put my favorite SNES roms up on a basic index.html I made and I was so pleased with myself. Then it died like three days later. I was devastated. It came back after a couple weeks and that elation came back... Then it went down another few days later.
That's when I actually learned there were data transfer limits on websites and you had to pay extra for that transfer cap.
I wonder if any remnants of my old Angelfire sites are still floating around out there somewhere.
Have you checked the Internet archive ?
If you stop using your old website , does it delete by itself?
The good ol' days of Geocities...
I'm a HS (assistant) coach and my head coach maintains the website himself. It has a very old school feel, and I recently asked if I could update it for him. Being able to freshen it up while still keeping it fairly "personal website"-like has been fantastic!
Sorry to say but nobody gives a fuck about how much karma you have.
I've got one, but with barely any content. I did it mostly just for practice, anyway. Anything is want to host, is good on a bigger site where it will get much more visibility.
I miss when karma would actually be something beneficial to you in your next life instead of worthless internet points.
lol
Cringe edit
don’t care! :)
edit: and with that I have a quarter million karma! :)
Spend it wisely
The opposite is true
Lol
If you have so much karma why do you still need to brag about it
much fewer*
Reddit killed the internet.
Gone are the days when you would open a browser and type in one of your many regular websites.
What used to be 2-3 minute, straight to the fucking point youtube videos. Are now 10+ minute long videos full of 9 minutes of intros, filler, irrelevent bs, and telling us to like, favourite, share, comment, subscribe, and hit the bell notification and finally 1 minute what you actually came for.
Gotta hit that 10-minute mark to enable midroll ads.
Are video replies still a thing on YouTube? If so maybe someone could special in 30-second 'TLDR' (or 'TLDW'?) ones to go next to popular but overly-long videos.
Video replies aren’t a thing anymore. 4 out of every Million viewers would click one.
Web rings man. When search engines sucked, you could skip around on those web ring links.
All of the little 50x32 affiliate badges running down the side of every small website.
Seriously. It was called YouTube because it was supposed to be about vlogging (not like the vloggers today, but a genuine video blog). It sucks that after the dotcom bubble, all websites had to be monetizable. That’s why Vine died, because they couldn’t figure out a way to monetize it. It wasn’t enough to just exist and be a cool thing. Unfortunately, because places like Newgrounds aren’t monetizing (which I’m glad about, because it keeps the classic soul of the place), they’ve lost all their great animators to YouTube. Now it’s just a place for animators to get their feet wet before they move onto YouTube.
Newgrounds got a fair bit of publicity and an increase in userbase after the NSFW purge by Tumblr, and they get a lot of their funding now through a "supporters" system, which lets you subscribe to turn off the ads plus some other perks. It does not, to my knowledge, allow animators a means of making a living off of publishing content there, but then again neither does YouTube :p
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Apart from that, though, there's also the network effects that led to the strong driving out the weak entirely. Sites and outlets that would have been viable at smaller scale in the more fragmented past aren't worth trying nowadays, because nobody's escaping the gravity well of the behemoths like YouTube.
Newgrounds has banner ads, but that’s it. They don’t have cultured content or those fake news articles. I don’t know how they’ve survived without the kind of monetization ebaumsworld has done. They’ve truly sold their soul. But I’m proud of them for keeping it real. But I miss the days of art for art’s sake.
Newgrounds still exists?
Newgrounds is thriving.
Even more thriving recently since they've been explicitly advertising themselves as an alternative to Tumblr for NSFW artists, and many people are taking them up on the offer
Well the original idea of the 'net was that anyone could just install free open-source server software on their PC and you didn't need any additional money, servers, services to make your own content public, just put it in the directory that you allowed public access to.
A problem with that was that you did need a steady IP address and a hostname, and residential ISP service doesn't include that. Also in the early internet, you'd've never used up your bandwidth, but now if something went viral you could blow through a month's worth in seconds. So you need at least shared hosting or a VPS, but they're pretty cheap. It's still reasonable for someone with a hobby to get a VPS and run a website on it for a lot less than you'd spend on a lot of hobbies (or a couple of starbucks coffees). Not all hobbies need to be monetized. And not everyone with a website needs to be a star.
But the perception has changed dramatically. Now you have to 'build your brand' and monetize it and try to go viral and become 'an influencer'. Even if all you wanted was to share your thoughts with some people who had the same interests. Technically that's not true, things are free or close enough to free, but the perception is there.
I don’t always buy this argument. There are times that it’s perfectly warranted and accurate, like with Vine - like you said, video hosting is expensive and requires a lot of infrastructure.
On the other hand, I’ll see other websites for podcasts or something that the owners are constantly pleading poverty - and I’m talking down to the level of some that are just blogs. “Oh, it costs us so much money to bring you this content every year... that’s why we can’t let you in unless you disable your AdBlocker.”
But... your podcast is just you and a few friends talking about something for an hour a week, or the blog content is all written by you and your friends who all have day jobs too. If you do have a video you host it on YouTube and use their infrastructure, not yours. I can get a domain name and unlimited storage and bandwidth for like $122 a year, it’s a pittance of money. All the rest of the costs, if I have any, are one-time sunk costs for a site of that nature (nice microphone for interviews, etc). But some of these have ads all over, sponsorships built into the content itself, and they’re pushing a Patreon. What are they spending all that money on, massages?
I’d counter your argument and say it needs to be tweaked slightly. I say, “NOT all things on the internet require monetizion. Monetization is a necessity for any business, but there’s no requirement that every site be a business.
[deleted]
Oh, absolutely. And I'm not saying either that there's anything wrong with people wanting to make a little money from something that would otherwise basically be a hobby.
If someone in my community makes some homemade maple syrup and sells it at the local craft fair for $10 a bottle, I'll buy the crap out of it. Always tastes better than the supermarket stuff, they enjoy making it and I enjoy eating it.
The thing I dislike is the dishonesty. Syrup guy doesn't tell the customers, "Thank goodness you bought a bottle. If I don't move 25,000 units by Q2 I think I might just to under this year." He hasn't even made 25,000 units, this is just because it's something he enjoys doing and it'll cover the cost of a plane ticket or something. When a site that I know is just 4 people huddled around a microphone discussing movies they saw - no staff, no writers, no anything, just some dudes, a mic, some opinions, and Audacity - somehow claims that it costs thousands of dollars to produce the show every year, that's when I feel a little lied to and taken advantage of.
The vast majority of people with these small blogs/podcasts don’t claim it costs a lot of money to run, it costs TIME. If you have a full time job then running something like this isn’t worth sacrificing a social life unless you are getting something out of it.
Though everyone has a dream of quitting their day job to bring more to their userbase.
(snarky?) sidenote: does that really happen though? as in: is it really that likely that the person that currently upload one or two well-made videos per week will start uploading five a week all of a sudden?
Did old sites like Hamsterdance not have a way to make money at the height of their popularity?
Not many ways, it was pretty much before PayPal or any other easy way to transfer money online so there was no patreon or donation coming in unless they jumped through a lot of hoops to hook up their bank account. They would have had to get advertisers which was harder back then, half the advertisers were trying to give your computer some sort of virus, and advertisers paid way less than today. Pretty much any old website was completely community driven with the servers being paid for by whoever made the site or any direct monetization of the content. Most things about the internet in general were about fun and interest, not how things could make $$$, but it makes sense that the good content creators can make a living off their hard work. It almost certainly won't go back to the way it was, you aren't getting rid of click baiting because it's exactly what the advertisers are looking for, tired gullible people who are willing to click on nearly anything that sounds interesting, they are just the most likely to fall for advertising. This means the low effort click bait sites are making the most money so they get the most focus.
My memory probably wasn't 100% about this, not feeling too great and just wanted to rant...
Nope. It was just art for art’s sake.
I'm sure the people who made that art would have liked a way to actually make money off it. Internet popularity is nice but it's also pretty nice to pay your bills on time
It was a simpler time. You went to work to pay the Internet bill to show off your art, which you made for the express purpose of watching people laugh and smile (or whatever other given emotion. Most of it was comedic, though). See also the explosion in fan websites during the early Internet. Millions of Super Mario Bros. websites, for instance, dedicated to documenting one person's interpretation of the Mushroom Kingdom just for the fun of it. Just for other people to stumble upon and get a kick out of.
Plenty of people still do that stuff, it's just mostly consolidated to sites like DeviantArt, Tumblr, and other art sharing sites instead of blogs littered with pngs, gifs, and music you can't turn off
it's just mostly consolidated
Exactly.
The evolution of vlogging changed so much. Nowadays I see these high end vlogs with lighting and high quality camera equipment. People complaining they can't monetize their videos because x, y, z. These people have assistants, travel to luxurious places because they're all sponsored and spit out some sort of manufactured reality TV.
Too true, I miss so many little weird sites from back in the day. I keep my site up just to share my hobbies and I wish more people did the same. I figure there aren't many people out there with the belief that $60-$100 a year is a small price to pay to have their own corner of unfiltered internet to call their home page.
Edit: Old Crappy Couch It's just a collection of stuff I've done with amature photography and videos.
I've had mine up for ages, just as a fun little playground. No ads. No SEO. I seriously don't care about ranking. I just want my own little corner of the internet to host little projects I work on and play around with css.
Interestingly enough though, I am popular in Thailand! My previous host gave me interesting numbers for Thai visitors on my Sakura Card divination helper.
I keep thinking that I'll resurrect my blog ... but I never bother with it because I never actually write anything anymore ... maybe I can talk about being a new plant mama ... but eh.
I could see a plant mama blog being pretty funny if you styled it like one of those cringey regular mom blogs and got all opinionated about mundane stuff like "organic raw water" vs. tap water. Show a bunch of staged pictures taking your plant on a play date with other plants at the park.
Kudos for keeping your site around, it's nice to see someone else out there feels like I do!
I'm joining Operation: Razit and removing my content off Reddit. Further info here (flyer) and here (wall of text).
Please use https://codepen.io/Deestan/full/gOQagRO/ for Power Delete instead of the version listed in the flyer, to avoid unedited comments. And spread the word!
Tlie epu poebi! Pee kraa ikri pičiduči? Kapo bi ipee ipleiti priti pepou. Tre pa griku. Propo ta čitrepripi ka e bii. Atlibi pepliietlo dligo plidlopli pu itlebakebi tagatre. Ee dapliudea uklu epete prepipeopi tati. Oi pu ii tloeutio e pokačipli. Ei i teči epi obe atepa oe ao bepi! Ke pao teiči piko papratrigi ba pika. Brapi ipu apu pai eia bliopite. Ikra aači eklo trepa krubi pipai. Kogridiii teklapiti itri ate dipo gri. I gautebaka iplaba tikreko popri klui goi čiee dlobie kru. Trii kraibaepa prudiotepo tetope bikli eka. Ka trike gripepabate pide ibia. Di pitito kripaa triiukoo trakeba grudra tee? Ba keedai e pipapitu popa tote ka tribi putoi. Tibreepa bipu pio i ete bupide? Beblea bre pae prie te. Putoa depoe bipre edo iketra tite. I kepi ka bii. Doke i prake tage ebitu. Ae i čidaa ito čige protiple. Ke piipo tapi. Pripa apo ketri oti pedli ketieupli! Klo kečitlo tedei proči pla topa? Betetliaku pa. Tetabipu beiprake abiku! Dekra gie pupi depepu čiuplago.
Like the Eternal September.
Heh, I hadn't heard that term before but it does describe things pretty well.
Fucking summerf*gs
It's okay, man. You can say figs.
I heard that God hates figs though, and reddit is a Christian Channel.
So much this. It was the mobile focus that has made things worse. If they could have just worked harder to make mobile capable of desktop style browsing instead of splitting the two and dumbing down mobile things might be better for everyone. Can't tell if there's a sinister plot to encourage mobile use to try to keep people off desktops and only allow a quarter of the functionality that you could have on a computer to keep people from being more productive
And back in the early 2000s it seemed like Google was going to help us, all these amazing sites coming out were bound to integrate to provide a more seamless experience. But it didn't happen.
I remember last.fm and turntable.fm later, music lyrics websites getting better, search engines getting better. And then things fizzled. Integration didn't come. The replacements for these sites became sellouts in their own arenas. Genius.com could have been king of lyrics, combining last.fm with Wikipedia as regards music. But they're so damn corporate and mainstream. I submitted my own transcriptions for many songs I liked and 5 years later haven't had anyone confirm or add to them.
I'm blathering on.
Tldr great sites should integrate more and not cater to mobile unless mobile can come closer to offering what desktop does.
Same way as consoles need to try harder to approach pc gaming to stay relevant
But they will continue to operate as separate entities because $$
I'm joining Operation: Razit and removing my content off Reddit. Further info here (flyer) and here (wall of text).
Please use https://codepen.io/Deestan/full/gOQagRO/ for Power Delete instead of the version listed in the flyer, to avoid unedited comments. And spread the word!
Tlie epu poebi! Pee kraa ikri pičiduči? Kapo bi ipee ipleiti priti pepou. Tre pa griku. Propo ta čitrepripi ka e bii. Atlibi pepliietlo dligo plidlopli pu itlebakebi tagatre. Ee dapliudea uklu epete prepipeopi tati. Oi pu ii tloeutio e pokačipli. Ei i teči epi obe atepa oe ao bepi! Ke pao teiči piko papratrigi ba pika. Brapi ipu apu pai eia bliopite. Ikra aači eklo trepa krubi pipai. Kogridiii teklapiti itri ate dipo gri. I gautebaka iplaba tikreko popri klui goi čiee dlobie kru. Trii kraibaepa prudiotepo tetope bikli eka. Ka trike gripepabate pide ibia. Di pitito kripaa triiukoo trakeba grudra tee? Ba keedai e pipapitu popa tote ka tribi putoi. Tibreepa bipu pio i ete bupide? Beblea bre pae prie te. Putoa depoe bipre edo iketra tite. I kepi ka bii. Doke i prake tage ebitu. Ae i čidaa ito čige protiple. Ke piipo tapi. Pripa apo ketri oti pedli ketieupli! Klo kečitlo tedei proči pla topa? Betetliaku pa. Tetabipu beiprake abiku! Dekra gie pupi depepu čiuplago.
Last.fm was bought by CBS sometime circa 07 or 08 or so. Only way I knew was it started showing up at the bottom in fine print.
The site would stop working for months at a time and they offered 0 support. Heads up their asses.
Bought it to suppress it
Bought it to watch it slowly bleed out and die.
It still exists somehow. But it is such a shell of its original self.
I used to have my personalized radio station, my friends stations, my neighbors (algorithm sorted similar listeners) stations, and stations I added to explore like "new genre every week radio".
Well they disabled radio for free users. Poof.
This was a decade ago or more and I'm still pissed
Here's my page. Still up. https://www.last.fm/user/Mrd00d
Had blogs started. Top albums of year lists. Friends were blogging. Music forums were burgeoning. We were interacting. I don't have anything like that right now
They had an indie free music section like soundcloud. They had a lot of features they killed to prevent further integration and to turn back the clock
Been using Last.fm since 2007.
Bought it to watch it slowly bleed out and die
Absolutely can confirm this.
It was such a cool idea of a website and they made worse and worse each year until the last 5 or so years where it's just...there, for some reason. Any day now i except them to close it down.
Also, our music compatibility is low :(
My interests are/were very spread out from exploring new genres so the algorithm has always been wonky if you ask me.
But it may be true anyway. That's life. Haha.
But we can both agree potential was squandered majorly
I'm glad it's there as a little time capsule for myself and people I want to show it to a la right now. And flipping through my top 100 artists I've just reminded myself to go listen to a few things I forgot about so yay for that
Yep. And that's like what Google did for pretty much everything they purchased as well.
Take over an innovative product, strip mine it, then abandon it. That's how innovation dies.
Another thing I noticed around the time smartphones came in, was I'd send an email around to everyone at work requesting something ("Please complete attached table with your planned grant applications for this quarter, by Friday"), and you'd get a stream of one line smartphone replies (many sent outside normal work hours) that gave some sort of glib response, but didn't actually give the information requested. That would be that person's only response to the request - in their mind I guess they felt they had 'responded'. What happened was they were at home watching TV, on the train, in a bar etc, in social/casual mode and fired back a glib reply. They weren't at work so weren't in work mode, and felt cool firing back some silly reply then forgetting about it.
Remember when "user interface design" was about designing an interface that would let the user quickly and efficiently find interesting things they didn't know about?
Yeah, fuck you, Netflix.
https://wiby.me/ Enjoy for nostalgia. This search engine only indexes HTML only sites.
There was an amazing moment when every day I found something truly new on the Internet. Someone who loved something (movies, comics, whatever) and built something to share. I think Jump The Shark is a great example of this. So many great thoughts about TV.
Then the moneymen came...
This so much. Remember StumbleUpon?!
I loved when each website was its own dedicated little thing. In most places users could talk directly to the person running the website. There were very few rules anyone had to follow. Each website had way more individuality and personality to it.
Yeah, I got a rude awakening after taking a break from making amateur content and then posting some video to reddit. Stuff that would have been appreciated in the myspace days just gets trashed now. Like this guy used to get millions of views on his videos and now gets a tenth of that with substantially improved production value.
As good as stuff looks now...I really just want a good spot to watch and share quick and to the point funny video projects.
Agreed. People making pages about something they liked, just to put it out there.
Now it's all about clicks and influence leading to ad revenue. I never thought I'd get nostalgic for terrible geocities sites.
If you want more of that, thats what deep web sites are for. Un-indexed sites that havent been seen by google. Some sites could literally be a time capsule to the 90's. Its great. Just be careful with edgy sites if youre leisure browsing. Mutahar from SomeOrdinaryGamers has a long running deep web browsing series on Youtube and can give you a tip or two on the logistics of it if you're interested. Its alright. Not for everyone
I feel like sites like Reddit have killed the way we originally used the web– searching out content ourselves rather than constantly interfacing through user-voted aggregators.
The lawless times of joecartoon, newgrounds, addictinggames, happytreefriends and ebaumsworld.
Everything was offensive, edgy, or weird
[deleted]
Some of that stuff WILL NOT fly anymore. Frog in a blender? Micro gerbil? PICOS SCHOOL?
Pico's school already came after columbine
All that stuff still exists, and no one is stopping you from finding it and other content like it.
But it used to be relevant. It simply isn't anymore. You'd just be a hipster digging up edgy shit specifically to dig up edgy shit.
It used to be relevant because we used to be edgy teenagers. We're not anymore, we grew up and stopped liking that stuff.
The entire world wasn't edgy teens.
The entire world wasn't on Newgrounds
The fact that you think what I'm talking about is specific to Newgrounds tells me that you don't have even the first clue.
So you really think the entire world was into edgy comedy? They weren't, your bubble was but most people were not. You're pining for days that can never come back, not because the world changed but because you did. We all grew up, we don't like the same things we did before and we're more aware of people outside our bubble now so the things we thought were great and popular as kids just look small today.
lmao, you have zero perspective and prove it with every screed.
Sure bud
tumblr - case in point
I do a lot of obscure DIY stuff and the whole “crap website one person made out of passion” scene is still going strong there.
Recipes without a 20 pages story!
Oh geocities and angelfire...
I would argue that Reddit has made this more of a thing than ever. OC on reddit is a huge thing.
Repost for karma. It's the reddit currency.
User generated web content with no thought to advertising, search engine optimisation, monetising but with animated rainbow divider gifs!!
Web 1.0. Web 2.0 is we create the content, they make the money.
Good oooooole Vlogbrothers. Jesus it was like being part of a secret society. Now, somehow, less so. As the world gets bigger I sure do feel smaller.
I just re watched Mario Twins and Schfifty Five the other day and this rings so completely true.
Agreed. It’s impossible to find what you are searching for and it makes internet research all the more frustrating. Even the so called “educational resource” search engines do this. You have to sift through thousands of irrelevant content just to find the information you need to write your papers. Even then, they are pages and pages behind content that has only one word in your search request. It’s gotten quite ridiculous. I see more ads than anything else on the first page of my searches.
Edit to say: I often use multiple Online Search Engines and still can’t find what I’m looking for as simply and easily as I used to be able to.
I've noticed also that search results seem to be less accurate these days.
Agreed. Many are taken out of context and use “sources” that actually haven’t been verified. It’s like the telephone game of research.
The web before the big corporations took over, you mean.
with no thought to advertising, search engine optimisation, monetising.
Also memeing and internet points
What's something the internet killed
web content
wat
Flash
God yes.
Back in the day I had a site with little personal stories. What was fun for on, what cool programming hack I’d leaned, etc. I’d update by just typing in pure html. Couldn’t give two shits about who read it (it was mostly for my friends from IRC and my folks).
Now everything is choosing the right WordPress theme and what header image will look good on Facebook. Making sure the titles for blog posts for business stuff is keyword stuffed.
Ugh. So simpler back then.
...and without all the walled gardens.
Maybe it's just my own habits, but I expect it's common and symptomatic-- I've gone from having a whole list of sites I visited by a bunch of different people, plus random stumbling around and finding other people's neat stuff, to mostly hanging on two or three social-media sites all the time.
As much as dead-simple type-and-click posting has empowered the masses, it's also lowered the bar of creativity and pushed people who'd otherwise be making neat fully-fleshed things into mashing everything into a format-friendly mold.
You may enjoy r/Angelfire.
Newgrounds is still out there, my dude. You just gotta go back.
Geocities, you miss geocities...
HEY HEY GUYS LET'S HAVE A BARBEQUE! NOTHING BAD'S GONNA HAPPEN TODAY!!
That isn't dead, you just don't see it. It's not as easy to stumble upon as it used to be.
Can you elaborate on this?
That still exists, just harder to find because of saturation.
For some reason this post reminded me of muffinfilms.com. Oh those were the days.
Anyone interested in this might be interested in https://neocities.org which is a web host where most sites are like that.
Whats the catch?
Because their servers are funded by user donations, they could stop hosting your site. Additionally, there are reasonable limits on what is available through their service.
I use them for https://emsenn.net quite happily, for what it's worth.
So in order to have a site space you need to donate...good to know...
No - you can have a site, with up to 1gb of content, without donating anything.
That free service is provided because other people donate. If those people stop donating, that free service will, in all likelihood, stop. That's all I'm saying - there's no guarantee it will be free or available forever, because its business model relies on voluntary contributions, as opposed to other models, like inserting ads and/or tracking user data.
All you need to make a website with Neocities is, I think, an email, but even that's just for password resets.
Feel free to ask any other questions.
Thats perfect! Thank You!
Yes! Geocities, Tripod, Angelfire where information was the focus rather than aesthetics and ad revenue.
No COOKIES... Cookies, I hate them. They don't benefit me in any way.
The internet giveth the internet taketh away.
It's so interesting to go back and read old articles about this topic, like this one from predicting the "splinternet" (2010) https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/03/the-fall-of-the-internet-and-the-rise-of-the-splinternet/37181/
Then there's this gem from a more innocent era (2015) https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/social-networks-apps-killing-open-web/
"Whether this [the transition from open web to mobile apps] is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen. What do you think of this potential Facebook run future?"
And now every website and tutorial video is filled with loads of useless crap to where you can skip the first and last 40% of it and miss nothing of value, which I tend to do.
Some people really don't want to work an office job
I'm just jealous of those that pulled off monetizing their shit. I ended up with some odd level of internet 'fame' during the MySpace days. I didn't really keep up with it beyond that, because it didn't matter. No one fucking warned me that shit would be able to be monetized nowadays! I coulda been making bank taking a picture of my feet sitting on a beach or laying on some poppy flowers and pissing off the internet or whatever...
Geocities! I would spend hours browsing public user sites.
Like and subscribe.
God yes. I would love to see a study in a few years to see the effects of being sold to every second of every day.
Geocities!
Capitalism ruined the internet.
I want to get back to this and seriously believe that everyone should ditch FB and create their own website.
I have a website and I spend less than $150/year on it.
Obviously, that's more than anyone spends on FB, but holy shit I do not have to deal with bullshit from FB or from toxic people.
Do you know of any sites that maintain links to obscure old pages with wonderful user generated content that would never show up in the Google SERPs? I'm thinking old Geocities style.
I miss Geocities too
The internet definitely did not kill that they brought it to a scale never seen before. There also still has to be someway to pay for the hosting
Yard sales, garage sales and flea markets.
People still have them, but it's way harder to find stuff at a good price. Ebay and Amazon have ruined that, because everybody just looks up what things are selling for. And sometimes Ebay is ridiculously inflated.
I found a rare Nerf gun that we had been looking for at a flea market once, and the lady was charging $150, because that was the going rate on eBay. People are always selling action figures in crappy condition for $20, because they don't realize that that price is mint-in-box, and all of the arms and legs are required. Like, I just wanna grab a TMNT toy for my kids. I'm not paying $20 for your broken toy.
It used to be about persistence and digging up a good deal somewhere. Now, I may as well just buy it off of Ebay. The cost is the same and my house smells better than most of the people at the flea markets...
Phone scanners at used book sales too. I had two idiots the other day try and prevent me from browsing a shelf because “they hadn’t scanned it yet.” Fuck off, dude. I’m just looking for old paperbacks that are worth nothing.
I've been hearing more and more about this. What are these people after? Rare editions? Is there really that big a market for that.
I'm with you, I collect other things (vintage board games, Magic the Gathering) but books will always only be for reading IMO
I'm a book junkie myself and I've totallt found books that I could easily sell by 50 dollars and I only paid 2. But then again, why would I sell them when I got such a great price? :D
I know a few people that buy clothes and electronics from Goodwill and resell on eBay. One of them has found books for $1 and resold for $10.
I only have one book that I refuse to read because I want to keep it in mint condition.
A couple years ago my dad bought me a signed first edition of Richard Kadrey's Metrophage. I wanted the book to read, but when I saw what he got, I've just never been able to bring myself to crack the spine. It's one of my prized possessions. It's not worth much monetarily but to me it's priceless.
Have you ever read it though?
No, not yet.
You'll guard the forbidden fruit all your life without tasting it?
You should look it up and read it.
I intend to, just haven't gotten around to it. I'm definitely not cracking the signed copy though.
You could download the ebook ;)
I could but I'm one of those rare remaining relics that prefers to have the actual book.
I used to be like that but I travel by train every day and am reading Lord of the Rings at the moment. My e-reader saves me a lot of back pain. 😉
I drive to work, which is 5 minutes from where I live so I only really read at home or if I have a business trip, I'll read on the plane. In the latter case I can get by with a single paperback novel so it's not a problem.
I have a collection of signed books, but I only buy them if it's an author I really like. And even then I can often get them either through Barnes & Noble's Black Friday sales or through pre-orders of the book itself for the same price as an unsigned hardcover. I refuse to hunt eBay or Amazon for them because I know they'll try to upcharge.
If there's a market for your shit why wouldn't there be a market for other shit?
I love going to thrift stores like the Goodwill bins. Basically Goodwills where everything is just thrown into long bins and not really picked apart (leading to both disgusting things and amazing things being found) and for most things you pay by the pound.
They have giant bins full of books which are awesome to look through but it is so annoying how aggressive the people with the scanners are acting as if they own the place and have first dibs on all the books. Sometimes right when the book bins come in people run up throw as much books as possible into their carts and then scan them each individually till they get what I assume are books worth something.
Jokes on them, Goodwill has already scanned them and taken anything worth anything. They have a scanning station setup right in the back of the stores and all the goodies go to their scammy auction site
From personal experience a lot of stuff of value slips through the bin locations (compared to the traditional retail locations) so I'm sure people do find things. Then again I'm more interested in electronics than books so perhaps my personal experience is different as a result.
You missed a step.
1) Check-in
2) Employees snatch it to either keep or re-sell themselves.
3) Anything left goes to the scammy auction site.
Personally I prefer the habitat Re-Stores. They don't have step 3 and if you get in good with the employees, they will let you know if something comes in.
Not all Re-Stores are the same. Some are definitely better then others. I suggest checking out the Naples Florida locations.
When I was in college I worked at the University library and would occasionally help out with donated books. Retiring professors would often "gift" their entire collection so we'd go through them and check Amazon, ABE, etc and undercut the lowest price by 5 to make sure things moved. Anything under 5-10 wasn't worth the effort and went to the annual book sale. Sometimes you'd find a signed first edition though, that would go for a a few hundred.
Scammy?
Ugh, those people have ruined our local library fundraising book sale.
Our library has banned the scanners from the book sales. They’re pretty strict about enforcing it.
I have never heard of this. Just looked up "book scanner" but just came up with results for digitizing books. What is this?
People have apps or barcode readers and scan used books for anything of potential value. Then buy them to resell.
Thank you. This is interesting because I like to look for interesting children's books at the local Value Village, and have been surprised to see many other people there with a keen interest in the books. Didn't realize it could be for re-sale value.
TIL there are book scanning apps. Had never come across it before, but makes sense.
Were they workers there or just random asshats who thought they have right of way?
Asshats
Its always random asshats that are looking for good deals to resell online. It's rapidly ruining used book shopping. For every one person actually looking to read, there's two that are just buying to mark up and resell
Yeah god forbid they move books from a marketplace with only a few potential buyers to one with millions of potential buyers.
It's not that, its that people genuinely interested in reading the books can't even get access to them through all the scanners. The same people scan and keep shit from the "take a book, leave a book" neighborhood libraries. Not every part of life should be all about profit.
You do understand that book is then purchased at a fair price by someone on amazon who is genuinely interested in reading the book? The library seller benefits, the book seller benefits, and the amazon buyer benefits.
You keep insinuating all book sellers are thugs at book sales. Ive sold books for a long time and I haven't been to a thrift store or library sale in years. There are other avenues.
I'm aware of that. But the fact that you say you havent been to a thrift store or library sale in years kind of proves my point.
More money in the way I do it is the sole reason.
Wow its almost like turning used books into a completely profit driven hobby is ruining buying books at library sales. Which is exactly what I said...
Book sellers have been around longer than the vast majority of jobs, its just been modernized. I really don't think you understand the complaint your making.
Nowadays if anyone in the country is interested in a particular book their are hundreds of copies availible online, even books that haven't been printed in decades. If you're all about people being able to read books they're interested in then you should appreciate what amazon sellers do.
90% of the books I sell would've ended up in a landfill. Its not all about profit. Its about saving books, reducing waste, spreading knowledge, and making a buck doing it without a boss.
Do you mean actually scanning all the pages of the book with their phone, or does this have some other meaning?
Apparently there's apps that'll scan the barcode and give you the current Amazon/whatever price. I assume they'll buy books whenever they can go on and sell it for more.
Ah thanks.
[deleted]
Ah thanks.
Scanning the ISBN, which brings up the current value on Amazon.
The same happened in a thrift store near me, a guy picked up all the games, walked to a couch nearby and just looked them all up on his phone. i wanted to look but he just snapped at me because "he was going to buy them".
He did not buy all of them so that was nice.
They also do this with some books and cd's over there and its awfull.
I'll be damned if another browser tries to stop me from looking at something. The fucking entitlement.
Our local library has a big sale every year. At first it was amazing - so many books! Such great prices! But now it's people with online book stores grabbing box after box. This year was the last sale I'll go to.
I know your pain. There is this older lady who practically lives at the thrift store. They bring out new books and steals them from their cart into hers so she can check them all for profit before allowing them onto the shelves for everyone else.
Man, I used to love picking up books at Savers before they started ruining them with these butt ugly stickers. Cheeses me off... was reliably finding Malibu and CrossGen comics at them...
From another perspektiver it is sad that er live in a world where it is the only option for some people to make a living
Some people enjoy it.
They're just merchants, though, and being a merchant is perhaps the oldest occupation outside of prostitution. It's the merchants who are responsible for spreading culture, for leading civilization really. They cut across the open wilderness and find new ways to unite one society to the next. They push the boundaries in search of new goods to peddle. They bring the stories and teachings of one peoples and tell them to another. Were it not for the ancient equivalent of what these people do, the human race would have no exchange of ideas or knowledge at all.
Ya it's not like people weren't doing this before it's just easier with the app now.
I agree, but it seems like it’s simple enough now that you have significantly more dickish people doing it. It used to be that you needed some sort of expertise to asses the value of books or other items. Technology has made it easier and more profitable so you have assholes competing to find deals by aggressively scanning everything.
so you have assholes competing to find deals by aggressively scanning everything.
And not properly describing items. I'm so sick of reading "May be ex-library, may have shelf-wear, may have dog-earing, may have torn or ripped or missing pages, may be missing dust jacket."
If you're going to list something for sale, at least look at the damn thing.
Happy Cake Day! Have the best day ever!
Phone scanners at used book sales too
Do explain this. I've never encountered this.
I'd have just brushed past them, grabbed something, and walked away.
People throwing garage sales don't seem to understand that garage sales are meant for getting rid of unwanted stuff. Getting money for it is just a bonus. You need to price that stuff at the point where you get a little something, but it still flies off the table or you gotta be open to haggling.
If you want "top dollar" go on Craigslist, price it fairly, and drop the price gradually until it's gone.
I once saw a printer laying on the side of the road in the rain. A few days later I went to a yard sale across the street from where I saw said printer and there it was with a $200 tag on it. It still had the mud and pine needles on it.
At a garage sale I'm not paying more than $50 for a working printer.
EDIT: 20 years ago I spent $40 on a high performance office laser printer which at the time turned out to be worth around $1500. No, I'm not shelling out $50 for someone's old broken ink jet, you can stop telling me I'm crazy for spending so much. Not all printers are the same and some times you can get a really good deal.
Well, lookit Mr. HighPockets and his fiddy dollars! I just had a garage sale attempting to sell my fully functional, clean and semi new HP printer for $5! Yeah, nobody bought it.
Semi new
That's going to be my new phrase for "used"
slaps the top of the car Oh no no buddy. This car ain't used, it's semi-new.
Perfectly normal in Brazil. Used cars are called "semi new" here
Same in Mexico, but I think "seminuevo" usually is applied by selling agencies to used cars with just 1 past owner. The guy who first bought the car and brought it back to them as a down payment to get a new one a year or 2 later. Then the agency sells it as "seminuevo"
yeah, never really understood what "semi nuevo" mean, your explnaation doesnt make much sence but this is mexico after all
America calls it pre-owned. If it’s in really good condition and they certify them as being in great condition if it only had one owner. Otherwise known as certified pre owned. It’s inspected by a manufacturer or dealer and refurbished professionally. I guess the word “used” is kind of a put off. I’d rather hear payment plan over layaway so I can see why they stopped using that as a sales pitch.
It's done in my country too. It's a used car with one previous owner. What didn't you understand? The concept or the logic behind it?
What doesn't make sense about it? They pretty much hit the nail on the head in the simplest terms possible...
Thanks, I really got concerned when I read it didn't make sense. English is not my first language, as can be seen, and I tried to explain it as clear as I could.
I'm not sure what's hard to understand about it. No previous owner = new, 1 previous owner = semi-new, more than 1 previous owner = used
Same in Portugal.
Same in Spain. Pretty stupid if you ask me.
It's pre-owned
I have a semi new tampon if anyone wants it.
That ain't right. Lol
You've made me uncomfortable.
I hear they get high off semi-new tampons in Indonesia maybe try selling over there
They do? I'll take 6!
There’s probably a decent market for those in fairness.
Not going to be suprised if there's a market for that.
I'm more of a "new to you" person myself
There’s also “pre-loved” lmao
I've seen it out in the wild once, also "pristine-ish".
My apartment's patio was advertised as 'semi-private'
Yeah, that just means 'shared'
You and 98% of used PC hardware sellers in eBay.(well, they love "like new"
"Here is an 400+USD, high-end component that came out well over a year ago... that was almost never used, Like new condition!"
It would be nice if sellers where just honest. We all know they didn't just buy such a thing only to avoid using it for over a year. I've caught sellers lying about how they used their shit as well.
Semi new is literally the phrase used for used cars in Brazil, it's "semi-novo" in Portuguese.
And yes, it sounds as stupid as it does in English...
"Previously unused"
I think he meant it is in good condition or relatively newer model. But people always find new words to warp the truth about their crap.
Pre-owned is the official nomenclature.
New to you
My mechanic buddy always goes with "new to you."
Newn't
I once got bored selling at a carboot sale, decided everything was free because my next stop was the bin. Some guy asked if my printer was fully functioning, told him yes and here are the spare ink cartridges, he ummed and rrred for like 20 minutes, even called his brother to check if it was a good deal. I just sat there shocked, look mate.... Its 100% free, no charge, if you don't like it then bin it. Worst case it turns out to be faulty, then bin it. You loose nothing it's free!
What is a carboot sale? And where can I find your next one?
It's essentially a yard sale albeit done out of the truck of your car, you pay for a spot in a field based on vehicle size and sell all your stuff.
Probably because for $5, people probably thought something was wrong with it. If you marked it higher, like $20, people probably would have considered it
It's likely a place selling 50 cent sushi rolls, or something.
The only time that works is like nickel beer night or nickel shot night. And a lot of us know what those are like
Shitshows?
Basically, yeah. There's one place I went to that was at least a good calm time, so it's not always bad.
But buying 5 beers for a quarter is... You know. Pretty wild. They're not huge, like 9 oz each, but still. 45 oz of beer for a quarter. Almost four bottles.
Or no one bought it because you can get a brand new HP printer for practically free, because they make the money selling ink packets. At least you could five years ago, I got a laser printer a while back and haven't had to look at printer or ink prices since.
new HP printer for $5!
Here is the problem. Most people aren't going to pay $5 for a HP printer.
Mr HighPockets! Hahaha!
If it’s an inkjet, that piece of utter sh*t is worth negative dollars. They practically give them away because HP knows they will bleed you for years, buying ink carts that run out or dry up after 2 prints.
I wasted so much money of HP printers, and then, as I was about to do my uncle’s taxes, I told him my printer was broken. He went to Walmart and bought the cheapest one. It is/was a Canon and it’s the best printer I ever had. I never realized what I was missing, now I preach the Canon gospel.
I’m done with inkjets altogether. I never need to print anything in color, so I bought a $100 Brother laser printer. Toner never dries up or clogs and it’s cheap. I have been using the original cartridge for over a year now, and have printed well over 100 pages on it. I should have done that way sooner instead of always buying a new magenta or cyan cart because my previous printer would not print a friggin black and white document without that.
Preach, Laser Brother! If I absolutely need something in colour, I'll take it to a print shop, but I've been happy with black and white for 2 years now and still on the original toner cartridge.
Laser Brothers sounds like an awesome sci-fi series. :) I’m glad to hear it’s going well for you too, brother!
The hate for printers is real.
Printers are useless. They are designed to break. You cannot sell printers second hand anymore, everyone knows they won't work or won't last.
I advertised for a garage sale on Craigslist for two weeks before it went off. Couldn't sell my Dreamcast for $20 with three controllers and seven games.
Ended up selling it on OfferUp for $120 lol
Maybe it was suspiciously low? This is just my gut feeling, but selling it at like 20€ might have actually worked better.
Because you can buy a new HP printer for $5 with about 20c worth of ink in it :/
That intro just swept through my reality.
I bought someone's old pc for $20. 16gb ram and some old GPU (shitty but worth maybe 100) and the case alone made it a good purchase. Replacing GPU and hdd and I've got a new build for dirt cheap
I recently threw away a perfectly functional printer that only needed ink. Literally couldn’t even give it away, had it listed for free on Facebook and Craigslist.
Well HP....
Dang... Is this offer still available?
Price was too low
Put it up for $30 and drop the price when someone's interested. If you see a printer for $5 you suspect something is wrong with it.
So, uh...can I buy it?
$50 for a garage sale printer is pretty damn generous. I'd max at $20 maybe. Some people are just delusional.
r/delusionalcraigslist
Holy shit, that's real!
If I saw an old laser beast for under $100 I'd be tempted. Them fuckers are vampiric tanks that grow stronger as they age.
$50? You could buy a brand new one for that. I would want someone to pay me to take their printer, especially if it's an ink jet.
If I am spending $50 at a garage sale, I had better be leaving with a damn nice piece of furniture.
If I'm forking over $50 at a garage sale I'd best be getting four wheels and a yellow slip of paper
[deleted]
I mean, it depends on the printer. If it's a bargain bin inkjet, yeah that's dumb. But if it's something a bit more expensive, a more expensive laser printer or something, it starts to make sense.
I bought a new one from walmart for $40
You can buy a fully functional printer brand new for $40.
I’m not buying a printer at a garage sale at all, I’m simply going to Walmart, purchasing a printer that comes with ink, using that for about a month and then returning it with an excuse like “it’s just not what I’m looking for” and then buying a different printer and doing the same thing with that one. I typically find that ink costs more than printers with ink.
Go to Walmart and find the cheapest ink cartridge. Then find what printer it goes to.
No, not when I can get a printer and ink set for $35 and the ink that printer uses is $45 for just the color ink cartridge and $50 for the black.
returning it with an excuse like “it’s just not what I’m looking for”
So your solution is fraud? Weird flex but okay
I would hesitate buying one new for that. Cheap made printers cost less than cartridge refills.
You can buy a new printer for about 50 bucks. It wont be the best, but itll print
The best printer I ever owned is the $30 Canon that my uncle bought me to print out his taxes. The ink doesn’t dry out like every HP I ever owned, and it works better in general.
just bought A brand new one on amazon for 50 bucks.
i'm not paying more than $50 for anything at a garage sale. the one time I did pay $50 was for an $1100 air compressor
I bought my current printer at a garage sale for $3.
This printer has you upset...
At a garage sale I'm not paying more than $50 for a working printer.
Fifty bucks, are you crazy??? That's insane. Five to ten bucks tops.
It all depends on the printer, 20 years ago I spent $40 at a yard sale for a high-capacity Epson laser printer. The toner cartridge was brand new, I got close to $1500 worth of printer for $40. 20 years later I'm still printing on it and haven't had to refill the toner once.
You can get a new one for 50 on ebay. Most printers are ridiculously cheap. The companies make their money with the overpriced cartridges.
them selling that ditchwater-marinated printer is pretty good r/mildlyfraud fodder
I bought a brand new printer from the store a couple months ago for $49 because it was cheaper than buying just new ink for my existing printer. Don't go paying $50 for secondhand.
You can get a brand new hp printer at Costco for 60$ and it come with ink. 😂
It's a printer they basically give them out for free so you have to buy their specific cartridges. No way I'm going to pay 200 for one new let alone some old possibly dead pos.
It wasn't a working printer; they failed to give it away and were trying to get someone to steal it.
My SO went to a few garage sales this weekend and didnt buy a damn thing because of this. Could not believe the prices people were charging for junk. Even saw one place charging 10 bucks for used dvds. Last sale our family did we were putting 25 and 50 cent tags on everything just to get rid of the bullshit. It worked.
I once got a printer at a thrift store for $8. They couldn't tell me whether it worked or not. So I get home, plug it in and it throws up this error code. So I download a PDF of the manual, and check out the code. It just needs to run a self-cleaning function. Run the self-cleaning process, and the thing works like it's brand new. Best purchase I ever made at a thrift store.
A lot of thrift stores have cheap TVs because the remote is missing and a lot of people don't realize that you can just push the buttons on the TV itself or that you can buy a universal remote or just use the cable box remote.
Look for expensive stuff that doesn't work only because of a part that's cheap to replace or that you wouldn't use anyway. My mother got a great deal on her dryer because it was broken in that the steam dry function didn't work, she's never had a need for a steam dry function so far so thus this "broken" dryer is a lot nicer than what she would have got buying a brand new one without that function. It works better than the old one did, that's all that matters.
To get anything at a yard sale for $50 is ridiculous, I would offer $5 and let them haggle me up to a maximum of $15. It's a yard sale not a pawn shop...
A printer at a garage sale goes for $10. Maybe $20 at most. Not sure wtf you're jib-jabbering about.
20 years ago I bought a $1500 printer for $40 at a yard sale, that's what I'm talking about, a high capacity office machine, not a cheap pos inkjet.
Oh, yes, wow, nice!
Edit: rereading my reply to you I can see how maybe it sounded rude (?)... wasn't my intention! Was totally kidding around, fwiw, if you happened to take it otherwise.
I'm not paying more than $50 for a working printer.
You realize you can get a new printer at a store for $40, right? It's actually cheaper to buy a new printer now than to buy the ink cartridges.
😂😂😂😂😂😂 Pine needs. Oh my goodness. Please don't kill me. 🤣😂🤣🤣🤣
Or if you have something actually valuable you need to find an antique dealer and go through the proper channels and appraisals. My mom is trying to sell some nice antique furniture that should be worth a few grand, and she was talking about selling to people in her building or on Craigslist... but I’m sorry buying through more casual methods like that I’m not paying more than a few hundred for any piece of furniture, idc how nice it is. Selling things that are actually valuable either takes work or it takes a sucker.
These people don't get the fact that if I wanted to pay amazon or ebay prices for this shit, I would order it from there and not have to go to the pawn shop/thrift store/garage sale in the first place.
I had a yard sale with my wife before our last big move. We were trying to get rid of stuff, and the most expensive item was a micro fiber couch that was in decent/pretty good condition. No stains, no visible wear. It probably cost ~$300 new a few years ago (it was given to us). We were asking $50 for it. People literally scoffed at the price. And not just at that. I had a woman haggle with me over a cup. It was a brand new (tag still on) yeti cup and we were asking $2.50. I honestly think people go to yard sales just to be dicks and haggle over literal dollars. We ended up keeping the couch and still use it to this day.
Haggling will happen. Period. You won't get around it. No Matter how fair you think the price is. People don't want to pay a fair price, they want to pay a price that makes them happy. And often it makes them happy to get a discount no Matter how cheap the thing it was to begin with or how small the discount is.
It's not even so much that I mind haggling if it's friendly. I'm more turned off by the attitude that some of the people have. You don't have to audibly scoff at prices that are totally fair. Just make an offer and I'm good. I'm more than willing to wheel and deal, I just don't like how people act like I'm crazy for the prices when it's $50 for a couch that's in great shape. Also, haggling over cents is just tedious and boring. I always accepted whatever the offer was because who gives a rat's ass about 15 cents at a yard sale?
I've turned off the "or best offer" feature on eBay because I'm sick of being offered $99 for a $100 item.
Even on Craigslist it is hard to get top dollar. I think people are just bad at knowing how to figure out a fair price for things. They usually attach a value based on how old it is and what they paid for it. It's like look, I don't care what you paid for it this is what it's worth.
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I have a set of stamps I bought when I was younger from the 1994 world cup, the last time our football team was good. I'm afraid to look them up online because they're probably worth 10-15 euros as well.
The only time I’ve ever put something on Craigslist was to get rid of it for free. Who the fuck wants random people knowing your address and trying to bargain you out of what is essentially your trash?
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When we buy stuff on Craigslist, most people meet in the parking lots of the local grocery stores or Walmart.
I've had good luck selling electronics.
And I’ve had pretty great luck buying furniture and appliances off CL.
We still have garage sales like this in the south alltve time.
I found that garage sales in rich neighborhoods are way better than poor ones. They are simply trying to get rid of stuff and could care less about making a buck. They also have better stuff. In poor neighborhoods, they are actively trying to make money with crappier stuff. I don't even bother to go to those anymore.
Craigslist is also cluttered with people trying to get a really high price for heavily abused items because the actually good stuff flies off the wall quickly, so you're left with junk and spam that you have to sift through every day if you want to find anything worthwhile
No joke: A few years ago I saw a table at the side of the road with a 'free to a good home' sign on it. It looked good, so I texted my friend and he helped me carry it home. It was in good condition except for a big scratch which I sanded out and then varnished. I gave it to my grandparents for their 60th wedding anniversary - told them I bought it from a high end store, which it was originally, according to a label on the bottom. They loved it so much and used it at the kitchen in their beach house. They always told the neighbors how proud they were that their teenage grandson bought them something so expensive.
Then one day when I visited, my mother told them the truth that it was from the side of the road. It was gone the next time I visited, never to be seen again. When I asked my grand parents what happened, they pretended that the table they replaced it with had always been there.
I like to think that hopefully they put the table on the side of the road and that it found a new home somewhere.
Wow, this makes me so incredibly sad for some reason.
I don’t think he should have lied 😬 maybe the grandparents felt duped and offended. Or maybe they simply place too much weight on the fact that it was purchased and even a good quality second hand item offends them. If the latter then that sucks. Regardless lying to them did no one any good and now that awesome table is no more.
Regardless lying to them did no one any good and now that awesome table is no more.
Well hindsight is wonderful, I never thought it would make such a difference.
No kiddin on the hindsight, glad you recognize that. I like to think there’s no such thing as mistakes, as long as you learn something it’s a lesson!
It’s awful frustrating really that they would treat it as they did especially the ignorance. Have you ever confronted them about it?
There is this family that has things for sale in front of their house daily. They always want too much for stuff and will never haggle with md. I asked how much for a food service cart. 10 dollars. I said nah I'll give you five. Nope. Had my Spanish guy friend ask him in Spanish and he got it down to to 5 for me in one minute. Just needed to vent that One. Lame.
That's how I treat my garage sales, and I get a ton of people that I can tell are resellers. Don't care, I just want it gone.
Instead, people just hoard unwanted things in their house now.
I wish I had gold to give you kind stranger because this....I remember going to garage sales as a kid and getting shit for .50 cents now most of that stuff is $10 minimum, like GTFO what makes you think I want to spend my hard earned $10 on your broken cassette player from 1995?!?!?! You ain't fooling me! It's not vintage!
A few years back when my family was in much worse financial shape, we scoured yard sales for house stuff (furniture, kitchen items, etc.). One home in a nice area had one of those hanging canvas closet organizer sets, and I thought that might be good for us. There was no price on it, so I asked somebody. He said, "That's $10." I was like, that's fair for a used organizer set. My wife and I grabbed all the pieces and took it to the lady with the money box. She counted the pieces and was like, "That's $70." I said, "That guy said it was $10." She says, "It's $10 a piece!" I'm like, "I'm not paying $70 for some hanging closet crap." She goes, "But it's Pottery Barn!" Like I'm supposed to care about brand name junk in my $300/month rented mobile home?
I think the biggest problem is the stuff is completely unwanted. Lots of old clothes and stuff that really just belongs in the garbage. We look from the street and if we see a mountain of clothes only then we just move on.
Ugh people actually buy shit at goodwill to resell at their "garage sale" here, didn't even remove all the price stickers.
We had a garage sale at my grandmas one time and a guy offered to buy this really old really big/heavy microwave for 20 bucks. My grandma was livid because it was at least worth $75 (to her). we tried to convince her to sell it to the guy but she wouldn’t. The kicker was that she ended up donating it to goodwill a week later when no one bought it. The thing was a pain in the butt to move.
Yep, I've commented in local buy sell trade groups about the ridiculous costs I'm seeing at garage sales, I can pay $5 for brand new clothes at Walmart, why would I pay you $5 for used clothes? There's a consignment sale I'm participating in soon and I told my husband I'm going to make bank because I plan to price my stuff super cheap to sell and I'm really excited about it.
I used to work for an estate liquidator who regularly withheld things from estate sales she knew she’d get better money for online. I assumed this would be a lot of items, it’s really not.
I’d find an item and say “this is on eBay for X amount” and she’s say, “it’s for sale for that much, sure but it’s not selling for that much” and show me what items actually were going for.
But if it was selling for that much then she’d sell it online. Everything else that was too niche or would take too long to sell online went into the sale for super cheap. She made good money and moved a lot of product. It’s all about balance and knowing what the actual market is.
When we have a garage sale we price stuff cheap. Then we set a time for the day, anything that isnt sold by say, 4 o'clock we remove the price and give it all away free.
Completely. I have the same issue with flea markets. I'm used to seeing books that are already overpriced for being "popular" being sold for half how much the owner paid for them, online stores that decide to get a stand at the market and sell their stuff for "store prices".... My favourite story was the girl selling a dress that cost her supposedly 100 euros being sold for 80 because "it was never worn". I'm not going to a flea market to spend that much cash in the whole thing, much less a single dress!
I thought people just didn't get the concept of a flea market here since it's an imported practice, but it seems to be a general problem.
Jesus Christ. You should talk to my wife. She really doesn't get this.
If you make me put out all this shit in the driveway, I'm not packing it back in.
It's getting sold for $1. I don't care what it is. Price that stuff to move.
Whenever my dad threw a yard sale, he just put up a sign telling people to take whatever they want and pay what they choose to pay. We always got rid of everything.
Craigslist is dead. Facebook marketplace is the best platform.
Well the other problem is in some cases hardly anyone visits it, or the people that visit it are old people who aren't interested in some of your stuff.
I had a garage sale last year which I was excited for cause had a bunch of junk that I wanted to get rid of but was still good to some people. I went around and put up some posters in a few places to try and get more eyes a few days prior to it.
I had these cheap speakers I got for free basically when I bought my computer, no one went for them and I am pretty sure I barely asked anything for it. There was also other stuff like an old tape measure thingy (one of those fabric ones that is in a contraption you can wind back up) only problem was it was ripped at the very beginning so you were missing like 3 inches. I guess everyone else thought it was garbage even though it was still usable in my eyes. Also had some cans of de-icer for in the winter time if your windshield was frosted over you can spray it on and it would melt it in a minute or two which I think only one person bought 1 can. Again most of everything was decently priced plus wiggle room for haggling.
I had a number of other stuff that probably isn't gold like action figures or stuff like that but wasn't asking for much. And that was just my stuff. Most of the garage was full of other stuff my family had in there that they were wanting to get rid of. Barely sold anything at all and was kinda annoying.
Later on one of my family members started putting a few stuff on craigslist and was selling some stuff relatively well. Eventually I had a big air conditioner I bought that I didn't realize how heavy it was until I got it and wouldn't be able to put it in my window so I had to sell it online on craigslist and found someone like a few days later. Though they ended up ripping me off by agreeing to pay the price, then a few minutes prior calling up and saying they didn't have the full amount because they couldn't get to an ATM or something and so they got it for even cheaper which kinda pissed me off a bit that they tried that crap but at the same time I wanted to get rid of it cause it was in the way and taking up space.
So yeah not gonna waste time with a garage sale again when all we will get is mostly lookie loo's who will just make us stand around while they look and then leave when I can just put it on craigslist and get a few offers at least whenever.
Dutch auction always a winner.
I couldn't sell an Apple Air Port Extreme router for $40 on craigslist that I got for free. They sold for $200 new when they came out. Someone wanted to give me $30 for it and for me to deliver it to them 25 miles away. I decided to just use it as it's an upgrade over my router anyway.
I’m getting ready to move and sell my house. I have so much stuff I don’t need or want, I’m probably going to have some kind of yard sale but really I just want to give it away because it’s so much easier. I can’t imagine pricing my random shit so high and thinking people will want it.
When my family moved from one state to another we had a yard sale for stuff we didn't feel like packing. The second day we edited our signs to say "everything $5 or less!" then "$1 or less!" then later "everything's 25 cents!"
We about had a traffic jam in front of the house. I don't think what we had left at the end would have even filled one box.
Oh wow a reasonable approach!!
Tell that to my neighborhood right now. I fucking hate these heathens and their garage sales.
If I am just trying to get rid of it, it goes in the garbage or to the thrift store. A garage sale is only for making money really and generally is a huge waste of time for the amount you make.
I think haggling is the part maybe OP here isn't trying. You walk up to a garage sale and the TMNT figure missing an arm and accessories, and the tag says $20 because that's what eBay says. You pull it up on your phone, pics of mint in box handy, walk up to the owner and say "I'll give you $2" ...and see what they do.
If they stick to their guns, leave that sale altogether, maybe tell the owner to download LetGo or something. If the answer is okay, congrats! That's how a garage sale should function. And if they counter with $5, then you got a stew goin'!
Glad I live in a community that understands this. When you go to a garage/yard sale where I live, it's more about not wanting to throw out perfectly good but old/incomplete silverware sets, cookingware, movies, tools, etc. It's about turning your trash into another's treasure. There is an unspoken understanding that everyone has garage sales from time to time so the good deals will benefit you at some point in the future.
If you want "top dollar" go on Craigslist, price it fairly, deal with 100 no shows and buyers who vanish right after saying they want to buy and drop the price gradually until it's gone.
Fixed that for you.
Some people have regular garage sales, especially when it's part of a neighborhood garage sale, which is really just an unlicensed open market.
I bought a generator for 75 bucks and a nice folding reclining camping chair for 10 bucks. Neither were in the front but he had signs about them with no price but I don't think anyone wanted to haggle.
You have a garage sale to make room, not money.
I'm in an online "yard sale" group for my area and these people are charging $100 for a rug. I get that that's rugs are expensive, but then DON'T SELL IT AT A YARD SALE...even an online one.
Unless it's something legitimately of monetary value, I just hauled to Goodwill. Yard sales are a lot of work for little return anymore.
I saw someone trying to sell $40 used jeans at a garage sale, because they were an expensive brand
damn right. Having a yard sale in the spring. our goal with our unwanted house items and miscellaneous kids toys is a case of beer. I think its pretty fair of a goal.
It's ridiculous what people ask for their crap on Craiglist in my area. A scuffed up broken veneer kitchen table -$100.00 firm. There's a lot of thieves selling stolen goods too. I live in a poverty-stricken area with a high level of heroin/ meth addiction so lots of people relying on CL for drug money.
Shows like American Pickers and Pawn Stars, etc. get it in everybody's head that all of their old shit is worth good money and they should hold out for a high price.
Yep - if you're having a yard sale, the goal is to move your stuff and make it disappear. Money is an added bonus. They're rarely worth the effort, though. I will just take my stuff straight to the thrift store and donate it all, unless I'm selling it on eBay or something.
When my husband and I moved overseas we only took about 40% of our stuff due to the cost of overseas shipping and the fact our new house was much smaller.
After weeding out what we wanted to keep we had a huge moving sale and sold everything for $1 each, regardless of size, condition or resale value.
They picked us clean. As a money-making venture it would have been a disaster. As a get-rid-of-stuff-quick venture it was a smashing success.
My old roommates and I had a garage sale when we were getting ready to amicably part ways and had to have a talk with one of them about how high she was pricing her items. We had to tell her what you said above; she had no idea.
I bought a 3d printer at a garage sale last year for the low price of $60. It was originally higher than that but I was able to talk it down. I consider it one of my best purchases ever, hands down.
I didn’t know there were rules for garage sales. It’s their stuff, they can price it however they want.
Indeed they can, and then they can pack that over priced junk right back up at the end of the day! 😝
Back in college I made decent money on garage sale books. I'd drive around to sales and ask what time they were planning to be done with their sale. I'd offer to come back at that time and give them $1 for whatever books they still had left. Bonus: you don't have to haul these books back inside your house or down to Goodwill.
Then I'd list on eBay anything that had real value and donate the rest. Made a few hundred a month that way for a while.
How rude that the sellers set prices per their preference rather than yours.
Really depends on your area. Go to an area full of older people who don't bother looking that shit up and you'll have better luck. Or a rich neighborhood because those people just wanna get rid of shit. I got a brand new kindle in a case completely functional for free at the latter. All I needed was a charge wire.
I got a brand new 4 month old harley off of craigslist a couple years ago. It was listed at 17k in beverly hills so i called them and said id like to check it out. I took enough cash to put as a deposit so i could go get the rest if i wanted it.
I get there and like the bike. The lady was selling her husbands brand new bike because he bought another one and liked it better. This bike had 22 miles on it. She asked how much i had, and i told her 3k and was gonna finish my sentence and say " as a deposit so i can get the rest" but she cut me off and said thats fine just take the bike. We signed the paperwork and off i went on my brand new bike.
Couple months later i got in a wreck on another bike and sold the harley for 16k. I made a nice profit because a lady was too rich to want to keep dealing with people coming and looking at the bike.
Yeah my father's like that. He's not give away a 17k Harley for 3k rich, but he's a well off doctor.
When he moved out of the family home we'd had for 25 years he had 3 massive sheds of good quality stuff that had built up over the years, he took 10% to the new house and said I could have a garage sale and keep whatever money I made.
He could make 2-3k haggling all day with people over crap he didn't want anymore or he could work the morning and make twice that.
Yeah, people really undervalue their time. You can see it all over the place.
Sorry busy, I'll read your comment later.
To be fair, a lot of time is technically worth nothing if we're just talking money. And a lot of people who go on about the value of time are just talking about money. Am I currently working? Could I practicably be working right now? No? Then my time is worth exactly $0 and even if I do something that comes out to less than minimum wage (like excessive garage sale haggling) then I've still made a profit on my time.
Now, if you wanna bring non-monetary value into it, I begin to understand the arguments. The above still stands if you had nothing better to do, though.
I mean, you're 100% right. But i think me and many others just assume you have something better to do than a garage sale. Where i grew up almost any job'll earn you more & having a structured schedule makes it easier to plan things / enjoy life compared to hassling to sell random stuff (personal opinion). The other day i had an argument with my little brother because he literally had a price in his head for a broken record player, his argument was that it could easily be fixed. But if you ask me he should sell it just for any offer, our house is a HUGE mess because of all the things 'with value' that we still hold on to.
It isn't just monetary but that's the measure that is often used. If you waste your own time, that's your right to do. Giving away your time to profit for someone else is not a good idea in my opinion. If you enjoy haggling, then maybe it is worth running a garage sale even if you could make more at your job.
Especially taking into account that you can't just go into your job and get some hours whenever you want but you can have a garage sale whenever you want; so, outside of hours you even could be at your job.
Or you could use that time to go to a park. Life should be about more than working for profit.
You're right ofc, but we were talking about the monetary value placed on time. Non-monetary value is def a big factor. That said, those values relative to each other all fluctuate, like having your own little economy but of priorities. Some months every little bit of profit is worth it, other months you take several days off, etc.
If someone makes 6k for a mornings worth of work, youre not too far off from giving away a 17k Harley for 3k
True, but that's not 6k in the bank, after taxes it's almost 3k, still more than most people hope to make In a day.
That would still be throwing away more than a week's wages after tax and other business expenses like the indemnity insurance etc.
He certainly could afford to give it away and it wouldn't break him, but he's still in the paying off a mortgage/car loan and has to work to live category, he's not in the category where people just live off their investments and money is meaningless.
I'd be happy to take home 3k a month.
It's pretty hard to take home less than that if you work full-time.
It blows my mind that you think that, even now as my husband and I pull in significantly more.
If you’re putting some money into a 401k and paying for insurance, you need to be making at least $50k a year to take home $3,000 a month. There’s a LOT of people who make less than that.
I'm sorry, I meant in a first world country where bullshit like insurance and retirement funds aren't a factor of take-home income.
I feel sad for you lot of the salary and wages I always hear about in America include all that shit in the figure, makes you even worse off than I thought.
What do you think your superannuation is you gronk? It's the Aussie 401k and takes 10% of your income.
Yeah and no one in the country advertises or talks about wages and includes that figure. If someone here says they're earning 70k they don't mean 70k including super, that shit is on-top.
So when an Aussie says they make 70k and someone in the US says 70k they're obviously wildly different figures because you need to add super for an Australian and apparently remove it and insurance from Americans, that's going to give a 30-40% difference before you take into account exchange rates.
Speak for yourself.
I don't actually know what my wage is without the inclusions.
I have also worked for a lot of US companies and by extension HR teams though...
What country do you live in?
inb4 Australia
We still have fucking taxes and retirement funds and shit in Australia lol. 3k/mo on 50k is pretty accurate here.
We’re OK. Don’t you fret.
That really depends on your location.
What are you even talking about?
I wish, but you're wildly wrong.
A mere 800k net salary
Soooo, who had the garage sale? What happened next?
Bro what the fuck? Lol
I got a brand new kindle in a case completely functional for free at the latter. All I needed was a charge wire.
Someone left a working kindle in the free pile in my building. The battery drained fairly quickly, but it was in perfect working order. I bought a new battery online and installed it myself - I was so stoked and I use that thing all the damn time!
nice :) Mine was like new They didn't even have the account info wiped on it but had nothing loaded on it so it's like someone bought it and just never used it.
Sounds like a Christmas gift.
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I've gone to some sales at churches and whatnot where rich people have donated really nice things, and nobody at the church has bothered to see what they're worth. Those are my favorite ones!
There are, and they are AMAZING.
One time I went to one where the wife had a bunch of high end designer stuff she was getting rid off to de-clutter but she didn’t want to go through the trouble of doing the garage sale so her husband was the one in charge, pricing items that he had no idea the value of.
New Designer scarves for $1 and stuff like that.
They succeeded at decluttering super fast, people were grabbing everything at lightning speed.
Sometimes. Depends on how rich is rich to you. For me that more means upper middle class and above. Ones in housing complexes that aren't necessarily gated communities.
Where my husband's grandparents live their community puts on a garage sale for two days in summer so it brings in outside people who'll buy shit. That's where I got the kindle from.
Oh, yeah... plenty... and if not garage sales, then estate sales or moving sales.
Depends on the old people. Old people are the worst for getting all techy and checking ebay, specifically buy it now listings. That might be the price online, but its also still for sale.
There was an article just out about this. One Hacker News commenter said he got a Yamaha keyboard for free that was just thrown into a trash bin
Oh bro dumpster diving is a whole other ball game of great free shit no one wanted anymore, you just gotta be safe doing it.
Nothing beats free ninety free. I find good stuff all the time. Bulk trash pickup day is another good place to score stuff
Bought a beautiful typewriter for $10. Turns out it's worth about $300 in the condition it's in.
Thats awesome :)
if you can find one. Aution houses in RICH neighborhoods in the UK.
Ilkley auction hous eis amazing. You can pick up £500 bikes for £20 that are practiclaly brand new!.
Rich folk replace stuff yearly if they have enough dosh. And don't care what the "old" stuff sells for.
Also in countries where Amazon just isn't that well established because maybe shipping costs are too high to be worth it
Well, unfortunately, we're running out of old people who don't understand internet shopping. Boomers mostly know of at least eBay.
For sure on the rich neighborhoods, though. Whenever we pass one of those McMansion developments on a nice day, we take detour through to look for any sales. They're always just trying to declutter as opposed to making a buck.
I have had great luck at estate sales and church and school rummage sales.
I am friends with a few vendors at my local flea market... discounts galore.
Yeah, always go to the richer areas, they often have the good shit. A lot of people don’t even bother because it tends to be farther than their nearest goodwill.
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Any wire that charges something is a charge wire, why are you guys making such a huge deal out of it lol. Like y'all don't call something stupid because it's faster.
Naples, Florida. Exactly this
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It's how I refer to it when speaking quickly, yes. If I said usb cord to my husband he'd think I meant the extension.
But USB isn't a file extension!
There are so many pickers at our local yard sales now I seldom bother to go anymore. Estate sales are even worse. Then there's the Walmart jeans and t-shirts priced higher than new.
Yea, thanks to all the websites that list and promote all local estate sales.
Plus all the scripted picker, garage sale, upsell, auction, pawn shop and upsell shows where they always find a random object worth 1000% what they paid. People ransack thrift stores/garage sale type stuff and people selling charge way more because they think it's all worth so much
It's worse if you sell in an antique store, because people will come in and complain about how "Well, it's only $5 on eBay!" Yeah. On an auction with seven days left with $20 shipping and handling.
Same problem with OP. There's a small checkbox "Completed Items" on the bottom left panel on Ebay search. Ticking that shows what prices the past auctions for any given item sold. That's a much better price indicator than overinflated "buy it now" prices or auctions that have days left to go.
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Hey buddy... This lamp is 50,000 but I'll sell it for 500 just for you
Eh, while I get that, it also depends on the store you're talking about. Or in most stores, the booth you're looking at. There are people that always just overinflate their prices, and those who don't. Maybe it's different in big, big cities. But otherwise, it's pretty much same shit, different venue.
Delusional pricing is the same online and at Estate or garage sales too. Just have to find the seller who isn't that way.
Then again, that's part of the fun of shopping places like for me. Finding the deal hiding in there.
r/delusionalcraigslist
Holy fuck I relate. I used to buy vintage high-end watches and it used to be that if you were willing to hunt around, you could find deals. Today every googles their shit first and because they have no idea how vintage watch pricing actually works, everybody thinks they're the Pawn Stars and deserve $5k for their old busted rolex. There's no concept that actual time and work is required to restore stuff
There's no concept of time
That’s probably because their Rolex is busted.
I wish this was the case for me.
Shortly after I moved out, before I took all my stuff with me, my mom sold all my retro video game consoles and games for a toonie. I had winter tires on the side of the house. One season used, 20$.
I wish I had a bit of a heads up, I had no idea they were about to be given away
Hello fellow Canadian! I feel your pain... I collected baseball and hockey cards when I was a kid, even had relatives give me their collections. Also had a big library of D&D books, original up through the editions. I went to university, mom gave my stuff to the church sale.
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I think you're assuming that they got kicked out or left on bad terms. Most people that go off to college or get their first small cramped apartment would assume that their parents wouldn't mind keeping their old stuff in the garage or attic. It would be reasonable to expect a heads up if they were planning on throwing it out or selling it. It's not that they failed to move it out, they never knew they needed to. If your parents throw away your old possessions, it's likely because they assumed that you will not miss it, not because they felt they had the right to.
Come to my yard sales. Everything is $1 or fill a sack for $5. Not kidding. Made $600 on my first sale.
As someone that goes garage sale hunting with my buddy Saturday mornings, I totally would
Likewise, I don't bother with price tags... make an offer, I'll probably say deal.
Man, I totally would.
Ebay itself was actually pretty amazing when it first started up. You could get awesome deals because people did not have a price reference point for some of their items.
also because it didn't have the same kind of build-in typo correction, meaning that you could search for something like "Plystation" and get results (usually with only few bids on them).
This guy eBays. Or eBayed. So many little tricks back then.
I remember when ebay was "used stuff we no longer want" and not "500 identical chinese knockoffs in 'New' condition".
Seriously, people have forgotten the point of those things is to get rid of the crap you don't want anymore. I do still like to peruse them because you never know when you'll get lucky.
Yeah. I'm usually specifically looking for Nerf guns, and every once in a while you find the mom who's getting rid of her kid's toys and she doesn't know there's a market for them. Craigslist is better for that, though.
People also don't understand that LISTING prices on Ebay are not what they actually SELL for. Just because there's a listing of that item for $750 doesn't mean anyone's stupid enough to pay it, nor does it mean that's what it's worth nor what YOU should sell it for.
You can filter ebay results to see only sold items, and then take a look at those numbers and cut the price lower still because you're not getting as wide of an audience to view your items at a tag sale as on ebay.
You know this. I know this. The idiots in question do not know this.
And don't forget that both ebay AND paypal take a cut of your sale, which totals about 15% of whatever it sells for. Many people price things higher to offset this loss.
I WAS JUST AT A YARD SALE It was so cool especially for me as a teenager seeing all this cool stuff. It was like walking through a field of old useless knick knacks and gadgets. I actually found Childish Gambinos Camp CD, a simply fit board and a tennis racket (in perfect condition) for 10$ my father who's a sucker for a good deal got it as they're usually expensive, but none of us have played tennis ever. Really fun exploring the people's lives almost and getting to know them through their stuff along with the occasional snag of a thing you really want. Also she WAS one of those people who wanted to get rid of stuff. She gave me the camp CD and a few other things for free.
You should take that tennis racket out for a match. Tennis is a blast and is one of the cheaper sports to get into (or at least can be)
UGH, definitely the worst. I hate going to sales that have a stupid print out of an eBay auction with the item. Just because ONE auction sold for that much doesn't mean your item is automatically worth that. And you're right, most of the time their item is broken, damaged, missing pieces, etc.
That, or I love when I go to a sale and nothing is priced, and when I ask how much something is they say, "oh that's old." Well no shit, asshole, I know it's old, I just want to know how much it is!
This is my favorite one so far. I remember going to neighborhood garage sales with my mom every Saturday as a kid and getting toys so cheap, and her finding things she wanted for such amazing deals.
Although, I would argue that online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon benefit the buyer equally if not more than the seller since there is an insane amount of price competition, and you’re no longer forced to be stuck paying whatever local stores want to charge you since you have a worldwide marketplace for whatever you want so easily accessible. It goes both ways l guess
Come to my garage sale. I love finding bargains, sales, coupons and get some really amazing deals and stock pile for my garage sales. We serve popcorn and feed whoever is there whatever we eat for lunch. I sell most things for 50 cents and a dollar. More expensive things for half what new is. By the time it’s time to have the sale I just want to get rid of everything so I make deals and sometimes I shower people with tons of free stuff, especially the kids. I see someone come in with a grumpy face and I do my best to work them into friendly conversation or a laugh. Mission is when they leave, they leave with a smile on their face and feeling good about themselves. I really enjoy blessing people. I also see bad character too. Overbearing spouses who refuse to lighten up, the ones who carry the money and have the last word. I can make miracles with their kids, if I’m allowed. Today their was an older woman who came in with her husband and they acted as if they were on a date giggling and flirting. It’s was really good to see. I could tell they were well off because of their clothes and truck they were driving. She asked me about something that didn’t have a price on it and I said something like I didn’t need to be rich just make me an offer and I would probably accept it. She walked around picked out about 30$ worth of random stuff, finished and came up to pay for her pile. She said $2 for this? I couldn’t believe it but I looked at her husband than her and said ok, $2. She gave me $2 and walked away almost laughing at me. Her husband saw what I saw and instantly looked embarrassed.
5 years ago people couldn't give a CRT TV away, now it's always "great for retro gaming", $500.
Fuck off boomer, your old TV doesn't even have component out.
I've never seen this before! Over by me you still see them sitting on curbs with 'Free' signs attached. I guess Central NJ isn't hip to all the latest trends.
I haven't noticed this trend at garage sales and rummage sales, but thrift stores are becoming really bad about this. Our local Salvation Army will price things way up if they think it may be their definition of high quality. This could include everything from collectibles that are overpriced on eBay, name brand clothing that is only nice enough to be recognizable to the everyman, or dollar store garbage that seems "nice." It's bizarre and annoying.
(But then sometimes you find actually expensive goods for a dollar because the person pricing has never heard of X Italian clothing brand or isn't an expert on pottery or something)
Estate sales are notorious for pulling that eBay crap though. To the point that they will print out an eBay listing of an item they are selling and use it as a price tag to justify their decision. It's infuriating.
You can ask the enployees about pricing. Request to speak to a manager if need be, show them the item is not worth what it's market because X or Y. I've gotten a few items lowered by simply asking at Goodwill. I once found a nice hat that was marked $48 and I asked an employee because that price sounded way too high. They agreed with me and sold it to me for the generic hat price, which was like $3.
I collect pyrex and thrift stores mark that stuff up ridiculously.
Yup, or any "fancy" dinnerware. I collect Mikasa plates and tea cups from certain sets, yet I refuse to pay over $2 per piece because they are literally at every thift store I go to.
There are whole stores popping up now that are filled with broken old games and action figures, with people just trying to cash in on ignorance.
Estate sales are my favorite. Most are over priced but I still find a gem every now and then.
As a synth geek, I loved hearing stories about people going to goodwill or yard sales and finding a treasure of a synth for pennies or less on the dollar. With the way things are now, unless they are an absolute Luddite that is exceptionally rare.
Try being a hot wheels collector in the eBay era... I've found one super treasure hunt in the past 2 years because I got lucky and found one at a grocery store. Unless you dedicate yourself like a full time job taking brick seek and lurking until pallets roll out you have no chance... and that's if an employee hasn't gotten to it in the back room first. I will not pay $60 for a friggin $1 toy.
Edit: it was a ballzooka wasn't it... I want one so bad too.
I’m curious, what do you collect the Hot Wheels for??
I remember working at Toys R Us a decade ago or so, and there were a couple of guys who knew our truck schedule and would always be the first ones in the mornings we replenished our stock; one was specifically for Hot Wheels, the other would check out action figures too.
Around that time a girl I was seeing got me a Matchbox Corvette, which has always been my favorite car, and I hung that particular one from my rearview mirror but I also decided that would be something neat to start collecting. Ever since, any time I’m in a store that sells 1/64 cars I make it a point to browse them and pick up any Vettes I see, cause I haven’t got a clue which ones I have or don’t have, and I try to get one for myself, one for my son, and since he eventually decided to stop opening his as well I will grab one to open too if I find enough.
At one point a couple years later I had all the ones I’d gathered at the time hung on a wall, and I bought a few off eBay for a few bucks above retail to fill in the area I had them hanging, bringing my total to ~60 at the time IIRC. I boxed them up when I moved and they’ve been in boxes ever since. I stack new ones on a shelf in a closet, then once or twice a year when the stack gets big enough I will pull out the boxes and find all of the unique ones, check duplicates for any variations in the car or the packaging, then save the one with the best conditioned package, and give the rest to my son to do whatever with.
I had the idea for a while to hang them up as kind of a high chair rail of sorts in my sons room, but its something we never got around to doing (and he’s been transitioning his room into his “art studio” lately, so it’s not exactly fitting anymore). I really only buy any that hang from peg hooks; primarily Hot Wheels, once in a while Matchbox will release a new Vette, or sometimes I’ll buy some of the slightly more expensive brands, but I don’t want to start collecting a bunch of bigger or different style ones unless I come up with a nice way to display them that permits setting them out other than hanging. I’m up to around 200 or so these days, onto my third box that sits in the top of a closet, but I really don’t know what I’m even doing with them at this point.
I’ve seen a couple of them up for sale online for some pretty steep prices (I think that first one the girl got me was one of them; that one was eventually destroyed by the sunlight and the swinging around and has been replaced with a handful of others to hang from my mirror over the years, but I did pick up another identical one along the way), but I really have no interest in trying to sell them or make a profit off of them and I can’t imagine I ever will. They could always get put back on display eventually, but those original 60ish plus a calendar took up a heaping ~6’x4’ section of wall like 8 years ago, so putting them all out to be seen becomes more and more farfetched of an idea the more time goes by. I figure I’ll eventually pass them along to my son, but now that he’s started saving at least one of each in the boxes over the last few years, his own collection is slowly but surely catching up to mine. I don’t camp out at stores or dig very deep into the bins of loose ones at Wal Mart or anything, but after over a decade of browsing for and buying little Corvettes any chance I get I really have no intention on stopping any time soon, but I’m really not sure what I’m even doing it for anymore haha
The human condition is just tiny Corvettes.
Yeah I guess you’ve got a point there
Umm.. wish I had a real answer... I have an entire room of my basement dedicated to old toys. A smarter man would sell them all.
Side note: 1963 vette is one of the castings I collect!
Nah, the N-Strike Longstrike. They sold at like $40 new, but now are marked up crazy in some places.
I actually managed to grab one in a Craigslist lot a couple weeks ago. $30 for the whole lot of 5 or 6 guns that just happened to have a Longstrike at the bottom.
Score... but remember the ballzooka? Unstoppable fire power for a NERF war.
Nah, I only started nerfing after they started the N-Strike Elite series. I've never even heard of the ballzooka before. But I looked it up after your first comment, and it looks pretty cool! I thought it just held five balls at first, but I guess each tube is filled? That's pretty neat.
Yea, that thing was my crown jewel as a kid. They shoot strong too. If you ever see one for a good price grab it. I'll buy it lol.
And things like Craigslist and Ebay make selling untrustworthy and dangerous. You go to a flea market, and you got a lot less chance of having a gun pulled for a treadmill. You go to a yardsale, and you know that what you're looking at isn't images off the internet to make the item look better than it is.
How many times have you gotten a gun pulled on you on eBay?
talkin bout Craigslist w/ that one-happens to people semi-regularly (either in bluffs, threats w/ the gun, or actual shootings)
where do you live? I have never heard of that being a problem.
Oh, in SC:
http://www.wistv.com/story/34166366/man-shot-after-craigslist-deal-goes-bad/
And there's one other where two dudes trading phones in a Craigslist deal were involved in a shootout. The one dude wanted both phones, and pulled a gun.
My state has an insanely huge flea market every year. It's like the SXSW of flea markets. It's great because you could probably find the same thing for cheaper a few booths down, so everyone is constantly changing the prices. New England still has a lot of old stuff, so I don't think flea markets are leaving here anytime soon.
Damn. That is huge.
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worth what they are listed for on eBay (not sold. Just listed for).
that's the giant mistake that many people seem to be making.
just because some old dvds is offered on amazon marketplace for two hundred bucks doesn't mean people are really paying that much for it (mentioned this in my other reply: the difference between ebay "buy now" offers and auctions, with the latter quite usually ending at a vastly lower price).
Agreed. Half the flea markets now, if not more, are just people selling cheap dollar store type crap from boxes. And yeah I’m with you, I’m not paying top dollar for shit at a yard sale even if it’s technically what it’s worth. Sorry you paid $200 for those high heels but screw your $40 price tag. Here’s three bucks or you can put em back in your closet at 5 pm when you shut this shitshow of a sale down...
40 is perfectly reasonable for 200 dollar shoes though isn't it?.. I'd throw away the shoes or give them to Goodwill before I give them to someone trying to bargain down my 40 dollar price tag to 3 dollars. That's just disrespectful and wasting everyone's time.
I would pay $40 for $200 shoes on eBay because I’m looking for that exact pair of shoes. I’m probably not going to do that for a pair I stumble across at a yard sale.
Depends on their condition, but people who go to yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores aren't looking to spend a lot of money. If you want to sell shoes for $40 you'd be better off trying to sell them online.
Yeah but there's haggling down to like 20 dollars vs trying to haggle down to 3 dollars. Just wasting everyone's time.
Typical pricing for yard sale items is 10% of what you paid for it at the store. You paid $200 for shoes? Okay. How many times have they been worn? Any repairs to them? Stains? Scuffs? Is the seller a cigarette smoker? As a buyer, you have no clue about the item. $20 for those shoes is perfectly reasonable for a yard sale.
20 dollars is reasonable. Haggling is fine. But 3 dollars isn't.
Except it's not uncommon to find those $200 shows on sale for $40 brand new. I bought a pair of brand new boots that were regularly $160 for $30 two weeks ago from an actual store because it was last seasons style, and I wasn't even looking for them specifically. I might have given that much for a pair on ebay with their box and in like new condition, but no way would I have bought someone's obviously used shoes for $30.
Those shoes weren't worth anywhere near 160 originally then. What brand?
Doc Martens, not cheap boots.
Likely the made in China ones. Definitely not worth anywhere near 160, they wouldn't sell their good models for 30 dollars, the China ones probably cost them 20 dollars to make. Always buy made in England from doc marten.
No company is gonna sell you quality leather shoes that are worth 160 for 30 dollars just because it's last season.
At the risk of sounding like a snob, doc martens are about as cheap as it gets in the leather boots world. Entry level leather boots that were only worth it due to the lifetime warranty if you happened to like the style.
If you think they are worth $40 and that you could get $40 for them, sell them on eBay. Flea markets are for moving large amounts of junk and haggling. If I wanted to pay market value for stuff I would just look online.
I assumed these shoes were used. I don’t want your foot fungus...
Not for used $200 shoes. Technically all your shit is worth zero if no one buys it
Nah I wouldn’t offer $3 if she had them priced $40. I’d just walk away. My point was more that I’m willing to spend $3 for something at a yard sale, not $40. Like someone else said, it may be that they’re worth $40 but no one is going to yard sales looking to spend $40 on a pair of shoes. So $40 is a fine price but it’s not a fine yard sale price. Or at least don’t be surprised if no one buys them.
People who price things that high at yard sales are generally either rich people who have no clue why people go to yard sales, or people who are choosing the wrong target audience for their price levels, either inadvertently or because they’re too lazy to post them online where stuff like that belongs.
wow you totally nailed what I've been trying to tell people
I live in Connecticut and my town and a lot of surrounding towns have town wide tagsale days every year, it's a great time to get stuff, everyone pays an entry fee to the town and they have maps they give out all over the place that act as directories to all the sales and the type of items the house is selling.
man i feel this comment hard. i went to this locally owned shop thats now out of business who dealt with stuff like books, video games, and other "nerd" type stuff. and they all had that internet prices on everything, i even told the guy that i was annoyed that they knew what they had. i miss being able to go to a flea market, find an old game for like 2 bucks when its normally like 30-40, now its 30-40 anyway
Depending on location they may not have a choice... got to know a guy who ran a game/comic/nerd collectible shop in the Bay Area. His stuff was pretty reasonably priced, but that’s also why he is no longer in business... his damn landlord kept raising rents and he just couldn’t afford it anymore...
Sucks... I would go there and pick through his comics (he had a HUGE collection) and fill in series I was collecting. Picked up some old games and DVDs. Got my kids some random old toys... it was a cool place.
I hear you but it's hard to keep a store open selling everything for a dollar or two when it's worth much more. It's silly to be annoyed that they know what they have because that's how they're paying their bills. It is awesome to find a bargain but stupid business owners tend to go out of business.
Estate sales are where it's at. Sometimes there's some pretty good stuff in there, and usually the family is just looking to clear out space to sell the house etc
I've noticed in my area that a lot of estate sales are being taken over by companies. People will hire a company to sell their items via estate sales and everything will have at least a 20% market to pay the company. A lot of the companies guarantee a sellout by X date, so people go that route so they're not stuck with items in the end.
Its hilarious because I went to a run down pawn shop, after getting an old ps2 to work.
I browsed through their giant collection for an hour.
I grabbed games that were harder to come by, because I couldnt buy them outside of amazon or ebay. I wasnt trying to resell, I just wanted to play them.
I picked out like 7 games and all I asked was "Can you lower the prices on some of these? I thin $30 for a game that is 15 years old is a little steep"
The dude flipped out on me saying "Ive seen you before trying to get all my good stuff so you can sell it for a higher price on the internet!"
Im just some random dude who was at a pawn shop trying to buy some ps2 games to play lol
Thrift stores are the new garage sale. Higher prices, yes. But also a better selection :-)
PS if you live in Austin, you MUST go to Blue Hanger at some point. It is literally the goodwill outlet store. They sell clothing for $1.50 per pound and furniture costs less than $10. You might get lucky, you might not. Either way, if you're willing to dig through the bins of unsorted stuff, you'll definitely find something.
In a flipping subreddit that I read someone was complaining that they went to a book sale at the local library and everyone was on their phones looking up the value of older books to see if they could turn a profit by buying it.
Not to mention that the act of throwing a garage sale means dealing with people hounding you on your ads for it. Post a "Yard Sale" ad on Facebook's Marketplace, and you'll end up with 100 comments and 50 inbox messages asking what you have and if you can hold it for them. Likewise, as a buyer, you have to read these comments to make sure they're not holding something you were looking for. I miss being able to roll up to a yard sale without worrying if everything is for sale.
I use Facebook and stuff now because it serves as a buffer between myself and the buyer. We can negotiate everything or I can block you if you are an asshole. Of course there is some haggling and that's fine but I'm not selling a brand new socket set for $3 either. Plus I will meet you on neutral grounds instead of having it in front of my house. Yeah it doesn't get everything out of the way at once but I can make as much money selling 5 to 10 items in a few days than a couple hundred in one.
The other stuff I usually donate or give to the local kids if it's something they can use.
welcome to every single gun show ever. For some reason I go to 2 or 3 every year, and when I think of going for a purchase I just look it up and find it way cheaper online.
Not too long ago I found a copy of Mario party 5 at a yard sale in perfect condition and when I asked how much the lady just looked at it for a second and said "2 bucks". I had to actively hold back my excitement, bought it, looked up how much it went for online, and patted myself on the back for finding a sweet deal. I never realized how rare finds like that are
My mom does estate sales and you wouldn’t believe how much location makes a difference but yes, you’re right. On eBay most people don’t know to go to the “completed listings” and see what people actually paid.
The other part of that is that I bought a signed print for $1.50 at a thrift store by my house and took it to my moms estate sale in a giant house in a fancy neighborhood... priced it $50 and it sold in an hour. I do it all the time and it’s awesome.
Bleh, for real. Same problem with thrift stores. Like, anyone going to a thrift store or flea market isn't looking to spend a bunch of money, so I doubt that high price items sell in a reasonable amount of time.
Man, you should've been at my garage sale yesterday. I let a tall wooden bookshelf go for $2 because I had been staring at it for half an hour and dreading hauling it to the curb or going through the hassle of trying to sell it on Craigslist. Every time I got offered a price I accepted. Just don't make me drag this shit back into my house lmao.
I dunno. Garage sales and stuff where I am are still pretty great. You still find a shitty one every now and then, but most of the time, people are just trying to get rid of stuff.
Yes! My bf and I went to one this weekend with someone who wanted to sell a used printer for $35. Like, nuh uh.
Nobody should ever sell a used printer.. They should pay you to take it away. Printers are cheap as shit. I got my current multifuction colour laser for $160. It costs $280 to replace the 4 toner cartridges, if I buy brand name toner. The original toners were half filled ones so let's say they're worth $140. That means I got that printer for $20.
Along these lines the amount of cheap stuff that comes from China now makes people basically expect to pay less for everything unless everyone says it’s worth more. Also handmade stuff can’t compete at all with cheap stuff from dollar stores nowadays. My wife made a bunch of very pretty handmade accessories, hats, clothes, etc. The cost of materials for most things was just under a dollar. We tried selling them at yard sales and local little craft fairs and people would come up because they liked them... but refused to pay $1 for them. We’re talking selling for pretty much just the cost of materials and people wouldn’t buy these things they were interested in just a second ago.
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You got the USS Flagg for that cheap!? DAMN!
This couldn’t be more true! I miss getting those weird items for a few bucks. It’s crazy how people try to sell their shit as if it’s brand new because they know how much a new one costs, smh forever
My mother goes to estate sales every week to resell stuff on ebay. She uses estatesales,com or something like that. She lives in Miami, and there are always like 5 really good ones in really nice houses
I still on occasion like maybe once a year visit a flea market and i am always shocked at the prices at the video games dealer. It's always cool to look but it's always surprising to me how expensive it is.
The NextDoor app sometimes has decent deals, but i feel you. It's not the same.
So true. But it’s a give and take. Now you gotta check goodwill or drive to small town yard sales where stuff can be decent at times. Estate sales.
yo im really happy tho because I got a sector 9 longboard for 13 yesterday and they wanted to give it to me for 5 dollars
I definitely agree, I live in Australia and the only real exception to this is if you go very rural and the people have the sale are very old and have not taken up the Internet.
Here in UK we still have carboots its big area where people come to sell stuff. It's only on Sundays though. But we have it
I still see them all over the suburbs during the summer. Also Facebook often has online garage sale groups for each town
Dang, where do you live? Because where I live, this is definitely not the case
a rare Nerf gun that we had been looking for at a flea market once, and the lady was charging $150, because that was the going rate on Ebay
Do you remember which one? For that kind of money, sounds like a firestorm, Ultimator, or a xbow, but I haven't been into nerf stuff for about a decade...
It was the N-Strike Longstrike, but in the see-through, neon green. I had been looking all over for a Longstrike because my brother bought one when they were new and it seemed great. But I guess they became hard to get and the price got jacked up.
I picked one up off a Craigslist lot recently. $30 for a lot of 5 or 6 guns that included a Longstrike. I don't care about the color, because it's getting upgraded and repainted anyway.
Oh that's sick looking; it's straight outta the 90's. Didn't know there was any other colorways than the usual blue/orange.
Most of my guns are gone; I don't remember what actually happened to them but I bothered to keep a couple of my rarer ones (motorized ballzooka and ultimator)
On the contrary, people that have garage sales can stand to make a better profit as an informed seller now.
Idk about that my mom has two garage sales a year and sells stuff dirt cheap.
A second hand shop in my town does this exact thing. They don't have set prices to take things in for and instead make an offer based on a quick Ebay search (1 guy who works there has glasses and you can clearly see the screen) They look up the price and then offer you 10% of said price if you're selling and mark everything up by 10% if you're buying.
Yep, I'm an antique collector and you don't know how many people I've had to deal with like this. And sometimes they literally just say it's that price because they think it looks cool, not an actual value. I completely agree with your statement on Ebay, people are out of their goddamn minds on certain things.
but it's way harder to find stuff at a good price
You mean, find random but curiously enjoyable conversations with people harder to find. I know garage saling and I know at least 1/2 of the reason to go garage saling is to having super random conversations that somehow wind up being really rewarding and interesting. I can guarantee if somehow garage sales were commercialized and the human connection were dug out of it, they would cease to be a thing.
plus if you got yo estate sales you get explore some really cool houses.
Ah, well, as someone who is incredibly awkward and doesn't much like talking to people face-to-face, that is definitely not half the reason for me.
But I can definitely see it as a draw. I bet you can meet a whole lot of people with strange and interesting lives.
I am plus sized and have started “raiding” the carts of people I see looking up brands and shit online at resale shops. It’s tricky and you gotta be swift but I have yet to be caught. You’re a size 10 buying 20+ Dark jeans that retail at 80 tagged for 6 get the fuck outta my turf. I will either take them if I fit or put them back on the rack in an area they’ve already gone through. That shit pisses me off, I’m losing weight but dressing yourself in a good pair of jeans at that size is expensive as it is.
That's shitty. Plus sized is already marked up quite a bit, and there are fewer choices to start with.
Holy shit, this. People check EVERYTHING online now. I have played Magic: the Gathering for more than two decades. I used to find great stuff at flea markets and yard sales in the 90s/very early 00s.
In 1998 I bought a shoebox full of Alpha, Beta, Revised, and Arabian Nights cards for $10 from some old redneck at a flea market in West Virginia... today the contents of that box would be worth well into the tens of thousands.
Nowadays, even regular folks who know nothing else about the game have heard stories about getting rich from selling "the Magical" cards. Like, no, lady, I'm not going to sit down for two hours and pay you the exact Star City Games mint condition price listing for everything in this box of shitty bulk commons that smells like stale cigarette smoke.
Even eBay isn't all that much use anymore. You used to be able to off-set a new purchase by selling your old model. PayPal charge-back scammers ruined that.
You also used to be able to pick up a decent bargain if you couldn't afford new. Dumbass kids list their hammered second-hand stuff for 95% brand new retail price!
oldmanyellsatcloud.jpg
That and holding things to their original value. I bought a book today and the lady didn't want to let it go for $3 because "it was an expensive book!!" Sure it was, lady, back in '87 when it was published and its info was still relevant. 🙄
I was at a carboot sale last year, a guy was selling a PS2 + PS1 with a few games for it and some ps1 titles.
I wanted the PS1 but he refused to split the bundle had to buy everything. Needless to say he wanted to much and his justification was "Cmon, if you don't want the games you can easily sell them to your mates for a quid each, you'll even get your money back and more! Cmon its cheaper than online!"
He actually lost his temper with me when I said nah I won't bother + when I said "if that's the case, why don't you sell the games a quid each after I take the console. You'll see more people here today than I have in my friends group" He actually turned around and said he wouldn't be able to sell them like that >...>
Actually in my experience most people don't check the internet for video game related prices.
When little Billy goes off to college Mom cleans out the closet and I clean up.
I just hope they consult them first before selling anything.
It's the worst! Used to be that my family would go looking for yard sales, and the gems were always the 50-60 somethings selling their college kids stuff for what THEY thought it was worth. Countless N64 and Genesis games for less than $6-7. The best was when you look through them long enough and they say 'you can take the whole thing for $15 if ya want. '
Mhm people don't realize their stuff is worth zero if no one buys it
People list things that high because I someone buys it full price, yay, but if someone haggles half price then you get money still.
There’s still a lot of garage sales, and everyone knows about them because of Craigslist, at least in San Diego. Prices always seem low, like $1 for everything
What city do you live in that prices are that inflated?
I live in the Lehigh Valley in PA. Everything here is inflated because the times, they are bad.
There's a lot of yard sales where the prices can be cheap, but those ones tend to be selling stuff that is absolute garbage. Not just stuff I don't like, but stuff that straight up no one is going to buy. Broken furniture, puzzles missing half the pieces, stuff like that.
Preach, sister!
Estate sales are still pretty cool!
Craigslist is basically like a giant garage sale.
I bought an original Xbox when they were still fairly new and advanced for $25 at a yard sale.
If you don't mind my asking, which Nerf gun was it you found?
It was a see-through green N-Strike Longstrike.
Ah yeah, those are pretty sweet but nowhere close to $150.
What gets me about yard sales now isn't the sellers so much as the resellers that swipe everything immediately so you don't have a chance to get anything good.
Thrift stores are your new friend. And sometimes they have employees that are supposed to find the good stuff. But I've gotten a lot of deals at goodwill
AOL chatrooms.
Around 2006-ish, the internet moved from being a way to talk to new people to a way to keep talking to people you already know. That's super useful and all, but there was a lot to be said for building friendships with total strangers who you only knew by a username, but would still chat to every night. It was part of the internet of discovery rather than the internet of familiarity.
I miss it, at times. It was nice to have it be so easy to build those connections.
I like your phrase "the internet of discovery vs the internet of familiarity". It's a really good description!
This explains why my parents generation used to tell me, "don't believe everything the Internet said" vs their tendency now to do exactly the opposite. Internet was full of strange, alien people back then. Today it's of relatives and friends and colleagues.
I was a teenager in the midst of all the AIM-ing and chat rooms. I do miss chatting with my friends, but I can’t tell you how many times someone tried to lure me into weird relationships, knowing I was underage. That, I do not miss.
Guessing by your username, we're the same age, but I was pretty young when I started on AOL (probably 8-ish) and I have to say, I actually didn't experience anyone doing anything sketchy. Around when I was 10, a friend was vacationing to where I lived and we both convinced our families to let them come to our house. Everyone thought it was dangerous as fuck to be meeting someone off the internet at the time, much less inviting them over. We had no idea what each other looked like even. Turns out, we were both just normal kids, same as we portrayed ourselves to be. I'm still in contact with some of the friends I made in those chatrooms all that time ago (and have met a few more in person since as well).
I think that’s when all those horror stories started coming out in the news too, which is probably why everyone was freaked, looking back.
I should have prefaced this thought with the fact that I met other gamers in an online forum and then moved to AIM only to find them to be creepers trying to lure me away from my parents.
Oh yeah, for sure. Asking ASL became a “do I tell the truth and hope it’s not a creepy 40-something guy in front of the other monitor or do I lie?”
ASL became a joke to us. No one needed that shit to be your friend. Seemed only a thing thirsty people asked.
Unfortunately stuff like like that still happens
I feel like this isn’t talked about very much but seriously it was DAILY. You hear about the cases where it went horribly wrong but I would outright tell grown men I was thirteen and they would spend WEEKS cracking on to me. I knew what was happening but when you’re a nerdy social outcast that kind of attention is attractive. Early 2000s internet was a very strange place.
And now they believe whatever bullshit they see online, while the younger people, while not guaranteed, are more likely to question the clickbait they see.
doesn't that depend a lot on who in particular we are talking about here? at least those children of my friends that are around teenage age still seem pretty gullible regarding these things.
I remember when Wikipedia was kind of a joke, and now I have to remind people, please don't actually use "Wikipedia" as your reference in your report - the actual sources are right there on the page.
This might be a little dumb, but how come? Is it because like wikipedia is just a collection of other sources?
Yup, it's a useful starting point, but go to the sources as the actual reference
So it's like basically citing a cooking book for recipes made by others?
Sort of, but worse (from a sourcing standpoint) - a recipe compilation would be much like any other anthology, where the editor's name has some authority and is citable and each recipe has an author who you can also cite. The information is easily traced back to who said it.
Wikipedia, however, presents information all together from different sources, so when you cite a bit of text from it, determining where that info came from and how to verify it is sometimes impossible. So if you want to cite something you read on Wikipedia, you should make sure that it has a traceable source, and just find the information in that source.
Sort of like, if I'm reading something by an author and they make a specific claim about another author's work that isn't a direct quote and original interpretation, I often go and check the cited article to see what it says and whether the first author's claims about it are reliable. Basically unless you can trace the information back to "the horse's mouth", it's not a very good thing to cite. Wikipedia is rife with dead ends of that sort.
Ohh I get it now, Thank you this confused me a bit till now!
It wasn't as accurate or proven at the time.
Back when the internet was built for learning no one trusted it and now that it's built for confirming everyone who said don't trust it worships it.
"don't believe everything the Internet said" vs their tendency now to do exactly the opposite.
The fact that the majority of older people I know do this absolutely blows my mind. Like, you have a generation that knows dick about technology, actually gets one thing right about it and preaches it to their children, and then turns around and starts believing EVERYTHING they see in an age where there’s more lies on the internet than ever.
Oh it's still full of strange people we're just tucked away into /r/AskReddit
Growing up in the 90s my parents harped on NEVER giving any information out on the internet... name, location, etc. Your right, the internet has that feeling that there was always a boogeyman on the other side, especially to a 8 year old. It really is funny to think back.. after all that harling guess who now has a Facebook and posts pictures of her at the house or on vacation...
My mom used to tell me the same things. Consider the sources, be mindful of what you’re reading and use common sense.
Her, all my brothers, and I met up and had dinner for the first time in a long time. Now 10 years and 1 Facebook addiction later, she casually drops “you can’t always trust science”. My brothers and I all stopped what we were doing/talking about to give her the “are you fucking serious” face. Then proceeded to roast her for a good 15 minutes.
She tried to clarify what she meant but it was obvious how much it contorted her world view. I think he tried to say “articles reporting on scientific subjects are often dramatized, innacurate, or misleading”. Which is true. But “don’t trust science!” Lol. Mom science is how we drove to this resteraunt are now eating this meal in a climate controlled room.
Yeah. Now my parents believe everything they hear and listen to Alex Jones. Seriously...WTF fam? You can’t even reason with them. My mom says she has reptilian DNA. I’m dead serious....
I actually think it was more believable then than it is now
r/Pulitzercomments
great sub, should be more active
They don’t just give Pulitzer’s to anyone, you know
Haha
I think it'll pick up pretty quickly. It's only a few days old.
Well it is only 4 days old.
Thank you for this
I hope one day I can make it on there
I believe in you!
Hi there, I'm the mod of r/PulitzerComments: thanks for the plug!
Anyone reading this, come say hi, and post a cool comment when you see one. I've asked u/CieraDescoe to post u/Portarossa's comment, since they noticed that fantastic description.
Thanks for introducing me to this sub!
Damn internet 2.0....
I miss the original beta version of the internet.
[deleted]
Sounds like an Archer quote
For older users who graduated pre-internet, there’s “rediscovery” as well, as we reconnected with people from K-12 and college.
Hi, I'm the mod of r/PulitzerComments, a sub that celebrates comments or parts of comments that sound like they've been ripped from a good book, or should have a good book written about them!
Submissions welcome, why don't you post this one there?
This is oddly reminiscent of a blackboard/canvas online college discussion board response.
That is a great point, cutclose. I especially agree with the part where you talked about online college discussion. It’s a good point.
Tubamajuba, I appreciate your use of the phrase “online college discussion.” It not only clarifies the context but adds to my understanding as a whole.
r/thispersongoestoscholonline
It also describes the difference between the dawn of mmos and mmos now. When Ultima Online came out everyone was so excited to be sharing a world with so many people for the first time. They just wanted to interact with each other, roleplay and go on adventures together.
Now all they do is ignore other players whilst completing their quests, level up and streamline their build.
[removed]
19/f/socal, u?
34/m/nj
What kinda music you into?
32/f/nj here ;)
Cyber?
I put on my robe and wizard hat.
What the f**k, I told you not to message me again
Rhinoceruses don't play games. They fucking charge your ass.
For anyone that hasn't read it: Saga of Bloodninja
I haven't read those in years, was a good bit of nostalgia.
Oh my god thank you for that
That's hilarious!
Door closes
I pull out my “wizard staff”.
I am forcibly removed from the chat room
I touch you on your lettuce, you massage my spinach... Sexily.
30's/m/US
you bring back memories of the last time I talked to some random stranger online through AIM. I remembered they burned thier hand on a lawnmower.
Wow, just like it was yesterday, poof the memory is back.
TIL that people in the united states put their state, not their country, as location in a/s/l 😅
It was America online. Don't think there were any people located internationally on it then in the 90s. I don't know but I assume other countries had other ISPs
I was on it in the early 00s from New Zealand, hence the comment.
AIM or AOL? I didn't know AOL actually expanded beyond the US as an ISP.
AOL was available in the UK. They used to send out the CDs to install it in the post, whether you wanted it or not. Free coasters!
I never used mine, it was nice to just have though. Getting free CDs in the early 00s was pretty exciting.
No I didn't either. I had Freeserve, in the days where you had to install all the software and drivers just to browse the internet on dialup.
I used to love the free CDs with playable game demos.
My Dad had AOL as did my best friend growing up, over here in the UK. I used AIM while at my Mums. Huge nostalgia for me, my whole social life was online through those systems when I was a teen. (I lived in a really crappy area and no one in school was into Trek, Gate and Video Games.)
hey it’s me ur friend
Everyone in UK had the AOL disc.
Scotland. We had AOL and AIM
AOL existed in Germany too. My local supermarkets had hundreds of CD's in the front to take for free. All surrounding streets had a huge problem because a lot of kids took them to throw them around like a Frisbee.
Good old times.
I'm pretty sure it was available in the late 90s in Ireland. Although it could have been a different ISP.
From Australia, used aol
our states are as large as countries
We're reestablishing the good ol days as we speak. What was your fav TGIF show?
Sabrina the teenage witch! I loved that cheesy wholesome show. Or boy meets world! Corey and Topanga forever.
Boy Meets World, for sure! I had a huge crush on Topanga.
Pretty sure EVERYBODY had a crush on Topanga.
32/m/brisbane -- confirming crush status.
39/f/AZ - also confirming. But I crushed on both of them.
32/m/san bruno!
[deleted]
Just googled her, ‘Danielle Fishel’ her name is... post google and in response to your comment:
Little bit of column A, liiiittle bit of column B.
34/m/ca kelly from saved by the bell was hotter.
KaPOWski! Amirite?
gives self the hook
"Have you seen Topanga?!"
"What's a Topanga?"
My favorite part.
31/m/HI checking in, Topanga was a fox..
What do you mean "was"? Gurl is still fine as wine.
37/M/US would like to confirm topanga crush.
One of my more recent cross country road trips, my wife and I stayed in Topanga canyon simply because it was where Topanga got her name.
31/m/al def crushed
Topanga was the first girl I would get pissed off seeing. Like primal anger due to wanting so badly what I can't have.
32/F/IL heterosexual but also had crush on Topanga.
33/m/socal , but why tho? looking back and now she aint even that cute
37/m/us blasphemy my friend.
Stargate
Indeed!
35/f/ca teal'c forever!
Stop talking nonsense. Daniel Jackson was the real OG.
So happy to recognize his voice in ‘God of Boi’
29/m/NL (currently in FR)
I’ll never forget answering with “Destiny’s Child” (they were still a foursome back then!) as a 14 year old proudly & getting attacked by some jerk in the US.
What kinda music you into?
"Everything"
Quite partial to human music, myself
I’m Chris Hansen and we need to talk. Why don’t you take a seat.
What's ur gmail account bby
I dont understand this. Im too young.
12 and what is this
Back in the early days of the internet, there was no facebook, instagram, even myspace was years away.
You would meet people in "chat rooms". For example, Yahoo Games was really big - you'd play online games with people (games that would now be considered filthy filthy casual), and you'd chat (IM) with them. Or there would be chatrooms devoted to different subjects. AOL was a big host of chatrooms as well.
You literally couldn't interact with people via 99% of websites, so you'd have to use Yahoo or AOL chat rooms, if you wanted to communicate with new people online.
When you met someone online, you'd ask "a/s/l?" if you wanted to know a bit more about them, meaning "age / sex / location" ? Because the idea of chatting online with someone halfway around the country or around the world was completely new and kind of wild.
I still remember learning what LOL meant in a chatroom chat, playing chess against someone from california.
Man makes me think of irc too.
https://i.imgur.com/ez2uDSl.jpg
Back at University in 94 i practically lived in IRC. Made friends all around the World. Good times.
Oh gods. That takes me back. 0_o
This is an old old joke dude
r/whoosh?
I was slightly disappointed that your link wasn't Bloodninja.
I am disappoint
Narrator: u/WILL_CODE_FOR_SALARY was actually 43/m/Mississippi.
You guys, this isn't actually a 19 year old girl looking for friends. It's a 28 year old unemployed coder.
Hey now, 30 and gainfully employed, thanks!
41/m/ny into motorcycles, cars. Dont like to talk politics. I like 90s rock rap. Some newer stuff. My mom says I have to log off so she can call my dad. Ttyl.
Oh what part of socal? Me too in OC
Hey me too. Weird.
We should all meet up
can i ask why did everyone or most people write socal? asking because i am not from america and most people use to be from california. whats up with that?
Wanna cyber?
25/female/Az
Funny, I went to a 90s party 2 years ago and made a shirt that said a/s/l. I was 32 at the time. And so many kids there in their early 20s had ZERO idea what it meant. And when I explained, they didn't seem to comprehend. Weird times.
I’m 18 and I know asl. Prolly cause underage Omegling
Wtf is omegling?
there's a website called omegle where it connects you with strangers. asl is said frequently
Isn't Omegle just porn now?
Yes
It's porn, and people recording themselves doing weird shit so they can upload it to YouTube, this includes people reacting to the abundance of dudes wanking
TIL
Chatroulette.
Totally. Most people are up for sexting, but occasionally some very good conversations pop up.
Every time, I raise the problem of sincerity: who cares about the answer, if I can simply say anything I want? On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.
“Penis, penis, penis, penis. Hey! How are you? Wait that’s a penis...”
Connects you to random people and your webcams are on
I’m also 18.
I know what it is from AskReddit talking about it every so often
I for one think that it's great that underage omeglers know american sign language.
ayy my dude (and yes, I know you are a dude).
I am 23 and I remember a/s/l.
But I was probably going to places on the internet I shouldn't have when I was 10-12 or so.
[deleted]
I was like 12 years old and I always said 18/f/Cali. One day I was playing a game on Yahoo and someone said they were 12 then I came out and said I was 12 also and had lied before. We had already played a bunch of games but when they found that out they called me a pedo and ended the game. 😥 I just wanted to keep talking to them.
Idk... You kinda sound like a pedo.
[deleted]
although in theory, unless that person was a creep (and did/was up to something shady), there's nothing wrong with talking to an eleven year old.
Yes but better accuse them of being a paedo and put them on paedo island then blow them up just to be safe.
I was on Omegle when I was 17 (2013) and was talking about games with this guy. He asked if I played Minecraft and I said yeah, so he invited to me to play on some server and join his Skype group. Turns out the guy was 12 and it was a Skype group ranging from 8-12 years old. I played with them for a couple hours but man it was weird.
[deleted]
of course I very much agree with you then (although in my defense that's a pretty important not initially mentioned detail).
Where was Chris Hanson when we needed him in the 90s
That seems kinda weird to me, but I basically lived on omegle once I hit 12 so maybe my internet upbringing was different than normal. I'm 23 this year for times sake.
Mid to late 20 somethings should know. Early 20 somethings (my younger sibling) were starting elementary school closer to the end of MySpace and beginning of Facebook, so AIM and AOL chats as well as the massive amount of forums would have been dying down around that point. I'd say you hit the transitional age for knowing 'a/s/l' on the head.
Ah, to be an older millennial. We remember analogue and the birth of the internet, while staying on top of these newer trends.
Remember when we said “brb?” I haven’t seen it used or used it myself in like a decade. We’re always connected now so it feels arbitrary.
We still use this in games. AFK too.
I say it all the time when gaming with my friends still.
Had this experience but with some of my younger cousins, an older cousin and I were sitting around the campfire joking about dial up and making the noises the modems would make at each other. The younger cousins looked at us like we had gone absolutly mental.
im 21, and i know what asl is because i used to use it. am i old, or did i start internet way too early? xD
I’m 25 and I have no idea what it means, can you enlighten me? 😅
Age/sex/location
I see, thank you :)
liky u/halcyondays__ said. age sex location. for when you're meeting random strangers on the internet and need to ignore if they answer "male" xD
I sometimes answer with a few alternatives, like "24/f/Madrid or 57/m/Beijing or 16/f/Toronto, choose one"
Let me guess, you also say “the sky”, when asked what’s up?
I might from now on...
Ive created a monster
don't worry, I've always been one. You've just unlocked more power!
Damn. Nice shirt though. How'd you make it?
but thats still in use some places
What if we made a subreddit where everyone pretended it was 1990s internet?
Yes plz. Bright obnoxious background colors plz
https://www.reddit.com/r/1994Life?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share Done
I cybered with so many ~~16/f/ca~~ old men in my early teens.
this works as a barometer for "she's too young for you bro" if they reply with "huh???"
What’s he equivalent to today?
How do you do fellow kids
Got pix?
Pics?
35/F/USA
35/m/usa
What kinda music you into?
18/f/Cali all day every day
19/f/Canada. I thought 19 sounded more realistic when I was 13.....lol
It does. Haha. I always told the truth though, cause on the internet, I can say real stuff I like. In real life, I can't go full baseball nerd or whatever or I'll be the baseball nerd. Or I can't talk about my offensive ideas or weird values in real life, but in anonymous chatrooms? Sure! Let's talk about anarcho capitalism and Griffey v Bonds. Yeah, I'm 12 and in Detroit. Deal with it.
Same. Couldn't be myself irl so I was myself online.
afk
Geezus, that’s my first thought when I hear about chat rooms. Compuserve!
I was so upset when my parents switched to Compuserve to save money. Just like aol but you couldn't do chat rooms or profiles or anything
According to Wikipedia (so you know it's true) Compuserve's "CB Simulator" was "The first dedicated online chat service that was widely available to the public".
I had some good times there... particularly enjoyed the trivia games people would host.
My heart skipped a beat when I read this, lol
38/m/paki
Every time...
37/F/Brisbane Australia
My mum used to go on comic chat and she had no idea how computers worked. She put a CD in to play music and asked me “can the guy in the chat room I’m talking to hear that?”. Bless her.
Best comment hands down. Wow the wave of nostalgia
A/S/L????
16/f/Cali u?
14 f Langley
28 / dude / english
You're located in English?
I thought L was language
Location, homie.
Would that not be either obvious or unnecessary?
How would it be obvious in a global chat room?
Arguably unnecessary but gives you something to initially discuss.
[deleted]
Okay thinking I'm flipped upside down here. Yeah, location wouldn't be obvious lol.
You’re doing this wrong.
27/homme/français
le oof. je ne parles français
Je pense que vous avez besoin de ça: "pas"
le oof. je ne parles pas français
s2r
Aslb?
30/f/tx
29/F/LA
26/yes/here
29/F/IL
I miss this, so I had to respond :)
Yes I’m deaf too!
Banned and Vanned
36/f/ok
//roll
20/m/tx
37/F/Brisbane Australia
My mum used to go on comic chat and she had no idea how computers worked. She put a CD in to play music and asked me “can the guy in the chat room I’m talking to hear that?”. Bless her.
I thought you were trying to say American sign language for a second there
12 f uk u
33/m/mi you?
Fuck! I still throw out ASL????? occasionally to see who remembers.
32/F/NH
Is r/asl a thing? If not maybe it should be
24/ M/ N.Ire
This was the first thing I said to my bf in a Yahoo pool chat. That was 15 years ago and we're still together. Your comment gave me all the feels.
20/M/WV, u?
35/m/ireland....
Used to get lots of chats in american yahoo chat rooms when people found out that you were from ireland.... also remember the rooms where the mic could be used and people had kareoke rooms.... good times
My girlfriend and I have started using this while looking for houses. We make it stand for asking price/square footage/location.
[deleted]
Dancing 7 UP dot GIF
Can't forget the dancing baby, the dancing chicken, the animated skull with smoke, and the flashing under construction GIFs for the folks who didn't get enough time to finish their webpage because they had to disconnect from the line.
This page has a lot of great GIFs archived that I'm sure many of us used like there was no tomorrow. a moving image on my screen? Amazin'. Let me just put 100 on there and hope all 5 of my visitors will wait 15 minutes for them all to load.
THANK YOU!!! I just went back to my freshman year omg the nostalgias 😭😭😭😭😂
Hamster Dance!
DEEP DEE DEE DAH DEE DEE DOO DOO
DEE DAH DEE DEE DOH
and AngelFire chat rooms damn
I had a friend that figured out that by having a clickable ad on your geocities site, you get a few cents per click. He would spam the ad on his own page constantly and got a check for $1,000 or something like that. Soon after they wised up and you couldn't generate ad revenue from your own IP.
They had no need to delete it. They could easily have archived it. (I believe the Internet Archive has done that, but I don't know how consistently. It should have been an internal project by Yahoo!).
EDIT: apparently they did archive it - yay! Off to find my old site...
They did, go to reocities.com
they did archived it, it was a long and dificult task but it was done, you can search about how it was done online its amazing the pasion people has for this kind of things (is about preserving history after all)
Great! Thanks for letting me know ;)
Aol2.5, 1993.
5 hours free, 2.95 per additional hour.
Yes! And angelfire.
/heartland/Meadows/4285
Thankfully it's ALL still cached on thewaybackmachine!
Paris Cafe chat
Napa Valley!
You know half those pages are still under construction.
Sounds kinda lame but some of the best times in my teens was sitting in mIRC talking all night to random people I met over a video game.
I spent ages 11-13 on mIRC constantly. Me and my friend's families only had dial-up Internet so even though most of my friends could spend their Internet time watching YouTube, IRC was a blessing and something to really do with such a slow connection.
It was only a couple of years but somehow those felt like the most formative years of my growing up on the Internet. Felt like they lasted much longer. I miss it a lot to be honest.
Thank you for mentioning mIRC. I was in my mid to late teens when the internet took the world by storm in the '90s. Good times 😄
I met my wife on #klchat, the support room for Kazaa Lite. I try not to tell that story because most people just don't understand it, or mIRC.
My reddit username was the username I used on IRC 20+ years ago... people rarely remember irc.
Same here lol
IRC is still alive but mainly used by open source projects on Freenode because they don’t want to use Discord (proprietary for-profit company and single point of failure and all that)
I’ve wandered around it every few years but my old haunts are mostly people just idling.
That is awesome! It's a shame normal people do not get it though.
Dude, not lame. I’m in my 30s now but when I was in high school I met a lot of my favorite people by randomly playing with them in an online game. I still keep in touch with a good deal of them. I am SO glad I made those connections.
Met one of my best and closest friends online. We ended up in a chatroom for our favorite tv show. We only live 2 states apart (started at 5 hours, now we're down to 3 due to moving around) so we visit each other every year. 13 years strong.
I Met one of my best friends there. We're still close, but now we have to chat on FB :(. She lives across the country and we've never met one another. Yet, we've been there for each other through so much crap and our friendship is going on 16 Years---2 engagements, 3 marriages, five kids, 2 divorces (both mine--lol), and countless jobs/career changes. You can't find people like that anymore, IMO, online.
Agreed!!!
irc is still great. I'm in a couple of writing channels.
It's all the Discord/voice stuff I don't get. I don't want to hear people, just see the occasional message or have a text chat.
Discord, surprisingly, has rekindled a sort of IRC feel for me. I'm in channels for things I enjoy, and just talk to people about games and such. I don't voice chat though, unless it's with my friends.
Same here. Discord is a godsend. Still going strong on irc though 8). Almost 20 years now I guess.
I use discord to talk to friends and chat to people about Mechboards and Linux, I recently got into irc (around nov of 2016 or something, weechat best client), both irc and discord has it's place imo
Yes but IRC has changed in the last two decades (understandably). Most active users are on Discord instead of IRC now on most topics.
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Thank you - that is interesting analysis! Aren't there third-party clients (as with irc) that offer reconnection?
What channels?
On mobile but if you go to /r/writerchat there are details of a very friendly and active one in there
By chance, Planetarion?
Tfc. Team fortress classic.
I played that! I was terrible at it.
That was a great game, and I'm not sure it could even exists today.
Honestly, I love doing that now. My ex assumed that the reason I would use voice chat was for flirting for attention but I just love making friends with people. I have met a lot of people irl and from very different ways of life. Next month I'm meeting up with a gay couple from Lebanon and showing them the nearby university. I have known them through their eldest brother since they were 15.
I miss chatrooms, message boards and live journal. Only online games come close now. It's a whole interesting world.
So many hours of trivia on mIRC.
qwizbot!
I met my wife on IRC. There's no way we would have met on Tinder considering she lived a few states away.
Tinder has other problems too. There's other better services out there like OkCupid that could have worked though.
I remember being like 12-14 and doing this for hooooours.
I also remember there being another chat / file share client I used to use that was green and black, I think it was called Telex that I also spent hours on. I tried to look it up a while back but couldn't find any info on it.
Were you using a telnet chat client? The green/black combo is a classic terminal color combination.
I'm fairly sure it was Telnet but I really can't remember. This was so long ago! :D
Telehack is a simulation of a stylized arpanet/usenet, circa 1985-1990.
.
It is a full multi-user simulation, including 25,000 hosts and BBS's from the early net, thousands of files from the era, a collection of adventure and IF games, a working BASIC interpreter with a library of programs to run, simulated historical users, and more. *You can telnet directly to Telehack on the regular telnet port of 23. Open a command shell and type telnet telehack.com See http://telehack.com/telehack.html for more information.
You can still go on IRC and sit in a room with 30+ lurkers. ;)
But now I'll be one of the creepy old dudes we trolled :(
Same. My nerd group was friends with a guy who worked at one of the local ISP's in the 90's (back when that was a thing) which hosted their own IRC server to serve the local area. He made us admins in the channels that we all used. Shit ton of active channels on the server and it had a lot of traffic. We used to chat every night and would organize meetups at local places to hang out. This was in the mid to late 90's before anyone really trusted that the people you meet on the internet weren't serial killers. Fuck, man.. I'm getting super nostalgic just thinking about those times.
For some strange reason, there is still an Angelfire site that is up from some girl who must have been an ISP employee spreading the word about the server! http://www.angelfire.com/on3/jenn05/chat.html
OMG! I'd forgotten IRC!!! Thank you for the memories :)
I was way into mIRC during the CPS2 emulation days - when CPS2shock finally had the xors available for decrypting all the CPS2 ROMs like Street fighter Alpha and all that. I realize how nerdy and immature we all were, but holy cow are those some find memories.
soobviouslyfake slaps centwhore with a large trout
This still happens lol
Agreed. Had a ton of really close friends I met on IRC from fansubbing anime together. Finally met one of my closest friends from that period like 15 years later recently and it was awesome!
Still love this aspect of WoW's general chat.
I was big on #spepisodes..(south park).. Fun times :)
I hung around on #gamecube in mIRC right after the console came out, for a long time. I have friends I still keep in contact with after almost 20 years from that channel. I can’t say that about most IRL friends.
...and the phone bills that went with that, lol.
Mostly likely internet bill even if it's dial-up.
I recently re-downloaded mirc and tried to connect to an undernet server looking for fserves and shit, movies and music like before Napster... Complete waste of time, now. So lame.
It can be good if you have a specific topic that you're learning/teaching/discussing/following like sports, video games, home brewing, programming, news, or just need help with something.
Pretty pointless to use f-serves these days when they're likely slower (although I suppose it also depends how slow one's own connection is) and not as safe, and certainly less convenient.
I do miss peer to peer programs that had the option of browsing other people's stuff though. It was a neat way to discover similar things. That sort of stuff just doesn't really exist these days, short of crappy algorithm stuff (which is also usually niche, like buying things, or watching moves, or listening to music, each with separate services you have to use)
Are the pedos still on undernet?
I didn't stay long enough to find out. I joined a fairly populated channel and instead of those random timers going off with "!ActionMovies" or something similar it was just a dead channel as far as I could tell. Uninstalled with no regrets.
I met an ex on an undernet channel
Same here. I'm still in contact with some of the people I met in video game IRC channels. I used to spend hours chatting every night.
Nowadays people don't tend to play on the same server with the same people, and you typically don't even have a server browser, you just get a matchmaker putting you in a game with a group of different strangers.
It seems like people mainly use the internet to talk to people they already know, or to millions of strangers, but there's not much opportunity to make connections and get to know anyone.
Yeah even games have been made less personal. Like PC games frequently had more of a global chat or chat lobbies. Many still do though. Some didn't have, but were added later (ex. Starcraft 2).
I suppose that overall it has always been a pretty rare thing though.
mirc was the best. Spent hours in my clans channel doing quizbots and things and visiting rival channels to set up matches. Truly was the golden age of the internet and I so wish it was that easy to make internet friends now
Well the good news is that people still do that, just with discord now.
i was on US chatrooms for the first 6 months after i got internet in 96, as a 15 year old i had a blast talking to older people, and was a big internet friend to a couple of them, ill always remember the single mother of two who would talk to me about music tv and her life...I hope everything worked out for her and her two girls(hell they should be in their mid twenties now)
OPisabundleofstix slaps centwhore around with a large trout
Me too! Except for me it was bootleg movies and research chemicals ;-)
Ditto.
It isn't lame at all.
I got into IRC for the warez. My cousin told me about it and it was confusing to me (typing in a server name and port, then typing a command to join a specific channel, then messaging a certain f-serve. Of course they made things a bit easier now. Maybe not the warez part, but then again hardly anyone uses IRC for warez these days (which makes sense since it's not nearly as safe either).
Yes! And MSN chatrooms and MSN groups. I get why they were pulled down...it was the start of stranger danger on the internet but I do miss them.
Msn chatrooms were the shit. I used to hang out in the Trivia chatrooms. Met my first ever boyfriend who was a mod. Weird how my parents never thought it was dangerous. 1995 was the wild west of the internet.
Weird how my parents never thought it was dangerous
Because it wasn't. At least compared to other activities in life. Especially if you just tell the child not to meet with strangers nor divulge specific name/address. Two simple easy to follow rules.
Yeah except I did meet with strangers and divulge lots of personal info :) the internet was too new, I don't think anyone really realized how easy it was
I don’t know why they stayed down. I mean twitter, facebook, and reddit are just as dangerous as MSN Chatrooms.
That's not the reason they removed them, it's just simply because not enough people used them.
Oddly enough, I met my husband in an MSN chat.
I met my ex in a yahoo chat. Got 13 decent years out of it; no regrets there
Same here, but we're still married.
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I also met his wife in MSN chat
Met my girlfriend of 6 years (going strong) in a random teen chat room, talked over MSN for years before we started dating.
I also met my husband on MSN chat.
I have fond memories of MSN chatrooms from when I was a teenager. Made so many connections with people from all over the place. Almost 20 years later and I still wonder about some of them and how they are doing.
MSN: Username-friend is online!
Hell yes, say goodbye to the home phone for a few hours mum.
Life was so much complicated back then, Spent so much time constantly switching the phone wire between the modem on my PC and the telephone. I still have that sexy modem pcie card somewhere.
My crush is on.
Appear offline and then go offline multiple times
Looking back it's pretty crazy to think about how bad those chatrooms really were, or at least could have been. I remember being a bored kid joining public chatrooms on AIM/MSN and saying random shit almost 20 years ago. Obviously I didn't say anything personal, but I never really thought about how easy it was for pedophiles to talk to kids back in the day.
It's still really easy, considering 90% of the time they're related.
It happened to me on AIM
I hung out in the yahoo ~Goth!~ chatroom when I was around 11. So much cringe...
But your cringe died with the chatroom. If it was on Facebook, it would still be out there.
I learned to touch type from using Messenger so much. When I stopped using it I lost the ability and never had a need to get it back. Makes me sad.
But now we contact a stranger to pick us up in their car, so..
At first glance that sounds like a fair thing to mention, but really the people who pick others up are registered, and same with the people who get picked up, so it's an easy way to get in trouble if anything goes sideways.
That said, the danger of the internet in the past is overblown. It wasn't really there. It's mostly the same as today, just with a fake veneer/fascade overtop; plus it's not really that dangerous in the first place especially if you just follow the extremely simple rule of not sharing name/address or specific locations you visit.
I met so many girls on msn that I’d later talk to on the phone.. Those were the days..
there was a lot to be said for building friendships with total strangers who you only knew by a username, but would still chat to every night.
I don't think that's really gone, I have a lot of friends that I only know by username that I have met on here through reddit. A lot of us talk almost every day too either through PMs, Slack, and even Snapchat. One of my friends and I have had the same message train on reddit going on for like 5 years now. Discord is another tool that helps bring random people together through common interests, whether it be a game, a streamer, TV show, etc. It's not gone, it just changed.
I think that is why I like reddit. Because it is still just random people having a conversation with other random people on a random subject. I love the rabbit holes of comments, and get lost quite often. I'm also quite impressed by the average intelligence of users on reddit. It still feels like old compuserve bulletin boards to me.
This is literally why I am so drawn to reddit. The intelligence and wit of the users, and that they are unfamiliar. The thought that I’ll never meet the people on here makes it much lower pressure. I don’t feel compelled to conform or project some image like people do for their friends on Facebook and Instagram!
the intelligence and wit of the users
r/WEareverysmart
I think you can still talk to randos on the internet, it's just less acceptable now that I'm 32 and am engaged. I just used chat rooms as a kid because I was stuck in my parents' house and couldn't go anywhere.
5-10 years ago I made a few friends on ChatRoulette and even met a hot girl who lived 4 hours from me. She showed me things. I almost visited her but ruined it.
Yeah I had an internet girlfriend from another city back then on Orkut. We dated long distance and still haven’t ever met. Lost contact ages ago but us 10 year olds were adamant that it was a serious relationship haha.
I mean, to 10 year olds it probably was the most serious relationship you'd ever had. Don't sell yourselves short
Yeah I have a group of people from a subreddit who I talk to mainly in a slack but also via other social media all the time. Honestly they know more about my life (and vice versa) than most of my friends do.
This guy's right. If you looked at the friends i talk with over discord, precisely 0 I know IRL.
seriously, I really don't get this. discord servers are literally just better chatrooms. the concept hasn't gone anywhere, the UI has just gotten better.
This is what I feel people are struggling to realize. Most the things we miss aren't truly gone they just changed. A lot of this thread is simply people being scared of change.
Oh same, there's a whole group of us.
Yeah, I mean I met my boyfriend on here! I also have a bunch of friends who I wouldn’t know irl, I just know them here and know they’re amazing! :)
+1 to this, I love talking to people on reddit now
Heck, I met one of my best friends through reddit.
I see you everywhere. Do u just port on reddit for a living or something ??
This was so much fun. The excitement of juggling like ten private messages plus convos in the main chat. Ahhhhh those were the good ole days
And coming up with amazing away messages...
You can’t just leave me hanging like that.
I miss those! The closest thing I have come to that experience, is Twitch.
I've met a lot of people through various discord servers for games or other things. I dunno if it's ENTIRELY gone.
I do wonder whether it's as much "I grew up and have a job, family, and a bunch of shit to do" as it is "IRC is gone and there's none of that community any more". The young folks of today with time on their hands may well be chatting up randos on the IRC-replacements of today just like I did.
Yeah, Discord is basically IRC but not decentralised and with some web-friendly features (like inline images and videos). Which has some downsides, but for now the upsides outweigh them.
IRC is still around dammit. Smaller, sure, but there are some pretty thriving communities. The old networks you were on in 2001 are probably dead, but that doesn't mean others can't grow.
Or... you know... reddit lol.
Where you have a comment history? I can't think of anything scarier.
I recently had to scrap my old account and nuke my comments because my kids are old enough to find me on here. My last username was my usual name for all my accounts, including my email and PS4, which they both know. Such a bummer - 8 years of comments, gone with a few clicks.
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Or say lots of controversial stuff and let it be part of your personality because you care about that stuff.
Or say what you say, and if it turns out to be controversial, at least make sure you backed it up well and honestly.
Maybe you do Reddit differently than me, but it's still largely "ships passing in the night", from what I've seen. It's more topic-centered, with identities largely in the background (tiny text at the top left), and people firing off performative posts but not relating on any level more long-term than a thread or a comment-section.
That's what I love about it. Lately they seem to be trying to make it more 'social' which is a bad sign. No offense, but I have zero interest in people here (as in 'following' people or whatever). It's all about the subreddits, people following topics instead of each other, with people interested in a topic engaging in a discussion. Like you I rarely even notice user names.
Yeah, I don’t know any of you motherfuckers.
Right on. Reddit is great!
Reddit is too public. I love it dearly but I've never gotten close to having any sort of friend on it. I could be wrong, but it's main feature/attraction seems to be how people are generally_mostly anonymous so they can talk openly about things that might otherwise be a problem if others were to know (religious/political views, interests, personal issues, etc.)
Discord too
I feel like Discord is actually a fantastic tool to meet new people. I'm on quite a few servers and not all of them are for gaming. It's wonderful! I've gone out and had great times with people I've met on sports servers and met up with some of my more recent gaming buddies.
It was part of the internet of discovery rather than the internet of familiarity.
The internet of discovery vs the internet of familiarity. What I often dub the "golden age of the internet" likely overlaps the internet of discovery.
the internet of discovery rather than the internet of familiarity
This sums it up so nicely.
The internet prior to say 2010 maybe? You could just go on and find weird and random sites that might be just something like seeing if there was soda in a soda machine or animated dancing hamsters. Now? Everything is monetized and optimized for search engines and it's all generic and corporate. It seems like everything is just clickbait and there's no originality anymore.
It really was amazing and therapeutic. There was an AOL chat room I frequented from about 1998-2002. This was my last two years of HS and first two years of college. I talked with the same group of people, of all ages and walks of life, in those 4 years. I never knew any of their real names or even what they looked like. We just would gather in that room at night, a rolling count of 20 or so people, and just chat about anything. It was so entertaining and a great way to unwind after school/work. I really, really miss that part of the internet.
I don’t remember the chat rooms but I remember a specific user - endlessbbq. We ended up being friends for many, many years. I miss the arrangements to be online at certain times and the anticipation as the dialup noises built up - hoping my parents wouldn’t hear them. Ah, the nostalgia.
And of course the excitement when you got logged in and you saw that your friends were logged in as well. Or the sadness when you logged in and none of your friends were logged in but then you heard the “door creak“ and all was exciting in the world again.
I'd actually forgotten that feeling until your comment. Opening the chatroom to find maybe 1 or 2 of the 20 or so people in that room online and them not even being the interesting ones. But then everything stirs to life when more people come online!
Fuck, this brought back a flood of memories. I used to join chats with common names like "hello" or "chat" that were pretty much always going 24/7 with tons of people and spend hours on there. Sometimes I'd just sit back and watch the conversations.
One really specific memory, or series of memories, related to this are snow day chats. In middle and high school, there would always be giant chat rooms any time there was a snow day, and we'd just shoot the shit in there all day long. It would start small and then everyone would just slowly invite more people until we often had 40-50 people in there. Had some great times with that. I'm a teacher, so I should suggest the idea for my co-workers. I'll bet we could have a good time, as our group texts are always entertaining.
I miss this, as well.
As well as the fictional AOL world Rhydin. Spent many nights sifting through the multiple games playing out in Ye Olde Red Dragon Inn.
Thank you for reminding me about Rhydin! Can't believe I forgot it existed...
Rhydin is the reason I'm a writer. Most of the stories I created for Rhydin evolved into original works. I hate how it ended. :(
I mean... I still do this. A lot of people i know still do this. Fuck, i'd go so far as to say that EVERYBODY i know still does this. We just... don't use AOL for it any more. Pick a topic you're interested in, join an active discord for it and get involved. Shit'll happen overnight.
To be fair Discord is relatively new and older/non-gamer people might have never heard of it.
I remember those mostly being cesspools of horny dudes. As teenage boys, my friend and I would troll these. His mom had just gotten a webcam, so we'd ask guys if they wanted to see some lesbian sex, then we'd turn the camera on and rub naked barbies together. It's so stupid, but we thought it was hilarious at the time.
I have a friend I met online in a chatroom at age 12. Finally met him in my 20s and we're still friends many years later.
the internet of discovery
Reminds me of StumbleUpon as a kid
Then ICQ came out and blew all of our minds
I've actually ended up talking to a few people on Reddit like that. Three, to be precise.
It's different from, like, the JFW chats on AOL, but it can remind me of that sometimes.
I made a real friend in my city through reddit commenting. I got a job through reddit commenting, and almost got a job programming for Amazon.
There are actually real people on the other side of reddit...
Discord has been great to give you that feeling. I have so many people who I know so well and yet have never met in person
there's also /r/discordservers which has lately become my favorite late-night drunk hobby. I just hop around joining random servers and join VC to chat with internet strangers. Have had a lot of interesting conversations with all kinds of people
Yes.. it was an era of freedom, which is odd to say in era in which we literally get into strangers cars. We were in fact pioneers of this era. Met some great people from local AOL chatrooms.
It was so much easier. I'm quiet and awkward, and had COUNTLESS of internet friends at that time. People I'd talk to daily in this huge messenging board on books and tv. I learned basic sort of coding so I could make my page, my text boxes, all that jaz look prettier. Ive lost touch for years, and sometimes I still miss them.
Brings back memories. Haven't finished it yet.
2006? That hurts. That’s not even the good time. 1997 was the best for it
you just made me sit on omegle for an hour. there's a lot of bots but i found some good genuine people on there and had a good laugh.
That's an example of something that changed because the Internet gained mass appeal. In the early days, Internet users included a high percentage of novelty seekers, risk takers, creative thinkers, and other mavericks, so content reflected that. But today it's everyone, the majority of whom prefer familiarity, and content reflects that. You could say that about half the comments in the thread though.
Discord has brought it back really, now you just find a YouTube channel or Twitter account interested in something you're interested in and odds are good they have a pretty much public Discord for people who like that thing.
I like Nightcore music and each of the big Nightcore YouTube channels I listen to has a Discord with hundreds even thousands of people on it.
This was my answer too. The 90s were all about AOL chat, all those serious e-friendships that lasted until 2000 when most people signed up for broadband and didn't need AOL anymore. The innocence of so many disparate people going online for the first time, together.
I really do miss random internet friends. Had a shitload back in the day... Now, not so much.
I definitely miss AOL/AIM and Xanga for this!
Its nor dead or gone. It just evolved to topic based apps. Discord has MANY MANY servers to meet people.
I went to a wedding a little while back and asked one woman how she knew the bride or groom. She said “well I’ve known the groom for years!” Okay yes, but how did you meet? Her response: “this is my first time meeting him.” They met in an aol chat room, from literal opposite sides of the globe, in 2005. Still close enough to be wedding buddies.
TLDR; What's something the internet ruined for you? The internet.
😂
Most of my relationships made online during that time have continued switching to different platforms, and I’ve met a bunch of them in person.
It was certainly a different time.
A bunch of the old chat apps that used to be around have died off, and it's sad. I miss how low moderation they were too.
Those places still exist, there's just usually a bit of a barrier to entry for the decent ones. Large groups are obviously going to be kind of awful when it comes to meeting new people. Some discord channel with 3000 people for example might be a place where you could meet people but there's just no familiarity or community there. Lesser known places like that though, or most of the active IRC servers and MUDs have some little communities which are both accepting of new members and still have that feeling of meeting and talking to new people from around the world. The fact that you have to find them in the first place or that they aren't easy to access usually keeps them fairly small and friendly.
That said those smaller groups can have their own issues, and unsurprisingly the kinds of people who really find their sense of community online tend to have a higher than average incidence of mental illness.
Discord is great for this if you find the right servers.
yes, IRC in general was amazing, I grew so, so much as a person because of it. Even beyond that, I wouldn't have my career without it!
Minecraft servers
I certainly agree with this. One friend of mine is a dude I met in an MSN chatroom when we were 12 and 14 years old. All these years later and we're still friends. I see him like the little brother I never had. Woulda never found each other if it weren't for internet chatrooms.
IRC is still a thing.
I honestly feel Discord is a good place to try that kinda thing nowadays. Ive met several people im friends with now over discord
I met one of my besties on reddit. We text pretty much every day.
Oh man this reminds me of finding random people to chat with via ICQ and then finding out they are from a different country etc.
Now you just have a group chat with all your friends and think 3 times before adding a new person to the chat because they could "alter the balance".
Lots of dick pics though
Thats why i play Ragnarok Mobile and other mmos. For the social aspect
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We have profiles and comment history. In those days it was a username and a/s/l
One About.com group I belonged to just up and moved to FB when About started going downhill. It has been a decade at least and a bunch of us are still friends. Online friends, but still friends.
This is still workable to an extent, but requires more patience and starting effort. Using discord and online gaming, a few people I met in one game have grown a small community of about thirty. We actively chat about life (and games) on a daily basis, and its also become a bit of an advice/support group too.
I will agree though that such things are far less common now, and that's a loss for everyone.
Pretty much impossible these days to make good internet friends anymore. :'(
Just go into a twitch chat
You know, that still exists. I’ve made friends online who have only ever remained online friends throughout the years. I’ve met people on YouTube and Reddit and you can even use some dating sites specifically just to chat or find friends. My kids have a bunch of online friends that we’ve gotten to know through the years and they’ve grown up with. My eldest daughter finally met one of them after 6 solid years of friendship and chatting online.
I gotta visit my chat group again. I have a lot of them on facebook, a handful I have saved on my phone and we only know eachothers usernames. They still call me like that, since it feels very weird to be called by my actual name by them and vice versa.
Skankhunt42
What?
Skankhunt42
24tnuhkanks
IRC still exists, and then there are newer platforms like Discord.
I remember when AOL didn't even have messages, let alone buddy lists. You would have to query a friends user name to see if you could message them. Back when it came on a floppy.
I never used aol chatrooms but there was some website I found with teen chat rooms and at the time that seemed to be what it meant. We we're all watching mtv late at night talking about every music video that was on at the time it played. We had no real idea who any of us were. We didn't share our personal info, we just talked about shit on TV till we got tired.
I've heard rumors that Discord might try to bring this back. I doubt it would be the same, considering how much internet culture has changed, but it would be cool nonetheless.
mIRC
I'm still making friends with Internet. Even work connections. With Twitter mostly.
That's not dead ! :)
The amount of time I spent on lesbian chat rooms as a horny 14 year old guy with other horny teenage guys is outrageously funny. I would love to see the chat history.
A/S/L
Even this has its own generations, I would've said AOL chat rooms died in 1999, and followed it up with all that you said.
This was Napster’s chat function for me. Met some cool peeps through that original platform, and where I first heard about Linkin Park, back in the early 2000s, somewhere around there. Wow... thanks for the memories!
I agree. In 2004 I was a member of a gaming clan for MOHAA with several strangers. Didn't know any of them. But we talked, and enjoyed spending time together online. Now if I want to play a multiplayer game with a group, I have to bring my own friends.
building friendships with total strangers who you only knew by a username, but would still chat to every night.
I still do that. Mostly Twitch chatrooms and Discords.
Hey.
MIRC was my whole life in high school.
Still friends with my favorite AOL chatroom stranger from 15+ years ago! We've met and hang out at least once a year when we can
I met my husband on AOL nearly 20 years ago. Back when it was reeeeally embarrassing to admit you met online.
WBS chat, I miss that.
“ASL?”
Heeeey. I'm an internet stranger and we can be friends if you want! 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
It takes the right kind of people and mind set, but I've seen people make close friends via online gaming still. Some via friends of friends sure. But I was in a conversation with an associate recently, who was basically explaining how all of her close friends she met via online gaming. They had just solidified plans to meet up for a vacation.
I think online gaming facilitated that for me growing up (call of duty)
14/f/florida.
A lot of my best friends are people I met online
I miss this so much. Random chat rooms where you can talk (innocently) about your favorite topic, or nothing at all. The early days of the internet were so good
This is still very prevalent in video game communities. I have a friend list of 6-7 people who I have no idea what their actual name is and we game and chat every night. Keeps the 90s nostalgia alive.
AOL chatrooms sucked, but looking up locals and chatting them up was the shit (I mean IMs)!
Oddly, looking back I had a few older dudes like college age (I was junior/high school) saying it was OK I was under age... and then I was like but... also I'm not into dudes? They tried way to hard.
My dad says he misses having arguments with friends which could only be resolved by phoning whoever was most knowledgeable on a subject e.g. Did you know lightning travels upwards? No it goes down! Let's phone your dad, he's a meteorologist.
I miss that - the sense of wonderment and imagining how something could work. Now, I can instantly end it with a search.
I also miss the simplicity of doing something. For so many things, I find myself "researching" the multitude of ways to tackle something and feeling overwhelmed. Before, it would be one way, from a book.
My friends and I like to entertain those kind of discussions anyway, then look it up once everyone's said their piece.
That's a fun way to do it
We have a strict next-day-Google rule. Looking stuff up if it doesn't unblock anything is bad form. We have a lot of cases when we can't remember that actor's name or understand how something works - but I kinda like it better like that.
It keeps a little bit of wonder and mystery to the world. Of course, not like you can't wonder about the things you know, but that doesn't have the mystery, that's the key.
Yea is this not the logical conclusion everyone came to? Now we have heated debates, and we get a 100% definitive answer when we’re done.
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Your friend is stupid lmao
You should get into pub trivia.
If someone ruins a "debate" in the pub by googling it, they have to buy the next round of drinks. It's a good way to live, all power to you!
I like this.
I do this sort of thing with my friends, one of us will mention an actor or something, but can't remember their name. Then I'll say "No phones!" as we sit and try and remember the name and come out with some truly funny interpretations of the name. It's fun and that sense of pride when you guess it right is great.
Hey we do that too!
When we are around we always argue with each other. If no one wins we do a 10 Cent bet and someone looks it up.
Exactly! We can still talk about those things without immediately looking it up as soon as the question arises.
Dont be afraid to be the person in your group who recommends that discussion either. "Hey im curious about that too, lets see what we can piece together ourselves for fun before checking online" can lead to some interesting discussion
*edit: A.... Word.
That typo made your comment a lot more interesting!
Ha! Hilarious. Well, that's what I get for not proof reading.
Best wishes
She had dumps like a truck, truck, truck...
My wife and I do this with recognizing actors and actresses. It's so easy to pull up IMDB, but man it is so much more satisfying going it over in your head for a few minutes, connecting dots, until you give up, only for you to be thinking about what you're having for dinner and suddenly your brain gives you the answer.
This is literally the main reason I go to my local trivia night.
yeah, so many good conversations lost to 'just google it'
Some amazing conversations can follow once you all actually know the real answers too...
You don't have to be ignorant in order to have good conversations.
For my SO and I, it usually starts with one of us asking a question and then we have a discussion about it. Then , we Google the answer. Usually leads us to learning more about each other, too.
I'm so glad someone commented this but the fact that the post you responded to is so high up sorta annoys me :/.
It's not like Google suddenly makes you a genius, many questions can't be answered by a 5 second Google search, in fact it's the opposite, sometimes Google searches leave you with 100 more questions that make up for wonderful conversations
100% totally agree. People give me shit for it, but I want to know the real answer so we can have more in depth discussion without being idiots on the topic.
I can’t see any other reason to carry on a conversation unless I can come out of it as the winner??
*edit: this seems like one where I might need to specifically point out the /s
Do you have an example?
Where did I say ignorance? Everybody keeps speaking about ignorance lol
A better example is this with LinkedIn. When I'm meeting someone in my industry for the first time, half the time I'll have already glanced over their LinkedIn to get a good picture of who they are meeting. But I still ask about their background, because I'm having the conversation to get to know them, not because I want the answer.
good conversations
This is true.
No it is not.
Yes it is!
NO IT ISN'T!
YES IT IS YOU IDIOT!
I got into a lot of these arguments when I was younger. They were anything but good conversations.
I have met someone on the phone for the first time, and asked him to tell me about himself.
He told me I should have checked his Linkedin before the call.
Well, I hope he enjoys not getting whatever it was he needed. Whether it was for a job interview or a date, consider it a bullet dodged.
What kind of douchebag doesn’t like talking about himself?
Well for me it's quite nice when people who seem to think if you simply speak the loudest and proclaim infallibility, you can now just whip out your phone and be like..nope.
My older brother has a very hard time believing he could be wrong and he used to always steamroll me, but not so much now
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googles it "Oh, Sean Bean." "He was so good in Sharpe." "What's that?" "This amazing period TV show about a soldier in the Napoleonic wars. It's mostly shot in Crimea." "Crimea? Where's that?" "It's on the Black Sea." "I'm crap at geography, sorry, that didn't help." "No worries - here, check out this map I just Googled for you" "Oh, nice. I think that's near where my great grandparents were from - oh, yeah, holy crap, there's Odessa. My mom always talks about it but I never really knew where it was." "I didn't know your family was from Ukraine!" "Well we're mostly Mexican but my mom's dad's family immigrated here in the 1910's and moved to North Dakota. My grandad moved out to LA when he was 17 and met my grandma on a company waterskiing trip." "That's wild!"
Unfortunately I'm not that knowledgeable about Sean Bean ):
Well, now you're off to a good start. ;)
This is why you have to have conversations about things you can't easily Google. My husband and I spend hours chatting about ways to get away with hypothetical crimes. We usually end up with come really off the wall schemes.....
But a lot of those conversations start with something that can be easily googled. For example, you might start the conversation asking about a crime TV show you're both into, then you go off on a tangent to a more interesting topic
You have to be ignorant to have good conversation?
In my experience it's rather nice to be able to go "lets google it and see whose right" and not waste two hours arguing about something one of us knows is right and one of us is just being dumb about.
Generally my rule is to have a bit of conversation and try to figure it out yourself, then google it to check to see who is right.
The most recent "Superstore" episode dealt with this problem. The payoff was Garret shouting "Gary Oldman!" apropos of nothing, when a factiod came to him organically.
One of my friends and I are really into certain kinds of music, and if we can't remember who sings a certain song or whatever we'll try to think of it for a ridiculously long time. When one of us caves and Googles it, there's such a feeling of defeat. Still, at least you know and it doesn't drive you crazy anymore. You dont have to call friends or radio stations to find out. I think Google is a good thing, but sometimes best used as a lady resort for stuff like pop culture trivia.
A lady resort? I like the way your phone thinks =p
See thats the fun of it. I prefer it as a last resort instead of trying to strike up a conversation and the response being 'google it'
But so many more debates when you get someone who knows everything and things that everything on the internet is a lie... Now Google is used as an insult (ie; "Pfft! You looked that up on google, you dumbass...", "No, it was my major in university actually, and I wrote my doctorate on it...", "Higher education is a joke! You know nothing.") I love my stupid neighbours, I really do.
Rule 32 of dating: can't use the internet to solve a dispute or problem. You must work together to figure it out. This hints at how well you will be able to manage complicated problems with no easy solution.
This. When you're meeting someone for the first time, you're asking questions to get to know the other person, not just because you want to know the answer.
This is also the only way to make conversations bearable for the other person if its a topic you're particularly knowledgeable about
Does anyone (that isn't a total assbag) actually do that, me and my friend usually argue about the topic until we calm down, then not until me or my friend leaves does one of us look it up, then the next time me see each other, one of us proves ourselves.
I use google to educate myself on a huge array of topics. Same with wikipedia. I always, though, delve into the primary sources, research papers, and try to make sure my knowledge is accurate.
In regard to conversing with friends, we'll debate it and occasionally google it together if it is something we both know little about or cannot remember. Otherwise, we generally look it up later.
And I also miss the time we spent as kids just hanging out in a local park or playing basketball or whatever. Completely disconnected from the entire world, even our parents. "Be home when the street lights come on!" That was awesome in the summer.
Something is lacking, imho, about how much people connect on social media these days. I cringe when I get a reminder to wish someone a happy birthday by 'Clicking HERE.' Seems so impersonal when I see that nearly all of their 2,590 friends have done so. No one is actually close that that many people on a personal or intimate level.
That feeling of dried sweat on my skin in my favorite bball shorts and t-shirt, totally exhausted, a cool breeze and a friend by my side, an orange sky as the sun set. Thanks for the reminder.
Yes Dad, many people below the age of 40 use the internet without feeling bad about it
I'm not 40, I'm actually 14, everyone hates the guy who pulls out his phone to prove people wrong, not dislike slightly, everyone HATES them.
Yes child, many people above the age of 16 have basic social interactions without feeling bad about it.
Fuck off with your condescending bullshit.
Nobody gives a shit if you look something up on your phone unless you're being an asshole while you do it.
Yes, but who isn't an asshole when they look something up on their phone
Again, the fact that you think such a basic human interaction is impossible without being a jackass says way more about you than it does about anything else.
Okay, can you not be such a jackass, I'm just saying nobody like the guy who does that (except you)
You can say it as many times as you like. That doesn't make it true.
That's the way to do it. You have a good friend.
I wouldn't use the word argument but yeah that sounds about right. Half the time when I'm meeting someone I ask the question not because I want to know the answer, but because I want to talk to you.
Which is an amazing thing. We can get information so easily
Too much information isn't always nice
As the giant nerd that used to have to field random calls, thank god for google. Now people don't call me (which I've always hated) over stupid shit because I might know.
I guess ignorance is bliss.
More of 'try to see if you can figure it out yourself, then check yourself with google'
Even on the Internet itself where we are on a site meant to be for discussion, a type of open forum if you will. You ask any question and you'll immediately get someone telling you that you're a retard and that you should just Google it.
Oh of course! I forgot I had access to all the information I could ever need. Silly me for wanting a discussion on the topic which might unfold a deeper answer than what could be found in a brief googling where the first source is a buzzfeed article and the second one is a paid ad.
Once my dad and I were at a cabin for a week with no internet. I found out right at the beginning of the week that my dad defiantly thought that the word “oar” was spelled “orr”.
Me and my friends try not to use google when we are out (usually drinking) instead we discuss it, try to share our own thoughts (which are usually waaaaay off) and google it afterwards, maybe bring it up again the next time we see each other. Google really keeps you from having to steer your conversations anymore, it’s like “yup a whale in 100feet long” “cool” “yeah” My reasoning keeps getting dumber for every day, gonna have dementia at the age of 40 if I don’t engage my brain lol.
This is why i hate discussion forums etc. when i ask a question and just get told to 'google it'.
I don't want to google it, i want to have a discussion with another human being about it.
exactly. Also sometimes googling it will give you the wrong answer since you need someone knowledgeable to tell you what to google
Solution:
Debate thing.
Google it. Look only at the basic answer, not the in-depth explanation. (Click no links.)
Debate the why.
Optional: look at in-depth explanation.
I agree. This x100.
I generally try to figure something out for about a minute before googling it because I can often find or figure out the answer in that time frame. I think it helps with retention when you actually Google after the waiting period as well
I would say try to figure it out yourself before googling it
work with older dudes that still have convos like this. at first i was one of the 'google it' people but after a few times i realized how much it kills the fun part of the convo, so i stopped.
just realize you're talking to them to have the conversation, not to find out the answer
advice for meeting new people lol
it’s always the most boring/quiet person who does it as well, like thats the only thing they can contribute
conversation doesn’t have to always be engaging and it can be fun to just argue about menial shite for a while, how 90% of conversations in england go anyway
exactlyyyyyyy
you're not talking to find out the right answer. if i seriously wanted to know the right answer i wouldn't have asked you and i'd have just googled it. I wanted to know YOUR answer. thats why i asked you
Calling quiet people boring while on rest if is pretty silly. A lot of people are socially awkward and can't find a way to join in a conversation, and you say they are boring because of that?
There are a lot of people who want to contribute, but are immediately shot down by the loud, boisterous social person who wallows in their ignorance.
This was always more irritating than anything to me. Especially when I know that there is a known, definitive answer to a question.
I can kinda understand your latter point. But when the topic is just a factual piece of information I'd much much rather be able to easily acquire the answer from the internet than the alternative.
I remember doing hw before the internet was big... I didn't have anyone to help do math I didn't understand, so I'd be sitting there reading the books all afternoon.
I don't know now you can wonder about all the things that are actually still mysteries instead of arguing something that already has an answer. Thats pretty cool.
I also miss the simplicity of doing something. For so many things, I find myself "researching" the multitude of ways to tackle something and feeling overwhelmed. Before, it would be one way, from a book.
On the contrary, I can get up one morning and be entirely clueless about a thing, and just look it up and do it.
The internet makes doing impulsive things much easier.
Before, it would be one way, from a book.
As someone who grew up with the internet, this never really occurred to me. I could believe that we've swapped a depth of specific knowledge for the breadth of more general knowledge.
We haven't really swapped anything just added a shitton. Knowledge is cumulative and it's easier to access nowadays than ever before. Living in the future rules.
I feel it does affect memory a little. I often find I don't actually absorb the stuff I look up unless it has some kind of interesting story that goes with it.
Back before the internet I feel the physical effort it took to look up info helped to ingrain it in your brain. You often had to go to a different location and find a book or whatever. Now it's pull out your phone an look.
I've definitely swapped the way I try to memorize information, though.
Before you could instantly check up literally everything, it was useful to teach yourself stuff more precisely and thoroughly, as that was what you had to work with until you went out of your way to check it up from a book or whatever. These days it's more useful to have a general idea or a more loose understanding of wider variety of stuff than before and only brush up on the finer points "on demand" when you need them.
Basically, I try to know the basics of a lot more topics by heart when I used to try to know fewer topics but more in depth.
It's just different, that's all. Take a simple task : fixing some plumbing.
YouTube has been priceless for me to learn it. I can spend an hour or two watching 10 different people tackle the same problem in different ways, boil down the common points, and then fix the thing.
Sometimes though, that time sink just makes even the simplest things seem more complex
And also, the trouble of finding the information meant that it would be much more cemented into our brains.
A simple google search that answers a doubt that had only minutes in our minds won't be there in the long term.
That's the point, though. It doesn't need to be there long term, because we can look it up pretty much whenever we want.
Makes sense. I guess this comes down to life choices, though.
I personally like maintaining every new information I'm able to, and thus feeling more and more knowledgeable. The same way I like being able to do simple math without depending on a calculator.
I understand that, but I prefer to look at it this way: the internet allows every person to have access to the collective knowledge of mankind. We all, in a way, already have the knowledge that we want to look up, since we can access the internet at any time. I consider the tools I use to solve problems part of my intellectual self. To me, it's almost a matter of semantics to distinguish between knowledge you've memorized and knowledge you can look up.
And if that book was outdated or just plain wrong you were wrong.
I hear that. Exercise, home repair, car repair.... so many methods/advice for everything now it gets so overwhelming when I research something and sometimes takes longer researching than to do the actual task.
Going to the library, with a list of subjects I wanted to learn about. Grabbing a book each on the subject and devouring them over the weekend. Ahhh I’m glad I had the pleasure of being the part of the pre-googlean generation.
I used to spend so much time in my library, it really had this amazing smell and all sorts of good spots to read for hours. My parents gave me free reign to go to the library whenever I wanted, so it was a fantastic escape
I agree the escape, my first bouts of independence. You’re so right the smells! Opening up older books and wondering who else enjoyed them way back when. Reserving reading rooms for my eyewitness books, when the real researchers actually needed them (guilty, so guilty)
There was a ritual to it, pity its died.
Heh, I can see why some amish live the way they do.
I miss the bar room discussions. I'm almost 28. If I go to a bar everyone is on their damn phone, trying to fuck someone, trying not to be fucked by someone, or being catty with friends.
When I was around 13 people would sit at the bar tables and have a couple while debating life, history, shit that mattered. And I looked forward to that when I could drink. The only people who I could have those kinds of talks with are either here, on reddit, or not the kinda people I wanna discussion with.
Go to smaller bars. Dive bars/ pub style are the best for just hanging out with friends and having good conversations.
Me and a large group of friends would go to a local small bar and play scrabble over pitchers. Maybe you could start a similar thing.
Maybe have a conversation club. Like a book club but you're just given a topic that everyone has to read up on through the week then discuss in depth.
Obviously youre gonna want a better name. Conversation club is all that coming sounding
We play cards against humanity, sometimes monopoly, often we just chat. :)
Worse these days, people secretively search for the topic during the course of discussion and argue stronger when they know the actual truth. Shame on them for cheating on arguments..
How shameful of people to want to spread the truth
IMHO it’s now way simpler than ever to research something. And easy access to information doesn’t take away wonderment, it rather amplifies it because you can learn much more things than a single book or conversation may offer, like when you look up for, let’s say, “hiroshima bombing” and you end up learning about uranium extraction in Africa
u/rubbishgrubbish And the problem with the Internet is that you can find a website that will accept and try to prove your point whichever way you look at it. There are websites for vaccinations and anti vaccinations. Their websites for Environmental Protections and anti Environmental Protections. Just have to find that website that proves your point, believable or not.
Even for non fact based stuff - like making a loaf of bread, baking a flourless cake, how to tile a shower, or how to fix a sprinkler... There are hundreds of recipes, all likely good, or plenty of videos how to do something complex, but I end up sinking a lot of time into that hole as well. Before the internet, it was more - find someone to show you how, or find a book to do it.
For random "what was that song", or "who was that actor who played..." questions, my BF has a hard rule that Google is cheating.
It really is satisfying when you finally have that "OH YEAH!" moment when you figure it out.
When it comes to "my sink is leaking and I don't know what to do", I'm just fine to use Google for that.
I dunno man. I think that is one of the great things about the internet, in fact it is probably the most important. It's a repository of all human knowledge. How are you gonna say that is a bad thing?
I prefer knowing. Ignorance should be banished wherever it takes root.
My family inherited an old encyclopedia set and I made a hobby of choosing a random book from the alphabetized series and getting super into it. It was outdated but it seemed as if facts never changed then.
Nothing I learned really paid off but I got really into three-toed sloths and lemurs for a while.
Got to experience this again just a couple years ago. Went on a two+ week rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. No cell phones, no Google, no looking things up. We'd sit around camp in the dark talking and if someone made a claim about something and no one else knew better you just...believed them. It was kind of freeing, actually. A dozen people tired from paddling boats all day living in the moment.
I got to experience that again the other night. I was staying at Penn State for a Urban Gaming invitational and my hosts roommate had a copy of Intro to Linear Programming and Game Theory.
It was so fascinating getting and introduction to something without being bogged down by wikipedia's blue hyperlinks and all the different extra things to know about. I got to focus.
My friends and I made a “no googling in a bar” rule and it’s been great. If anyone googles anything in a bar (intentionally or not) they buy a round
At my house when I was growing up, my Mum had a complete set of Walnuts and Plunkett (or something) encyclopaedias.
When I asked her something she didn’t know, we’d pull out these musty smelling old things and pore over them for ages.
Often we didn’t find out answer but we’d always have fun getting side tracked.
I grew up with smartphones and the ability to get any info i want at the touch of a button, but my friends and I still often spend a few minutes discussing a question before we google it. It's a lot of fun to argue about stuff like that, and it teaches you to think
Yes, and noone was mad when they were wrong. Nowadays it feels like everyone has there opinion regardless of what the facts say. Just state your entitled 'facts' and pretend they are truer than proven facts.
God I need help with this. Especially when there's 2 best ways of doing something and you need extra information to decide that doesnt exist.
Also finding stuff the cheapest. Buying power outlets was never this stressful. From China they're 2dollars but takes a month to reach, local shop has then for 9, from Germnay they are 5 but need to buy 4 extra. Oh, I found the prefect fit, shipping million euros
Now, I can instantly end it with a search.
I live in a really small farm town. No stop lights, gas station, bar and church about it kinda town. Anyhow, we have lots of town drunks, but one of them lets call J was a trivia wizard. He would pride himself on being able to answer just about anything when it came up in bar conversation. He loved being the smartest person in the room lol.
Smart phones destroyed his soul. He'd hear something in the bar that would interest him, get ready to start talking, and someone would be like "oh google says its this" puts away phone. J just looked so defeated. He was always that guy people went to, and google took it away from him.
Stupid knowledge.
I used to remember all sorts of stuff, because if you read an interesting fact in a book you've got to commit it to memory or it will be lost.
Now I don't bother remembering anything. It's unfortunate.
Worse these days, people secretively search for the topic during the course of discussion and argue stronger when they know the actual truth. Shame on them for cheating on arguments..
Worse these days, people secretively search for the topic during the course of discussion and argue stronger when they know the actual truth. Shame on them for cheating on arguments..
I like being able to Google things, as opposed to using old encyclopedias or finding someone knowledgeable about the subject. There's no excuse for not knowing things today with so much information at your fingertips.
Oh absolutely, it's incredibly powerful, and I wouldn't trade it - especially in serious situations where quick, accessible, and correct information is necessary . I do like the feeling of wondering from time to time especially for stuff that is unimportant .
Oops sorry for the knowledge. Google probably
At the same time, though, if two people can't come to a conclusion, themselves, they don't have to remain ignorant about it.
I remember watching tv one day at a friends house and his mom walks by and asks who the actor was since he looked familiar. For the next 2 hours that I was there it was a debate. When I finally got home I asked my parents and they had the answer and I immediately phoned my friend back to relay the info.
I recently had a moment like this at work where no one knew the name of someone in a famous band. Since phones were a nogo at work, we went around asking the whole staff, no one knew. So then we resorted to asking customers, who then resorted to their phones.
Reminds me of this bit on Conan:
Clifford Still aka the klien bottle guy who appears on numberphile once said something about the internet killing curiousity. He was laughed out of the room at the time, but now I'm beginning to believe he's right
How is it killing curiosity? By addressing it and answering your question?
I think not having an easy way to act on curiosity is way more effective at killing the emotion than rewarding it with knowledge
For example, say you wonder why cookies get soggy when you dip them in milk.
Post internet you'd just Google the answer.
Pre internet, you'd have to apply your accumulated scientific knowledge, perform experiments of your own, then form some kind of hypothesis. There is a process your mind goes through, that helps it learn how to handle a new problem. I think this is the type of curiosity that is slowly fading
That's not curiosity, that's problem solving techniques.
And really? You'd go that far to figure out why cookies get soggy? I get that it's a silly example, but even if you exchange that example with something other people wonder about, I know almost no one who's willingly put an effort like that into discovering something they don't need to know. And I'm not talking about millennials, I'm talking baby boomers. T They might read a book about it, but experiments? That's scientists and teachers only dude. Or the rare individuals.
More often than not they either go "guess ill never know" (where's the curiosity in that?) Or they make a guess and decide that's how the world works.
You pretend like internet makes people lazy and stupid, when really people are just lazy and stupid by default. Internet makes knowsledge easier to attain, and therefore, it makes the average person less stupid. Unless they prefer to figure it out themselves without input from others, in which case they are either wilfully ignorant - most probably - Or they are kind of smart and therefore think they can know everything - which is also wilfully ignorant, except they have a shot of actually being right.
Eh. I do a lot of mecckanicking and the books frome the eras of the shit I tend to work on usually read like "remove transmission . Fix transmission. Reinstall transmission." YouTube is fucking wonderful when I run up againot an odd old time design with a specific procedure that used to be common knowledge but not common sense.
But looking it up is a choice. I still have conversations all the time about how something could work and why and we'd build off eachother and then maybe find out if we're right. It's great I can still let my mind wander
I’ve e never been one to research things. I just try to do shit and if it doesn’t work my way, then I’ll look up how it’s supposed to be done.
I prefer this though. Now I'll search something, and can be reading details about a very specific thing for hours on end
I miss that - the sense of wonderment and imagining how something could work. Now, I can instantly end it with a search.
On the flipside, there's a lot of interesting trivia I've learned over the years that I doubt I'd have ever learned if I hadn't seen them on the internet. Or I'd have dismissed it as untrue, but because I've seen a video of it I know it's real (if you told child me about non-Newtonian fluids I'd have thought you were crazy).
I have a rule about this now. I used to search at the first instinct too. Now, I wait, think about it, ask others if they're available and then search. Leads to amazing discussions sometimes.
Visit a pub in rural Northumberland. Some of them are still firmly in the 80s.
It's fun to do without that every now and then. A while ago a couple friends and I were arguing about something stupid (I think it was about what cut of beef is in a french dip sandwich) and someone said "let's just google it" at one point. We determined it was way more fun to continue arguing about it for a bit longer.
Pete Holmes has a bit I like about this
https://youtu.be/5EC8d0Z6uos
I miss that - the sense of wonderment and imagining how something could work. Now, I can instantly end it with a search.
Yeah I know that. You're essentially saying that the feeling of curiosity and mystery is better than getting the answer right? That just seems so contradictory to me. We are curious because we want an answer, but at the same time we don't want the answer because it'll take curiosity away. How to deal with this?! I don't know how to reconcile those thoughts or how to find comfort in them.
Alternatively there are so many more opportunities. Like how can you replace this car part? I have no idea take it to the shop. Now it's like let's figure it out watching this video.
Imagine getting gold and not even editing your post to say thank you
Wow. You have the essential power of a God at your fingertips and you miss having to go find a fuckin book and search for the answer, spending who knows how long???
Imo it's insanely incredible to have that power.
Need to know something about plumbing because your bathroom pipe just burst? Your car making a certain noise? Think you tore a muscle? Feeling sick and out of town and need to find a doc?
The internet places you in God mode to solve your issues. It's strictly better than how it once was plus you could always still go about looking in a book etc.
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Why?
Before, it would be one way, from a book.
Probably the wrong way though.
Why do you miss having less access to information? That's ludicrous wtf
Oh no, the burden of knowledge.
the sense of wonderment
Is that what you call it? When two people disagree on something and both think the other person is an idiot for thinking what they do but there is no way to prove each other wrong?
Someone at work once said that "if you have sex with someone who has had any alcohol and they decide later they didn't want it than it is legally rape" a quick call to our military base legal department backed me up (the law is much more nuanced than that and it takes more than the person having one beer for it to be considered rape but don't take that as advice to hook up with drunk people as they can just lie later) . The lawyer from legal seemed quite concerned and only talked about it over the phone after I told him it wasn't about anyone but was settling a work argument.
Was this article about 'your friend'?
Edit:
https://reddit.app.link/6XV3gr5bIV
No. I literally called the legal office and didn't read it from the paper. And our discussion was about if someone could consent after any alcohol.
On the flip side you can now hold debates over various problems today and how to solve them without having to debate about the actual facts. Disagreement over a statistic? Pull up Wikipedia and see who’s correct.
This is exactly how I see it too. I love to debate with my husband and other friends about stuff like what would the ideal government look like, what would be the best ending to game of thrones, what do you think of this idea or that ....we can go on for hours.
I got in a discussion last night where a couple people started debating the first name of the principal in Mathilda. Like ffs pull out your phone and move on, you fart sacks
I look at the Internet's accessibility with a sense of wonder.
For instance, after my wife and I have watched a movie, we're sometimes wondering who the actor was that we partially recognized. We know their voice or face, but we can't remember where we know them from. Now we can fire up RottenTomatoes/IMDB/Etc and find out, including what other movies/shows they've been in. It's really enjoyable.
There's no need to buy a new set of super expensive encyclopedias every few years, and hope that what we want is in book 7. If we're unlucky, maybe it's in the 2018 Edition that we forgot to buy. Now we can just look it up on Wikipedia, or Google it.
The Internet does come with a price, but there are so many useful things it does for us on a daily basis. I keep wondering what's next on the horizon...
Edit: And no, I don't miss encyclopedia salespeople.
I look at it like when your math teacher used to tell you that you won’t always have a calculator, and that’s why you have to learn math. Okay, so she turned out to be wrong, and we do all have calculators in our pockets now, but I’m still glad I understand how math works anyway. It’s nice to know that I could still figure it out if I needed to.
In the same way, sure, we can look up an actor’s entire cinematic history in a couple of seconds, but it’s not the same as having a conversation about it and engaging your memory. It’s certainly a useful tool — there’s no arguing that — but I worry that we’ll get to the point where we treat a question as just not worth trying to answer if google can’t answer it for us immediately.
It's a challenge then.
you fart sacks
r/rareinsults
Not gonna lie, I thought it said fart snacks
I thought it said your fart sacks
I miss those days. It's great we have access to all the information, but it was nice to be able to have a patient debate. Nobody knows who was correct, you could argue a stupid trivia point all night, and it's just fun socializing until two Thursdays from now when you happen to remember while you're in blockbuster and grab the movie case to see if it says the answer. It doesn't, so you rent it, take it home, watch it through until you get to a scene with the answer and stop it. Invite them over and play the tape so you can shove it in their face. Then remember it was a rental, rush it back to blockbuster and avoid going back for a while because of the late fee you just got.
I look stuff up on my phone constantly, but I do hate it sometimes. Except for actually important stuff, why do we always need to get the correct answer right now? Most of the time, we don't. We're just depriving ourselves of the social fun of it and pushing ourselves to need answers even faster. Man how upset people get when their Google search isn't loading fast enough, though 20 years ago they'd be stuck looking on the computer with a 56k and thinking this speed would be awesome.
I wish I could have experienced more of this "patient debate" you speak of. Conversations like this with my dad would end up with explosive anger and tears. Being able to just Google it and shut his idiocy down immediately was a godsend.
The way most debates go however is both parties will pull up opposing facts, then you spend the time arguing over which source is more reputable.
Dan Carlin had a great segment over how he was jealous about his mothers book club, because they could discuss and debate a single source, something that is difficult to do in the real world.
Or they will just straight up deny that facts are facts.
But my obscure geocities references says I'm right and everyone knows that your Wikipedia article isn't trustworthy.
That is one of the most frustrating things about reddit. Somebody will make a claim another person will ask for a source, the first person gives a source then the other person just shits on it. I have never seen someone ask for a source on reddit then go "oh well I guess you are right" There's not even a point to adding a source anymore because more often than not the other person isn't going to accept it for one reason or another.
On the one hand, I have definitely seen people change their minds from a source. Many times to be honest.
On the other hand, disregarding a source is more common.
But still, often the disregard is very justified. Just because you have a source doesn't make you right. The source can be poor or outright wrong.
i did have seen people here on reddit changing their opinion after watching a source, sometimes you need more than one source but those people do exist
That's not a fact then.
Adding on to this: as a parent now, it sure is nice to be able to look up something immediately that my kids have asked me that I dont know the answer to. When I was a child I had to wait to go to the school library to look up any questions my parents didnt have answers for in the schools beautiful set of World Book Encyclopedias.
As a soon-to-be parent, I plan to take the Calvin's Dad route and make shit up on the fly depending on what's going to be funniest.
Pretty much what I do. I don’t carry my phone 24/7 and if I’m in the yard or garage and my son asks me why the grass is green then I tell him it’s because dinosaurs had green blood and they were so big it created gigantic pools underground and that’s where grass comes from. I don’t feel the need to run to get my phone 80 times a day.
On the flip side you can now hold debates over various problems today and how to solve them without having to debate about the actual facts.
Because of the internet? The place with the anti-vaxers, climate change deniers, and flat earthers?
The internet has worsened people's grips on facts because they can always find one terrible source for their erroneous preconceived beliefs.
What, those people didn't exist before the internet?
It’s so much better having the answer at your fingertips, especially if you have to be near someone who is forcefully WRONG all the time.
Wikipedia? That's fake news, honey, Breitbart said so! /s
Problem are the fuckheads who cherry pick from sources to make them seem right when they are very wrong.
I love this part! It gives us all the opportunity to elevate our discussions. Who wants to actually argue about who actually won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1988? Let's just look it up and get on with our movie themes discussion.
The fun part is the debate though. The actual answer doesn't even matter in a social context
I think it depends on a) what the "debate" is about b) the sensitivity of the person you're "debating"
It really is no fun when you're arguing about a very simple fact with someone who is stubbornly ignorant and thinks being corrected is a personal attack.
Right?!
What these people are advocating is something I actually find annoying in people if they do it all the time. My buddy's wife would do it all the time.
That's actually a bigger problem. What people have at dinner or drinks isn't a debate - it's a conversation. Debates have winners and losers and is a competition. That's not what you want among friends. A conversation is exploratory. It doesn't have a winner or a loser. It has an exchange of ideas.
In the process of trying to remember you stumble on other topics and memories that keep the conversation going. That's the fun part.
I'd rather get deeper in the conversation than just disagreeing about facts. Googling is helpful for finding out facts or depth that make a conversation more interesting. The example above of "does lighting travel upwards or downwards?" Isn't conducive to good conversation. It's at best going to be 2 people bullshitting reasons about why they think it goes one way or the other, as opposed to knowing what way it goes, and then asking questions about why it goes that way together. I don't need to ignore the greatest information source in human history to have a good conversation.
Granted there are some people that just Google the answer then end the conversation, but they're going to be boring to talk to with or without Google. We can still have excellent conversations without not knowing basic information. Conversations actually get better the deeper we get in a topic, because we begin to understand or think about things we haven't before. It adds nuance, clarity, and analysis to a conversation that before might have gotten stuck on a few people trying to remember a fact. Googling and looking up can also cause that same stumble effect you talk about, it just causes us to look deeper at the conversation instead of transitioning before we talk about the meat of the subject.
It's not fun for everyone to have a "conversation" about something that is fact though. There are infinite conversations that can be had about any given topic that doesn't devolve into "I'm just going to state wrong-ass bullshit and get personally wounded if people don't just giggle and accept incorrect statements as opinions." You can't just burble out bullshit and expect others to find that "fun" if they know or suspect you to be factually incorrect just because you labeled it a "conversation" or an "opinion." I find it fun to have conversations about things that are subjected. I find it offensive and annoying to be bombarded by statements that are wrong, only to instigate a pout-a-thon when checking for myself what is right.
Though maybe this attitude in combination with technology is what has caused the attitude that calling something an "opinion" automatically makes it valid. Before smartphones, you could have a "discussion" about something that had a set-in-stone answer, and if no one at the table was an expert, you'd have to be content with the discussion ending on "well, I guess we'll never know." No one needed to wail about it being unfair and mean that you said they were wrong, because you could never prove them wrong, and they could go on being wrong with no extra mental gymnastics; you'd never be 100% sure either, because by the time you got to the library to check, you've already forgotten about it. Now, if you're not sure about a set-in-stone fact, you can look it up and everyone can have the joy of knowing something new. But some people do not care about knowing things, they care about feeling validated. So they move the goalposts to "but it's my opinion." It's just their opinion that the world is flat, that vaccines cause autism, and that the moon is made of green cheese, so if you show them any evidence to the contrary, you're just a big ol' meaniepants for violating the magic incantation of "opinion."
Jesus Christ, dude. You need to take about 80% off there.
You either need to find new friends or reevaluate how you have discussion. Because one or the other is problematic.
And yes, sometimes it is fun to talk about known things. It's fun to watch people think and try and tie things together to remember stuff or connect bits of information.
Or, it's not about the right answer. It's about using that unknown to springboard off onto something related. Very often getting the answer from Google just puts a hiccup in the conversation instead of helping it along.
It's possible to have those conversations without vomiting up incorrect information then thinking that checking facts is ruining the conversation. Only someone with extremely thin skin could feel that way.
Dude, I'm talking about bullshitting at the bar with my friends. Not a debate on the floor of the UN. The topics aren't that serious. And I'm not saying that 100% of the time a fact check is bad. Just that people do that 100% of the time can take the fun out of a light conversation.
If your fun is ruined by someone contradicting you, then checking a fact, you are very thin skinned, and probably aren't much fun to begin with. Same if you take any sort of contradiction, correction, or genuine interest in the answer as making something "serious" or "like debating on the floor of the UN." If you can't have a discussion that involves concrete facts without having the night ruined when someone wants to know something for themselves, stick to debating ice cream flavors.
You clearly have no concept of what I'm talking about. And again, I'm not having a debate with my friends. I'm having a conversation. I'm not talking about contradiction. I'm talking about nobody knowing something for sure and we work together to figure it out.
Again, the point is getting to know your friends more, bounce around topics, make each other laugh. The unknowns are not meant to found but meant to feed the conversation.
Fact checking isn't the thing the ruins the fun. It's how it affects the conversation. Instead of sparking ideas from other people in the group it just gets looked up and the topic is done.
But you clearly have no idea about the lighthearted conversation among friends I'm talking about.
I have lighthearted conversations. It just doesn't involve forcing my friends into a masturbatory psychological exercise to find the answer to an easily answered question. People can have conversations without some snide fucker saying "HEYYYYYY let's work together to find out the answer, put that phone away so we can make it a mental exercise!" If you can't have a conversation or get to know your friends without this type of game, or once a single question has been answered, you're the one who doesn't know how to have a conversation, dude. That isn't the behavior of a friend, it's the behavior of an English 101 professor trying to teach the class a lesson.
Username checks out.
dude give it up lol
Debating isn't about competition, it's about opposing ideas to one another. Ofc if you debate about "what's the 15 first digits of pi?" or "shall i use you're or your in this sentence?", there will be a winner and a loser.
But if you're debating about topics like "what would our current world be like without internet", there is no way someone can be fully right or wrong, since it's purelly speculative and would generally be more about what everyone think instead of what it would actually be.
Like others said, I think internet is a wonderfull thing when it's about debating, because when it's just silly subjects, you can just search it and move on, while about interesting subjects, you can add infinite ideas to the debate and everybody can benefit from it.
In my oppinion, internet didn't killed debate, it just put an end to silly debates where someone is spreading unknowingly false informations.
PS : I love debating and I enjoy what internet brought, since I can now prove my point when I'm right, and have proofs that I'm wrong and learn something new when it's the other way (because I'm a stubborn asshole, and when internet was not such a thing, I couldn't accept something opposing my point of view without proof)
Some thing are not “just an exchange of ideas”. Some things are just plain fact and when someone argues against plain facts it is incredibly irritating and not a conversation I want to be a part of.
cool, but talking about shit you can just look up is boring as fuck
Do this all the time with my friend, keep arguing back and forth until one of us looks it up
Me and my friend still ended up spending an hour debating over what the name for something was. Turns out I was calling it its spanish name and she was calling it its english name.
Yeah, without being able to reference stuff, a lot of arguments end up looking like this:
https://youtu.be/vyyyh8_Afyw
Oh boy do I wish it worked like that.
Even better - Everything on the internet is true - no one lies on the internet
-s/ of course, and the crap on there also makes for messy arguments. I advise against searching for health tips on facebook for example
FAKE NEWS! /s
But now everyone's learned to use their own specific statistic which is somehow completely different from the similar one on Wikipedia.
That doesn't always work. I have a friend who rejects Wikipedia as a source if it refutes his point.
Exactly what I was thinking. The fact that we have the indisputable information forces us to synthesize our own material in debates and what not. It actually forces us to create something new from what we know instead of trying to understand or remember how something works.
Like global warming? People still ignore facts.
Nowadays you can actually vehemently defend an indefensible position such as vaccines causing autism and the world being flat despite the multitudes of knowledge available. Wild.
I still have people who try to argue facts with me and I just shake my head and say look it up.
I miss the days when you could edit the wiki data to suit your narrative before showing your friends. 😂
Right? I will always be of the opinion that having the near summation of contemporary human knowledge at your fingertips for discovery, education, curiosity, etc. is one of the most wondrous things ever.
Want to know an arbitrary set of numbers from the Fibonacci sequence? Done.
Want to know the probable diets of farmers in the Ur region of Mesopotamia, 5000 years ago? Done.
Want to say "suck my left testicle" in Navajo? Done.
Yeah, Wikipedia isn't exactly a becon of truth nowadays
it actually kinda is
this way of thinking (of wikipedia being wrong because anyone can edit it) came from a time when wikipedia was much less administrated, were modifications that some random did for fun stayed, but now a days they have an expansive army of both human and bots that revise every page trying to keep the information the most trustworthy posible and because of that the information that wikipedia gives is actually really precise
now of course if you want to have a more profound and formulaic opinion on the matter you are better checking other sources, but looking stuff on wikipedia is still the fastest way posible and if you just want to prove to your buddies that light travels at 299792 km/s you are better just cheking wikipedia (i just did)
Wikipedia is a great source for getting into a subject or acquiring general information. For writing papers, you should always check the latest peer-reviewed secondary literature to get a broader picture. But still, it’s really really rare that I read something on Wikipedia that’s a complete mess. They even bother for displaying every aspect and perspective if a subject is controversial. On top of that, the references can be really helpful for further reading :)
Don't agree with Wikipedia? Click Edit and change it for just long enough to show it to the person you're trying to prove the point to.
Then please go back and fix it so you're not messing up the rest of the world. Actually someone will probably do that for you, but still. Also you can save a link to the wrong version ,if that's what you want, by opening up the history and looking at that.
now a days wikipedia automatically erases bad information on a minutes notice
Did you know lightning travels upwards? No it goes down! Let's phone your dad, he's a meteorologist.
It travels in both directions actually. The leaders travel down to the Earth. Then the return stroke shoots back up along the path of the leader that reached the Earth the fastest.
Thanks dad.
Thank you! Your answer should be up higher!
Pete Holmes does a great bit on this but basically it boils down to "because we all have access to the entirety of human knowledge at all times, knowing something feels exactly the same as not knowing it."
Marc Maron has a bit somewhat like this as well.
This reminds me of when I went off to college in 2007 and was having a conversation about the Mad Max movies. I couldn’t remember the name of the first movie (everyone knows Road Warrior and Beyond Thunder Dome). So I pulled out my flip phone and called the only person who would know: my dad.
He was a bit concerned because it was a call during the middle of the day...but he did know the answer: Mad Max. (No really, the first movie is Mad Max, the second is Road Warrior, and third is Beyond Thunderdome.) Thanks to my dad, I got to look cool in front of my new friends.
This isn't something that the internet killed though, just specifically mobile data with regards to on-the-spot knowledge of something especially quickly when away from work/school/home. freely or easily -accessible internet computers were around since the 21st century.
Ah pub arguments. You could spend an entire evening arguing about who hosted the olympics in what year, who won the world cup, who sang that song first. Entirely meaningless arguments but that's not really the point. That form of relationship building is dead now that everyone has wikipedia in their pockets.
I’m sure you know this, but that’s exactly the origin of the Guinness book of world records. Published and originally stocked in bars to solve those kinds of disputes.
Is that why it's called Guinness?
Yeah, Guinness owns it and started it for marketing purposes.
yeah, one of the founders was the managing directors of the Guiness brewery at the time.
[deleted]
That teacher is both an idiot, and bad.
Holy shit what awful teacher.
I hate that shit. Why waste time arguing about something that has a concrete answer? There's still room for debate in philosophy, politics, all that kind of stuff.
If things don't have a concrete answer, then why debate them?
To think about them and consider different ways of thinking. Drinking with buddies and talking about religion and determinism and the concept of free will sounds way better to me than arguing about who won the '73 World Series.
That's fair, but in my eyes they're equally as pointless in a way. One is unanswerable and the other is trivially answerable, so neither make for great discussion. To me the perfect discussion is something that can be tested with a scientific experiment or thorough investigation, that few have thought of before.
I realized today that the internet has killed just simply asking for help (or asking questions). It was once an essential, everyday, and ancient element of human society but now we can just find anything we want online. Sure, there's always a human on the other end of the information you're getting but there's no actual interaction at all except with Google. I never need to ask anyone for directions, or a recipe, or who that one actor was, or advice, or anything else if I don't want to. And I have mild social anxiety so often I don't. I can see how it actually worsens my anxiety because I have go go out of my comfort zone to ask for help less than I would have had to if I'd grown up before the internet.
Yeah, it made bullshitting so much easier.
If a phone number has 911 in it, it dials 911!
Back then, oh really!!! Then they spread that lie? Priceless!
Now, bullshit, google!
Oh dear. Now instead of having meaningless arguments people will actually be able to know the truth. What a pity.
We would always call Jeggs the auto parts supply store. They were open 24 hours a day so it was always available. One time we had an argument over if mules were sterile or not. So we called Jeggs and the guy actually answered it without skipping a beat. Argument solved, Jeggs guy can't be wrong, moved on. But yeah now it's just googled and takes away from fun kinda.
You fools. You had the epitome of human knowledge at your hand.
You could have asked for future game scores, lottery numbers, stock predictions, or how to rule the world. But you wasted it on mule sterility.
The Jeggs guy has moved on from this plane of existence back to his home now, slightly disappointed that all of his power was wasted on the humans.
Related-ish:
My dad's best friend has a daughter my same age, with my same name, and my same profession. We only ever met when we were very young (we live a few hours apart from each other).
One night our dads were out to eat with a few of their other good friends. I was having an argument with my friend, I called my dad to ask him to settle this argument between my friend and I (pre-smartphone era), because I knew that my dad would know the answer. So I call him, he confirms that I'm right (huzzah), and I go about my night.
The next day, my dad calls me. He says, "You're never going to guess what happened after you called me last night. About half an hour after you called me, friend's daughter called HIM, and asked him the exact same question."
What's funny was, after I talked to my dad, his friend asked him what I had called about (the last year [at that time] that the Phillies had been in the World Series). My dad and his friend are HUGE Phillies fans. So anyway, half an hour later, my dad's friend's daughter calls him, asks him the SAME QUESTION, and instead of answering her, he passes the phone to my dad and says, "Tell my dad what you just asked me!" and they all appropriately lost their shit.
Anyway, what a series (heh) of events. That our dads happened to be together that night, that we both called to ask the same question, and all of the similarities between us in general.
It still blows my minds.
Also, IT WAS 1993, MIKE.
I'm a tournament Scrabble player. Back in '96, when the 3rd edition of the dictionary had just been released, virtually none of us ever bought it because we were pissed off at the removal of offensive words. One day several of us had gotten together at a guy's house for games, and at one point had a disagreement about whether FAVE had just been added.
We called up a local bookstore, and they checked the physical book for us. :-D
Yup, me and dad on way back from dong something. Moon landing came up because we were learning about it in school. I say they landed on the moon July 20th. He says they launched July 20th. Argument ensues.
I say I'm right because we just learned about it. He says he's right because he was alive. We fumed about it the whole way home. Once we arrived we ignored my mother and sprinted the the book shelf to look it up in the encyclopedia.
This brought up a memory of my parents arguing over which band was singing a song on the radio in the car. They argued all the way home that night, then proceeded to drag out their old cassettes (this was early 2000s) and look over the multiple cassettes of each band they were arguing for. They listened and skipped through cassette after cassette on my dad's late 80s stereo figuring out which song it was.
I think my mom must have won, because I remember her basically doing a touchdown dance in the living room lol
Or trying to work out where you know that actor from. Some idiot pulls out imdb and ruins a perfectly good conversation with the answer.
“No that word doesn’t mean that...”
At a party this would then ensue a hilarious debate over the meaning
Holy shit, this just made something click for me.
Context: I'm a professional musician. My parents went to dinner with some friends a few weeks ago, and mid-dinner I get this call from my dad.
"Okay, so, that guitar line in Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue where it sounds like the guitar is talking--they can do that live, right? Like, it's basically just a guitar and a pedal?"
"Uhhh. Yes. It's a little more complicated than that, but basically yeah."
"But like, you don't need a team of people doing digital effects or editing your sound, right?"
"I mean, probably not but I--"
"No, I mean like if I wanted you to approximate it tomorrow and I would pay you a thousand dollars to do it, you could right?"
"...do you have a thousand dolla--"
"Thought so. Love you!"
I've found that since the advent of the smartphone I've had to restrict my conversations to subjects I actually know something about, which is incredibly confining.
People think I'm some sort of genius because I always can answer questions. Happened most of my life.
I'm just proficient at Google.
My mom and I would call the library to fact check random information like this.
Adding on to this: having to wait until Monday to go to the school library to use their encyclopedias to look up a fact and then being able to confront the person later.
I knew tomatoes were a fruit! And I KNOW I'm right cause I looked it up!
I love the internet cause of this. I would get in fights with friends and they wont accept they are wrong, so I google it and show it to them.
The only time you get that now is at a cottage or hunt camp far enough in the bush that you dont get cell service. This once lead to a 3 hour debate, around a bonfire, over whether you could buy "chicken nuggets" at a grocery store in Canada
Dude I used to love getting those calls about random sports shit. Only half the time would I actually know the answer.
When I was a kid we had the whole 27 volume Colliers Encyclopedia. On a weekly basis we would have an argument that need in somebody looking it up in the encyclopedia.
Calling the video store to find out who played the girl in that one movie. Waiting to hear your favorite song on the radio so you could record it. Getting mixtapes that your first love made for you.
Shared cultural experiences. A hit movie, a popular song, a favorite tv show - there was much less selection and variety. I'm not saying having more options is bad, I just miss having more in common as a whole.
I miss going “okay. Well. We disagree.” Or “let’s look it up later. dont see that friend for 2 years first think you y’all say “looked it up bitch. You were wrong!” As if no time passed.
This is something I really don't miss. Being able to find out the correct information is good.
I'm a bit biased though, because my Dad definitely does NOT phone a friend. To this day he still argues using the wisdom of the 70s as though the information age never happened. To this day he still refuses to own and/or use a mobile phone.
My friends and I still call my dad before consulting google. Just recently my best friend called to have me ask my dad if spiders have lungs. Another recent one was an argument about Ice-T being in a rap group before going solo. My dad is really great at trivia.
My parents are LASIK surgeons and one time my friend threatened to laser my butthole shut. I called my mom I the middle of a surgery day to ask if this was possible, and she nonchalantly responded, “no lasers can’t fuse flesh. If you want seal the butthole, you’ll need to burn it.”
This is why I love camping in the wilderness, you can spin yarns and tell tall tales around the campfire and noone can call you on it.
Did you know there was a group of escaped convicts back in the 1800s who hid out around here and eventually set up a little secret town? The government found their descendants in the 70s but covered it up because they'd all gone full cannibal! They shipped them off to some psych ward down south but then there was a mass breakout in the 80s and noone knows where they all got to after that. Maybe they came back here, who knows?
Once as a child my father and I disagreed about whether people wash their ears in the shower, so we had to call and poll people we knew. I remember calling up my grandma just to ask if she washes her ears.
Also those times where you remember a single bit of a tv show from when you were kid and you need to figure out what it is or it’ll drive you figuratively insane?
No wait, I’m glad we have the internet for that. Even day before mobile internet you’d have to rush home and attempt to look it up on pre google shitty search engines. And no mobile internet made bar trivia much more fun.
I, for one, am happy that shits gone. Now ignorant people have no excuse and can be shut down on the spot. And if I’m the ignorant one, such the better I get proven wrong and learn something new straight away, without the excuse that “of course Jimmy says you’re right, you’re married to him”. Fuck off, Karen. The moon is not made of cheese and you’re going to fall off the edge of our flat earth if you don’t stop with this spherical nonsense and sail off to the horizon.
I prefer not being ignorant.
Is Stan the meteorologist you are reffering to?
or go to the bookshelf, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Print_versus_bytes.jpg
My brother used to win bar bets when they were betting on music trivia knowledge because he’d just call me. Forgot about that u til I read your post.
https://youtu.be/PQ4o1N4ksyQ
When I was five, I asked my mom to email my aunt, a biology teacher, to find out whether centipedes "bite" or "sting".
That reminds me. Back in the days before Google, you actually had to know things. Or know someone who did. Otherwise learning stuff took effort.
Actually was talking with someone recently how you don't see things like the scene from Reservoir dogs where they spend a whole 10 minutes trying to remember a actor who played someone in a TV show from the 70s.
They eventually can't come to a conclusion and drop the topic when it runs its course.
You don't even make it a minute now without someone opening IMDB. It is something you just dont do anymore.
Yes! “How I Met Your Mother” nailed this. https://youtu.be/KTbKv_DHB7Q
When my friends on Facebook get into an argument about shit like that they'll tag me... Because I'll Google it and they're lazy
And physicists proved Lightning travels upwards....
This was the origin of the “Guinness book.” The brewery gave it to pubs to settle wagers and disputes.
I try to purposefully hold off on googling anything like this until we've all had a good banter about how we each think it'd work. Makes for much more enjoyable conversation
My mom is a reference librarian and is knowledgeable about many things. She know how to find a question about anything in any book, now she’s addicted to her phone, like a gen Z hooligan.
There are plenty more wondrous things to wonder about.. quantum field theory, for example. But I wonder when society will ever have those conversations at all??? People only seem to care about what they do or know and everything else is useless trivia. It bothers me that no one WANTS to argue because we’re all living in our own small bubbles of knowledge in this intellectually explosive age
I still do this with my mother in law; she's a walking library of music knowledge (mostly 70s music). If fiance and I are disagreeing about who performed a song, when it was released, or even the song title if we can't remember it, all I have to do is hum it and within seconds she'll say, "Oh that's [song], performed by [artist], written by [songwriter] from [album] released in [year]". Then she'll spout off some fun facts. I love it.
I'm super guilty of just googling things though, takes a lot of the fun out of a good debate.
My dad calls me to resolve arguments like these with work friends. It’s been a couple of years but the last one I can remember was about the final line of Farmer in the Dell. No one could remember/agree.
I solved it for him: the cheese stands alone. 😎
going to the library as a kid to resolve a question, I still remember stuff that I looked up then. Now I don't remember what I looked up yesterday on wikipedia.
That said, the first time I used my smartphone to google a fact was when I realized how seriously the world had changed.
I had almost this exact conversation with my teacher at tafe
My grandfather and father used to get in arguments only to consult my grandfathers collection of leather-bound Encyclopedia Britannica for resolution.
This also sucks when you're wrong because normally you'd just be wrong but the other person wasn't smart enough to know you're wrong
I've been trying to find a better way to phrase this, but I call it "The Age of Not Having to Not Know Things"
My buddy introduced me to a rule that I still maintain. "No googling at the bar" we were both in engineering school at the time and some of the debates we'd have we're great but would have been over in seconds with Google.
I still do that. A lot of my friends like to explain stuff but there’s always that one asshole who says “why don’t you google it?” That “Let me google that for you” site is the worst example of people thinking this kind of idea should go away.
I’ll always have follow up questions, I’ll always want some other silly facts thrown in. I also hate “consult our wiki page”
Bro I got ADHD, if that shit isn’t in a super digestible list I’ll just wind up sad and angry.
Those arguments were awesome.
Some of my most memorable moments of undergrad.
I remember when I was younger and Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban was in theaters. We had seen it oh, and my mom gave us the challenge of trying to figure out what the song was in the movie. She had apparently expected us to visit a library or call someone up, because she seemed disappointed when I just searched it online
I am the googler. But I won’t chime in on the conversation taking place till they look to me, knowing I either already know the answer off the top of my head, or I have already found it. A lot of times these conversations bring up other stuff and debates that are genuinely entertaining, and I’d hate to interrupt with the “uh, actually...”
This is some real shit for me.
i don't. its fucking annoying being asked job related things constantly just because family members are curious. leave me alone, i only do it for the money.
I love backpacking in areas with no cell service because of this. You get these kinds of conversations back, minus the calling a person with knowledge on the subject.
I miss the days when fact outweighed one's opinion.
Are you Canadian?
Err yeah, how do did you get that?
Phone
Top deduction!
This pretty much happens in my country since the side where I live lacks wifi in most palces
These conversations still happen regularly for me, googling it is the nuclear option for when you NEED to know.
Wait but which way does it actually go? 😂😂
Now if only we could get people to google before they spread false information and rumors on Facebook.
Ah yes ignorance is bliss.
I have questions for your dad.
Why are rainclouds darker than then normal clouds when rain is transparent?
I think its because of the volume of water present in the clouds or something like that.
Thanks
But I'm assuming you asked your dad about this, which means that you called up the person you know who knows the most about this subject
You must have made his day :)
You had rich dad friends, then. All my friends dads were fuckin forklift drivers or nonexistent.
My dad definitely misses thinking hes right about everything. Of course, even with Google, it's hard to sway him.
Now you just type it into your phone and find out that lightning is a government hoax designed to keep us indoors while they repair the sky LCDs.
What I don't miss about those days is the "Wanna bet?" thrown out, and when you don't agree to put your money on the line, "Oh, so you know you're wrong and full of shit!!"
Here's a fun fact: The beer brand Guinness made the Guinness book of records to be sold to pubs so that people could resolve stupid arguments right there.
Also; Lightning mostly strikes sideways. It can also strike both up and down.
Most people who survive being struck by lightning aren't actually struck by the bolt itself.
Speaking of electricity: Electrocution is a portmanteau of electricity and execution, and means death by electricity.
Drowning, on the other hand, means suffocate by submerging, and thus means you can drown without being close to dying.
Asphyxiation means the act of stopping someone's pulse.
Getting dark here, back to portmanteau: Portmanteau is a portmanteau, and thus an example of itself.
As an introvert who just loves learning, I’m glad I’m now just search away from going down a fascinating rabbit hole of information, and I don’t have to ask anyone about it.
As a kid, I asked so many questions and the adults usually made something up, or said I don’t know and pointed me towards the shelves of encyclopedias, which had their limits. I was stuck with so many unanswered questions until search engines came along.
That's why the Sabbath is good (for us Jews) were not allowed to use electronics on Sabbath so any argument that comes up won't be resolved unless u find it in a book, otherwise it'll have to wait till hours later
Lewis black has a good bit about this in one of his specials
Ah yes the classic bar bet. I read somewhere it’s why they made the Guinness book of records originally. You used to be able to make up shit and argue it to the death and no one could pull out a phone and google who was right or wrong
I get a dopamine release from learning new shit. So I overresearch the most random things on the regular. I do not want to go back lol.
I see your point but it's been a great boon for me in dealing with my unsufferable "know-it-all" father. He refuses to accept that he's wrong about stuff. So I look it up on the internet. "Well it says here on (insert reputable website here) that ...". He hates it. Too bad. Maybe if he wasn't so insufferably hell bent on trying to be the smartest person in the room, people wouldn't be so keen to prove him wrong.
If you were exceedingly dumb or had terrible ideas, your reach was really only your direct circle of friends. Now idiots can broadcast their ideas across the planet with a click
The village idiots have gone global
And now they can congregate.
and one would think "meh, that seems harmless. what's the worst that could happen?" and suddenly, Antivax, flat-earth, etc.
Antivax is bad but flatearthers could be safely ignored. The other side of this is all the people who give idiots attention because it makes them look smart.
yes, its called reddit
We used to have village idiots. Now we have villages of idiots.
Probably the worst biproduct of the internet is idiots not thinking they're idiots because other idiots managed to get on the internet too
They do congregate. A congregation of idiots is also known scientifically as a “reddit”.
I was attacked by a reddit of redditors!!
Damn Redditors, they ruined Reddit!
Flat Earth / Globe Discussion Group on Facebook.
Have you watched the latest Netflix thing about it? It's scary as hell.
Do you mean the Behind the Curve documentary?
Yes, thank you! Sorry I guess it's 2018
No, haven't found the time yet. A Tldr?
It's interesting.... interesting.... interesting...
Sorry, you'll have to watch to get the joke. It's very good, but you might end up throwing something at the TV. There are a few times where it looks like they might just work out that they are wrong, and a few experiments where they don;t get the results they want. It's not a hatchet job, just gives them just enough rope.
Oh, I instantly can imagine where the joke came from.
Thanks for the post, appreciate your time, will check it with a friend and try to go meditate-mode
and elect idiots.
lol the replies
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Orange fan mad lol
I can't say this is a good look but at least you're being honest with yourself.
yesssss give it to me
Nobody else will.
Found one
fuck you’re clever
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Send bobs
Bob is actually pretty nice. He works in accounting at my job.
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That’s why he’s sending yours
You just got pwned
AOC’s PINK BEAN GOOD
Fly Eagles Fly
Carson Wentz MVP
orange man bad!
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You're right about that.
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Because he lies, because he's a crooked fucker, because he's a narcissist, because he's appointing people that are selling the USA to Russia. I mean the list goes on but suffice it to say I find him to be a pretty horrible chap.
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Hahaha I knew you'd go for the "Muh other dudes" argument, that's awesome. I don't give a shit how good or bad other politicians are. I don't like them either but they currently aren't in the public eye.
The narcissist statement has been proven and demonstrated by professionals and analysts. Constantly telling everyone how he's the best at X, or is getting the worst treatment for Y, believe me, etc.
Really, come the fuck on dude. 34 indictments and 7 convictions of Trump's appointees, in the space of 2 years. How fucking narrow minded do you need to be here? Even if he didn't deliberately appoint people to defraud the USA, 34 indictments? 7 convictions? If he's truly innocent then he's the fucking worst judge of character in the universe and isn't fit for the job. No matter which way you spin it, orange man is indeed bad.
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What numbers? The indictments? Try the fucking public record. Lol you're so funny
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Counsel_investigation_(2017%E2%80%932019)
All relevant sources are cited within... It's like you're asking for my sources on why the sky is blue.
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What do you mean?
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Should be reasonably obvious: I told you I thought Trump was crooked and you turned around and told me "so are other politicians" like that's suddenly supposed to make me happy about that fact.
did you?
Yep. It's called Trump's own mouth. He's openly admitted to colluding with Russia on numerous occasions, on live television. We were never expecting to find out if he colluded, we were just waiting to see if Congress was going to do something about it.
The way things are going, I'm fairly certain now that it's no longer a matter of if, but when.
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Here and here and here and here. There's more but I figured you could Google and find more yourself.
On top of that, the summary that Barr prepared quoted the Mueller Report directly as saying:
"while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him"
Anybody that still believes that Trump has done absolutely nothing illegal as POTUS or even before that is absolutely in denial.
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How are they not related?
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You're literally doing the same song and dance that's been done for 2 years. It's a damn circle. If you're not convinced by now then bless your heart.
I'm not wasting any more of my time. I provided you a solid starting point. There is a wealth of information available at your fingertips, but that only matters if you want to find out the truth in the first place.
Ignorance is bliss and you seem to be very blissful. You shall see soon enough. Even Mueller’s team has spoken out that Barr's summary was bullshit.
Trump has reversed position on wanting the report released to the public. Barr is refusing to cooperate with a Congressionally issued subpoena. Trump is fighting hard against a lawful request of tax returns.
The man with "nothing to hide" sure seems to be hiding an awful lot. The house of cards is falling down and there's nothing to stop it.
If you choose not to believe the truth, that is your prerogative, but attempting to convince us rational human beings of anything else is a futile effort. We have our proof. We're just trying to share it with you.
That's how these stupid discussions always go. One side provides source after source after source and the other side only responds with "what about" questions or memes.
This isn't even about partisan politics. I've voted Republican and Democrat in the past. It's about Trump specifically. He's a con man and a crook and to top it all off he's horribly inept at his elected job. I'd take just about any other Republican over him.
Do you guys have some sort of siren you activate when you feel Trump is being attacked? I have seen at least 3 of you in this comment chain.
"We have a criticism! Activate the 'Orange Man Bad' brigade!"
they dont have the capacity to critically think so they just copy paste the same responses all over the internet :
ex: youre brainwashed by the media, an sjw, asocialist, but hillary/obama/strawman, george soros, race baiting, PC bullshit, etc etc the same spam arguments weve been seeing all over the place since 2016
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Its not hard to "back up their reason" lol. Do yourself a favor and read a book and look yourself in the mirror before its too late for you
I mean, don't you feel like he kind of brings it on himself? It seems like sometimes he intentionally says outrageous things just to stir people up. Isn't he of the opinion that all press is good press?
Weak
when people make their low effort generic anti Trump comments
And "orange man bad" isn't low effort or generic?
And then justify their ideas
This might be the worst part.
They're commonly referred to as the 'Flat Earthers'.
They have... Flat earthers
" ..the internet gave these people an outlet... You like dressing up as a baby? Just type it into the google "I LIKE TO DRESS UP AS A BABY" next thing you know, they got a Hilton rented out with 837 other people that like to do this shit." - Sebastian Maniscalco
And elect presidents.
And become president.
Scary.
The echo chamber, if I may.
On Reddit
They do move in herds!
That's twitter, right?
Pretty much any social media really.
I'd like to join this party.
in numbers, I bet it's equal to one whole big country/continent full of idiots
And mate
And anti-vaccinate.
Worse, they can discus ideas and get smarter at spreading bullshit.
Idiots, assemble!!
Flat earthers
Did you choose to ignore the other ten people that said the same thing?
Make America Great Again
Hence, the increase of SJWs and socialists.
Did you know Einstein was a socialist?
Evidence that humans are very capable of compartmentalizing their genius and mental illness.
I agree, I really hope ancaps can get the help they need since the American healthcare system is so lacking. Every human has the capacity to be something much greater, although maybe not genius level.
There's nothing irrational about being an ancap. Quite the contrary.
Anarcho-Capitalist DESTROYS socialist SJWs with EVIDENCE and REASON (Part 31)
Internet brings out the village idiot in all of us. Everyone has some dumb ideas, before the internet it’s hard to find someone that shares them.
And they are forming digital lynch mobs hell bent on destroying people that do things they don't agree with or like.
Now more than ever we need Monty Python.
It's 2019, we crowdsource our village idiots.
The village idiots have gone viral
FTFY
We live in a global village now. Global idiots included.
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I appreciate your enthusiasm for sarcasm, but to become a master you mustn't indicate it.
I'm a human, and this action was performed manually.
Conversely, people who enjoy arguing with idiots are often right around the corner, promoting vaccinations.
It's funny that you say global. We all know that the the Earth is flat. /s
It’s downright presidential.
You called?
I believe you mean pro-diseasers? They are two in the same.
And they have unionized.
They've gone global and agreed there's no globe
That’s cause to them there is no globe; everything is on the same horizon. To them it is easier to think of the planet being as flat as their thinking... No chance for good ideas to rise up in a flat world..
And they can elect presidents.
We president now
Joe Rogan
The global idiots
We call them Global Idiots.
The city idiots have gone beyond galaxies.
They don't believe it's a globe man...
Planar*
Yeah, it's called twitter.
I blame reddit.
Hey, it's no longer PC to call them Village idiots. The correct term is 'anti vaxxer'.
We are legion!
The village idiots have gone viral.
Sick album name!
Circular*
The earth is not a globe
Is a flat globe a globe at all?
They are out presidents now.
We are now the global village! And it has idiots!
Not only that but they're seen as having a valid voice.
Except for the Flat Earthers.
And it's interesting to consider why they find a relatively wide audience. Would there have been that many people in a village who fell prey to the idiot's rantings (or the con-man's manipulations, depending on who you're talking about) or would the village at large have warned them off more effectively than we are able to do via the internet? Is there something about the internet that lends credibility to idiots that wouldn't have existed in a face to face interaction?
And it’s not politically correct to call them out on their idiocy.
Anti-vaxxers say hello. And then promptly die off from entirely preventable diseases.
Underrated comment
On the other hand, channels like Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur wouldn't have had a chance pre-2000.
His channel is by far my most favorite. Love listening to him and pondering the universe while I cook dinner, or do laundry.
But never around the planet. The earth is flat, after all.
/s
There are flat Earthers all around the world!
Edit: found and added the reference
Of course there are! We, as Flat Earthers, are proud to have members all across the globe! /s
Thanks for the /s, I couldn't tell otherwise.
If it's a circular disk it can still be around
Yeah they think they 'got us' with their logic
GLOBETARDS embarrass themselves yet again.
What if it is an inverse circle whose geometry only makes sense under the laws of the Time Cube?
It works for good ideas too. It would have taken me much longer to leave the lds church if it weren’t for the internet.
Congrats on your freedom, sorry our underwear isnt as special
...not with that attitude
And they’re everywhere.
Anti-Vax!
*pro disease
*pro I’m vaccinated but want me children to die from preventable disease.
We even have anti-vaxxers in the White House.
You're one of them, /r/mgtow user.
No I’m un-subbed actually. So not only did you fail to be funny. You were also wrong.
I'm not trying to be funny. All your sexist comments from just 3 months ago are still up. Not to mention the more recent ones in other subs showing that your ideology hasn't changed at all since you "unsubbed".
I feel like I experienced this on a small scale when Xbox Live first came out. There were far fewer trolls when it first came out because it was quite an investment of time and possibly money if you needed to upgrade to broadband as well. By the time you got online you were just happy. Everyone was friendly minus a few trolls here and there.
Over time, especially after Halo 2, it got more and more popular. More people were getting broadband internet so the barrier to entry went down naturally. Until finally you could just by the box, plug it in, and you were online. Then every asshole could get online with no effort. Now getting told by a 12 year old on Xbox Live that they fucked your mom is so common that it’s a meme. I definitely miss the early days.
That’s how I feel about eBay. Buy it now feature and to a lesser extent PayPal was the beginning of the end. It used to be a giant swap meet/garage sale that you used mailed in money ordered to pay for. It’s just so commercialized now that’s its much less exciting.
This reminds me of something that Bill Burr said in an interview I watched recently. The interview was from like 2016 IIRC. I'm paraphrasing from memory, but it went something like this.
"Say you're a guy that fucks pigs. Used to be, you'd fuck a pig and then think to yourself 'Wow, I must be the only guy in the world that fucks pigs.' and then you felt ashamed and you kept this whole pig fucking operation to yourself.
Now you can just get online and Google 'pig fuckers' and boom. Now you're part of a community and have a voice. That's the problem with social media in a nutshell."
Now they post on Reddit
And they find followers.
Jesus fuck that's scary.
I've seen that craziness from old high school acquaintances on Facebook, now they've got groups with hundreds or thousands agreeing.
Whatever, I feel like I've lost and found my mind too throughout the years, I just mostly internalize it for fear of public perception and grow.
www.creedthoughts.gov.www./creedthoughts
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Yup. Ran into a dude from many years ago who is now convinced the earth is flat, NASA staged the moon landing, also Space-X is a fraud. Doesnt matter that I have a relative who works on the Falcon Heavy or anything. That's irrelevant because he must be getting paid off or lied to. Oh and this is all because some shit on the internet told him through his "investigating."
wow, you have a relative that works on the falcon heavy, as a spacex fan i must say, thats soo cool
so yeah, dont get fed up on idiots, there are more of us, it just looks like the contrary becauce idiots like to scream a lot
When he first got the job I wasnt very familiar with them which was like 5ish years ago. It's fun now though since they're plastered all over reddit and I feel like I know a famous person even though I have zero clue what all he does. He's in charge of some subsection now I think, somewhere in the mid section of the rocket. Engineering stuff that's waaaay beyond my level if intelligence.
probably works on the second stage by your description on it, its not too complicated basically the rocket is divided in three parts, the first stage (that is the huge tower that makes like 70% of the rocket) the second stage (that is a small section that conects the first stage to the fairing) and the fairing that is the place were the satelites and all that jazz goes
the reason why rockets are divided that way is because its actually extremly hard to reach space, so while the first stage does a lot of the heavy lifting the second stage (that has its own rocket engine and fuel tank) is the part that puts the fairing into orbit
also while the first stage is reusable the second stage (the part your relative probably works with) gets burned down in the atmosphere so its a total lose
as i said cool stuff
Engineering stuff that's waaaay beyond my level if intelligence.
Agreed. Source: engineer
On one hand yes, but on the other hand state propaganda filled that role.
Twitter is the worst offender of this crap, village idiots retwitting other village idiots
When every opinion is of equal importance - they're all unimportant.
Glad I never joined that Nazi hellscape.
Can you imagine if the president of the United States were to just start tweeting every stupid fucking thing that he thought up off the top of his head? That would be so insane, right? But luckily no sane group of people would ever elect someone that unstable.
No sane group of people did.
If that's the case then our country is in a very sad state
Keep up this talk and I'm going to push you off the edge of the Earth.
~~Inner-Earth~~ Hollow Earth or whatever they're called. The people that believe the inside of the Earth is hollow. Sometimes people also think people live inside Earth.
Though, I can't tell if this was supposed to be trolling like flat Earthers originally were, or if it started as an actual belief
Ever seen a flat earther and a hollow earther argue over whether the lizard people are from the inside or the bottom side?
Nazis
So much this.
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Sadly...
it goes both ways, for positive things as well as the super negative things.
Absolutely but nowadays the garbage gets pushed more than the good stuff.
The other side of this is that a bad product was only as bad as the person was able to market it. The sketchy salesman was able to do very well because they were a great salesman. Now people shut that down through a 5 second google search.
And even in your circle of friends, you had to actually broach the subject with them and risk being smacked the fuck down socially (or otherwise) if you said something repugnant.
You didn't have a way to filter out all the people who might find your stupid ideas disgusting and avoid the social fallout from encountering them.
If you were that guy who wanted to make ostrich fucking legal and recruit other people to your cause, people would know. Your mom would probably find out. If you wanted to host ostrich fucking gatherings and be part of the community, you weren't exactly going to be able to keep quiet about it.
Now you can just anonymously join ostrich fucking groups on all sorts of sites, come up with funny slurs for normies, and build a sense of tight in group community around some horrible thing without ever needing to face the consequences of that or have it tied to your real identity.
I actually don't think the global reach is the worst part. I think it's the ability to filter for people with similar ideas and then build communities with them anonymously without ever having to face any consequences or judgement for who you choose to associate with. That wouldn't really be any better if it was kept local, and indeed the locality-based apps are some of the worst cesspits out there. If you could only anonymously build up communities and effortlessly select for people who agree with you while hiding from social consequences locally, I think the results wouldn't look much different.
You've clearly never heard of Wally George.
And now my idiocy can be broadcast to everyone else instead of just my direct circle of friends.
I seriously hate the fact that anyone can just start recording anybody else whenever they want.
Hannibal Burress has a great bit about this https://youtu.be/i7eWudERDgs 1:45
It also means a lot more to be dumb.
back in the day: Let him go, he didn't have access to a good education or library.
Nowadays: dude fucking google it idiot
The internet has given megaphones to morons
Surely can relate with it. Previously we had to deal with a few foul miscreant. Now it's like a horde coming towards you and throwing their shitty content.
And become President of the United States.
i read yesterday on reddit that some 4chan members decided to test how dumb the media was, so they started posting about how the 'okay' gesture with hand is white supremacist symbol.
It spread like wildfire, and yesterday Blizzard, the devs for Overwatch . banned the okay gesture in OW arena.
What you don't want to hear about how the red cross is really just a front for getting premium millennial blood to 'them' so 'they' can live forever? I can tell you all about it on my channel...
I'm just about to hit 1M subscribers on youtube btw /s
Isis.
Pretty much how the new president got elected in my country.
The evidence is right here on reddit. People make the dumbest comment or post and it gets tons of upvotes.
Yes THIS particular comment gets 156.
The whole point of the internet is that everyone gets a voice. It's actually a good thing that we're bombarded with the entire spectrum of opinions, from sophisticated to retarded, because it sharpens our reasoning ability and gives us a whole store of content to draw from when we make ongoing judgments about what ideas we can put up for serious consideration.
Spot on. We live in a time of transition, it will normalise as everyone will be brought up with it.
because it sharpens our reasoning ability
I think we're only beginning to realize the failure of that theory. It doesn't seem to be true.
More and more we're finding that human beings are creatures of emotion - not logic. It takes a lot of work to develop logical reasoning. We're not very good at it, we fail at it often, and it goes against how our brains function.
Human beings are inclined to listen to the loudest, most emotionally appealing person. Not the realistic, reasonable and correct one.
Sure, but only other idiots are susceptible to their bad ideas.
Or, become president.
This is it right here though slightly different, based for the kids rather than adults. Mine was based more towards children losing the time they should be kids instead of all this BS to deal with. It is a nightmare.
I was thinking that the whole time watching Behind the Curve...
Happens even on reddit
The opposite is true as well you can fact check someone in real time. Just Google whatever that person is saying and embarrass them :')
tHE eArTH iS fLaT!!@!
Did you know they also have a tagline 'Idiots Assemble' Let me know if you need a free coupon.
This reminds me of a saying I heard that, because of YouTube, people who shouldn't be comedians are becoming comedians
This simultaneously makes the entire world more exposed to alternative ideas though. It is good to give people platforms. The world can decide if their ideas are bad or not.
Although true, I do appreciate it that the internet is a great source to turn dumb people into more intelligent people. Unless they are stubborn idiots.
Too bad you can't trick them into spewing their BS into a Word doc. Ryan saved us from Creed's terrifying thoughts
This!
The world now has to suffer through the opinions of every insufferable halfwit
hahahahahaha this is too true
Now you can find flat earthers AROUND the world
Eh. Radio and TV did that too.
r/ontario and r/toronto is where they gather
Silver lining : so can smart/ creative people connect with other like-minded people and ideas
Not only that, they have a community of idiots to help broadcast and spread their messages.
Nice idea mate!
THAT'S A FUC*ING TRUE. I hate to say that, but honestly they just love conspiracy. Whether true or not.
This should be the top comment.
On the bright side exceedingly bright individuals can spread their ideas so there's that 😊
Flat Earthers!
And the other idiots adopt it, like flat earth theories.
In retrospec, smart people with great idieas can also be broadcasted daily. So the ballance remains. Somewhat.
Now we have flat earthers
I like to think this will be the "pulling off of the plaster" of evolving society. I also like to think that bad ideas can give way to good ones. However I could very well be an idiot with exceedingly dumb ideas.
What's even worse is when a dumb person posts an idea to reddit and all the other dumb people upvote them and now reddit is dumb.
I don't know about this one. Unfortunately Nazism managed to spread pretty far the first time and that was without the internet
My mum complains about exactly the same thing
And 100% of them post memes on Reddit.
And here is the reason Antivaxers are problem.
It's not the right time to be sober.
But the plus side to that is, people who are smart and/or have lesser-known knowledge can now share it with the world. People no longer have to rely on the knowledge of those immediately around them. If you needed medical advice you were limited to the doctors you could physically reach, and if they were idiots then you were out of luck. The drawback has been that bad ideas can also spread, but I still think the plus side makes it worth it.
Reminds me of anti vaxxers and flat earthers.
Literally the reason stuff like antivax is a movement, not just a group
Or some people say stupid things and it stays where it is Now you get "cash me outside" girl who somehow became a hit...
Idk ,I feel like you can better combat them now because you know what they are thinking on X issue.Before you couldn't communicate to that idiot because of the distance which meant you were left in the dark to their "ideas".
The earth is flat, dude. Look it up.
And become president
This is why I've deleted Facebook recently. Too many idiots spewing garbage and I was just sick of it.
The internet doesn't make you stupid. It just makes your stupidity more readily accessible to others.
Age of misinformation
Or not being able to look something up immediately to settle an argument
Or even become president
I was terribly cringey and awkward in my tweens and early teens. So lucky there was no social media then
Video game secrets. It was really cool hearing kids talk about "if you beat every person in a row without losing, you fight a secret boss" in street fighter 2. And the only way youd actually know for sure is it lf it happened in front of you
And being the first to spead news of secrets and easter eggs among your group of freinds.
Now you can look up whatever you want to know, and where to find any object in almost every game there is.
I miss playground rumors. And when games had genuine mystery.
"did you know, if you beat Metroid fast enough, Samus takes off all of her clothes"
I remember the time when none of us knew Samus was a woman. Talk about a WTF moment.
Metroid Prime was the game I learned that in, you could charge a beam in the water and shoot a wall and if you were close enough, Samus’ face would reflect on the inside of her helmet
Fav metroid game hands down. Hyped for Switch reboot
That spooked the heck out of me when I first saw it - I think I walked into a steam vent somewhere and just saw a pair of ghostly eyes for a second and was like "WTF".
There was the little bio in Smash Bros 1 that said it too, along with how you would see like a green outline of her body if you hit Samus with an electric attack or the laser.
Metroid is a ho ?????
I don't think floating brain thingies have a gender, no.
Well, there's a Metroid Queen, so...
AnD ZelDa toO!!!1!1!
I remember in the 5th grade I had Super Smash Bros 64 (Melee wouldn't appear for a few more years). In the BIO section Samus is referred to as "She."
I told everyone in class when the game was brought up that Samus is a girl, the boys called me stupid. But for the girls I was the coolest boy in class :D
Same thing with my Melee strategy guide. My brother didn't believe me. We just called her 'the robot' in Smash 64
This is the same reason that I knew Sheik was actually Zelda (except it was Melee, for me). When I actually got to play Ocarina of Time (I didn't have an N64 growing up) I was thoroughly confused why everyone kept calling Sheik a young man.
Girls in your classes played video games?
Not sure why you're getting down votes? It's factual that video games were predominately played by men in the 80's/90's more so than they are still today. Also I'm sure many women that may have played video games back then sure as hell weren't vocal about it. It wasn't a socially accepted culture to be placed in for guys or girls then.
Hi, just wanted to add that I enjoyed your (totally correct) grammatical choice of "more so than they are still today." Very efficient.
Yeah that's kinda my point. If they played video games, we sure as hell didn't know about it and friendships were certainly not made over it. Would've been nice though.
And I'm getting downvotes because redditards think things that I experienced 20 years ago somehow applies to 2019 culture.
Yep :D I didn't even know that was weird until years later.
It isn't weird. Girls play video games quite frequently until gamer culture runs them out of the hobby, of course.
It wasn't gamer culture back then. Or was just culture culture. Hell, back then you were still the weird kid if you spent most of your free time on video games. It sure as hell wasn't glamorous or expected the way it is nowadays.
It absolutely was weird. The stats from 2002 are that gamers were 85% male. I remember in our class there were maybe 3 that played video games and we were so excited to find them. But all the rest of the girls (and many guys) would mock people who gamed.
Drive them out of the hobby lol, history revisionism isn't cute
which makes it weird. girls in my classes certainly didnt fucking play video games
in fact, a lot of guys didnt either. video games weren't mainstream in that era
Which era? Around 2000 was the era I am thinking of, and they were mainstream at that point, though perhaps not as mainstream as today.
You were still the weird kid if you spent most of your free time gaming. I know this because I was that weird kid. Now I laugh, because the nerds won the culture war.
You should not be getting down voted for the truth.
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LOL, you sound like such a cute little kid.
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Awww, somebody is a sore :)
Does little Timmy have a tummy ache?
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LOL, kid, thanks for making me laugh so much, you have made my night :D
That was a game changer for sure
Im having this for the very first time right now. This changes everything I thought about life
“RudeInvestigatorNo3, we missed your money... I mean, donation... No, I mean, your presence at church yesterday. Is everything ok?”
“No, Pastor, I’m sorry. I can’t attend your church anymore.”
“Why?! What happened?”
“I found out Samus is a woman.”
“Samus is a woman?! What the fuck?!”
I also had that WTF moment and told friends about it, they were also blown away because they liked playing Samus in Melee. After learning that, Samus became one of my early video game crushes! Didn’t even know how she looked like until I saw Zero Suit Samus. Now that, was a wake-up call!
Yup that was an interesting day
i remember the time, i got to know tails in sonic the hedgehog is a boy! i was like wtf!!!!
My friend showed me in SSB 64. If you electrocute Samus and pause, you can see the outline of her in her Zero suit. Blew my mind.
I knew because if you paused Super Smash Bros as she got hit, you could see her triangle boobs.
You aren't even in the right decade bro.
I think he is referring to years before smash brother. The nes days.
Ah Super Nintendo days were the best days.
Samus being revealed as a woman was NES, back in the 80s
Yeah, I questioned a lot of shit in the few days after that realization.
I’m actually just learning this now reading the above comment.
None of my friends knew growing up. Neither did I.
Guy in elementary school told everyone that if you finish GTA Vice City with zero deaths, you will receive money through cd-rom
How though? In Super Metroid on the SNES, if you died/ got a Game Over then Samus' suit exploded and you saw a chick in a blue bikini underneath. She was very clearly a woman.
I’m getting the sense that lots of younger people in this thread didn’t know who Samus was until Smash 64 which makes me feel old af and I don’t like it.
her clothes
Depending on the people, that alone would have been a fight. Very few people actually finished that game.
People knew about Justin Bailey. Most people just didn't know that you could play as her in a swimsuit without a code, just by beating the game and continuing.
arm cannon too?
Yes
... heavy breathing...
Sorry I've never beaten (barely played, in fact) the original Metroid, why is Justin Bailey so important to he an easter egg. The only thing I can think of is they were a developer?
From what I understand it’s actually just random chance that the phrase Justin Bailey flagged a game winning save file. There are other codes that can do the same thing but that one was easy to remember and caught on. There is no dev named Justin Bailey or anything like that.
A Bailey is a style of one piece swim suit. She was JUST IN a BAILEY
EDIT: Why is this getting downvoted?
At least according to
https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/Justin_Bailey
that was a rumor that went around but Bailey actually isn't a term for swimsuit.
Weird. I do distinctly remember someone writing into Nintendo Power about it and stating that it was though and them running with it. Guess that’s how that bit got popular.
Yes I remember this too
I googled "Bailey swim suit" and found a lot of one piece swim suits referred to as "Bailey" or "Bailey style"
Self fulfilled prophecy? ;)
No. My point was that the wiki is claiming "Bailey" is slang for swimsuit. "Bailey" is a style of swimsuit, not a slang term.
It was a password. I forget what it did though, someone else might be and to help.
You had all the gear and health, and you played as Samus in a bikini, with green hair I think.
Close. It was a leotard.
It wasn't a 2-piece until Metroid 2 on game boy.
Beat the game fast enough and she would have her helmet off, suit off or in undies and a tank top, depending on your completion time.
You'd best believe that 1992/3 me spent ages copying the sprite to grid paper to turn into ms paint images. 2 or 3 frames only for that "waving in the wind" hair.
I also copied the bubble bobble sprites for the same reason.
I also copied the bubble bobble sprites for the same reason.
Hol up
Yeah... 14 y/o me squinting like George from Seinfeld to make out each pixel.
Actually, there was a two piece in the original Metroid as well, but you had to beat the game in under one hour to see it, and it was not playable, only in a cutscene. I saw it in a speedrun from GDQ once on YouTube, but I don't have the link handy at the moment.
The green hair was because you started out with the varia suit. When you first start the plus game the normal way (after beating the game and continuing), you have brown hair, and your hair turns blonde when you switch to missiles. The varia suit changes that to green and light green.
I vaguely remember that. Also I think you still had to collect the ice gun, but ridley and kraid were dead.
The phrase "Justin Bailey" is a coincidence; it wasn't put in the game deliberately.
The password system in Metroid is fairly straightforward in concept: The password just stores 128 bits of game data, plus an 8-bit value that tells how the password is scrambled, and an 8-bit checksum. Each of the 64 different characters (0-9, A-Z, a-z, "?", and "-") represents a number from 0 to 63, which accounts for 6 of those bits. So, the whole password is 24 characters long to represent 144 bits of information.
The 8-bit scramble value is a way to "randomize" how the 128 bits of game data looks. But it's really simple: it basically means "take the 128th bit and move it in front of the first bit, this many times". So, there are effectively 128 different ways the same game data can be arranged, depending on this value.
With just the above, every possible input would be a valid password. However, there's also the 8-bit checksum value, which needs to match the rest of the password. Basically, the entire password prior to the checksum is treated as a sequence of 8-bit numbers (0 to 255), which are added together, modulo 256 (meaning, after you add it up, you divide the result by 256 and take just the remainder of that division). This gives you a number from 0 to 255, and the password is only considered valid if this number equals that 8-bit checksum.
So, there's nothing special about "JUSTINBAILEY------------". The unscrambled game data, in hexadecimal, is a6f38ea4b96524a9d17fffffffffffff, the scramble value is 255, and the checksum is 255 (which matches the rest of the password).
So there are 127 other codes a person could enter that would yield the exact same results? It is pure happenstance that one of the 128 god-codes is something incredibly memorable and recognizable?
This comment is deleted in protest of Reddit's June 2023 API changes.
Yes, but the game data that the password sets is fairly arbitrary. You have some things and not others, without much rhyme or reason. For example, the morphing ball, bombs, and varia suit are still present in the world even though you have them equipped; some red doors are open and some aren't; some missile tanks still exist in the world and some don't (even though you "have" all the missile tanks); some of the zebetite is destroyed and some isn't... Each of those "-" characters is 255, which basically turns on everything in a section of the game data, including unused values and maxing out the playtime counter. What the password does is kind of a mess.
There are other passwords that give more stuff. For example, "------ ---mE0 l-y000 00y00g" will actually give you everything, except for the wave beam (because you can't have the wave beam and ice beam at the same time) and Mother Brain isn't defeated yet. This means you can head directly to fighting Mother Brain, unlike with JUSTIN BAILEY where you're still missing the ice beam.
Wow, that's really cool. Thanks for taking the time to explain it.
The dot over the i in Justin Bailey is Tuesdays... and also July... and sometimes it's never.
Waait... is that one "skin" called "zero suit" because it's literally samus without her suit of armor?
...yes
Oh my God how have I never realized that???
See, there are still video game secrets!
I thought that skintight blue suit was some alternet outfit called the 'zero suit' that was like a prototype armor like some kind of lightweight version or something... But no...
It's literally zero suit.
https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/Zero_Suit
Technically that suit she is wearing is call a zero suit, but when it debuted in zero Mission, it got its name as a play on words. She had zero suit, and the game was zero Mission.
Eehh kinda. It’s more a neat play on words. That outfit is called ‘the Zero suit’ and the armour is stored inside it like Iron Mans in Infinity War. The other reason it’s called zero suit is just because it debuted in the game ‘zero mission’
I think the term zero suit was coined in smash bros?
The Power Suit is not stored inside the Zero Suit. The only time, as far as I remember, that Samus canonically uses the Zero suit is because she's caught by surprise and her ship is shot down while she didn't have the Power Suit on.
Good point. I was reflecting on the several times she morphed/demorphed outside the ship in OtherM, showing the emblem on her chest to emmit suit rays or something
I don't know, some kind of brain thing?
That, and it was popularized (before Smash) by the GBA game Metroid Zero Mission.
I tried so hard to get 100% so the suit came off. Sadly I couldn't do it. Years later I'll still say she was hot as hell for a cg character.
COLONEL! Samus took her clothes off!
Also because the "zero suit" as it's seen first appeared in Zero Mission.
Well, that outfit premiered in Metroid: Zero Mission, so I assume that's what it was named after. Prior to Zero Mission, she always appeared in either a leotard or bikini when not in her normal suit. In the original Metroid for the NES, she was playable in a leotard (although we all called it a swimsuit at the time), and she appeared in a bikini at the end of the game if you beat it fast enough. In Super Metroid, her death animation shows her in a dark bikini.
What was the axtress she was based on? Cant remember. I just remember big curly bright blonde hair and red lipstick
I had a friend named Justin Bailey when I was a kid. We freaked out when we found out about this. We had the craziest ideas about conspiracy theories and other things because of it since we were about ten.
I literally didn’t know that until just now. The more you know.💫
I remember reading how shocked everyone was when it was revealed in Super Metroid that Samus was a woman.
Bitch, it was revealed in the NES game.
I can still remember my brother and I finally beating it on NES after so long, and then our shock when she was... A she!
Ahead of its time
I remember when my friend's older brother beat Metroid and we all discovered Samus was a woman. I was like 8? It was a lasting feminist education for me, not because she was a woman (there were plenty of badass female characters out there, She-Ra etc), but because I hadn't considered the possibility that she might be. Even at that age, I was like "why did I assume Samus was a dude this whole time?" It was a weirdly important moment for me.
That's kinda weird. My friends saw it and were like "okay." And didn't ever give it a second thought.
Even then, she was only revealed to be a woman if you beat the game in under a certain amount of time. So even if you did finish, there was no guarantee you'd see her take off her armor.
A lot of people wouldn't even have a way of knowing Metroid had multiple endings. One kid could say she takes off her armor at the end, someone could say no she doesn't, and they would both be right and neither would realize it.
To be honest, I've never finished that game, despite trying several times.
Cool! I did, once. Loved finding all the secret levels. Or bombing myself to jump Higher.
No way, Metroid fusion was the best of them all and I was DYING to see if I could get her to do this.
You ain't kidding.
very few people actually finish games in general if trophies/achievements are to go by.
It wasn't that hard. Plenty of people beat it.
Spfff casual
You mean that metroid guy
[deleted]
You're right but we already know that some people finished the game
You see that Samus is a girl immediately every time you die... so you wouldn't need to finish the game...
If her clothes came off, I would have no problem finishing.
You have problems with finishing when her clothes are on, though.
Yeah but your mother is really attractive, not my fault.
I mean, if you're into that sorta thing, by all means.
I'm joining Operation: Razit and removing my content off Reddit. Further info here (flyer) and here (wall of text).
Please use https://codepen.io/Deestan/full/gOQagRO/ for Power Delete instead of the version listed in the flyer, to avoid unedited comments. And spread the word!
Tlie epu poebi! Pee kraa ikri pičiduči? Kapo bi ipee ipleiti priti pepou. Tre pa griku. Propo ta čitrepripi ka e bii. Atlibi pepliietlo dligo plidlopli pu itlebakebi tagatre. Ee dapliudea uklu epete prepipeopi tati. Oi pu ii tloeutio e pokačipli. Ei i teči epi obe atepa oe ao bepi! Ke pao teiči piko papratrigi ba pika. Brapi ipu apu pai eia bliopite. Ikra aači eklo trepa krubi pipai. Kogridiii teklapiti itri ate dipo gri. I gautebaka iplaba tikreko popri klui goi čiee dlobie kru. Trii kraibaepa prudiotepo tetope bikli eka. Ka trike gripepabate pide ibia. Di pitito kripaa triiukoo trakeba grudra tee? Ba keedai e pipapitu popa tote ka tribi putoi. Tibreepa bipu pio i ete bupide? Beblea bre pae prie te. Putoa depoe bipre edo iketra tite. I kepi ka bii. Doke i prake tage ebitu. Ae i čidaa ito čige protiple. Ke piipo tapi. Pripa apo ketri oti pedli ketieupli! Klo kečitlo tedei proči pla topa? Betetliaku pa. Tetabipu beiprake abiku! Dekra gie pupi depepu čiuplago.
That one's not entirely false; just exaggerated. If you beat the game in under an hour you get this ending.
For sure, but that's not completely naked. 8 year old me would have kept trying. ;)
Just a little faster next time...
once when playing original mario on nes my friend told me that he made mario jump over the flagpole at the end and he landed on the castle and it exploded. I tried to do it every time after that.
we were 12 when my group of friends caught wind of the "complete triforce" rumor in OoT. the internet was around but it was new enough that you couldn't vet the accuracy of that rumor.
Because of that I have probably logged more hours in that game than bloody Skyrim and GTA combined. I acquired everything and in every order. I tested every weird looking texture on every wall. I hug rolled the entire perimeter of Hyrule field. Got caught in the castle gardens over a thousand times. Did things in the lost woods I'm not proud of. Made the desert my virtual home until it became a delirious hell. All with only the second controller plugged in just in case that was important.
One day I'll mod that game myself and create that alternate ending I could never achieve just to gain catharsis and end the PTST that has kept me from achieving every dream since. Good times.
3 words..nude Lara Croft
And thus, speedrunning was born.
What is really crazy is to think how things spread everywhere back then. I heard this exact rumor when I was a kid. And we all blew into Nintendo carts to get them to work. Just uncanny.
Which, incidentally, was actually worse for games in the long run because the moisture in your breath corrodes the metal contacts in the cartridge.
We were just stupid kids back then.
did you know there's a BOOBality in mortal kombat?!?
that was the big one around the playground back in the day.
then killer instinct went and actually did it
I remember people swearing you could put cheat codes into Mortal Kombat 2 to make Sonya Blade be naked and they also swore in Mortal Kombat 3 that there were secret codes to unlock "Sexuality" finishers, similar to the "Animality" and "Friendship" finishers.
Wat
Justin Bailey
“If you jump in the second pit you get a magic whistle.”
—My friend tricking me into getting his turn at SMB3.
Those bogus, urban legend type cheats or secrets or Easter eggs were the best. For me, Mortal Kombat was my introduction to a whole litany of “Did you know you can _ if you just ___ ?!”.
There was a podcast I listened to somewhat recently that covered some of these; believe it was Rumor Flies. Not the best podcast overall, but not bad.
Ooh, I'd love to hear that podcast!
Didn’t flip it on, but pretty sure this is it.
If you speed through fast enough through the ceiling vents, you get to see Meryl in her undies.
Nah you’re confusing 2 different sequences
You enter/exit the vent 3 times to see Meryl exercising in her undies
Later on when she’s dressed as a guard, if you’re fast enough to the bathroom, she’ll be in her undies during that cutscene, presumably because she didn’t have enough time to fully change her clothes
Secret Cow Level...
Diablo represent
For me it was elaborate ways to get the Triforce in Zelda OOT or find Luigi in Super Mario 64.
Was there ever a cheat for a naked Lara Croft?
I remember this rumor
Yes. I heard it and I saw it.
I heard only rumors of the hadouken glove in mega man x when I was in grade school. I had my adult mind fully blown when I actually got it at 35 years old after seeing a throwback youtube video
Didn’t work when I did it :(
There was an actual fucking videogame where that happened but it wasn't in Metroid
“did you know, you can get a secret message in Metroid Fusion by doing something only taught in Super Metroid?”
Ahh. How speed running came into existence
I remember something similar with lara croft. " If you spin around for 1 hour she feels to hot and undresses herself" :D (me and my brother put a chair on the button to keep her spinning)
Okay I don't know which game this is but I want to play it now
Its true my brothers friend said so
And this is how Speedrunning was born
"You have to backflip from the edge of the lake, then backflip back to the edge, then do it twice away, and then three times and land right into the lake and Lara Croft will take off all her clothes when she comes up!"
I remember it is supposed to be something like that.
It was a time thing?
Justin Bailey!
It was the code that made her wear a swimsuit for the NES version.
In my group of friends it was the secret mortal kombat “Sexalities”
If you do a specific set of moves, Lara will strip and you can have her run around wearing only her holsters
Not joking if you beat the first Mario he has sex with the princess at the end. You see everything.
I believe you had to beat it once, then you had to play as Samus without armor. You were weaker, but if you did it again, you got to see her in a bikini for like one second. I did it with game genie.
6.9k, nice
present day immediately thinks, "screw that I'll just Google 'Samus secret ending naked'" ezpz
The never-ending naked Lara myths
I bet this is how speed running was born.
Don't forget that if you do a dive from the mansion pool room into the corner Lara ends up naked.
"If you put peanut butter on the halo 2 disc then place it in your xbox it unlocks the golden warthog that can fly."
[deleted]
Samus is a girl, Metroid is a weird jellyfish...
I thought Samus was a dude my entire childhood, I can't be the only one.
I thought Samus was a dude and that her name is Metroid.
12 year old me used babysitting money to take out a classified ad in the local paper asking for help solving a riddle in King’s Quest. Now my kids come harass me in the kitchen asking if I can google how to beat something. Damn internet.
Edit: yes, it was the Rumplestiktskin riddle and yes, somebody called me to help. Those were good times.
Also, yes I make my kids struggle for a good while before I let them look up a game guide.
That's amazing, did anyone respond?
Yes! I lived in a small town, it ended up being one of my dads colleagues who called to help.
Seriously just said "Wow!" I'd like to know too.
Settle down, Owen Wilson.
replying to follow
Surely OP won't leave us hanging.
Say something I'm giving up on you.
sames
Same
Happy cake day
Same
sameesies
I have to know!
Same
Had to get mum to help me with a puzzle in Monkey Island that I just could not figure out and was takin an eternity to solve (probably 45 minutes in adult time). Cant remember what it was, but it I believe it was hidden in a cereal box. Took her all 30 seconds to figure it out. "Have you told your computer man on the screen to look inside the cereal?"
"I found something! Thanks mum."
I got stuck on Monkey Island (as in, the island not the game) - so the third portion of the game. I can't remember exactly what the deal was, it had something to do with the cannibals I think, I did eventually crack it after not playing a few months then coming back with a fresh brain.
Also - two scenes in that game killed my 286/EGA PC - they were the explosions in these scenes) The fortune teller and the cannon to MI.
I found a way to advance (both scenes crashed the game) - I had to rapidly save right as the game was crashing, when I came back and loaded it would put me just after the scene.
Unfortunately this meant I didn't find out what the fortune teller told me until about 20 years later haha
Part of beating those games were the brute force "Try to combine every item and see what happens" which works great unless it also activates the classic Sierra, "You solved the problem with option B, that will work until the very end of the game where it will screw you over."
that will work until the very end of the game where it will screw you over."
Fucking Leisure Suit Larry "Give Eve Apple" - nothing in that game ever suggested you would need a fucking apple at the end. And if you reached the end without the apple you were in a world of fuckery because you wouldn't even know how fucked you were
Oh man I haven’t heard anyone say Leisure Suit Larry in forever. When it came out I was “too young” to play it according to my parents. It’s always held a mystique for me bc of that.
Forbidden fruit.
EDIT: LSL1 Age Quiz :D
EDIT 2 (genuine question from before OJ was ever famous for all the wrong reasons: O.J Simpson is? Answer: No one to fool with
ominous..
Oh I was way too young. But my parents were hippies. They didn't give a shit about sex, but it was a while before I was allowed a violent game.
Funny - most games in that era had copy-protection questions ("Type word 5, line 4, paragraph 2 page 222 from the manual) - but LSL had this silly "age protection" where it asked you mature questions (not even sex related, just shit that kids generally didn't know about) - but like all those systems, you just learnt a few and restarted the game until you got one you knew haha
All of that just furthers the mystique for me. I wish I would’ve tried a little harder to play it. My mother was a Catholic alcoholic full of rage and my father is a Christian preacher firmly believing in sex after marriage. I was born out of wedlock.... so.... but anyways they were strict and I had crippling fear of disobedience. Until I got to college... but that’s another story.
Bc of all this I stuck to that lame mother goose rhyme game and 1000s of trips on the muthafuckin Oregon trail. If one of my parents got sick I left their ass haha.
Once I got a computer in my room I played tf out of frogger. I remember they had a high score thing at the end where you entered in your own name after each round and top scores were listed on a leader board. I used to put in risqué things full of sexual innuendo (lil pervert). My leader board was full on cringe-o-licious. 1st place - “I want to suck so and so’s penis” 2nd place - “So and so makes me want to hump him” 3rd place - “I’m the queen of butt sex” 4th place - “my mom is a cunt” etc you get the point.
Anyway one time a friend of my moms was over and watching me play. At the end of the round I just kept entering a long obtuse name for myself bc I knew if I had entered in something normal and rated G the friend would be able to see the leader board of embarrassingly cringe names I came up with. I just kept going w the name hoping she’d just leave. She eventually did and probably thought I was insane but under no circumstances was I letting that leader board be seen by eyes other than my own.
I still cringe thinking about it.
It's OK - that is what writing high score "names" was for!
Are you sure it allowed that many characters tho!? My profanity was usually crippled by some shitty 8-Char limit or similar. Worse the "initials" only ones, I mean - there's only so many funny 3 letter words, ammirite!?
I'm not from the USA so your experience is pretty weird to me, from Australia and while our culture is obviously similar, religion isn't big like that over here. Neither of my parents were religious, not "atheist" just not something they ever thought anything about. I learned a bit about jesus in school then threw him out with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny lol
But that really hardcore American religious stuff is not a thing over here. I don't think I've ever met a single person IRL who believed in sex after marriage lol
It definitely is a thing over here (Aussie land) and you are so lucky you didn't experience it. My mother was basically shunned for years in our town for getting divorced and I'm under 35.
Yeah, I was listening to a podcast recently, apparently 1 in 5 American females have attended a Purity Ball at least once in their life. That shit blew my fucking mind.
I'm so sorry!
Ah my bad I meant here as in Australia. Lol. I grew up not far from Sydney City proper. I'll amend my post to make it clear! I'm still unpacking all the fuckery from my strict Catholic upbringing haha.
Sorry I more meant it's not a big cultural think like parts of the usa
Type word 5...
I always just put "the". I figured I was bound to be right SOONER or later ya know
Hahaha oh god that brings back memories, I used to all try shit like that too. The problem was (or sometimes not a problem as I'll get to) they weren't just randomly coded to pull a word and give the co-ordinates. They were explicitly written strings that almost always referred to words that were not "the" or similar (with the very odd exception).
The upside though was that there were usually not that many variations and once you found out even a single answer, that was enough to quit and restart the game a few times until you got the one you had an answer for.
Actually no yeah that rings a bell. I think I remember a lot of the Apogee games I used to play as a kid used that "specific string" structure. It felt really good when you successfully guessed it! Not so much when you're only a few seconds away from finding the manual online tho :(
which of course was exactly why these LucasArts games were so amazing, you would just try out things without having to be afraid of dying and even if it didn't "work" usually got a funny line out of it.
That Sierra uncertainty was so stressful..
I miss the way old games worked. The style of problem solving play really worked for me. I find, when I tried to play games as an adult, that I have to spend a lot of time learning controls rather than how to beat the game. It's a bit of a barrier for simple button mashers, such as myself.
I'm still wondering about "The Shark" in Zelda: Majora's Mask.
Also - two scenes in that game killed my 286/EGA PC - they were the explosions in these scenes) The fortune teller and the cannon to MI.
Similarly, in the part where you train with a machine to use a sword a certain sound effect used to crash my sound card driver every time for some reason and I would have to save and quit afterwards then restart my PC every time to get the sound back on.
I didn't have a soundcard :(
Mine was the opposite problem, I think that my card was too new for it, haha.
I had a Yamaha sound card that did CD audio the fancy CD-ROM version of the game which replaced the MIDI soundtrack with a Redbook audio recording of the Rowland MT-32 soundtrack but used MIDI for the sound effects. The music would keep playing after the crash but the sound effects where gone. It did it at a few other points in the game too.
Hehe my version was on a 5 and a quarter inch floppy
I was super jealous of soundcards
Monkey island!!!! I loved that game. Chase off the cabana boy so you can get wet towels to walk across the hot sand to put oil on the sunbather and peel the map off his back. Amazing.
Final Fantasy adventure for the gameboy. You had to walk a figure 8 around these two bushes. Finally brokedown and called the hotline.
I remember getting the Monkey Island trilogy set for my birthday in like 1997 and repeatedly calling my Dad at work to get him to look up walkthroughs since he had internet there, think he regretted getting me it, haha.
I had that Star Trek 25th Anniversary PC game which was a point and click adventure like King's Quest. There's one mission where you have to figure out how to open this alien door on a planet.
Couldn't figure it out. No Google to turn to. I just stopped playing. Now it's been another 28 years...
Star Trek 25th Anniversary PC game
Pick up a rock from the ground, then use your tricorder on the ground. Walk towards the big door. Use Spock on the panel and enter code 10200. Walk inside and use Spock on the computer panel on the left. Use him on the next door, then on the panel to its right, entering code 122. Walk through the door. Use your tricorder on the door panel here, then head east.
Use the box to open it, then get the wires from inside. Use Spock on the drill control panel and select 100. Use the tricorder on the drill control panel, then use Spock on it again and select 100. Now put your rocks on the impression over on the right. Use Spock on the control panel again and select 010, then pick up the keycard. Return west and use the keycard on the panel, then head through the door.
No wonder I gave up on that shit. How the hell was a 10 year old supposed to figure that out?
This is why Adventure Games died.
Beautiful! Sniff!
Dude. Badass.
So fun story, I played Shadowgate a lot as a kid, like too much. My friends all enjoyed it, but they had so many troubles. Most of them couldn't figure out how to open the first door. It took me ages - mostly because one hard to see thing was hiding what I needed - but eventually I wrote a guide on paper and I would lend it to my friends in exchange for one of their games, hahaha.
That's how we all played Ecco the Dolphin when it first came out. Just swimming around in the first level, then giving up. Hell, even years later when I got out, eventually I got stuck and gave up. Riddle/puzzle/tricky games were rough back then.
Same here. Kept dying on the second level and just never really played beyond that. Although after watching a long play of it later I am kind of glad I never did because hoo boy is it weird and dumb towards the end.
I feel like every time I pick up that game again enough time has passed that I forget how to beat the first level.
I played this game with my dad growing up. We called the hotline number for a tip lol.
Kings Quest was not a Point and Click..
Not to hang shit or anything, but they came later. Kings Quest was textual input.
Depends on the version... 1-4 were text... after that P&C... maybe 4 too actually, it's been a while.
Googled it, KQ5 was the first point and click in the series.
Which was 1990, so yeah, before that Star Trek game.
Fair enough, I took "Kings Quest" to literally mean the first, not the series.
On a side note, the first few were remade (but in fairly old days by current standards) as point and click. A lot of the old text-adventures were
Yep, we had the King’s Quest Collector’s Edition with games 1-6 plus the super fancy remakes of the first ones. My favourite was always KQ3... being a wizard and having to write each line of a spell exactly right because if you misplaced a comma or something else you got turned into a fly... or something equally unhelpful for rediscovering your kingly lineage.
I'm thinking of something else then...
Oh God the amount of old Adventure games where I used to get stuck on some puzzle or riddle and often I'd just leave the game for months on end until suddenly I'd wake one day with a bizarre moment of inspiration and "what if I try this?" (usually it also didn't work).
Good times cycling through all the combination of verbs, nouns, proper nouns, etc
KQ3 was killer, all those damned magical incantations that has to be said just right. I could not get the key off the wardrobe in the magicians bedroom no matter what combo of words either, I had to finish the game when it was re-released without bugs decades later. Young people will never know the agony of waiting 20 years to save Graham from an evil magician.
I played that one with my dad. We'd play together, and take turns playing on our own. Sometimes he'd get stuck and I'd find the answer, sometimes I'd get stuck and he'd find the answer, and then we'd make progress together.
Ten years later we were joking about that game and he said "Oh yeah, I used to call the hint line like twice a week. How else do you think we figured out all those stupid puzzles?"
I'm kinda ashamed to admit it, but I lost a lot of respect for my dad in that moment.
[deleted]
Your Dad is a fraud. Next time you see him, pull his fake beard off his fake head.
EDIT: I feel really mean now after reading the really wholesome Dad-Loving comments below. Please take what I said in jest!
Dunno why man, your dad sounds pretty cool to me
In one of the anniversary collections, the instruction manual had typos in the spells, so you would type exactly what the book said, and you would still die.
I really hope that was deliberate. Because that's a great practical joke if so
Really weird, one game I had a huge problem with and it wasn't even the text-input stuff. But Hugo II (Of the Hugo's House of Horrors series) - there was a section you had to guide your character through some kind of flower-maze and if you touched the sides you died. Not sure if it was just my PC/Keyboard or what, but it was nearly fucking impossible and not in the slightest bit fun.
Lol, I played all those Monkey Islands and Broken Swords and some wizard one?.... you'd be stuck for a week or more in spots and try the most ridiculous things and go back to places and people a million times. My fondest memory of Monkey Island was learning the commands to learn the sequences for Monkey Kung fu lol, I had pages of gibberish written down to beat it. Not the same today, people don't even wait 10 minutes before getting on the internet to see what they need to do. I always think what's the point, atleast try to work it out for a day.
I only ever played the original Monkey Island in its day (though I played 2 in the late 90s). I got stuck bad once, it took months before I finally cracked it. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was on the final (Monkey) Island and was probably within an hour of beating the game lol, probably within 10min of beating it if you knew exactly what to do.
I remember writing down all the Insult Sword Fighting responses! I am rubber you are glue!
Yeah I think I was stuck there at a lava river near a church?... and I'm that old too that I played all the originals back in the day lol.... oh now it's coming back, I recall being stuck on a captain with a concussion on a shore, that game was grueling without any help
I didn't have those resources. I had a Commodore 64, a supply of games from illicit and highly copyright-violating sources (i.e., a few friends at school), and some gaming magazines with type-in code for new games... but nobody I knew played the kind of games I did: Infocom, Scott Adams, and Trillium / Telarium text and graphic adventures.
I had two options:
1) Read the source. Worked for some games that were coded in BASIC, especially magazine type-ins where you could figure out the logic if you looked at it long enough.
2) One book of game clues... which was available at a Toys'R'Us... ten miles away... and which my parents refused to buy.
The Toys'R'Us was next door to a Burlington Coat Factory. Every time we needed some clothing - anything, not just coats - I'd suggest to my Mom that we visit Burlington Coat Factory. Then I'd get permission to visit the Toys'R'Us ("be back in 10 minutes"), rush over there, hurriedly flip through the book to find the one or two games where I was stuck and needed clues, and then rush back before getting in trouble. In exchange, I had to ensure some clothing-shopping - my Mom's favorite hobby, and my least favorite - but at least I got my clues!
It took a few months of clothes-shopping trips to get through Dragonworld, but that was okay. Kind of playing an episodic series (before that was actually a thing).
Going back to the actual theme of this whole thread, I feel like your experience describes a good reason to be thankful for the Internet haha
What was the riddle? The leprechaun's name?
It used to be ifnkvohgroprm!
But I noticed they changed this later on because it was so fucking hard.
"Lol guys what if we make his name a random string of letters so no one can guess it or remember it."
Exactly. I heard the solution from a friend's older brother and thought: You have got to be kidding me.
Everything else in the game was at least coherent.
I actually distinctly remember praying before bed every night that we would find the magic mirror.
Just call the 1-900 number
I did this once for Ultima on NES (purple box I think Exudus). Turns out I found a bug and had to revisit a location I had already visited. Super helpful and fast answer.
Finding bugs in old games was frustrating, because usually they were polished to the point that you didn't know you were experiencing a bug.
Finding bugs was like finding out you suck at life. Then 20 years later learning that you didn't and your life was a lie and it was actually just bad programming.
Must be nice being American haha
Less so every day
This was peak-American. It's all downhill since then.
that's what youse get for being cheats
Hahaha. I didn't use them so you can blame everyone else!
So. Did you beat King's Quest? I had to wait to finish so many of them until the internet came out, and that they fixed the bugs from the first versions. I'm still adamant they are the best adventure games though.
"Wait until the internet came out" gen Z just shudders
"Wait until the internet came out"
The Ol' wait for the Internet to be invented trick. Well - really the World Wide Web, the Internet predates all these games by quite a bit and I'm sure there were hardcore nerds dialing into BBS's and sharing game cheats and guides.
My first is foremost "legally."
My second circles outwardly.
My third leads all in victory.
My fourth ends twice a nominee.
My whole is this gate's only key.
I actually found these old puzzles easier than the [EVERY VERB IN GAME] [EVERY NOUN IN GAME] type ones that were completely fucking arbitrary.
"You can't do that - at least not now!"
fine, I'll just kill myself instead. That's what they wanted right?
"Sorry - I do not understand 'kill.'"
take my upvote you monster
love?
Yep! That was the riddle from the game, as well.
Is this a riddle from the game? I've never played it.
Still, I was able to figure it out without Googling. Spoiler: >!The answer is LOVE.!<
[edit: Actually using the correct spoiler tag; sorry for getting it wrong initially.]
Yep, that was a riddle from the game - at least, King's Quest 6. Good times, and well done!
The riddle from King's Quest 1 was pure bullshit. You had to guess a gnome's name, but he made references to it being backwards. Okay, so you spell "Rumplestiltskin" backwards - Nikstlitselpmur. Except in the original version of KQ1, it used a reverse number alphabet, so A was Z, B was Y, etc. This meant that instead of that, his name was Ifnkovhgroghprm. It was insane.
Ouch! Were there any hints in-game or in the manual as to this being the case, other than the "backwards" references you said?
No, and that brought Sierra a lot of complaints, which led to them releasing a late version of the game where it was just "Rumplestiltskin" backwards. Sierra pioneered adventure games, but there are definitely a bunch of points in their games where you just had to know what the developers were thinking.
KQ6. Played the hell out of it and screwed up every single way I could.
Did you ever enter the catacombs and fall into the second level without bringing a tinderbox? Because that death sequence is amazing.
Yes! Though the most devastating one is going through the whole game without talking to Jollo and realizing the game isn’t winnable. That was a hard lesson.
You can make do if you give the genie a piece of mint, instead, though you'll end up killing him.
Seriously? I remember having to enter his room in the castle but he calls the guards unless you chatted with him at the beginning and showed him your ring.
Well, there are two ways to get out of jail. Jollo would've been one of them, but the other was...maybe the handkerchief from the ghost kid from the land of the dead? My memory's hazy on that one. If you absolutely have to enter Jollo's room, then maybe that's an unwinnable state? I'm afraid I forgot.
That said, you don't have to enter the castle through the wall in the first place, I don't think. You might be able to see some serving girls toss some clothes aside outside, and you can walk right through the front door after dressing like them, and just deal exclusively with the upstairs.
I remember that part, it was a quicker path to the end and I’m pretty sure the ghost handkerchief played a role in that ending.
At the same age I figured out how to dial into the Sierra BBS to find the solutions. My parents were none too happy when they saw the long distance charges.
I've been waiting for some pre-web nerd to talk about dialing into BBS's for cheats and guides.
[deleted]
I did that on a few old games :D
Did you get the Sierra magazine? I poured through every issue that came out for the tips and reader questions that were answered, hoping someone was stuck in the same place I was. Now I look up user guides for half the games I play to make sure I get the endings I want. I don't miss having little to no help figuring things out, but at the same time I think it legit helped build patience and trouble shooting and critical thinking, which I can't imagine are easy things for kids with instant gratification of everything to develop.
Whoa. You just made me realise that my large amount of patience was basically moulded by my playing buggy games on shitty coms.
I'd always thought it was just my nature, but it appears it was nurtured.
I accidentally read that as "it appears I was neutered"
Nikstlitselpmur?
Which riddle? Why not just call the tip line?
For those of us not in the USA, that wasn't a great option, friend.
This is valid, but they had a UK based number as well. All the same, I loved those games! I still play them sometimes!
Also not from the UK :( But I mean you can dial internationally from anywhere, I'd be lying if I said I never considered doing that haha
Which riddle? Were you climbing the steps on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain? Or was it the Gnomes on the Isle of Wonder?
I used to bug the guy at Radio Shack for hints in Space Quest. Eventually he sold my dad the hint book, and suddenly Dad was extra clever.
Haha. Cool. I remember being stuck playing simon the sorcerer. I saw someone in a computer magazine selling the game used so i called him up being "listen i dont want to buy your game but did you by any chance complete the playthrough?" Turns out some stupid owl lost a feather i sidnt notice.
Wow this brings back memories. I was seriously into Bard’s Tale in the 80s. The developer, Interplay, had a phone number you could call to ask for clues. I remember calling several times and waiting on hold for hours to speak with someone. Think I was grounded once for racking up such a high phone bill.
Me and my brother beat "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis". I was like 9, my brother 7, neither of us knew English back then. We spent weeks playing the game with an English dictionary in our laps. While school helped the main reason why both of us are good in English is gaming. Gaming and Cartoon Network. I'm 33 and I still sometimes rewatch Dexter's lab, Johnny Bravo or Ed, Edd n' Eddy.
Ah, Sierra games and your "fun" "puzzles."
Eight-year-old me had to ask an actual cop (friend of the family) how to get past part of the first Police Quest game.
Kids these days! "When I was your age I had to walk 12 miles in the snow to get a book on video game secrets, Half the time it didn't even have the game you were looking for listed. Then you had to walk 12 miles back, just to find out that the secret listed in the book was a fake! Did I mention it was uphill both ways?"
I had a similar experience, except it was downhill both ways, just a sheer cliff drop each way. You usually died anyway so it didn't matter if the secret was a fake.,
Did you get the answer?! We need the full story
Yes! Haha I did.
God if my kids ever did this I'd be like figure it out.
Was the answer "Ifnkovhgroghprm"?
Nope. It was Nikstlitslepmur.
Ah, okay, so I guess you had the slightly later version of the first game. The original version was even worse, where it was A=Z, B=Y, etc. And even the later version was tough!
Holy shit! Wish I would have thought of this when I was trying to beat Myst! I like you.
You’re the most interesting person on the net right now. Please respond.
I usually say "I've not played that game" cos most of teh time its true. Like Minecraft. I said to my daughter " go find a guide" and she did. She now builds amazing detailed houses without any reference.
Most of the time now they works stuff out for themselves. Some stuff i would have to look up too haha
I remember when I was about five or so and my mom and I literally dug up the entire map in Link to the Past, looking for the bird flute. We finally ended up calling my aunt, she said "Try looking in the Light World," and I think we found it within a couple of minutes. Those were good times.
We spent soo much time playing Kings Quest as kids trying to figure out all the correct text inputs for the riddles.
My mother got my dad's number because he was offering tips for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy game in the school geek club. Times have certainly changed...
Now my kids come harass me in the kitchen asking if I can google how to beat something. Damn internet.
"Get gud or die tryin', scrublords. I'mma make some food."
I use guides even when I don't need them. I mean, from start to finish. I like using them, not for the help, but for the company. I feel like I am going on a journey with them. Every game I have every played in my life, which is a lot, I uses a guide.
Tell them to chug bleach. Asking real people should always be a last resort to any question. "Oh how do I get there?" fucking google maps. "How do I do this thing" stackexchange. "Where's the video" 4chan, bestgore, etc. Kids these days don't know shit. And because the internet is 90% normies these days no-one tells these dumb idiots to fuck off and figure it out for themselves. Before the dayd of Netflix if you wanted to watch a show you had to poke around and be savvy, and if you got a virus everyone would laugh at you. Now "not on Netflix, I'll just buy it" bro are you stupid this is the internet have some patience and creativity and any media can be accessed for free. It's astounding that anyone buys media at all anymore. Napster was supposed to be the death of content production; anyone could get anything, for free, at all times. They still can. Who the fuck still pays for this? Are you too much of a chump to wade through a few iterations of wash-movees.iz or whatever to find a stream? There should be an entrance exam to the internet because it's been ruined.
Copyright is bullshit, I agree, particularly for digital media. That said... please tell me how you'd propose that content creators get paid for their work. People deserve to get paid for what they make after all, right?
Of course, officially licensed distribution paths like Netflix have their own problems, and for a lot of media the publisher/label takes far more money than they should, which is partly why I say copyright is bullshit. (That and the Mickey Mouse copyright extensions.) But we do need an alternative that works for everybody.
I meet in the middle these days, I try to use services like Steam, Netflix, etc - and then I use piracy to get things not available on the services I have that A ) I wouldn't pay for if it just meant not having it or paying B ) That I can be bothered pirating
That was my childhood right there. Back when the internet was smaller and fansites and forums were the places you’d go for rumors and info. Especially with OoT. To this day there’s still a small part of me that wants to believe the Unicorn Fountain is out there... Somewhere....
Never heard of the unicorn fountain, but I distinctly remember some pretty convincing photoshops of the Temple of Light.
Legend has it, the Unicorn Fountain is found underneath the frozen Zora’s Domain, wherein you will find the Triforce.
Or so one of the stories goes, anyway. But yeah, that game had a ton of stuff like that. I always wondered what the Light Temple would’ve actually been like. Wasn’t there some leftover data about it in the game, or was that just the Wind Temple?
Legend has it, the Unicorn Fountain is found underneath the frozen Zora’s Domain, wherein you will find the Triforce.
This one never made much sense to me. I mean Link has the Triforce of Courage in the game. I know that the allure was getting it as an item, but it didn't work within the context of the story.
I think it was prompted by beta footage that showed Link getting the Triforce, and people were convinced it was still in the game.
Yeah a lot of them stemmed from early development photos. One I always liked was Link having one of the Medallions equipped as an item. Would have been interesting to see. Probably would have been similar to the medallions in LttP.
All of these comments are making me think of that website the Oddity of Hyrule...
I think that was exactly the original plan for them, but they ended up scrapping that and converting the idea to the three spells that we ended up with. Which is too bad; I always felt like the spells were a half-implemented idea.
Din's fire was great for clearing a room of redeads though.
Farore's wind, if used in the right place, would often let you bypass half a dungeon.
Nayru's love was useless because of bottle faries.
That's true about din's yea. I never figured that out with farore's wind, guess I just never figured out how to use it. I'll have to look that up!
yeah, it was planned but it got scrapped relatively late into development
dont worry, it was aparently reused for a later game (posibly wind waker)
YoU cAn fInD a HiDDeN tRuCk iN PoKeMoN aNd eVeN mOvE iT wiTh StRenGtH tO cAtCh MeW.
And yet I do miss a lot of that nonsense. Though there was solid intel too don't get me wrong.
There was something about arguing back and forth, in person or online, about it without being able to know for sure. A sense of wonder, I guess...?
Yep lol. Same applies to shit like "That isn't Bob Dylan, it's Stealer's Wheel." "NO IT IS NOT! CLEARLY IT'S DYLAN MAN ARE YOU STUPID?" It could get annoying but the longer the buildup the better the payoff when you were proved right. Now it's like, over before it began since google and all.
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am
The truck was a real thing tho, just out of sight on the docks where the SS Anne is (you needed Surf to reach it), you just couldn't move it and Mew wasn't under it.
Yep, and it is in Let's Go as well.
They also put it in Fire Red and Leaf Green, and left a Lava Cookie under the truck as a gift for those dedicated hunters.
And they didn't make it moveable in lets go? Talk about missed oppurtunity.
I forgot about this and it just makes me irrationally angry. It always had the ring of truth because if something as crazy as Missingno worked, why wouldn’t using strength to move a truck work?
I had a friend who convinced me that you could get Jirachi in Emerald by using cut on some rock in Meteor Falls or something. I just remember spamming cut in that place to no avail.
I found out about shedinja by complete accident. Had to physically show a friend before he'd believe me.
You can actually get a Mew in Cerulean City. This got discovered pretty late on and it works in Yellow too.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.wikihow.com/Catch-Mew-in-Pok%25C3%25A9mon-Yellow%3famp=1
Ermac who?
Like I said man! You have to do it on the level with the weird moaning trees... but you can't lose for 76 fights in a row!
Or how about Missingno if you had a certain rod and fished off of some island in Pokemon Red
You realize Missingno is real right? Please tell me that was a joke.
Yea I've done it. I realize I meant to reply to the parent comment to the above.
I wasn't sure if you were messing around or if you legitimately always thought one of the best things about first gen Pokemon games was bullshit. Haha
Oh no Pokemon was my life from ages 8-12. Still sad Ash let Butterfree go.
Butterfree needed some fucc, and what kind of bro would cockblock you to a shiny?
My 8 year old self couldn’t grasp the notion
Well that one actually worked, either fishing or surfing the east side of cinnabar island after visiting the old man who needed his coffee.
happened because the east side of the island didn't have it's own encoutner table, so it would just use whatever the previous encounter table that was loaded. IE if oyu visited the safari zone, and then immediately went to the island, you'd find safari zone pokemon there.
Specifically missingno happened because when you visit the old mane and he catches a weedle, the game places the player's name into the spot where the encounter table is stored temporarily, so that they can place "old man" in the bottom right during the battle scene. Thus when the player goes to the island, and starts rolling for encounters via fishing or surfing... rather than a proper encounter table, there's just their name there, telling the game to look in odd memory locations for the pokemon you're supposed to fight.
Forget how this tied into the 6th inventory slot (which would become 256 of whatever item), but it did somehow. And it broke your hall of fame.
Oh I know it's real because I've done it lol and IIRC it fucked up the game a bit
For me it was the UFO in Simpsons: Hit and Run. Younger me spent hours looking for a supposed hidden UFO behind a blue house past the power plant because I wanted to fly all over Springfield.
Looking back I probably should have realized that there was no way the developers would code flight mechanics for a vehicle that nobody would reasonably see.
Final fantasy 15 has a car that you can turn into a jet if you go through a rediculous set of steps in the post game world. It has unique flying mechanics, and I bet 10% or less of players (even the ones who beat the game) found and used it.
But it was awesome.
I have never played XV, just the demo that was released with another game. But i feel like you are bullshitting here
He's not, in fact you have to make the flying car to be able to reach a really difficult post game dungeon.
This is true. I never bothered using it because landing was so hard and I always died. Fast travel is also easier.
You could just... idk... google it.
If you have never done this, play GTA San Andreas and put in the 'flying cars' cheat. It's a lot of fun, the cars just drive along like normal but then start taking off. Get a cop car or something fast and you can blast around the sky, I had so much fun doing that.
When I was in elementary school, all the kids (myself included) were playing Sonic Adventure 2. The one with the chao garden. I remember all the rumors, like how to get a "crazy dark chao" that beats you up, how to unlock a hidden garden, etc. The Bubble Garden. Of course it never existed
There was the ultimate dark Chao. They were hard to get
Those actually exist! The fabled crazy dark chao was different. You feed it 5 dark fruits and then wait for it to nap. Then you whistle at it while it's sleeping. When it wakes up it's supposed to go crazy and attack you. No matter how times I tried, it never happened. Just one of those rumors that kids make up.
This just reminded me that my elementary school best friend and I first met over Sonic 2. We sat a little ways away from each other in the same class, one of us heard the other talking to someone about the game and interjected, we exchanged names and discussed our mutual love of the game. It turned out that one of us had lost our copy of the game but the other still had it, so we made arrangements to lend it to the other. We followed through and we were best friends for the next handful of years until I moved almost an hour away.
I ran into him a couple years later at a mall nearby where he still lived while he was shopping, but I was in the middle of a game in a big Pokemon card tournament going on at the time so we didn’t have a chance to catch up beyond exchanging numbers, and I guess we never followed up. However many years after that, he was one of the first few people I searched for when I joined facebook. I friended the one local person I could find with the same name, but he said he was not the person I was looking for. Then he went on and started complaining to me about his life and his lack of friends and shit like that, and I just kinda offered some vague remorseful replies and quickly switched gears to learn the trick of unfriending people on facebook. I later reconnected with a handful of people from my original elementary school through some mutual friends I’d met later in high school, but never got any info on what became of him, and I never did find the real James on facebook or anything. Hope all is well for him. Well, for both of them I guess.
Ocarina of Time and Gamewinners.com
Fuck that combination. There was a fake cheat on there for finding a secret area if you did some funky stuff with the Shadow temple. Spent houuuurs trying to get it, but eventually just gave up
Gamerwinners lied and said you could fly the full winged dodo in GTA 3. Fuck them! Gamefaqs 4 lyfe.
I remember people telling me how to find Rayquaza in Ruby Version. The fact that it was word of mouth and not just something I read on the internet feels so nostalgic.
I had my step parent give me a full guide to OoT that he'd printed out for his boys. Was fuckin' stoked to get those mangled pieces of paper that were still barely holding together.
I had a folder packed a couple inches thick with printouts of guides/secrets on one side and opposite those were codes from cheatcc. Also had a folder full of song lyrics I’d printed out from Netscape on my grandpas Windows 95 machine (albeit not nearly as thick as the gaming folder). Pretty sure I still have at least some of those packed up in a box somewhere.
yep had the printer fuckin running all night for that 91 page secrets guide printed off of GameFAQs
Secrets and rumors about OoT were my fave as a kid. I used to have a huge print out of tricks and secrets. Some were legit and most were not. It was still fun to read them all though. Wish I still had that print out!
Oh and I had a stack of all the annual hardcopy cheat/secrets books published for each different console I had.
The rumor for OoT that floated around in my school was getting all the bottles and beating the game without using Din's Fire against Dark Link in the Water Temple. You could only use the megaton hammer to kill him. If you could do all of this, you could take the triforce of Power from Ganon. I guess the idea was if you had all parts of the Triforce, Link would become some kind of next level Saiyan shit on subsequent playthroughs.
The other N64 related one was unlocking a secret character in Mario Kart. You had to finish Bowser's Castle in reverse. Not reverse mode, but actually turn around.
Am I the only one who beat Dark Link with the master sword?
No, I used the Master Sword too. It never occurred to me to use anything else.
Me neither on my first playthrough. The biggoron sword works better but most people seem to use the megaton hammer, which never occured to me.
The other N64 related one was unlocking a secret character in Mario Kart. You had to finish Bowser's Castle in reverse. Not reverse mode, but actually turn around.
I'm swedish and I remember this one too! Nothing happened, of course. But I tried and got pissed off when it didn't work. Tried a few more times.
I remember having an Action Replay for my Nintendo DS. One time I was playing Pokémon Diamond on the bus on the way to a field trip, and one of my friends told me that if I used the “walk anywhere” cheat and walked far enough off of the map, I’d eventually reach another region.
I think I wasted something like 15 minutes walking across an empty screen before I realized that they were full of shit.
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Darkrai too.
Oh I know. I went up past those in my quest.
Gamefaqs
I spent years trying to find a way to bring Aeris back to life, because the rumor was so insistent.
Or being able to get the Triforce.
I dunno, gamefaqs has been around since 1995, for me, you have to go a bit earlier than that to really get this experience. YMMV of course.
Not hanging shit on you for being young, but OoT is a game I remember as one of the last video games I ever played. N64 was my final console and is still one of the new ones in my mind (not joking).
Cheat lines and Strategy guides were a thing back then, so not everyone knew of Gamefaqs, IGN, Gamewinners, or similar websites.
Oh definitely - but I remember when it was purely the hard-copy references (at least without being hardcore into dial-up BBS and such on the Internet, but lets just say pre-Web)
But you are right, the early web days (say mid - late 90s) was definitely a mixture. People were still using hard-copy materials (magazines, guides, etc) and for a lot of people Web access was still at libraries, schools etc. Certainly a long way off whipping out your phone!
n64cc bros
Currently playing for the first time. Oooh boy I’m not searching anything if I can help it
I heard legends of 'if you wear iron boots for the gannondorf fight and win, you get to play as another Ganon fighting Ganon.'
After I beat the game, I saved up for a GameShark and spent hours upon hours crawling that game with Moonjump and the "beta quest" trying to find anything at all.
Considering how short OoT is compared to modern games, I have a ridiculous number of hours on that save file.
I know a lot about oot but not this fountain. What is it?
Back in the day, my friends and I got in A LOT of trouble for calling the helpline advertised in the Goldeneye manual (I think it may have even been printed on the cartridge). They charged like 4.00 / min, and we managed to rack up like $150 bucks in charges over the course of an afternoon.
Now there’s a job I’m actually qualified for - Goldeneye telephone help line operator.
N64 in my mind is a new console, because it's the last video game console I owned and I basically stopped playing games after that era (the odd PC game here or there, but maybe like 1 game a year since N64).
Anyway - I remember being pretty fucking hot-shit at GoldenEye, I'd unlocked all the cheats from doing the speed-runs and all that.
Now I can go on YouTube and watch GoldenEye speed runs and realise I was but an amateur, a hobbyist at best.
I beat the facility in 00 agent in 1:48 (yes, that was my best time) I'm hot shit!
The world record is 54 seconds? Fuck.
I can't remember what my best time was, but I remember that was definitely the hardest run. And I remember watching on YouTube and just going "WTF - I remembered that being super hard!"
What’s the time you need to beat to unlock the cheat? I spent years trying to get it down, so much relief when I finally got it 2 seconds under!
I think it was 2:05
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Everdrive
Was that like the SNES game genie?
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Ah right, that's awesome
That's actually a suuper scummy thing to do. They had to know a lot of kids would call, not understanding how much of their parent's money they were spending.
How is this any different today from phone app MTX?
It's not, just didn't realize this kinda shit was going so far back.
The more you pay attention to businesses the more youll realize its just layers of taking advantage of people made ok through culture.
When I did it as a kid, it was because I didn't know it would cost money. with an app mtx, I would have to go through my mum's purse for her cc, which is stealing and stealing is wrong.
A lot of the times it's just blanketed accounts like Amazon that have people's cc's auto saved. a few .99c transactions could be overlooked, especially when used for in game currency.
You can block your kids from being able to buy MTXs.
I remember watching older interviews with heads of studios or publishing companies. In the days before DLC this was one way some of those companies made comparable percentages of income. For some of these companies they didn't really gain much at the start with DLC, they just traded revenue streams with the stuff the internet killed.
Oh man I did something similar with Final Fantasy 8. I couldn't beat a double boss midway through the game and the hotline was like "Try wind attacks. Don't forget to Draw a summon from them." Worst $5 I ever made my parents spend.
Was the summon carbuncle?
*pats friend on shoulder*
Hey you! Did you know that if you call the helpline number in the Goldeneye manual your mum yells at you!
I was old enough that I was paying those bills myself. I'm usually quite friendly and despise rudeness, but those calls were all business. Zero chit-chat.
"Hi, thanks for calling Nintendo Help. My name is -"
"Terminator 2. Galleria level. How do you escape the T-1000? And make it fucking snappy."
4.00 / min
I had to call a medical hardware specialist's helpdesk the other day and they were all "lol we're $54 per 15 min".
That's over $200/hr.
The Nintendo hotline was more than a company that sells friggin Xray machines.
One-hundred fifty dollars bucks? Is that like super money? /s
I appreciate your enthusiasm for sarcasm, but to become a master you mustn't indicate it.
I'm a real human being with a family who took the time to manually respond to your comment.
Good bot
Ah I already had dial up internet back then and a gameshark as well. GameFAQ and Game Revolution are perhaps the oldest still running game related professional websites which I used back then. Good times.
Business models like this were the precursor to putting expensive in-app purchases in kids' games hoping 1/100 kids accidentally spend their parents' money.
This happened to me but with Dino Crisis. My mom was pissed.
I managed to rack up a good bit of long distance charges one time dialing up the Sierra On-Line BBS looking for Space Quest hints.
I paid a kid 5 bucks on the playground to tell me how to beat King Hippo. I was all out of ideas and desperate.
I learned how to beat Bald Bull's charge on the playground
King Hippo? On Mike Tysons Punch Out? My roommates and I were playing and about ready to put a chair through the fucking TV until Scotty fluked out and figured it out. We were jumping up and down and we all replayed that level just to beat that sum bitch
Fuck king hippo and his saggy shorts. Who puts band aids on their bellybutton?
Reminds me of the time I ransomed my friend for fruit balls from the canteen so he could hear the ending of Silent Hill.
For some reason I imagined you as an adult doing this, going from playground to playground in a trench coat asking kids how they beat King Hippo
fuck that would have bought alot of candy
I too need this knowledge
Punch him in the mouth when he chirps, then the stomach. That'll be 5 bucks.
Did he just beat you up instead?
"Mew is under the truck"
Who could have guessed that you needed to use arbitrary code extension to put certain seemingly random values in the RAM to force the game to generate a Mew?
Like, I get how and why it works, but I can’t even begin to imagine how someone figured that out.
They figured it out by reverse engineering the pokemon ram and rom, probably with the use of emulators. I'm sure it was very difficult. But it's the same way hackers find vulnerabilities. It helped that gen 1 was written in straight assembly. The "hackers" probably knew of common flaws involved with assembly programming, found a possible exploit, and then figured out a specific way of doing it so that it's a mew that pops up.
Fun fact: you can actually get a level 100 mew extremely easy by combining two glitches. You other glitch makes it so its specifically a level one mew, and if you give it a tiny amount of exp, it will automatically underflow into a level 100 mew.
The Special stat of the last pokemon you see before the Nugget Bridge determines pokemon type and the Attack stat determines level. By Growling 5 times, you can make sure you get a level 1 Pokemon when you get the Nugget encounter. Then, when you catch that pokemon, you can go back to Pallet town and fight a low level Pidgey. If you don't get enough XP to get a full level when you kill the level 2 Pidgey, the XP loops back and becomes level 100.
The XP underflow doesn't work on all pokémon, only on the ones with a medium-slow experience growth. Mew just happens to be in that group.
Trainer fly is not ACE.
Although ACE can be used to put a mew under the truck
Trainer Fly, itself, is not. No, but it is a necessary step in the process of ACE.
Trainer Fly -> fight a different trainer that will walk to you -> fight a Ditto using a Pokemon with a very specific Special Stat -> Nugget Bridge
Still not ACE. You merely delay the battle, can influence what Pokémon you are encountering, but it's still very much within the confinement of the game.
ACE means you can literally do anything, like make the game be Tetris instead of Pokémon, or really put Mew under the truck. That exists as well in the Gen1 games, but requires more setup than escaping a trainer battle.
Yes, I generated the special item ws# and did all that, too, using Pokémon with specific stats in my bank.
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How did you do it without cheats?
There’s a few trainers that will initiate a battle from off screen, but you actually have a short time where you can hit pause before the exclamation point appears and they walk over to fight. If you use fly or teleport to leave the area, the game saves the fact that you have an encounter on that map and generates an encounter based on the Special stat of the last Pokemon you fought. A couple of trainers (a male swimmer in Cerulean Gym and a youngster with a Slowpoke on Route 25) have a Special stat that causes you to run into (iirc a level 5 or 7) Mew.
That's so interesting! Do you know why you have to go through this loophole to get Mew? Was Mew ever supposed to simply be a natural encounter?
It's a glitch, and I left off the last step by mistake. Apparently there is an oversight in those kinds of encounters that doesn't prevent you from doing anything immediately so you have a second to where you can actually pause. If you leave the area then the game stores the fact that you are entering a battle there (and prevents you from accessing the start menu during the whole process) but it doesn't entirely know how to process it so it pulls the data for what you are battling from another table: In this case the special stat. Once you get back to the same map as the encounter you triggered the start menu pops up and the battle starts when you close it.
There's a list of what all you can encounter via this glitch, including the three Professor Oak battles and a few very bad glitch encounters that will mess things up. But there's also Mew, Chansey, and a few other rare ones.
Glitches are not considered cheats.
Or buying the cheat book that had cheats for a ton of different games. There were ones for Xbox,PlayStation, game boy, GameCube etc
And hoping like hell that it had the game you were looking for in it. Or finding the game only to discover that it only had one or two cheat codes, or that it only had ones that changed how you looked.
Or the vanilla version of the cheat books, which maybe only came around in the early 2000s, strategy guides. Buying a big, thick guide to a game you loved or had problems with and either poring over it all at once or breifing though it as you needed help.
Man, I miss my Halo 3 strategy guide. That thing was heavy, and it had so much bonus stuff and a great style and layout. I learned so many tactics from that thing.
There is no cow level.
I was looking for this!! I remember in grade 5: "did you know that if you click on one of the dead cows in town enough times, you will open a secret cow level??"
It became a big enough rumour, the game devs put a secret cow level in all sequels. I always appreciated the fan pandering! XD
(Diablo, in case anyone was wondering)
Ha! I was going to say, there was definitely a cow level.
yep it startet with the addon hellfire /cow quest
When Star Craft came out they added the cheat code 'There is no cow level'.
Ah! Sorry I thought you were referring to Diablo.
I was, both games were made by Blizzard, referring to the same D1 rumors.
Did you hear that Marylin Manson had a rib removed so he could suck his own dick?!
And he played that kid with glasses in the Wonder Years...
Never heard that one.
And he cut a cow in two during a concert with a chainsaw!
I remember someone saying that if you beat all the flying levels in Spyro 2, you'd be able to fly whenever you wanted. So disappointing when it turned out not to be true :(
There’s a glitch where you can swim through the air but it’s pretty buggy. Still fun though
Tips & Tricks magazines
And stealing the CD with the demos from them. Ah the good ole days. .
lmao I was ripping out whole pages and folding them into my pocket
Yeah... I was told that if you fire the laser gun for a half hour straight in GoldenEye, it says "battery low." Cue me duct taping the Z button down and coming back later. Good times...
After you get 120 stars in Super Mario 64 you unlock luigi
It was Yoshi in my region
To be fair you can SEE Yoshi once you get 120 stars
L is real 2041
Just curious, what games had the best mystery feeling to them that you played?
Myst
Final Fantasies
Mario Brothers - I remember my friends and I pausing and rewinding the video of The Wizard just to see everything we could of Mario Bros 3.
The negative to final fantasy was that those games had so much hidden in them that you'd be constantly looking if you didn't have a guide
It still annoys the hell out of me that there's a certain chest in FFVII at Kalm that doesn't open.
Why do they do things like this?
So I can spend 20 years having it bug the hell out of me (and lots of other completionists who don't like missing anything).
I only recently found out that it apparently was an oversight in the code and there isn't any way to open it. All these replayed times I've been thinking 'this time I'll get that chest open', only to find out it's impossible. I can pick that game up after not playing for a few years and I still remember where all the items are on my run, that game really is imprinted on my mind. I always hope to find some secret that only I can find, but I think everything that there is to find has been found. It's amazing what Squaresoft did with that game all those years ago.
Whatever I thought may be in there, the mystery is probably better than actually knowing. Even if it was some sort of mega-item, I would never use it, like the mega-elixirs that finish the game in my inventory, just in case I need them for the super hidden mega boss that only I will find!
oh man those star charts
Everquest. Nothing was spelled out for you, there were no exclamation marks with quests herding you from one zone to the next, no in-game maps, no set checklist of dungeons that everyone did in the same order. There were bosses nobody had beaten months after release, areas that were only rumored to exist because only the most elite guilds could even access them.
Obviously, it was inconvenient, the difficulty curve was all over the place, and most things took way too long, but the sense of mystery was totally worth it.
The early days of EverQuest was amazing. I remember running from Halas to Queynos being scary AF, seeing Giants in the distance. And the trains! EverQuest was organized in it's chaos. Was a thing of beauty.
Do you know if its still like this or if theres any mmo like this?
Everquest is still active AFAIK, but it's on its last legs. Newer MMOs where everyone is on the same playing field and there are actually people to play with? I don't think so. If you find one let me know. Everything that made EQ good has been intentionally eliminated from the genre so that you can get the next widget faster.
WoW becoming an unstoppable juggernaut did that last one, although people’s tastes changing over the years certainly helped too.
It's simply impossible to have an MMO experience that matches the late 90s experience today. Players have too many options now which self-segregates and eliminates diversity of player types in a given game. Player mentality has changed, with min-maxing and aiming for perfect play being far more common. Instant, easy voice communication with friends is now ever-present, allowing far easier coordination. Information is widely available and easy to find.
The closest option nowadays might be finding some weird, barely-known niche game that is specifically doing something unusual with the systems - perhaps One Hour One Life as an example (tho I haven't played it to say if it's any good).
Fallout
Fallout 2 😍
I made maps of the water temple for Ocarina of Time - I know there were handbooks and magazines to help but no way my parents would have paid for that haha
Oh man....missingno was HUGE when news spread about how to get unlimited Master Balls and rare candies.
Back in my day we traded pokemon through a cable and I aint hear non complainin!
Had to turn off the gambeboy at the right moment in order to duplicate pokemons.
I remember my friend Kyle showing me this and just being blown away. "Now I have 99 master balls!" Of course it glitched your Hall of Fame team display but 10 year old me really didn't give a shit about that. 99 masterballs!!!
Part of the joy of procedural or sandbox games like Minecraft, FTL, and Mount & Blade, is that there isn't as much set stuff like that, it's about how you handle the world you get.
My kids still don't know to look up shortcuts or cheats online. I am still the Mario Kart 64 champ until they learn.
Learning about the Minus Worlds in Super Mario Brothers 1 sometime around 1986 was fucking God Mode. The complex ritual you had to perform to get to World -1 was spread by word of mouth. Yeah, try explaining which block to stand next to while talking to some kid on the playground. That's how I had to learn how to get there, and even as a seasoned veteran of that game it was tough the first few times.
Okay I'm going to have to YouTube this.
I miss this too!
I remember back in the Super Smash Bros. Melee days reading up on crazy shit like how to unlock ridiculous characters like“Ronald McDonald” by beating Adventure Mode 100 times in a row without dying. Or being told you can unlock Luigi in Super Mario 64.
My parents definitely do not miss the month that we called Nintendo Power over and over without asking...
You might be happy to know a lot of kids still do this. Probably not the older ones, but I work with elementary schoolers and have worked in schools before and it's still very much a thing in the 6-10 age group at least. They don't really have the logic to understand that there's no known video game secret that isn't on the internet; if their friend tells them it's super secret and only two people have ever done it before, of course there's no video of it online, duh.
I still remember my friend Alexander heard that in the original Super Smash Bros, if you played as a certain character (I can't remember who. May have been Fox?) and jumped "into" the the back of Master Hand, you unlocked what he called "The Other Side." I think he heard literally the players screen rotated, almost like a block turning. On this "other side," there was a whole new slew of characters to play as. Whenever I would go over to his house, trying to unlock the other side of the game was all we would do.
Of course, without the internet, there was no way to Google if this was real or not.
Can't believe no one piggybacked off this and hasn't mentioned the infamous "Nude Code" for Tomb Raider on PS1.
There was a patch on PC if you really want to see some flesh-colored triangles.
Playground rumors is how I learned about Zelda 2. I couldn't even imagine what kind of game that would be.
Like, “if you talk to every gossip Stone with the mask of truth on, it opens a while new area”.
I remember getting Wolf, Jigglypuff, and Toon Link on Brawl, I thought my friend was fucking with me.
In melee there was a rumor that if you beat 50 enemies epic smash or whatever it was called in that one (The hardcore one) you would unlock Sonic & Tails.
Dude, I heard that same stuff and managed to get to that point. The disappointment when nothing happened...
Same! I didn't believe it, but a small part of me was like "what if.." Then I accomplished it- and yep sure enough, nothin'.
April Fools joke iirc. This was one of the first things I remember being falsely spammed all over the internet.
Then Sonic was actually in the next Smash game which was hilarious irony.
I was just playing outward with some friends and one of our friends started looking up fucking everything. Almost ruined the game for us we told him to stfu if he wants to cheat.
Some people are born into a generation where they just look everything up for every game and wonder why games are so easy.
Growing up, I looked down on people who bought gaming guides, pathetic, now everyone just looks shit up online.
that being said, games have definitely become easier.
my go-to example is the original "Tomb Raider" compared with "Tomb Raider: Anniversary". while I think the latter is a great game, it definitely "holds your hand" to a much bigger extent (e.g. that coloured circle beneath that ledge? probably where you want to aim your grappling hook at).
(or the "Prince of Persia" remake which also highlights where you need to jump etc.)
I remember looking through a neighbor's screen door when I was a kid while playing with my friend (the neighbor's kid) and seeing his older brother pull off a fatality in the original mortal Kombat. I begged and begged and begged and begged. Never found out. I mean, I can easily find out now... But the magic of that day and seeing something exist that was only rumored. That's something unreal.
When Super Mario 3 came out and people figured out the whistle warp minds were BLOWN.
I remember one kid faking sick to go home and try it himself.
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Someone ducked on the white block for long enough to avoid an enemy, fell to the background, and said “huh”...
at least those were things that could be discovered by playing the game.
but how about those "enter [xxx] as your player name and get infinite ammo" or "two times left, three times up, one left, two right, four down during the title credits" cheats? I mean, they must have either been leaked by the designers themselves or someone reverse engineered the code, right? how else could you have known?
Those old Konami code books, all the cheat codes for the last year or two of video games... whenever it was the bookfair I would always find the most recent copy and get it.
I also remember when you had to go online and browse message boards for things... I know there was a Dragon ball Tenkaichi game where gamefaqs said they had all the locations of dragonballs, but I realized that the locations changed based on your character and I attempted to update the locations per character on the boards but got blocked because some mod didn't like it.
A small video game store near me growing up had a book where people would hand wrote cheat codes in a book for all sorts of games and people would routinely stop in to see if any new cheats or secrets had been added since their last visit. The guys who worked there were HUGE nerds who knew everything about literally all the games at the time
I get what you mean and almost personally killed this one for me. I watched so many YouTube videos about finding gold and other secrets in Red Dead 2 that there was a very definite moment where at some point I felt like I knew them all, and it was a much shorter process than I would’ve liked. I actually talked about that with my roommate and he’s fired up the game again excited to just go explore the game having never heard about some of the secrets before.
the element of surprise is gone unless you’re not on the internet or something
Or actively avoid information on the game
I’m too young too relate, but I prove your point. Sometimes when I’m playing a game and I’m really stumped on something, i cave and just google it. I find what I was looking for, but I know that I lost a bit of a sense of accomplishment.
I think it's a mixed bag: while in my childhood "figuring it out" was part of the fun if you got it done, it could also get frustrating (because in some cases, you couldn't get it done and were instead stuck. usually leading to quitting the game altogether).
I remember building a portfolio of cheat codes & guides from magazines.
Discovered a secret once too. Was in that Bart Vs Space mutants game. I jumped backwards on a platform 3 times & it just rose up and traveled over the platforming section by itself. Blew my fucking mind.
There were even some cool bullshit ones often printed out in gaming mags and strategy guides like the one from Tomb Raider 2 where Lara was supposed to turn into a dragon on blow up a spike pit to reveal a hole leading to a hidden T-Rex
cheat code for unlocking blood in Mortal Kombat intensifies
I still remember printing out cheat code booklets
I think I spent HOURS searching for a way to have Gray Fox's sword in MGS 1.
And with Pokemon Blue/Red, the rumors were AWESOME <3 The hidden city in the ocean, the Orange archipelago, how to get into Leo's secret garden in which you can find Mew, it added so much to the game, a layer of mysteries that would never be resolved, it was so great <3
At some point when someone tells you something you'll be like "yeah sure I can catch a lvl 225 pokemon, sure you're righ- oSHI WTF IS A MISSINGO ?" "You can find Mew ... under a truck ? Shut up please, there's not a single vehicle in Kanto, why-WHAT THE FUCK IS A TRUCK DOING HERE ? WHY IS IT THE ONLY TRUCK IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE ? WHY IS IT HIDDEN NEAR A BOAT HOLY SHIT"
Basically, it widen the world of the game. So cool.
I think I spent HOURS searching for a way to have Gray Fox's sword in MGS 1.
Did you ever get to play the MGS VR-Missions?
It was a separate disc you had to buy, but it had hundreds of new VR training missions, and some of them let you play as the ninja.
Yes I heard about it, but I couldn't find it in stores. And I think I had a gamecube at that time, so the glorious days of sneaking on Moses Island were behind me :D
This backfired on me. One friend told me ‘if you beat every level of Halo on every difficulty setting, you unlock the Banshee in multiplayer’. I spent days trying to get past certain levels, The Library stands out as a real pain. There were no banshees to unlock. Much disappoint.
In Halo 2 it at least unlocked Foundation for multi-player
Nowadays dataminers ruin any secrets a game might have. Unless you're Rea (HououinMakise) from the EO LP discord and you make a fool of yourself claiming a secret is a hoax and shitting all over the first person to report it, only to be proven wrong.
Up, up, down, down, left, right, left right,B, A, Select, Start.
FROM software games still do the convoluted secrets with hidden endings and bosses, but like you said you can just look them up.
Oh man, you got me thinking of when Pokémon Red and Blue were out with the rumor that you could get a Mew if you used push on the tuck by the ship!
I remember it taking months (maybe weeks, but it felt like months) to figure out things in The Adventures of Link when I was a kid - like revealing the hidden temple by standing between those rocks and blowing the flute... or chopping down forest to reveal a hidden town.
Mortal Kombat Nude-alities and Sex-alaties. Totally fake and just rumor, but no internet around to confirm or deny it.
Oh boy, I remember reading and watching stuff about the myths, secrets, mystery’s and legends of GTA. I miss those days.
My little brother found an easter egg in the original Halo that I was CONVINCED no one else would ever find just because it was so god damn random and who the hell else would even waste time doing this. I googled it up recently and lo and behold there it was. Siege of Madrigal apparently.
Was disappoint.
I remember my neighbor telling me about a big bowser in smash bros melee. Me and my brother kept calling him a liar and calling him out and stuff. He said you have to play as mario on very hard in adventure mode. It took us like a week for giga bowser to appear and I remember getting our asses kicked.
I have no idea how my friends and I learned Super Jumps in Halo 2. It must’ve been through making friends on XBConnect.
I spent so many hours in Goldeneye trying to get to the building across the reservoir in the dam level.
Dude I miss spending hours trying to get that old lady to come outside or trying to unlock waluigi in super Mario 64 because of some old gaming forum photo or playground rumor
When I was kid - some shit head classmate told me in GTA Vice City if you get 5 stars and have them long enough - robocop will arrive.
Never arrived :(
The last real mysterious game I remember was Mortal Kombat Deception. Even with the internet, there were people speculating how to unlock more Kharacters all the time in the story mode.
I've gotten this experience a couple of times lately, playing games immediately after launch. Generally there's no useful information online except from people that are super fans, and even then it's limited information. Fandom oriented subreddits feel like the playground now. This happened for me with Kingdom Hearts 3 and Devil May Cry 5. This also happened partially back at WoW Legion for me
It was also fun to just enjoy games too in spite of their flaws, instead of watching every new game get immediately swamped by screaming angry people because of a minor graphical downgrade or janky framerates on ultra settings or whatever other trivial shit people decide to freak out about
I think google stadia could be cool for this if they had exclusive games where you couldnt access game files and it disabled recording at secret areas... Probably work arounds obviously but it would be cool
Even having "the cheatbook" that you could buy at the store that would give you hints and tips and stuff was so much fun because you had to physically take this huge book off the shelf and leaf through it to find information about the particular level, monster, etc you were struggling with. Googling it is just not the same.
I'll never forget my disappointment when my Pokémon sapphire reached the 99th launch in the space station and I didn't get to catch deoxys
Thankfully was old enough to experience San Andres in its prime. Hearing all those rumors about Big Foot roaming around in the countryside had me wasting sssooo much time in that game! There was a big article about it in Game Informer and everything! So many hours of driving around bfe and for nothing. Such a great game though
I was in 3rd grade when Pokemon Blue and Red came out. The playground was always buzzing with rumors on how to catch certain pokemon/get items. My favorite were always the really fake ones that someone always swore was true because their cousin's friend's brother said so. "If you talk to the guy who gives you the old rod 4000 times in a row without leaving his house, he'll give you a rod to catch Squirtles" and stuff like that. I always wondered if anyone on the playground actually went home and tried it.
I had one of my elementary school friend's phone number memorized because I would call him multiple times a week for help with the Legend of Zelda. He could walk me through any dungeon and get me out of the lost woods over the phone. Thanks for all the help back in the day Stanley!
I think that was the worst part of video games. Some asshole tells you that if you this and this, you unlock a secret. And you spend hours trying it, only to find it's not true. Nowadays? You can just check it, and spare time. It's knowledge.
Another point to that is I would never find shit out like in the division all the hunters mask
Pokémon was the best to play with friends back in the day just because of this. Something I don’t think a lot of kids will be able to recapture thanks to access to smart devices
It's not exactly the same thing, but you might enjoy speedrunning or tas.
I mean this still exists just in a new form on the internet. It's only spoiled by dataminers.
Or if you were really stuck on something in a game calling those premium cheat lines in the back of Amiga Format magazines/PlayStation magazine for ridiculous amounts of money and waiting for the pre-recorded voice to get to the bit you needed.
Actually wait, I don't miss being screamed at when the phone bills came in...
Me and my friends still did this as kids in the early 2000s up to like 2010 it just has to do with how much internet is consumed and in what ways I guess. We all loved pokemon but we never watched YouTube on it and just used one site to look some stuff up but by doing that it still kind of made it a bit secret and special to have that info and share it.
Well there was Nintendo Power.
That's why I don't use internet guides. It makes games much more rewarding.
It wasn't that different. You heard about the secrets from magazines instead of websites.
I miss playground rumors. And when games had genuine mystery.
Play crappy mobile games with bad translation and this is still true!!
I remember this one mario game for GBA that had these secret keys that would unlock extra levels. For some of them i couldnt find the secret thing for like a year and it felt so good finally finding it. Today i would probably just google it after 30 minutes
I'm not sure I miss that so much. I remember having a friend tell me that you could play as Goku in super smash Bros (melee I think) if you beat the game as every character in hard mode without dying once.
Young me didn't have much confidence in myself, so I always wondered and waited for someone that had done that would come along and confirm, so I could give it a try.
Years later, I find that Goku made its way into that broken super smash game people love watching on twitch.
Not quite the same...
This weekend my wife and I went apartment hunting in a super rural area that had no listings posted online.
We popped into a real estate office and talked to someone there about apartment rentals.
They just sold houses, but they gave us a few names and numbers of friends they had that did rentals.
One was the owner of a lumber supply shop, so we followed the real estate guy's directions up the street, turn at the bank, go through a light and turn to the right to the lumbar yard. The owner was busy so we spoke with the guy there behind the counter.
He said the owner didn't have anything available at the moment but gave us more friends' numbers to call.
It was like doing detective work in the 80s! We found a nice place and made arrangements for the lease all in one day.
Kinda made me appreciate the days before instant gratification of online house hunting.
I've found that the online listing places don't police for scams at all so they're all basically worthless. Rental or purchase. It's a nightmare so i just walk around a neighborhood i want to live in and call numbers on yard signs. Better prices, landlords and properties.
Finally looking to rent my own apartment and the online sites are stressing me out.
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Thank you!
Finding an available duplex in the St. Louis area is just about detective work. They don’t advertise; you have to meet the right people.
Yep, that's exactly how this was.
instant gratification of online house hunting.
Instant gratification?! I freakin' wish. Half the advertisements I find are of apartments that are already leased but that some employee didn't take offline, and the rest is a bitch to make appointments for to go have a look at it. Ain't nothing instant about it where I live.
Stuff like that still exists. I need to ship a car from Los Angels to Las Vegas. Car shipping is a nightmare, and even worse trying to do it online.
So got online and looked up a tow truck driver in LA and just called his shop. Said hey, you know anybody that’s hauling cars through Nevada anytime soon? He said yeah sure do, lemme call him see if he’s got a spot. Sure enough he did, he picked my car up at the dealership few days later and we met in Vegas. Cash deal and I drove it home.
That sounds like a great time, around me it's mostly just the large complexes and corporately owned buildings that seem to advertise online. Based on just that, I honestly don't know if there are any other rental opportunities for something aside from a cookie cutter apartment.
Same. My husband and I had to resort to just driving up and down streets hoping to see a sign in front yards and Thrifty Nickel ads. We found a house from a private landlord just like we wanted. We hated going through rental companies with our first 2 apartments because we got screwed over both times.
We are going to have to do this when we move next it’s so bad here in our HCOL area. Trulia is a void in the 25 mile radius we want to live in. Same with Zillow. I’m curious as to what rural area you meant. At least give me a comparison?
Honestly do this even if there are listings online. I’ve been apartment hunting several times in my life and the best deals are the ones from landlords that don’t know how to use the internet or refuse to.
Online listings are shit in the first place. Tried to get an apartment in a city. It was worse than job hunting. From 10 listings I've written to, I got zero answers.
I only received one as I directly called one of the company and got an apartment that wasnt listed yet. As the guy listed it later he got 50 requests and 11 of those got to see it.
The housing market is stupid.
Nothing instant about it if you need something soon. I probably called 30 places trying to find my last place because it was a little last minute (3 weeks or so out, not exactly "tomorrow")
I'm curious what rural area actually has apartments?
Most of them do, but they're kind of looked down upon. In my hometown, if you had an apartment, you werent a real grownup
Whereas, in my city, if you own a house you’re probably wealthy or you’re renting out a floor. Everyone has a unit number attached to their address
Many of them, they will often be smaller apartments of maybe a dozen units in a small building, not large complexes or high rises with hundreds.
Or you get those second-floor apartments above the store fronts along the one street.
Lived above a convenient store for about a year. Was nice and quiet since the store closed at 8 PM. Traffic wasnt too bad for it being right off the road and had the convenience of the store right below me. Win, win.
Very small Virginian town.
There are some in a town of 300 in ND
Most small town apartments I've seen look a bit like a motel with larger rooms. More than 2 stories is pretty rare.
The apartments in my home town are what is called “Low income apartments” where you get charged what you can afford. A few of the people I know who have lived there tell me they’ve paid anywhere from $15-$200 per month. They were built in the 60’s and could use some updating, but overall they’re a really nice place to live. IIRC the finding assistance comes from the county and town.
There's a town near me in Wisconsin that isn't even an official town. There's only one intersection, but there's an apartment building on it. (I think five apartments)
Other towns near by are a little larger, at 600-900 people, and they've all got apartments. A bunch of them are above old bars and stores -- sometimes the stores aren't even open anymore, but they still have apartments.
People who can't afford a house still need places to live, and there are lots of people in the country who can't afford houses.
I noticed usually no one tells me anything. Or no body knows anything. Cause I find me self going back to google maps a lot.
It helps that my wife was with me. People seem to like helping her, probably because she's tiny and always looks semi-lost lol
Oh God that's hilarious! I can picture that :D
I can tell you that moving across country to a place like this, with little internet presence, is very frustrating.
It was like doing detective work in the 80s! We found a nice place and made arrangements for the lease all in one day.
Kinda made me appreciate the days before instant gratification of online house hunting.
So it would have been better if it had taken a couple of weeks?
This is why I love the Shenmue games. They're like a simulation of getting shit done in pre-internet times, and also you know Kung Fu.
I hate apartment hunting. Its a pain in the ass, and I do whatever I can to make it easier on myself. What you did sounds like misery to me lol.
I remember my first college roommate and I deciding to get an apartment together. We bought a newspaper, circled the promising ones, called the rental offices and set up viewings. Drove around and looked at apartments, found one we liked, drove to the rental office, and filled out the paperwork on carbon paper.
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Yes, Christmas catalogues and circling the toys I wanted! Thank you for reminding me!
And not receiving any of them because your parents would rather wait in line at Toys R Us than send in your catalog list.
I feel like catalogs made it SO much easier to navigate what was being sold. Now if you don’t know the exact keyword or the exact filter for what you’re looking for on a store’s website, you’re SOL. I hate it. Some stores still have catalogs but you have to sign up for them and it’s not super easy to figure out where to sign up online.
It's getting better, but in the early days of online stores it was particularly bad.
It is getting better, but I think it's still going to be many years before the major sites like Amazon, Aliexpress, Ebay and Walmart have filtering and searching abilities that work well.
Admittedly, most of the problem is with third party vendors, so Aliexpress and Ebay are 100% screwed. Let's say I search for 3d printer filament. I want it to be orange, 1.75mm, PLA, and 1kg. Most, maybe all, of those sites can include a search result for a listing that offers options of 100grams of orange 3mm PLA, or 1kg of white 1.75mm ABS, but it catches enough keywords and includes that in the search results, and there are LOTS of listings in the search results like that.
Trying to find clothes might be even worse if I'm looking for a specific style, materials and size. It's a bad experience even if the results are restricted to that company (Amazon or Walmart). Since it excludes third parties, it should be possible to drill down effectively, but it works poorly. Amazon is so buggy that sometimes it doesn't work at all and it'll kick out to a higher level or include garbage results.
So yeah, I miss when it was a given that catalogs were curated well.
My wife just picked up the Argos catalogue. I laughed at her but now I'm flipping through that fucker.
Do they still sell the scary clown necklace?
You can still request catalogs be mailed to your door for free from online.
I missed the same thing a few years ago and spent some hours subscribing to catalogs for clothing, homeware and Christmas stuff online.
When they showed up over the coming weeks, some of them still looked like they were from 1995. It’s wonderful.
The Lego catalogue used to be my favorite as a kid!
I used to anxiously await its arrival. I would run down our driveway on the farm to the road to meet the mailman and check.
when i was younger, to make my letter for the "Père Noël" (Santa Claus), my aprents made me go through the Toys'R'Us catalog, cut the photos of the toys i wanted, pasted them on my letter, and then my parents would send it to the Père Noël. I liked it so much, I hope catalogs will still exist for my childs to do the same thing
There are still catalogs. IKEA has a pretty good one, and so does Sportsman’s Guide. I bet BudK still has one too. It’s not as good as it used to be, but at least it’s not a totally lost art.
I’ve got about 30 uline catalogs you can have
Lol me too!!
I have such fond memories of flipping through catalogs! The JC Penney Christmas catalog was an absolute joy, and as I got a bit older, I'd start looking at all the fancy dresses.
The LEGO catalogue was amazing.
Oh man. I used to get so excited for the big Toys R Us catalog they put in the newspaper right around Black Friday. They used to come with little stickers so you could mark which toys you wanted without having to search for a marker or a pen. I spent hours pouring over them every year. Good times.
Remember Brand Name? Where you looked all through the catalog, went to the store, gave them the item number and they pulled your stuff from the back room like at a shoe store? Miss that place. I whiled (wiled? No...right? Hm) away hours picking stuff out from that catalog when I was a kiddo.
We still have this in the UK - it's called Argos. Actually still useful for when you need it now-now, rather than probably tomorrow and you need to wait in for it.
I remember going through the CCS catalogs during middle school thinking about my next skateboard.
You or your wife must not be into gardening.
I get flower catalogs all year, at least one a week.
SIL ordered a gift for my wife out of one under her own name, so now we get two of every catalog.
It's spring now so we get a few every week. The other day I got six catalogs and two envelopes of loose flyers.
Is that a typo or have you not yet noticed that it's JC Penney now and apparently always has been? If it's the latter, sorry for freaking you out and welcome to the rabbit hole. That's the one that finally convinced me something weird is going on. I used to go to JC Penny all the time. I've only been to JC Penney a couple of times. And no, I'm not just confusing it with the word penny, as in the coin. Spelling has always been one of my strengths. I usually store a phonetic pronounciation of each word in my mind along with how it's actually said, just to aid in spelling. It was not Penn-EY. It was Penny. Like the word penny. If it's always been Penney for you, cool. Carry on and be happy you're still in your original universe and/or you took the blue pill, idk.
r/mandelaeffect is leaking!
I love the Lee Valley catalogue and still get them a couple of times a yeAr. For gardening, woodworking and other random bits and bobs (like a gizmo to rrrrrroll up the rrrrrim). Their write ups and descriptions are enjoyable in a very innocent sort of way.
Brookstone catalogues used to be the source of half my Christmas list every year when I was a kid
I get so many catalogs! Every time I get one I send them a letter telling me them to take me off their mailing list.
Bass pro still sends catalogs. Infact, just got one on Saturday.
Like many people I'm often nostalgic for the feeling of brick and mortar rental stores.
I can’t describe the joy I felt walking into a Blockbuster on a Friday night hoping the new movie I wanted to rent wasn’t sold out. And getting overpriced movie snacks while waiting in line.
One of my fondest memories was Halloween night when was like 8 and I begged my dad to let me watch the first Halloween, since he always raved about it. We finally went to Blockbuster but he warned me it's very possible it would be sold out. I waited in the car with my mom and he came out with a bunch of snacks giving us the thumbs up. I went fucking mental haha.
Such a wholesome memory. Awesome.
Dude your fucking username lmao
I’m hardly the subreddit-linking type, but this is peak r/rimjob_steve
r/boneappletea
Teehee
One of my favorite things about Reddit is the usernames.
Haha, I like yours!
As a fan of Ms. Kat Dennings, I'm not sure how to take your username.....
It's hilarious when dudes hit on me thinking I'm some sort of thick Kat Dennings looking chick. And I'm just like yeahhhh I'm a fat dude with a pun for a username haha
I remember when my dad took me to the video store and rented me Beetlejuice for the second time. I think I was seven or eight years old. I remember being so excited that I was going to see it again that I shouted "NICE FUCKIN' MODEL" and honked my dick in the store. My dad smacked me really hard in the back of the head for it. Ah, youth.
Such a wholesome memory. Awesome
This memory has now become my memory. We are one.
r/rimjob_steve
r/rimjob_steve
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Whats rule 3?
As a former BB employee during HS, I can tell you nothing felt better than seeing someone desperate for a movie come up and ask if we can check the returns and finding it either waited to be scanned in or in the dropbox.
God, I wish my dad loved me
...damn
omg this reminds me of the day i got Nintendo 64. Mario Kart was sold out everywhere, and my dad decided to stop at one last store before going home. He came out of the store looking so happy that he got the last copy
That’s a good dad
Thanks, yes he was and still is!
mine was wanting to watch barbwire with pam anderson with 6 other 11 year olds, we cheered too loud when we saw the cover in blockbuster that davids mom put the movie back and we watched one of the leprechaun movies.
fricking davids mom
This almost makes me want to have a kid.
💙
That is priceless and so is your username.
i have a gem for you: "Trick or Treat"
gene simmons and ozzy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092112/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
dats cute as hell
I always wonder if kids are softer with movies these days,. When I was young my parents let me watch any movies I wanted. My kid started watching pet semetary with me and I had to turn it off because he was too scared. He even struggled with sloth in the Goonies lol
I just feel like thwybhave to catch something at the right time just as with any other generation of kids. I first saw Jurassic park when I was about four and the dilophosaurus scene terrified me so much that I couldn't even finish the movie or look at the vhs cover for the movie. Four years later I watched the whole thing, including that scene, and it became one of my favorite movies. Meanwhile one of my best friends, who is my age, saw child's play as a little kid and you still can't get her to watch a Chucky movie or even look at a doll for more than two seconds.
and these days you lose your kids for leaving them in the car.
I was with my mom
That's like when your Gram would say "We'd all go play jacks down by the soda fountain!" And you say, "No one knows what you're talking about, you idiot!"
You know how you talk to your grandma?
I miss always getting the most random gamecube games at blockbuster as a kid and playing them with my brother. And then we'd go in and look for a specific movie or game and they wouldn't have it so we'd have to go to another blockbuster or maybe even hollywood video...which somehow made it more fun? Lmao it's like I tapped into my hunter gatherer instincts.
My dad and I used to go to a movie rentals place every week when I was a kid, they had video games there too. There was one game I was renting and renewing so many times, they told me to just keep it until I was done cause the late fees would be cheaper. And it always smelled like popcorn... I loved that place
I can honestly seeing them have a comeback. People talk about video stores all the time and how much they miss them.
I think people miss the memory but the convenience and cheapness of netflix/hulu/prime will never let another brick and mortar chain support itself. Nobody wants to pay an extra 50% fee to support workers and a store, after getting off their ass and spending time to go there in the first place. And then theyd be pissed the first time they were out of whatever the store wanted theyd likely never risk it again.
Its like people who miss life before the internet in general but they will never leave it.
It's all so impersonal now. Movie night with my wife is just browsing Netflix for a half hour and settling on something meh. Going to Half Price Books is kinda similar to the video store experience.
Internet killed the video store
"Um, hi, I was wondering if you have Addams Family Values?"
Hollywood video for me, way better than blockbusters
Much wider and often more obscure collection of movies and overall a better vibe and aesthetic than blockbuster too.
And asking them to check the returns in a last ditch effort if you dont find it on the shelf
And if nothing big is available you wind up with something bizarre like A Home at the End of the World. Which still turns out to be halfway decent.
I worked at a Subway next to a movie theater and a blockbuster and we all traded goods and services to each other. I felt like a god on high school dates. "Here, we'll go see this movie for free, then get a free sandwich and grab another movie for later on."
The two hours I'd spent with my friends just trying to pick one while the owner looked at us in fond exasperation...
My mom still has a popcorn bowl we got for free from a Blockbuster promotion... those were the days.
I always loved renting video games and, if it was really worth it, bugging my parents to buy it for me. My Hollywood Video had a GameCrazy store inside, so you could usually find the game there. It was so much more exciting than PS Store sales and CDKeys.
Edit: changed Blockbuster to Hollywood Video
Im surprised gamestop still exists tbh.
edit: oh shit its going out of business before 2019.
Even if the new release I wanted was gone, I loved walking in after school and spending up to an hour going through the old weeklies. My local would have a couple of deals, one new release and 3 weeklies cheap, or 5 weeklies really cheap. I’d wander the aisles looking at tons of movies, and they’d have heaps of reviews and recommendations from the people working there. They got to know my tastes and when I’d come in or go to the counter they’d give me tips on movies I’d like. Even when movies I picked were mediocre I’d still get more enjoyment from them thanks to the search and choice than I do from mediocre movies I stream now. They just seemed to have more soul when you had to physically search and commit to a choice
The idea of not being able to rent/watch a movie because it's sold out seems so crazy now. That, and the number of movies available. I remember my mom driving one of my first girlfriends and me to Blockbuster and feeling like the choices were endless. Like thinking, 'oh man, I hope we can decide on a movie!' Truly simpler times.
As someone who gets anxious about things like this and having to drag my butt out just to rent a couple of movies I may or may not like but am stuck with(and then have to return or get charged fees): I’m so happy I can now get any movie I want at the click of a click! lol Thats definitely at least one thing I’m never wishing for the good old days over!
Sarcasm? Because:
hoping... wasn’t sold out
overpriced movie snacks
waiting in line
Sounds awful.
I remember renting movies on VHS to watch. The last thing I remember renting was GTA Vice City Stories for the PSP in the early 2000s to hack it to install a custom firmware.
There were so many games that I rented for the wii from blockbuster before it went under. I honestly just enjoyed browsing the aisles looking for something that would peak my interest
My parents would just take us to the grocery store next to the Blockbuster. I do remember buying a little Powerpuff Girls set there one time. I loved them so much.
Also those weirdass looking movies whose sole purpose to accidentally rent them, thinking they were another movie.
Oh, man... I used to love going with my parents to the Blockbuster. It was a big deal
I still have a Blockbuster 30 minutes away from home.
I was pretty lucky. We had a great Mom & Pop video store in my hometown. I think Blockbuster bought them out after I was finished with college, but they had a great run.
Those three times I found out that Pokémon Stadium 2 wasn't sold out and I could rent it for the weekend. Those three times changed my life :')
God, you just brought me back to my childhood, except replace Blockbuster with Hollywood Video...
I'm a millennial, but I've never been to blockbuster in my life.
It makes me feel so weird that the way my husband and I dated back in the day doesn't even exist anymore. We're not even that old.
I mean, you can't just leave me with this, how did you date?
We would go to blockbuster, waste an hour picking a couple movies, buy some candy and popcorn, and have a weekend. Often we would forget to return stuff on time so there would be late fees. LATE FEES!
Late fees? What about rewind fees?
They charged fees for that?? I remember the whole “be kind, rewind” campaign but I didn’t know it was more of a “be kind or else!”
There's a whole movie about that!
I always avoided those by duct taping the DVDs to my hub caps BACKWARDS when I drove to the store to return them
My first serious boyfriend and I were both into media and would go on dates to Best Buy where we could buy dvds for each other. :3
I never understood media, like why can't everyone just transfer their thoughts directly to other people's brains? Using a medium is so messy and wasteful.
There are still movie rental places around. They just aren't as common. We have Family Video where I live.
Oklahoma?
Iowa
Nowadays there is Red Box. It's still kinda fun. Now one of you is checking Rotten Tomatoes as the other swipes through.
Oh, yeah you can still do that with cool dudes/chicks. Just like, lets go to the furniture store and fuck around. Spend an hour picking out a couch, but just goof off.
As far as the late fees, if you shared an account with anyone, you always got nailed with the late fees. It wasn't until later you could say you'll pay the late fee next time and pass the buck to the next person. (I shared with bastards!)
You could have always just reasoned your way out of paying late fees
Ahh David Thorne.
I prefer my payment in spiders.
I almost said that, but I had to pull it up to confirm whether it was blockbuster or the utility account that was the spider one hah
That's brilliant.
On paper "going to a furniture store" for a date sounds awful , but with the right person it could be enormous amount of fun
Blockbuster & chill
Blockbuster & Cockthruster*
Blockbuster and nutbustinher.
Thrustbuster and cockblocker
Blockbuster & peruse
It’s been replaced by scrolling through Netflix/Hulu and the grub hub/Ubereats apps to pick a movie and a snack (at least at our place)
It’s a blessing for me though, if I had to spend another hour under those flickering lights watching my husband read every box in the new release section our marriage may not have made it this far!
It’s sad for him though, he loved that routine so that’s a bit sad for me too.
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The library is honestly one of my favorite places.
Underutilized resource
Yeah I know. I do that with the kids now. But I can't get the candy and popcorn there like we used to. It's not the same!
Do you not have a Family Video or something similar around your area? It’s pretty alive in the Midwest still at least
My fiancée and I went to one of those a few years back. It was like a portal had opened and we walked into 1990.
Yeah, but it's like 30 miles away. There were two Blockbusters and a Hollywood Video between our houses, and it was only 5 miles.
I live in the 18th largest metro in the us and there's not a single video rental store that I know of
We have one last movie rental place in the city where my husband and I live and sometimes we go there and just got apeshit on rentals and snacks, just to hole up all weekend and watch movies. Makes us feel like we are in high school again.
I remember when my wife and I had been dating for a while, it was Friday night and there was a new release rental that we both really wanted to watch. Went to our closest Video Ezy (Aussie Blockbuster) and nope, all out. Went to the next one and again, all out.
Luckily at this time in history movie stores were everywhere, from memory we had about 6 within a 10 minute radius. It was probably a good hour or so of driving around to the different stores only to be disappointed. "Let's get this other movie instead?" one of us would say. "No! We've come this far and we must carry on!". Eventually after 4 or 5 stores we finally managed to snag a copy.
The movie was terrible, but we still fondly talk about the adventure of that night.
Dont worry us college aged adults smoke weed under bridges and go hiking. It has a magic all of its own.
Blockbuster & chill?
Technology ages much faster than people.
Seattle has a hand full of movie rental places
Newsflash...
If you think 30 is old you're gonna be miserable for a long time.
I figured you were 40, over the hillll
Oh God no! We started dating when I was 19.
Blockbuster was so cozy
I went to the last blockbuster in the world in Bend, Oregon recently. They had it completely stocked with food and movies new and old. And there was a bunch of people it in. It was awesome. Definitely more of a tourist attraction than anything though
Whipped out my dad's old Blockbuster membership card at my friend's party last night. People were flabbergasted
An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.
Damn I probably got rid of mine like 5 years ago or so. The store in Bend sells them as novelty items for like $2 lol
I used to keep my video store cards in a kind of back pocket in my wallet. The card slots had more important cards. The back pocket was also were I’d stash my bag of coke on nights out. On more than one occasion I’d pull out the pile of back pocket cards and start rifling through them to get the relevant video store card and a bag of coke would drop on the counter. Both our eyes would stare at it for a few seconds, grab it back up with a quick “whoops”, hand over my card, pay and leave.
I don't have my Blockbuster card anymore, but I do still have my VideoEzy card. I felt SO grown up when I was able to get my own card!
I commented earlier up thread about it as I went last weekend to this Blockbuster. Never, ever thought I’d go to one as a tourist.
We still have a local movie rental place. My dad was in there every week renting movies! The owners were awesome and when my dad got sick, they’d bring movies they thought he’d like to the hospice.
I live in bend...it's amazing to see the last blockbuster ever...everyday like it's the 90s
I have a friend who works there and he absolutely loves it
It was so cool to visit it. I got a t shirt lol
The last one? Aw man, a few years ago I went past one in Alaska I would have sworn would be the last. Ah well, it had a good run
I believe there's still a few Blockbusters in Alaska too. Bad internet helps video rental sales.
Funny I’m with my friend from Alaska right now and she just said she can’t stream because the internet at her house is so bad lol
Nope, they closed and the one in Bend is the very last one.
Right you are!
I hear that store is still profitable too. I hope it stays around a while.
We had one here in Toowoomba, Queensland up until a month ago. I took a live video in side. Prices were too expensive to bother buying anything sadly.
I'm so totally hitting that one by summer's end.
Their twitter is also really hilarious.
You should check out their Twitter account, they have absolutely no chill 😅
Isn't there still 3 blockbusters in Alaska?
Err.... there’s blockbusters all over Japan dude
Blockbuster killed my local rental store. That was a cool place, even had the adults only section with the curtain in the doorway.
As a kid, my parents were always really adamant about going to local places and avoiding big chains as much as possible. We'd go to a little video store up the street from our house most of the time, and I don't think I really appreciated it until it was gone. Blockbuster was a rare treat for me growing up, and I was too young to really get my parents' point in that case, so I mostly felt deprived. Haha. I went up there in high school, right before they closed for good (this would've been sometime in the mid-2000s), and they had a ton of cool shit in there, like a bunch of old exploitation and trashy horror movies, still on VHS, and it made me re-think my memories of it.
On a weird side note, I used to have recurring dreams set in video stores. Mostly just wandering around the aisles searching for something and never finding it. Must be some symbolism there. I did have one once in which I saw someone get murdered in one of the aisles. Usually they were boring and mundane though. I haven't had one in a while, and I think it's because I never have that experience. Maybe I ought to go to the Family Video near me that's somehow still open more often and see if they ever come back.
My local place was like that too. I'd always move slowly to the section near the curtain, then when it was safe, I'd slip through the curtain.
Downriver Michigan?
No, but every city had these kinds of places. I'd say a majority of single owner or small chain video rental places had an adult section in a separate room, separated by a beaded or fabric curtain.
Yeah the 2 mom and pop shops near me had the curtained off section too. I got yelled at once as a little kid for going in there.
Hollywood Video bitch.
I remember blockbuster being crazy spendy when it came to our area. It was like $5 bucks for a new release and for a single night. (Yeah, that isn't much now, but like Subway still like $6 foot longs but when they first came out it was $5 foot longs. Min. wage was $5ish an hour, so hours work for a sandwich...)
I once saw a drunk homeless man throw up all over the GameCube rack. Needless to say, Mario Superstar Baseball wasn't an option for me that night.
Since video rental services died it's bloody impossible to get a lot of Gundam stuff nowadays. Even piracy for a lot of it is really difficult.
Before the one near my house closed down, there was this guy working there that gave me great advice on movies to see. Not the obvious ones, more so the lesser known ones or classic I may have missed.
And it really added some depth to the process. The good movies would all be taken if you didn’t plan ahead. So you would have to ask the guys to check the drop off for a movie and guess what, Speed was just returned! Better buy some Mike and Ike’s!
And you didn’t have to go all the way to the theater to pay outrageous prices for candy.
Ah yes, the flourescent lights, primary colors splashed on everything and aisles upon aisles of videos without seating. The epitome of comfort.
Blockbuster was a piece of shit and Reddit is viewing them with some very think rose colored glasses.
It might have been great as a kid but as an adult you realize it was a pretty junky business. Especially towards the end. They were trying so many different things that it felt every visit had new rules.
The only hole in the market they left was video game rental. There isn't a replacement. Red Box is just too limiting to be a viable replacement.
Yeah redbox is too limited and shipping times kill gamefly. As an extremely casual gamer I really wish I could go to blockbuster and pick something up if I'm staying in on a Friday
On the other hand I don't miss the frustration of going to 3 or 4 stores and not finding what I need.
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I don't need friends, they disappoint me.
Now I just scroll through 6 or 7 subscription based streaming sites only to discover they also don't have what I need, and my choices are buying the movie wholesale or piracy.
I loved this personally. At every store it was like a fun surprise whether they'd have the thing you were looking for or whether it would be empty or there'd be another video in its place. It's like scratching off a scratch ticket.
I think you’d only enjoy it some times. That movie you’ve been dying to see and didn’t get a chance to see in the cinema? Yeah...you’d be kinda pissed not getting it and going to so many stores that evening.
This being before the internet got big, we also didn’t have piracy as easily accessible or other digital ways like iTunes to get the movie if we couldn’t find it in the store.
Lol mine had all the covers on adult movies blacked out so you had pull the black cover off to see what was in it.. it was called classic family video
My last blockbuster memory was when I got pneumonia and doctor said I needed a week off work. I decided I was finally going to watch Sex and the City (years after the show ended). I go to my local blockbuster and they had every season but S1. The kid helping me suggested that the reason they didn’t have it was because “maybe it was too old.” 🤦♀️
I ended up dropping the $40 at Best Buy to get the first season. Worth it, the show was good, even though it’s def dated by it’s time.
My family jumped on the Netflix train real quick, back when they only did DVD by mail. Super annoying to go to Blockbuster and they wouldn't have what we wanted, this was especially the case for new movies. Netflix, there would be a waiting list but you could save yourself a spot and they'd send it to you! Plus they had lots of foreign movies like my dad liked.
Is it just me, or does the netflix dvd option not have stock movies as well as it used to? I have 5 movies waiting in my queue for a copy to eventually appear, 3 of those are old classics.
would at least make sense. I remember reading an article which mentioned them not replacing every physical copy anymore (while I guess it means they still have a/some working copies, they might not have as many anymore)
You get the same disappointment now when you check all your streaming services and can't find that old movie you really want to watch.
"So I get instant delivery but I've got to pay whatever the \~$2-$4 in transportation costs to drive 4-8 miles roundtrip to the store and generally have limited selection at worse prices except for perhaps very inexpensive items or items relatively cheap for their weight?"
HMMMMMMMM, YOU DRIVE A TOUGH BARGAIN PARDNER
I really do miss going to a "real" store and spending an hour or two just looking at stuff, picking it up, reading a book (if it's a bookstore) before buying it, etc. Now, with online shopping, I already know what I want, I don't browse at all - I just go to amazon, search up what I want, buy it, and move on.
These things still exist. Unless you live somewhere remote then it’s basically your own choice to do that.
I often go to real bookstores because I don't know exactly what I want. I just want a new book, probably something scifi or something.
It's much nicer to look around there than it is on Amazon.
I still go to bookshops.
But browsing was cool because you never know what you would find. Found 2 interesting rare books in one visit.
Oh, that's what I was saying - I miss browsing. What I meant was with online, I don't get to enjoy that browsing experience, I just know what I want and go order it, there's no fun to it
Yep. And one thing on my bucket list is to go to the famous huge bookstore in Seattle and the rare book place in NYC. No telling how long those will be around.
Powell's City of Books in Portland is massive, it's a 3 story city block sized warehouse. It's a lot of fun to explore, but plan a day around it, since there's so much to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powell%27s_Books
Yeah that's the one. I've seen pictures of inside, it's incredible.
I live in Portland and I think I've made it three times to Powell's, just because it's a "day long event". It's really how retail should be done - the staff is all incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, and they have so much of everything.
Old school bookstores are what got me back into role-playing-games, as they carried the older, obscure stuff from my childhood. I started picking those RPG's up, just for nostalgia, and started buying more modern stuff...now I run 4 role playing game nights at my house a month, and have shelves full of the games.....
Same here. Got Android Netrunner, Coma Ward, Tokaido, Big Bang Theory Clue, and a few others. I just need more friends now. Hahaha
If you miss it so much, then don’t use amazon. Stores, amazingly, still exist
Because modern retail sucks. You can't just "browse" any more without having a clerk hit you up every minute or two to see if you need help. Store inventory is pretty minimal in a lot of places, even the shops that used to stock niche stuff, have moved to focusing on "what's hot now" (seriously, so many stores that have nothing to do with toys, somehow are stocking Funko pops and Fortnite toys, just to get anyone to come into the door).
I do still enjoy checking out smaller local retail shops, but even then, the experience isn't as casual as it used to be.
I miss shopping trips. All day. To the mall, to random stores, coming home with the car loaded with shit.
I shed no tears for retail, though. Every time I roll the dice and go real life shopping, I'm more disappointed than Kevin Sorbo being disappointed.gif. It's not because of Amazon; retail started its slide into sucking when Amazon was still only selling books. Amazon's just the solution to an existing problem.
Yeah, planning the big Saturday or Sunday trip "into town" for shopping was fun.
Retail now is depressing as hell, I agree. Malls are weird mostly empty wastelands, and all the stores are like Tier 2 crap, or, major companies but everything is sorta "meh".
It's like going to the movies - I miss the experience we used to all enjoy at the theater, but now when you go, it's a battle against talkers, instagrammers, texters, etc. It's not worth it
Remember the smell?
Every Blockbuster and Hollywood video smelled exactly the same. That strong stench of the plastics off gassing from the tapes, and that sickly butter smell from the microwavable tubs up front.
Yes. I worked at blockbuster; that plastic smell haunts me to this day. To be fair, it was mostly a fun job... but that smell after an 8 hour shift? It became you.
I loved the show Brick and mortar. Truely genius show
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand brick and mortar.
Damnit, I replied in a similar fashion but yours was better
To be faaaaair
You can always go rent a car. Or some power tools.
power tools
like a dildo?
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You mean a hoo-haa rattler?
Drildo if you please.
My town still has an old Family Video store that rents movies and games. It's kind of sad though, because they mostly have old DVD's with sun bleached covers in the store, and most of the games are still Wii and DS games, but shitty ones like Petz and Quit Smoking DS. They have a few switch games and PS4, as well as a handful of new releases, but stepping into the store is like going back in time to 2008 in more of a stale way than good.
Pretty much same here. Jumbo Video was our goto. Blockbuster only came later on but Jumbo was as it's name suggests, way bigger. I remember going in as a family grabbing free popcorn and just going through all the movies, I'd go in the kids section or sometimes game section and pick something while my parents went the other way then we'd meet up. They also had a gum ball machine that if you get a black one you get a free rental. I NEVER won, at all. That thing was RIGGED I tell you!
But yeah I miss those moments. But I won't lie, even if it was still open today, I don't know if it would be the same to go there. I'd still end up downloading probably.
Im actually in Metolius, a stones throw from Bend. Thinking about going there while I'm here, just to get any thing. Seeing as they are the last in the world now.
Weirdly I am less inclined to spend the money to rent a movie digitally, when I'd visit blockbuster almost weekly back in the day. I watch way less movies now, because good movies on my streaming services are few and far between.
I feel like we’re losing more brick and mortar stores and it saddens me.
As awesome and convenient as Amazon has become, sometimes it’s nice to get out and actually go to a store. And for stuff like vegetables and fruits, I always want to pick out my own stuff. Maybe I want them mushy? Maybe I want it hard?
And Best Buy is nice because I can physically touch and sometimes even use the item I’ve been thinking about buying it. It gets me a little more excited about it actually seeing it in person and there’s that excitement and happiness you get on the way back home. As a kid, I was excited to take that new Xbox game back home and I still feel that as an adult buying physical games for my consoles. I also like being able to sell/trade the games if I end up not liking it or grow out of it hence why I stay away from always online games and them just not being my thing.
But I’ve been seeing more and more stores closing and local shopping centers becoming bare except one or two stores. It’s depressing in a way to see a big grocery store close.
Our local funky video rental shop has gone non-profit, which is such a smart move. Its right next to the independent movie theater now too. I'm so happy for them.
My sister and I once drove an hour to Video Vault in Alexandria, Va. to rent an out-of-print horror movie from our teen years (Tourist Trap!)
Video Vault was in an old townhouse that specialized in blaxploitation and obscure horror films. I specifically remember the movie poster for "Honky of Hate!" for years after seeing it there.
I looked them up as result of this post and was sad to see that they closed in 2010.
I still have a family video down the street! We go all the time!
I worked at Hollywood video when I was a teenager, we would give the papa johns manager free rentals in exchange for free pizza and my manager had a Nintendo 64 set up in the break room. I miss that place
Me too because my husband, the breadwinner runs 2 of them. We started a new business last year but I am worried about the video going down before our new business takes off. We legitimately have brand new movies cheaper than you can rent online and if you want to buy, most of our digital copies are $.99 - $2.99 They come with the big movies. We sell them cheap. I really dont understand. I guess it is convenienience for people.
It was a cool feeling to go somewhere and get something new for a while, but it was mostly the anticipation of whatever we would end up getting combined with the fact that there wasn't anything better. Think back and try to imagine actually driving out to a store and looking through the shelves for something interesting that they still have a copy of, rather than just getting on your computer/console and looking through Netflix/Hulu/other for something and then watching it immediately all without leaving the comfort of your own chair/couch or having to put on pants.
We just remember that it was fun back then, without thinking about how much better things have really gotten since.
We still have one. We also have a bunch of streaming subscriptions. But we still rent movies, it’s always wonderful
I think a lot of stuff in this thread boils down to: it's nice to feel like you live in a society/community and do stuff and interact with tangible things.
Yep. Netflix is convenient but it takes away a good reason to get out of the house and interact with other people. Those little conversations and interactions are actually really important. Blockbuster was a great way to meet people. You could go in and see someone looking at a movie you've seen and it was an easy conversation starter.
I used to stumble across books and movies there was no way in hell I’d find them just looking online.
I miss Blockbuster and Video-Ave. I still get sad and nostalgic whenever I pass by the locations where they used to be.
I go to a vid rental store weekly. There is one in our city that specialises in Arthouse, Classics etc, (and they have a movie theatre as well). We get a couple of vids out a week and enjoy watching movies you would struggle to find on mainstream platforms.
For me, it's magazine racks and newsstands. Loved just hanging out, checking out all the different stuff.
My dad used to take me to blockbuster when I was a kid, he was the one who introduced anime to me even if he never watched it. He saw the A Little Snow Fairy Named Sugar and brought it home for my sister and I in elementary. Good times
I mean I love Amazon and Newegg, but I take great joy just going to microcenter for PC parts. It's like "nerds gather here... Welcome home"
I’m nostalgic for brick and mortar anything stores
I thought with the demise of Blockbuster et al. we would at least get cheaper digital alternatives. But that didn't happen! I could rent movies for $1.99 at the video store but now to rent a digital copy on YouTube for 48 hrs it's $5.99 for new releases in SD. For older movies you're better off buying the DVD.
I live in Japan and the industry is doing very well here. Sometimes I go and rent for the fun of it but the reality is I don’t have much time to sit down and watch a movie as an adult. It is good for movie nights with friends, but again, we’re all pretty busy. Hopefully when my bf gets here that’ll change and we can have movie nights.
Anyway. They still exist! Just outside the US lol
I worked in a video store right out of high school, and it was my favorite job ever. Free movie (and game!) rentals, early sneak peaks of stuff before release, the ability to watch PG13 and under rated movies while at work, usually working alone. Man, it really was the best job. I miss it so much.
I never rented a video (my parents thought renting was a waste of money) so I miss discovering movies via the video store. Anticipating a new tape and saving up to buy it was a great feeling.
That was one of our favorite things to do. Our city’s last rental store closed down a few years ago. It was a great place with such an amazing and eclectic selection that even if what you wanted was out of stock there was plenty to choose from. Sometimes just the game of ‘so now what are we going to watch?’ was worth the trip -and we’d end up with something better than what we had set out to rent.
They gave out little bags of popcorn to snack on while you looked around and let people bring their dogs into the store (in a very non dog friendly city). It was a couple km from where we lived so on a warm summer night it was perfect for a walk. All in all a beautiful ritual that is now gone.
I moved to Singapore about a year ago, where, despite being super developed in almost every other way, /everything/ is bought and sold in brick and motor stores. I can't tell you how much I miss online shopping. The prices, the options, and the time spent getting what you want are so much better online.
Your local library has movies for free.
Don't worry, they'll come back as niche retro stores and all the hipsters will flock in numbers
Man, I reckon. Our local rental store finally close down last year and it was sadder than I expected it to be. I remember going there when I was 12ish and renting the first Harry Potter for the first time; getting dropped off to choose a couple videos to rent while my mum did the grocery shopping; and then later years later, taking my kid brother to choose a dvd or game to rent for the weekend.
No more five weeklies for $5, or two new releases for $12.
Upside was we got to buy movies and whole seasons of TV series for $1 when they were closing down.
The library is one way to recreate that. It’s not perfect but it’s free and there’s just something different about popping a movie into the tv vs watching it on your computer.
It was definitely an experience that can't be replicated. Sure, streaming services are convenient and all but something was lost when the video stores went under. I think it even made the movies themselves more enjoyable.
I don't miss scrambling to get the movies back in time to avoid the exorbitant late fees, though. Those late fees can still kiss my ass.
Honestly makes me wonder if we’re better off with Netflix, I’m not convinced we are or it’s all that great tbh
For awhile I kept renting the same games repeatedly so I could finish them. Dino Crisis, the Rampage games, and DDR were favorites. It got to the point where my dad bought me one of those things you plug into the back of your PlayStation so you could play burned discs. GameShark, I think?
You might enjoy Cinemassacre Rental Reviews.
Yeah, the trip to the video store on a saturday night, deciding what to borrow, oh no the new release is rented out, shoulda booked, what the hell is THIS movie, let's give it a shot.
I miss that so much. Being 10 getting picked up by mom going to Blockbuster getting a movie and the latest WWF pay per view that came out on VHS. Then we'd get Taco Bell and be set.
Haha I used to work at blockbuster while in high school. Easily one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. Was a super fun experience and I wish new generations could experience it.
The one in my home town has been closed since I was about 10 or so, but I can still remember it had a distinct smell to it that I suddenly miss
Much to my surprise and delight, record stores still exist, though.
I worked at one for a few years. It was the best job ever. Free movie rentals, talking about movies all day and just super laid back in general. I miss that place.
We've got Family Videos by me.
I think if you had a brick and mortar store you wouldn't go. But I don't know you.
Come to Wichita, Kansas. We have movie rental stores all over town. I try to make it a habit to hit them up regularly.
Same. And part of the problem for me is not that they're gone; I can still go to Barnes & Noble or Best Buy. But online is cheaper, and we don't have a lot of money, so it's hard for me to justify wanting to go buy stuff at a store just for the experience. There's a local comic book/board game store and that's the only place I occasionally buy stuff from even though I could find it for cheaper.
It's not even nostalgia, I want a rental store for video games. With all these shite AAA title games, I want the option to play a game for a week, see if I like it, then decide to fork over 80 bucks to buy it.
For example, I could have rented RDR2, play it for a week, decide "nah, it's not for me" go return it and not buy it. Instead, I played a couple hours on my buddy's console, figured I'd like it, played for three days and didn't really care for it.
I always ask movie fans how you find a specific old movie just to watch it, not own. No one knows. Blockbuster was fun to browse. Laugh all you want but it worked.
I do wish Blockbuster let you return movies to any of their locations like some libraries and Redbox.
Hastings was my favorite for that
They exist, they're called "open air markets" now.
Malls went out of favor because customers didn't like shopping with hoards of unsupervised kids harassing them.
Open air markets are less prone to this.
In my locale, they are closing down malls and plazas and building open air markets 5-10miles in the other direction.
I don't know about you but we still have a Family Video in my city.
Still got family video up here. My brother works at ours actually. So free rentals.
I still dont use it. But i do like going there.
I remember fizzing with excitement when I was taking home the first Rogue Squadron game back in middle school.
Libraries have for the most part fully moved into the DVD/Movie business and are a good spot for browsing, especially as they'll often have a wide range from recent releases to 80's Disney TV Movie.
The feeling was miserable enough towards the end that I don't miss them. It was enjoyable when I was a kid, but the transition was a pretty smooth one after a few years of using both. I think it also has to do with the fact that the Blockbuster by our house after our second move sucked. It was tiny and couldn't compare to the ones I remembered when I was a small child or the Hollywood Video.
I went into one a year ago and almost started weeping because it’s so nostalgic. It’s closed down now but there are still 2 in my state- I just have to drive 30 minute to get to one and my lazy ass thinks that’s too far for a movie.
we still have family video and actually a little local video rental store not too far away as well that I have no idea how it is still around. Blows my mind.
My mom owns a brick and mortar store that is surprisingly doing quite well, even after big box stores like Target and Belk came to town. They've had year after year of growth for two decades. They do not even have a website.
The trick is good customer service. You can't get that from big box or internet. And they're fantastic at it.
Yeah but at the same time they were such a scam for the prices and late fees.
There was just something special about being able to get a new release video and watch it at home with your friends. We had 2 competing video rental chain stores near our house when I was a kid/teen so we got great deals. The last video store near my house closed down about 18 months ago. Very sad.
This. Often we scroll through Google Play trying to find a movie to rent and it shows us the same, recently released movies that we've scrolled past a million times. We need to somehow reintroduce the feeling of browsing movie stores, even if on a website. I understand tailoring what it shows based on past rentals, but we really want to be able to browse all movies from all years and choose. Not just the new stuff.
I believe the user interface of a physical video rental store is a far more satisfying and rich experience than any online rental/purchase/stream website.
Come to baldwin county alabama. There is this dingy town with a dingy video store. Still fully operational. I grew up in this town and the nicest old couple has always run the store. Im 31 now and they still have it going. Id much rather peruse movies than going to the redbox up the block especially when im there to get a fresh release if i dont want to wait for a rip and can only find shit cams
Im 14 but i still remeber looking through the thousands of movies at blockbuster
Not as much rental stores but I really wish book stores were still a thing like they were. I live in a college town (~60,000 population) and we literally have like 2 of them and they’re commercial stores for Mormon books only (seagull book and Deseret book).
I’m so happy to have been a kid when these were around and still booming. I remember going in with my dad, two brothers and sister and seeing there was a ‘3-for-1’ deal and just going crazy picking up all the VHS’s! Must have been George In The Jungle, Zorro and something else most of the time aha
One of my fonder memories of my uncle is from the time he came out to visit us. Most of the family lives in the same town he did, so usually we go to them. Anyway, my dad had stopped to get some drinks at a place near Blockbuster but told me I couldn't rent anything even though I was perfectly willing to use my own money. As soon as he got out of the truck to go into the liquor store, my uncle said, "you know, sometimes it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission" and pointed at the Blockbuster. I told him he was enlightened and ran off to rent a game. Dad was kind of annoyed but he mostly just thought it was funny; he couldn't get mad at me when I had effectively gotten permission from his brother. That must have been fifteen years ago, now.
CD stores!
do you not have Family Video?
movies, free cartoons, games, porno, snacks, CBD (in my area)... one stop shopping.
it's literally the reason I never buy books online and instead spend a few minutes to get to my nearest bookstore. I don't want it to die and every purchase helps.
(it's also much more likely for me to spontanously pick up a second or third book while browsing through the store than if I just go to amazon. with the latter, I generally just add the one I want/initially wanted and that's it)
now when you rent something its got be a subscription fee which might be a pain in the arse to cancel
Here is my best memory of a movie rental store:
I was 12. I had just gotten suspended from school for 5 days, for some pretty dumb shit. My parents were SO mad. But for those five days... after my mom would head to work, my dad and I would walk down to blockbuster to rent a few movies and get a bunch of candy. We’d sit in the living room and watch movies all day. Then right before my mom got off work, I’d throw the candy wrappers in the alley dumpster and my dad would stash the movies in a drawer. Then we’d exchange them for new ones the next day. My mom never found out.
It’s a pretty sweet memory.
I didn't grow up near a Blockbuster, but my local convenience store had DVD rentals. I remember my brother and I would take turns picking out what movie to watch. They recently got rid of those rentals two or three years ago. I'm still not over it.
Nothing will ever beat the mom and pop video store. It even had its own smell.
It's not just about the stores either for games if you rented a game you got the whole thing, no downloads or anything like that and if you liked it you could just go out and buy it... Pretty much a full shareware version of the game.
Family video 4 Lyfe
We are coming back around to fix that. It’s called clicks to bricks
I'm too late so this comment probably won't be seen, but you should look up any local video rental stores in your area. There's one or two mom and pop shops left in my area that are fantatsic! They carry new releases, classics, blurays, dvd, vhs. But these places are quickly disappearing too so if you're interested in them, look them up and go support them! The internet is killing these places but I believe people can still save them
There is a (video) rental store within driving of my home! It's AMAZING and the family prefers to go there and run the isles and pick a movie than use a streaming.
I feel like video stores in my area are still doing OK considering how prevalent streaming is these days. Friday nights sometimes the (admittedly small) parking lot is full. I think they're especially popular for the new releases and for the video games (worth trying an 80$ game before you buy it, yknow...)
Yeah but it sucked when the rental period was over and you had to chip away at your new wall to give them their bricks and mortar back.
Yeah I miss the sense of finding something new when I went inside a bookshop
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This one. I feel like I missed out in college because any time the slightest thing happened at college, people would instantly whip their phones out. And this was six years ago. I can't imagine what kids go through now.
any time the slightest thing happened at college, people would instantly whip their phones out.
It's been 25 years since I was in college. I wish we had phones with cameras, back then. A lot of faded memories, of people and places, that I wish I had photos of.
The sad part is that most memories and photos now still get lost unless stored somewhere safe. I know a few great pictures or videos that my friends and I lost during the past few years because cleaning up phones etc.
however, for us it it easier yes
edit: I think this is my most upvoted comment.. something I wrote while not even really thinking
Google Photos.
It can happen if you don't back them up. But I'm 23, I've used Gmail since I was 11. When I got my first smart phone, my email was linked to it. I've always had Androids and backed up my photos using Google. So basically every phone pic I've taken over the last 10 or so years (maybe less because my first phones were flip phones) are still on Google. Which is super cool but it's also kind of like Facebook memories, where you see pics that make you sad sometimes. But I can also watch my sister (now 14 y/o) grow up, as well as myself (I took so many pics in high school, lots of selfies) can see my childhood dog grow old and my parents age. My dad's gone now so it's a bittersweet thing to have.
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Man I’m 31 and my daughter just turned 2 a few weeks ago. I got my first growing up so fast video and held back happy tears at my office. Google photos is good/evil.
Meanwhile I got a video called "Meow Movie" which I gather is the same as the growing up so fast one but was just pictures of my cat with weird meow sounds over the top of it..
Yesss this is by far preferable my man. Love cats, all cats, other people's cats my cats, cats cats cats.
I have almost every picture I've snapped since 2003 (you can upload older pics as well, and they will be nicely ordered by EXIF or simply file date)
Google photos is the best. I'm still amazed by the number of people who don't use it, and 'loose thing' with their phones (including contacts).
Oh my gosh, yes, remember Picasa, too? 😆
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I've tried to remove photos from it. It's damn near impossible. Plus the new ai is incredible for organizing. It can even recognize my dog from other dogs. Pretty rad
Google AI is crazy, we were driving through a military town in northern Russia and I snapped a photo of a tank memorial. The photo wasn't that great, as I took it from the car while we drove past, but Google recognised the type of tank.
I've tried to remove photos from it. It's damn near impossible.
I've just recently removed a ton of photos from it, it was as easy as it could be. Select photos, click trash can, confirm message, done.
multiple devices. it doesn't delete them from them. then they resync to the cloud. you have to remove them all first. Yes, it's not LITERALLY impossible but it's pretty reliable that you probably won't accidentally lose anything.
Where your pictures and videos become training data for some machine learning algorithm.
Win win
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Giving up your private photos to help corporations match your face to your identity isn't quite a microscopic tradeoff imo but to each their own
private photos
You need to take special care with your nudes, credit card pictures and spying photos. Other than that, your photos are either non private (taken in public) or irrelevant (one more kid/pet/car/etc... out of billions).
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I never implied anything about incrimination
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And what are they going to do with my photos of me and my girlfriend smiling at the beach?
Do they own them or do they own the rights to use them in specific scenarios? Like their AI things?
Until Google decides to kill it off for no reason.
Better than nothing, but your pictures and videos will be resized and recompressed which a lot of people don’t know.
“Unlimited” anything these days is almost always bullshit.
Sources: https://www.technobuffalo.com/pixel-2-unlimited-google-photos-storage-expiration-date
https://www.androidauthority.com/google-photos-937968/
If you own the original Google Pixel or the Google Pixel XL, you can upload photos and videos at the Original Quality setting on Google Photos for free and never hit a cloud storage limit until the end of 2020. If you own the Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL, you can also upload as many photos or videos you want at the Original Quality setting until the end of 2021. After that timeframe, any new photos or videos you take with those phones will be compressed down to the High Quality resolution and megapixels for Google Photos storage
will be resized and recompressed which a lot of people don’t know
It's quite explicitly stated when you set up the app and choose your storage option. And for majority of usecases and print sizes (10cmx15cm being a common size to put in albums) the difference is impossible to discern with a naked eye.
You still have that problem now? Everything I record gets automatically uploaded to my Google Photos. Sure, someday Google might go out of business, but I think by the time that happens I'll be able to click one button and store the entire contents of my Google photo account on some solid state Thousand-Year storage device
It’s a self inflicted problem. You can absolutely back up pictures or anything to online storage, other devices and external storage devices. You should.
Hard copies aren’t infallible either. We lost a tonne of childhood photos because our mother dumped them in the garage and basement. We’re sure some got thrown out at some point as well.
Yeah that guy mentioned "cleaning up phones" lol. I still have the first picture I took with my first iPhone, despite that being like 3 phones ago. These things called backups and data transfers exist! (and they're by no means a new invention)
How long ago is 3 iPhones?
In my case, iPhone 5 > iPhone 6 Plus > iPhone 8 Plus
I would probably skipped the 8 Plus and waited another year but after 2 years of the 6 Plus, it developed a horrible case of "Touch Disease" where due to an inherent design flaw, the touchscreen begins to stop working. Not only does it not respond, but it makes touch inputs on its own, so it was not only immensely frustrating but somewhat dangerous (what if you wanted to call 911 and the touch screen said no). Apple wanted $150 to fix it which I wasn't doing for an old phone.
I more meant in time, like there shouldn't really be an issue with backing up photos from the last decade but prior to iphones and that it was a bit more murky.
yeah because my whatsapp images is full of sheit that I couldn't care less for, so sometimes I delete a bunch of that. It occasionally happens that an epic foto gets to be seen as such sheit and thus it is also thrown away. I am taking measures into my own account for this now, but I cant retrieve what's lost
Ya, that sucks - I'm glad i finally got smart enough to take pictures of everything like that whenever I visit relatives.
I feel like that's one of the unsung aspectss of the cellphone revolution, now you can instantly copy and save any photo or document. People under 30 don't really know of a time when photographs were precious and irreplaceable. In the late 80s/early 90s I worked at a department store photo studio - one of the services we provided was copying and restoring old photos. So funny to think that used to involve artists literally hand-painting in any damaged areas.
I scanned a bunch of old family photos years ago. Time well spent. They’re saved now and I was able to send them to family members around the world.
Sure, someday Google might go out of business
lol
Honestly, if certain people have their way, Google as we know it might be forced to break into several smaller companies, and the parent company may be barred from ever purchasing or getting involved in the ventures of the resulting child companies. That is, of course, assuming that the government gets back to its anti-monopolistic ways. Even as soon as the 1990s, the government was anti-monopolistic. Microsoft was facing the possibility of being broken into multiple companies due to the fact that it was interfering in Netscape's business.
Once upon a time GM looked indestructible too. For that matter, so did AOL (granted, I realize Google is way the F more integrated into modern life than AOL ever was)
All companies have their day and then eventually fade away and die. The record is 1,400 years https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongō_Gumi, but in the end ALL companies are doomed.
The guy you are responding to probably also doesn’t know Google shuts down tons of side projects when they get bored with them. The safest area is probably core search, but Google will always give up on all other areas after a few years. Recently they lost interest in running Google Plus, so it is gone. They lose a ton of money running Google Photos, so it will get shut down eventually. Here is a list of past projects Google told everybody was safe, then later shut them down because Google lost interest in that area:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Discontinued_Google_services
But I’m pretty sure Google photos is good for at least one more year or so, and I’m sure they will give customers warning before shutting it down like they did with the other product lines.
Good point, even though the company will be there they might shut down certain aspects of it.
I wonder if a lot of other people use Google Photos as much as I do - it's just so convenient. It even has a fairly accurate search function - I recently wanted to look for a photo i took at the park a few years ago so i just searched "trees" and it brought up all my photos that had trees visible (or at least a lot of them)
Meh. I don't think they will shut down Google Photos anytime soon. It has too much value for them, even if it doesn't make money. Good for marketing their Pixel phones for example.
Yeah it's hard to say that Google is losing a lot of money by running photos. Photos is a core service that millions of people use and serves as amazing advertising for them and is very, very good for training their AI. The more Google learns about AI, the more they can adequately integrate it into their money making services and make them even more money
All it takes is the current CEO to die and a new one to take his place and shut down certain parts of google "in order to cut costs" whilst giving himself a bigger bonus then the last guy's and the pictures could be lost forever.
Yeah, that's not even remotely true for Google.
Yeah, I don't think you understand how Google works or it's business model. It's pretty much bullet proof at this point.
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Your comment would have been a lot more convincing without the cringey last line
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Oh my god! Thank you for linking a generic Wikipedia article about board of directors! I was so retarded before you in depth education...
Yeah, I know how that shit works. Google is one of the most valued and influential companies in the world. Why would a new CEO change things and what would they possibly do to run the company into the ground?
Once that leadership changes, the ideas and execution also change.
lol
Watch less movies and read a fucking book.
My Google Drive sync for Android broke without me noticing. A year later, I noticed. At that point I could never get a backup to kick off manually. USB to PC it is.
That sucks - weird. I do so much between my phone and computer I'd notice right away if mine didn't sync, since Google photos is how I browse pics on m computer
My mistake is that I never actually look in Google Drive unless I need to go hunting for something older.
As far as I can tell Google Photos is different from Google Drive - I just always have a browser tab to my Google Photos page because it's an easier way to access the pics for touching up with photoshop. On my phone I use Google Photos as my 'gallery', that way when i organize them into folders/albums they stay that way across platforms. Also, Google Photos phone app has some decent basic editing tools too.
I would absolutely kill a human being for some good pictures/videos of my childhood dog.
Sure it's easier, but the fear of being caught in the background of some stupid shit isn't fun at all.
Basic data management needs to be taught in elementary school.
I love my shoeboxes of “you get what you get” pictures from when you had to wait for film to be developed and cameras were no where near the clarity/speed of any phone camera today.
Back in December the grandfather of a good friend of mine passed away, and I ended up sitting on the floor with her for hours one night and into the morning, helping her dig through boxes of old pictures to pick some out to display at the services. There were plenty of pictures of her and her family from earlier in our friendship and well before I knew them, as well as plenty more that I hadn’t the slightest clue what I was looking at.
I focused mostly on dividing the pictures I was going through into a pile of pics of grandpa that she might want to use, a pile of ‘hey look at this!’ pics, a pile of ‘hmm who/whats this’ pics, and a good majority of them were less relevant and just went back into the box to be dug through again other time, but even for me it was really neat to look through all those people and places and things and events that I may or may not have been familiar with. That was obviously nothing compared to how nostalgic it was for her, and I could tell that as emotional as things were it also did help her to deal with the situation and cheer up a bit too.
I couldn’t help but think of how my son will never have an experience like that. Sure we’ve got physical school pictures and holiday pictures and some miscellaneous others, but it’s really a very small and niche selection that we have actual copies of. I have all sorts of pictures of him on my phone and such (which I’m always very careful to keep backed up and all that, so I’d say I trust them to make it till his adulthood more than I might a box of photos), but that’s nothing like flipping through rolls of films like we did pictures for ages. There’s a certain enjoyment at this point to the whole “hmm where was that one pic... scroll scroll oh hey remember that??” but we’re already well on our way with facial recognition and such that if he’s ever in the situation my friend was, it’ll probably be a matter of:
“Hey Siri, grandpa pics!
Display on ‘Funeral Home East 2’!”
And then there’s a stream of pictures being displayed on a screen on the east wall of the funeral home during the services and nobody ever thinks about all the fun or silly or memorable times and people involved in between the instances when grandpa was posing in front of somebody’s phone.
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Yeah I’ve considered printing some, and maybe someday I’ll get enough inclination to do so, but between the fact that it’s something I only ever really consider at random times like browsing reddit at night or something, and the 14k+ pics on my phone already to sort through, I have my doubts that it’s likely to happen. And I have a decent DSLR camera that I got when he was a baby thinking it’d be nice to use to get better shots of him growing up, but it was seldom used then and hasn’t left its bag in a few years now, so I’m sure the same would be true if I was to pick up a new film camera. Thank you for the suggestions though!
I love amateur photography and I lost so many great shots from my freshman year of college when my phone got stolen
I lost all photos, memorabilia, videos over the years. No pictures of anyone or me in my youth. No pictures of my son as a child. No family pictures. There are pictures at the house I grew up in. My brother's widow lives in the house. I've met her twice. After my mom died she wouldn't speak to me anymore. Not even to take my mom's ashes up there. Finally told the funeral home to ship them to her. On the aside there was literally nobody left to go to her funeral.
damn this is sad._.
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Didn't flickr or something shutdown and delete all the photos off of it. Facebook will only retain those pictures as long as it's financially beneficial for them to do so, and it's hard to predict what the internet or social media will look like in 25 years.
This. Hardcopies are still th best. Sometime soon I'm making some hard copies of some pictures of my dog that I only have digitally. She's gone now so, keeping them is super important to me.
Both are best, hard copies can easily be lost by water, fire, or just lost in a move or thrown out by accident. Having it digitally but in many places like your computer, backup drive, and cloud backup is pretty safe. Unless the whole internet and computer industry go down
This is what I do ever since I lost a ton of pictures when a phone went into a pool. I keep them on my phone, then once a week or so I backup my phone to my computer. There is a daily file backup automated to a WiFi enabled drive at 3 AM that gets any new pictures or documents. I keep a copy of that drive in my fire safe with all my other important stuff.
I do a fair amount of work from home as well, so I never lose any of my work information either, which is nice.
To be fair, Yahoo bought Flickr, and Yahoo kills everything it buys.
I prefer to directly upload to my favourite Chinese servers
I remember one time a had a huge poop that came out like a question mark. It even had a little dot at the bottom. I was so amazed, I took a picture on my phone. I had friends that didn’t believe me until I showed them. This was before the cloud. I took this picture on a flip phone. That picture is long gone. Every so often the subject comes up with that set of friends that saw it and we would die laughing. Wish I still had it. My friends would probably die of laughter.
I absolutely hate this, and it's why I really hate storing photos and videos on a phone or computer without having them backed up online, like to Google Drive or Google Photos. I've lost so many photos in computer crashes, having the people at the phone store try to transfer everything to your new phone and somehow screwing it up and losing a bunch of shit (why I prefer to do it myself now), etc. I still like having old fashioned photo albums as well though, there's something that just feels great about flipping through one.
I feel like pictures meant a LOT more back then, back when photo albums (physical ones) were a thing, now I have over 2000 pictures and I only care for maybe a handful of them truly. I'm too lazy to delete the others or I might "need" them some day.
I dump my phone on my pc and thumbdrive every 3 months, started in 2012 ish, have pretty much every picture I took in the last 7 years, definitely need to go through them at some point.
Myspace photos are gone. Photobucket password lost, possibly gone anyways. Sometimes technology is great but it's also a curse when you realize that a lot of stuff is just inaccessible.
I checked my MySpace photos about a week ago despite not updating anything on it for nearly a decade. They are all somehow still there. I know that MySpace deleted a lot of photos on its website, but many are still there. Yours might still be there too.
Only reason I posted was because mine were deleted. A little while back they migrated accounts to a new server and asked you to login to upgrade to the new account. Most of my photos (read: all of them but my profile picture) were gone.
I recommend everyone who owns a smartphone to download Google Photos. Back when I didn't have a phone, I used to borrow my mom's iPhone 3GS to download games and takes photos, and I happened to download a google app or something, years later I logged in Google Photos to find out every single picture in that phone have been backed up, and the memories in each photo just appeared right in front of my eyes. Technology is a beautiful thing.
Is there a way to link dropbox and picasa to google photos?
Hey I downloaded the Picasa app to the iPhone back then! The word was on the tip of my tongue. Well I don't use Dropbox enough to answer this, but Picasa is dead and everything in Picasa has been moved to Photos.
I used to use dropbox, now I just have a large thumb drive I stick all my pictures on. Upload to my computer once every few months/weeks and move over. I know it's time consuming and not fun to do, but this way I can always keep my memories with me.
Also, as evil as facebook is, it is a good place to keep some pictures (for now.)
I still print out my best pics and put them in a proper photo album if the internet decides to somehow fail.
I got the cheapest printer I could find and walmart the other day and I have already printed an albums worth of photos from my phone. There is just something more connecting with physical photos that you don't get when they are digital on a screen. It's a great investment if you can spare $50 for the unit.
If you like that it's probably worth looking at Snapfish or another photo printing service.
They are really really cheap and it's real photos like momma used to have.
Here’s your PSA to make sure iCloud is set up to auto backup when plugged in and on WiFi
Have definitely lost a few videos I wish I hadn't
Often they're not even experienced in the first place. People go to concerts in 3rd person.
I know everyone hates Facebook, but it’s such a great time capsule for me. There’s a ton of photos I’ve posted, but then there’s also ones my friends posted that I may not have ever seen or had access to otherwise
Two words: Google Photos
It’s a cinch to navigate, search, collate, collaborate, uploads automatically, and is unlimited as long as you’re uploading 12MP photos and below. I believe you can even download a backup to place somewhere for safe keeping (external HD, burn it to somewhere safe, etc).
It even syncs videos, though it’s currently limited to 1080p (it’ll down-convert automatically), so if you want to keep the 4K in all its glory you have to upload it to something like YouTube for safe keeping.
My friend group and I made this private instagram page that has all our bullshit videos and photos for memories
Google photos helps with not losing any photos because of the unlimited cloud photo backup
I just backed up 18,000 photos to Google Drive. I don't useful my phone half as much as some people, but the years add up.
It is a blessing and curse in a way. I have over 16,000 photos and about 1,000 videos backed up and stored across several storage solutions. I can’t imagine how many old school photo albums of prints and discs/tapes for videos I would need.
No one's fault but yours. I've been backing stuff up since I was old enough to use a PC. Now with cloud storage it's easier than ever.
That's true, but even if I stored all my photos the really good ones would still get buried in some random shit
I had roommates and friends that I remember their names but wouldn’t recognize if I passed them on the street today. And when I do see people I knew my memory of how they looked is way off. Wish I would have taken more photos
I've found several of my college friends on Facebook, unfortunately, there's several people whose name I can't remember. I know their first names, but their last names are a blur.
We hd friends that I had no clue what their names were. We called them like “Dallas” or “Houston”.
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Yeah, my 30th high school reunion is in June. The only person I want to see was killed in a car wreck, back in '96. I just don't feel any need to go.
I'm not as old as you but one of my good friends drowned sophomore year almost ten years ago now. Still have some nice photos of him from high school but smartphones become ubiquitous just as we went into college, so there aren't that many. 10 years earlier and I probably wouldn't have any.
Screw that! With some of the shit we did 25 years ago, I'm thankful every day we didn't have cell phones 😆
If I had photos, from back then, they'd mostly be of my friends and I passing the bong around and playing with my Sega Genesis...
...and of my friend, drunk and stoned, running around naked, yelling "I'm the rooster man!" and crowing loudly, with his arm around the security guard's shoulder. I think we all had a little too much that night.
Pass the controller on the left, man.
Dual-edged sword, mate
It's been 20 for me, but I had a 35mm point and shoot. I have 2 albums full of photos I took my freshman year in the dorms. I'm so glad I have them.
On the one hand (15 yrs out of college): I would love to have better recordings of a whole lot of my college experience.
On the other: There are a whole lot of things I probably wouldn't have done if the fear of it ending up on the internet was ever-present.
He is talking about phones with the internet. You might have felt differently if you had high speed internet back then.
There are trade offs w everything.
That time remains such a blur in my mind. I've forgotten about people entirely untill someone or something reminded me that they existed.
That's my problem, too.
Right? Basically I can relive every moment of my life once I got a digital camera (it also recorded video), it's amazing. I think it was around 2004. Once the first iPhone came out, that intensified by 100x. But to be able to revisit college, high school, elementary school in vivid 4K video would be an insane experience. Instead, I have to reconstruct things from moments caught on a 110 camera and possibly some forgotten VHS.
People always talk about it as if it’s a bad thing but I love it. My friends are always sharing funny moments and pictures from years ago with old friend groups and current ones. It keeps memories alive and it’s always fun to reminisce on them with media to look at.
I finished college in 2003 before everyone had phones and cameras. All the crazy memories and experiences are right where they belong and matter most...in my brain. It is sometimes fun to check out the few pictures we did take of those times.
Same, 20 years. When most phones had photo but not video, that was the sweet spot!
I dunno I’m split ont it. I hate the phone video culture now where everything is recorded. But really I like the old school way of candid shots that may suck or may be good. Who knows until you process them
I hear you but I think that's what makes life so special. All those fun memories are just that, memories. And they are your memories. That's really all life is anyways, our memories. Additionally there was nothing in our subconscious that prevented us from just enjoying the moment - which is something that has been lost. Yes, it's true, we can only relive those moments in our minds and with our friends, but, I don't know. I kind of like that.
While I agree that things were more enjoyable when people weren’t worried about capturing the moment, I do see a lot of value in what the guy who responded to you said. I’ve lost people close to me over the years and those few pictures and videos I have of them are worth more than gold to me. Memories fade over time, unfortunately
That's a good point.
A lot of those memories wouldn't have happened if people knew they were being recorded. A big part of why party schools are going downhill
I just feel like always having to whip out your phone to capture it makes you miss out on some of it. I'd rather just live it. Take a picture after to remember it.
It’s definitely a double edged sword.
I travelled the whole US 20 years ago and have very few pictures. I would love more memories of that.
On the other hand...I acted like a dumbass lots of times in that era. Kind of glad that wasn’t documented.
Well some of the stuff I did in college is better left without video. My son would freak. After all mom...
Preach.
I'm glad i was in college when phone cameras were mostly shitty but not always on/connected to data.
I get crap quality images that are enough to relive the moment without really having to worry about it at the time.
I'm riding the cusp. We still mostly just had flip phones and digital cameras when I was in college. No lie, the first time I saw a smart phone was my last semester, which was the spring of 2010. So, I have some great shit caught on camera, but video? The videos all look like they were filmed with a fucking grapefruit. Wouldn't have minded someone with a fucking Pixel 3 or Galaxy S-Whatever recording our nonsense back then
Yes! I'm a semester and a half through college and just today we went through all.our pictures of the memories we had already made
Lots of tits you'll never see again
Photos would've been great. It's the video and uploading part that allowed things to go too far.
There was a guy who created and hosted a local forum that took off and was a hub for activity for years around the turn of the millennium. Started on pub73.ezboard and eventually rented hosting for his own ubb. I want to say that he had like 10 years of hosting paid for. We met lots of friends from all over the state and had so many awesome adventures that revolved around that forum. We made banners and stickers and actually advertised it. Some people even met their spouses on it. When Myspace and Facebook came out, the traffic on the forum started to die and eventually flatlined after a few years so the owner took it down. He still had all of the hosting paid for, though, so all of the pictures everybody uploaded were still in a directory. There were thousands of pictures. I remember stumbling across the directory of old photos in like 2011 and getting in contact with the guy about taking over hosting on it so that the pics could be preserved. He had zero interest in anybody else taking over hosting or even purchasing what was left of the site. He wouldn't even let any of us OG's have access to the site to back up the photos. So I started to go through and save all of the photos individually, but I got like 5% of the way through when all of a sudden I opened it up one day and saw that he had let his hosting expire. All those memories gone to the ether now and I'm honestly still kinda mad about it.
I know how you feel. Something similar happened to my favorite website, YesterdayLand.com. It's been defunct for 15 or 16 years, but I still have several friends from there that I still talk to, on Facebook.
I wish I could see my gramps in the thirties, stuffing bank notes into the violin of the gypsy musician, hawing a ball as a lawschool brat...
Same time frame for me, but whenever I see a old photo from that era I always see three things:
Those memories are so much better faded than they would be in the harsh reality of a shitty cell phone video from two and a half decades prior.
Not really. I have a couple of photos, from back then, that other people have emailed me. Just wish we had the foresight to take a camera with us, more often.
Nope. Every once in a while a friend will find some old picture or pixelated, blocky video and will share it with other friends in our group, and it's always great. Faded memories are better than no memories, but shitty video is even better, and quality video is wonderful.
I think I hit the middle on that one. I got my first digital camera when I just turned 19, and I have a complete digital record since then. Every picture I've taken since available at my finger tips. Which includes some questionable college moments.
But this was still well before smartphones. So there was never a risk of things popping up somewhere, or loosing my own control over things.
I thought there was some evidence that people actually remember some things better when they don’t take pictures of it. I think it makes some things even more special when I don’t take pictures.
I'm entirely on the other side of the spectum. I wish people would put their freaking phones away when at an event, because it's all they do. The only thing that matters is which photos you can show to acquaintances, they barely have recollections of the events themselves, just making the photos.
Trust me, it's better this way. I have lots of pictures and videos from that time in folders I never go through anymore because nothing was really as sweet as you recall. Some moments I remember as epic seem really cringeworthy when I watch the videos now. It's cool to have some pictures, but too many + videos just spoils the way you feel about your memories.
Graduated 16 years ago. Almost all of my digital pics got erased, and for that I am thankful.
No you don't. One misconstrued comment. Or ackward glance at the wrong person. And suddenly you are the creep of the week and need to leave the school because some politically correct BS.
I wish I could have lived the days when people could make a small mistake and not have it haunt them their whole life.
This. I went to high school and college in the 90s/early 2000s. I’m very lucky that the crap we did back then is only a memory and not permanently captured on social media or photo/video.
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Holy crap. That is just horrible. A great example though, unfortunately.
" No you don't. One misconstrued comment. Or ackward glance at the wrong person. " Dude this never happens. You only get fucked if you do something properly egregious like rape someone or be blatantly racist.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/03/31/can-a-white-guy-have-dreadlocks-this-puzzling-viral-video-wades-into-the-politics-of-black-hair/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8f7b9ddfcc5f
.....
And
....
https://www.michiganreview.com/snow-penis-reported-as-bias-incident/
...
Just two quick searches.
And there's more than that.
No. You can enjoy being ignorant and wrong. But people get triggered anf butt hurt over stupid shit in high school and in college nowadays; and it destroys reputations and lives. And it's only getting worse. the media likes to twist it and manipulated to make it seem like it's racist or sexist. When in reality it shouldn't even be a sound bite.
Oh I almost forgot....
https://techcrunch.com/2013/03/21/a-dongle-joke-that-spiraled-way-out-of-control/
Edit: Fuck your self.
This is hilarious. The first article nobody even knows if it was a real incident, and it was also far more dramatic than "one misconstrued comment... awkward glance at the wrong persons"
The second article nobody was even identified
Third article was again much more dramatic than "one misconstrued comment" or "awkward glance at the wrong person"
Edit: you're a fucking idiot
A hair cut. Is so much more dramatic then an awkward glance it's almost like a percentage point more... God you pandering coward. and I really like the whole cognitive dissonance switch of using the typical "fake news" dismissiveness for any type of media that all of a sudden you don't agree with. Did you take that plan of attack from Trump himself?
Also a dumb private joke between to friends about "dongels"... Totally something to lose a job over.
And your defense of the second article that they couldn't find someone to actually scapegoat. Wow. Ok.
I hope one day you get recorded saying or doing one small innocuous thing that is slightly negative....
And that within the year the entire media circus and internet Pitchfork brigade has you on the edge of a bridge in the middle of the night.
Jesus do you love your whole life this paranoid? That's kinda sad
Dox your self and show me how not paranoid you are.
This doesn't happen :/
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html
....
Edit: Fuck You And you are wrong.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
I have no sympathy for this woman. Don't make jokes if you can't take the heat
It sucks. My friends have pics and videos of me doing dumb shit that I’ve begged them to delete. I don’t think they’ll leak any but still... the fact that they can hold that over me sucks.
Da gum millennials don’t know how good they have it!
I kind of feel this way about high school, a lot of it is just fading memories now. But on the other hand, I think it was better because we were honest and enjoyed the moment. I find myself so many times how taking pictures or video I will never look at, instead of enjoying
I can never run for office because of the videos they took in college.
This is going to be interesting moving forward. With a lot of things from people’s pasts coming back to haunt them lately from yearbooks etc, this is going to become a lot more common for future political candidates. Their SM is going to be combed through and anything posted back when they were doing stupid shit in college is going to resurface.
Before camera phones, it was not unusual for girls to flash their boobs in campus bars. That dried up practically overnight when camera phones started getting popular.
Yeah, I used to do this at parties back in high school. Close knit people who never really used their phones at every given opportunity. Then I went to a college party and saw that things were a complete 180. Nobody did anything crazy, but for some reason, 1 in 5 people had their phones out, filming anything they could.
The university of Michigan had a naked mile, where (mostly) students would run a mile, naked.
As I'm sure you can imagine it no longer exists.
Penn State has something similar as well, called the Mifflin Streak. (Link with censored but nsfw image).
Not too many participate, likely because of everyone taking pictures/video, but it's still a spectacle.
When I was a junior in high school, 13 or 14 years ago, there was a huge hubbub because some of the seniors went to the local cemetery late at night, got baked and naked, and danced around.
HOWEVER someone snapped a few pics of the party on their brand new fancy flip phone, and it got back to the administration, and those kids had to apologize to the whole student body.
Edit: for clarity, I went to a boarding school.
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It was great. One of the perps got into a rant about the "Kafkaesque" threats of expulsion they got.
Everyone was getting drunk and stoned in secluded places, but they got caught because of a fucking Razr.
I teach middle school. Every fight, catty argument, event of bullying, everything is seen or sent online.
Now people will whip out their phones with a snapchat filter, making you look ugly as fuck, and send it to everyone without you realizing what happened untill it's too late.
you could get away with it then, just had to be more creative, and this is where i just realized i was in college 11 years ago, and that makes a difference lmao. Even then we just didnt allow phones into certain parties, things got plenty wild and the mental images are better than living it by looking through a cell phone camera.
There is an article written by a 14 year old about how she was allowed to make social media accounts... Only to find out that her mom had been posting baby pictures and stuff of her on Facebook. She was mortified and made the decision to just stay off social media.
There was another girl whose mom wrote one of those mommy blogs, blogging about everything her daughter did, even rather embarrassing stuff. And when the daughter confronted the mom about it, because she knew that stuff's online pretty much forever now, the mom basically threw a fit about her daughter not wanting her to write about her anymore. Luckily the comment section of the article tore the mom a new asshole faster than having a baby.
I feel that kids are learning that this sort of thing really sucks.
So glad I finished college just before this was a thing. Back then Facebook was on the rise so we were in the club with digital cameras You had to go home and upload them the next day. This was also before Facebook was open to the public and only for college students. It was a safer space then IMO.
Dude I'm 23 and I hate this. I wish I could go to a party and let loose and have a good time, but someone always had to pull out a phone and ruin the moment. I'm trying to share this experience with you Karen, not every fuckboy and high school friend in your Snapchat address book
How the hell am I supposed to be able to do a line in front of complete strangers, when I know They've all got cameras?
Watch the movie Eighth Grade for a glimpse.
I've been meaning to ever since I found out it was made by Bo Burnham, but I just never found the time.
Cant describe the anxiety of looking up in a classroom and see someone pointing a phone at you. Or when you hear "hey you were on so and so's snap story. Like I've never even heard of that person so no way I'll even see the picture or video so I could be looking like a rat and everyone will see and I won't.
At my school and I'm sure at several others, there's an "overheard at ____" Facebook group where the constant weight of this weird surveillance and judgement has started to really get to me. Sometimes things posted are just a funny way someone has complained about school, but it feels like more often than not, posts that gain the most attention are the ones that are relatively controversial (e.g. borderline racist statements, shitting on someone for their political beliefs, etc.)
And I think the fact that it is more subtle--you'd be typing out a text-based post rather than uploading a video you'd have to record (and risk having someone see you record said thing)--makes the gossiping significantly more prevalent. It's heartbreaking
I’m in college now. 4 of the 6 fraternities on campus have either been kicked off campus or put on multi year probationary periods for some kind of picture or video.
So glad I went through college before camera phones were a thing.
I hated that I was at college when snapchat became a big thing.
Quite annoying everywhere you go.
Its fine to take a picture here in there but its like everyone goes to events in person just ends up watching it through their phone screen.
I cant even really imagine that. I mean, I don't really see it much at all with my social group, and we go to parties relatively often, but then again we are a bit older.
Is this really a thing kids do? That just seems absurd
I graduated college 12 years ago. There are some videos and some crappy pictures but it was nowhere near what it was 6 years ago or now. There was no iPhone or Android. Texting cost money and data did as well. Completely different world.
My little brother is 12. At the sleepover part of his party they poured water on him and recorded it for Instagram. That’s what being a kid is like now. He said the same thing happened at a party he attended a few weeks prior
At my college, there was a nude day. Everyone just... went around nude for a day. NBD. I've never checked, but I'm pretty sure that stopped existing after the advent of cellphones.
My major's program at my university just happens to have like the only 10 professors on campus who ban all technology during lecture.
It's nice, my high school was pushing really hard to get tech integrated into the classroom, which is fine, but I'm much happier when all I need is a notebook and pencil
My program (cognitive science) was the same way, because all the profs were aware of studies showing better retention from hand written notes, and the “cone of distraction”, where if you’re doing random shit on your laptop the grades of the people in the seats behind you suffer.
Just graduated in my experience at least in Ontario Canada people are really starting to get sick of this type of social media. Many young people are ditching the phones and choosing to check out of social media and it’s great!
I'm not buying 'ditching the phones', it's one thing not to use social media but not having a smartphone is its own functional difficulty. I have a really old iPhone and it can be frustrating to do certain things that are pretty trivial with a more recent smartphone.
As for the ditching social media part, you're still a youtube upload and link away from send people whatever video you want.
Currently in high school. It makes you really self-conscious, at least for me, and I bet it’s worse for gradeschoolers. I don’t dance at parties or play video games or anything I’m not really good at. It feels almost like you’re on stage whenever you’re in public.
Honestly not much. If something weird happens people will film it but otherwise people normally dont care. It has calmed down a LOT.
Time to go to YouTube and type, "what's happening at college."
As someone in college right now phones have been so ingrained in my life I just have a natural instinct to not do anything stupid that I wouldn't want going on the internet
at least in my experience, we’ve gotten over the novelty of having cameras on us at all times and random shit at parties doesn’t usually get recorded
The phones just never get put away in the first place
Honestly I just got through college and the groupme content will live with me forever
Same! I was in crowds celebrating, parties scattering, but in 2012 it seemed like no one was recording.
That's probably wrong people were recording, but only to their phones. Facebook Live and other Live streaming things didn't exist until 2015ish.
Same! I was in crowds celebrating, parties scattering, but in 2012 it seemed like no one was recording.
That's probably wrong people were recording, but only to their phones. Facebook Live and other Live streaming things didn't exist until 2015ish.
I miss "6 years ago" being basically the same as "today," instead of being equivalent to ancient history.
Well, if you want to know what kids go through now, you can watch videos of it. Trillions of hours of them.
I thought there was an unwritten rule about not documenting drunken debauchery. No?
if you do anything embarrassing at a party it will end up on your schools Old row or barstool account
This doesn't really happen tbh.
We grew up with it, so it's part of our culture, how we interact, and how we express ourselves. It's pretty normal to take video of your friends or to just find videos of random people posted in random places. It's usually in good humor so it's fine. No one that I know is really caught up in the idea of a bunch of random people seeing them do something, cause they're still just random strangers
I find I have a tonne of happy college videos I can go back and look through every few weeks/months. And I remember most of them anyway! I think there's a happy medium between living in the moment and recording it for the future.
Same thing. Except the phones are already out.
I hate that anytime there’s a car accident, an argument, or basically any sort of public debacle, there’s 20 or so people recording the event and some even live streaming like if it’s the most important thing that a local mentally unstable person got into an argument with some outraged individual.
I started college five years ago and it wasn't a problem then nor is it now, it must be a cultural thing.
Omg, college was many years ago for me, but I could never show my face now if some of those things and things from my teen years had been recorded lmao! My kids would absolutely freak out!!! 😂
I first went to college in early 00s. Hardly anyone had a cell phone cuz they were too expensive with minutes and the sort. They were just left in cars mostly. Then I went back 10 years later and it was just a completely different experience. Could really feel the generational gap there.
I can tell you, if you fuck up at a party now that's not gonna be talked about a bit the next couple of days like before, no that's being on permanent record and that could be brought back at any moment.
I feel like less things get photoed now because the novelty has worn off but my experience is subjective.
Source: in uni currently
I went to U Albany (NY) and there used to be a tradition of Kegs & Eggs the day of the ST. Patrick's Day Parade. Instead of drinking the night before, you head out anywhere between 1am-6am and start partying trying to make it to the parade that afternoon. Well my sophomore year this event was a shit show, and around 7am four APD officers broke up every house party on two blocks. About a thousand students poured onto the streets with no where to go. The cops blocked off each end of the street and didn't really have a plan to disperse the students.
It started out semi tame but as the students antagonized the police and each other things got crazy. Kegs, TV's, Furniture ect. were being thrown into the street. Mob mentality took over and cars began to get destroyed.
The officers called for backup but at that point it was too late. However, hundreds of videos were uploaded to Youtube that evening. The city and school took these videos and used FBI facial recognition to gather a TOP 40 Most Wanted students.
Kids who otherwise were good students were flagged as rioters and for the rest of the semester you would see APD officers walk into classes and arrest kids on the spot. Several were expelled and charged with things such as Felony Inciting a riot, public destruction and public intoxication. I know of a few students who were even expelled.
These videos hit the MSM and were shown throughout the country. Glen Beck even ran a segment comparing "Drunk american students to Japanese Tsunami victims" saying how they have much more humanity then our students. The school changed their spring break for the following years to the week of St. Pats Day and indefinitely canceled their end of the year "Fountain Day" celebration. It was a hell of a semester, but cell phone videos & youtube ruined many lives in 2011.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ualbany+kegs+and+eggs+riot
Yeah. One time down at Virginia Tech.. I am sure would have gone viral with me involved, but this was in the 90's and no one carried around a camcorder in the dining hall..
I just barely missed this window and I'm so thankful. I graduated in 09, people were just starting to get touch screens towards the end of my last year and even then snapchat and Instagram weren't big. I think of all the things that could ruin me if they were online for all to see and it just about causes a panic attack. I worry for my daughter when she's older
I was at a support group for people that struggle with paranoid feelings. With 4 middle aged guys and one woman. The woman was on her phone. I was starring right at the camera on the other side of here phone. The other guys all had their phones in their breast pocket. Again, with the camera sticking out ... pointed right at me.
And just because I struggle with paranoid feelings does not necerssiarily mean they are NOT watching me.
Probably Facebook live videos....so their parents can watch that crazy thing they’re doing at the party while they’re doing it.
I graduated high school last year and I’m a freshman in college right now. I’m not really sure why everyone assumes phones and technology are so bad. In my experience things either don’t get recorded or if they do it was understood by everyone before whatever was being recorded happened. If kids actually recorded everything that went on in high schools I can think of at least 10 or 15 people who would have been kicked out because of it.
not that big of a fear tbh
I host parties every now and then with a small-medium size group of friends and over the school year I’ve gotten less and less to have their phones out at my house, it’s great
I'm in my early 30s. Walked (almost literally) into a highschool fight at a local park one day. Worried briefly about making sure both kids were "ok" I was a highschool kid. It's a bit of a right of passage as far as I'm concerned as long as everyone walks away for the most part unhurt.
Sure enough it was mostly missing and tumbling around.
There must have been 30 cameras pointed at that fight. It was ridiculous. Unless these are people getting the scouting report for their upcoming fight?
Fuck if I know.
Man, the thing I miss is getting those disposable cameras developed from nights out. I frequently picked one up to take to parties, as did several friends. This is class of ‘95. Fun as hell to meet up a couple days later and look at everyone’s pics. Honestly, digital cameras were almost as great. Party pics are awesome and always have been. It’s a drag you never took any.
And it feels to me that everytime something happens I ask myself if I should take a video or a photo of it or not. Now I somehow adopted a kind of criteria of what should be recorded or not, and if I should post it online or not. Just to appreciate a moment and ba able to relieve some in the future.
I suppose it is a mindset based on one's values of certain things, though I'm not sure if those values are intrinsic or extrinsic. I really only use my camera for taking pictures of wildlife, stray animals, pets, or scenic nature.
Not a terrible experience, but my dorm roommates took a video of me sleeping and snoring (I don't normally snore, I had a cold) and put it on their snapchat story. Not super embarrassing, but like....don't film people sleeping in their own bed and put it online...
(I now serve in a bar and hate when random customers snapchat me without warning. Only ever college guys. Don't put me or my tits on your social media, don't follow me with your camera when I walk by. Gross.)
Currently in college: yeah my future as a politician is tanked already. Couple too many pictures of me passed TF out on someone’s floor. Granted, that’s 100% my fault but hey, not something Brett Kavanaugh has to worry about.
It's actually died out, more or less. It's pretty rare for me to see anybody filming anything.
I can't really see this being a big deal unless you were an asshole or your friends were assholes. I'm sure there were times my friends and I recorded each other doing dumb shit in college, but my friends and I trust each other not to do bad stuff with that.
Parties attract more than just your group of friends. I didn't have to worry about these things in high school, and we'd get absolutely shit-faced. Then I got to college and couldn't drink due to the fear of doing something embarrassing.
same thing goes though, I didn't go to many big parties but if you go to parties with crowds of people that you or your friends don't know then I don't know what to tell ya. I don't see how that would be enjoyable in the first place.
Free alcohol and the chance to meet new people
you can also get both of those things at parties thrown by friends or friends of friends.
I don't really get this. Like embarrassing things?
Yeah, before, you could get away with all kinds of things. Fighting, keg stands, having sex in a bathroom. Now for a lot of people, all an employer has to do is look you up or look at your social media and you're condemned to a life of mediocrity.
Ok.
Let me address point by point.
Fighting - This is kinda good. Fighting is not some innocent thing. A lot of people get hurt doing it.
Keg stands - No employer is gonna give two fucks that you did keg stands when you were 19.
Sex in a bathroom - Again, unless you filmed it yourself, no employer is gonna give a shit that you had sex in a bathroom. Sex is normal.
Michael Phelps lost millions because someone took a picture of him smoking a bong
I'd like to think that, given legalization happening in several states since then, if that happened today, no one would give a shit.
Michael Phelps is also a different kinda dude. If you want a job at Burger King or even a law firm. Most aren't gonna give two fucks. Phelps specifically aimed himself as a role model to kids.
and this is the #1 reason I'm SO glad I finished High School when I did.... before this crap started
right? so much of the shit we did wasn't exactly illegal but would sure as hell disqualify us for tons of jobs now
Yeah, I have no chance at a political run now because of things I said in high school that got caught on camera. I mean I don't care because I don't have a desire to hold a political office, but it's definitely going to suck for some people my age that what they said when they couldn't even vote will affect their public lives down the road.
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I'm thinking the politicians of the future will be people who were aware from a very young age that they wanted power and were skilled at avoiding doing things that would cause problems down the road.
In a way, I think that's what we want as a society: penalties for negative behavior resulting in less negative behavior. But in another sense it makes me uneasy. I'm not sure those people would make the best and most trustworthy leaders.
I'd rather a leader who makes mistakes and learns from them
Sadly, with how people refuse to let others have second chances, we're going to get conmen and sleazeballs who know how to manipulate their image getting into office, as the honest ones aren't going to hide their past
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No, because what most people publicly decry as "negative behavior" is usually just human nature and perfectly okay, and I don't want my politicians to be inhuman robots.
What's your opinion on the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings? If he did what Christine Blasey Ford said he did, would you say that was okay?
Of course it's not okay.I'm all for castrating rapists and all that, but how do we know she's not lying? It was so long ago I could get away with saying he tried to rape me.
Now I ask you is it ok to lie about rape? Of course fucking not.. did it happen? I don't know. All I know is that we could be sending an innocent person to prison.
I think you're missing some context here. We're not discussing whether or not it actually happened.
The guy I was responding to said that the behaviors people are getting called out for are okay because they're human nature, which is what I was asking him about.
In a way, I think that's what we want as a society: penalties for negative behavior resulting in less negative behavior.
People living their life with even a smidge of controversy (in their fucking teenage years no less!) should have a permanent black mark placed on them? Eat an entire mountain of shit.
I'm not sure you read the last two sentences of my comment.
I did read it. They did nothing to offset the prior sentence.
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Another constant is that tautologies are going to be tautologies, although they might not always somehow be considered deep.
That’s hogwash. Y’all must have some pretty shitty pasts to be this insecure about being exposed.
Most people have said unsavory things sure. Maybe some racial slurs growing up as a teen or some other phobic language.
But no one gets attacked for stuff said as a child. People get cancelled for being abusers and rapists. Not for calling gay people bad when they were 15. Even then, all it takes is an apology, a simple “I was a kid and while that’s no excuse I know that behavior is/was unacceptable and I am not that person”.
Asking that you were never a nazi or klanmember is not an impossible standard.
which will force people to get real about it, I think. A lot of what gets people in trouble now is less that they said “it” and more that they’re indignant about being confronted with “it” and tend to double down on or evade “it” instead of being like, “wow, that was not one of my better moments, I am really sorry I said that and for the hurt I know it caused. Such-and-such experiences over the years have showed me I was wrong.”
Or hell, even “yep, I still think most of that holds up!”
Instead you get half-baked excuses and a distinct sense of aggrieved annoyance that someone dredged that old shit back up. They’re frustrated that they’ve cultivated a slick new PR-constructed persona and (rightfully) scared that evidence of them being frail and human will expose that as being horseshit.
I dunno, man. People have always loved a good witch hunt, and nowadays, virtue signaling has made it worse. Even if someone is genuinely sorry for something they did in their distant youth...well, look at Liam Neeson and how people reacted to his confession.
He presented his "confession" terribly. It also was a super fucked-up confession that wasn't normal at all. It wasn't like he was like, "yeah being gay is weird" or something, he tried to troll an area to find a black man to kill because he was fucking crazy. That needs more than a "lol I was so racist in my youth oops" before it becomes acceptable.
I'll tell you what's really been going wrong: when people say "Liam Neeson's behavior was fucked-up" and then people say "THAT'S VIRTUE-SIGNALING!!1!!11" It's really not. We should all acknowledge that what he did is not okay, that it is the mark of a disturbed and probably dangerous individual, that confessing to insanely racist thoughts and practices like that should not get you off scot-free, that we should all agree what he did was WRONG and that his actions and his thoughts do indeed make him racist. Whether he's reformed or not is up to the individual judging his actions in the present day. To some people he's done enough, to plenty he has not, both are totally valid opinions and you trying to say one is better than another is dumb as hell.
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Because it was entirely unnecessary and made him seem like a bigoted piece of shit? He talked about how one black person made him want to kill all black people. Then when pressed he said, “It would have been the same if they were british or lithuanian.” Showing that he can separate white people by ethnicity still but black people still don’t get that level of respect from him in the present day.
Wanting to murder someone because of their race is not normal racist behavior that you can change. Stuff like saying “black people are stupid” is racism you should own up to acknowledge. Saying you were willing to murder someone and would have gone through with it if they had happened to be of the wrong color and in your vicinity is an evil thing to admit to and it’s not redeemable. Basic racist behavior from shitty parents is redeemable. Violent evil behavior like Neeson was attempting to perform is not.
He didn’t even admit it was racist.
He said it wasn’t racist because he would’ve had the same reaction if she said the rapist was Irish or a British man. He was just keyed on the revenge is wrong aspect.
Sure, Liam.
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Yup, even if he did, it’s still fucked up how he went about it imo.
But the amount of people defending it because “think about the context” is so disheartening. Even worse, these tend to be the same people that don’t think about the context of under privileged communities when they talk about crime rates
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They don’t know what it’s like to walk in a the PJ’s.
I fortunately never had to call that my home but so many people can’t even conceptualize the idea that the one place you should have as a haven, your home, isn’t safe.
He trolled an area for a few days, while in a rage-filled craze, hoping a black man would mouth off to him or do something to justify an attack, 40-odd years ago.
We have to consider the environment he was in. It was the 70s in northern Ireland. The Troubles. That whole period in Northern Ireland is defined by hate and fear. There were riots and car bombs and murders happening every day. People were afraid to walk out their front doors. When everyone's emotions are that feverish, it's not unthinkable that he had a lapse in judgement-- one that he quickly recognized and corrected before actually doing any harm.
When people don't take the whole story into consideration and latch onto single, specific parts and use those out of context to condemn, then yes, that is virtue signaling and dishonest.
None of what you said made his actions better. Stop trying to mitigate what he did - you are being incredibly dishonest yourself. You also can’t just call any argument you don’t like “virtue signaling.” What Neeson did was fucking horrible, regardless of the context. He took the actions of 1 evil person, applied that to an entire race, and then tried to use violence on an innocent member of that race because he couldn’t separate the two. Very textbook racism. Nothing you say changes that fact regardless of how much “context” YOU add about the Troubles (which had to do with religion and nationalism, not race; and is something entirely irrelevant to this argument).
Admit Neeson acted like a disgusting piece of shit. Stop trying to make it sound like what he did was okay because of the context he was in. Stop mitigating the actions of racist people just because you personally identify with them.
I know the Troubles had nothing to do with race, what I meant was that he, like everybody around him, was angry and afraid. Not at black people but at the all the shit going on around him.
I'm willing to bet that if it had been an IRA member that raped his friend, he would've went hunting for IRA members to beat and kill. Or use any other group for the example.
And environment and context does matter. Our environment helps shape who we are. Don't you think a young adult growing up in Syria right now would have a much harsher, angrier outlook on life than a young adult in Oregon? Does that mean the Syrian is a piece of shit? Now granted, NI wasn't anywhere near bad as Syria, but I hope you get what I mean.
Really, though, I'm arguing for redemption. I don't believe that once a POS, always a POS. Not for something like this. He's apologized profusely. That should be the end of it. Old news.
Edit: And you're right, it doesn't excuse what he did. I didnt mean to imply that it did. There's no excuse for indiscriminate violence. I'm just trying to understand how he got to that point. Maybe understanding how he got to that point will affect our judgements against him. That's all.
Do you see why equating being an IRA member to being a black person is problematic?
And apologizing is not a magic wand you can wave and make the repercussions of your actions go away. Apologizing is not a fix-it-all, end-of-discussion kind of situation. It is a good first step but it is a beginning. It is not an end. The end is when you have convinced other people that you have learned and grown from your actions through new actions.
To some people, Neeson has done that. To many he has not. Whether you think he has reformed is a personal opinion you are allowed to hold. You cannot tell others what to think nor can you control whether they accept his apology.
Some POS can reform. Others can’t. Whether someone reforms is up to them and judged by their actions. Neeson’s comments after the fact, his idiotic equating of ethnicity to race demonstrates that he is as ignorant as ever and has learned nothing at all. You can choose to believe he’s reformed completely and holds no bad views anymore. I do not believe that and I do not think his apology warrants us being like “well yeah he attempted to commit a hate crime but bro he never actually killed an innocent black guy and he’s sorry so let’s just move on hahhahahha”
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You’re entitled to your opinion.
There’s me. But that’s because I really don’t give a shit if they give out all of the shit I’ve done.
I think this will get renormalized in the next couple of decades. Soon enough there will be literally no one who doesn't have tons of embarrassing videos and pictures all over the internet. It's started already. Beto and AOC were lucky in that their old videos were endearing, but how many millennial politicians are going to have gigabytes worth of r/blunderyears material (or worse)? We're going to have to learn to deal with it.
Eventually the public needs to realize that we all sometimes say stupid regrettable things, especially during our youth, that we probably don't even truly mean at the time, and even less likely to stand behind 20 years later.
Let's be honest; Either it won't matter by the time you could run or you never had a shot anyway
You said something worse than bragging about uninvitedly grabbing women by the pussy?
I’m in high school and have heard their kids say even more fucked up shit but it’s usually so messed up that they wouldn’t say it on camera.
Are you serious? I’m by no means a trump supporter, but I heard worse shit than that daily in high school. Locker rooms are just guys trying to out do each other by saying/doing shocking things.
Well, i mean donald trump said some pretty nasty stuff and he became president of usa so i wouldn't say your doomed.
It'd be weird though, because EVERYONE will go through the same thing. So either there will be a very, very few lucky people who never posted anything embarrassing or downright harmful/offensive on social media and they'll win every election, or people won't care anymore.
Honestly, I think it'd be the latter. We are in the awkward growing pains of this new world we're creating. We're the first people to experience social media, and that means we have to deal with call out culture and all these hyperpolitical culture wars. In a few decades, it'd just be a fact of life, and people won't care anymore. Analogously, it was shocking when Clinton was accused of smoking a joint. He said he didn't inhale. It was a big deal! But a couple presidents later, and you have Barack Obama saying he not only smoked weed but "may have done a few bumps of cocaine". Wasn't really as big a deal, because people understood kids were kids.
Maybe by that time, no one will give a shit, b/c everyone will have something on tape at some point.
I think its more about kids being shitty to each other. Someone made this video about me and this girl whom I used to hang out with and she was my only friend. After that everyone kept harassing us and it was too much to handle for both of us and we just stopped talking and I deleted my FB. To be honest I would rather have someone posted me drinking when I was 16 or doing some stupid stuff like that over loosing my best friend. It sucked big time but it gave me a good idea about the destructive powers of social media and I have been careful ever since, but you can only do so much, some day shit happens.
why not reconnect with your friend?
I'd like to read of this situation if you would like to post it.
🖐️ I second this!
I mean, if you took drugs and alcohol. You'd still get hired.
Unless you did some other fucked up shit.
Like I'm specifically thinking of the time I puked in three different yards in three different parts of town in one night. If any of that night was recorded, I doubt many people would want me to be on the payroll strictly for insurance purposes
I think you're overestimating how much employers give a shit about drinking in college.
Yeah, we need you to get it out of your system before we hire
For software developers, college drinking is practically a requirement!
My last job at a marketing agency, in the interview, the CEO told me, "We drug test. If you come back negative, we won't hire you." The he laughed.
Ha! That's awesome.
To be fair, the dude and the company was run like absolute shit. CEO made 99% of his money in stocks. Has something like 50 million. But like 4 failed businesses.
Oof. And there's the less fun half of the story.
._.
Yeah. He was a coke addict. Or still is.
Workplace drinking is practically a requirement.
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Never said that. There's a difference between drinking in college and substance abuse.
By definition, how most people drink in college is substance abuse.
Edit: Redundant word.
I’m really amazed that George W. Bush has a DUI on his record and he still successfully won the nomination for POTUS twice.
When it comes to lawyers and politicians, they definitely don’t seem to have to deal with the same rules as the rest of us!
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1 in 13 Americans struggle with alcohol abuse and there’s only 9 SCOTUS justices. This math isn’t adding up
As long as you didn't drink beer.
I honestly think I would have been arrested if things like "easy access to video evidence" existed back then. We used to play this game. It goes like this. Everybody grabs a bunch of sharp knifes, and then we throw them at each other until someone quits. Then they're out. We keep going until only one person remains.
It was kind of like dodgeball, except with knifes.
If you can dodge a knife, you can dodge a ball
And then old people complain about young people not having enough fun.
I think some of it may have been exactly illegal
That's how we will keep the youngins from taking our jobs.
The shit I did was just down right illegal as fuck and I'm glad there wasn't recording devices everywhere.
I spoke to my mate's brother who's five years younger than us and he said whenever they were at a party and someone would kiss someone else, there would literally be 10+ phones taking photos. He has 14 copies of his first kiss.
That shit is so fucked
Christ That's some Black Mirror sounding stuff right there.
The year I graduated high school somebody uploaded a video of a kid jerking off in the bathroom stalls on twitter and it spread everywhere. Shit was bad. I hope that kid is okay
I mean it’s kinda fucked up to take a video of it, but it’s also pretty fucked up to beat your meat in the school bathroom
better that than the classroom... which I’ve seen
big facts
I went to a lot of raves in the 1990's.
I go to raves now. Standing policy in my group is that you don't take a picture of someone you know unless they're aware that its happening and consent. Doubly so if they are in a visibly altered state.
That helps a lot. Generally couldn't care less if I end up flailing around in the background of some randoms' selfie
School no longer stays at school. A large number of social and emotional issues that kids have these days have to do with this.
I'm 42 years old, to this day if I hear the one word I was taunted with (from 7th thru 12 grade no less) I still get a chill up my spine and prepare to beat someone down. To this day it has never been used in context, but the PTSD stays with me as well as the vast amount of suppressed memories I keep buried DEEP.
-edit- I was suicidal as a teen, and if I grew up with the same problems in this day, I doubt I would have survived
Yep. Now phones are the norm and if you don't have social media people look at you as if you're going to shoot up the school. Just because you don't have social media doesn't mean you're a sociopath.
I only survived high school because I was able to compartmentalize. High school was hell (I was one of the kids everyone picked on), but it didn’t follow me home. In today’s world, where kids are connected via social media 24/7, I don’t think I would’ve made it. I’m not at all surprised that cyber-bullying drives children to suicide.
I feel you man, you and me both on this one
I finished high school a year before facebook, yippee.
Teens are more conservative now than they were 20 years ago because of this. Less sex, less risky behavior, etc.
Back in my day (old man voice) if you hooked up at a party after smoking some weed it was a fun time and memory. Now you have to worry about someone taking a picture, filming you, or at minimum just tweeting about it to your friends.
I feel like I'm in the sweet spot. Smart phones weren't widespread until middle of college for me, but I still had my own cell phone in high school. Just one of those ones that would give you a minor panic attack if you opened the internet browser.
I have a love/hate relationship with this practice. On the occasion I saw something, I'd miss most of it. If someone had had a video of it I would know what I'd missed.
For example I got to the bottom of a stairwell and saw a massive group of people. Come to find out a year later it was a friend of mine beating the shit out of someone for breaking into his house through his mothers room to try and rob him because he was a drug dealer at the time.
I wish I'd have seen that. It's augmented by the fact that I hate the dude he beat up, but if someone had a video of it I'd have been amazed and excited for the member berries
This one right here is too real. I work the USPS. And Im sure every other delivery services get told this as well. You are recorded at least 1 time every 30 seconds on average while 1 in every 8 houses have some type of video recording. And about 1 in 5 of those are looking for anything just to upload to youtube to ruin an individual or business. This isn't even considering people and their Smart Phones.
My friends think it’s the funniest thing in the fucking world to record someone doing something dumb while they are drunk.
I have never once seen one of my friends drunk and thought to myself, “ I should record this so they can be even more embarrassed by it later.” It’s simple curtesy. Someone’s drunk and acting dumb don’t fucking record it if they aren’t hurting anyone
Yeah it's creepy. I've before went to new bars and seen people taking creepshots/video of me just sitting with a beer, then try to hide when in their direction. Like first drink of the night, not drunk or doing anything weird. Also going to bars and girls start dancing and then that one guy in the crowd that wants to record like 5min of video while blocking everyone out the way like he's booked the place to make a movie.
20/40/60/80 years from now you might think different about that. Something fun to show the grandkids.
Not as fun as just living in the present moment
You can take videos and still live in the present moment. It doesnt take away from the present at all
only phone addicts stuck in their phones think this
No.. that's not how it works. Some people can just pay attention while taking a video
You just don't get it. Too stuck in your phone to understand. Put it away sometime for a long time and see how different experiencing the world is without it completely.
Trust me, I get it, I've done it, and it isnt any different. A lot of us can do it without missing out
but its kinda funny tho. and people online will find it funny. and i might get to the front page of this shitty website im addicted to.
One time I was walking around in northern Florida and I noticed that a couple of people had their phones out pointed at me. Turns out there was a bear running toward me in the darkness. I didn't trust any of them the rest of the week I was working with them.
George Orwell was right
I hate this always on society
Hate your laws. Where I live you essentially have the copyright on depictions of yourself.
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Yep. There's a reason those videos are pretty much exclusively from the US. Where I live posting there would only be legal if protected by public interest or something similar. E.g. you could post a video of a politician.
Getting tagged in awkward pictures on Facebook every time I go do something social
This is the worst. I tell family "please dont upload photos of me" sometimes at casual events bc I didnt really put a lot of effort into my appearance, and while I felt that was appropriate for my immediate family to see, I would have dressed up a bit nicer, styled my hair, put on a proper fitting sweater if i was having a reunion with old coworkers and classmates. I dont have that constant need to impress, but I also dont see the need for people who I havent seen in 10 years only impression of now-me to be an awkwardly posed me with a pimple on my forehead. My facebook is very carefully curated and minimal for a reason, and my mom especially gets like.. Offended when I dont want to take pictures with her bc I know they will go straight on her facebook.
I had someone intentionally take a shitty picture of me and they put it on Facebook. Facebook wouldn’t take it down. I hate that website
Dear God I don't even want to imagine what kinds of videos of me would exist if camera phones were a thing when I was in college.
I shutter when I think about my years 16-17. I spent them in New Orleans with a fake ID getting hammered, flashing my (non existent) boobs and being a total moron. Cellphones would have ruined all of it.
As someone who has spent a significant portion of her post-undergrad youth in New Orleans, I have to agree. I strongly feel that the zeitgeist should shift in the future to being less severe about what you find about people on social media. We were all idiots back then.
People keep talking about how snapchat is just for people to send nudes but I think it is popular specifically because of its temporary nature. 99% of people understand that if someone really wants to save your nudes, they can. But just day to day, it is nice to be able to show people what is going on without it being up forever to be picked over, analyzed, and judged. I dated several girls that used it and it was used to just say what they were up to in the moment, and it all disappears, so there was no worry of a badly composed picture being judged or a bunch of mundane and inane stuff filled up a chat log, to be reviewed months later.
I also had lots of issues with people pouring over old FB stuff and bringing it up. A lot of people don’t want to have to think about how something will be read a year from now. Just like when we talk to someone and the memory fades over time, people want digital conversations and interactions to go back into the ether.
I think most people use Instagram Stories for that more than Snapchat now, at least in my experience
A. I think that shows how behind I am on what is “in”.
B. I think my theory still stands as to why snapchat became so popular. I assume Insta stories is a service somewhat analogous to the way snapchat worked.
Not sure if you did it on purpose, but using ‘shutter’ in reference to cameras is hilarious.
I didn’t even notice! 😂
Yea. And now if you do something stupid, like a human, it never goes away. There will always be someone who films/takes a photo of it, and show it to everyone, then your reputation is ruined and sometimes people will straight up bully you over it for years. I miss when me and my friends could mess around with each other without risking major embarrassment.
My college has a “cringe” Instagram page where people submit photos and videos that they took of other people on campus doing cringey things. I hate it, and one time a person took a picture of my friend having a panic attack and me comforting them, just a hug, and it was posted, there’s no privacy on campus and it’s scary.
I'm old enough to say a large chunk of my life was spent without the modern intrusion of everyone filming everyone else. Just because people go outside of their home, their every move or every word spoken shouldn't be filmed, uploaded and shamed. Sure, there are plenty of times when it is good to be able to film something that is going on. But the lack of respect shown to people by filming them just living their lives is totally out of control.
What about America’s Funniest Home Videos?! That was 90% of why people bought camcorders in the 90’s!
Fuckin fuck fuckin filming fuckin karaoke. Fuck.
I'm a pretty good singer, but when I've had 4+ drink beers and I'm jammin' out to "Sexy and I Know It" with the dancing and the wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle YEAH
YOU DON'T GET TO RECORD IT YOU ASSHOLE
I just stop. It totally ruins the vibe but I don't even care. And it's always the people who are on the fringe - like they won't sing themselves, but they thinks it's absolutely hilarious to record people doing it as if it's some big prank they devised.
Yup, it's usually the wet towels who are doing shit like this
Dude! Some lady was filming me walking my dog by the river in a public park today.
Was it you or was it a video of your dog. I can't say many people would just blatantly take a video of somebody random but I can easily see someone taking a video of a random dog
No idea. It didn’t make sense either way. I was just walking the dog on the leash. Neither of us were doing anything special but this lady whipped out her phone and aimed it at us as we walked by. We were the only people in the park so it’s not like she was looking at a kid or a duck or something.
Waiting for your animal to bark or poo to upload for pet shaming. This is what people choose to do with their free time.
I can't say many people would just blatantly take a video of somebody random
You sweet summer child.
I'm not saying there isn't anyone I'm saying that most people aren't going to do that
This comment thread is full of people talking about how often people get filmed for trivial reasons by strangers. It happens all the time. It isn't isolated. And there is a world of different between “there aren’t many that would do it” and “most people aren’t doing it”. There can be lots of people doing a thing without it being “most” people.
Oh my god yes. I see some of my friends post so many videos and pictures of their kids doing shit on Facebook and it makes me so so happy that we didn't have to worry about it growing up. It made life feel more real and less like a performance. Even now as an adult most of my Facebook posts are pictures of my dog and not anything personal. If people want to know something personal about me they can just talk to me.
Yes! I really want to flash the crowd at a Steel Panther concert but I'm a teacher and if an image of that ever got out my life would be over.
Imagine presidential elections in 20-30 years when someone pulls out a video of a candidate partying in high school from their iCloud.
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In my 3 years or so of lifting 6 days a week I have only seen this happen once (at a LA fitness ofc). If you stick to a smaller local gym I highly doubt this will ever happen to you.
I wish there was a ban on this type of stuff. It's a violation of privacy.
It's literally not. You're in public, not private. Wtf
Still it doesn't feel nice. What are we supposed to do? Never go outside? While I was at campus my skirt got lifted because of a strong wind current, what if someone recorded that and posted it online? Would I not be able to say that's wrong because I was in public?
Recording someone being dumb at a party is quite a bit different from an upskirt shot, don't play dumb :/
Locally public, not nationally or internationally. Once upon a time, it might just be a couple of people who were there, saw you do something dumb. But now Joe Blow across the globe gets to share in it. It's not good.
Who cares what Joe Blow across the globe thinks though? You'll never meet that person and you'll probably never even know what they think about you, they'll never be relevant in your life
My mother often says something like this, that she's glad she grew up in an era before every dumb thing she ever did was documented forever.
I always get asked by people who dont use internet that much why im kinda paranoid of people filming me for the internet without my consent. Its hard to explain how people can literally film you and turn you into a joke
Man I hate it in all forms. Could be my voice, or displaying my username for a gaming platform. I don't want any indentifying information about me online without my permission.
A family member was involved with the SAE Frat at OSU Stillwater. The photo album from their time there included quite a few of their members in blackface due to performing an annual minstrel show where their members would go sorority house to sorority house performing in black face.
Thanks to the lack of social media in the 1980s they all get to pretend like it didn't happen, pretend it wasn't racist, and my favorite, be shocked when their fraternity is outed as continuing to be an organization that's individual chapters have a long history of being blatantly and in many cases, on goingly racist.
Jesus an old friend of mine freaking recorded me when I was visiting him and his roommates house just chatting, this mofo recorded everything I said and put in on Youtube, like WTF?? Who does that!!!
Yet they get posted to this website and people fall all over each other to make jokes and say WTF? at them. Yet very few think it's a bad idea. It makes me sick.
"Look at this weird person on the train! Lol, let's make fun of them."
"I don't want to go outside unless I look perfect so people don't judge me."
Stop judging others then, moron.
Parent of autistic child chiming in. Every single time my little one has a tantrum in public, I'm so paranoid we are going to go viral. Please dont be a dick and film people.
I graduated in 1990, if someone pulled out a camera at a party they got their ass kicked. Good ol’days.
This probably increased my maturity level tho
I don't go to any space without looking for hidden cameras and have spent more than my fair share looking up actual hidden cameras to hopefully be able to spot a very good decoy in a bathroom etc.
I remember when Alexisonfire had a lyric, "... when you dance, dance like there's no one watching you" and it's so hard to do that in a world where everything you do can be uploaded for the world to see. It's hard to be yourself in all your weird, beautiful idiosyncrasies when THE MASSES are just hovering outside your life, ready to ridicule you for anything you do that's left of center. If you mess up, you will be entertainment. There's no 'maybe'. Everyone can't wait to get that one clip that goes viral, and they'll invade anyone's privacy to get it.
There's no wonder why kids and young adults have more social anxieties now than ever- the god-damned boot of God himself is hovering over their heads every day.
Alexisonfire is a name I haven't heard in a long, long time
I thank God for this everyday. I graduated high school just before Instagram and Snapchat became popular. MySpace bullying and Facebook exposes were already bad enough. Just imagining how damaging it would’ve been for my class if Snapchat was popular when we were in high school. I’m thankful for that.
In all fairness, there is a lot of heinous shit that went on with impunity that is coming to the surface and ought to have a long time ago.
Might wind up on AFV
People used to judge you by how you act now, but now we see people fired and banned from cities over 10 year old tweets
I work in a restaurant and my #1 fear is someone coming up to me, demanding some obscene thing and then just whipping out a phone. Like what do you do in that situation?
It killed titty flashing at concerts.
"This is my farm. I grow anxiety and my favorite fertilizer is the ever watching eye of everyone I know." I don't go on social media where "friends" are a thing much lol
I work in a public place, and I'm super self conscious about how I look, so this is literally my hell.
At the same time, it's greatly helped with a fucking fuckton of stuff. Namely police brutality and sexual assault.
It's hard to argue against what you've mentioned but I don't know if the ends justify the means. If the gov't had full access to the camera on your phone, we would have a fraction of crimes even happening in the first place.
I’m thrilled I went to college when camera phones weren’t a thing.
Oh boy, i recently got a recording from early 2002 digitized. Exchange Student in the Us and i recorded one day of regular US high school to later watch with my friends + family at home. I did not ask people for consent... no regard for people's privacy at all. Some people were annoyed, some jumped out of the frame. No hard feelings anywhere. Nowadays i'd be mad as hell if anybody pulled that stunt. It was just so... innocent. I wonder, if it's just be being almost 20 years older now or the whole development personal info and how easy it spreads on the intenet had. After watching this video recently, i badly wanted to apologize to a lot of people. I never will upload it or even safe it to a harddrive.
Can't even fathom it, well ok... I can and its horrible. Sometimes you just need to goof up, do stupid shit, and not be reminded of it for the rest of your life. Mostly because you learn and grow as a person by making mistakes.
I’m so glad I made it through middle school without this being a thing.
I mean... I’m not worried about it.
I'm a little worried my nephews took video of me playing VR, fumbling around playing Rick and Morty. I probably looked like an idiot.
This is so true. I have social anxiety and the internet worsen my situation.
Everytime I watch a fail army with my kids, I'm like "did that, did that, almost did that". We did some stupid shit as kids.
this was awesome for committing crimes.
I just got out of a relationship with a girl that was more concerned about posting content of the experiences we were having than actually enjoying them. All her friends were influences. What a toxic, boring life.
What's worse is when somebody does something, got spotlight, and then people dug up things they do aa teens as a way to invalid that person's current person. Bruh... maybe if it's something serious like a criminal record, ok. But for minor things? They were teenagers. Teenagers do dumb shit all the time.
It's worst when it comes to relationships. Such a heavy culture of texting nowadays that it's difficult to connect, ironically. People also like sharing screenshots of texts - so those mistakes you make in your first relationship can very well and truly follow you for years.
It's not fun losing friends because an ex decides to publicly distribute private messages like they're nothing.
People who constantly pull out their phone and film everyone are scum. I wish it were legal, if you catch someone filming/taking pictures of you without your consent, to take their phone and destroy it right in front of them.
My hope is that, maybe by the time today's toddlers are teenagers, there will be a major backlash starting against social media. Once those kids realize just how little privacy they have because of this garbage that serves absolutely no essential purpose in society, they'll start rejecting social media and view it as something that stupid old people do to earn social points. Their fucking baby pictures are online for everyone to see for shit's sake, who wouldn't feel violated by that? And god knows what other embarrassing shit their dumbass millennial parents put online for those sweet, sweet facebook likes.
Hey now... When my kids misbehave I just pull out my phone and tell them how embarrassing this will be on YouTube and they stop.
Mom does this shit to me when she's losing an argument. Also when she doesn't like the way I dress, she says she'll take a picture to show me how much of a slut I look like.
:/
Aww that's terrible! I just do that when my kids refuse to do chores like take the trash out or pick up their toys and then they throw a temper tantrum
Oh, man! I said that to someone a year or two ago. How lucky I was to graduate high school in 2003 and not have to deal with embarrassing videos of myself being posted online!
I am absolutely delighted this is a fact.
Sincerely, Gen X (the people who built this hellhole)
It's hard being in WITSEC now a days.
This is just facts
BUT on the other hand if something bad happens to you, people will know who did it.
But yeah it's one reason i'm glad my puberty happened before the technology got there
Right? The amount of posts I see on reddit alone is mind boggling. Hey, let me take a picture of this person without them knowing so the entire world can laugh at them! Such dicks.
Yes. If half of the stupid shit I did in my teens/early 20s was sent out online, I don't know what I'd do, and I've never been a wild one.
I just watched the last season of The office. This fits.
The trick is to have no friends and do nothing of interest.
Remember when we used to dance like no one was watching?
That impromptu video of those guys filming in a 7-11 in the late 80s reminds me of this. Everyone was so open to being on film because of the extremely low possibility of it being broadcasted. Who would’ve thought.
Imagine the nightmare for people wanting to do public office
My anxiety has only gotten worse because of this. I feel that every time I make a driving mistake I will see it on r/IdiotsInCars and someone in public will identify me with ''Hey you are that idiot who almost ran over a homeless person'' !
When I was in 8th grade, I got busted for a crime. When I turned 18, my record cleared and there is literally no evidence of it anywhere online.
Good luck with that today.
You can still go through life without worrying about that. It's just a matter of you not worrying, rather than the event not happening. There are so many dumb videos of people out there now that yours is nothing special.
Lol guys look at this idiot that thinks that positing and posting mean the same thing!
I've never in my life worried about this. I'm nothing special to see. I'd be shocked if anyone found a video of me doing anything in life worth the time to watch it.
People still had video cameras before the internet lol
I remember getting into a fight at school and getting my ass beat. No one was recording fights yet. Literally the following week YouTube came out and people started uploading fights. I dodged a bullet.
This, i dont need something i do when I'm being stupid posted for the world to see
Someone was recording his workout at gym and caught an incident of someone bitching about their boss. That dude knew that guys boss, and sent him the video clip. FFS what kind of crap is this.
I never worry about that because I don't go outside.
I desperately want to tell people in cinemas to shut up or people on the train to work to stop clipping their nails, but the idea of being filmed and put online stops me every time.
This is one of the reasons I'm glad to live in Europe. In most countries here you're still reasonably safe of that. If someone did post a video of me without my consent they'd risk being arrested and face criminal charges while also being responsible to pay compensation for any damages done do me.
I mean, it still does happen here, but the risk is magnitudes lower than elsewhere.
There is now a work culture of always being reachable by email or text for whatever happens. A lot of places expect you to be pretty much on call even when you're not at the office anymore. I worked at an ad agency where days off sometimes didn't even feel like that, because I would still be getting emails about things and was expected to be checking them. There should be some level of balance between work and personal life and I feel like that is fading because so many places are adapting this type of culture, especially start-ups.
I used to work at an accounting firm where that was the expectation. Never again. That shouldn't be acceptable. It isn't at my office. I'd never be OK with the boss calling me after work hours except in very rare circumstances. Got to have a work life separation.
France I think looking at making that illegal
I think they did it two years ago.
French workers win legal right to avoid checking work email out-of-hours
There is an EU law for this. All european countries have something similar. Though from my experience it still happens that people feel pressured to always check. I sometimes find myself doing it aswell.
Honestly sometimes it just makes your life easier, but when it becomes an expectation then we have a problem.
I check my work emails not because I have to, but because I get curious about what people have been up to/asking me about.
I mostly do aswell. But the idea is that you shouldn't be or feel pressured to do it.
Same. We actually aren't supposed to read or reply to emails, or even take calls (exceptions can and are made when necessary, of course) after hours, but I always check my work email as part of my prep routine for the next day. I hardly ever react or reply to anything, though (read-receipts are manual, company-wide. No idea why).
I do it partly because I enjoy my work, but mostly because I actually like spending a few minutes each night giving my next day a mental once-over, because I think way, way better at night than first thing in the morning. Having a vague idea of what needs to get done beforehand lets me take a few minutes to just enjoy my coffee, recline my chair and just wake up properly. Easily worth sacrificing 15-20 minutes of my evenings for.
> There is an EU law for this
Damn those Europeans telling us Brits how to run a country! BREXIT BREXIT BREXIT!
So glad we took back control, so glad Rees Mogg shared his detailed plan for how to remove ourselves from the yoke of the EU before we had the referendum. Imagine how stupid we'd look if we hadn't sorted it all out before we left in March. Bloody Europeans making us healthy and safe, giving us rights and stuff. Make Angles Great Again (but not the German ones).
I personally couldn't be happier that an unpredictable and unplanned political movement is being absolutely fucking butchered due to acting on a sim majority non-legally-binding voting result from a portion of the voting population who as of now will have substantially changed anyway due to more youths hitting voting age.
/s off (as a brit it's on all the time) only a third of eligible voters voted to leave, of those that voted the majority was less than both the number of old people who have died and the number of young people who can now vote, but we mustn't abandon that one badly worded referendum. Fuck em all. Fuck Cameron, fuck May, fuck fucking Johnson.
Sorry, rant over.
Yeah man, little bit furious that they won't even consider going back to vote now that they've essentially said "yeah...we have no agreed plan...are you sure you want to leave?"
Putting something this major to a vote in the first place with absolutely zero idea of how to accomplish it was a fucking disgrace to the population. I'd be fine on getting behind the politicians and living with it if they had actually prepared some kind of decision prior to putting this to a referendum, but instead parties played on the rising wave of xenophobia and unfounded Euro hate in order to fuck with each other for personal gain.
I detest them all.
little bit furious that they won't even consider going back to vote now
yeah re-do a vote because your side lost. Pure dictatorship.
Mate, it's been years. New information has become available, people's opinions have changed, the magnitude of the task has become more visible...it's worth revisiting as an option.
Having a vote isn't a dictatorship, it's democracy.
Having a vote isn't a dictatorship, it's democracy.
and they voted for Brexit.
Sometimes when things change, opinions are altered by proceedings, and the demographic changes it's worth revisiting issues. There is literally no plan going forwards to fix any of the trade agreements which is a huge worry for a lot of the population. We also have a massive contingent of people who are now of voting age who never got a say in this but are strapped in.
The rederendum was supposed to be an indicative vote, not a final decision. With the above in place it's worth doing a second run. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? The populace votes to stay? Either way it'll be the people of England voting.
Ooooh I can't wait for that to be repealed soon! I love having to deal with work on my time off! Thanks, Brexit
those damn europeans always ahead of the curve. shaking my smh
Which means Americans can expect it some time around 2169.
The right? Like what lol. Just like walk away from the employer, like what hahaha 😂😂😂
The right not to do work stuff when they're not supposed to be working ?
The right not to be retaliated against.
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That's what Unions are for. Collective Bargaining it's called, if everyone makes a stand the employer will have to take a new position. Unfortunately they worked it out and got laws made to make it harder, that and the selfish who made personal agreements. We have decided as a society that it's way more important that a small number of people make an imperceptibly small increase in their bank balance than society as a whole improving.
Yes because finding a new job is always so easy.
People missing the tyler the creator reference, but I appreciated it
You're not seriously this intellectually challenged, right? Right?
Sadly that will never pass in the US without some drastic changes.
There is a culture of overworking in the US. Somehow working normal hours and expecting normal wages for those hours is almost communist. If you say you work hard, in the US, it doesn't mean you work good, or smart, it means you work 80 hours a week and people applaud you for it.
That’s the biggest way fellow employees flex on each other, at least where I work. Not “look how good a job I did” but “look how much time I spent.”
When someone brags about how many hours they work, I answer with what wonderful family time I have with my wife. I'm all for hard work, but there is (should be in any case) a real difference between hard work and over work. I often read women bragging and one upping eachother on how long they haven't seen their husband because he's such a hard working man, or how they din't even have time to breath because they're career oriented... It's sad.
Yep, would be a very tricky thing to legislate without going into overreach in the U.S.
Much less overreach than using what's in someone's pants to decide if they can marry who they want to marry, yet that was done for ages.
If you are hourly it sure is, at least in my state.
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No it isn't.
Volkswagen did a very limited pilot a couple of years back where they would essentially turn of their blackberry servers after a certain time. Didn't go too well since some people just prefer to work later in the day.
Also German work safety law does not specify any specific work hours. Just that you can't work more than 8 hours (10 in rare circumstances, 12 if the company is on the verge of bankruptcy) and that you must rest 11 hours between shifts.
Are you sure about the 11 hours? I was working at a bakery and my colleague sometimes had to work until 9pm and be back at it at 4:30 or 5 am. I always thought its sketchy but didnt know its against the law
Sadly something being in the law doesn’t always make prople respect it. :(
well usually thanks to lower bargaining power. But out of work avaliability and on time payment is where I draw the line. You can get kicked from a job for not doing a task on time, or even coming late 5 min once. Dont expect me to be loyal either with shit like that. :D
Maybe it's an average or frequency sort of thing?
If it's anything like Irish law, it's 11 hours off every day. Meaning for full time 5 day weeks, employees should have a minimum of 55 hours away from work. Worked retail for a company that would give you exactly this amount of time off outside of weekend days.
Also some employers simply don't give a fuck and will ignore laws like this, hoping that you won't be in a situation to sue them.
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From your article:
A daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24 hour period
This is what I was on about, I just described it in an assbackwards way
Not really sure, I didnt really bother myself with it since I only worked 10 days a month or less
It's an average, over 17 weeks. So if you're part time, the gaps between work days covers it.
You may also have signed an opt-out in any case - I don't know if Germany allows that.
8 hours in Canada
I believe it's similar to what we have in Norway, where there are certain occupations which have exceptions to that rule as long as they compensate by having time off at other times. But that's mainly stuff like nursing, on-site offshore drilling etc. Bakers work inconvenient hours, but I don't think they work until 9pm.
During the week they had to because they shared a building with a grocery store and the contract prevented them from closing earlier
Which is a normal situation for a lot of shops. What you have to do then to comply with the law is to have a "baking watch" which gets in at 4.30ish to do that part, who is a separate person from the one who had the closing watch the night before. It can be one person every day or a rotation among all the employees.
Not sure how I would feel about the 8 hour thing. I'm just a college student and I have to work longer shifts than that if I want to pay rent. I just got home from an 11 hour shift.
...although, that may just be because my state has a very low min wage. If I got paid a "living wage" 8 hours would be fine.
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That’s what happened at walmart.
many wage workers actually ended up with less money
"many" isn't very descriptive I'm afraid. When you make a change that effects many people, many of them are going to be disadvantaged while many others will benefit.
And if by negated, you're talking about the people for whom their was no change in net income, they'd be making the same in fewer hours.
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Those who ended up worst off were those with the fewest skills and the least flexible availability, presumably those whom we would want to help most.
some workers (the study suggests more productive or available workers) actually did end up with more money in their pockets.
That to me sounds like a system functioning as it should. Where the people who can contribute the most are better off than they are in a system where you can just hire 15 people to do a 10 person job and treat them all as if they're disposable because even if your best person quits, you've got 4 extra people picking up the slack.
I like the idea of helping people from the bottom up, but if you go against policies that benefit people in the middle (even at a loss to others when it's justified as I believe it is), then that's as far as you can help them get.
That might effect one of my jobs. The other one is in a lab and I'm the only one who does the job it so I wouldn't have to worry about losing shifts to someone else. I'm not suggesting a $15 min wage, just something higher than the $8.60 I get now. My state (Missouri) just voted for an increase to $12 an hour by 2022 and I think that's reasonable, but I'm not sure if I'll even be living here by then.
Of course you can check them, the question is whether or not you can be obliged to check them. And the answer is no, they cannot insist you respond to emails after your regular hours.
What are you responding to? The guy you replied to was clearly referring to what everyone else is referring to - being expected to put in work hours AFTER you're off the clock (without being compensated for this). You then went on to talk, randomly, about how much time there is between shifts and how long a shift can be - what?
Also, there's this: Out of hours working banned by German labour ministry (The Telegraph)
And this: Germany bans managers from calling or emailing staff after work hours
Germany's labor ministry has banned managers from calling or emailing staff out of hours except in emergencies.
While not technically illegal(? So this must be what at least your first line was referring to), it is heavily looked down upon in Germany, it seems, that employers expect their employees to be at their whim.
As you mentioned, Volkswagen implemented this. Every reference I'm seeing to it though is mentioning it as if it's still active, though (even references as recent as 2017), not a 'very limited pilot' as you'd stated.
As of 2011, Volkswagen’s servers don’t send or receive emails from company-owned smartphones between 6:15pm and 7am on weekdays and weekends
Under rules introduced In 2011, Volkswagen blocks workers’ emails between 6.15pm and 7am and at weekends.
In 2011, Volkswagen agreed to stop its Blackberry servers sending emails to some of its employees when they finished their shifts ... Under the rules, emails are only forwarded to company smartphones during a shift and for 30 minutes before and after it.
There are other major companies in Germany that have enacted similar policies as well, though:
In 2014 German automaker Daimler instituted an even more dramatic program, deleting all incoming emails to an individual when they are on holiday.
And there are yet more, as well (ex: Deutsche Telekom).
It seems Germany has really remained ahead of the game. While not technically illegal(?), it is great to see the country actually acknowledging this issue and doing something about it.
Just wanted to state the simple fact that no, it's not illegal while also shedding some light on German labor law.
Your cited sources are all correct but not to be generalized. Just because one ministry bans managers from calling their employees after hours doesn't make it illegal.
Volkswagen I can speak to from personal experience. The rules still exist, true but virtually every employee that I have talked to knows that there are exception processes that are requested the day they start (this is IT departments within vw germany and may be different in other departments). I can't talk to Daimler and how it's handled there. Oh, also VW barely uses Blackberry anymore and as far as I know this is not directly implemented with their exchange infrastructure.
Now, what you didn't mention is that there are (as far as I'm aware) rulings by the German courts that state that workers are not Contractually obligated to check Mails after hours. But still. There's nothjng illegal about to try to contact your employee.
Interesting.
(You said):
but virtually every employee that I have talked to knows that there are exception processes that are requested the day they start
How is this handled? So is it employees basically expected to waive away their rights? And if they don't waive it, they just.. can't or won't be employed there? (similar to how you can "choose" to not accept Terms of Service on software, but then... you're not going to be allowed to use the software)
And yeah, the part about the German courts seemed rather heavily implied amongst the rest of it (considering the rather clear precedent set forth by all of the examples/quotes/sources), so I wouldn't be surprised if that is in fact the case. I don't live in Germany, it just has honestly for so long now sounded like such an incredible, awesome country with the way it approaches things and actually takes care of business in such a matter-of-fact, no bullsh-t way, and perhaps moreover what it prioritizes (ex: Science!), etc. I feel like I personally have not been the least surprised by all of the success Germany has had, rising to being the #3/#4 Economy in the entire world (and #1 out of all the European countries). Like you just knew it was going to happen.
It's funny to hear that while maybe it's not illegal to contact the employee, they (the employees) are not actually obligated to respond to the emails at all. An actual punishment across the board would seem befitting, or rather one that can only be avoided if the employee is fairly compensated for the work you're expecting them to do when they're not even on the clock anymore (ex: each email they respond to, you're expected to pay them the equivalent of either 15 or 30 minutes of their on-the-clock wage).
Speaking towards your last point. There are contractual phrases (I have one in my employment contract) that basically state that due to your above average salary, all your overtime is included and you don't have any additional rights towards free time or additional compensation.
In my case, my position and salary warrant such a clause and I'm fine with it being there, but the "contractual freedom between worker and employer" is also not to be underestimated :)
That's crazy, lol. So they're basically acknowledging that they're not actually intending to pay you above wage (ie. provide a competitive salary), they really are trying to pay you an average salary, and so will nickel and dime your time until your initially above average wage is just average, again.
It's of course fine if the worker is actually fine with it. Some fields I'd imagine, like IT type jobs, may almost require being at least accessible when you're out of the office in case something happens and you're actually one of the only people on staff that could resolve it.. but then, again that gets at the same fundamental issue - that these fields should then have this extra-time consideration in mind when salary projections are being proposed.
>couple years
>blackberry servers
You sure you don’t mean a decade ago?
Yeah, kind of. We've had a law for about 3 years now. Every company integrates this in their own way and there are certain exceptions. But yes, basically it can't be considered a misconduct to not bring a work laptop at home or not answer emails.
At my French company, if you send an e-mail after 20h, you are given the option to delay sending it until 8h the next day or override it. Too much overriding and you get an appointment with HR to explain why you must continually harass people off-hours.
Yes exceptions are made if you message someone who is travelling or abroad. But you are forced to think each time.
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Then they can choose the delay option which will send it the following morning i think. Sounds like a good system to be fair
You set the delay and it is delivered at 8h on the next business day. Unless you can justify (including to HR if needed) that it was urgent and couldn't wait until then.
It's done. It's called right to disconnect.
They finally made it illegal for employers to contact employees on their off days. As it should be everywhere.
Vive le France
France baise ouais
France is on the other end of the spectrum. They almost wanna make working illegal...
Not legal maybe, but in practice you will have to fight legally, which I guess few people will do. Especially in startups which is a small world and you do not want to be black-listed. The best is to go away and not make too much noise. Source : I work in France, in a French startup. I even saw my boss call a former guy from our team to get some historical information ; the guy was at his new job but still answered.
In Germany it already is illegal
"thinking"
They basically have, and it’s one reason why my company isn’t expanding Europe but is doubling down on Singapore... when you boil it all down, the Europeans are good people but don’t want the overtime when offered, nor care to work past 4PM — meanwhile, in Singapore the engineers cost half as much and work twice as hard. I’d still prefer living in Europe because it’s life over work though.
Already illegal I believe
We should all push for off hours where we can’t be reached. Company productivity isn’t more important than my well being.
Worked in Sales over the Christmas period just gone. The manager was in his late 20s, never called us outside our scheduled hours unless someone was sick or it was an emergency (for example, a serious customer complaint).
I sincerely hope that isn't a unique experience going forward.
This is my first “real” busy season in tax (came on for second busy last year). It’s def 24/7 expectation right now, but things seem to calm down between the rushes.
Hope it’s going well, we’re almost there brother.
Go Industry dudes. I'm sure you know this already but driving the point home. I worked 2 hours late one day the past 3 months. Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous how different it is.
I know I know. I think the only thing keeping me around is how nice the flexability is. I have unlimited PTO and am finishing up my 4th busy season so I'm experienced enough to be able to work from home no problem or just take off without anyone questioning me.
The length of this busy season has been pretty brutal though which has made me question why the hell i'm still in this though. I'd hate to leave and be unhappy somewhere else though.
That changes things for sure. Working from home alone is a massive benefit. It's always of course up to the individual. I just knew I couldn't cut it working that much forever.
Completely agree. I see so many partners with crappy family lives or doing nothing for work that it makes public not seem appealing.
However, ask me in the middle of the summer when i'm working 30 hours a week and have half day Friday's and my answer might be different haha. Ultimately I'm probably just sticking around until I can find a cushy 6 figure job.
Very true, probably the way to go! I'm in the middle of studying now (2/4 done thank God it's FAR and AUD), and working here has been the biggest blessing I could have ever imagined. It's busy but nothing compared to public during the last few months.
Lol as someone going to work at an accounting firm soon this just sounds grrreeeaat
Hope it doesn't discourage you. If you are somebody who loves to work a lot and has a lot of energy and drive you may find it very fulfilling. But it took me about a year to realize it was not for me. The pay is incredible, but the hours are very long. At the firm I was at, after five years you could be making over 100 grand a year. And it was only a hundred person or so sized firm. It is all firm dependent of course. Some firms have positive environments, some have horror stories. Find out what their turnover rate is, that should give you a good indication. Generally, the higher it is the bigger red flag it is.
Yeah I’m looking at a Big 4 Firm in the Northeast so the pay is incredible. I know a few people who have been there for 3-5 years and they’re making a ton. That doesn’t sound too bad lol but I’ve heard the hours are horrible ntm the CPA Exam is brutal. It’s not that discouraging to me, just a big commitment that you don’t realize till it’s too late lol
Good luck. The CPA exam is tough. Quick tip. Start studying now, before you start working. You will have much less time when you start your job. Oh and I recommend taking FAR first, as its usually the hardest section for most people. Dont wanna leave it for last, fail it multiple times and lose credit. Buy access to the Wiley CPA test bank and start studying ASAP. The Wiley CPA books are very affordable too. Some like the really expensive test prep like Becker but I found it to be a waste of money personally. That said I quit and never passed it so I might not be the best person to get advice from.
Currently work in B4 and trying to study while working. It’s not going great lol do them ASAP!
You gave good advice. Ninja for extra MCQ practice is another highly recommended thing.
Yeah, and ninja lectures are good to utilize time in the car
I've straight up told hiring managers that I value my personal time, and I am often camping or hiking out of the cell zone so I should be considered unreachable on my weekends, barring emergencies.
It weeded out a few companies who would not respect my time off, and despite making the job hunt a bit tougher I think I ended up the better out of it.
I've had a few dates ruined because of off duty stuff before. I got to where the sound of the company BlackBerry buzzing would instantly make me nauseous.
The part that always got me is there was no compensation for all the off hours nonsense. I remember years ago an old boss gave me the you need to be available/answer emails off hours speech. I said sure I’ll just need a cell phone and a data plan as well comp time or flex hours as compensation. He balked two weeks later I had a new iPhone and agreement that anything after 7pm or weekends that I had to stop and do meaningful work I would be compensated for.
Just automate everything and give everyone a living income. Best solution out there.
I think in the future that will happen, but we aren't there yet. We're probably a generation or two away from that happening if I had to guess.
Can I honestly ask what you think is preventing it now?
There's still too much work that can't be fully automated yet.
Like?
Build a house, drive a bus(although close), write software, repair a car, do a surgery and on and on...the list is still long.
Like others said, because there are way too many jobs that can't yet be automated on a large scale. Or that aren't cost efficient yet to automate. Examples: construction, plumbling, accounting, sales, mechanic work, surgeons, postal service, dentistry, elderly care, road work, construction, water/wastewater treatment, electricians, ect. ect. I could go on.
Most any job that requires even a small portion of creative thought can't be automated because machines can't think outside the box or adapt very well to unique, new or changing situations. And that describes most jobs. We need significant advances in AI before this can happen.
Well yeah, but that requires empathy, so it'll never happen
So right
The thing about that is it's your labor that gives money it's value. If money were just something that is handed out to everyone for free what value does it have? It'd almost be like telling everyone they can go dig up dirt and use it as money.
Don't bother with this guy. This is all a bullshit kafkatrap to lead you into agreeing with communism. Happens every time.
An honest question, were you born into wealth or did you earn it? Please answer me either way, this is a judgment Free zone.
Neither one.... Raised by a single working class mom and now I work a 10.50/hr job while I'm in school. Why do you think I'm wealthy?
Was there an actual reason for accountants to have to be reachable no matter what? Or did the higher ups just do it fuck with employees?
At an accounting firm you have lots of clients and deadlines to manage between different audit team members. Not to mention travel plans and such. It was a brutal grind during busy season especially.
My boss calls me after work for random stupid shit all the time, mainly lost paperwork (that she lost), etc. I would totally just ignore her, but I know co workers who did who eventually she worked to have fired. Be on her good side or you'll be gone. I hate my job.
My place has it so if you get called for something work-related, you automatically get one hour paid. (we’re hourly obviously) Weekend calls are an hour of overtime.
Honestly, if it isn't a very serious matter, it can get shoved up where the sun don't shine
I occasionally check my work email over the weekend, but I don’t do any work (except in the most extreme of circumstances); found a project breaking issue? I’ll make a note to look into it first thing Monday.
I understand emergencies, so does my department. I get the occasional call and I don't mind answering because it's usually an actual emergency. I get emails 24/7 and that's also okay because if you're emailing me at 9pm on a Sunday night you must not need a response until Monday
I had this culture at my very first job, so I normalized it.
At my second job I told them they could call me if they needed me and they went all "We don't do that here" meme on me.
I'd be OK with being paid on-call hours in advance at extended rates. If that doesn't happen, then mysteriously my phone doesn't get a signal anywhere outside of office hours.
When I was an hourly HR manager for the Home Depot my store manager would literally call me when he knew I was in the middle of a university class to ask me how to solve an issue that easily could’ve been solved days later with no issues.
Either that, or they should pay extra for me being available 24/7
Yeah the only reason why I would be ok with my current boss calling me after work hours is that she never does, so if she did I'd assume it was for something big.
I used to run the warehouse for a company that sold wholesale to other businesses. I took some vacation time. About 10am of the first day I had off I get a call from my boss. He absolutely tears into me because I had not called the office "to check in". That was the first sign things were not as they should be at that business. I didnt stay there any longer than I had to.
I'm OK being contacted in deep off hours like once or twice a year.
Otherwise, I'm available during the hours that we discussed and are written into my employment agreement/contract/job description.
If you want me to start working (including 'just a quick reply') when I'm with my family, when I'm camping, when I'm playing video games, then I'm going to demand that I start being paid hourly, and I will log every event of off-hours work like thi.
That shouldn't be acceptable.
It shouldn't be socially, and it is illegal in some parts of the world.
America's useless legislature just can't keep up with these things.
This was something I struggled with, growing up with email and phones pretty much readily available.
I tell people now “my business hours are from 8am to 6pm, unless it’s a dire emergency I won’t respond outside those hours or on weekends.” It has honestly been so freeing. No one is entitled to my time except me. Sure, people hate that attitude, but I refuse to live the rest of my life with one arm chained to work.
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Luckily we live in an age when you can get something like that done in 20 minutes and mailed to you in 2 days. Gratz and good luck!
I saw an email signature that said “my working hours may not be your working hours. Please do not feel obligated to reply outside of your work schedule”.
Or a chain e-mail. If everyone sends it to ten friends....
I'll forward it. But only from 8 to 6.
Ha, the company I work for MAKES T-shirts, posters, and stickers and I'm still getting weekend messages from my boss all the time. Fuckin hell, dude, we make T-shirts. It is NOT an important job. It can wait until Monday. Or how about 8am at least? I don't need my phone going off at 5am because you're worried about a project.
covers house in little stickers saying “No one is entitled to my time except me,”all of which have some cute rainbow/unicorn design on them.
Nah dude, this need to be tatted on everyone's forehead, so that nobody ever forgets it
I can already see myself learning design to make this real.
Are mousepads still a thing?
Yes. Even the best mouse does not work on glass table.
Try r/debateanarchy or r/anarchy101
Im14andthisisdeep
Fuck yeah. Thinking of doing the same. I'm a physical therapist and my company is big about emailing and shit all weekend. They bitch if you don't check them or respond. I hate it. I want my weekend for myself damn it. I already work like 50 hours a week. Leave me the fuck alone on the weekend.
What happens if you just stop answering them on weekends? Maybe conspire with a few coworkers you trust to do the same.
Probably ruining the chances of promotion, becomes an outcast at work, receives extremely dull responsibilities until he quits.
There is a reason all jobs do team building events and wants you all to "feel like a family". That way you are betraying your family if you say enough is enough and demands to only work your actual hours.
America sounds grim...
It's happening in the UK as well, I turned down a job at a big company because they started trying to get me involved with their "social" life.
Took one look at the Facebook page with a bunch of pictures of people giving up their free time to hang out with their work-friends and decided it wasn't for me. I have no issue getting along with people from work, but that doesn't mean I want to spend my weekends with them.
I'm in the UK too, I hate that whole work family shit.
I'm there to do my job and go home.
Don't get me wrong, I like who I work for now, but I have a mercenary approach to work.
I got fired from one place for not paying or going to the Christmas party.
Even the other staff looked at me like I was the asshole.
I got fired from one place for not paying or going to the Christmas party.
That's ridiculous. I'm happy to go to a company meal but there is exactly zero chance I'd reach into my pocket to do it. I'd rather leave early while everyone else goes to lunch.
Like you said, mercenary approach, I'm there to do a job for the specified amount of time. I get along with my colleagues well enough but I've got friends outside of work who I've known for years, I'd rather spend time with them than try and force a friendship with people where the only common interest is that we work in the same building.
That doesn't necessarily sound like work out of hours though, just a way overly enthusiastic attempt at friendly work culture. I'm in the UK too, and my work phone and laptop don't get turned in until I'm in the office, or when working from home.
I live and work in Sweden. The idea to get your employees to feel responsibility towards eachother probably exists all over the world.
It's a lot easier to make people sell themself short because they have some idea of responsibility towards other people, than to get people to work for free just because you say so.
It probably exists all over the world but since this is reddit, fuck USA right?
Because every company is run the exact way in every industry. Grow up.
I’m an OT, tired of that bs too. Even if you can claim one day for yourself, super worth it.
Ummm sure but what about my stock values?
Sort of similar but I trained and worked as EMT for a while. My family and friends started to get used to me being a medical figure ready to help them in case of an emergency. But it got to the point where they would get upset if they couldn’t reach me by phone or took me a while to respond. “What would we do if we had a medical emergency and needed your help?!” Uhm... call 911 maybe?
My new boss just asked me to do a load of non essential work over the weekend. I just dead panned "well no, obviously I won't be doing that." he spluttered well of course buddy we're on the same page there.
I swear a second ago we weren't even reading the same book but ok. I saw my colleagues next week all bitching about losing their weekends. Nancy regan was right just say no lol
Has pranks gone to far?!
Ha not a prank! You don't even need to be as blunt as me. Just say you were camping with no phone signal. Use your imagination
Hahah, some things in life are simple, should you react just the right way
Good on you!
I tell my staff the only time they are required to check and respond to emails is when they're in the office. It blows my mind how many of them willingly respond to emails 24/7.
That's just it. My last three jobs did not require my attention on my days off, but I still felt the need to check my email and stay on top of things. Shame on me if anything.
Agreed. It's a shame culture is driving it at this point. I used to feel like I had to also, but finally deleting the app from my phone felt like such a weight was lifted.
And now, two years later, there has not been a single email that couldn't wait until I was in the office.
deleting the app from my phone
Honestly, this is the best solution altogether.
As a middle ground and if someone uses Gmail app on its Android phone there is an app called "Quiet for Gmail" that disables and reenables the synch settings of individual accounts according to a shedule you input
If I can judge your entire personality from those two sentences, you'd be the kind of boss I'd answer emails out-of-hours for. I had one, years ago, who really had my back. He'd support us right to the wall. If he needed an answer that I could supply off the top of my head, you very I'd do it, knowing that he wouldn't abuse that, and that he'd return the favour in case I needed to step away from the office or something.
He was replaced by a manager who (among other things) demanded that the team not go for lunch together, even though there was backup at another site and we'd frequently shown that we would return early if something came up. For him, the phones were turned off as soon as we walked out the door.
Essentially, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Try to forcibly extend that, you get the minimum.
I like this a lot. Still professional, but placing yourself first. I've had managers get upset I didn't return their calls on my day off often enough, which motivated me to return their calls even less after that. I give 100% every shift but that doesn't make me your sacrificial lamb.
I actually got the idea of setting hours through government work. I did an internship at a VA hospital and I was actually unable to link my email to my phone, so my work hours were actually concrete and non-negotiable. It was so nice to leave and leave all my work behind. Really made me realize that it is usually completely unnecessary to contact me on my days off.
Really made me realize that it is usually completely unnecessary to contact me on my days off.
This, people take work way too seriously. If you absolutely need to be able to contact someone while they're out of the office, the question you should be asking is "Why the fuck is there nobody else here that can do this, what the fuck were management thinking?".
Joke about "management thinking" being an oxymoron here.
Great outlook. I struggled with this with a previous supervisor. Have you had any blowback from your stance?
People get mad, yeah. But I usually politely explain where the policy came from. I interned at a VA hospital and was unable to link my email address to my phone. I was responsible for patient care. The only way they could contact me was through my personal number, which they didn’t have. And the world most certainly kept turning and no one complained about my lack of availability. So if a hospital can function without me overnight, so can most everyone else.
Definitely shuts people up and give them some perspective.
They hate the attitude when it inconveniences them but guarantee they’ll use it for themselves no problem.
Sure, people hate that attitude,
They hate it because you're not doing all their work for free! People always want something for nothing, especially employers.
I saw one contract say the salary was based off 40 hrs a week but overtime might be a thing. That seems standard but they eventually ran a competition to see which team could put in the most overtime in a month. I didn't participate, a few of my team members worked overtime normally (don't understand those people) and one guy worked 60 hour weeks for 4 weeks straight to rush through a new project. They modified the rules three weeks in so you had to have a minimum of 45 hours a week to qualify for the prize money (but you still drug the rest of your team down, of course).
I enjoyed leaving that job without notice.
Well played
For the last couple months I’ve gotten into the habit of keeping my phone on do not disturb any time I’m not on a job site or waiting for a specific call. I’ve got it set so a few people set as favorites can get through still, and a couple others know that if it’s important they can call twice back to back and itll go through, but beyond those select few exceptions I can be contacted via text message, voicemail, or e-mail which I will check and follow up on in a reasonable timeframe, but most importantly at my own leisure and not the beckoning of a chiming and shaking in my pocket and on my wrist.
Wish I would have started doing it this way ages ago now.
10 hours a day? Hope you're taking a 2 hour lunch each day where you also don't answer any emails. Don't give them an inch.
Or are working 4 days
I work in a hospital, gotta have some wiggle room for the patients’ sake. Or else I’d probably be a strict 9-5 type.
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IMO, two acceptable options:
You're only on call for some fraction of the time; there are enough workers in place that it's reasonably split up --> you're actively getting paid for being on-call.
You're getting paid 4h of overtime for fielding it.
Totally agreed. Exception being: if you expect me to be accessible after 5pm, I expect you to be flexible with me being inaccessible between 2-4, for example. There are things I like to do outside of work, and if you need me outside traditional hours, I'll do my personal things during traditional hours.
This sparks joy.
I keep that rule too and would rather stay back an hour at work rather than be on call overnight. It is acknowledged that I stick fast by this rule so no one expects my response outside of work hours.
Shine on you crazy diamond! They don't like it, you so t need those people in your life!
The people that don't like that they can bug you any time they feel like are entitled assholes. If the situation was reversed, they are usually the same assholes that will tell you to fuck off.
This is great in concept. But the truth in a lot of workplaces, once it comes time for pay increases, you're at the bottom of the list for "not being dedicated enough."
Not all workplaces are like that. But many are.
This is the first weekend in a long time where I put my foot down and didn’t respond to any emails on purpose. It was nice to veg out and not do it, but there’s this underlying anxiety about it still... Hoping that’ll go away if I keep it up.
hell, i was once given a company phone which i did not want and made my voice heard on the subject. They gave it to me anyway...turns out, i never answered past my work hours. Hell, i could have been 5 minutes out and i would not answer it, that phone was for business hours only but they thought they could call me back in for whatever stupid thing the manager remembered he wanted. Still kept it for 3 years
Hey, for us socialists in Europe you're still working overtime since 8am to 6 pm is a 10 hour workday...
Which should be 8hs for all if you poor Americans ;)
I work in a hospital, so I try to extend some curtesy for the good of my patients.
That's why you charge people for your time. Companies do it, they pay you for your time and work. If someone else wants your time, charge em, they'll stop asking or calling if you send them a bill.
I kind of have a problem with this too though. If you post these definitive business hours people will spaz out if you aren’t available during those hours. God forbid you have a doctors appointment. I actually don’t mind being available “after hours.” But my thing is: don’t expect me to be in the office during what are generally considered “office hours” if I’m available all the time. I may be at the doctor, at home, or at the damn beach if I want at 11 am on a Tuesday. You don’t get to dictate where I go. But don’t worry, I’ll check my phone and email semi-periodically throughout the day.
Imagine that, but you work nights. I'm 6 pm until 6 am, three nights a week. In order to function, I sleep the same hours every day of the week; approx. 8:30 am until 4:30 pm. Every day. I very rarely see the noon-day sun. Sounds strange, but I can't flip my sleep schedule, so I live like this.
Never mind businesses; try making my friends and family understand that I will not, ever be answering texts or calls during 'normal' daytime. I have no option but to turn my phone notifications to silent.
Genuine question. I share a computer with someone else (education budget cuts. Hooray.) so I often bring it home on the weekends to get my to do list done while not competing for time on the computer. I frequently send out emails about things that I encounter on the weekends, but fully don’t expect a reply until the week days. Does receiving emails on the weekends bother you, or just the attitude that happens if you don’t reply?
If it seems to bother people to even receive them I will save them as drafts and try to remember to send them Monday. Problem is, I have a really poor memory so I try to act on things as soon as I’m thinking Of it
Receiving emails without the expectation of an immediate reply is absolutely fine my dude. I can’t stop anyone from emailing me and sometimes you need to do something before you forget. It’s more the attitude that someone is entitled to a response when they want it that bothers me.
I have my "email hours" on my signature. I also have colleagues with an auto-reply that outlines it. Manage those expectations.
my business hours are from 8am to 6pm
That's still actually pretty long... My policy is 8 hours a day, with an hour for lunch (where I would theoretically work through lunch if necessary) so 9 hours. That's roughly 8-5 and my shift technical ends at 4:30
you people live in a bubble you got no free tine and your to blinded to see what really sets you free
No one is entitled to my time except me.
True right up until you have kids...
Ummm your boss is entitled to your time.
Are you some kind of communist who thinks business is bad!?!? You should be thanking your boss for giving you endless amounts of work and stealing your personal time from you.
Wait you grew up with email and phones and you have business hours already? How old are you?
Maybe it is just me, but I have found this has resulted in insane flexibility. I can get in late, leave early, work remotely. I have a global team, so Asia in the mornings, North America in the evenings. I work from home 2x a week to enable this. Some days I'm in early, some days I stay late. As long as my work is done my boss doesn't care; I have earned his trust and respect. This is all only possible due to remote connectiveness. It doesn't cost me a lot to check emails here and there.
Tangential to this, the increased attitude that if it's not handled immediately, it's an emergency. I'm all for customer service and efficiency, but not everything must be resolved this second. I've seen coworkers and customers escalate things to management, claiming it's urgent/an emergency, because they weren't done in 24 hours, on something I know took 3-5 Weeks, without issue, just a few years ago. The root need /import didn't change - you don't have to have it right now - but because the speed of business has provided that convenience, we increasingly behave as if everything is a priority.
Yes, the pressure is so bullshit. In my last just I used to get demands from a boss, who got it from sales, who got it from a client, who got it from one of their colleagues. Everyone along the chain adds a level of urgency to the request.
Sometimes you'd find out by asking a client directly and finding out they don't even care when it's done. Sometimes I'd completely forget to do "urgent" work and no one would even bring it up for another month, or sometimes not at all
Think I need to take a page from this very piece of advice I have forgotten. I'm in this exact situation right now.
People often mistake now with a timeframe, and because of that up urgency for no reason.
I was working at a place once and one of our clients kept getting really annoyed & frustrated with my boss. The problem was, whenever she raised n issue or enhancement the boss would tell her “we’ll get right on that” or “we’re working on that now”. She would ring back sometimes hourly to check whether the job was done getting more & more frustrated.
I took over the communication with her. At first when I asked when she needed something she would say “right away”. I would let her know the timeframe of the job (e.g. that will take us 3 days so you will have it by Thursday), which had decent contingency if things went wrong & scheduled for correct job opening, etc. After I delivered on my promise a few times, the when do you need it conversation became much easier, she would give us proper deadlines (I need it by Thurs next week for x sale). We only got a “now” when it was obviously urgent (whole system problem).
My attitude on this has changed over time. I may have someone shouting about something being an issue, but now if it's going to be something that will make me table my current work to do it, there's just an insistence on a call with the affected party to understand their side.
9/10 times they either have misunderstood something or are fine with waiting/workaround.
It's like a twisted game of telephone.
Colleague tells there boss "the it would be cool if this happened."
Boss tells sales rep "We'd like for this to happen."
Sales rep tells manager "They'd like for this to happen NOW"
Manager tells employee responsible for doing said thing "This MUST happen RIGHT NOW, OR ELSE"
Sales rep tells manager "They'd like for this to happen NOW"
This is so true it hurts.
I work with some of the richest people in Canada. Even if they say urgent just take a step back “When did you need this done by”. This is a great way to gauge urgency “I need this right now because X is happening” versus “I need this now”
Once you have a sense of their urgency just set a timeframe that you feel fits their willingness to wait. “I understand you want X now. I can do it for 2 weeks from now and I’ll send you an update next Friday”
Ughhh I can't stand this. My customers will be working on a project that isn't going to bid for 6 months but they need answers from me in 3 days. If they don't give me a firm date I tell them when I'll get it done and then hit that date. If they have some kind of hard deadline and they're under a lot of pressure I'll do what I can to help them out but sometimes I feel like everyone thinks everyone else is just sitting by the phone bored and waiting for a call.
I really wish I could email this comment to several of my clients. I'm getting very tired of everyone expecting immediate results. Guess what, when 45 people send in 3 tasks each, someone's gonna have to wait! Get in line, Karen!
I tell all my customers the same thing, if everyone gets priority service then no one actually gets it
When I worked for the power company and people asked to get bumped up the waiting list I'd say "sure, we'll just do a three way call with the person who has that slot and you can explain why you need it, if they agree then no problem". Pushback always stopped after that.
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Just stop responding right away. Eventually people understand that you value your own time.
Unless your contract specifies that you should be avaliable (but then you should be paid accordingly, and be able to bill the hours with overtime fees) you can either just ignore to respond or get a second SIM so you can turn off the work SIM. I've done that and it works great.
Last time my boss tried to call me on a saturday, she didn't get through. On monday she asked me if my phone was "turned off" the whole weekend and I simply responded "no, that number isn't active when I'm off work".
"But there was an issue with a customer, and we needed some opinions from you""No, it was a saturday. My opinions will be the same on monday morning regarding the matter. It can wait. If not, you can pay the me the on-call add to my salary for the whole weekend".
Haven't been bugged during weekends or during vacations since and the overtime/on-call I have worked has been discussed and planned ahead.
I work in the potato business. Potatoes, like other fresh produce, can get rejected by the receiver.
My boss was telling us about a time where he use to treat everything like the world was ending. One day was particularly rough. Big order, mad buyer, rejected potatoes. He was done. Drained from that interaction. He went home amd asked his wife how her day was. She works in the ICU and told him how she revived a boy 3 times.
He said that stopped him in his tracks. He was all stressed and drained because the potatoes got rejected but here's his wife bringing a kid back to life repeatedly. He says he now treats the days with urgency but recognizes that someone's life isn't at risk because potatoes weren't delivered on time or rejected. All about that perspective.
I’m a hairdresser and most of my clients have the privilege of having my personal cell number so they can text/call for appointments. I cannot tell you how many times a client will call my cell once, and then turn around and IMMEDIATELY call my salon (I’m talking immediate, less than 5 minutes) and say they can’t get ahold of me and want to make an appointment. Somehow it’s always the same people that do this and who never get it through their head that I schedule my own books and that being a nuisance doesn’t get them in any quicker, and that I also don’t live my life waiting with baited breath for their phone call/text. When I’m with a client I am with them 100%, phone calls and texts can wait. When I’m in class, my phone is off. When I’m with my family, spending time with them is more important. I would never dream of bothering someone outside of normal business hours, i fucking hate this new emergency culture. People need to relearn the meaning of patience.
Wait, you're complaining for work/life balance but give out your personal cellphone to people for work related reasons then get upset when said people call your number that you gave them for said work?
Thats enough Reddit for me
Why shouldn't they be upset? Because they gave their clients their personal number it doesn't mean the clients are entitled service the second they want it.
They literally gave the number away to others to call them. It is not like your boss calling you on your day off requesting you to come in. The person provided the number and invited people to feel free to call to reach her. You're right, people arent entitled to the person's time but complaining about work/life balance if you literally use your personal cellphone as a mean to communicate with your customers doesnt make sense to me honestly. Yeah, immediately calling the salon is annoying but the can of worms was opened willingly tho
If I give you my address doesn't means that you can show up on my door any time you want.
Not only this but, usually people booking into salons more often than not have an occasion, such as a wedding, bridal shower, christening, etc. They want to ensure they're booked in and everything is set and planned for their event. If you don't like people trying to ensure that they get your business close your salon? Cause it seems like you're just spitting your dummy out about the fact your salon is busy.
Seems weird that you're sorta slagging off the people who put money in your pocket and make your business successful.
Nope that isn’t what I’m upset about at all. People that book weddings and the like plan for months in advance and I coordinate with other coworkers usually (we are all independent contractors) to make sure it goes smoothly and include a free dry run. What I get upset about, and what some of you can’t seem to grasp, is I shouldn’t be expected to text someone back at 6am on a Sunday morning (or at 11pm on a work night!) about a haircut, and people shouldn’t be texting me at that time in the first place. In what universe is that ok? And don’t get pissy with me when I’m in the middle of something with a client. when you’re in my chair you get 100% from me, that extends to each one of my clients. I don’t stop what I’m doing and take time away from the person I am with to schedule someone else. They can wait half an hour. I really don’t think I’m being unreasonable but in this age of veruca salts “I want it now!” apparently it’s too much to ask.
Again you just sound like youre moaning about a problem you've caused. People see you as a business, thus they'll send a text or call whenever they feel like it as businesses are usually contactable all hours of the day you just may not get a response straight away.
Perhaps have something called a work phone and mobile number? That way you can switch it off when you don't want to be bothered with work related queries.
Thank you!!! That’s exactly what I’m saying.
Nope, not what I’m complaining about at all. I get annoyed when people call me and let’s say I’m in the shower and miss the call. Then someone from my salon texts me (while I’m still in the shower!) because that person is now calling the salon, usually something along the lines of “I’ve been trying to get ahold of her and she won’t call me back.” You don’t see how that can be annoying? I haven’t even had the opportunity to call them back yet. Also, these are usually the people that call or text me at inappropriate hours: I’ve been bothered at 6am and earlier and past 10 at night. How is that ok? If it’s some kind of emergency I get people in ALWAYS ASAP, but people that are planning weddings and things like that plan in advance, like 6 months in advance. I’ve never had anything happen where it was like a Wednesday and they were getting married on Saturday and needed their hair done. But plenty of people wait til the last minute and start blowing my phone up for a simple haircut, let’s say while I’m in the middle of doing a foil on someone and I don’t have the time to answer the phone (and I’m concentrating on what I’m doing and giving 100% attention to the client in my chair). Then they are bent out of shape because it took me an hour to get back to them and “OMG I NEED my hair cut can you get me in tomorrow??” Like no, you know I book out for weeks but I’ll come in early on Saturday for you. Poor planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on mine, though I try to bend over backwards for my clients. THATS what really annoys me, that a little respect and common courtesy doesn’t get extended to me. I have a life too, I shouldn’t be expected to text someone back about a HAIR CUT at 6 in the morning, sorry not sorry.
When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority?
I always make friends with the service desk by being honest about priority. "Ï need it by the end of the week, and anything earlier is a bonus."
When you do this consistently, you tend to also get better service on your 'highy priority, please do immediately' requests than the people who try to have everything fixed right away.
I have a client organization that has a culture that is really intense about this. If I don't respond to an email pretty much instantaneously, they call my desk. If I don't answer my desk phone, they call my cell.
It's maddening to get out of a 90 minute meeting to discover the same person has sent two emails, left two voicemails, and sometimes reached out to a secondary contact in my company with a note saying they can't get a hold of me. 🤦
Their requests are certainly important, but they aren't life and death, and a few hours in one direction or another with my response isn't going to be enormously consequential for anything...
I have EXTREME anxiety because of this shit. I've worked fur several companies in call centers, and they constantly push to get shut done NOW even if it's unimportant or had a work around.
Your comment reminds me of this Calvin and Hobbes comic from 1995. Watterson really nailed that idea even back in the (end of) last century.
I work at an agency and we're always in emergency mode. We already have fast turnarounds but you'd think someone was literally dying if we don't get reports or proofs to clients ASAP. It's really turned me off from looking at working at agencies in the future.
In my line of work:
99% of Escalations received are from clients who want their requests looked into immediately and upon reviewing them, we've determined that the clients are fucking impatient and should just go to hell already. It's annoying that upper management demands that we still treat it with such urgency, which makes the situation worse because clients then discover that they can just escalate shit when they're impatient, meaning that they essentially skip the line.
1% of Escalations received (Although the percentage is probably a lot less than 1%) are for legit issues that require resolution. In this case, an entire building was out of service. However upper management turns a blind eye on this, which then makes me look bad at my clients.
This is my biggest thing. Work is work. Personal life is personal life. I don't bring my home life problems into work, damn sure work shouldn't invade my home life.
There are very few industries or roles for which "on-call" is a true need for workers not at their desks. And even then, it should only be for designated times. No one should ever be on call all day every day except for maybe the President.
In my line of work I am "on call" on a schedule.
My on call rate is double time and a half paid by the customer. It is all made very clear to customers that disturbing employees outside of normal company times is perfectly acceptable however the cost attached to it can be pretty steep.
We have found that it weeds out a lot of impatience vs. true emergency calls.
Also I don't mind making the extra bank when a true emergency does come up, mainly because I get paid a two hour minimum even if the problem is solved over the phone in my underwear before I even leave the house.
Yeah. I have the same. You get an automated message saying this will be charged at 100+ am hour and requires manager approval. Press 1 to continue or phone back during business hours.
Most people realise that the font on their email doesn't justify waking you up at 3am.
This is about the only way I find “on call” acceptable for people who aren’t doctors or emergency workers.
It can be fulfilling other than the money too sometimes.
I was once called out at 4 am, diagnosed an issue, went into work and packed up the parts, and scheduled a private currier. This took me about three hours.
My service was pretty expensive if I recall, but the company had a piece of equipment down that made them 250k aa shift and it was back up and running in 5 hours. They were extremely happy with our service.
So worse conditions are acceptable for doctors? Just bcz they are doctors? Genuine question here. We have a big debate going on about this in our country, so asking your opinion
I think doctors and other emergency workers are an exception yes. You never know when they will be needed for life saving work. So to some extent they’re always on call. But the vast majority of their time should be on scheduled call or actually at work. They definitely deserve time off without risk of being called. But again occasionally there may be some significant emergency that requires their attention during off time. But I’m not talking monthly, more like every couple years.
Oh that makes sense. Even once every three months they can work any emergency off call. What we see irl so far from this. Very far infact
Once you reach a certain position in the company or in government, it's expected of you to be available. Those people switch off 100% during vacation.
Doesn’t make it right. Again hardly anyone actually needs to be that available.
Or if you are technically 100% available, you should be contacted only in the most dire of circumstances when a half-dozen or more failsafes have fallen through, and you have some knowledge of what to do for the crisis of the moment - like the overall manager of the Help Desk I work at.
Example: I work on a help desk that is split between two locations. One early Sunday morning the building I'm working in has no network connectivity. Even though we aren't getting many calls it still meant that 1/2 - 2/3 of the available staff was down. That will cause issues as we're staffed relative to the call volumes.
I can't reach out to the first point of contact as for some reason their phone number couldn't be dialed in to because of the network issues, and this meant the location that was working was completely unaware that my location was down, aside from maybe realizing there's a significantly higher call queue than 7am on Sunday should normally have.
I then proceed to reach out to my manager. Thankfully, she was available and able to help co-ordinate things until connectivity was restored and we were working normally. Had she not been available, I would have tried the five other people at her level until I would have reached out to the overall manager of the Help Desk in the slim chance I would have gone 0-6.
I completely relate. I’m in IT. I hate that I’m chained to my phone. You get calls and emails for things that are not an emergency at all, but you have to treat them as such since someone important at the company threw a tantrum and complained. The whole idea that you have a life outside of work is lost on some employers
Love your comment. +1
I work for a federal government and it’s the same once you reach a certain level. I decided a few years ago to only make lateral career moves from now on hovering juuuuuust below that level. Still great pay, no 24/7 access to my brain. People keep asking me about applying for more senior positions and I’m like, nah I’m good.
The GS13s & 14s I work with literally never take their gov cell phones home, unless they’re “teleworking” for the day.
Man I’d love to have a GS position.
I work retail, not even a 9-5 office job! But my manager likes to call me almost every day and nickel and dime me on hours. Can I come in an hour or two early today, can I leave late tomorrow, can I work 12-6 instead of 3-9 on Tuesday, can I come in on my day off?
Nine times out of ten it's because she ran over her hours so she has to adjust our hours to fix her mistakes, or she scheduled herself alone for more than 3 hours and needs a half-hour break and a snack. Once she called me in early and then as soon as I got there she picked up 3 to-go entrees from Red Lobster and drove home to eat with her boyfriend. Well, actually, Red Lobster is in the same shopping plaza, so she got one of the servers to bring it down to her.
It benefits me because I'm getting more hours, but I don't appreciate this last minute shit almost every goddamn day. I'm not answering calls from the store phone anymore, if one of my coworkers (who I like) need me, they can and will text me instead.
TBH, that's kinda astonishing.
It's not like the hours you are scheduling yourself to work are a surprise; how does one manage to routinely get that wrong?
I just quit a job like this. We had a manager at a unit which made enough money to float all the other units... and this idiot could. Not. Write. A. Schedule. Every single week we'd have shifts with no manager or supervisor on duty for hours at a time. Super frustrating. He was buddies with the GM so he wasn't going anywhere.
My company does the same thing. I work in a 24/7 lab that's being a real nazi on overtime so several supervisors harass the fuck out of their workers to make sure they dont go over. Then there are supervisors who routinely fuck around with how we get tests done and call people in early or late to try and alter the routines.
Its fucking dumb. I'm just glad I have a supervisor who gives no fucks.
She's used to being salary at previous jobs so she could come and go as she pleased. Now she is hourly and she has to stick to a schedule since payroll only allows so many hours to be given. She routinely clocks out at least an hour later than scheduled. Her "solution" is to then leave early on another day, coincidentally when she is scheduled by herself and has to actually work and deal with customers instead of sitting in the back on her phone.
I had a manager like that. At least she usually left me alone on my days off, but not always. But almost every day that I came in after her she'd text to ask if I could come in an hour or two early for her. And then she'd complain that she wasn't getting enough hours whenever I saw her.
Especially annoying if you’re just an hourly employee. Leave me the fuck alone or at least pay me to be your bitch!
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Yeah? Who’s going to make them?
Generally, the Dept of Labor (US).
They are supposed to. The job I just left, my boss would always SAY "oh we never expect you to work off the clock." But at the same time expected immediate responses to texts or calls. It was an hourly position but the people wanting to make a couple bucks more an hour would eagerly respond to off the clock texts... so those of us that didn't looked terrible.
I got fired from a office gig because I refused to attend a company function off the clock. Good fucking riddance to that place.
I have a company phone and personal phone at 5pm the company phone gets switched off and at 8:30 it gets switched back on.
Good. I read that Mercedes actually now require their employees to do just that so that they are rested the next day and can have time to let thoughts simmer on the backburner for a while. Lead to new ideas and happier and therefore more motivated employees.
It is actually the law in Germany, but to Mercedes credit they did it before it became law.
Yeah, the expectation to be available and reachable 24/7 is pretty common now even at the lower levels. Also work at an ad agency and just recently deleted work email off my phone, I’ve caught quite a bit of flak for it- but damn is it liberating.
I'm a teacher and I did the same. I tell the parents that I check my mail in the morning at school, so not to expect an answer immediately. I tell myself that if it's important I'll need to talk to the principal anyway, which I cannot do from home. Or it isn't that urgent so it can wait until the next day.
But with the instant delivery of e-mail I also got the notifications for them at weird hours. You look at your phone because you wake up randomly at 3 a.m. and there is a mail from Mrs. Fiddlebums complaining about where her son is sitting in class , which she wrote at 1 a.m. Bitch, don't you sleep? I don't want to see that in the middle of the night or before my first coffee.
Classic Fiddlebums
I too refuse to take work home, since working for a telecoms company that had me staying sober on a Saturday night in case I got a work call and realizing that was bullshit.
No work emails on my personal phone, work phone off outside business hours. If I need to work late, I stay in the office - but that's reasonably rare, since I work hard and use my time well. I've been at three employers since, and I've realized that there's nothing they can do about it.
I did the same with Slack. People used to ping me on the weekends, and I'd feel obligated to check, even if my notifications were off.
This is why the French introduced the "right to disconnect" - http://fortune.com/2017/01/01/french-right-to-disconnect-law/
It's not just in France, most EU countries implemented a law like this.
Not only that, some work colleagues will say you're "underperforming" if you're not up to the task of keeping your e-mail bugging you on your cellphone 24/7. I'm sure some positions have that caveat, but those are usually either specialists/managers, or they are on a watch (i'm not sure if that's how it's spelled) on some specific days of the week.
So, if it isn't on the contract... try your best and don't answer. Stand your ground. I've went through some of it too, but i've shown them i'm not available after work, but during working hours, i'm focused and i do deliver, instead of leaving things for the next day.
Stand your ground.
Exactly. People will come to expect what you get them used to expect. We got a new manager a couple of years ago. He emailed me on a day that I was out sick. The next morning as I'm waking in at 8 he asks: Did you locate them? and I was like: Did I locate...... and he says The hostnames, for those computers. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I played dumb. And he says "Oh, It's just that I emailed you yesterday so I figured, you would respond to that email when you had a chance". And with a straight face I said: "Oh, I'm sorry Brice. There's no.... "chance". I was out sick yesterday.". He keeps staring at me as if what I just said wasn't explanation enough. So I followed with. "I basically spend the day under the effect of heavy painkillers. Asleep. But let me settle in and I'll check my email and take care of it". Never again after that, did this guy email me on a day I was out of the office. He simply emailed someone else who could answer his question or if he emailed me he politely prefaced it with "When you get back to the office please .....".
To this day, he's still giving me glowing reviews every year. I take care of my stuff and he knows it. Set boundaries people.
This should be much higher than it is. People don't realize how crushing this kind of environment can be. I'm still in grad school but it's still extremely prevalent. Breaks and weekends aren't those things anymore. They're just blocks of time that you use to catch up rather than actual enjoy life. This idea that idle time/time to yourself is detrimental is such a dangerous school of thought. It's no wonder our mental health as a collective society is as bad as it is
To be fair, I'm fairly certain academia has never been confined to certain hours. Those types tend to want to live the life of the mind 24/7.
It's the fact that time taken to take care of yourself is seen as a bad thing. This isn't healthy
This really speaks to me. I feel so guilty whenever I take time to play a video game or watch TV. There’s always this thought in my head that I’m just wasting time and should be working on something more important.
chill, you'll be dead in less time that you imagine, and productivity won't matter no more lol
I understand the repercussions. I do take time to relax, but I feel stressed out during this time so it kind of defeats the purpose.
This kind of has to do with me pursing a passion outside of my job. So I work a standard 40 hours a week, and I want to give as much time as possible outside of those 40 hours to work on my passion. It’s very difficult though when I have other responsibilities and relationships that take up my time.
Well, pursuing your passion is a good thing, but if it becomes stressful your passion may fade, which is a bad thing :P
Try making your passion also your source of relaxation would be my pretentious piece of advice. But don't listen to me, I'm a nobody. Listen to your passion. Again, don't listen to that piece of advice lol
Very true. I’d hate to lose love for my passion because it does give me a tremendous amount of joy, but it’s still stressful at times. I’m actually in therapy right now to get help with this issue, so there is a solution out there :)
keep it up
Preach!
It obviously comes down to many factors like your role, how in demand your job is, your experience, ect, but my workplace has been shifting this way and I told them firmly that unless they're buying and paying for my phone, I'm not using it for work communications after business hours.
I don't understand it, I work with people who pride themselves for jumping on a request Sunday afternoon and taking care of it. I sure hope they aren't trying to impress me, they're a bunch of fucking losers and nothing they've ever "championed" (I hate when they say that) over a weekend couldn't have waited until Monday morning when I finally see their flurry of URGENT emails and red exclamation points for laughably insignificant client requests.
I think most people jump for clients because their employers put so much focus on customer satisfaction. If they make it look like they offer immediate service, the employers think the clients will have more favorable reviews. A lot of clients will say they’re okay with waiting, but then will complain online that they had to wait. It’s kind of a crappy situation as an employee. You have to give up personal time so you don’t get pummeled on yelp or google
I can see that definitely being the case in certain businesses, but I personally work for an internal media agency for a large corporation. Our "clients" are company employees that work in other departments or regions in the company and the company as a whole operates on a standard 9-5 model.
I would think that if you're expected to be available 24/7, you'd be told that up front. For me it's just been slowly but surely taking it on themselves to set up meetings at 10 pm and work over weekends when it's really not necessary.
I 'checked out' of my career path because of this and went into cleaning houses for about 6 months. I couldn't take it anymore. Being constantly "on", even when I was "off", never having a vacation, never feeling as though I could relax. I couldn't bear it. So I quit and started cleaning homes. Sure it's menial and hard work. But I leave work every day at 4 and no one calls, bothers or emails me. I'm Done. Now, due to money, I have to go back into the "real world" and already I'm so stressed I can't bear it and I haven't even found a job yet :( . If I could find a way to make enough money to live as a Maid, I'd never leave this damn job. Ever.
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Yeah, but try dating and telling someone, I'm a maid, I clean houses for a living. I make about $11 an hour. Hahahaha.... they immediately 'check out' of the conversation. Doesn't matter why you did it, or if you're Happier, or if you have plenty of time off.... Which I can't enjoy because now I don't have enough money for my weekends off. I haven't hit whitewater all spring Or bought any books or signed up for any extra classes (whitewater kayaking and continuing ed are expensive hobbies). So I've had to learn that it's a trade off. If I want to enjoy my time off doing the things I love, I have to have money to do those things. To have money to do those things, I have to be stressed and almost never be unplugged or have time off. If I want a social life, I have to have a job that is, at the least, something I can support myself doing because men today won't date a woman who can't support herself. The days of the chivalrous male who lets 'his woman' quit her job and stay home are long gone--you want to be considered viable relationship material, you'd better make at least 50K a year, and have the ambition to make more. Pretty Woman is a fantasy and maid is on par with prostitute in most people's minds--both are uneducated 'low lifes' with no future who probably can't get a job doing anything else. So all the high minded, noble ideals aside..... life is what it is. Big shrug.
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I'm not ashamed of what I do. Other people are ashamed For me (LOL). But your input was great and I appreciate it and the attempt at support. You're a nice person, which is rare. Thank you :)
I get paid more working the warehouse at a big box store than I did working in an office at an insurance company. Job titles don't pay bills, paychecks do.
Look into cleaning at a rest home (you know with the elderly). It is similar work to cleaning houses, and you work on a roster with set hours. It's not for everyone but if cleaning houses worked for you then maybe look into it.
My job won't let me work from home even though 100% of my tasks can be done from my computer and phone (my supervisor also works in another state).
So, by that logic I refuse to even ponder work the moment I step out of the office.
My rationale is that if they do not let me work from home, then I shouldn't!
It's a good paying job, but it's boring as hell, and the office politics are worse than high school.
Not only start-ups. I worked for a corporation where a couple of us worked non-stop. A colleague was on a trip to Holland and he had to work all night because some project or campaign was launching in the morning and he had to set everything up.
My boss openly told me he knew I could give 200% and that’s why he asks for 300%
They were shocked when i quit without finding a new job. :)
Now i work for a small IT company where only after work availability required is for meetups, dinners and drinks during which work talk is strictly prohibited. Group emails after work are mostly informal joking and memes.
We meet once a month in central office since we work on different locations and theow parties (food, drinks and playstation tournaments)
I need to work at this place!
Get a union and some federal regulations. As a truck driver, they cant legally break my rest period for the first 8 hours. If they do, another 8 hours can pass if I feel like being a dick
I'm so grateful to my company when it comes to this.
When I started I was an eager beaver and would want to be seen to be working hard, so if clients emailed on the weekend I'd reply, or "what the heck it's something that takes 5 minutes to do".
My superiors told me they want to 'train' clients out of the idea that we're there for them 24/7, our working days/hours are stated in contracts, unless it's an emergency, in which case they can call someone rather than sending an email, and if they send an email over the weekend, they just have to wait until office hours are back open.
It makes such a difference!
Worked for 2 different marketing agencies that operated this way. At first you think it’s so cool you get a company issued phone and laptop until you realize your under full supervision when a superior on the west coast calls you at 9pm and asks you to make edits to billing documents and then re-submit them all to the finance department. The one agency I worked for even asked that you do a full documentation of your hours and what you were doing each specific hour of the day since there wasn’t really any set hours. I never got paid enough to deal with that level of nonsense and I don’t think I ever would have. I’ve since moved on to a new career field, making more money and am much more happy. Maybe I’m just a baby, but I couldn’t handle the non-existent structure
This. My old work put in a rule about having five minutes to return phone or emails any time of day. Vacations? Same thing. People got chewed out for not having their work laptop with them at all times - even if they were off on beaches or on rides at Disney World.
There's a lot of overtime being worked that companies are pretending doesn't exist.
How that can be legal?
The magic of American work laws regarding "exempt" employees. And the fact that our politicians all get elected through the money companies shovel their way. So they're not going to have any interest in cutting off the cash flow from companies pulling that sort of stuff.
I notice this too. Unless work is paying for my phone I would not have my email or be reachable outside of office hours
Holy shit I used to work at a sandwich shop where the manager had us all in a group chat and would text everyone on staff if one of us messed up, nearly everyday. It was so annoying especially if I had, especifically requested a day off, to have my phone constantly blown up over the smallest things with her claiming she could fire us all at the flick of a wrist. I found it extremely unprofessional to bug us off the clock about any indiscretion.
I currently work at a sandwich shop, and am also in an annoying work group chat that goes off everyday. It took me the longest time to join that group chat specifically because I didn’t want to be bothered by it all the time, only for my manager to constantly badger me about it until I gave in. Hate work group chats with a passion.
Mute those notifications!
I didn't even have a choice. I was put in on my very first day. The only nice part was that she would text us all our schedules once a week. Whenever I have friends talk about "oh my works group chat" I just can't believe that it's common at so many places.
Came here to say basically this. I miss the feeling of freedom I used to have from being relatively unavailable and disconnected most of the time.
I am guilty of emailing someone at odd hours but I don't expect to hear from them until their business hours. I didn't even know people checked their business emails before or after work or off days. Who does that?
I hear you should never answer business emails off work hours or else people will now be expecting you to respond on your none work days.
This!!! I totally agree and have seen my parents go through this. My boyfriend and I were just talking about how different school is/must be these days though and I thought that what I had to say was similar to what you’re saying...
I’m currently in college and so may professors teach using PowerPoint which they upload to the internet so students can access the lecture & notes at all times. No more rushing to write down every word the prof. says during class or worrying about missing something...only learning the things the professor has time to get to during class....I always have access to all of the information I need. As helpful as that is, class goes by very fast since 1) so much information can be stored in even just one PowerPoint slide and 2) there’s no need to wait for kids to write things down or anything. So much information is passed on to us in just one sitting, let alone the whole semester, making me feel like kids today are getting oodles of info during a class session that you couldn’t get pre-internet. It’s overwhelming but maybe I’m wrong!
Professors today can make assignments due at any time of day or night, any day of the week, even on weekends and breaks sometimes. If they’ve given enough time for us to get the assignment done and all that, we really have no excuse not to have it to them on non class days either. I don’t think that’s fair. ESPECIALLY when things are due on weekends or over breaks. When I’m on break, I’m not doing school. I think assignments should only be due on the days and times that the class is being held.
I mean, was school like that before the internet? Did professors give you all the notes you’d need ahead of time and/or make assignments due on non class days/times, weekends, or during school breaks? Or did the internet do this to college?
It’s overwhelming but maybe I’m wrong!
Nope, I think you are correct. It also doesn't help that we have an additional 30 or so years of reasearch and development in these fields that our parents didn't have and 50 or 60 that our grandparents didn't have.
When my Grandpa went through medical school, the structure of DNA was a recent discovery, when my mom went through medical school cancer was still very much a death sentence and HIV was still a big ugly unknown. Its insane the amount of knowledge we have added to these fields since our grandparents or parents went to school. Not only do we have to learn everything they learned, we need to learn everything that everyone else learned in the last few decades.
Most professionals will tailor their after-degree learning during career to their specific area of emphasis, decreasing the total amount of information they need to know. Spread that information out over a few decades as it slowly trickles in and suddenly that information isn't too hard to absorb. But students have to learn all that in 4 years and still need to keep up on top of latests advancements in their intended fields.
I refuse to look at slack outside of work hours, if some one really needs me for something real, they can call me on the phone
I remember when I got emails for meetings in 2009 at 11am for meetings at 3. I wouldn’t show because I checked my email in the morning and didn’t have a smart phone. Eventually I found a way to forward my emails from Dave to SMS. But fuck Dave for calling last minute meetings so often and fuck him for assuming everyone had a smart phone or a blackberry.
This. I’m leaving one company for another because the former has too much of this in it’s culture. It totally comes from texting/emails on phones.
I was about to say hello former coworker. But then it occurred to me that ALL agencies are probably like this.
Yeah, I make it clear that I don’t answer work emails on the weekend. I’ve typed up responses, but I always send them out at 9AM Monday.
In every job I have had I refuse a work phone if offered. Half of them I have been and half I haven’t. I give them my personal cell and say you can contact me in an emergency however when I am off, I am off. Do not expect an answer from me without 2 hours of overtime minimum including emails. I do out of office on all leave or time off for email. Then I don’t respond to much email to begin with and prefer the phone. Email is a trap. Working late or off hours is also a trap. Be clear. If they can’t deal and let you go, peace out—I got good skills and I’ll find something else or start my own gig.
For me back when I was working a job that would call frequently on my weekends off I would just always tell them I can't come in I've been drinking. I didn't care what time it was I'd rather them think I'm drinking at 8am then have to listen to someone either try to guilt trip me into going in or trying to threaten me in with something stupid to go in.
Work culture 100 but also social. I find it so exhausting to have to be available to my friends all the time because they can see I’m online on other apps. I don’t want to have to reply to all my messages instantly. But on the other hand, people are also less concerned with making a commitment to plans, because they can see all the other 100s of things happening on the same day and they’d rather not fully commit in favour of something else that might pop up.
This. I recently was promoted to supervisor at a company I work for and I really miss being an agent sometimes where nobody reached out to me on my off days. Now I have to juggle my boss texting me asking various questions. I keep my phone glued to me whether I want to or not :(
This is just one of those things you gotta ask in the interview. I do on call over the weekend but I get Monday off for it. I essentially get a 3 day weekend so I don't mind it. But there's no way I'd take a job where I'm expected to be on call 24/7 unless I'm in a high level position and getting paid big bucks for it.
Immediately leave any job that makes you do this where you aren't in sales or it is a very occasional emergency due to an unforeseen issue that is directly YOUR fault. Otherwise, it can wait until Monday.
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I left my last job because of similar circumstances. It took 6 months to find a new one while I was working. You aren't working at gunpoint.
Based on the downvotes, perhaps you are working at gunpoint? It's your life. Get whatever job you want to try and get. The only way to get a job once you have a job is to work your interviews outside of working hours or take PTO to go interview. It takes months, but is worth it if you're miserable at your current job. Good luck.
Not getting = Not your job. Simple.
I literally got a bunch of texts and calls from work when I was at my grandpa’s wake. There’s just no shut off for that communication unless the phone turns off and even then people can be angry you didn’t get back to them. Weekends and wakes are my time, good grief.
with companies vying to have worldwide internet access, this will get worse
Let me preface this by saying I love my job. However, it is somewhat like this. I travel for work and can be across the country for weeks at a time. My "weekends" never feel like a weekend because technically I'm still at work. We do a good job of balancing it though and when we are home we don't go to the office. We have a very good work hard play hard mentality.
I worked at a start up and had a simple policy of only being contactable by my work phone. Which I would leave in the office over night and on Sundays.
So true. I used to work in an industry where that was the expectation, and you were scolded for not being able to make it in if you were called at all random hours.
I've now moved to a job at a University where I walk out the door at closing time and don't have to think about work until I come back at open. It really frees up so much time. I also study at the same Uni, so I use my weekday evenings to study then my weekends are completely mine. Balance is SO important.
My country just outlawed that, but even before it was outlawed the bigger companies like Siemens, Mercedes, VW, Bosch and others locked e-mails and phones from the server side when the employee was off work.
On the one hand, I understand that I’m technically reachable all the time. On the other hand, I’m hourly so I’m not getting paid to respond at 2 am when my boss has decided he wants ideas for some event.
I kind of wish I’d been in the workforce before all of this because it’s really frustrating to wake up from a nap to find 30 unread messages in a group chat that I was apparently supposed to participate in.
I’ve turned off the email notifications on my phone recently and I only check them on my computer 3 times during the working day. The reduction in stress levels has been amazing. Now my phone doesn’t ping every few minutes (WhatsApp notifications turned off as well). If something is actually urgent they can call me. Now I can focus on a task in work without the distraction of other requests.
Nah. Phone goes on DND @ 7 and comes off at 8.
Exactly. Unless you're on the whitelist nothing gets through between 5PM & 5 AM. And my pager never comes inside the house. Email gets checked @ 7:50.
There's an on-call service for a reason.
That's a long time to play Dungeons and Dragons but I hope your phone has fun
Do Not Disturb
This sounds so unbelirvably recognisable...
It affected military life in much the same way. It used to be you'd have morning formation, be given instructions about where to go and what to do for the day, and given a time and place for close of business or end of day formation. Now, you have morning formation, get a short brief of instructions and told to keep your phones handy for the next block of instructions. FYI-depending on your rank and duty assignment, many enlisted people are not issued a phone, you're expected to pay for your own.
I am working at an ad agency, and got a text message on Saturday, 8pm if I'd care to come in on Sunday. Hell no.
Ohmygod where is the lie???? I work in an Advertising Agency and there's no such thing as a Vacation or Sick Leave. Everyday, no matter where you are, no matter what time, work is always there.
And to build on what you said, fucken turn around time for digital ads. Clients are always like let's stay relevant, let's trendjack this and trendjack that! Mygod don't you guys have lives outside of work???
My uncle works for Sony and this is one of the expectations of his job. He took a few days off for a family reunion but was on his phone constantly answering work emails, texts, and calls. He gets a huge salary but i wonder if it’s worth it since he can’t enjoy any time off since he really doesn’t have any.
Because of that expectation to be online and responsive all the time, at any cost, I personally got burn out. I don't think that it's a new trend, rather than an excuse to work more while you get paid less. It's more money for the companies, while the managers claim that you do an exceptional job and you are the best employee. Manipulation at its finest.
My previous assistant manager got their promotion "delayed" because they took vacation and were still responsible for the store, even though my manager was there during the week. The responsibility somehow fell to him for them disliking some things in the store. During time off. What's the point of vacation if you have to stress over the work?
Outside of the US many countries have laws to limit or to curtail this sort of behavior.
I've gotten texts at 2am from customers. I purposely don't check that until I'm back at the office. Not like I can help you away from my work computer anyway...
I work in IT and the problem is with most peoples attitudes, myself included. I would leave Skype on and answer questions way past my work hours.
That lead to our AMs contacting us at 1am (time difference) with "emergencies". 99.99% of them can wait multiple days. After that we basically told them that if the production is not down we ain't moving after our work hours.
Its almost like we do it to ourselves a bit as well. At my last job, I had emails on my personal phone and would remote on to do easy tasks when at home sometimes.
I realised this wasnt healthy so in my new job I had make it clear to everyone that when ai leave the office, dont expect to hear from me or get a response. I have no access to work systems from my personal device and my work phone gets switched off and placed with my work shoes until the next morning.
I felt this work for the first time last night as I went to set up some meetings from bed and I couldnt.
Iv had no pushback from the higherups as I think they know it wouldnt end well.
i work at a hospital. you're expected to be reachable 24/7 and due to all the rules and regs and P&P and CEs you're expected to spend considerable off-duty off-clock time keeping up with it all for not really enough money when you ARE on-clock. (shrug) on the other hand, i get to help save lives. There's always a trade-off...
The French regulated that. I guess the rest of the world should follow.
YES, THIS! I had a field service tech job where they gave me a brand new latest model iPhone when I started, and at first i thought this is pretty cool. Then I realized I hated iPhones and it was just a way for them to be able to contact me at ANY FUCKING TIME THEY WANTED. So glad I don't work there anymore I was averaging like 70+ hours a week there and I think I was on the low side of average. Those people do nothing but work.
I was this coffee guy at a department store (about 7 cafes), I’d go around calibrating coffee machines, training staff, Audits, development guides for Baristas. I really enjoyed my job and even more when I realised staff do not get access to my personal phone. This place didn’t provide me a mobile work phone.
Everyone was asking for my phone number and I told them “I don’t give away my personal number, but you could contact this cafe to see if I am there.” The confused look on their face was great. They all used their personal phones at work for work... but they didn’t roam around like I did for work and they had phones for the cafe. The head management had mobile work phones... but didn’t provide me one. This oversight by head management gave me freedom from that instant contact whenever they wanted or needed it. I just waited until they gave me a phone, which they never did. Work was so chill and under my own control. I did feel bad that some cafes didn’t get that immediate attention when needed... but some cafes just abused it and i felt like i was losing control of my daily goals and or just becoming a filler for sick Baristas.
I feel like my job literally never ends. I’m in the mental health field so emergencies are expected but I agree, things are extremely out of control. The weekend staff literally call me every few hours and my boss sends me emails constantly. Two weeks ago on Saturday boss emails saying “how was Friday”. She clearly is expecting me to answer, right? I decided not to bc, well first, it was a Saturday, and second, nothing happened- I would have told her if it did. So Monday comes around and she shows up at my building first thing (it’s a 2 hour drive for her). She wants to know what happened and why wasn’t she contacted back. I tell her she wasted her gas- Friday was fine. She’s pissed. Oh well, fuck being on-call!
Why not just turn it all off, saying they can't legally force you to be on call after your work is done?
Worked in cellular sales. Its mandatory to respond to some things even if you're off. Its always having to be checking your work email or work apps. If you wish to move up within the company not only are you doing those things but you must participate in other silly group chats by sending gifs and pictures and staying on top of it. Its really really out of hand,work is not your family or friends(unless of course you work for your family)
They sell it as a bonus as well under "flexible" or "home based working"
Is this an American thing? I have never had this happen nor do I know anyone who ever has. In fact I don’t think most of my previous jobs have had emails that you can easily access from home, they’re internal outlook systems.
Once in my life I’ve been asked to come into work outside my working hours to access a folder that I had permissions on but the evening staff didn’t, and it was fine as I was 10 minutes down the road.
If they want you on call 24/7, they'd better be paying you commensurately.
It was like that at my last place. Fuck them.
A lot of people I work with abide by it. I refuse to get my email on my phone and you best believe if get a call it's going unanswered.
I've started noticing that some people will put in their out of office email that they will be unreachable by phone. I'm sure it's just so they can take an actual day off.
We could call this crazy idea a "work life balance" or something similar...
I took a job at 911 to get away from that. That's what it took. Shit that burns down when I'm off is not my problem. And it is less stressful than my corporate job was.
This is so stupid, especially since everybody expects you to be reachable just because you got a smartphone. So if they call for extra shifts or something you are almost afraid of your phone. But that stuff is all about your mind tbh. You really need to learn to say no in those situation. Mails from work? F*** it, work is over? A call? Sorry, I am busy with something else right now, I do not NEED to answer those calls. And so on. It's hard but it is basically just that you have the power over the amount of work that could eat up your personal free time. But of course such a mindset could make promotions harder to achieve and stuff...
Completely true. Infact, some people just mail when they're home now to show how much invested they are; that they even work when not in office. I think that's ridiculous!
I essentially work retail and am constantly being called and texted on my days off, and most of the time that's after a six day work week. Needless to say I agree and share the same frustration.
I worked for a dog groomer who expected this. I wasnt even a groomer. Just a retail associate. They would send out group messages every.single.day. and expect us to reply. Text me on my day off to ask about clients and shit. Ill never do that again.
Boss: Your voicemail is full. You don't answer calls, text, Facebook Messenger, or reply in the Facebook group. You've never set up your work email. You won't give me a reason when you can't come in when there is a call out. I really need you to be a team player for this pharmacy.
Me: Wow, you make it sound like I don't want to be bothered during my personal time.
*I am absolutely not vital to my job. I'm just a body that shows up and does the same thing everyone else does. There is no reason I should be getting calls or text every day.
At my work I am expected to answer phone calls and emails on my time off. Although if I do answer I automatically get an extra 3 hours pay or 3 hours of banked time to take off paid. Same with emails, if they are urgent and work related.
I just think of all the customers expectations at work. They are leaving feedback about phone queue time being too long at 10 minutes for a company with 1.6 million customers (pretty large in little Norway). Meanwhile my own personal ISP has a waiting time of 50 minutes. I would love to tell my customers about my experience there when they compøain, but cant do that due to policy.
Work life balance is dead. We are at the point of work life integration. There's still some balance to be had of course, but managing that integration is how we move forward rather than being nostalgic for the way things used to be.
Saturday Morning Cartoons. As I get older, I realize the ritual of a thing is just as important as the actual thing itself. It's not just about the cartoons. Watching them as an adult, many of the cartoons from the 80's and early 90's we're terrible. Rather it was the "event" of Saturday Morning Cartoons that I miss.
My daughters can watch whatever they want whenever they want to watch it. They don't know what it is like to have to wait for a week for a new episode. They usually just binge their shows whenever they want. If my kids want to spend the entire weekend watching My Little Pony, they can. And they can to it the week after, too. They don't know what it is like to miss an episode of Power Rangers because it was now scheduled at 7am instead of 6:30 and I had to leave for school.
They also don't have to watch TV together. They can just watch whatever on their phones or tablets or on the TV in the living room. NOTHING (except my wife and I) stop them from consuming the specific entertainment that they want.
EDIT: A stray period was bugging me.
Saturday Morning Cartoons.
As someone, who grew up in the '70s and '80s, you said it. I was always up before cartoons came on, at 7:00. There was some kind of animal show on at 6am, then at 6:30, In the News came on. At 7am, the Superfriends came on, when that was over, I changed over to ABC to watch Scooby Doo.
Saturday morning cartoons were great! You couldn't see them any other day of the week. If you missed them, you had to wait a whole week before it was back on. Same thing with the holiday specials. If you missed it, you had to wait an entire year before you could see it again. No VCRs or anything to record it, you just had to wait. The Halloween cartoons were the ones I liked the most. It just wasn't Halloween unless you saw It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Man, I miss those days.
Don't forget Kung Fu theater. Late Saturday morning to early afternoon.
And Creature Double Feature
Elvira and her TV show with the old horror flicks. Great stuff.
We had "Moona Lisa"... Like a lower budget Elvira before Elvira appeared on the scene.
She would emerge from a misty crater and start with "Hello Earthlings" and finish with "Happy hallucinations!"
Elvira did something to me.
I knew somebody from the Boston area was going to come up with that. Just as good as Creature Double Feature was the ads for it during the week; SATURDAY ON THE CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE IT'S A DOUBLE DOSE OF RODAN. FIRST AT ONE IT'S TERROR FROM OUT OF THE SKY WITH, "RODAN." THEN AT 3 THE TERROR CONTINUES WITH "RODAN RETURNS."
Creature Feature was my favorite thing, ever. I discovered Godzilla, Harryhausen and other crazy stuff because of that show.
Yes! WLVI Channel 56, Boston. So many kaiju movies.
Yep, it came on about 1 pm, here. When I was in junior high, my friend and I would watch it just about every Saturday. It was an especially good day, if they showed a real Bruce Lee movie, instead of the imitators, like "Bruce Li". I liked those, too, but they weren't Bruce Lee.
I seriously miss saturday mornings with godzilla marathons. Hell, just looking forward to a channel doing a movie marathon. Monstervision with Joebob Briggs comes to mind.
Joe Bob’s still doing movie marathons on holidays for Shudder, if you weren’t aware.
I've heard rumors but I really don't want to pay for Shudder
Or how about the A-Team, Airwolf, Battlestar Galactica...
Calling all Jan Michael Vincents!
In a world where there's eight Jan Michael Vincents...
It was Soul Train for us after the Saturday morning cartoons. That was when we’d go get our dad up so he could take us to the pool.
With 55 cents for a banana split that we had to share 3 ways at dairy queen where mom would pick us up at 5.
We walked a mile down a road with no sidewalks (and often with no shoes) from the city pool to the DQ on the other end of town.
The 60s and 70s were sometimes awesome like that.
Soul Train was such a disappointment
In my town when cartoons were over at noon, it was roller derby and pro wrestling.
I was all about WWF back then. Most of those greats are gone now, but will never be forgotten.
We knew it was staged and all the friendships, rivalries, shocking twists and miraculous comebacks were just convoluted plotlines - but me and my kid sister watched it religiously back in the day.
This was in the era of Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior and Macho Man Randy Savage. Flamboyant wrestling best wrestling.
Memphis?
I grew up near Baltimore. Roller derby used to be huge in this area, but it died out in the mid 70's.
You still have charm city roller girls!
Skinny Minny Miller. I'm going WAY back w the roller derby.
Ahhh yes as you got older you over slept the cartoons because you stayed up late to watch Friday Night Videos.
Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner....then Soul Train and American Bandstand to end the morning.
Rocky & Bullwinkle with the always droll narration of Edward Everett Horton.
Yes! That was Sunday afternoons here on some of the local TV stations. That’s after a morning of Wrestling at the Chase, Battle of the Planets and Speed Racer re-runs.
We also had Three Stooges and Son of Svengoolie. Good times.
I think Son of Svengoolie is still on!
Was Svengoolie regional or national? Sometime in the early 80's he took over for Creature Double Feature in the Boston area. Decent, but not CDF.
I think he started in Chicago, but now he's broadcast nationally on a channel called MeTV. It's one of those channels that shows nothing but reruns, but his show is on Saturday nights at 8 or 9 (but that's west coast time - maybe it comes on later on the east coast?)
I grew up in Clearwater, Florida and our show was called Creature Feature as well. The host was Dr. Paul Bearer. Is that the one you had in Boston?
(Editing this to add that I'm pretty sure Svengoolie's shows are new and not reruns.)
There wasn't really a host until 1984 when it became Son of Svengoolie. The funniest thing, in my entire life I've sat thru an entire Creature Double Feature maybe 3 times. Most of the movies were forgettable or even painful to watch.
From 72 to 84, Channel 56 in Boston was "The Kids Choice. Starting at 3 with The Banana Splits followed by 2 hours of cartoons-Casper, Yogi Bear, the Flinstones. A couple times an hour, every hour was promotions for the Creature Double Feature. I think the ads during the week may have been more memorable than the actual show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creature_Double_Feature
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m--ayWTBWi0
Haha, that's awesome! I was also a fan of the Banana Splits and also mostly remember our Creature Feature from the intros and promos, which also aired on Saturday afternoons after the morning cartoon block wrapped.
I don't think I would have watched it unless they were showing an old Godzilla movie, which I loved back then, but I remember getting scared by the end of some vampire movie they ran and feeling kind of unsettled for the rest of the day, even though it was sunny out and I was playing with my friends
I also thought the host was creepy, but now I think he's just a lovable old codger with goofy puns. Dr. Paul Bearer and his horror-ble old movies.
Well, and he's not "Son of" anymore. The original Svengoolie told Koz he was all grown up now and could drop the Son part =)
Our little Sven is all growds up!
I was positive I could hold my own against a hive of Chinese henchman by Sunday evening.
I live in the Far East now and would be lying if I said King Fu Theater didn’t play a small but important role in that
The three stooges every Sunday night was my favorite tv of the week for years.
And the godzilla and classic monster movies
and creature feature.
We had Black Belt Theater on network TV in NYC in the 80 for your Shaw Bros./Golden Harvest fix, even the occasional movie theater would play them on Saturday afternoons. As a kid fascinated with martial arts/fight sports Soul Train marked the end of Saturday morning cartoons but gave me an hour outside before Kung Fu movies with my older brother if nothing was going on outside. Now I’ve torrented all my favorites, both cartoon and Kung Fu flicks alike...and it’s way less gratifying.
Locally we had the Abbot and Costello showing on Sundays too. And a couple of times a year we got Monster Week, a week of Godzilla at 4pm!!!
Forget Kung Fu Theater? You dishonor me and my master. Prepare to taste the steel of my blade.
Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.
It was similar to that, except it was geared towards kids. My grandad and I used to watch Wild Kingdom when it would come on, either Saturday or Sunday evening.
Right. That was more if an evening show, right before Wonderful World of Disney. I also remember watching a safari show called Doktari or something.
Daktari and Clarence the cross-eyed lion! Used to watch that and Tarzan.
When I was a kid Bugs Bunny was the thing to watch on saturdays at 5 (I think that was when it was on). In any case, I'm hunkering down for my once weekly watch when one of the people visiting with my parents comes downstairs and says, Laurence Welk is on change the channel. So I said fuck you and punched them in the face (in my mind) and then changed the channel for them and left. It was quite possibly the worst day of my entire life (well up til that point). I'm still bitter.
I always hated missing Saturday morning cartoons because I was being dragged off to the worst store on Earth...the DIY/hardware store. It was like being sent to the gulag.
I would miss mine on occasion because my mother used to make me do rodeos on Saturdays every now and then. There is nothing on this earth I hate more than having to ride horses.
Now that I think about it that might have been what caused me to hate it.
Yeah those stores were pretty damned boring. What I would do is accidentally knock things over and make a nuisance of myself so that the parents would just leave me at home.
Better than being dragged to the Colortile store.
Either would've been sucky, for me. The fabric store was a close second.
Yeah, now I love going to Lowes or Home Depot, but as a kid, I would've loved to have seen Payless Lumber and Building Supply bulldozed flat.
Love your username, btw.
Thanks! Been using it since around 2000 or so. I made it, when I was on a retro website, called YesterdayLand.com. I still have several friends from there. Wish it was still around.
Mine would be /u/Robotron Dreaming ...
Man, you don't know how much I miss this site.
Thanks for the hook-up!
I would get ptsd if I ever came across a Builders Emporium.
I'm missing X-Men...to help you pick out some sprinkler heads?
Dad: "Gotta beat the crowd"
I gotta fast forward that part every time on Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.
I still remember waiting for Power Rangers but somebody's funeral was on TV. What an asshole.
Kids Rights NOW!!!!
I loved the Hanna-Barbera cartoons. My favorites were Hong Kong Phooey and Blue Falcon.
In second grade I had a Blue Falcon Lunch box. We were poor as shit so I was over the moon when my mom got it for me (My sister got a Little House on the Prairie lunch box).
One day after school I was being bullied by two bigger kids at the bus stop. That metal lunch box dished out some damage before the other kid took me down. I took a beating that day but the worst part is that the stomped my lunch box to shit. I had to brown bag it after that.
Two years ago I, a man in his mid 40s, replaced the lunchbox with one I found on EBAY. It cost me $75 and was the best money I have spent in recent memory.
Hong Kong Phooey and Blue Falcon and Dynomutt were some of my "must watch" cartoons. Did you ever watch Plastic Man and Fang Face?
Hell yes! Also good ones!
This story got me close to tears. Glad you got another one, even if it took a while.
Btw, check out this awesome music video, a great tribute to old school cartoons https://youtu.be/3zfBl3Hnopo
Or when The Wizard of Oz would be on network TV. I would look forward to it all day, get my popcorn and a blanket together. The excitement of knowing you were watching this movie with everyone all over the country.
Yeah, that was a once a year thing. I remember it being a pretty big deal. I know we watched it a couple of times, when I was a kid.
I remember my parents getting very excited every time it would come on, my dad would usually grill for the first half and sort of walk around in a giddy mood, my mom was always transfixed by that movie. She had a black and white tv as a kid and didn't know for years that the film switched to color (the definition of pre-internet ignorance is bliss). We bought an anniversary VHS at some point and all the magic was gone. It was just another old movie.
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer when Christmas came around. It was like you could feel the magic.
That and the Charlie Brown Christmas special. They really made the holiday season.
MEANwhiiile at the Hall of JUSTICE!
MEANwhile AT, the Hall of JUSTICE. FTFY.
There was some kind of animal show on at 6am
New Zoo Review
I live in Southern Missouri, and ours before cartoons was always some kindve weird farm report thing.
Go Mules!
No, it was a nature show. New Zoo Review came on weekdays, in the mornings, here.
I remember that the cartoons were over when American Bandstand came on. Eventually I got old enough to enjoy that, too.
They were over, for me, when I heard "Sooooooouulll Train...".
And don't forget Schoolhouse Rocks! Conjunction Junction. I'm Just a Bill. The Preamble. Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla!
Got the Schoolhouse Rock DVDs. They're pure nostalgia.
Cool. I'm jealous. I have the CDs but not DVDs. My CD set IS signed by Bob Dorough though. My mom knew him.
Today I learned that the musician of school house rocks lived and died less than 15 minutes away from me.
I'm sorry you never got to see him. He played at my mom's 70th bay party at the Deer Head Inn in Del Water Gap. He was quite the jazz musician in addition to his claim to fame.
Staying home from school and being up too early and all there was to watch was the New Zoo Review or The McLaughlin Group
Remember Dusty's Treehouse or Gigglesnort Hotel?
No, what area was that from? I’m in Pennsylvania
Think those shows were out of Chicago. I'm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but they were shown here.
My goodness, I had forgotten about those two.
My wife and I are both 80's kids. Been married 10 years this year and no kids yet. We watch Great Pumpkin every Halloween, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving every Thanksgiving, and A Charlie Brown Christmas every Christmas. We boxed a 3 dvd box set back when we were engaged or the first year of marriage and do this every year. A tradition I hope to pass on to my children someday. They are each very short and so endearing.
Man, I was born in 1990 and don't remember this much. But I do remember my parents waking me up at 5:30am on school days and watching Gilligan's Island and then occasionally Scooby Doo before school. On Saturdays it was always wake up at 8 or 9 and run across to the neighbor's house to watch whatever cartoons were on. I loved Tom and Jerry and Felix the cat. Loony toons were in. I loved Saturdays. It was the only day you got an excuse to watch TV until lunch time!!
Born in 1990 and you know who Felix the Cat is? I'm kinda impressed. Most people under 40 probably don't know who Felix, the Professor or Rock Bottom are.
Might be a military brat, I only had old school Star Trek, The Monkeys (yes that weird show centered around a weird band) and the Elephant Show before we moved back to the US in '91. Edit: I thought Felix the Cat was universal, I hated Tom and Jerry and Woody Woodpeckeresque shows and relished seeing Felix, he was as lovable as Bugs and Daffy but an oddball, an outlier.
I watched plenty of Star Trek and The Monkees.
I mean the reply above might be from a military kid, we are subjected to the best and worst while overseas when it comes to entertainment
In the News with Christopher Glenn was great. Also, the prime time preview show in the fall.
It hard to forget that sound, when In the News was coming on.
Same thing with the holiday specials. If you missed it, you had to wait an entire year before you could see it again
If it was Star Wars, you would be lucky to miss it and be fortunately unable to watch it ever again. But you wouldn't know it I guess.
Hell, that was true about the movies themselves for several years, unless you had the laserdisc version. It was an event when ABC showed Empire as its Friday Night Movie
I actually saw it, when it showed. Haven't seen the entire thing since.
Cartoon Network this past year didn't play Scary Godmother and part of me died inside.
Back in '95, Cartoon Network had The '70s Super Explosion. They showed cartoons that hadn't been seen since the early to mid 1970s. Cartoons I hadn't seen in 20 years. Now The '70s Super Explosion has been off the air for a longer time than some of the cartoons that were shown on it.
Sigh....
It just ~~wasn't~~ isn't Halloween unless you ~~saw~~ see It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
This is still a thing.
Yep, that's why I have the DVDs.
Yep. Where I grew up in Iowa in the late 70's and early 80's the stations still went off the air around midnight to 1am, and they didn't come back on until about 5 or so, and it was some stupid farm show (can't even remember what it was but it was a regular--non-fun--show about farming). Then after it was over the cartoons would start. Smurfs, Super Friends, Spidey and friends, etc etc.
You couldn't pry me from the floor in front of the tv on Saturday mornings until about 10:30 to 11 when the older people stuff came on.
The Farm Report, possibly?
Maybe. I want to say it had the word "Ag" in it.
if you missed it you had to wait an entire year to see it again.
Worst punishment I ever had. I missed all the 80's Christmas specials one year. I will remember it until the day I die.
I'll always be bummed that Saturday Morning Watchmen didn't get a full season.
Maybe that"s why we have become so apathetic as a society. There were so many events that we looked forward to that wasn't accessible, now the access is ridiculously easy and the event itself has been diminished.
I watched umbrella academy in like a few days and now I have to wait 2 years for new episodes. I've waited two years for the final season of game of thrones. I'm not even sure when Westworld is coming out. There has never been more quality content available, but that doesn't mean they have stopped making content. There is always going to be new episodes to look forward to.
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"Help Woodsy spread the word..."
Saturday morning cartoons were great!
Yes, those were the days. One of the local channels would also have a double create feature at noon. It was awesome.
Yep. When I was little, there was usually a Godzilla movie on, around noon. By the time I was in junior high, those had been replaced with Kung Fu movies. I do remember, when I was in 7th grade or so, they had a big promotion for Creature From the Black Lagoon. It was being shown in 3-D, and you could pick up a pair of those old red and blue glasses at 7-11 if you bought a Slurpee or something. I remember my mom took us to get our glasses so we could watch it, when it was shown. It seemed like a big deal, at the time. They had ads and previews, for it, for what seemed like a month.
Nowadays, a movie hits the theater and is gone before you even realize it existed. Also, there's no big advertising campaigns for a movie that's being shown "for the first time on network TV", any more. Remember when the big three networks had their Friday/Saturday/Sunday Night movie?
I love watching old commercials and bumpers from the 70s and 80s, on YouTube. Lots of stuff that's been almost forgotten.
Lol, one of the movies was usually a Godzilla back in the day (his son always weirded me out). Then there would be some Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Alfred Hitchcock, etc. I also remember Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Birds and The Blob. I still don't like seeing birds in large numbers. Along with the Kung Fu, there were also a ton of old westerns on weekends.
Yes, I remember the big 3 movie weekend/show thing back in the day. My parents still got the newspaper back then, it had the TV schedule. We planned our lives around it.
Yep, most people usually got the Sunday paper because it had the TV guide, for the week.
Do you get MeTV where you live? Svengoolie is on Saturdays at 7 CT. They show a classic, or just cheesy, horror film. Sven adds to the cheesy goodness as writer, "singer", and voice actor. It's just a lot of fun if you remember the Saturday night monster movies. My mom, who lives with us, and I watch it for shits and giggles.
Yep, we have MeTV. Of course, I have most of those old horror/monster/sci-fi movies on DVD, now.
My husband just discovered Svengoolie on MeTV. We’re in/grew up in the Dallas area. Never heard of him before. Can’t believe that guy has been playing THAT character for so long!
Isis and the Super Seven, Superfiends, Godzilla (the cartoon), Thundaar the Barbarian, The Herculoids, Space Ghost. Those were great mornings.
Thundaar the Barbarian, The Herculoids,
I actually ordered the DVDs of both of those shows, a few months ago. Also, I have all of these!
What was Ariel's deal? I mean, she was totally civilized. I remember she was like Jane to his Tarzan, but I don't remember why.
She was a princess as well as a sorceress and had a high level of education.
Godzilla (the cartoon)
... and Godzuki
"and Godzuuuuuuukiiiii..."
Yes! Loved this childhood routine. My brother and I had to compromise and watch together. We got the TV room to ourselves. We loved it.
Yeah, I hated when my step sister wanted to watch the Smurfs, when there was usually some cool action cartoon on another channel.
How long did this usually last? I was born in '91 and I watched cartoons with my dad on weekends. I was allowed to flip it to ABC for Recess but otherwise it was loony tunes or what have you (which I didn't mind they're awesome).
The 90s were when things started changing. We had C-band satellite, and cartoons were being shown more and more on certain stations. Sunday morning, Nickelodeon started showing their own cartoons. Doug, Rugrats and Ren and Stimpy and Rocko(a couple of years later). My friend and I used to get baked and watch all those cartoons. Then Cartoon Network came on the scene. I think by the late 90s, Saturday morning cartoons were pretty much on their way out. But don't quote me on that.
I remember it started to die down in the early 2000s. There was still a “1 Saturday Morning” block of cartoons on abc in the early 00s (“five hours of summer once a week!”). But once Nick and Disney started to have their own multiple channels at an affordable price the idea of needing one morning dedicated just to cartoons was unnecessary because you just needed cable or satellite to watch them all the time. There was a dip when my nephew was a child around 2006 or so.
I'm not sure if it's the same show but in the early 2000s they were still playing an animal show at roughly that time on Saturday mornings! I used to wake up super early for Saturday morning cartoons and a show about animals was an added bonus for waking up earlier than I needed to!
I'm in my 40s and I still sing some of the songs from Schoolhouse Rock
I miss my 90's shows! I miss waiting a whole week to watch The Tick, Eek The Cat!, Xmen, Spiderman, Sam and Max Freelance Police.
Spoon!
I've heard of an app called Plex where you can stream stuff you own on wifi and set up custome channels.
Can confirm. Just got and watched the entire Scooby Doo. Childhood did not come back. Old man (fill-in-a-name) always did it.
It's like I was Poirot and could see everything from beginning to end.
I have all of them, too. I enjoy most of the episodes. You can tell the animation quality was slipping on the last few episodes.
90's kid, but was stuck to 2 basic channels (cbs/nbc) for most of my childhood. Every saturday i was up at 6-7am because the first cartoon of the morning was a Megaman anime
5:30 am. KidBitz science show, at least locally. Noone except me seems to remember it.
I would get up early to watch TV on school days, now that was dedication!
Same here. We had Slam Bang Theater. They always showed The 3 Stooges, which my mom hated.
My once a week episode was macgyver as a kid, got me super excited.
I always really enjoyed The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, too. Vincent Price was great
It was so great that way...once a year you got to see Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka. Those movies were so special when I was a kid. And all the holiday stuff of course. I used to watch Looney Tunes on Sat mornings. Then something else I dont remember, and at noon, Bowling for Dollars came on and then it was time to help clean house.....
Me and my friends have Saturday morning video games now!
The Nee Zoo Review. Was that the animal show?
No, it was a live action nature documentary type show, for kids.
I remember watching The Wizard of Oz once a year. It was a big deal for me.
Nice! I remember on Sunday nights there would be Disney movies airing and I would record them on the VCR with a blank vcr tape. Sometimes, I had to sacrifice a movie I had already watched a bunch of times and record over it to get a new movie.
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Yep. They had two Grinch cartoons. One for Chriatmas and the other was shown at Halloween, I think.
I didn't even know this wasn't still a thing until an article came out saying the last kid's show on Saturday was canceled. Now Sat Morning is full of crap.
At least PBS kids is a thing and it's good. And the benefit of no commercials.
My Saturday cartoons ended the morning after Robert Kennedy was shot. My brother and I woke up to watch cartoons and saw the news report. I think our childhood ended then. We both realized the world was a dangerous place. We were in school when JFK was shot, but it didn’t have the same impact as when Robert was killed. We were too young. I also remember MLK assassination and asking my dad why was he murdered. Then came the Manson Murders. Confirming the world was a crazy, dangerous place.
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Scooby-Doo was and will always be the best.
I used to watch the test pattern waiting for the first cartoon of the day. The anticipation was like nothing else :)
Damn you just made me really sad and nostalgic. Some of my favorite holiday memories include watching all of the Charlie brown specials and Rudolph for Christmas. Reminded me of a time when things were happier and carefree. Thanks for making me sad. :(
Glad I could help!
I'm from the UK, so we didn't really get the Halloween shows, but I definitely miss the idea of seasonal TV.
When I was young the networks would unveil their best shows, movies and TV specials every Christmas. And we'd sit there as a family with a TV guide and mark out what we were going to watch over the holiday period.
Now movies seem to be on Blu-Ray as soon as they've finished the theater run, and on cable and streaming services not long after that.
I'm from the UK, so we didn't really get the Halloween shows
Oh, man, y'all missed out. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is probably my favorite Halloween show, followed by Charlie Brown and Mad Monster Party.
Some kind of animal show? I remember animals animals animals animals animals everywhere.
That came on Sunday, along with Big Blue Marble and Kid's Are People, Too.
I remember having to wait for the summer hoping to catch reruns of episodes I missed
Damn this one really hits home. I would never miss Saturday mornings cartoons for that reason and remember having to watch on ultra low volume otherwise my mom would come out to the living room to beat my ass for waking her up. Great times.
Speed Racer was the only weekday cartoon that was worth a shit. (Oh, and Johnny Quest.)
I loved both of those shows, as a kid. Still enjoy watching them, especially Jonny Quest.
Mmm.. I had a Garfield Halloween special I watched every year. It actually scared me a lot, but I still loved it. Then one day I just looked it up on my phone and watched it in 20 minutes, and the scariness wasn't even there.
Even just as someone who grew up in the 2000s, I miss it. I still can’t find half those shows. Didn’t know what channel. I think 11? Got up real early every Saturday for them.
Ditto. I wrapped up my Saturday morning with Soul Train. Good music, and everyone looked like they were having fun.
All the monster movies that came on the weekends. Godzilla, Gamera, etc. Best way to cap off the Saturday cartoons was with a mid afternoon monster film
Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow
That was creepy shit!
Sat Morn Cartoons. As a kid, getting up at 7 am was hard. but I did it!
Loved the godzilla and monster movies, Ultraman (and others) shows dubbed from japan. was a great time.
There was some kind of animal show on at 6am
Hahaha, the first thing that popped into my head was Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.
(And if anyone on here actually remembers that I’m gonna freak the hell out. )
I remember Lancelot Link. I didn't really watch it, unless I was at someone else's house and they had it on.
As a 90's kid, I noticed everything changed after 9/11. I was just looking forward to seeing my cartoons that weekend, nothing, just talking heads. Next weekend, same. They never came back, and I grew up. Terrorists ended my childhood early.
Reading this, I just had a flashback to watching Saturday morning cartoons. I lived in Miami Beach. I distinctly remember the not-yet-stifling morning heat and the smell of milk and fruit loops. Awesome memory. I wonder what will be the equivalent for my kiddo.
You just brought back so many great memories! I would wake up around 6:30am on Saturdays, grab my cereal and milk and bring it out to the living room and sit at the coffee table anxiously awaiting my favorite cartoons. I recently came across several Cartoon Classics on Amazon Prime which showcase the Warner Bros greats among others.
I also love the Rankin Bass stop motion style Christmas tales. Oh and let’s not forgot all of the Sid & Marty Krofft shows!
Rankin and Bass also did a great stop motion Halloween show; Mad Monster Party.
Used to watch a lot of Sid & Marty Krofft shows. Land of the Lost was my favorite.
I miss TGIF! Waiting a whole week for a new episode, planning your evening sleepovers around your favorite shows. The best!
Your post gave me anxiety. I would be lost if I only had one chance to watch a cartoon episode. Today's Cartoons often have overarching stories and specific, very important episodes.
Maybe it could have been manageable before I was an adult, but today I would have to quit watching my favorite shows altogether.
Also Sunday night Disney movies. Waiting for stupid Lawrence Walk to be over, then on to Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom and Disney! Also the yearly showing of Wizard of Oz was a huge evwnt at my house.
Wacky Races was my jam!
And The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Both of those shows were hilarious. They're still pretty funny, even today.
We're probably somewhat similar in age - the past 7 or so years I look up when The Great Pumpkin, and all of the Rankin Bass Christmas stuff, and Peanuts will be on, and block out that time to sit down with a bowl of popcorn and a coke just like I did when I was 5. Turn off the lights, and just feel it all. My partner just shakes her ehad and says "you're a giant kid" and I couldn't be happier.
90's kid here. I totally miss them, too!
Now you can watch those Halloween shows on YouTube but it’s not the same.
I now what you mean. Netflix or Amazon Video for example do this weekly thing with some of their series (Discovery and American Gods). It's so you keep your subscription and don't binge it right away, which sucks, but at least I can get excited for the weekend again. I also have the benefit of this allowing me to be spontaneous and meet friends instead of having to watch it then and there or else I miss it.
I see this as a massive improvement in general, but I too miss the anticipation of a fixed event. Being able to get everything when you want it gets old quickly, unless you create boundaries for yourself.
This. While I do miss Saturday morning cartoons, I also miss cheesy sitcoms that came on at a specific time. We don't have cable, so we've fallen into the binge it on Netflix or YouTube. There was a YouTube channel we both loved that realesed every Friday for a couple years. It was our Friday night "weekend is here" ritual.
I could be wrong here but I think here in Boston Jabberwocky cane on at 6 and captain Bob came on at 630.
I grew up a bit later, but I remember holiday specials airing multiple times. At least on Cartoon Network and Nick.
The Peanuts specials still remain a ritual in my family. While we try to catch as many as we can they dont matter as much as the "big 3" (The Great Pumpkin, Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas. There really shouldn't be a year without Linus ranting to Charlie Brown, Snoopy's annual lawn chair fight and the famous dance sequence. It just wouldn't be right.
And don't forget the Valentine's Day and Easter specials. Of course, they aren't as popular as the major holiday episodes.
Yeah, we enjoy them too but it wouldn't completely ruin a holiday if we miss them. We do however enjoy them. My family loves the running gag with Marcy not knowing how to make Easter eggs and the commentary on it being to early to have Christmas stuff out on Easter. The Valentine's day one is also great. The Puppet show is hilarious and my Dad is always quoting it by saying "here's one for Ol Tom!" We love them but we can go without.
If you missed it, you had to wait an entire year before you could see it again As a child in the 80's, this was the same for my all time favorite movie growing up, The Wizard of Oz. They would play the movie once a year during prime time, and it was a big deal to our family because it was my favorite. We very rarely ate out or order takeout. We were poor and my mom always cooked. But on Wizard of Oz night every year, we got pizza and I got to stay up to watch the whole movie. I remember looking forward to that night every year and getting so excited for it. Then as a teenager in the 90's we owned a VCR, and of course owned the movie on VHS. That in itself changed everything, but still enjoyed picking a night to watch it without commercials. Now with my own child he can watch whatever whenever. Even movies being shown on a certain station aren't special having DVR, record and watch it any time.
It just wasn't Halloween unless you saw It's the Great Pumpkin
Dude. I turned 7 again with that sentence, and we didn't even celebrate Halloween during that time (latinamerica caught up on anglo holidays in early 2000s, though cable tv showed "spooky" shows anyway).
MF DOOM and Talib Kweli have a great song that hits on that feeling, it's called Old School Rules. If you like hip hop at all, give it a listen.
Then the Creature Double Feature if you were in the Boston market.
Saturday Morning Cartoons
I still kinda hate my dad for interrupting this (on a regular basis).
"Don't worry about your show, it'll be on a rerun again"
A rerun? Of this specific episode? When I'm available to watch it? No it won't dad. I know it's petty and dumb but man childhood feels are permanent sometimes.
Oh, I know. The idea that if you miss an episode, you may never see it again. Especially for something that you like but gets cancelled early, you may never see what you missed. It's just gone forever.
There was one episode of tiny toon adventures that showed once and only once. Buster Hampton and Plucky got drunk drove a car off a cliff and died. Turns out it was justthe three of them filming a don’t drink psa. But because it had beer it got banned after that.
Yeah but now that the Internet exists, you can find that kind of crap easily: https://youtu.be/saOCORmpOfs
Or at least the first half of it.
Damn it! now I want to see the second half of it.
Second half: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOxy57B1z9U
Thanks!
Fun Fact: It aired many times years later on The Hub.
Can I get a RIP in the chat for the HUB and Discovery kids? I remember the day before discovery kids changed to the HUB, I watched a crap.ton of Kenny the Shark and when it changed to the HUB I never saw it again. When the HUB changed to whatever the hell it is now I think I was watching Transformers PRIME and I havent seen it since...
Discovery Family. I know that I saw a lot of commercials for that after they switched over. But I haven't seen any in like two or three years. And now there's a new Transformers show.
3 characters died a horrible death? Ban it because it has beer!
Kinda like how an early Clone Wars episode had complaints about one clone saying "What the hell was that?!"... in response to his brother being fucking eaten by a giant rock eel.
Or the bit where Ventress impaled a guy and gave him a kiss on the lips, which is now only present on the disc version. Because killing a guy with a lightsaber through the chest is fine for kids, but that bit of admittedly weird action? Nada.
There's no sex in space. George said so to Carrie Fisher when he convinced her not to wear a bra.
"No sex in space", says the man whose universe also includes Twi'leks.
St. George to you.
Ventress fucks bro. Read the books.
Americans are odd. You can end a life in TV, but you'll get banned if you show the start of one...
Oh man, I remember that. I didn't realize I was watching something that only got aired once, that's neat.
But because it had beer it got banned after that.
It lived on in Canada! Definitely saw that episode in rotation more than once.
I kinda remember that
I watched like four seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer by recording episodes using my VCR since they came on when I was at school. I think FX played two episodes at a time so it was a long operation
Did you commit to stop/start recording as the ad breaks happened? I would’ve high five’d my past self if I could when I managed to pull that off for a whole show or movie without messing it up
Tbs played the whole WB lineup. Buffy, Angel, Dawson’s creek and felicity. Two episodes a day. When they got to a finale they just started all over again.
I'm in my 30's and i still vividly remember how pissed off i was when i missed the second half of the power rangers special. The one where they save evil Tommy and ask him to join them as green ranger. I believe that day there was an incident that lead FOX to do a live coverage at 3pm. The next day i was praying theyd show what happened to Tommy but nope, they just showed a random episode. But sheer luck years later i was flipping through channels and they were airing it and even though i was already a teenager by then i sat my butt down and watched the whole episode while smiling from ear to ear. I finally got to see it!
I believe what happened was Black Hawk Down
My first guess was the OJ Simpson trial
If you were watching a rerun then possibly, but Green Ranger premiered before OJ.
Ah ok. Ty lol. I was only 6 at the time so I’ll take your word for it
Not a cartoon but I missed the SERIES FINALE of Dawson’s Creek! It was years before I finally got to see it in syndication.
I feel like I benefitted from this when I was younger. Now I'm kind of obsessive about my media consumption; if I miss even one word of a scene I'll hit the ten-second rewind, and god forbid I skip a whole episode.
I was always a bit ridiculous about stuff like this (my friends always gave me shit for being a video game completionist) but I think the exposure to missing stuff, especially things that don't really matter much like weekly TV shows, was good for me.
Yeah, no one tells you you’ll be able to watch it online yeaaars later, when it doesn’t even seem that interesting anymore...
WWF Superstars was on at 11a on Saturday and was the only wrestling show on in my area over the air... the number of times that i had to go mow the lawn at 10a and it couldn't just fucking wait until 12n still makes me fucking livid.
Not an episode, but sometime around 2000, my dad called us all into the living room because the Thriller music video came on, and he said we may never get to see it again, but that it was a cool video he wanted to share with us. I was maybe 7 at the time. Who knew YouTube was around the corner.
It was the worst if you were a Dragonball Z fan in Canada. Since the English version wasn’t always up to date with the dub the TV station that aired the episodes would run all of the episodes in order everyday and when it got to a point where they were out of dubbed episodes they would just restart the whole series back to the very first episode and play it all again. You would have to wait until the episodes caught back up to where you were and hope that they would play a new episode and not go all the way back. Missing a new episode of DBZ back then meant waiting for months to see it again.
Or you miss the start of a new season and suddenly you have no idea who half the cast is. I'm looking at you Buck Rogers.
Reminds me of a CBS Saturday morning show called Flip in 1988. The show was absolutely terrible, and got cancelled really quickly. A few bits and pieces of it have surfaced on the Internet, but for the most part, it's vanished. If it tells you anything, the network commercial bumpers ("Flip will return after these messages!") had higher production values than the show itself. Also, it was cancelled in favor of repeats of Teen Wolf. You know that your show is bad when showing reruns of an old show is preferred over new episodes of your show.
Actually, there is a collective traumatic memory event of my generation (born between 1980-1990): the prime minister of our country died in 1993. On a Sunday. During (I had to look it up how it's called in English) The Disney Afternoon. During Duck Tales.
During the episode, suddenly the screen went black and some grieving music started to play for like 20 minutes, then a presenter or some politician was shown who announced what happened. It wasn't a surprise, the PM was terminally ill.
They never finished the episode, so an entire generation missed that one. Everybody claims to have seen it and been scarred by it. Most of us did watch that. It's such a basic collective trauma that you have to say just something like "I wish they interrupted Duck Tales again", and the everybody in the country knows you don't like the current PM.
Why did Fighting Foodons have to get cancelled :(
That was the anime series, right? "Spegeddiaboutit." That show was weird.
Even better was when there was a sports game on that day and the station would cut off the cartoon you were excited for (sometimes halfway through an episode) so they could air that crap.
Might have something to do with how much I hate baseball.
I remember as a teen I was watching tv late at night and this one station was showing strip poker, which of course involved hot girls taking their clothes off so I tuned in. But it wasn't strip poker, it was tennis! It had gone long I guess and was intruding on my strip poker goodness.
The next day in church, the pastor was telling a story about watching a tennis match and then all of a sudden "the most disgusting, vile, worldly, lustful TV show came on and I won't even mention the name!"
I was like ah shit I missed it!
The next day in church, the pastor was telling a story about watching a tennis match and then all of a sudden "the most disgusting, vile, worldly, lustful TV show came on and I won't even mention the name!"
I was like ah shit I missed it!
classic
I bet you he didn't tune out
The reason I don't care for the NFL is due to Sunday football interpreting The Simpsons when I was a kid lol
And then Futurama when that was first airing!
Baseball wasn't bad to me. People watched baseball. I still haven't forgiven having to miss Digimon because of fucking GOLF
Oddly enough, Digimon was the show I had in mind when I posted that.
I'm guessing you're west coast where games start early as fuck.
Mountain time actually
That's where I grew up (Colorado) . Im in Texas where games start around noon or so. Feels much better to crack a beer at noon to start game time.
Time zones aren't kind to those who love football and church.
Ended up, years later, purchasing bootlegged recorded digimon seasons from a guy on eBay, still have the burned dvds in a special case just because they were special to me.
Seems like Digimon really got the shaft in these situations.
That happened to me constantly as a kid over the summer when The Simpsons was on Thursday nights. Every other week it was preempted by a Pirates game.
Ironically, I'm now a fan.
I remember vividly when they interrupted my Saturday morning cartoons to give some information about the first Iraq war. I don’t remember at all what the news brief was about, but I can still see the static image that disrupted whatever cartoons it is I was watching.
All the appointment tv with cartoons died for me with Nickelodeon. Once I had a dedicated “kids” channel, I don’t think I watched Saturday cartoons with any real earnst.
West coast?
Mountain time, but close enough
Or worse the president on every channel. That's right all 4.
dude. I love playing sports, but to this day, that is why I hate TV baseball. They stole part of my childhood!!!
Stupid college football preempting looney toons. I still dislike football
I remember Tiennamen square going down because Peter Jennings popped into my cartoon block and it was all news the rest of the morning.
Yeah, sports used to fuck up Star Trek and X-Files for me all the time (more the former than the latter, IIRC). Drove me nuts.
My Mom always did this. “We need to go! You can watch it on reruns!”
But, of course, there were never reruns of the sci-fi stuff I liked. It was cancelled and forgotten.
But fuck you, Mom! I can watch all of Logan’s Run now on streaming!
(Plot twist: it’s terrible. I miss you, Mom.)
'WOW! They'll never let us show that again! Not in a million years!'
One of the biggest meltdowns I had as a kid was when a power blink interrupted my recording the X files while I was at some school function for the night.
I watched it on a friend's VHS at a sleepover not too long later and had binged through the series again in college, but one of the first things my folks bought me after I moved into a proper adult house after school was the X files on DVD.
Thanks for reminding me I need to call my parents. :D
Most shows had just enough episodes so that it could rerun the episodes during the summer just before the new season. So there were decent odds you could catch it six months later
Saturday morning shows typically ran a 13-episode season, meaning that they could show the episodes four times before the next season started.
When I discovered that, I was like, that's it? Never expected it to be that small.
Lol man I never realized how long it's been since I've heard the word rerun
childhood feels are permanent sometimes.
I'm still salty because my mum let my cousin borrow my gameboy Tetris game. Although I didn't play it often, I was concerned that I'd never get it back. My mum said it'd be fine but it's been around 20 years and the game still hasn't been returned.
I bought a bunch of old games a while ago which included the same Tetris game and I have the option of playing Tetris whenever I want online, but fuck my crackwhore cousin. That bitch owes me a Tetris gameboy cartridge and for that reason I feel an overwhelming sense of happiness whenever I hear about how her life is spiraling out of control.
If it was your game, she should have asked you before letting someone else borrow it. It wasn't hers to loan. Your resentment is probably best directed at your mother, not your cousin.
I remember religiously recording digimon tamers so I could re watch if I had to do something and how crushing it was to miss one. I loved Tamers and started the same with Frontier. Then I missed an episode or two and was so depressed I stopped watching it. Good times.
I am still salty about the fact my parents didn't understand that just because I can watch a *different* episode next week it isn't the same as watching this one. I still remember being *dragged* out for a walk literally as the opening credits of X-Men (which I was obsessed with) were coming on and being furious for a full week. When you're a kid/tween things *feel* vitally important, even if they aren't.
3rd episode of the Headmasters trilogy in Transformers. The conclusion. I missed it!
Did I eventually get a chance to see it again?
Yes. 30 freaking years later when I found a bootleg on the internet.
21 years later I still vividly remember the episode of ghostbusters I didn’t get to finish because I had to means for school
I remember having to mow the lawn instead of finishing the first episode of Pee Wee's Playhouse, I was not happy 😆
Ah, the ice cream soup episode.
Oh man this just reminds me that my brother was once pissed that I made him wait until like 10:45 to go to McDonald’s so we could get lunch instead of breakfast and he missed the first 5-10 minutes of Yu-Gi-Oh! which would come on at 11am...I still feel bad.
I remember there was an episode of Aaaah! real Monsters! that was my favourite one... I only ever saw it once. I saw re-runs of other episodes multiple times but I somehow missed the one I thought was the coolest on every repeat it must have had.
Just because M*A*S*H always had perpetual reruns doesn't mean that everything on TV did.
It's not a good feeling when a parent doesn't recognize or seem to care when something is important to you. No matter how silly it might be in reality, parents need to recognize their children's interests and passions.
Or if the cable was out for some reason... god what a nightmare.
I had this as a kid too. Then my dad said he'd call the channel company to rerun that episode. As a kid I believed it. As an adult I realized it's lies, but I think it's not that bad of a lie, it's leaning more towards a white lie.
Of course the specific episode never got reran, but my tantrum has passed and I forgot about it lol
I know the feels. My dad used to get pissed because I wouldn't cut grass on Saturdays until after 12. There was no fucking way I was missing Spiderman and X-Men. He got over it eventually.
Still havent seen the Digimon season 1 finale. I know I could look it up but I dunno. Feels wrong.
It's not dumb and more parents need to know that.
You're a child and Saturday Morning Cartoons are your first introduction to archetypal stories, predominately surrounding the concepts of good and evil. This is arguably the best medium for you to relax and learn something subconsciously outside of school and your father switches the channel on you...
I'm not saying that it's not important to set boundaries as a parent but it's important to understand why your child thinks the program is so important to them, maybe you might learn something yourself, if the program is crap switch it up to something you enjoyed as a kid, perhaps it will become your Saturday morning thing with your kid.
I had a shit childhood as a kid and Dragonball Z carried me through a lot of times, I lost count of the amount of times I wanted my dad to just ask me why I was so invested in the show because he just saw it as childhood naivety.
For this exact reason I hate satellite TV. As soon as I sat in front of the TV my parents were calling me to do something. I could watch whatever show I wanted and 90% of the time it'd be the same episode I'd seen a few times. It was fucking beautiful to see a brand new episode I'd never seen. It was to the point where I'd switch to a channel and either go: I love this episode! Not this episode again! or HOLY FUCK I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS ONE BEFORE AKSDFJ;LASKDJFAL;S'KDJF
So basically if you had Netflix you might have loved your Dad.
Pretty great counter-argument.
Feels like when online gaming became pretty widespread and the rents would tell you to pause it.
I once had a meltdown when I was a kid because I had a dentist appointment and missed my shows :D
That wouldnt happen today lol
"I mean, sure Dad...I've seen the Gummi Bears bounce here, and there...but now I'll never know if they bounce everywhere!"
The one and ONLY time my dad postponed morning prayers was for an episode of Avatar the last Airbender because he liked that show to and it was a season finale. None of us knew when the rerun would be so we all just sat glued to the tv
my dad taped over my saint seya episodes !!!
I still never got to see the end of that Prince Valiant origin story cartoon movie that I missed when I had to go to the post office.
man, for real. I grew up as a jehovah's witness, which meant my ass had to be knocking on doors on saturday mornings. the few times we didn't go or I was too sick to go where the best saturdays
My sister used to do this shit kinda like that when I was a teenager. I was a huge Trekkie, so catching that week's episode of Deep Space Nine was important to me. But she didn't like it and wanted to channel surf so I was supposed to be flexible or something.
Or, later, my mom did the same thing with X-Files.
Do you people not understand what it's like to follow a show?! (Actually, they didn't.)
It was a godsend when we finally got a second TV. (And when I just started recording shit so I could watch it the next day after school.)
check out kisscartoon, they have some older stuff if you want a cartoon series.
I wonder about the effect on parents. One of the great things about Saturday morning cartoons is it kept the kids reliably occupied on Saturday morning, and parents could sleep in. What do parents do to get some quality sleep time these days?
They still watch cartoons. And YouTube. But mostly they just get up and put on whatever they were watching last time. But none of it feels special anymore. It is just super accessable.
none of it feels special anymore. It is just super accessible
This should be the key to this thread. The internet has completely killed scarcity which has hugely degraded how we value many things.
100%. I love that anything I want is right there at my fingertips. However, the availability of EVERYTHING somehow diminishes it, right?
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Some shows work better binged. But plenty of shows benefit not just from the week to week pacing of anticipation but the discussions you'd have with friends and coworkers about it.
LOST was the last time that happened en masse.
My local radio program would do a call-section every morning after the new episode to discuss theories about what happened.
Really the last time it seemed like EVERYONE was watching a show at the same time.
Have you never heard of Game of Thrones?
GOT is a phenomenon, however it’s on HBO. Which is a premium channel. People watch it, but they don’t watch it the same way that they did a pre-social media basic cable show.
Whereas basically everyone with a tv has ABC. Even in Canada.
it’s still the shows that I watch as they come out on a weekly basis that I get the most excited for because I have time to analyze and theorize and get hyped for the next episode.
That is zero shows for me. Season 8 of GoT might be the first show I have done this for in years. The past 3 seasons I just waited until the season was over before binging.
Let's all revert to cable TV!
The movement begins!
Woah, woah, easy there... I loved Saturday morning cartoons as much as everyone else, but I'm not uncutting that cord anytime soon.
Fight the power, burn it all down!
Hell no. Burn cable to the ground. 3 networks only. Then, the revolution can truly begin!
One channel. Channel 2.
And that other channel where you can barely make out a staticky nipple sometimes.
Lol. You’re not gettin’ into those fancy days of UHF 14 are ya’?
i think it only diminishes it if you start taking it for granted. I love, for instance, old rare books. Thanks to the internet, I can now find and read ones that I would never have been able to before...and all for free and in the comfort of my own home. But I'm still super-excited and grateful every time I come across one.
I could give up the internet and maintain my sense of wonder. Or I can keep the internet and still maintain my sense of wonder. Why not do both?
So what should we do? Going back to the old ways seems better, but at the same time artificially restricting yourself of things feels like lying to yourself.
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Kind of insane to think about
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We made the amazing world accessible to everyone, not just chosen few.
I am actually experiencing the loss of travel magic hard.
My dream was always to immigrate outside the US and live abroad permanently without being bound to a short term working visa.
I accomplished that and live a place with good COL plans travel all the time now. Each one somehow means less to me than before, and sometimes I get seriously depressed now. The more places I have seen, the less unique the next is.
I still find all of that stuff magical, especially when seeing familiar stuff in a new way
And now nothing is magical. This feels so...contradictory and not how it should be.
That's the thread right there. The internet has made our lives objectively better, but has ruined the romanticism around things that were once seen as rare, scarce, or mysterious.
You just made me realize why I bought a record player and love to dig through used record bins. I have no interest in buying new records off Amazon...I'm in it for the scarcity, for the feeling of finding a record that I've been wanting through sheer patience and effort.
although I assume even with new records, the chances of you listening to them "differently" (compared to using a streaming service, maybe even via your phone) would be pretty high as well.
I sometimes get new records and this is true for me.
For sure...I'd never think to stream Leonard Cohen, or Bob Dylan, or Mecco's disco Star Wars album. Those are all tactile experiences for me that happen in my living room with a wonderfully scarce record I found.
The internet has made our lives objectively better
Has it? There's definitely good points to the rise of the internet, but I'm not sure if people's lives are better because of it - they certainly don't seem to be happier at any rate.
There was no real 'anti-vax' movement before the internet, when you left the office on Friday you were gone until Monday morning, children and teens weren't exposed to relentless, round the clock bullying on social media...
Kids who got bullied also just didn't have anyone, yeah cyberbullying didn't exist but for some kids neither did friendships at all. I was bullied relentlessly as a kid, I was a shy gay nerd being raised in a very closed minded religious household and community whose primary interests were video games, anime, and hot guys; suffice to say I didn't have it easy and my mental health is still recovering from it. Were it not for the friends and support groups I found online I'd have probably killed myself by the time I hit 9th grade. Cultivating relationships with people I met through message boards and online games as well as reading stories about people who went through the same stuff I did and came out of it okay gave me the confidence I needed to accept myself and open up more in real life and meet people IRL, and because of that today I have a close circle of friends that I love like family and I'm much better off.
The internet isn't all bad, some people here are just too jaded to see all the good it brings. Everything looks bad if you only focus on the negatives.
My older sister actually ended up living and getting married to her internet friend! (And they've been happily married 5 years last week.) But they met through a video game and would talk on Google hangout afterwards. They met IRL when her friend had people over to hangout when the Boston bombings happened. Heck! We SURPRISED her with the wedding by planning with his Mom, her other internet friend and her now husband through Facebook. We had to because they live in Boston and we live in Kentucky. The internet is awful but it's also awfully good. I mean I'm finally an aunt aunt because of it.
I was wondering why kids these days seem so much more open and honest, especially when it comes to sexuality, and I think you just made me realize why. The internet! They have access to boundless sources of information and ways to connect with others who are similar to them. That's pretty neat. I'm glad you were able to find your community and accept yourself. I wish you the best in your continued healing.
at the same time just look at the amount of foreign media that new generations are exposed to now a days opening their minds to accept new ways of thinking, before the internet people from other countries looked soo alien, but im currently watching a comic from japan while enjoying a series from france
also antivaxers arent the only group that has formed thanks to the internet, you also have all those youtube channels that are centered on sharing information, knowledge, on helping people learn and understand things they will never have learned otherwise, im completly sure that without the internet i would not know even 1/10 of the things that i currently know so for me at least yes life would be worst without the internet
i have a little sister that loves to watch those kinds of channels and to ask me questions about any topic, from history to enginering and im happy that i can answer those questions most of the time, if i cant i can always give the same answer "search it on the internet" and she does
There was no real 'anti-vax' movement before the internet,
Have a look at this Wikpedia article; in short, this statement is not correct on any level.
Take a look at the very article you posted:
Stockholm - Smallpox outbreak that lasted a single year in 1873.
UK - Pertussis outbreak in the late 70s/early 80s "Mainstream medical opinion continued to support the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine; public confidence was restored after the publication of a national reassessment of vaccine efficacy. Vaccine uptake then increased to levels above 90%, and disease incidence declined dramatically." - from your link.
Sweden - The government stopped vaccinating against pertussis between 1979-1996, this had nothing to do with anti-vaxers.
Now take a look at the post internet outbreaks:
US - measles: An almost 20 year outbreak. The disease was declared eliminated in 2000, but it's come back with a vengeance.
UK - measles: 2013 - present. It's making a resurgence in the UK too.
Same story in Eastern Europe, and many other places around the world.
I said there was no real anti-vax movement before the internet, and I stand by that. There were a few disparate religious groups who refused to vaccinate, and some people who were scared by media reports, but later were easily convinced that vaccines were actually safe.
That's not what we have now. Now we have loosely organised groups of people who are ignoring medical evidence in favour of pushing their own misinformation, and reinforcing their wrong headed beliefs.
The internet gave these people the global reach and connectivity to establish a movement that could never have taken off in the same way in the past.
E: Spelling and clarity
If it really devalues things, it just shows how much false value one placed on them, and perhaps how ignorant one may be to other values.
Haven't had a girlfriend in ten years. Thanks internet porn.
Try /r/pornfree man, quitting watching it really helped me
After 2 wives I see this as a positive.
It's kind of crazy when I think about it. As an example, my wife and I have recently started watching Supernatural for the first time. There are 13 fucking seasons of this show on Netflix, all available to us anytime for a small subscription fee along with zillions of other shows and movies. If I had wanted to be able to watch 13 seasons of something when I was a kid, it would have cost so much money to collect all the VHS box sets, not to mention I would have a very finite amount of storage space in my house for tapes compared to how much content is on Netflix alone. But even though I grew up with that, I don't really appreciate how much stuff is available to me so easily now unless I take the time to really think about it. Instead I just bitch about how Netflix doesn't have everything I want when I want it and I have to sail the high seas in search of some shows instead lol.
it would have cost so much money to collect all the VHS box sets
and it might not even have been released on vhs, since the change to putting out every season of every show happened after the format switch to dvd.
(that being said, I feel the chances of you having recorded those episodes yourself would be probably been higher as well)
As much as I love the internet for how greatly and how quickly I feel like it has changed the world, I absolutely hate what it has done to us as a society. Damn near anything you want is at the tip of your fingers. And this is coming from someone born in 1998.
The internet has spoiled me in terms of instant gratification. Bored? Phone. Awkward? Check your phone. Everyone seems to hide in their phone. Even people a few years younger than me grew up in an entirely different world. I feel like they're a lot worse with it.
I probably sound like a 50 year old man right now but straight up the accessibility to the internet is ruining kids these days. I'm loathe to say that because I know it's not 100% accurate but there is absolutely some truth to it. I think a lot of problems plaguing young folk today would have never been an issue if they'd grown up when it took at least 30 seconds to load a new webpage and a phone was something mounted to the wall.
I agree to a degree. But its too easy to put it all on the kids. Kids cant ruin themselves on their own. People seems to forget that internet and technology are simply an extension of our own human capabilities. What we do with our extended capabilities though?
We can entertain ourselves for days, but we can also learn new things for an eternity. My dad is a great resourceful guy that taught me a lot of different things but no way in hell would he be able to cope with what im curious on 24/7. Kids really are curious all the time. They are explorer, adventurer and scientists. Every single one of them.
Parenting is way harder these days. With information at the fingertip, its is not wise to restrict it. But kids have to learn how to differentiate what is bullshit and is correct, what is meaning full use of internet and what is not. It wont be easy. But damn necessary. Having accessibility not the problem. Like every generation before them, kids needs to be taught self assessment and critical thinking. Internet can be good and it can be bad to a person depending on how the person use it. Internet is just a tool. Those who use the tools have to know what the are doing with it.
Ultimately good or bad, the internet is here to stay. Its is better that we teach the kids what they are doing than to restrict the internet (i think it wont work). Not gonna lie, i myself grew up too playing games too fucking much. But looking back, ehh, i learn so much so many of themand my life is so much better with having instant information on the internet. It could be better if someone would teach me what and what with this very powerful thing that is internet.
*sorry if cringe or sounds too tryhard, just a dumb kid trying to make an opinion
They are explorer, adventurer and scientists. Every single one of them.
See, I'm not sure that I agree. I think that some of them do these things online, and have convinced themselves that it is the same thing as doing them in real life. When it just isn't. They get a wholly superficial understanding of a subject, seen through someone else's lens, and are content with that - while still lacking any real contact with it.
It's like a guy who watches a lot of anime telling you all about his extensive knowledge of Japanese culture, despite having never been there.
Like every generation before them, kids needs to be taught self assessment and critical thinking.
This is never going to happen though. Adults don't do this, even the people who talk the loudest about how important critical thinking is don't do it. Everyone eats up content that they agree with and convinces themselves that it's correct. How can we expect kids to critically evaluate information when no one else does?
I absolutely agree that kids can't ruin themselves. But it's a very delicate situation and even more so today. I guess what I've been getting at is that the internet changed the world a lot more than most people recognize. For better and worse. But now kids grow up with access to 100% of the knowledge of the entire world available to them a few taps of the fingers away. This is a good thing for curiosities but at the same time it is changing the process of maturing completely. I'm damn near too drunk to continue debating this topic effectively so I'm going to go ahead and sign off
Its is better that we teach the kids what they are doing than to restrict the internet (i think it wont work).
what about restriction for using the internet? I feel those should/could be enforced more.
the most obvious example: texting/browsing while driving a car (or really any other form of engaging in traffic, I've seen people using their phone while riding down crowded streets with their bike). this is so incredibly dangerous - and yet so incredibly common as well.
And this is coming from someone born in 1998.
Oh man, y'all late 90's kids are getting old enough to buy alcohol in the U.S.
Thanks for making me feel ancient.
One thing I do wonder about is how kids form and maintain friendships these days. When I was in high school we had cell phones and texting, but no facebook. Also, texting was not as simple since we didn't have onscreen keyboards. Typing out more than a simple "how r u 2day?" took effort!
Online multiplayer video games were nowhere near ubiquitous.
So 'back in my day' we still placed a lot of emphasis on making friends with people you saw in person regularly. Then you would text or call them to organize any activities, and of course you would see them face-to-face at said activities.
If somebody moved away and you didn't see them as regularly, oh well! Maybe you could check in on them a couple times a year if you really cared.
But with current tech, you can sort of maintain a friendship with a bare minimum of effort, regardless of distance. You have video chat, online gaming, social media, and so it seems like you'd be able to keep the same friends you made when you were young for as long as you care to.
Is this what its like? Do you feel less pressure to go out and make 'new' friends because all your old ones are easy to keep up with?
Oh crap i’m old. We had no internet, cell phones. Beepers we just coming out. My home phone was corded. We could not afford cable so the tv channel selection was 3( on a good day). I could go on and on but would not change my childhood for anything. In fact wish i was born earlier.
So 'back in my day' we still placed a lot of emphasis on making friends with people you saw in person regularly. Then you would text or call them to organize any activities, and of course you would see them face-to-face at said activities.
If somebody moved away and you didn't see them as regularly, oh well! Maybe you could check in on them a couple times a year if you really cared.
If my 9 year old daughter is any indication, this is still how it works. She's become distant from her friends that have moved to a different school. I imagine that'll change somewhat as she gets over, but "out of sight, out of mind" results in largely the same effect.
I mean, back in the day, we could have called those friends who moved, right? And if it was just across town, we could visit them, right? We just didn't. (Or at least, I rarely did.)
So when I was growing up I could have definitely had more access to technology but I didn't. We weren't even underprivileged my parents were just old fashioned. I paid for my own cell phone since the age of 9 and I had a paper route to pay for it :) When his parents still let me play with him I would just go up the street and knock on my friends door. But I never had many friends growing up. Making friends was always strange for me. It would come out of nowhere. The first friend I made in Elementary School happened randomly on the playground with a kid I'd never known befor in my life. Other than that it was kids on my street. In middle school I had no friends to begin with. Then randomly on the bus some guy was like hey I saw you riding your bike on X street(this was when I still had a paper route) and boom somehow we were friends. I think I gave him my number and we texted on our little number pad phones to arrange to meet up and go hang out. The big thing I am grateful for current tech is that I can keep in touch with my family, mostly my brother, so much easier now that I moved away. I can video chat my mother to keep her happy every couple weeks. I can hop in my brothers discord and play video games and shoot the shit. I love the connectivity that technology/ the internet has given us. What I hate is how it has distanced us when we're right next to each other and the addiction to it that I and some people seem to suffer from. If I have a screen in front of my face I have a compulsion to look at it no matter the quality of the conversation I might be having. On the subject of maintaining friends long distance though... Yes and no. I feel like you can still grow distant. My experience might vary but I keep in contact with maybe a couple good friends from back home. Other than that I see what they're up to via snapchat stories etc but don't talk to them much. The one time I visited home and saw some of the boys it was pretty clear how differently we'd grown. I want to say only one, and not the one I would even have expected I still fuck with hardcore. I'm gonna end it here. Sorry if I'm rambling I'm drunk and avoiding responsibilities.
Other than that I see what they're up to via snapchat stories etc but don't talk to them much.
Snapchat was probably one of the first "oh boy I might be getting out of touch" things to happen to me.
After adapting pretty well with other chat services, it took me a while to wrap my head around this one where "wait, you mean the messages disappear after a few seconds and you can't get them back? What would you want that fo-OHHHHHHHhhhhhh."
I still think its probably one of the crappiest tools for actual peer to peer communication.
And don't get me started on Tinder.
I guess my main point is that after I've found technology makes it so easy to maintain old friendships that I've been lackadaisical in forming new ones.
But I still have a strong preference for face-to-face communication. I just wonder if the younger generations are going to have a different take on it. If they're so used to having constant contact with their friends and followers that they find it too bothersome to meet up in person anymore.
I think tinder was great when it was first created and served its exact purpose.
"I just want to fuck and I want to do it now" but then allllll the bitches (m&f) had to go on and just ruin it with the dating bullshit that was for the other websites.
I wish I had been single in time to use tinder. It'd be nice to go one and find a fuck buddy.
When my buddies first started using it it was wild. Things were not as streamlined since nobody knew what they were doing, but if you played things right you could have girls magically show up at the door the day after you started talking to them, even if you were completely new to the area.
But then you had to put in work to seal the deal.
As is the theme, I much prefer face-to-face meetings. Things were less "gamified" if you had to approach individual women at a bar. With Tinder it seems like everybody is just playing around and the stakes are unfathomably low. "Ghosting" is common, even expected.
This is one of the things I'm totally 50/50 on. 50% happy I never had to deal with that bull, 50% sad I never got to sleep around and test it myself.
By the time my husband kicks it and I'm ready to go again, there will be some newer, weirder way to hook up.
But pussy delivery service should have been the tinder tag line.
54 year old man here. You are correct on all points.
Still, I think we can all agree we are better off with more information available then less, even with the downsides that entails.
But a lot of it isn't true, doesn't give a complete picture, is misleading or biased, or misrepresents facts to suit the author's agenda.
25 years ago if I'd said, "Lads, you know what? I think the Earth might be flat." everyone would think I'd suffered a head injury. Now within 5 minutes I can sign myself up to a support group of like-minded individuals all sharing their completely false information - and further reinforcing my delusional beliefs.
But a lot of it isn't true, doesn't give a complete picture, is misleading or biased, or misrepresents facts to suit the author's agenda.
most of the information you can find online is true or can easily be disproved with just some effort, idiots have been idiots for all of history is just that the internet gives them ways to met themselves, but believe it or not they are a loud minority, the amount of people that actually believe in science and facts is much greater than what you expect, is only that idiots like to scream a lot
It's such a strange feeling, to miss scarcity.
That's a really great point. For the longest time, I couldn't put my finger on why I felt occasionally uneasy at the great selection of just about anything you could find on the internet. You're right; it's the scarcity and treasuring rarer things that's diminishing.
That's so true. All this stuff about the cartoons is spot on. Another thing I'm noticing myself is my taking for granted my smartphone.
I remember the first mp3 player I got. It had 12mb (MB!!) of storage. It cost me almost $70
Later i got an mp3/mp4 player that could actually play video on its tiny 1.5x1.5 inch screen. I was blown away! I could watch movies on a hand held device!
Now I'm just meh about my galaxy S8. I do use it all the time for music and audiobooks, reddit, youtube sometimes, a few games. But I find myself getting bored. 12 year old me would have been in absolute awe of all the videos on youtube and the hundreds of thousands of games available for free on a portable device that fits in your pocket.
The internet killing scarcity is absolutely true. thinking about it now I actually might make an effort to put some scarcity back in my life, I think it makes certain things better.
Perfectly put.
This is the heart of the matter. And will be the driving force behind the socioeconomic changes of the next century.
If you only valued something because of scarcity it's not all that valuable, is it?
Gold would like a word with you.
Gold has a few uses and looks pretty.
But yeah, would we value is at much if it were abundant?
considering the importance that gold has in modern technology yes, it would be pretty damn important
The internet has completely killed scarcity
This is it really. My daughter is nearly 3, and she doesn't really have an understanding of how broadcast TV works. Our car has a tv tuner, and she can't quite grasp why she can't watch the show that she wants to watch whenever she wants.
The internet has completely killed scarcity
I often think of how this has impacted travel. Before photography, you had to imagine everything before you saw it. Just think how incredible it was to see a tiger with your own bare eyes instead of being told how it looks and acts. Or different cultures, their languages and customs.
I somewhat want to create a countermovement similar to the 60's "get underneath the skin of the pavement" "back to the farm" type of thinking in regard to this.
Let things be; despite the illusion of attaining a perfect understanding, things are never perfect and pursuing that perfection endlessly only mutes the experience.
Realness will have value as long as we are not potatoes on a plug yet.
You can watch a thousand nature documentaries, if you are confronted with a real tiger, the smell, the fluidity of movement on such a big animal, the pants-shitting terror when it looks at you, will not compare.
The issue, to me, is that we have confused superficially knowing about something with knowing the thing. You talked about how travel has gotten devalued, but to quote the poet: everybody hates a tourist. It takes effort to actually try to experience something, and even more to do so in a sustainable way.
e: I mean to agree with you, but with soon close to 10bil people, maybe not everyone can experience everything.
Yes: hits the nail on the head!
In my case, that's particularly true for music. I used to have favorite artists and albums. I still do, but they haven't changed much since I was 16. Now I just check out what's new for the week, add it to my playlists, and move on. I still discover new artists I'm really pumped about, but it doesn't feel as special anymore. Though I suppose part of it is just getting older as well.
I love how you corrected their typo in their own quote
Someone noticed!
Totally agree. But you k ow, parents can still enforce this!
And personally I think they should.
Sorry I hate to tell parents what they should do, you do what the hell you like, none of my business.
But I'm still gonna share my view! Parents can and should limit access to things in their kids lives. Make things feel special.
I find the more lax I get the less they appreciate it and the more spoiled they come across. In fact this thread is one of the reasons I think rationing is good, 20 years ago all this stuff was self limiting. You got bored of a game, you ran out of TV and you had to go and do something else and you really looked forward to a new episode or new game.
It's nice to have a bit of excitement in your life. If it's too easy you get bored.
Yeah, like potatoes, man where they valuable in 1750 but now it is just available all the time, I wish the good old times were..
I don't agree it devalues everything, just the things that once had what was to you unwarranted value. Like on the Saturday morning cartoons, Transformers had just as much value as the Smurfs because there was no choice, but now that there is those blue losers don't even cross my mind.
Like human beings
Back in the day, BBC 1 Christmas Day would always show a TV Premier of some big box office movie. It was An Event - right after the Queen's Speech. BBC and ITV would always compete to see who could get the biggest film.
It definitely has, but in some ways I do prefer consistently being able to view things whenever I want. I feel like waiting a week to see a new episode is fine looking back but I'd hate to go back to that way of consuming media now we have on demand.
I think the thing is, we don't look back fondly of waiting a week to see something, we look back fondly of that feeling of having waited and the excitement of finally viewing.
Hopefully that all makes sense I'm tired as hell!
of course that seems to be just human nature. I mean, when was the last time you thought about having oxygene and "fresh air" to breathe? (to use the most apparent example)
but if we are in a situation in which there is lack of oxygene, even if it's not an immediate emergency but something like a smog-filled city, we are appreciative for the most basic thing.
While at the same time, now we no longer need to schedule our lives around the content that we consume. "Oh I can't do that thing on Wednesday, if I miss an episode of {x} I'll be so lost".
Nowadays we can binge it on a weekend, pause and resume whenever, and if you're in the middle of a season and someone invites you somewhere you know it'll be there when you return.
Many people had video recorders though
The internet has completely killed scarcity which has hugely degraded how we value many things.
This statement is true, but the fact that it works, and the amount of dumbasses that see it as a positive thing is incredibly sad.
You have the entire world at your fingertips, to explore and find the things you will fall in love with, but you're sad that its not available for a short time only.
It's just counter to how the psychology of enjoyment works. If you have one scoop of ice cream a year, you'll treasure it much more than ten scoops a day, where you'd become sick of the stuff.
Not really. I like ice cream because it's ice cream. There are so many varieties to enjoy. I've been to stores that have like 30 flavours. Are you telling me that I'll get bored of eating 10 scoops of delicious ice cream, a different flavour every day for a month before I go back and try the ones I already tried, maybe in different combinations?
Things are enjoyable because they are enjoyable, sometimes they feel more special because of circumstances or sentimental reasons, but the value of a thing should eminate from what it does.
This also goes for things you earn. I earned my 7 string guitar by sticking to a diet for a month. I don't love it for that, I love it because it is a kick ass guitar that sounds and playa great. If everyone in the world had this guitar, it wouldn't make it less awesome.
I'm not saying that's the only factor of course. You might be the exception to the rule, but often we tend to value things that are instantaneous and bountiful less than things which are rare and/or difficult to acquire. And the ritual process of discovery and 'earning' can sometimes play a key role in that.
So what should we do? I agree with you. But at the same time it feels like lying to yourself if you only let yourself have something on rare occasions when you could have it all the time.
And the ritual process of discovery and 'earning' can sometimes play a key role in that.
That's the thing that makes me really sad, people are talking about how sad it is that they can't go to a store to discover new music/films, when they can do some research online and find incredibly specific and enjoyable things to discover and make them happy instead of the limited range of disappointing things in real stores.
You might be the exception to the rule,
Absolutely. I am well aware that I am the exception and not the rule.
but often we tend to value things that are instantaneous and bountiful less than things which are rare and/or difficult to acquire.
Again, so saddening. People can love any garbage because it's rare and not care for something because it's plentifully, no matter how cool it is.
You think parents thought the cartoons we were watching were special?
If you only value something because it's scarce then it wasn't very valuable in the first place
mentioned this in a different reply already: the perception of how "valuable" something is seems definitely linked to how scare it is. when was the last time you were appreciative (or even "glad") you could breathe oxygene?
none of it feels special anymore.
Everything's amazing and no one is happy. - that pervert comedian
He wasn’t wrong. Uh, about the entitlement—not the other thing.
Which one, tho?
Louis CK
More like Everything is everywhere and no one is challenged. Ennui and cynicism rule our culture now because people don't get the opportunity to anticipate getting excited now that the planet lives in their Pockets.
Beautiful
Pervert or not, he's still funny as hell. Saw him last month in a tiny club.
Louis CK is the shit. Who cares if he rubbed one off in his own room? They should have left if they didn't like it.
Go to your room and don't come out until you grow a capacity for empathy.
Yeah. You can on one hand argue that Louis C.K. isn't a monster, while also saying that he did wrong by those women and that they're the ones we should feel sympathy for.
on one hand
Isn't that what got him in trouble?
Implying that anyone here on this website ever came out of their room
He’s a fucking idiot. I don’t pretend to know the backstory, but a perfect and comedic response to the allegations would’ve been, “It couldn’t have been my dick, it’s not that memorable.”
Exposure to male sexuality is like exposure to radiation though. Once they got a glimpse, their lives were forever damaged.
I wonder if the accessibility is worth the specialness trade-off.
Like, in post-apocalyptic horror stories, food always feels so special. Any meal, even a foraged can of beans, sounds so good.
Sometimes, I think it would be nice if eating a simple meal felt that special, but in a more practical sense, I'm glad that eating is a non-event.
I was gifted a jar of peanut butter during survival training in the military. I shared it amongst my unit of eight other guys. We had one spoon that we passed around with that jar. Each would eat a spoonful and pass it on. Bear in mind, I had been living in the woods for about a week at that point and not eating very much at all. I was hungry. Like pointing to every God damn leaf and asking my instructors if I could eat that kind of hungry. That jar of peanut butter was probably the best thing I've ever tasted. It was a very special moment, sharing that jar of peanut butter among eight friends, embracing the suck together. I'll never forget it.
But fuck that. I'll take peanut butter being a non special staple of the pantry every time before I do that shit again.
Considering the bellyaching threads that develop with the splintering of streaming services, I would say people demand the accessibility over the specialness of being told no. Even to the point of taking it for free.
Things felt special back then but it was also incredibly frustrating to wait or miss a show for some reason. For some shows that meant you could be waiting years to see that episode again. I much prefer the accessibility now.
And remember part of the reason why people prefer how it was is because of the nostalgia factor. Tell people they can’t record their shows anymore and have to watch them at the exact time they air or else pray that they can watch them later if the networks gods decide to grace them with syndication, and you’d have an uproar.
I love how it felt like you had no idea what was coming up, if it was going to stick around for another year or anything, and in the late 90s where there would be a little bit of an interesting anime arms race. Right after Pokemon hit. What I think were called "heroic" translations where they would be a little light in terms of how accurate the translations were, they just had to work. But any interesting looking anime it seemed like it made its way onto TV, Gundam Wing, Escaflowne, Digimon, Monster Rancher, Medabots... I dug that. Especially because you couldn't see episodes, footage, or pictures ahead of time on Youtube. No long rambling opinions or anything like that.
Giant Digimon fan. There was a great fan base built around Megchan at the time. There were episode recaps from the Japanese airings. Escaflowne was the first ever anime series I purchased on DVD because FOX never finished airing their dub. I will never forgive them for that.
As a kid in the 80s/early 90s I would have killed for the accessibility that's around today. It was impossible to follow any kind of story in X-Men or Gargoyles because they would constantly change the times stuff was on or you wouldn't be able to watch one week for whatever reason.
I loved X-Men to death but after a few seasons that programming became a mess, now I still watched it religiously, but that shit use to piss me off when they would do reruns, and it would be random episodes of entire arcs. Days of Futures Past part 1 one Saturday Phoenix Saga part 3 the next Saturday.
And they’d play episodes out of order! Forget part two of the Phoenix, maybe you’ll see it in two months, maybe two years. Who knows! You don’t get to decide.
Tbh I doubt you’d notice if something was special. I don’t think any parents in the past saw the Saturday morning cartoon thing as special, they probably just lamented the end of Saturday morning reading or whatever came before. It feels like it would be less special to me too, but new technology brings new stuff for future adults to get nostalgic about.
Yes this. They just watch what they want, when they want. I tell my daughter all the time that she has to wait a bit between changing the cartoon she wants. Patience is going to be a hard thing to teach when we live in a world of instant gratification.
My stepson is ridiculous. He is even picky about which EPISODE to watch. Bitch, when I was your age I was excited that just something I liked was on TV.
My daughter too! I turn on Sophia the first like she’s like no I want the one where she shrinks. I’m like you wanted this you get this. Deal with it.
I’m fairly new to Reddit and this feels special
And in 20 years your kids will be posting on whatever is popular then about how special Netflix cartoons were and how everything today sucks.
Hahaha. You're probably right. But, that will be what was special for them. And that's okay, too, I guess.
I wonder about this, will the kids of today even have a sense of "back then" if it never goes away?
It feels like they will grow up in a world where media just gets transferred to another streaming service but never truly goes away.
I see this with adult shows constantly, like Greys Anatomy is almost 15 years old, and every now and then I will hear someone say, "I just started binging Greys Anatomy". That didn't happen in the past, you never heard somebody in the 90s talk about "I just started watching Dallas and I'm hooked!"
I can't imagine it being much different with kids shows.
It's funny, because as a child of the 70's I can 100% recognize that the cartoons my kids watch are a MILLION times better than the Saturday-morning crap I watched. And they can watch them whenever they want! They don't even realize how amazing this is!
Sometimes I make them watch Rubik the Amazing Cube just so they can feel my pain.
I deleted my 9 year olds YouTube app on his switch after I saw Cardi B music videos in his search history. He opens up Hulu on our TV and the first suggestion has F*cking in the title. Damn I wish we had Saturday morning cartoons.
How do you know it doesn't feel special to your kids? They still get ro watch cartoons on a saturday without having to go to school. That was part of the fun too!
But none of it feels special anymore.
ever think that maybe it doesn't feel special to you because you're not a kid?
saturday morning didn't rule because of cartoons; saturday morning ruled because no school and could do whatever you wanted
i'm sure saturday morning is still important for your kids
None of it feels special anymore. It is just super accessible.
Anime. I remember when most of my freinds had no clue what that was.
I’d like to hear what modern kids feel is special to them. Anyone want to chime in?
or you're just an adult now? i'm sure tons of kids will reminisce about "early morning youtube time" or whatever in 20-30 years
How do you know it's not going to feel special for them when they're your age?
Maybe that's a good thing, watching tv shouldn't feel special.
Found the gen z kid
But none of it feels special anymore.
I don't get this. Did you like only being able to watch cartoons at a certain time?
I don’t want to go back to the old ways but recognize they did have some advantages. Broadcast television was a shared event that you could talk about the next day. If you missed it, you wanted to hear about from your friends rather than say no spoilers.
No. But I liked having something to look forward to. Then only way I could watch something that I wanted was to tune in at a specific time. You better believe I was in front of the TV at 9 every Saturday morning to watch X-Men. Now, I sometimes stare at Netflix and watch nothing, because I don't HAVE to.
It's a weird world we live in.
I taught my kids to use the roku remote.
If only it were just turning on the TV. My kids are up at 6am every day, regardless of when they actually went to bed. We can sometimes ignore them til about 7, but that’s usually around the time we have to intervene in an argument. Or they’re wanting us to feed them since we’re out of cereal.
My kids are both amazing sleepers. I hear a lot of parents say this about their young children; I get funny looks when I say we sleep late on weekends. My daughter could sleep through the apocalypse (she gets that from me) and my son is pretty close behind. I stay home with them, so their bedtime is later, around 10 and a bit later on weekends. We all slept until 1030 today, except my daughter. I woke her up at like 1130.
Sometimes my son wakes up before us on the weekend, and he gets his juice out of the fridge and lays back down in bed and turns the TV on. Likely it isn't a problem because there's no one to argue with.
I sincerely hope my future resembles your present. I cannot will myself to be awake at 6 on weekends.
You get used to it. After a year of doing it daily it becomes normal.
Eventually when the kids start to sleep in, you prefer to get up early before the kids so you can actually do some morning tasks without their interruption.
Well I guess that makes sense if they go to bed that late ( but then I assume it doesn't really matter if they get up on their own in the morning either since they're probably old enough)
Mine sleep about as long, but they go to bed at 18:30-19 cause they're only less than 3 :p
Holy shit does my wife have a Reddit account I don't know about?! This is exactly my life what the fuck dude.
My husband lurks, but doesn’t post. So, I’m not your wife. We’re just all living the same life.
Well thanks for sharing. Definitely gave me and my wife a smile!
I thought the exact same thing...
I always tell my kid that it has enough toys to play with and if it will not pick one out I will gladly start throwing them away to make space for new stuff haha. Also seriously, you should reconsider giving your kids cerial on a regular basis. It is basically just candy in milk with no added health benefit whatsoever. It just has a good image from being advertised as healthy. But that is from a time where doctors were convinced that smoking a cigarete calms you down and is good for your heart.
Thanks for the unsolicited parenting advice. I’m sooooo stoked about it!
I also love your assumption that I’m buying candy cereal and not high-fiber cereal. Kinda says more about you than me, honestly. I don’t keep shitty candy cereal in the house.
Edit: oh, and when I start referring to any of my children as “it”, I’ll know it’s time for some therapy!
Thanks for pointing out the it vs. she vs. he topic. I was refering to my child as it because I talk to a stranger on the internet and the conversation being visible to even more strangers so I am sort of uncomfortable about specifying more than necessary. Also as a non native speaker I was of the impression that child is a neutral noun and therefore it was the apropriate pronoun but after your hint I looked it up and apparently it conveys emotional indiference. I honestly did not know that. In my mother tongue the noun child is also neutral and here it would be perfectly fine to use the equivalent of it without coming accross as an emotional brick. Also regarding the unsolicitated advice, you might be right that I am in no position to provide any and honestly I did not do it in bad faith or in order to elevate myself above you or anything and I am really sorry if I hit a nerve there. Also thinking about it I believe actually a lot of people obsess about the nutrition topic more than necessary, so sorry for adding to the angry nutrition mob.
My near two year old can figure out how to turn on the PS4, the TV, and the sound system. He understands what the controller is for, what the volume button does, and what Netflix looks like... but he doesn't have the dexterity to actually USED the controller :( soon though. Soon.
So we let him borrow his older sisters tablet.
We still get to sleep in. My kids have Hulu, Netlfix, or Youtube to watch now lol. Mostly they watch Minecraft videos on YouTube all morning and my husband and I get to sleep in until 8 or 9. The weekends are the only time they get to do this since the week is for school and homework. We're pretty strict but Weekends we give them their freedom. It helps with their sanity and ours lol.
I think parents probably get more "time off" now than they used to. They don't have to worry about their kids running around the neighborhood finding trouble or having trouble find them. they don't have to worry about kids finding something to watch on tv because most everything is accessible with a few mouse clicks.
It's kinda cool but I feel it's even more so depressing. Kids don't have to "hang out" anymore because they can hang out on Snapchat, Facebook, etc.
It's only a matter of time before technology turns us into mole people.
When I was 6 or 7 (so 1973/74) when it was summer i'd have breakfast and leave the house. My mom didn't really expect me home until dinner, once in a while a bunch of kids would come for lunch, but overall I was on my own til dinner. And if something cool happened, i'd miss dinner but I had to be home before it got dark.
I grew up in the age when kids were encouraged to go outside and play. My Mom's main rule was I had to be close enough to hear her if she opened the door and yelled, unless I checked with her first. Otherwise, she was happy enough to get me out of her hair, and trusted me to have the sense to avoid most trouble. I worry about modern kids, whose parents get paranoid out if they just go outside.
It's not that we get paranoid, it's that the neighbor next door will call CPS if I let my kiddo run free. And that becomes the problem: everyone says that parents are ruining their kids by not letting them run free, but we've all seen the stories of parents who did that and nearly lost their kids to the system because somebody else complained. What does a parent do in that sort of environment?
Fair enough. But still a bit tragic.
Oh, I agree! I just feel it's unfair to pin it solely on the parents. I'm the mom who gets looks because I don't hover over my kid at the playground (he's 5). But if I do hover, then I get to hear about helicopter parenting. Damned if you, damned if you don't, and most parents will go for the route that won't hurt their kids/family the most.
Yes, this exactly! You can't do anything without someone complaining about how your parenting your child now. And grandparents are just as bad too. Since the internet we have to take pictures all the damn time and constantly tell our parents how we're doing and if we don't put pictures up or do something they don't agree with we get a fucking earful. I deleted all my social media for this reason. I shouldn't have to call every single day to tell my parents how my marriage and parenting is going. Basically had to tell them to back off and they will get calls time to time from the kids just like I did when I was a kid. Also, everyone has a camera now so you can't do anything in public without someone seeing or knowing. Better to just stay in and be comfortable. My kids still go out and play but you can't trust strangers like you used to.
I think it also depends on where you live. I grew up in the country and was allowed to run throughout our yard. Now I live on the edge of town and the kids are allowed in the back yard as it’s fenced in. Now at my inlaws however, since they’re out in the country, the kids are allowed to run in and out of the house while the adults talk about adult things.
One hundred percent agree with this. I’m a family law attorney and parent. I’m not worried about my child venturing outside on his own really at all, but would 100% worry about the reaction of others. One of my colleagues let his mother take his 9 year old son to get a haircut. The place she took him shares a parking lot with a gas station and the pump is directly in front of the salon - you can literally see the pumps from the seats in the salon and vice versa. When the kid got in the chair, she told the stylist she was stepping out to put gas in her car. The stylist gave the okay but one of the other customers apparently went outside and called CPS, which resulted in an investigation and a whole ton of inconvenience.
it's that the neighbor next door will call CPS if I let my kiddo run free
That's why you've got to be proactive and call on them first.
DEA > CPS.
And it really doesn't help that a lot of places just aren't very conducive to outdoor play. When I was a teenager, my parents moved to a recently built suburb where there was nothing for me to do. I didn't live within walking distance of my friends, (or even many other people my age) and they were usually too busy to do stuff outside of school anyway. There weren't any real nature areas, and the neighborhood pool was small and shallow, built more with small kids in mind and for someone older, it gets boring fast. If I could scrounge up enough change I could walk to Kroger (or if I had a little more, Subway!) and get something, just to get out of the house. My parents would give me so much shit for spending all of my time watching trashy daytime TV (we didn't have cable) and fighting my sisters for the computer, but they were rarely available to drive my anywhere. (and rarely dropped me off someplace by myself, what teenager wants to hang out with their parents all the time?) Being a kid suuuuuuucks, you don't get to do shit.
Hello, I am popping in to tell you that kids still play outside a lot.
In my subdivision, there’s always kids outside. The younger kids run around their yards and ride in the golf cart with parents/older siblings. The older kids play basketball in their driveways.
On sunny saturdays, my neighbors are always outside. I don’t know what the kids do or what they play, but they always seem to have fun. Sometimes the parents watch, sometimes they don’t (depends on the age of the oldest child playing).
It’s not just my neighborhood either—I see kids playing when I drive through other neighborhoods! So don’t worry, my friend. Kids are still being sent out to play! The only difference is now at least one of them will have a cell phone of some type (sometimes their own phone, sometimes their parents’) for communication. :)
Technology plays a part but I think a bigger issue is that a lot of places just aren't conducive to outdoor play, and a lot of parents don't WANT their kids going out unsupervised, and kids these days are put into so many extracurricular activities that it can be harder for them to find time with friends. People blame the kids for being addicted to technology, but they're not given any (good) alternatives.
People blame the kids for being addicted to technology, but they're not given any (good) alternatives.
I don't blame the kids, I blame technology. It's a good thing but it has it's downsides too.
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Seeing as to how people work more hours than they used to and the fact that kids have entertainment/socialization on demand, I kinda doubt it. I mean, they may all be in the house together while not having much interaction. You could give some reason as to why what you're saying is true or you could just say it.
Also fairies are real. I'm not gong to give any reason as to why this is... It just is. Settled!
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You made a claim without evidence. I have no obligation to provide a source to point out that you’re wrong.
Dude, I never made a claim using hard facts. There was never anything stated as fact on my side.
"I think parents probably get more "time off" now than they used to."
"Seeing as to how people work more hours than they used to and the fact that kids have entertainment/socialization on demand, I kinda doubt it." (I kinda doubt it)
Neither of those are stating "facts" (other than entertainment on demand). You however said
Parents spend far more time with their kids than they used to
Which is stating something as fact.
We just don't sleep anymore.
Send the kids to grandma’s house on Saturday night.
Friday night.
Friday night is when she does grocery shopping, and then we have to cart the kids around to various obligations on Saturday. Sleeping in on Sunday is all we get, realistically.
My parents always had Special Wrestling Morning!
Boy, they sure liked to wrestle on Saturdays, silly Mom and Dad!
You can’t get them to go away. Oh you want alone time in the bedroom. The kid can bring the tablet/computer in the bedroom. Tv is not a treat either. It’s not special. It has no value. You can’t bribe the kid to go away and leave his parents alone for 30 minutes. Every once in awhile when the kid encounters live TV he cries when the commercials come on, which I find hilarious though.
Tell him to go wake up Auntie Mimi
Source: I’m Auntie Mimi
On my last trip to the US, I stayed with friends who have a son who’s SUPER into soccer. It happened to be during the World Cup, and his excitement at getting up at the crack of dawn to watch the games reminded me of those Saturday “build a sofa fort, watch all the cartoons, and try not to wake my parents” mornings.
We tell them to get up and get on their tablets and for God's sake use your headphones!
There is more content available these days then you can poke a hundred sticks at. Every kid knows how to use YouTube/Netflix/etc to find what they want so the whole Saturday morning cartoon thing is not needed anymore.
Super glue.
Let the children use an ipad.
cellphones and tablets and horrible youtube content
I was just talking about this with a friend who also has young kids. Saturday mornings before 8:30 are the only time during the week the kiddos can have screen time without asking first.
People just have that ability all the time. Kids bored at dinner, YouTube. Kids bored at the park, YouTube. Kids bored at Disneyland, YouTube.
My Mom sometimes went out to yard sales while my sister and I watched Saturday morning cartoons and would bring me back a game or a toy. Good times.
Your Mom was awesome.
Or do non-sleep related bedroom activities...
Teach them how to use YouTube
We kind of do our own version of Saturday morning cartoons by letting the kids finally have full control of the TV on weekend mornings. Which means the older two bounce out of bed early, go watch TV or play Minecraft or Spider-Man on the PS4 and get their own grub. It works just fine if you don't let them have constant access to tablets or other devices all week. Typically they'll get like an hour or two a day on the tablet but my wife sets it up for educational style stuff. Wild Kratts is a big one.
Umm, his whole comment was about how his kids can watch whatever they want whenever they want. Don't you understand that means the kids are pre-occupied more time now than they were in the 80s and 90s?
“Sleep in” haha
Perfect. We definitely had a rule that we could play as much NES and watch as many cartoons as we wanted until just a little after the parents got up. And if it was late we usually got a good breakfast at the end of it too!
They get their kid/s a gadget, that's how.
I see it happen too often for my own liking, though. I mean sure, it keeps them quiet, but I think it stunts their growth. Instead of interacting with your child, you're just letting them be lost in their own world without your guidance.
I don't have a child yet, so my opinion may not come from experience; but I was a child once. And what kept me occupied was books or talking with the people around me. I might have annoyed them, sure, but I appreciate having a back and forth of opinion and emotions. It made me feel human.
Same - get YouTube going with Peppa Pig and a plate of vegemite toast and the kids are set for an hour or two.
My mom always had to be up for morning cartoons because the only TV was located in her bedroom back then. But where I grew up there were kids shows till like 1pm on weekends so it usually worked out fine for everyone.
Well I got a Plex server loaded with all the classics plus spongebob and paw patrol. My kids just watch whatever they want whenever they want.
My kids can turn on Netflix as easy as they could a broadcast TV channel. Theoretically, in the summer at least, every morning is Saturday morning at my house.
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
source: am one
I wonder about the effect on parents. One of the great things about Saturday morning cartoons is it kept the kids reliably occupied on Saturday morning, and parents could sleep in. What do parents do to get some quality sleep time these days?
My oldest kid figured out how to work Netflix on our tv when she was barely 5 (we didn't have Netflix before then or she might've figured it out sooner). Once the youngest (currently 3) becomes sufficiently independent, we can have proper sleep-in sessions on weekends. Until then, we just take turns (she sleeps in on Saturdays, I get Sundays).
This, but TGIF. I've wondered what it's like for "kids these days" to not have something that most people their age watches every week, or something the family watches together.
Well kids have moved from scheduled TV to games and youtube channels, so they're playing and talking about Fortnite or watching the latest video from {whoever is popular at the moment}. That does leave out the family part though.
That does leave out the family part though.
Depends on the parents. You can still choose to watch a show on Netflix together, for example. Or have Friday night movie night.
This. I watch old TV shows with my mom all the time and watch a movie and eat pizza every Friday
We have movie night and we watch some YouTube channels together. My kids are into GMM and it's something entertaining for the adults in the room. It's a big deal for movie night because that's when we will be willing to pay to rent something not available on what we stream. Every Friday when I drop them off at school they confirm 3-4 times that it is in fact Friday and that we won't skip our movie.
My wife and kids and I have started watching Boy Meets World on Hulu.
My wife and I enjoyed it when we were kids and are happy that the show still holds up well and is more enjoyable than other shows we’ve watched in the past decade.
Depends on the parents. You can still choose to watch a show on Netflix together, for example. Or have Friday night movie night.
Yeah, my wife and I watched Stranger Things with our daughter, for example.
It's up to parents to create that family time. We have a routine where my husband and I play games with our kid every night, and we have certain shows that we'll watch together. Now that he's older, I'm wanting to begin a Friday night movie or board game night. I grew up in the 90's with parents that didn't do that stuff, there was a lot of fighting etc., so I've worked to create a fun family time atmosphere. I think sometimes nostalgia creates a slightly rose colored view of the past as well.
Nostalgia absolutely creates a skewed view of the past. Some folks tend to think everything was better, but was it really? Because I certainly remember things differently. There's a reason why just about every thing has parental controls now. No one wants to use it though it seems. :)
Or better yet, as you've mentioned yourself, starting movie night/game night/family night all on your own. I don't understand why some folks need someone else to designate that night and/or time for them.
It's up to parents to create that family time.
That's true. My sister-in-law doesn't let her kids (6 and 8) have more than 30 min screen time a day. They each get a half hour a night to watch whatever they want as part of their night time routine. They spend their evenings/weekends doing creative, engaging, and active stuff together.
Its isolated us more
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Divide and conquer.
I think it's made sharing media socially much much more interesting. In the 80s and earlier you had a few TV channels (in my country only 2) and pretty much everyone watched from the same 10 or 20 primetime mega hits. You had a few big radio stations and that's where most everyone got their music taste from, there were a handful of massive hits everyone liked each year unless you were part of some niche scene. These days, with the internet, it's easy for everyone to pick from a huge variety of content new and old and to explore music scenes around the world however weird and obscure and carve out their own taste. Nowadays when I talk to people about media it's almost guaranteed we know about bands or shows or movies the other doesn't and can recommend cool new things, share interesting new stuff, learn about things we didn't know existed, bond over the new niche thighs your new friend introduced you to. It all has a lot more personality to it, and makes media more sociable and fun that way.
I'm halfway through a computer science degree and I'm still scared that it is a had idea because there's so many kids playing games all the time. I feel like everyone will he nerdy and want a job dealing with technology.
I always hated fortnite, minecraft was what I was all about as a kid.
This comment sounds like something only a kid could say.
He was a kid when he played Minecraft, the game isn't that old so yeah obviously he is still a kid.
It was first release 10 years ago.
"Ah you think Mincraft is your ally? You merely adopted the Minecraft. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see Fortnite until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but dances and emotes!"
Omg ! TGIF brings back so many memories. Staying in with my parents and making them watch Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Boy Meets World with me ... add in the ice cream my mom let me pick out from ShopRite (cookie dough every time)... THE BEST.
Gonna have some FUN Show you how it’s DONE TGIF!
Dinosaurs!, Step By Step, Family Matters, Hanging with Mr Cooper. TGIF has great shows.
And let’s not forget about SNICK on Saturday night with All That and Are you Afraid of The Dark among others.
Omg and there were the Nick shows too, like Clarissa Explains It All, My Brother and Me, All That, etc. And I can't remember if it was part of the TGIF lineup but there was Saved by the Bell too. My cousin and I would watch reruns in the summer.
My mom would always let me watch all the Nick at Nite shows that aired before I went to bed too, like I Love Lucy, I Dream of Jeannie, Mary Tyler Moore, etc etc.
Then Sundays had Pete and Pete!
I miss those ritual. TGIF, Saturday Morning Cartoons, and later, Nickelodeon. And then watching Nick at Nite and gaming. The ultimate precursor to streaming.
Most channels that produce cartoons now actually have a TGIT thing, were they play all their new shows on Tuesday or Thursday. Either that, or they have week long events that show a new episode of a series every day for 5 days straight.
IIRC, Cartoon Network at least started moving away from the TGIF model around 2008 or 2009, and most other channels followed along.
I'm sure this generation has their own rituals and unifying pop culture. Like, YouTube channels are pretty popular with kids, I bet they talk about the latest videos from their favorite creators.
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When I was a kid, Harry Potter was just this huge phenomena that everyone was obsessed with. Book and movie releases were events! A while back I was wondering, how long will it be before we have something like that again? But eventually I realized, we have big stuff now. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is like that. (I've never heard of a movie crashing all of the theater websites on release!) And Game of Thrones is like that, albeit limited to an adult audience. I look forward to seeing what's going to be big in 10 years, 20 years.
Every Friday I sat in front of the TV with a huge bucket of legos, and watch TGIF and just build shit. It was one of those things I'd never want to miss. I'd make sure I was home to catch Boy Meets World at the very least.
Yeah, that used to be a much bigger thing. You’d watch some show everyone anticipated all week, the. Talk about it at school the next day.
Back when SNL was edgy you talk about it on Monday before school.
Between TGIF and SNICK kids today don't know what it was like to have a specific time when programming was for you. Now it is all for you all the time and therefore isn't special anymore.
Omg the sleepovers specifically to watch TGIF, then get creeped out by 20/20 and spend the rest of the night convinced there was a killer in the backyard.
TGIF meant hanging out on the couch with my siblings, eating giant bowls of popcorn and spending quality time with eachother between commercial breaks, while mom and dad probably boned down.
My family and I still all gather in the living room multiple times a week and watch Jeopardy-Wheel of Fortune. I'm really gonna miss that when I go away to college in a couple months :(
I'm a millennial. I don't miss having to wait an entire week for a show to come out. In fact, when Hulu does their stupid ass release one episode of a new show every week WHEN IM PAYING FOR A STREAMING SERVICE SO I CAN BINGE WATCH it gets me pretty heated.
And SNICK. Are you afraid of the dark ftw.
The internet and related technologies have killed patience, boredom, and the necessary togetherness of things like watching the one family TV all together. And yet, paradoxically, it has also destroyed solitude for many people.
I tend to be optimistic that the progress is worth it and there are solutions to all of these issues, but we should be honest with ourselves about what we've "accidentally" lost in recent years.
I remember one TGIF that was in 3D.
I forgot where I got the glasses but all the TGIF episodes were in 3D and it was so awesome. I remember "Home Improvement" specifically. They had some big piece of lumbar on tool time and were rocking in back and forth at the screen and I was like "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
Ya tgif I watched every night with my mom and sister. Now a days, you have too be much more proactive and disciplined in your life, because ot can be chaos. Honestly, most people just live until the weekend to get outta work. Its really important to create for yourself something to look forward to, because time will pass by so fast now. Even movie rental nights are no longer a thing. My gf and I still reserve a night to sit down and watch a movie together, but you have to make it special. Consuming so much and having it available 24/7.
I wouldn't even restrict it to kids. Back before everything was VOD, your community would have a ritual and a shared experience over popular TV shows. People would set up viewing parties for Survivor or Big Brother, everybody would experience them at the same time, and then everyone would talk about the show the next day. Everybody spent a week speculating over who shot Mr. Burns or whether House was going to save Wilson's girlfriend.
Now, every experience and discussion about entertainment (aside from a few hits like GoT) is preceded by a back and forth over how far each other has gotten into the show, and a desperate attempt to keep any spoilers from the person who's further behind. People aren't talking on the same level, so the person further ahead isn't going to participate in a conversation about the motives or the outcome of a story if they already know how it ends. It's a small thing, but I think this loss of shared experiences is just another way that the internet has disconnected us from each other.
Most of my stuff I watched alone, but looking back I really enjoyed knowing what time something was going to come on.
"Alright Teen Titans starts at six so I need to be done playing outside by then. Homework at eight, then bed where I need to stay up and sneakily watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force at eleven."
It was like having my own personal routine that gave me a lot of agency and independence. I wonder if kids nowadays have the same opportunity.
Some of us still watch stuff weekly! TV Hiatuses are what makes watching weekly TV really hard though, spacing between seasons seem to be around a year for all of the shows I watch, and it makes it hard to stay interested in. Maybe that’s a part of the problem
Make it so.
Our family has worked through countless sitcoms together. Every night before bed, we get one (maybe 2) episodes in, then it is bedtime.
My kids know and look forward to TV time each evening.
Want something like that again? Do it.
yea! tgif on abc during friday evenings! /r/nostalgia
Dadada a da a da "It's a rare condition this day and age to read any good news on the newspaper page..."
There are lots of things, not a kid but young and we have watch parties to watch GOT and stuff like that, and I still watch SNL with my parents, it’s up to whoever wants to be involved and watch together
TGIF and SNICK!
This is why I wish Netflix had a live TV option. Sometimes it’s not just the show, but the combined experience/event knowing other people are out there seeing the same thing at the same time.
It saddens me with that with the offical death of the last Saturday Morning Cartoon blocks in 2014 an entire generation will grow up without that special feeling of getting up early on Saturday to watch them.
I think I might buy a few old seasons of the cartoons I watched back when I was a kid and play an episode of each on Saturday for them to get up and watch. I'd set it up so that they'd never know it wasn't airing on tv. If we have something come up on a Saturday I could simply ask one of my friends to do me a favor. I'd let the kid call him and ask him nicely to delay the show untill Sunday morning so he won't miss it. This way, they don't stop showing them without warning (like what happened to me when I was a kid).
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F
F
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Best you can do is buy the cartoon DVD sets and let them watch only on Saturday mornings.😁
Watching Johnny Bravo at 7am with the volume at 2 so I wouldn't wake my parents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atHUYWL1eIU
Theyre never going to know the joy and excitement of tip toeing into the living room to catch the intro song that leads to new cartoon episodes they waited an entire week to watch
I actually woke up at 0440 on Saturday and started looking for something, but couldn't find whichever channel was ABC. I was super missing that entire block.
ABC was so lit. The proud family, Zach & cody
Fox was where it was at in my day. The Tick, Eek the Cat, Animaniacs and Tiny Toons (though I think those were in their after-school block, IIRC).
Same here, I watched Tick and Animaniacs as well, but my jam as a younger kid was watching The X-Men, Batman TAS, and Spiderman. I tried watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers but I decided it was too campy after the first episode when I was 7 or 8.
I felt like the only kid in school who didn't watch any of the Fox stuff. We just didn't get it on our antenna. I was an outcast unless I bumped into someone who also liked abc's lineup.
Idk my kid is up early on saturdays to watch his stories. Extra early if hes behaved well enough that week to earn vidya.
Ironically, its not really any earlier than we get up through the week, but suddenly oh its on his terms...
dude, you're insane
saturday mornings will never not rule for a kid
there's nothing special about the cartoons, it's was (is) the lack of school/responsibilities that made it the best morning of the week
was it NBC? i remember reading the articles about The Death back when it happened. it made me sad.
There have always been kids who wouldn't watch it anyway. I will admit I am not American, so we didn't have a specific Saturday Morning Cartoon blocks, we did had kid channels that continuously played kids cartoons, and often they had something special in the morning such as a full movie (often Pokemon), and some really good cartoons in the morning, so there was definitely a good reason to watch it in the morning.
I never did, though. I wanted to sleep in on my weekends, even as a kid. Even as a baby I slept through the whole night. So, I never got up for those things, nor would I have gotten up for the Saturday Morning Cartoons if I was American, and some of those movies and cartoons I really wanted to see. Especially since those movies almost never returned, unless, again, very early in the morning.
I already had to get up early five days a week, why do I want to do that as well in my weekends? You might think I miss something, which is true, but personally I just found it frustrating. I would have much preferred to have something like Netflix to just watch what I wanted to watch.
They had changed quite a bit by the time I was watching them, but it was still a thing when I was growing up in the 2000s. It was on a network owned by WB (can’t remember which), and it was mostly action cartoons and shows, and some anime like Pokémon and Digimon. I specifically remember Xoalin Showdown and the Jackie Chan Adventures being my favorites.
Gen X here. And you knew the party was over when "Soul Train" came on.
Where I lived, that came on right after Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
See for me the party continued, we didn't have cable, so Soul Train was the closest we got to music videos
Oh god, I forgot all about that. The last cartoon would finish, and then Soul Train. I didn't give a damn about that show when I was 9 years old. It was the subtle heartbreak of the cartoons being over.
Soul Train was the shit when I was a teenager. We loved it.
Yep when soul train came on it was time to go outside and find your friends and be gone all day, but be back home before the street lights came on.
What really killed Saturday morning cartoons was a combination of the ban on shows created specifically to sell toys to kids and the requirement to show a few hours of educational content every week. Saturday mornings on the major US networks still have children's programming, but instead of cartoons it's Jack Hanna and a bunch of animals.
Edit: spelling
Now that I’m an adult, my Saturday morning cartoons is the English Premier League.
Same here man! I was looking for a comment about Premier League.
My favorite team is in League One right now. But times aren’t bad to watch as an American.
The thing we try to do as a counter to that is to create a different “event”. There isn’t a “go to blockbuster and pick out a movie and watch it on Friday night” anymore, but that doesn’t stop us from getting together Friday nights and make popcorn and other treats and pick out a movie on amazon for our movie night.
This is very true. I have a pretty decent theater/projector setup in my backyard. Instead of going to blockbister and picking out a movie, we create events around that now. Big popcorn machine. 12' screen with 5.1 surround. We listen to music, hang out in the backyard, and then screen a movie. My daughters love it. We have friends and family come over and we all have a blast. But my kids will never know what it was like to walk into a blockbuster. That experience is gone forever. I am replacing it with other things, but it is a very specific part of my life that is gone. It is something that they will never experience. That is the part that makes me sad.
As an adult, instead of Saturday morning cartoons I have Saturday Night Live.
Personally if you're of that mindset you know you don't have to buy your kids tablets or smart phones. I never really did Saturday morning cartoons but I still feel like we don't need to be giving internet-accessable devices to young children.
This. As someone thinking about having kids it sort of terrifies me that there’s this tremendous social pressure to allow them access to multiple internet-connected devices all the time. Studies have shown that TV shows (even educational ones) are no substitute for human interactions for little kids. Plus, I don’t like the idea of them being addicted to glowy screens before they’re even old enough to read.
That's not true! We still have to wait an entire week for anime!
I'm surprised this isn't higher, guess there just aren't many weebs here lol. If a new show's airing, you can bet I'll be using that downtime to discuss it with friends. It always goes "Have you seen the new episode of {show}?" "Yeah, I can't believe {some major event} happened," and we all get super excited and start thinking of what could happen next until the guy who's read the manga comes and inevitably spoils it...
Anyways, I just wanted to let some people that grew up on cartoons know that at least a part of what made the experience special still remains today!
I said the same :D You know it’s bad when you start to read the manga and then you realise the manga is also ongoing and you read the novel the manga is based off.
Yeah I got so tired of waiting for new episodes to air that I started reading the manga and now that I’m all caught up I’m just waiting for new chapters to come out :/
Or any other TV show really
This even ran up into the early 2000s, my brother and I got up every Saturday to watch the latest pokemon episode. I now kinda realize how insignificant that is.
I get this from a child’s perspective, but from a (very below the poverty line) adult’s perspective, I realise how much my parents must have spent on cable and am glad for the more affordable option of Netflix. I haven’t been able to afford cable in almost 10 years. We can’t even afford to buy a TV, for heaven’s sake, as much as we want one. It’s laptop and Netflix for us, and, frankly, we consider ourselves lucky to even have that.
I mean depending on what you want a good decent size TV is at or less than 100 dollars which is pretty easy to save up
It's crazy how different on demand made things. When Twitch ran a giant marathon of all the Pokemon episodes, it made me remember being a kid in the 90s when FOX kids ran new episodes every weekday morning. I remember getting up early, sneaking to the basement TV, and watching it almost muted because I didn't have headphones. Now I could feasibly watch any episode I wanted at any time but in those days, sleeping through my alarm or getting caught by my parents meant I wasn't seeing the new episode until the rerun came around months later.
I don't know if it's because I always had too much homework, but it was so hard waking up in time for cartoons. I'd usually catch the last show before Soul Train started. If I wanted to, I could try for Batman Beyond, Pokemon, and Static Shock, but anything before nine? Impossible.
One thing I realized for myself at least. College Game Day (as a college football fan) is basically adult Saturday Morning Cartoons.
Someone else mentioned English Premier League. Which sometimes starts at 5am. I would agree with both sentiments. Because of how rigidly scheduled sports are, they do retain the ritualistic feeling.
My favorite soccer team is in the third tier, but I try and watch them, game times are a bit more reasonable for living in America, last two weeks have been 9am central.
Same thing here except for esports. I always eagerly anticipate the next big Smash Bros tournament and there's something fun and exciting about watching something live that you cant rewind or pause.
like everything else, there was good cartoons and bad cartoon but as a kid your priorities are different.
Yeah I completely agree with you about the ritual thing. Scheduled shows brings with it the anticipation and a degree of unavailability that makes you look forward to it more. Now that everything is available anytime, anywhere, you don't get to have that extra sense of appreciation. Same thing with physical music records. Every album I owned before, I would listen to it on casette while reading their in fold with a lot of interesting stuff written on it, appreciating the album art that came with it. It helped me digest songs that I did not initially liked on first listen but turned out to be better than those singles that got me buying the record. Now with spotify, so many albums with very little time spent, I don't have much connection to music than I did before.
We still do it! I have the kids queue up some muppet babies and Garfield and friends while I make breakfast, then we eat together and watch :)
https://youtu.be/atHUYWL1eIU
Highlight of my week as a kid.
I agree with this. Last weekend my husband was still sleeping and I had a headache and didn't want to get ready yet so I turned on crave and watched the classics - bugs bunny, daffy duck, felix. It was one of the best mornings
Rather it was the "event" of Saturday Morning Cartoons that I miss.
I can definitely agree with this, and I know a lot of other people feel the same.
Two years ago, some friends and I started a once-a-week anime stream with sort of a Toonami/Adult-Swim vibe to it because we enjoyed all of that stuff back in the day, but now we don't really have the schedules to watch it (lol adulthood).
It is cool that they brought Toonami back, but I'm asleep by like 10:30 every night, so it doesn't really benefit me.
However, since it's our own thing, we can make it work with our schedules and the stream's been both a cool thing to "look forward to every week" like when I was a kid and a way to keep up with friends.
10/10, would recommend people starting their own thing.
Our son's friends would come over and watch Toonami, or he would go to one of their houses. It was not to be missed
Even growing up in the early 2000s there were always Saturday morning cartoons. Every weekend without failure I'd turn on the TV nice and early so I could keep up with the latest in YU-GI-OH
Didn't cable TV kill Saturday morning cartoons? I was born in 1992 and I always remember having cartoons available basically 24/7.
Sort of. Nikelodeon had been around for a while, and they had a lot of varied kids programming. Cartoon Network came around in `94, I think? For the longest time is was just a repository for old cartoons. If you have the Boomerang Network, that was 100% what Cartoon Network was for years. Then, in the later 90s they started Cartoon Cartoon, where they started development on their own cartoons. They still had "even television". But they could shift that to other nights. In 2010, Cartoon Network Friday nights was my jam.
However, not everyone had cable. Especially when I was young. (Born in `81) Cable was a luxury for a LOT of people. Now, because of the streaming, none of that matters. Streaming cable services. Free content on Network specific apps. Netflix, Prime, Hulu. YouTube. If you want content, you can easily get it.
One Saturday Morning anyone?! RECESS! THE WEEKENDERS! PEPPER ANN PEPPER ANN SHES TOO COOL FOR 7TH GRADE
So much this. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends; The Smurfs; The Snorks; Gummy Bears; The Incredible Hulk; Dungeons and Dragons; Captain N; Q-Bert; Super Friends; Transformers; He-Man; She-Ra; M.A.S.K.; C.O.P.S.; Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry re-runs; that awful Pac-Man cartoon... They took out double-page spreads in the comic books of the day to advertise the Saturday Morning Cartoons, too. Good times.
Make your own Saturday morning cartoons. Thats what I'm thinking of doing. Just a fun playlist of cartoons and boom. Wake up watch em.
That's what I do with the anime I watch. Save some of the new episodes from the week for Saturday morning to watch with coffee and cereal. It's awesome and I look forward to it every week.
I think just in general, there was something kinda fun about that time of the week when your show would come on. It didn’t have to be Saturday morning on its own, but just that excitement of “oh boy, it’s show time.” There’s still lots of shows that come out on a schedule, but it’s not the same if you can just watch it whenever you want later.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d never go back to TV on a schedule like that, but I’ll never forget that feeling of getting excited like an hour before a big episode was about to air, and then going in the next day and talking about it.
One I remember specifically is being a kid and watching the first episode of Pokémon where they showed Blaziken. This was before that generation of Pokémon and even the Pokédex didn’t know what it was. And everyone went in the next morning just like “Hey, did you see that cool bird thing?”
Remember every September there'd be a primetime special on each network introducing all the new cartoons for the Fall season - that was some serious can't miss TV. You can find some of them on YouTube
The internet might've been the final nail in the coffin of the Saturday morning cartoon block, but the death spiral started long before then (in the US, at least) when the government started pushing stricter educational content requirements in the mid-to-late '90s.
That combined with competition from cable networks (which weren't held to the same standards for educational content as the broadcast networks) forced a decline in more traditional Saturday morning content until all the major broadcast networks had replaced their Saturday morning blocks with all-edutainment content.
And then streaming video came along. Which helped finish it off, but things were falling apart and ratings were collapsing well before Netflix came on the scene in 2007.
I remember having cable in the late 90s but still addicted to Saturday morning cartoons because both Marvel and DC cartoons were dabbling in "cinematic universes" long before Iron-Man
My Saturday cartoons is just Premier League soccer for me now. It's great!
When the new season of doctor who started coming out my brother in law sat my 7 year old nephew down to watch it.
He's never watched doctor who before and was absolutely awestruck (adult opinions of the latest season aside). He wanted to watch more and couldn't fathom it when we told him he had to wait a week for the next episode and there was nothing we could do to change that.
It seems like a good exercise in delayed gratification.
Actually, in certain scenarios, that kind of situation is still around. My little brother and I wake up every Friday morning to catch an episode of an anime that airs on Crunchyroll an hour after it airs in Japan. It's still on going, and it's great to sit with my little bro and see the cool stuff we both like.
I think there's something to be said for the experience of waiting for something. We don't get to wait anymore. Everything is at our fingertips.
This but with horror movies. When I was a kid, we had Creature Features late Friday nights and on Saturday afternoons.
In my twenties we had Joe Bob Briggs and MST3K
There is still a somewhat local show on in the Bay Area now on Saturdays and Joe Bob is back on Shudder
Horror needs a good host
Friday Night Frights on channel 69 here before it became The WB. That was when I discovered real horror. MST3k only reinforced that love.
Back in my day we would watch horror hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. (For reference, see Boobarella in the Simpsons) We even had to get videos taped for us because we didn't get the channel in my rural area
I miss "USA up all night" with Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear. Ahh long summers with sleepovers where nobody sleeps, and the first one to conk out gets the crayola marker mustache! (cause we weren't mean enough to use a sharpie).
Still a thing in some developing countries, like Thailand. TV stations here still televise cartoons on Saturday mornings.
What are Saturday morning cartoons like in Thailand?
Is it a lot of American cartoons? Japanese cartoons? Or is it media unique to Thailand?
Is it a lot of older stuff, or current television?
Mix of Japanese cartoons like Doraemon, Naruto and also American cartoons on certain channels.
Mainly its reruns of older stuff.
Some channels even televise reruns of Cable TV exclusives (mainly from Cartoon Network) but thats about it.
same with TGIF tv block
Up at 5am every Saturday. Legos and sat morn. Camp candy, life with louie, sesame street, king arthur, life with louie, thunder cats, transformers, tmnt.... then time to play outside at 10 am. It was a ritual. Im trying to start a similar pattern at 35 with running at 6 am... getting studying in, breakfast. Rituals and schedule really help keep your life in order.
Ps... had to get up by 5 am to catch sailor moon. Anime blew my mind. They had romance elements american cartoons did not.
Thank you for reminding me of this. I went down a hole that ended up on Amazon buying the dvd release of all 27 episodes of the original 1983-85 Dungeons and Dragons TV cartoon. I have never seen all of them but Am looking forward to watching them now. Then watching them again with my youngest daughter.
Well the flip side is that at least if my kids are watching Netflix on Saturday mornings there's no advertisements. I don't have to deal with my kids asking for all the shitty toys that looked awesome in the commercials
Do they watch YouTube? The unboxing videos seem to have filled the void that commercials left. All my daughters ask for is LOL Surprise stuff.
Yes they do and yes this is very true.
We went on a vacation once to a cabin with satellite TV. We haven't had cable or satellite for at least 10 years. The kids were very confused as to why we couldn't watch the show they wanted. I tried to explain that the show only comes on Sunday at 6pm. I didn't allow tablets or phones, so we gasp had to play cards and board games.
Heh, I grew up in Oman in the 80's, and we had the pink panther once a week. Coming back to England with masses of cartoons, etc, was weird.
I kinda got to experience the Saturday Morning Cartoon thing again recently. I wanted to watch this Chinese-only cartoon called Valt The Wonder Deer that has basically no uploads of it online in English, and some UK-based channel that had it (Propeller) has a stream of their service online and they played the show at odd hours of the morning. I would wake up super early to watch the show, and it played in random order so it was no guarantee I'd get the episode I wanted to see.
And then they took it off their channel before I could finish it.
Ho. Ly. Crap. You nailed it. Before school, Saturday mornings, bugs bunny, duck tales, looney tunes. All that.
They don't know what it is like to have to wait for a week for. New episode.
Not only that, but it removes, or at least complicates, the social, shared-culture aspects. My kid got really into some show from 20 years back that she found on Netflix, and she either had to convince her friends to start watching it too or be the odd duck at the kindergarten.
Now at least it's Pokemon, which might still be old, but is still damn near ubiquitous.
(Of course I've also gotten her into Animaniacs by way of me wanting to watch it, and she's really into Only Connect for some reason, even though we're not British and it's a nigh-unto-impossible quiz show for adults, doubly so without the cultural background, and way over the head of a second-grader. So... odd duck nevertheless.)
I wish we knew we were in the good old days before they were over.
they don’t know what it is like to wait a week for a new episode.
Unless they’re weaboos.
My oldest and I watch the Boku no Hero Academia simulcast together...
Absolutely. My parents couldn't drag me out of bed the rest of the week, but on Saturday morning I was up at five am to watch my animal shows, and then One Saturday Morning, and after that my mom would bring home sausage and gravy from Hardees and I'd eat it while watching Looney Tunes. THEN, I'd go outside.
I grew up in the late 90's and I even had similar experiences. My brother and sister would have to make sure we were in front of the TV at 8/7 central to watch the newest Disney Channel original. I remember that tiny tv that my parents got my brother and I for our bedroom. Man that thing sucked but it was so much fun watching that thing together and playing that N64
With Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, nothing but parenting and bad wifi is stopping them from watching whatever they feel like. They'll never run out of content; hundreds of thousands of videos are at their fingertips.
Man, as a parent, YouTube is the worst. Trying to regulate what my kids watch is a nightmare. Even within a specific channel, tone can vary wildly from video to video.
Don't get me wrong. I love YouTube. I watch a ton of it. But it is the wild west when it comes to my kids.
Especially when you factor in these: 1. Anybody with any personality can post/view/comment on content. 2. Anybody with any culture/nationality can post/view/comment on content. 3. Anybody can hack/change content with the means to do so (think-scammers or that whole Momo thing going around) 4. Your kids can view all of this with a click of a button. If they know they're in the wrong, deleting history and hiding evidence is as simple as a couple taps on a submenu. It's scary how easily kids can be exposed to anybody/anything just by looking at an innocent video. You may think "well, I've never heard her curse" and all of a sudden drop two f-bombs in an unboxing video.
As an example: I didn't know my sister had been into Hamilton until she told us. Not that it's bad, but all she did was click into a video and BAM! is led down an entirely different path.
SOOOUUUUULLLLL TRAIN!.
totally true re: ritual
one workaround used even when we were kids tho, if we had the vhs for lion king for example and wanted to watch it every day after school, mom would have to pop it in the shared tv and we'd still watch it together , some form of ritual
Idk about you but it's still happening in 3rd world countries like mine, they recently stopped around 2014 but up until then, oh man 1 episode of pinko the pink panther a week WAS THE SHIT
I feel this for myself as well. I absolutely love binge watching, but I never have anything to watch anymore. TV doesn’t bring me joy like it used to, but I also don’t want to do anything else. I think waiting for shows to come out serially, each week, is a good habit, and I’m trying to relearn that habit.
I miss this as much as you do
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I still have 3 FOX Kids magazines that I go through every once in a while. I miss Eek! the Cat!
As an adult, I found an monthly event in NYC called Spoons, Toons, and Booze, where they show old cartoons (60s through early 2000s) and serve breakfast cereal with shots of either bailey's or Kahlua, and it's a lot of fun.
My house was lucky, we had 4 tvs, one in my moms room, one in the kids "play room", one in the office, and one in the dining room, so everyone got a TV. I was the unlucky one who normally had to deal with the old tv that would often shut off for no reason, but it was still a tv.
I never thought about this, good call. I miss watching Batman and Superman at 8am on Saturday, but that's mostly because I'm not a kid anymore. Do you think the internet is what killed them, or just the quality went downhill?
You ask anybody, they will say that the cartoons they grew up on were the greatest. I still watch plenty of cartoons with my children. There will always be stinkers, but a lot of them are still really good. Steven Universe, Star vs The Forces of Evil, The Loud House, the Home and Trolls animated series. The new Carmen Sandiego and She-Ra are good. Heck even Barbie: Life in the Dream House on Netflix is REALLY good. (That't not a joke. The show is really funny.) Cartoons today can still be pretty great.
Neither. I think the novelty is what makes the cartoons great. The first 100 cartoons are awesome, but when you get to the millionth one it gets tiring. This may be the reason why we all think the cartoons from our childhood are the greatest. Well, it's just a hypothesis and I could be wrong.
I get that, and relate since I binge watch a lot of shows. Although I'd say the timeframes have changed where I'll wait months for a show to drop and binge it that weekend. Then again my sense of time is much different than when I was a kid.
Glad I caught the end of that era at least (late 80s early 90s). The 6:30 to 7:00 time slot change was a HEARTBREAKER.
I even wrote my local Fox affiliate. They sent back a letter saying that they didn't choose the time and that they were sorry.
Yeah but when a new season drops it's like Christmas.
I think it's great everything is easily accessible but at the same time I don't think it will illicit the same type of feelings we had for things we had to wait for. When I was a kid we had video games, we had cable, we had the internet sure. But all of that was very limited still save maybe cable if your parents could afford the better packages with thousands of channels (which we only had once I believe). And I'm talking about the late 90s and early 2000s. Technology nowadays is cool, but the whole world is basically at their fingertips and to me it just seems incredibly overwhelming, and with so much information hitting you at once, you tend to ignore 90 percent of it for the big name stuff, or whatever stands out to you. I used to love searching for obscure games, and reading obscure books. I had a feeling that the stuff I liked was unique to me. Only I knew about it. That's a feeling others have mentioned and I completely get where they're coming from. But everything is connected now. Nothing is too obscure. And I think because of that, the magic is lost. There's no adventure, the curiosity is reduced, and kids' imaginations are mostly unneeded.
I remember waking up early on Saturdays and watch scooby doo on cartoon network. I would watch it in my parents room while they slept. I miss those days.
My old roommate and I used to have a Saturday morning cartoon tradition where we'd watch crappy anime on Crunchy Roll. That was fun. It usually involved day drinking too.
Yeah we got up early on Saturday and ate cereal and watched Bugs Bunny and Road Runner all the way until noon. It was like useless entertainment that we didn't get all week. All the best stuff was Saturday morning. And yeah we fought over the channels a lot. No remote either, just a pair of pliers for turning the broken knob.
And then like five episodes of Saved by the Bell came on to let you know cartoons were over. I know people liked that show but I was a kid at the time and will always resent it for being “that crap that came on when I was trying to watch Saturday-morning cartoons.”
I was thinking of this just the other day! Kids and I were watching The Simpson's clips on YouTube and i remembered when a new episode came out and we all spoke about it the next day at school.
Specifically, the episode with "michael jackson". Everyone was singing Happy Birthday Lisa.
Also the torture of 2 shows you liked on at the same time. I used to switch to other show between commercials.
Mine was the Flintstones and the Jetsons on Friday or Saturday at 9 and 9:30. I used to watch it with my dad and man do I miss that happy place.
Then on Sunday, trying to re-live the high of Saturday morning cartoons, but it just isn't up to par
They were never white as good. Widget the World Watch instead of Captain Planet. Or Liberty Kids. Or Fantastic Max.
The New Parkway in Oakland does Cereal Cinema once a month. 2 hours of cartoons and unlimited breakfast cereal buffet at 10am on a Saturday
That is kinda rad, actually.
Different spin: my parents forced me to take German classes every Saturday AM for eleven years. I never got to watch Saturday AM cartoons, they were this mythical adventure I want able to join. Most of those eleven years were pre-VCR too so no catching up later. I may have enjoyed learning German had I owned an iPad!
Whenever the yearly holiday specials were on, you knew everyone of your other friends were watching at that exact moment. You felt bad for the kid who had to miss It’s the Great pumpkin Charlie Brown or Rudolph. And they didn’t have a thousand commercials and hosts that force nostalgia to the viewers.
Yes! That feeling of a show being moved up half an hour and just having to go "well I guess I'll never watch that again" that I do not miss but it isn't a feeling you get nowadays.
I think it's funny to look back at how I'd have to be dragged out of bed to go to school but Saturday mornings I could wake up to catch the cartoons that would start at 7 a.m. and sit still till 9 a.m.
Watching TV together is quality family time, man — whether it’s good or bad TV. Sucks that everyone just watches videos by themselves, on their tiny devices now :(
I remember waking up, going into my parents’ room and watching Fighting Foodons every weekend. It was an odd show, but we would all sing the theme when it came on! Great times!
I remember back in the early 2000's, the prospect of missing an episode of Digimon Tamers on Fox Kids was the only thing that kept me from sleeping in until 10 or 11 AM.
Also TGIF for the same reasons
Yep. 100%. Event television barely exists anymore.
This is the one for me. I’m only 24 and I miss Friday night anime and Saturday morning cartoons on Vortex. It was a Canadian thing. Even when I was younger, me and my older brother watching Dragon Ball Z each night and all the new episodes of Pokémon and others on Saturday mornings. Damn
As a kid I tried really hard to remember when new episodes were coming on (or even better a marathon). I'd spend all day thinking about it and forget it completely by the time it came around. It pissed me off to no end. I was so forgetful.
I dont think I've seen an entire season of ANYTHING all the way through on cable TV.
If you ask my mom, she will tell you that I was a walking TV Guide. I knew when everything was on. It was my gift. It was my curse.
I saw a video recently about the history of Hanna Barbera and it was really interesting, it went through the changes in cartoon television through the 20th century https://youtu.be/CWgcizAgxOs. Some of this stuff I kind of tangentially picked up on as a kid in the 90s, but it's cool to see the actual development. I didn't even know Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and (not mentioned in the video) the Children's Channel were such a massive game changer. Like the fact that cartoons were first kind of little shorts in the cinema before movies (now there's something that got killed, imagine instead of the ultracringe ads and trailers you get before a movie you got a little cartoon instead), then got on TV exclusively on Saturday / Sunday morning and then they made actual channels just for that.
I grew up hating the fact I'd have to get up early if I wanted to watch those cartoons. My parents would tape the Saturday block for me, so I could watch whenever I wanted. I always woke up late since I was homeschooled, so it was easier. I could put on the tape, eat my breakfast in front of the TV like a savage and it was still Saturday morning.
Oh man Saturday morning cartoons. That was the bomb. I remember specifically watching The Smurfs at 8am on a Saturday and waking my brother up and watching them together. Didn’t even care how early it was cause at the time The Smurfs were one of the cartoons to watch. Grab a bowl of cereal and you’re good to go.
I miss Saturday morning cartoons, so we have made it our ritual that Saturday mornings are pajama and cartoon day. Sure, the cartoons are from PBS kids on Roku, but there are only four per show with a new one every week. It helps that my kids don’t watch tv during the week yet.
But yet. Saturday morning cartoons, commercials that were for kids, lying on the floor in pajamas. It’s the ritual I miss, too.
I think commercials are one of the reasons unboxing YouTube videos are so popular with kids. Kids like being sold things. They like seeing how toys work. Since they don't get those commercials on TV, they find them on YouTube.
this is really sad. Especially for kids who dont have cable. All there is anymore in its place is educational shows. Mostly about nature.
Which is one of the reasons that internet access is important. Even without a paid service, there is a TON of free content to watch.
It's not really Saturday morning cartoons for me, it's just continuing my nostalgia from after school afternoons but watching Toonami on Saturday nights as an adult fills that childhood void a little bit.
I’m 19 now, and I’m in the last generation that got to experience the pure joy of Saturday morning cartoons (and VHS tapes). We were kinda poor, so I got to experience some of the more old school mediums from previous generations, and also got to catch the last wave of truly good cartoons.
Saturday mornings were the best when I was in elementary school. I'd wake up, watch two shows in my room, still under the blankets, then run downstairs before Pokemon came on, get a giant bowl of cereal and watch Pokemon, Jackie Chan adventures, X-men... It was the highlight of my week as a young kid. Even as I got older, it switched to video games, I'd drink cup after cup of coffee as I grinded out my character on WoW. The world in WoW felt so mysterious and immersive then. When BfA came out last year I got back in to WoW after almost 10 years away and it was fun, but I could barely even fathom the way I felt as a kid playing practically the same game and the way it really sucked you in to the world and discovering something new all the time.
Man, being a kid was awesome, but all I wanted then was to be older and be independent like I am now, having no clue what that really entailed.
Mr. Wizard man. I remember waking up at 5 am to watch Mr. Wizard. Any time I could manage to get myself up, definitely not a morning person, I felt like it was an accomplishment to get to see an episode.
I feel like I may need to binge some old Me. Wizard episodes. Then maybe a little Eureka's Castle.
They don't know what it is like to have to wait for a week for a new episode.
This right here is 60% of why I started watching Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, I get to eagerly await a new episode airing every Friday.
Thankfully the ritual of watching sports survived.
I think it might be stronger now than ever. Because other television events are not as much of a priority to watch live, sporting events are that much more revered.
I remember getting up early to watch Power Rangers every Saturday morning....those were the good days...
Shortwave radio. Every day and night you could tune in pretty much every country on the planet and there were even published guides, like TV guide. I had so much fun trying to tune in stations all around the world and putting pins in my world map for all of the ones I managed (conditions vary a lot based on day or night, frequency, solar conditions, etc) and you could also write to the stations with a report and get postcards and pennants and other swag from them.
It all started dying in the 2000s once the Internet meant you could find info about everyone everywhere. I found my old shortwave radio a year or two ago (from Radio Shack- another thing I miss!), and you can still get some stuff, but the bands are dead for the most part. It’s sad that magic is gone. :(
When I was a kid I would stay up late listening to the BBC World Service and Radio Moscow and random other places... it seemed so awesome that I could get live broadcasts from across the world. Now you can livestream anywhere and it just seems dull and routine
Radio Shack in the 80s was awesome. Radio shack in the 2010s is flaming garbage.
I think this is the biggest reason they went bankrupt. I remember when I walked in and couldn't buy some components I needed for my home project. I told my wife they'd be bankrupt within a decade.
They also fired all their knowledgeable techies and replaced them with high school kids who didn't even know what a resistor was.
We were by a college campus. So we had engineering students working, one guy had a degree from MIT ffs...just in between jobs. The amount of collective knowledge was incredible..plus we had a workshop in back and were allowed to mock up stuff for customers, it was great.
Oh, man, that reminds me of the radio shack that was about 30 minutes away and by a college campus.
The manager had a degree in electrical engineering and the rest of the staff was going to school for EE.
That's where I would go if I got stuck in a particularly hard issue. I only had a few questions that required the manager to help solve, but it was so nice having someone help.
A lot of times we wouldn't want to get too bogged down because selling you a pack of resistors doesn't reward us as much as hooking someone up with a stereo. But if things were slow, you could get a ton of info/help out of us.
Had a guy from the university used to have questions about components and parts all the time. He was patient so I also handled him around other customers as he knew he was taking up time. But I never gave him the brush off.
So he comes in one day before I got to work and asked for me. They told him when I was due and if they could help. He just said he'd wait and went over to the Newport Creamery. About 15 minutes after I come in, he comes back with a friggin list of stuff he needs. He got approval for his project from the department and came in to get all his stuff. Cleaned us out of quite a few things and had to come back after we got restocked. Computers, components, motors, spools of wire, etc. Hooked him up and gave me the best numbers I had ever turned...lol.
Yeah, most of the questions I had were generally for bigger buys than resistors and was getting a lot of parts, and the questions were mostly "my calculations show this or this, what's the best choice?" Stuff. The manager generally only had to check a few things before making a recommendation. I was poor, but spent my ditch digging money on electronics. They knew I was a sucker for tech stuff from the get go. 😁😁
I was active in ham radio at the time and was building a LOT of radio stuff, (still pissed RadioShack killed the HTX line btw) and other projects. They made money on me for sure. Now? I get paid to solve this stuff and prefer to keep my free time to do other things after a long day of work where my brain is burned out.
But good God I miss the excitement of doing home projects for shits and giggles.
I'm involved in the local high school...and for their theater program, I am always wiring up some type of effect or another. Bastardizing pieces of equipment; power supplies, fans, motors, etc..and rigging them up to do shit.
Just got my hands on a whole bunch of Arduino stuff so now I am looking to up my game. Yay lol
We walked into a Radio Shack looking for a 6 volt car battery. The young whippersnapper said they didn't exist. The farm machinery place begged to differ.
I had this issue with the 6 volt "lantern" style batteries.
I asked where they moved them to and he said there was no such thing.
Found it and walked up to the counter and politely educated him they exist by buying it.
I don't understand why they changed their business model really. I don't mind waiting a while now for stuff to come from Asia, where I get 200 resisters for a dollar.
I miss old Radio Shack so much. Especially now my kids are in the prime age for tinkering. I end up disassembling a lot of older electronics to get the parts I need.
I know there is Allied Electronics, DigiKey, etc...but just the idea of popping in to a store and picking up a few items and buzzing out. "I only need a few but I need them now!"
I literally live right down the street from Mouser and do will call pick up orders more often than I'd ever admit to my girlfriend. I would gladly go back to an old school Radio Shack any day. There was just something about just browsing all of the components to just pass the time.
If you happen to be in the St. Louis area look up Gateway Electronics. Like an old Radio Shack but cranked to 11!
There is a McMaster-Carr about 30 mins away, that place does enough damage to me as it is so I know what you are saying.
Plus, building my own stereo system, rehabbing old speaker systems. It had a bit of everything...and when it started getting all its online order stuff inline, you could get so much shit and never pay for shipping, just sent right to the store...where you picked up more stuff.
Thinking about how they fucked up and ended up missing out on all the maker-space stuff and 3D printers and all that shit. Could have been a complete rebirth and new heydey for them.
I still have a Digikey catalog around here somewhere.
Microcenter has a decent collection of tinker electronics now. Can find resistors to raspberry pies. Some stores are better stocked than others.
RadioShack literally became the brick and mortar version of the mall kiosk, something no one ever asked for.
LOL OMG I never noticed that you are right. I remember going in there to buy something years ago, and they wouldn't sell this thing to me unless I gave them my address. WTF I'm not doing that. Bought it at zellers instead I think.
Oh man I used to sit with my dad and we’d listen to the shortwave together. Thank you for reminding me of those happy memories ❤️
/r/amateurradio seems to be flourishing.
It was the least friendly sub I've ever been in unfortunately and the only one I've ever felt compelled to leave.
Hmmm. You might be right. It seems like /r/HamRadio still has activity also.
Edit; I don't think it's the least friendliest. That would be /r/politics, or /r/politicalhumor, or /r/twoxchromosones, or /r/mademesmile the latter two for banning me even though I never even posted in their subreddit!!
Apparently r/twoxchromosomes will auto-ban you if you're a member of certain other subs.
It's not that you did anything wrong, it's because they're retaliatory like that!
I still have a Kenwood HF transceiver that's been collecting dust for years; seeing that sub makes me want to buy a multiband antenna for it.
Actually that's where you're wrong, thankfully! There are more hams than ever in the US, and an growing revival in amateur radio in general.
I did a whole episode on it on my podcast, "What Makes You Happy?" (Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-makes-you-happy/id1446462607?mt=2).
It's a podcast about hobbies and happiness. I encourage you to check it out. 6m seems to be very hit or miss lately butVHF and UHF are always open, and people have been making awesome contacts on 20m and 80m particularly. Even CW is still around.
EDIT: It could be that you arent making contacts in your area obviously for a variety of reasons. But rest Assured we hams are out there!
73 de KE8LGP
Any recommendations for favorite modern approaches (eg apps) for learning CW?
Been having fun with WSPR and JT9/65 but have wanted to pick up CW for a while now....
73
CWOps has an academy where they actually use live instructors and teach you the code. There's a waiting list it is so popular. I used it for a refresher then went on to their level two class to increase my speed. I highly recommend it.
73!
I wish I did, I'm still learning myself, so I'd refer to the other responses here.
Thank you for what you do in an emergency. It was 1970 and a hurricane just hit the Texas coast. As luck would have it, we were out of town on vacation. We found out that my grandparents were okay because of relayed messages through ham radio operators.
That is so awesome. Thanks for sharing!
I thought shortwave and ham radio were different animals, at least in the most common usage of the terms.
Shortwave generally refers to receive-only activity, so you can listen in to the BBC, VoA, etc. Broadcast schedules are promoted so you know when to tune in.
Hams use shortwaves, but it's part of their hobby of transmitting and receiving (use of a transceiver, not just a receiver), and broadcasts are usually not scheduled - at least, not to the general public. It's more personal communication.
I have one actually! But I miss the broadcasts nevertheless, and /r/amateurradio was the least friendly place I've been on Reddit so haven't kept up with it. Maybe when I move back to the USA I'll check out my local club and they'll be better. 73 de KB3HTS
That's odd,I've always found r/amateurradio to be quite helpful and welcoming. Of course you get a few cranks and gatekeepers in any hobby. R/hamradio is also a good one, though a lot less populated.
Did you ever dare tell people that the hobby has a gender problem after sexist videos were posted? If not then it probably doesn’t affect you.
I wouldn't deny that there are far fewer women in the ham community than women. I don't know what videos you are referring to, but every time I've encountered a woman in a net, she's always been treated like everybody else, with respect and kinship.
Admittedly, I am still relatively new to the hobby.
My opinion on handling sexists is the same in the ham community as always. Call out sexist behavior when you see it. It doesn't help much after the fact. Make it socially unacceptable.
This was a few years ago.
I hope you do call it out in your daily life. But let’s just say when I told my experiences of the leers and side comments that made me uncomfortable, and how calling a woman over the age of six a “young lady” is condescending and perhaps feeds into the attitude of the hobby... well, I got tired of those going around that sub downvoting all my comments for months.
73!
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Thanks for the listen! Just released an episode on Geocaching. Please share around. We're a young podcast and we need the listeners. Thanks!
Ive been studying for my tech license for a couple Weeks now. I pass the practice tests every time but i refuse to take the test until i score a 100% at least once.
Any starter tips for gear? Im a gear nut in the recording studio and i build most of the studio’s gear. HAM seemed like a fun branch off of that and an excuse to build some different toys.
Do tons of research and buy used! Hamfests and flea markets are your friends!
Also, all-band, all-mode rigs are very expensive. You'll save a lot of money figuring out what you want to do first and then just buying a radio that will do that.
Lastly, build your own antenna if you can. Rigs will come and go, but a good antenna can last you ages, and shouldn't cost much at all.
If you still want to listen to radio from all over the world check out radio.garden. It's a website where you can listen to radio from all over the world.
Not the same, by far. Trust me. The internet definitely killed the magic of shortwave.
It did, yes. I miss shortwave, and while http://www.websdr.org/ is cool, it can't make up for the disappearance of all those wonderful and mysterious shortwave broadcasters. However, AM and FM radio is still alive and radio.garden is still an amazing resource for tapping into it.
What about podcasts? You can find good radio on podcasts.
QSL, baby!
Thank you for reminding me my old Bearcat DX1000 shortwave radio is in the basement, it may be nothing like it was in the 80s but I do believe it’s time to pull it back out.
Throwing in another vote for looking into a ham radio license. In the last year or so I got my license renewed (after a decade of not using it), upgraded, and learned morse code (CW). Personally I enjoy working portable where any type of infrastructure isn't involved. As someone who used to sit and listen to shortwave in my backyard as a kid, it definitely scratches the itch.
What resource(s) did you use to learn CW? Been thinking along similar lines but haven't dug into it yet...
If you'll allow a copy pasta of one of my recent replies in /r/amateurradio :
I started primarily with lcwo.net and a variety of mobile apps (on Android: Morse Toad, Morse CT, Koch Morse Trainer Pro). Once I was somewhat comfortable with the characters I started practicing with the 5wpm W1AW practice files. Earlier this year I took the online CW Ops CW Academy Level 1 course. While I was mostly copying at 5wpm when I started the CWA course, I still think it helped me get more comfortable with character recognition, common prosigns, and the general format of a simple CW QSO. These are all things you can probably learn on your own, as many people do, but if you like the structure of a class and schedule than CWA is definitely something to look into. I'm still slow, but guys have been willing to come down to my speed and making CW QSOs has been a lot of fun so far.
I have one, but haven't operated in a few years as I've lived abroad, and /r/amateurradio was the only sub I ever felt compelled to leave due to harassment.
Not quite the same thing, but still fun.
ERROR CXT-V5867 Parsing text null X66
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What frequencies do truckers use? I travel a lot for work and bring my baofeng with me but hardly get anyone in the air
Channel 19 used to be the goto for truckers (don't know if it still is).
Tried a break 19 and asked for a radio check the other day... dead air.
You may miss the Shack but I don't, I used to work there and there were so many things the company did that made no sense to me as an employee, there were days where no one would come in and we would just play with the rc cars all day.
Even on black friday there were only 4 people in line when we opened at 5am and they were all there for this shitty netbook we had for $100 that we only had one of, so the other 3 left without buying anything.
Stations are all out there but all the noise within town is just killing most ability to receive anything :(
shortwave propagation has also been terrible for the past few years
You can still find some interesting broadcasts. Also r/Shortwave
You might like this if you haven’t seen it:
https://radio.garden/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app
Here In Toronto it's mostly religious preachers/nutjobs in northern Canada on the shortwave bands now. Although i do sometimes pick up other countries like radio Beijing international or voice of korea.
I (in America) was playing Euro Truck Simulator and it has an option to listen to internet radio (or your own files or feeds or whatever) and by default it has all these European radio stations. I ended up listening to some random British station from what seemed like a really small town for a few hours and at least 3 different "shows/dj's" rotated out in that period. I got interested in maybe tweeting at them and trying to get a shout out but then I had to stop playing and for whatever reason never went back to it.
I understand what you're saying about the varying conditions of shortwave and sending out postcards and such but I feel like I got a kinda similar experience even despite what you say killed your hobby.
They still need shortwave radio/ham radio operators in emergencies when power lines go down. I have a cousin who still does that. There is apparently a national network for emergency services, so if you have a shortwave radio, keep it operating.
When the zombies attack, we'll need you.
Yeah, I have my license, but honestly the most common thing you often get asked to do is help out with a marathon of all things!
My Grandpa bought a huge box of junk on a charity auction for $1 and I found a shortwave receiver in it. I didn't know there was such a thing...it was so cool to hear stuff from all over the world.
This was my first thought when I saw this thread, but I didn't think anyone else would mention it. It's good to know others cared about shortwave back in the day.
radio.garden is awesome!!
When was this? You make it sound like a wonderful time to be alive.
And most of it is now propaganda. I have a "new" short wave radio, and it is interesting to hear the stuff coming from China!
It’s sad that magic is gone. :(
This sums up this whole threat
I enjoy
https://radio.garden/
Book stores and music stores.
The feeling of walking into a Borders and browsing the eternally high bookshelves can't be topped.
Bookstores are actually doing the best business they've done in a long time.
After nearly being wiped out a decade ago, small bookstores are booming.
Dane Neller, the owner of Shakespeare & Co. in New York City, just opened his third indie bookstore, and he's proving the naysayers wrong.
"Bookstores are back and they're back in a big way," he said. "I'm not giving to to hyperbole -- it was record-breaking for us."
A good number of people people prefer a physical book (I am one of them). Get enough damn screen time between work and smart phone ownership that I refuse to read my books on them too. Plus books are just great little things to have around in physical space.
And some people like to browse and pick something random. I’m less one of those, but I still enjoy a good peruse at a bookstore. Would be a real shame to lose them.
I prefer having physical books, but I also prefer reading ebooks. I end up buying physical copies of the books I read that I really like. So I know when the eventual apocalypse comes and the internet shuts down, I'll still have them with me.
This is me as well. I tend to finish most paperbacks in a few hours over a day or three, and the vast majority of what I'm reading are things I will enjoy once and never have an interest in revisiting. Not having those books taking up physical space anymore is fantastic, even if I do still love having a couple shelves full of titles I enjoy going back to.
So I know when the eventual apocalypse comes and the internet shuts down, I'll still have them with me.
DRM-stripper in Calibre. Hopefully we'll still figure out some way of generating at least limited electricity, and with how long a Kindle can last on one charge...
Lots of ways to generate electricity, but wiring things up to charge something like a Kindle might be difficult. I'm no electrician though.
It is very easy actually for anything USB powered.
You need 5 volt linear regulator - there is 1 in each power supply.
You could hook it up to dynamo (DC motor will work) and have rough way to recharge/power devices with handcrank.
There is a lot more if you want it done properly, but it is easy to learn this basic "hack".
Definetly. I don't like reading on a screen, paper is so much better!
I can't read a screen for too long or it gives me a headache. I've tried all the filters and settings and whatnot. It's just not going to work for me.
But a physical book? I can read those suckers for HOURS on end.
You can try an e-reader. Works perfectly. Books are still nicer for the feel, but e-readers can be great if you have to travel light and compact.
I read nonfiction on a kindle and fiction on a physical book. The e ink is nothing like an LCD type screen and I don't even really think of it as a "screen". Physical books are nice, but being able to highlight and bookmark facts, stats, and important passages, in nonfiction books is just too useful on kindle for me to give it up. I love being able to pull up all the highlights later to refresh myself on the important points of the book.
Bruh, stop trying to read on a tablet or whatever. Kindle Fires aren't really Kindles, they're just an Amazon tablet brand. Go grab an eink device--preferably one without a front or back light--and enjoy lightweight digital bliss.
I'm happy with my physical books, thanks.
If ebooks were cheaper, that's be one thing, but why pay the same amount or more for something you can't even use without electricity?
But easy one handed reading on your back, uncomplicated reading in the dark, having any book in the backpocket of our jeans or in the inside pocket of your blazer! I love the look and feel of physical books, but reading on an ereader (with e-ink/epaper) has too many benefits.
I read nonfiction on a kindle and fiction on a physical book. The e ink is nothing like an LCD type screen and I don't even really think of it as a "screen". Physical books are nice, but being able to highlight and bookmark facts, stats, and important passages in nonfiction books is just too useful on kindle for me to give it up. I love being able to pull up all the highlights later to refresh myself on the important points of the book. Also being able to switch between two or three books I’m reading at the same time as well as take them all when I travel is a huge benefit. Nothing wrong with sticking with your physical books, but there are a lot of upsides to digital.
So was I, until I realized they were a major component in triggering my asthma attacks :-\
I resisted the ebook thing for years as well. I'm just sharing that a tablet and an actual ereader are very different beasts, and once I switched to an actual original Kindle, I realized I was mostly being silly about the whole thing.
A/s/l?
18/f/cali ;)
u?
14/m/ca.
Pics?
I'm really torn.
I love the physicality of reading a book, you can flip a few pages back or forth easier, often you have a map or something in the binder, it feels and smells like a book etc. And that is compared to a dedicated ebook reader, forget about normal tablets or phones, the screens are awful to read.
However the collection of books gets annoying real fast, you can't easily take a bunch of them with you on vacation, they take up huge space at home. And, what I've learned watching my mom read her books on an ebook-reader - when you get older, increasing the font size on your reader is way more comfortable than faffing about with a magnifying glass.
The happy medium for me is an ebook reader. Easy on the eyes, no distractions, huge battery life.
For picture/photo/illustration heavy books you have to go physical. I have a modest collection of books that are worth the paper they are printed on.
For art or architecture, I love my huge, luscious physical tomes. But I do love the convenience of a Kindle too, and my tired eyes appreciate the backlight and larger fonts.
I listen to tons of audiobooks. When I find one I really like I buy it in a hard copy. You know, so when technology collapses I still have my favorite books.
I love having physical books, too. There is just something so satisfying about having something real that you can hold in your hands... It's so much more relaxing to me because it's such a departure from staring at a screen. Plus it's awesome to loan/borrow a great book from a friend and see the book show more wear as more people enjoy it.
It really would be such a shame to lose book stores. Despite their otherworldly ability to make people want to poop, it's such a pleasure to causally browse a book store. I had some time to kill before meeting my parents for dinner last week and there was a huge Barnes and Noble in the plaza by the restaurant and I swear I could have looked around for another hour. I actually stopped back in after dinner.
I think the biggest thing isn't the people who prefer a physical book, but that it's been long enough that people no longer feel like they have to make some big, universal decision - maybe somewhat contrary to your declaration here about preferring physical books.
When e-readers first came out, when they were first trendy, suddenly you had a ton more readers than in a long time. But everyone who bought one decided that now all of their books had to be digital. And then another contingent decided that they hated e-readers and made it almost a part of their identity that they preferred physical books.
And that polarization seems to have faded. Everyone I know who has a Kindle also buys physical books. When I first got my Kindle, I resolved to only buy books for it, and I told people not to give me physical books as gifts because I imagined always having my entire library at my fingertips. But today I have a pretty busy Kindle and also a big, full bookshelf. If I'm reading a new book, it's probably 50-50 whether it's physical or not. There are some books that I prefer to read in physical copies. There are some books that I prefer to read on the Kindle, but also want a physical copy of anyway - to loan out, to collect, to pass onto my kids, etc.
In the past, when I'd go with someone to a bookstore, I'd never buy anything - if I found something interesting, I wanted it on my Kindle. Now I just grab the book from the bookstore.
I don't think that the physical book people have suddenly multiplied, but that the non-readers that e-readers turned into readers are all realizing that it doesn't have to be all-or-nothing.
I'm not even that much of a reader, but I love having all kinds of books at home cause that looks really nice.
Since as I said I don't read that much I'll mostly have informative books on specific subjects , tutorial books, leaflets rather than novels. I love my growing library of car and manual work information resource, even if I can get about all of that information online.
I still buy 100% of my books in a bookstore, so I go to one almost every week. Can't imagine not being surrounded by books.
"Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is…it has no texture, no context. It’s there and then it’s gone. If it’s to last, then the getting of knowledge should be tangible. It should be, um, smelly."
--Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Physical books are just a better experience. While a proper E-reader is very good to read, it doesn't give you the feeling of flipping the pages or holding a massive book in your hand.
Can you imagine the future where no one has physical books in their home?
I love browsing and picking something random, but only if it's on clearance or at a thrift store. Like hell am I paying barnes and Noble prices for something that I have no idea what it's gonna be like!
I thought I'd be this way and avoided e-books for quite awhile. Then I pulled the trigger and have slowly gotten to the point where I almost no longer read physical. A big thing for me is reading while on an exercise bike, which I do a lot of. I can just prop an e-book up and keep my hands free except for touching the screen to turn a page. Other factors are they're easier to travel with on my frequent business trips and the built-in dictionary.
Yeah ... and to get the real bookstore experience, avoid chain bookstores. Find a tiny little obscure one, one that sells used books as well as new.
Then you'll get the atmosphere that the chain places are only imitating.
It's a shame that the only way a real bookstore experience can exist is as the vanity project of a bored rich person.
That isn’t even a little bit true. My family run a bookshop as our sole source of income, and when we started that we were definitely poor.
I'm a huge reader and for a few years I was on kindle constantly. Now I'm buying physical books whenever I can. Ive found that I don't get the same joy out of digital books.
Same! I don't know why but there's something about the paper that just doesn't carry over to an ereader. I really like the ereader features like downloading on the fly and dictionary but I often just go to the library and get paper books.
I read the pleasant aroma of an old book is vanillan so maybe there's some deep memories tied to the smell of a book...
There's a few reasons I prefer paper books.
It's easier to turn between sections based on roughly where it is in the book. So if I'm reading Lord of the Rings and I want to look at the map, or check the appendix, I can quickly flip to that section and get back to where I was reading in one smooth motion.
Books are physically more satisfying to hold and turn the pages of.
Books hurt a lot less if you fall asleep reading and drop them on your face.
I can definitely attest to the last point!
I've actually found that it's easier to hold an ereader than a real book while in the bath. They're typically much lighter weight and I'm not shifting my grip as much in order to turn between pages. Can't begin to tell you the number of times I've dropped a real book in the bath, but it hasn't happened once with my kindle.
I'll take your word for that, as I can't read in the bath - glasses don't deal too well with steamy environments!
The technical term for this is "a dead cat bounce." Also, all but the biggest used bookstores have had a severe die-off in the last dozen years.
I don’t know how bookstores make money.
They’re always so full. But people treat them like a library, they’ll sit down and read a whole book. Put it back on the shelf and leave.
One of the book stores I like don’t even have someone on the counter usually as it’s so unusual for people to actually buy something.
The ones around me have cafes
Christmas. We get like 2 months worth of sales on the two days before Christmas.
Yup, it's true in Europe too, I know of at least 4 stores in 10 minutes walking distance. I've seen a street stall too, a fancy trailer with a couple hundred books.
Music, on the other hand... Haven't seen a music store in years.
Music, on the other hand... Haven't seen a music store in years.
Walked past a massive record store just yesterday in Amsterdam. They still exist, though definitely rarer.
You're better off specifying a country btw instead of Europe. Not all countries are the same..
Of course you're right. I could've specified but I didn't want to write an essay. I live in Hungary, but I could've also mentioned a Greek location, 3 German, 2 Austrian and a Slovenian location, among a few others. It's not uncommon, not to my experience anyway, so I just umbrella-d them under "Europe".
Our family run a couple of independent bookshops and basically everyone complaining about not having business just doesn’t have a clue how to run a bookshop. The key to it all is being involved in the local writing scene.
I hadn't considered that but it makes sense
I think the world changed so the market changed, the weakest links went out, and now since theres still demand the remaining stores are getting ALL the business. Just a theory.
Powell's in Oregon has turned into an outright powerhouse. You go there, and you feel like you're drowning in books. It's great.
(Of course, I live in China, so my books all come courtesy of Amazon and my Kindle, because books are what I need to live, yo.)
Borders begs to differ.
Damn, I miss that place. Yeah, I know, I know, Barnes & Noble...but I went to a bookstore for the music just as much as the books and every B&N I've been in doesn't seem to even have a music section.
Maybe it's just the indie stores which are resurging as niche retail, after the majors collapsed?
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for
The opposite of You Got Mail. We've come full circle.
I didn't know the trade in Harlequin novels was that brisk.
N'aaaah, I'm glad bookstores are doing alright but in my state we have the Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and the used book stores. And the used book stores are primarily Westerns and Romance.
Lord knows how they stay in business.
I prefer physical books, but I usually have to order ones I'd be interested in online.
looks around at all the closed units that used to be bookstores and record stores
Well, if it comes from CBS News, I'm obviously being a dick. I wondered why they were all closing down, it's because they're doing so well :)
Sorry, I don't live in NYC. A lot of areas lost their only book stores during the purge, and they haven't come back.
Barnes & Noble. Have you forgotten?
Most bookstores in my country have moved to selling stationary, magazines, high school study guides, and travel books. So if you want a specific book, you either have to wait a few weeks for it to be shipped in, or you just buy it online.
Do people actually search for a specific book? I just go into borders and buy any book that looks interesting, I never thought about getting a specific book unless it’s a 2nd book of the one I read before.
This but at thrift stores.
I went into BAM with a gift card and grabbed a book I had read at the library because it wasnt something that would be properly enjoyed as an ebook (The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo). I buy books I want to read by ebook or audiobook. If I need to get out of a stagnation period where there isnt any books bu my favored authors coming out and the algorithm isn't giving me anything I fancy I like to go to a bookstore to better find something organically. Aka judging a book by its cover and then pulling it out and reading the back and a few page flips of the writing style.
I've gone in looking for certain Jane Austen books, I know they'll have them and yes, I could order it, but if I'm near the book store I'd pop in and buy it. I've already read all of her novels but one day I'll go in and grab the collection of short stories/novellas that's in there.
I do this, but with my local library. It's free!
I definitely search for specific books, even when I go to charity shops if there's a book I've been looking out for I'll search for it, then browse. If it's a chain first hand bookstore I don't tend to go in unless theres a specific (and popular) book I want because it's too expensive to just peruse and pick up something I'm not excited about. Charity shops are a whole other beast, I definitely mostly peruse and buy anything that looks interesting, if its not, I've only lost £2
B&N has a very different atmosphere to Borders. I'm lucky there's a place called The Book Cellar by me that actually encourages reading and writing there without trying to get you to buy Starbucks.
Edit: The Book Cellar by me is in South Florida, for those curious.
What? I walk in constantly and no one says shit to me. Go in, grab some books, and sit down.
Yup. Used to spend hours there reading trade paperbacks to figure out which I would be buying. The chairs are there for a reason and I'm gonna use them dammit.
And still no one bugs me either.
I remember when I was a poor college student in love with comic books, so I couldn't buy them all. I was in my local B&N every other day, and I don't think even once an employee asked me to buy coffee or buy a book.
Likewise! Back in high school and college I paper-pirated literally hundreds of books by reading them in cozy little alcoves in Borders and B&N. Some months I’d go daily after classes for, like, 5-10h lol, afternoon till closing. The two I frequented most had giant floor-to-ceiling windows and big, plush recliners, so I’d find a lonely 2nd floor corner and alternate reading, napping, and people-watching. Was never too crowded so I only felt a little bad about taking advantage — tried buying a cookie or w/e every now and then but couldn’t often “afford” it, and always made sure to take care not to break book spines or leave anything behind. In fact, I loved the atmosphere so much that I’d occasionally bring library books in to read, probably a few dozen in total. Reckon I spent a couple thousand hours in them over the years and was also never accosted or questioned or even spoken to unprompted iirc.
Never liked little bookstores though (having given them a fair shake going to well rated ones all over). Generally found them way to cluttered and claustrophobic, the employees too invested in Providing Customer Service, and the selection never as good. Can see why less asshole-ish people than myself might like them though.
(also haven’t meaningfully stepped foot in a bookstore in almost a decade now — switched to e-readers and phones and never really looked back)
Borders was a lot more "cozier" to me than B&N. I was always able to tuck away in a corner snuggingly and read my manga or magazines or random language books, then run over to the café to get a snack or drink.
Barnes and Noble even took out their comfy chairs a couple years ago. I guess they wanted to discourage people from camping out.
Now you have to sit in the cafe.
It makes sense, since the books are mainly there to get you to purchase snacks and trinkets (and I'm fine with that as long as it keeps them in business).
Borders had much better math and science sections. Barnes & Noble just has books for high school kids and college undergraduates, while Borders actually had a few interesting books.
Amazon or an academic library will obviously be better than either.
I just did a double take cause I used to work at a small chain bookstore called Book Cellar but I know you're referring to a totally different store. But for a second I thought maybe the one I worked at had reopened!
A lot of B&N’s got rid of their outlets so people can’t stay long to read and drink overpriced coffee and keep their electronics fully charged.
Barnes and Noble is better than borders. Fight me.
Can i agree with you, instead?
Truue. I really miss borders B&Ns is not the same the vibes diffrent.....plus i hate starbucks
The Book Cellar is the shit!
Exactly, Borders let you sit on the floor and read the books, Barnes and Noble will send a security guard over to tell you if you want to sit, you have to sit in the cafe.
I am pretty sure that this varies by the store. The only time I've see people be approached for sitting on the floor and reading books is if they're blocking the entire aisle.
Also goddamn, these are bookstores, not your personal fucking library. Some of us actually buy books there and don't want used books that people already manhandled with their greasy paws.
OK.
There's a "Book Cellar" near me...you're not in Texas are you?
near chicago? sounds familiar!
The book cellar eh? Do you happen to live in Madison?
I live in Manhattan, we have a huge B&N near me, but I frankly like the Starbucks being in there. Feel like I can stay longer, do homework, etc.
Or buy Funko Pops. Or fandom socks. Or keychains. Or tshirts. Or other miscellaneous fandom tat.
I went into a B&N for the first time in years recently. It felt like about half the store was now toys / pop culture fetish items (funco pops, etc) rather than books. It was pretty jarring. I get why they're doing that, but it was a bit disheartening to see.
As someone who buys funko pops, their selection on funko pops is dying down too.
Been in one lately? It's hard to find anything but the most common books. 9 out of 10 times I'm told "we don't stock that but you can order it online!".
And what I do find is about 30% more expensive.
It's pretty easy to find certain books in my nearby Barnes & Noble. The books are pretty reasonably priced there too. What kind of B&N are you going to?
The kind that said "Barnes and Nobles" in big letters on the outside. We have three near me and they are all the same.
You need to move to another state, assuming you live in the U.S.
Borders was better.
B&N had better toilets for pooping in, on average though. They were my go to "Im out of the house and need to shit in a not awful public bathroom" for quite a long tkme
Borders generally had a much better selection of books on advanced math and comp science topics, and likely other things too.
I always liked Borders better. It was such a friendly atmosphere in comparison. It was always about the books where B&N had always felt like it was about the sale.
We used to have a B. Dalton (remember them?) a 10 minute walk away, Waldenbooks (then "Borders Express") at the mall a 10 minute drive away, and Borders at the big box shopping center 15-20 minutes away. All 3 at the big mall in "the city" <30 minutes away. That's not even counting all the indies.
We're now down to the Barnes & Noble 45+ minutes away, and some used bookstores.
Sounds like where I used to live in md.
Do you live in MoCo?
I don't know where that is so I don't think so!
Sadly, my lord, I never forget a thing.
He has forgotten the face of his father.
I love mine but it's so far away. It becomes like a pilgrimage to go out there, I usually buy a few hundred in books
It's just not the same, man. Borders and Walden Books had the best manga selections. Barnes and Noble never could compete in that regard.
When my hometown Borders left, we all thought it would be replaced with a B&N. After all, the closest locations to us are 40 miles in one direction, 30 miles in the other. We're a city of close to 100k people, we can't just not have a bookstore, right? I knew people who worked at that Borders, it made it through all the other location closings, right up to the very last day of the company. They were redirecting employees and product from the other stores to our Borders because they thought they could pull through and we were the most profitable location.
But B&N never came. That Borders has been empty for years now. The only "bookstore" in town is a small children's toy store with a single wall of books, primarily geared towards children, teens and shitty local authors.
Fuck B&N for leaving us in a book drought zone.
But massive kudos to our town library for stepping the fuck up and creating one of the best library systems in the state.
Can't build a B&N on every street corner, fam.
Books a Million replaced the Borders that was built literally as a store in my nearest city. Coffee shop is in the same place too. Though it is weirdly arranged and theres less and less books whenever I go in there and more and more "nerd" memorabilia. Or records and record players. It's like music stores and book stores fused into one and then decided no one wants either and started selling toys and useless stationary and coloring books.
Never Forget
When I was a teenager, we lived pretty far out in the country. Every weekend my mom would drive into town to buy our groceries for the week, and when I'd come along she would drop me off at Borders before she drove around to Walmart or Sams or the fabric store or wherever the heck else she needed to go. That was always a magical time; I'd spend hours browsing and reading and maybe buy a book or two on my way out. I know Barnes & Noble is still a thing, but for some reason teenage me had decided that Borders was the superior bookstore chain (I think they had a better selection of what I liked to read at the time) and I still miss it lol.
The calendar store?
B&N used to have these awesome scanners where you scan the CD and he would play 30 second clips of most of the songs on the CD in their music section. It was the coolest thing. Now that they don’t have those scanners in the music section its not nearly as exciting.
Different atmosphere and no music section. Browsing books then setting in to listen to the new previews, then back & forth, was a whole experience that died with Borders.
Record stores are coming back, and its great. The new stuff is in such high quality too.
Yeah it’s so great. I still keep a thumb drive around with all of my music (a lot of it actually from the download vouchers that are included with most records) as a backup but since I started my record collection I can’t go back. I just love the intentionality of listening to a record. I equally love the relationship built with record store owners. I’ll spend hours in the record store just to leave with a single record because I was just browsing or I spoke to the owner for an hour. There’s something a lot more special about a store owner saying, “hey, I have new albums from x, y, and z in stock. I know you like them and thought you’d be interested”, when compared to Amazon recommending things based on algorithm.
God I miss Borders. The one in my town had two stories and you could sit in the windows upstairs and read. It was wonderful.
Guys, I have bad news about why Borders had to close.
Actually it has more to do with bad management. They sold to people familiar with kmarts and grocery stores and tried to run borders as such. Hence over-diversifying. The stationary, the toys, the starbucks etc. I grew up with my dad working at B&N for more than the first decade of my life.
So I'm a bit biased. But I also know B&N isnt doing so hot. The position my dad left was never refilled. So there was no bargain books manager. I remember they sold Martell dolls.and even a 3d printer for under 400$. And they gave up trying to beat the kindle and let Samsung run all of their hardware. Borders meanwhile outsourced their online orders to Amazon and hadn't made a profit since 2006. I'm not sure how B&N is hanging on. They took out the big comfy chairs so folks wont sit and read. Considering how many hours I spent in those chairs while my dad worked- I dont think he could get away with just letting an 8 year old run wild in the store anymore, no matter how well behaved I usually was. (He did the same thing at Kroger too for a few months, lol). I at one point knew that store well enough to help customers find where different sections were. Harry Potter night for books 6 and 7, dad dressing up for Halloween like the dead pirate Robert's, watching DVDs on his laptop when I got bored of reading, and being a to read 3 novels in a day. It was a unique experience I think. I still hate paying for books when I grew up with free access every other weekend.
k
Because people read but didn’t buy?
Sorry for being in middle school and having $5 spending money
Share?
I think he was implying that they lost business because people would go there to sit and read, then leave without buying anything.
Mostly, I was making a joke, but it's not reddit without an unnecessary lecture.
Former Borders employee: that isn't what killed Borders. It was mismanagement at the top. Our higher-ups were taking on more debt than the company could handle. They didn't pay back loans - or purchase orders. And they tried to cover it up. You can't do that forever.
🎶It was just a jooooooooke🎶
Same here. The one in my town had two stories, and it was on the corner of one of the busiest intersections in town. So you could go up to the top floor, and just hang out reading, and watching traffic through the window.
Us vinyl collectors still prefer the stores! (I do at least)
I remember when Best Buy was like 50% music. I would wander through the aisles looking for new music. It might still be that way in some stores, but not the one in my town.
It was never built to last. If I remember correctly, CDs were loss leaders to get you shopping for televisions. I bought a ton of cheap CDs there.
Not sure what they look like today. I haven’t bought a CD at a Best Buy since 2007.
Best Buy dropped CDs altogether last year. Even their website stopped selling them.
They still have music at Half Price Books. And DVDs. And a kids' area.
Best Buy dropped CDs altogether last year. Even their website stopped selling them.
I still love doing this. It’s how I find new random books.
honestly this was a big part of learning to love reading for me, my parents would take me and my siblings to barnes and noble and just be like "go pick out a book"
wandering around and reading the back covers and seeing all the different series out was really fun and contributed to my now stellar success as an unemployed student
My dad would make me pick out a "classic" for every one fun book I got at Barnes and Noble. Jokes on you, Dad!! That means I get to pick two books.
Tower Records was like a dream world. I would just go to the rock section and pick random stuff to find, spend so much time at the listening station because my parents or aunt would say I could only get one or two CDs, and I needed to be sure I was getting the right ones.
I was in Japan last month, and they still have Tower Records there! I spent a good 30 minutes browsing through one, brought back memories.
Borders is my biggest broken heart from the past 15 years. It had such a feel to it that, regardless of age, I could wander in during a rainy day or a cold evening, grab a book and settle into a corner of the cafe and read to my heart’s content.
[deleted]
Same for me—walking distance when it was built and gave me such solace during my teen years. I spent so much time there after school, hanging out (with and without friends); it really was my second home. I never talked to the workers but I’m sure we all knew each other by sight. When Barnes and Noble came to town and Borders finally left, I saw some of the old employees working at the new place. They looked solemn and there was never the same kind of friendliness or carefree attitude in the new store. It definitely left a hole where it once stood.
Thank you for saying Borders and not B&N. I LIVED at Borders during middle and high school. RIP Borders.
Barnes and Noble have books and music!
I remember buying cds every week from my local muisc store. I remember burning cds and playing it in my mom's car. It was full of emo and metalcore stuff (The fake stuff not earth crisis or skycamefalling)
Ha, your username totally checks out if it’s a Senses Fail reference.
REST IN PEACE GIRL YOUR DEATH IS SUCH A SHAME
There is still a great "mom and pop" book store and music store in my city. I try to support them as best as I can but I'm a broke-ass.
I miss Borders. Barnes & Noble is ok, but it's not Borders.
And neither are anywhere close to the greatest bookstore ever, that we used to have here in Atlanta called Oxford Books. That place was a fucking treasure.
When the Borders in Fort Wayne got shut down my father and I were very sad. He used to take me there to get hot chocolate and read books for hours. We still have libraries, but I miss the coffee shop inside.
As a teenager in the 80s, I used to walk back and forth between B. Dalton and Waldenbooks on opposite ends of the mall searching for the best book to read next.
Me and my sister used to go into Borders and read as many One Piece mangas as we could while drinking coffee. Great memories.
I seriously miss record stores. I'd pore over the new albums (especially when they had parental advisory and my mom wouldn't let me buy them). Like all the artists seemed so removed from us, dark, brooding, etc. Now you go on Twitter and see what they had for lunch.
Tower Records was amazing.
Virgin Megastores were also pretty cool.
True. The only one I ever went to was in Orlando and that was pretty mind blowing.
Times Square and Sacramento for me. It's a damn shame that they closed down.
You can 100% do this right now
SAVE EMPIRE RECORDS
Past Borders employee here. I miss it too :( sad when it closed.
I have a kindle but I turn it on maybe once a month I prefer paper books.
Bookstores and (to a degree) record stores are doing okay. There isn't the same market for sheer quantity of books that there used to be, between Amazon and the rise of e-readers, but there's still plenty of market space for independent bookstores or just ones that know their market. I'm less knowledgeable about record stores, but there's definitely a sustainable niche for them at the moment.
I go to used bookstores for the same feeling. Sometimes you find really cool books there, but it's really just for the calm and experience.
Tower fucking records
Bookstores are just fine, if not better than they were before the internet. There is no (currently) viable way to make the "Spotify of books", so indy bookstores are thriving. Chain bookstores don't need to exist anyways, fuck em.
Still have a book store in my town. O prefer audio books a since I can listen while walking and fdoing chores. I still go into the book shop Everynow and then and Walk around and look at books
My town has got a really nice library where you can just sit down and read your heart out not to mention the events and classes that they have at mine for all ages. I few years back they got a 3D printer and set up classes on how to use it. The loss of music stores does suck, there are only a few places I can go now and pick up a CD or a record. The 2 story mall near me has literally no store that you can buy music in which sucks ass.
Don’t know where you live but a lot of cities have some absolute GEMS of used bookstores.
We still have brick and mortar bookstores in my country but they're half the size they used to be. It's pretty sad.
I will buy actual books until I can no longer. I hate reading books on a phone or tablet.
I miss browsing in general. No more meandering through a strip of businesses looking for a decent restaurant. No more taking a chance and pulling off of a freeway to look for a gas station and then stumbling upon....something.
I miss just going walking through a department store or mall, looking for something specific, as apposed finding it online.
I guess I miss the serendipity of finding new things, places and people just by browsing around,
The Borders in downtown Ann Arbor ruled. I miss it, although Literati and Vault of Midnight are still dope.
My sister worked there and I remember browsing the bookshelves as a kid looking for gaming books with cheat codes or secrets in them while drinking one of the mochas that they used to serve. I miss that place a lot lol. It’s been replaced with a Forever 21 now :(
I love the smell of used books. Even just the book section at a thrift store makes me smile and feel relaxed.
If you live in the new York arra and like vinyl, the are a couple of good vinyl stores by east 14th and 1st Ave (1st Ave shop on the L train). I'm pretty young, but I adore vinyls. Got my first one there recently (Moving Pictures by Rush).
Borders
My very best friends father was a Tower Books manager. Loved driving over to Bellevue WA to see him & his literature citadel.
Would spend a couple of hours there every so often to peruse what was new, and what was getting "sorted for the trash".
He got pre-released books quite often, his basement was a large storage area for these books He built a small building in his backyard for all the books he loved. It was about 25 ft x 25 ft. He also "hid" his scotch & Browning Hi-Power pistol that his grand father took off a nazi back in ww2.
Those were the days.
I can't enter a bookstore without leaving with a new book. It's my curse
Nah, bookstores are fine. I went to the largest used bookstore in my state and had a blast. The shelves went to the roof! I got a book that was written in like 1894 and its called "Engineers examinations with questions and answers." It has tons of stuff about steam engines and refrigeration with ammonia.
You've hit the nail on the head. Book stores are the biggest loss.
The book store in the next town had jazz night on Wednesdays, and readings by local authors and poets on Fridays. Sure, they were selling Starbucks, but it was a cheap date or a way to meet singles (for those of us who don't dance).
Book stores were the first and the most complete casualty of the internet.
There is a very good, old-school, used book store in the next county. It's a must-see whenever we take a romantic road trip up the coast.
Fortunately Powells in Portland, OR exists so I can go everytime I drive down from Seattle. Gives me that old time giant bookstore feel
Joseph Beth bookstore in Lexington KY. Love it. Also there is a half priced books.
Oh man, I remember this store called Strawberries (I think). Maybe it still exists. It was a music/entertainment store. When I was in sixth grade, I got a portable CD player and a Strawberries gift card, so I went with my grandma to pick out the CDs I wanted. It was magical, to me.
They're making a comeback. Internet hype has died down a bit from the late 2000's
My middle school Friday nights were always spent getting dinner at Applebee’s and then just chilling in Borders. I miss it so much!
There's and old, old used bookstore in Davenport, IA called The Source and it might be one of my favorite places on earth. The basement is all vinyl records, old magazines and old Nat Geos and upstairs are miles of books. Damn. I love bookstores.
Agreed on music though. Even though it was overpriced, the thrill of going into a Sam Goody to get a new CD from your favorite artist or band is a feeling that can't be topped.
I love bookstores. I really do. But it's really hard to put my money where my mouth is when the EXACT same book is 1/3 of the price on amazon.
I love bookstores. I really do. But it's really hard to put my money where my mouth is when the EXACT same book is 1/3 of the price on amazon.
Growing up in the early 2000's (I'm still a kid/teenager) there's a lot of bookstores around. I can count two in the town shopping centre and there's more of them in the city near us.
But I've never seen a music store before.
I go to bookstores just to browse. The atmosphere of all the cool coffee table books and all the new books. They always have neat board games and nicknaks too.
My city used to have lots of music stores, I think there's just one left who sell music on physical mediums.
Except they were double the price.
To add to that: The feeling of exclusivity of knowing about a band or a book or a movie that barely anyone else knows about, and then finding other people that know about it, all through reading magazines, visiting shops, and randomly encountering people "in the wild", not searching [obscure band] discussion forum on Google.
I still collect CDs. I like having a physical copy of the music I listen to. Plus there's all the liner notes you miss if you do anything but buy a physical copy. Hell, I still use an iPod and I've nearly maxed it out - almost 3000 songs.
I do miss Borders, the late hours and live music in the Starbucks... But Waterstones (UK) has seriously turned it out recently. Every branch of the shop in my city is just so cosy, pretty, and interesting now. My local has a cafe and a gin bar. The only issue is it closes at 6pm.
You should consider starting collecting vinyl. There's a huge market for it these days. And while you ofcause can order exactly what you want online. Nothing beats visiting a store browsing through their stuff. It's atleast 50% of the fun of being a collector.
And used video game stores.
Oh god, I miss Borders. I must have been around... seven when It closed down? I was young, reading Horrid Henry. In year two. So yeah, around seven. I remember going every other weekend. I got all sorts of books there; Horrid Henry’s and Harry Potter stick out in my kind though.
Then I had to start going to Waterstones, which was so far away. Still is to be fair. I can’t just decide to hop on a bus for a quick ten minute trip to Waterstones. It’s an hour long there, hour long back bus ride, and I never have the free time to do it as I’m at Sixth Form all day five days a week and work the other two. I now have the money to buy, but not the ability. Same goes for HMV to be honest. I still collect physical copies of my favourite music as I love the feel of buying a new CD you’ve not heard by someone you like, listening to it, and being unable to relate to the conversation you later have with other fans as you don’t know the songs by name.
Got a borders card. The next year they went under. Feels bad man. I missed out.
Just go to a library
I miss Borders. I LOVED the one near my house. Barnes n Noble was always “not good enough” in my childhood opinion.
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/people-shopping-at-stamford-town-center-mall-in-stamford-connecticut-picture-id534929624
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/057213camusicstoresbc6clerk-elijah-dittersdorf-at-virgin-megastore-on-picture-id563586879?s=2048x2048
http://desktop.beiruting.com/content/ResizedImages/768/10000/inside/Virgin%20Megastore%20Reopening%20At%20ABC%20Ashrafie%203-151214095754815.JPG
I miss that. Going into a Virgin megastore and looking through the cd's and dvd's to see what was new, if I wanted anything. I would have a routine route. Something like check out the singles by the door, then check out the new albums on another wall, go through my favourite bands cd's then check out upstairs where they kept the dvd's. It was ritualistic and exciting because I rarely knew if I would get something or not.
Ooh and the long book corridors! I still have a coupon of borders. I was keeping it in hoping to use it somedays before suddenly the closure news came.
I have always been a music freak and music stores were one of my favorite things to do when I was a kid. Then in high school, I got a job at the local Sam Goody. Super fun job for a high school kid who was in to music. Really cherish the memories from music stores.
We have 4 2nd hand book stores, 2 independently owned book stores and 1 chain book store. Not to mention every charity shop here still accepts books, we're a small University town with a population of about 7000 students and 4000 locals
Hell, I even used the chain one myself the other day and while browsing for a book a random girl came up to me and started chatting about her favorite ones as recommendations. It was really a nice feeling as I haven't had that in a long time
Used to love a trip to Intencity CD shops, back before they switched to being kid-friendly arcades instead.
Wait, people actually buy books online?
I still browse through bookstores aimlessly sometimes. It feels great just getting your mind carried away. Only when I walk out, I realize that all the worries I felt before got wept away for the time being. Same with libraries. There's a magic to those places.
Met some of my greatest friends here. And a few dates.
Open Borders!
Being the borderline weeb I am, even tho i'm not American i'm sad about Borders going under because it tanked the manga market in the UK.
Tokyopop published manga got big in the UK around the mid 00's, there where stands of Tokyopop manga in shops all over the place, even in fairly mainstream shops, as well as huge displays of them in more specialist shops/libraries. Despite the popularity they seemingly disappeared overnight and I never knew why at the time but later heard it was because they had a deal with Borders where they didn't pay for any stock until it sold and when they went bankrupt they had like 70% of Tokyopop's physical stock in their stores and it was written off without them getting any of them money which crippled them financially.
I loved going to record stores and browsing the records.
When my 2 story local borders closed, I died a little inside. The high glass Windows and spiral staircase, or alternatively, the clear elevator. Books for days in winding rows, all the nooks and crannies for reading.
Similarly newsstands. Some are still about, but their content is ridiculously thin. I used to be able to get buy a paper and read it during lunch. Before I stopped doing it, I'd be done with the paper before lunch.
I loved going to Tower Records and seeing what foreign single CDs they had, looking at the Billboard Hot 100 chart they posted, etc.
Totally agree with this one. I could spend hours browsing books-a-million and borders. Especially the magazines. Same with record and tape traders and fye. there was always such a sense of wonderment when you were looking around there. Now I don't even bother going in cuz I can just buy any of it online, usually I had a better price.
music store
The area i grew up in had some really niche record stores. i was a metalhead, and we had a little tiny record store that just did meta/punk/etc... and nothing else. The best part was the owner had great taste and would set out a rack of open CDs between a few little tables with a boombox and headphones so you could easily discover new stuff he thought deserved a spotlight. He also did used CDs/ trade ins so you could get 3 or 4 CDs for $20 or trade in CDs 2 for 1. They were unseasled as well so you could just pop it in a boombox and listen at your discretion. My mom would drop me off there while she ran errands most weekends with a $20 bill and i would just go crazy listening to as much as i could so i could hear as much new stuff as possible. That little tiny shop was magical for my friends and I.
I have a massive second hand book store next me and I love it. The place always has at least 20+ people in it and it’s super hard to not spend $30 every time you go on like 7+ books because everything is such a great deal.
Record stores were a magical place to me. To flip through all the albums and to be able to hold in your hands and gaze upon a beautiful, tangible work of art with the album jackets was pure joy.
Carrying around a to buy list. The massive dopamine hit you'd get when you found something you'd been looking for in a charity shop.
The smell of a new cd booklet and finding "hidden" songs at the end of cd's
For some cd's there is also a hidden track when you rewind beyond the first track. Quick example I can think of is Arcade Fire's Reflektor.
I was listening to Dookie by Green Day on a Walkman recently and was scared shitless when All By Myself came on like 10 minutes after the last track.
Storytime:
Both of my parents are hardcore Nirvana fans. We had a long discussion about Nevermind while we were driving and having the album playing on the car's stereo. They were sure that the album was over with "Something in the Way". I, however, knew that the album had a hidden track after I don't know how many minutes (I played the album on PC already and knew it lasted for 20 something minutes).
So we waited aaaall that time in the parking lot, and when finally "Endless Nameless" began they were in awe. "...so this is how truly ends" said my dad. It was the first time I saw it in pure shock.
I miss hidden tracks.
Your parents are Nirvana fans? They're fucking cool! Hell, my mom was part of Gen X and she hates them :(
I don't recall correctly because I was too young to remember, but "Unplugged in New York" is probably one of the first albums I ever listened to in my lifetime.
So...yeah lol
I'll never forget finding "Good Night" on Kanye West's Graduation
At disney land, after you had ridden on the Haunted Mansion ride, you could ask a member of staff to provide you with a special secret "death certificate" to say that you died on the ride (obviously its not legally binding) it was a secret but when i was younger and visited disney land my mother heard someone request itand after asking them about it, then we all got one.
Unfortunately with the advent of the internet the secret got out and too many people were asking for death certificate, so disney in their infinite wisdom scrapped the little easter egg, i've since lost mine and had one day hoped to get one for my child.
Edit: wow did not expect this comment to blow up, thanks for the silver and all the tricks to try if i ever go back there.
I heard Disney had to scrap a talking trash can because it got out on the Internet as well.
Oh man, I miss Push. It was a very well done, interactive little trash can who was sarcastic and used to ask people if they were done with the item they had in their hand. The person controlling it did a good job blending in with the crowd and not being obvious what they were doing. Good times.
Wait so there was a guys who's job it was to control a talking trash can?
Wait, am I the only talking trash can that its not being paid?
Damn, that's a fast gilding. Comment is 9 minutes old at the time I'm commenting.
10 mins and nary an upvote.
21 it's started drinking
40, mid life crisis.
I always miss the gold by minutes, and never quite an hour. One of these days...
You guys are getting paid?
Beat me to it
[deleted]
I’m thinking the second one
Are you trash? Because I would love to take you out!
Nah, same here
If you can't be a garbage can. What can you be?
Why can’t I like this more than once?
/r/suicidebywords
This was actually my godfather’s son’s job! When my godparents took my little brother and I to Disney, my bro got the shit scared out of him because he met Push and Push knew a bunch of stuff about him.
Yeah. It was a short range RC, and he actually spoke for him too. Went through a voice changer and used a sensitive microphone, so most of them had some rudimentary ventriloquist training so they didn't move their mouths much. Once it got out what was going on, it turned into a game of spot the controller.
Here's a good video of it:
https://youtu.be/rrz6Z8O6pOg
Yeah, he carried a big bag and had his hand in it, controlling it with some wireless device. He had a tiny wireless mic in his other hand, which he held up to his mouth to voice the trash can.
Yep https://youtu.be/viPGjq1vJ1o
They walked around with a special remote control near their waist and the user had a microphone near his mouth that you could barely see.
Back when I worked at Disney the talking trash can guy would sometimes prank us back stage.
This thing gave me an idea when I was there. I would hide behind trash cans, stick my arm through one side, and bang on the other side and make noises as people went by or put something in. It caused them a startle and made my mom laugh. Good times.
Life goals.
Yes. But he also was the lead in a stage show multiple times a day in the park so wasn’t his only gig.
Man best explanation yet. I hope you're serious. At first the job seemed like it would be soul sucking over time. Fun at first, but eventually kind of hollow. In that context it seems like a humorous reprieve between shows.
Very serious! He played the “younger” version bill hill in bill hill and the hillbillies.
It would like respond to what you say
Carrol Spinney.
Push was awesome. Many moons ago when I was at Disneyland, I was wearing a Sublime shirt and Push rolled up behind me and started singing "Santeria." They really had something with that Lil ole trashcan...
Holy shit. This robot wished my brother a happy birthday when we were like 5 & 3 years old and traumatized us and I thought I hallucinated the entire thing. Glad to hear I'm not totally insane
aww I remember him. That's a real bummer they got rid of him. He was hilarious
They got rid of PUSH?? When?? He made fun of me lol
I remember seeing it at Disney and spotting the guy who was the controller. I felt really smart for noticing him (I was about seven).
My parents have a home video of me doing the macarena with Push! I didnt know it wasnt a thing anymore. Aww. I'm glad I got to hug it.
The reason he's not that obvious is because there's a walking, talking, cheeky little trash can drawing all the attention. I remember seeing him 11 years ago. He drew a crowd pretty quickly, which is when the guy controlling him goofed.
The guy was standing right outside the crowd so he could still have an eye on the trash can. I remember he was wearing a hat and jacket and talking into his hand and he had this kind of mostly inconspicuous device in his other hand, probably to control the trash can. I didn't see him right away because I was 12 and a talking trash can was really fun, but after a few minutes I had to be a grown-up about it and ruin my own fun by figuring out the trick.
That’s one of probably three memories i have from Disney: the talking trash can complimenting my shoes.
Wow, this brought back a really great memory. I remember seeing Push at Downtown Disney (or maybe Epcot?) in early 2013 and just cracking up at every joke
I knew I had seen a talking trashcan before! Forgot it was at Disney.
Awww, I remember that!! I saw it when I was 4 in tomorrowland! I had hid behind my dad because I was shy and it kept teasing me! It was fun to try and spot the guy controlling it.
I miss being a kid.
I encountered him and was able to interact with him once when I was little. He commented on Cheetos I gave him. Happy days.
I saw him once! We always kept an eye out to find the guy and got excited when we finally did.
The best part about Push the Talking Trash Can was that he was actually functional as a real trash can, for the occasions when park-goers would actually throw their garbage inside.
I was like 4 when I saw Push. My parents told me to go throw something out and I tried putting it into Push. He started moving and said his name was Push. He asked me mine, and I told him my name was Tush lol
I'm sure you've seen the videos in the Pixar Toy Story land where they say "Andys coming!" and they drop to the ground? The Actors had to stop doing this because people were doing it all the fucking time.
At Disney world now, and heard someone yell it yesterday. It did not work.
They got rid of PUSH because the contract with the company that made the patent for him ran out.
Push went away because the third party they contracted to use him (he wasn’t their creation) didn’t sign on again.
That makes much more sense than having to take Push away because of the Internet.
Push was awesome! One of my most vivid memories from a trip to Disney when I was little is Push rolling up to a guy wearing athletic shorts, singing "Shiny shorts, shiny shorts. They're so shiny, they cover your hiney!" My young mind thought that was the funniest thing ever. I'm not sure how I still remember this.
Death certificates, trash cans? What other Easter eggs like this have I been missing out on at Disney World?!
Hidden Mickey's everywhere.
It really is tragic what happened to Lindsay Lohan.
Seriously?! Damn, i never got to see this thing, my brother raved about it for the rest of the holiday, he saw it while i was being traumatized by that freaking alien teleporting horror experience!
AHHH, the Alien ride!! I was afraid and begging to not go all the way through the line: I could tell I was going to be terrified. No one wanted to wait outside with me, so I spent the whole ride crying loudly. I think I was 6 or 7. Thanks, Mom.
They got rid of that?!?!
It was the TRASHMAN
They got rid of that!? My family has a VHS of my brothers and I at Disney from when we were 6 in front of that thing.
And the “Andy’s coming!” thing
Really!? I loved him. He liked my Can-ada shirt I was wearing
Was there just one? It made me cry once when I was a kid. I had hair ties with flowers on them and it told me that I needed to wash my hair more often because it was so dirty that it was growing flowers.
Didnt they have a talking palm tree at animal kingdom, as well?
Holy FUCK I remember that talking trash can!! I was such a little toddler when I met him and we had a short, adorable little conversation! He made fun of my dad’s Hello Kitty backpack lol. It’s one of my family’s favorite memories. You just uncovered a forgotten memory for me, thank you.
In the efteling in the netherlands there are a lot of talking trashmans. There is basicly no way of not knowing it. So instead of scraping it they could also not make it an easter egg by adding more
Stop telling your escape story Carl.
Also heard that about the whole “Andys Coming” and all the toy characters falling down. Had to scrap that to
That’s hilarious and would freak me out lol
Ohhhhh yeah. I loved Push so much!!!
I'm sad because I never had the chance to experience it myself. :(
THEY GOT RID OF PUSH?!!!!!!! Fuck the internet
yep, Push the trash can. rest in peace
Heard they stopped having the toy story characters drop when you say “Andy is coming” cause they guy playing woody for injured doing it.
I met that little dude!
What? Aww man I loved that!
They got rid of the trash can? :( I haven't been back to Disneyland since I was really young. I can barely remember the talking trash can, but I remember being kind of scared of it but also enraptured. It seemed like real magic, that anything was possible in Disneyland, and that's the moment I remember starting to cry because I was so stupidly happy for some reason.
I heard Disney had to scrap a talking trash can because it got out on the Internet as well.
Gavin McInnes was born in Disneyland?
Not Push, but my tip of the day is that there is still a trash can that talks at Epcot inside The Electric Umbrella. It's near the door closest to Spaceship Earth. It only says a few phrases, but it's a thing.
I met that talking trash can when I was a kid!!!!!!!
How did the internet affect it though? Like with Gaston they were expecting a specific actor which is a problem, but for this it wouldn't explain why they'd remove an entire character.
Maybe people were being wasteful and throwing stuff out early?
edit: ahh I see the reason.
Yes, that was a collaboration with Microsoft called "Tay" if i remember right.
I had one of those trash cans roll up to me and sing me happy birthday when I was maybe 8 or 9. You mentioning this talking trash can pulled me back to that time!
Aww I never realized that was the reason they got rid of it!
Wait that’s gone? Damnit!
Not legally binding? that's bullshit
Honestly with how many things Disney creates that are legally binding I’m really surprised this one doesn’t cut it
I will make it legal!
You will try...
Well they're dying to have you.
You'll be a legend!
r/2meirl4meirl
Tax dodge nothing! You take one nap on a ride and they start declaring you this and that!
"I'm dead. See? Says it right here."
"You're gonna be dead if you keep yanking my chain."
Stop being so gloomy Kaladin, it's not even the weeping yet.
😌😭
"Mom, how come my certificate says 'cirrhosis'?"
Well, in order for it to be legally binding it would have to be a contract.
This is the hill I want to die on! I mean house I want to die in.
The coroner works for Warner Brothers; you can't expect him to sign off on paperwork without a third-party witness.
r/fourthsub
/r/twentycharacterlimit
no?
/r/2meirl4meirl
That's right. They can say it's not legally binding, but that won't stand up in any court. The act of issuing the certificate implies warrant of actionability.
Ugh. What is it about Disney that brings out the cartoon mice and the lawyers?
There used to be a signal to tell the monorail boarder that you wanted to ride in front with the operator. I loved it as a kid. One quick motion with nothing said and we we're whisked away to ride up front like someone important.
It was my favorite part as a kid. They don't allow riding with the operator anymore at all.
Edit: They do allow it at Disney Land but not at Disney world.
That might be a safety thing now more than anything
Yeah they stopped after an operator was killed in an accident.
Would it be weird if they gave out a copy of that operator’s death certificate instead as an Easter egg?
2 spicy
No you can still ride up front, at least you could when I last visited in Dec. 2017 - it was pretty cool and the operator told us a bunch of interesting facts about it’s history and all that.
You can in Disneyland. Disney World cancelled the practice after the accident.
What was the accident?
Well, I hope they also made them stop working 12-14 hour days.
Unfortunately, this isn't the case as Disney World. It still works at Disney Land.
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Of course you can ask but, as a kid, signaling felt so James Bond. No one ever saw us ask. The employee just gathered us up like he knew who we were.
My wife, daughter, and I rode with the operator a month ago. We just asked.
I live in Orlando and currently they are updating the Monorails and trying to bring back that feature! I’m really excited because I’ve never done it.
That's awesome!
You can still ride up front, all you have to do is ask. I got to ride up front on my last trip.
Only at Disney Land.
They do at Disneyland.
We did that when my son was little. It was really cool!
My gf said she did that when she was a kid.
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Found these on one of the most devoted HM fansites: http://www.doombuggies.com/media_death_certificate.php
The internet revives the death certificate it killed!
Thank you so much. I can't wait to do this for my best friend's birthday.
Hell, if you want the magic for your child I'm sure a staff member would happily hand it to them if you could sneakily get it to them.
How do you function with so much blood in your ginormous penis?
i bet they would! adorable.
My employer would never believe it if I printed it from my home computer
This is the opposite of what OP wishes.
Last time I went to Disney World, I saw a Haunted Mansion butler cast member carrying a sparkly pink Minnie Mouse headband toward the lost and found saying "This is all that's left..."
I work at Disneyland and your response was the first comment on this thread, I had to double check what sub I was in
I know someone who transferred to our area from Mansion. She said that when someone would ask how to get a death certificate, she would say, “Drop dead.”
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Didn’t even notice. Thanks dude!
I read "drop dead" in Worf's voice.
https://youtu.be/x012BnKWi3g?t=1m34s
You must go higher!
Disney Cruise Line had their own secret benefit where you could bring a white pillowcase, picture frame mat, or an autograph book and a pen to guest service on the first night. Then, at the end of the cruise the items would be returned with the signatures of all of the characters.
Then the YouTube vacation reviewers came and just had to share a secret to get more views. So many people started dropping things off that it became he impossible to keep up and the practice was ended.
Obviously not legally binding? Yeah for human law perhaps.
25 years later, as OP walks through a dark street at night a figure steps out of the shadow and calls out their name. OP turns around to see none other than The Mouse, who utters "I have come for what was promised".
a special secret "death certificate" to say that you died on the ride (obviously its not legally binding)
I have to ask...did you really feel the need to explain that a death certificate handed out by a member of the Disney World staff wasn't legally binding?
Disney’s a crazy, magical place, you never know!
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A magical place? Like T.A.H.I.T.I.?
He can never know.
If Walt wanted you dead, you died!
If Disney wants you dead, you're dead.
In 15 years when the Disney-Florida state government merger goes through it will be.
Ill have a death certificate
"Mickey shows up with a gun and a pen"
I dunno, you can’t legally die on Disney property, so...
You would be amazed at the stupidity of some people here. Gotta cover ass man.
I mean, they have their own post office, at least at Disneyland. And a police station. You never know.
You mean the drivers license I got there isn’t real? Oops
I would definitely hope so. Then I wouldn't have to pay off my loans!
Disney world is where dreams come true.
Seems like a bit of dry humor to me
The internet also killed the notion of not needing a disclaimer for every statement made online.
Honestly, I’d probably use the Disney death cert to try to collect on my life insurance. Unless you ask, the answer’s always no.
I’m glad he clarified as I was preparing to surprise all my creditors.
How do you know murder isn't part of the deal?
What do you expect from a Judas
You underestimate Disney’s power
Disney could afford to kill me
It’s Disney....
If they wanted them to be legally binding, they would be.
This comment made me laugh more than it should have.
Disney lawyers changed federal copyright law, and will relish in burying you under an avalanche in court.
I wouldn’t trust Disney to joke around with the law.
How many disney characters do you know that have both living parents? Disney has been killing people for years, wake up America (obviously this is not sarcastically binding)
Disney could afford to purchase and put Star Wars to its final death. It could certainly do the same for something eminently more affordable like a human.
Considering Disney is its own county, legally...
LOL!!!
There was another one at Jungle Cruise. You could ask them for a map after you got off the boat. We did this a few years ago, but I heard they stopped due to too many people asking for it.
We did it as recently as last year and they still had them at the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland in Anaheim.
Hi there!! They absolutely still have maps at the Anaheim resort and give them out!!! Just have your best jungle animal impression on hand! My favorite is the peacock!!!
If I spend the $2000 I’ll need just to go down there for this and it turns out that you’re lying, I’m not going to be too happy
Peacock? So you shit everywhere and scratch cars with your beak and claws?
(a neighboring suburb has a peacock infestation)
i've since lost mine
Don't worry, one day you'll get a real one.
I work for Disney and follow the annual passholder page on Facebook. Someone gave word that there was a open mailbox with a tiny notebook for people to sign and Disney sealed it shut once they realized how many people were going to this specific mailbox and shoving papers in it.
Also guys the “Where’s Andy?” trick does not work. They’ll just ignore you or their host will say that Andy is away in college.
That’s a neat little secret. I would have loved that. Haunted Mansion was up there with Space Mountain in my memories.
My family and I went to Disney World when I was like 10, maybe 12. I was absolutely terrified of roller coasters, and threw a huge bitch fit while my mom tried to talk me into riding it. After a couple minutes, she got tired of my shit and dragged to the ride kicking and screaming. Just 2 or 3 seconds after "lift off", I hurled my morning breakfast, which ended up all over my mom's face.
On one hand, that made for some pretty sweet justice. But also, that ride made me love roller coasters and made me the coaster junkie that I am today.
I rode space mountain for the first time as like, an 18 year old and I cried because it was so cute and wholesome.
Not quite nearly as cool as that but apparently you could challenge Woody to a draw and shoot him. He would do a goofy death scene. Unfortunately too many people were doing it.
obviously its not legally binding
I don't believe that about anything The Mouse might have you sign. Sorry, bud, you've agreed that your body will be a conduit for Walt Disney should his should ever feel the need to whine about communists to congress again.
The same with screaming "Andy's coming!" around Toy Story castmembers.
They used to have a similar thing with the Indiana Jones ride. You could ask for a translation card that helps you translate the glyphs on the walls... secret of the mara? I think its called?
I had one of those. Probably still somewhere in my room back home.
There were other hidden things in the line at Indiana jones. Some of them got turned off but it was great to walk down the line and start grabbing props and see people next to you freak out, especially when you set it off and made it sound like you broke something. Only reason I knew about them when it first opened was we visited with a friend who worked at Disney land.
In a similar vein, just being "in the know" used to be awesome. Now when something cool/unique/easter-egg like happens, everyone knows. Discovering secrets and having unique insight used to be great. Now we're all just one big knowledge-at-the-same-time pile. Can't get an exclusive anymore when the dummies can just google things. :/
Yet we still have flat earth people and antivax... Go figure.
I have my monorail operator pin to this day!
Also related to Disney Land/World, if you're around Toy Story characters & you shouted "Andy's coming!" they used to fall to the ground as they did in the films. This ended up becoming so well known (again, due to the internet), that everyone basically shouted this out every time to the point that it's no longer a thing.
Funny that you say this, I just had a friend post on facebook, "5 secret Easter Eggs at Disney World you DIDNT know about!" Didnt actually look at it but it definitely shows that this kind of stuff is definitely on the out.
Defunctland!! Check it out if you haven’t!
The Disney experience has totally been changed by the internet. The slow times are now just as busy because everyone kept sharing when the slow times were. The more secluded areas are no longer secluded. The savings hacks were changed because Disney caught on to what folks were doing. And the ones that have stayed are so accessible, the parks (Disney World, at least) are more crowded than ever. I’m not complaining, really, it just is what is. When you teach everyone the tricks to have a special time, nothing is special anymore.
The Disney experience has totally been changed by the internet. The slow times are now just as busy because everyone kept sharing when the slow times were.
That, and Disney has started pricing admission similar to how airlines price tickets, where the slower periods are cheaper so they can get people in the parks. For example, they offer a weekday only annual pass for Florida residents with the busy seasons blocked out, but it’s only $300. They’re intentionally evening out crowd levels, so you can’t really blame this one on the Internet.
Disneyland pre-fastpass and pre-internet is something I will always hold dear.
When you could basically walk on any ride after the last parade or Fantasmic show ended. When Toontown would still be open til the park closed and a ghost town (you know how much fun 12-year old me had in an empty Toontown?). When the park closed sometimes at 2am. When you could just walk up to the curb on Main Street and find a seat for the parade, before it was a crowd control madhouse. When you could walk right up to a concession cart without 40 people in line ahead of you to get some piece of plastic with Buzz Lightyear on it. When there were arcade games tucked around the park or you could just go to the Starrcade. When most rides were original ideas not branded with a franchise, things you could only experience at Disneyland and not watch at home. When you could find a secluded area of the park and just cool off in the shade.
I'll always miss it.
That is straight up false. Disneyland NEVER had death certificates. The rumor came from the dialogue with the ghost host says “be sure to pick up your ‘death’ certificates!”. However, it was just a joke from the dialogue.
Nobody has ever received an official death certificate. Disney has never produced them. they did, however, used to do something similar
While the above image is often referred to as a death certificate, it is not actually called that and the words death certificate are nowhere on it.
Never let the truth get in the way of a ~~good~~ story.
I was definitely handed a piece of paper from a member staff at the end of that ride, i was about 6-7 at the time and don't actually remember what it looked too well, it may have been something the staff member hastily drew up in the staff room for all i know, i just remember it made me feel a little special when i was younger.
Wow, good thing yifun was here to kill that little bit of magic for you. What a dick. You keep your good memory, it's the feeling that's important, not the exact words on the page.
Did you not click the link? You may have received that type of paper, which they did indeed used to hand out
Sorry, did not see the link, i'm pretty sure that is what i got, can't say for certain but it definitely brings back memories.
r/dreamdestroyers
Wtf man, let them keep their childhood magic moment. Why would you try to take that from them? Who are they hurting with their positive memory?
[deleted]
spreading lies
you act like it's some grand myth that holds the fabric of the universe together. this lie is literally hurting no one and isnt causing anyone harm whatsoever.
Let the truth be heard!!
tbh I kinda hope they figure out a way to bring this back such that the internet can't ruin it maybe have it so that there's a different easter egg every moneth?
Also - You used to be able to ask for a decoder card as you first entered the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. It allowed you to de-code all the secret writing all over the walls as you waited in line.
Andy's Coming was also cute at first before the internet got wind of it and made it INTENSELY ANNOYING
If anyone is still reading this then know this is a myth that has been debunked by imagineers and old cast members from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s.
There was never a time when this happened.
thanks for the silver and all the tricks to try if i ever go back there.
You just complained about it, but when it's you who reads the tricks you're OK with it?
I hear that is the same reason the "It's ANDY!" was scrapped with Toy Story characters.
I one day hope to get a death certificate for my child
Screw you internet
My gf told me about the birthday pins a couple of years ago. I had no idea, and I've been going to Disney longer than she's been alive.
Cast members and other guests will wish you a happy birthday all day and it kept spooking me because I kept forgetting I had the pin on.
I miss going on rides at theme parks with out everyone whipping out their cellphones to record the event. Especially on rides that are supposed to be dark and these jackasses have their flashlights on so they cant record in the dark... it's very frustrating.
On the flip side, people who still have one have suddenly become VIPs
Over in Florida if you’re nice and if they have them that day, you can get a little certificate saying you’re the caretaker of the mansion. Also, if the ride is particularly dead and the cast members are feeling super nice, they’ll give you a little tour of part of the mansion and let you take cool pictures while explaining the history of it.
That's awesome
I mean you could get one for your kid eventually
I've known Disney employees while growing up, and I never heard of this! Haunted Mansion is one of my favorite rides, too!
Similarly, saying "Andy's coming" near the toy story characters.
Didn't the same thing happen with the Toy Story characters? If you told them Andy was coming they would drop to the ground but that stopped because too many people found out.
You used to be able to shout “Andy’s coming!” At Woody or Buzz and they would drop like a rock. Word got out and they don’t do it anymore...
Whaaaat??????
been going to disneyland every year for most of my life and never knew this. :o
haunted mansion is always one of my favorites too. damn
Buzz and Woody dropping too.
The reason this was a secret was because of religious people.
a special secret "death certificate"
I heard you can also get one of those if you find the "special secret" security office
plot twist: they were super secret because it was originally a way to help people/families fake their own deaths ICE. Obviously illegal and they got caught, but because disneyland is sacred perfection, they paid a bunch to get it covered up. not fact just shit i made up just now ^
This one is oddly specific, but it sounds like a big loss for us all.
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I told you you'd go blind if you kept doing that.
At least I don’t have to shave my palms.
Brag about it. sighs and grabs razor
Wait was it the razor or the internet that killed u/Semi_HadrOn 's eyes?
Yes
r/InclusiveOr
By order of the Peaky Blinders
I like to shave my palms into a landing strip or even a cute little heart when I'm feeling naughty. I love seeing the look on my dick's face when he sees the sexy surprise I have waiting just for him!
Electrolysis my friend.
Dad, I'm over here!!
I've seen a porn starting like this
Oh ! That's the one with OP's mom. My favorite
That's the one with OP's mom.
Title of your sextape.
Can’t I just do it a little and wear glasses ?
His username checks out
But I didn't get it in my eyes though.
"I'm over here, dad"
Ha ha ha ha!
Sorry, mom.
I'm over here.
[deleted]
Lasik seems so scary knowing that you’re awake (and can’t blink) for the entire surgery. I’m a little less terrified knowing that it only lasts around ~~10 minutes~~ barely a minute~3 minutes (guess it depends on the prescription) per eye. Still extremely terrified tho
Edit: Apparently eye surgery has advanced to the point it takes waaaay less than 10 minutes to undergo Lasik than I was told in some eye surgeon interview I saw the other day. Maybe the 10 minutes includes setting up the procedure?
What the fuck you’re awake the whole time? Damn thanks bruh gonna plan my contacts lol
You're awake but your eyes are numb and you're hopped up on Vicodin, or similar, during the whole thing.
They gave me Xanax. After that kicked in I was like...yea bro do whatever you want to my eyes , I feel great!
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First time I ever had it. Was pretty surprised how relaxed I was bc I haaaaaate things near my eyes. Totally worth it. I would get lasik again if I ever needed it.
I remember being conked out with some IV shit for my wisdom teeth....I sat down visibly shaking, they put the IV in...and over the next couple minutes I became totally okay with it before I went unconscious.
Now I'm convinced that cured me almost completely of my anxiety about the dentist. I have no idea why, but that moment of peace stuck with me. It's more terrifying that I imagine that's how dying will be...since I have a feeling to compare it to, and that's horrifying. That being said, I get some small comfort from imagining that I'll stop caring as I slowly drift off.
Unless I die horribly and violently, but whatever.
I got stabbed and almost died recently, and let me promise you, the moment of drifting off and not caring definitely still comes, even if you're dying violently. I, too, am not sure if that's comforting or terrifying.
Uhh I feel like I'm missing something here
Care to explain?
I think it's just our bodies reaction to dying
I had a very bad bronchial spasm when I was younger I was freaking out that I could not breathe at all, after about 2 minutes I became super calm and relaxed and just accepted that it was the end (as dramatic as that sounds) and felt like I was drifting off to sleep right before I was able to breathe again
I was talking about the guy getting stabbed recently.
Not much to explain. Was attacked from behind by a stranger on my way home. It's a good thing I live close to a hospital or I 100% would have died.
That's crazy. I can't imagine why anyone would just stab a random person. Even if it was a mugging and they asked for your wallet it would've made more sense.
Well I hope everything ends up well!
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That's so crazy considering I had a crown and multiple fillings done recently and all I got was a topical. I'm not even sure I'd want to be knocked out during, even if it was an option.
I mean self medication is rarely a good idea, but you can buy nitrous from Walmart if you want it
I’m pretty sure being dead will be like being under IV sedation. I didn’t even know I was gone (so obviously, I couldn’t care). I find that comforting.
I feel like horribly and violently at least is generally quick :p I've always been fascinated by the claims that when you drown, it's extremely peaceful, once your brain floods your body with chemicals...the 60 seconds or more it takes you to actually asphyxiate...now that would be terrifying.
Almost died a few times in various accidents, stunts and such, and every time things got very slow, very peaceful, I got very accepting and calm. A quick "bye mom, I love you" and then... obviously I didn't die each time. But zero fear.
Now that I'm a very happy married dad I'm actually pretty afraid of dying on my family, but if I turned around one day and a truck was a half second away from taking me out, I'm sure it would be the same as those past close calls... calm, no fear, etc.
Do you think perhaps your brain just can’t process what it thinks is about to happen?
I think the incident instructs specific hormones, not just adrenaline, to be released to slow things down like in the matrix or the flash, so you have time to analyze possible escapes. And so if there are no escapes that you don't panic, but rather you can at least have a peaceful death. Or have a peaceful accident, if not death. Surely adrenaline is there to help you jump over a car or attacking lion, but the slowness and peacefulness, I don't know.
If you're really curious to know more, I can ask my wife tonight, since she teaches anatomy, and she might enjoy sharing her knowledge.
Edit: a few words for clarity
Well I don’t want to put you out but this is very fascinating !
Sure thing, /u/dictator_penispotato. We're out of town at a medical conference, so feel free to PM me if I space on it tonight, there might be a dinner with colleagues, blah blah.
P.S. my phone auto corrected your name to /u/dictator_penniesoutdoorsy, which also had sort of a bulky ring to it.
Dictators save their pennies! lol autocorrect is funny sometimes :p
So the doctor says if she had to guess, it's a combination of adrenaline keeping pain in check, which could include fear, and serotonin affecting the perception of time somehow. Big disclaimer that it's not her field of expertise.
That’s very interesting, thank you and her !
For my wisdom teeth they put a mask over my face and told me to count backwards from 10. I don't remember anything after 7
Totally the opposite for me. They hooked me up and mentally I was opening and closing my fist like instructed, but I guess physically I was clenching from anxiety. It left me with permanent mindfuck that I had 0 control over my body at that time.
I'm ok with the dentist now though, I had one great dentist do my root canal who just gave me a shot and let me chill out listening to music. Ever since then I'm more relaxed.
I'm still freaking the F out because my dentist said he didnt use IV sedation and I said I'd probably hold off on wisdom teeth removal (idk how they're doing, they may be impacted, may be fine, I'll get an exam soon) That guy was visibly irritated and we were in the middle of my root canal lol While I may be able to hold still for the shot now, doesnt mean I still wont go to great lengths to avoid it. :>
Ask them to prescribe Xanax. Pop half a milligram and you won't give a fuck.
It's usually a combination of fentanyl and ketamine for that procedure, that's what they gave me when mine were removed and afterwards I was so far gone that I had my mom and two of the nurses trying to help me out to the car.
That's called Ativan. And it's awesome.
The dentist who took out my wisdom teeth gave me a sedative I dunno about.
I didn't wake up, I didn't feel pain, I felt great even after the surgery. Was also crying bitch tears in an unending stream for like fifteen minutes.
Strangest anesthesia I've been under.
How much did you pay if you don't mind me asking?
Edit: for the lasik not the xanax
LOL the xanax was free/a part of the procedure :p I got it done back in 2006 so I could be wrong, but I believe I paid about $1500 an eye. I had just gotten back from Iraq and that was my present to myself. I think it was a bit more expensive for me because the doctor was renting the laser, nowadays more doctors own the laser so the price has gone down.
Thank you for your reply and your service. I'm seeking a career in law enforcement but my uncorrected vision fails all vision requirements so they told me to get lasik or get a different career path.
Thanks! Good luck with the vision. Some folks have said good things about PRK as well. LASIK has gone down in price in some places too. I’ve been told the larger cities tend to bring the cost down, perhaps you can go further away from your local area in order to bring the cost down?
It’s kind of fucked up that eye surgery had to be a “gift” to yourself.
Yea wtf, I got PRK done for free in the Air Force a decade ago
Ugh man, back then there was a long line to get it done and I was a Marine, frankly I wasn’t keen on the idea of a young 03 Navy LT lasering or scraping my eyes lol
Dang, I feel ya, took me 4 months of waiting to get my turn. I had some old fogie that had been doing it for like 20 years take an electric toothbrush to my eyes though. It was just the nurse that was military, feeding troops on the eye surgery assembly line Valium and dropping mystery chemicals in our eyes
Lol none of that surprises me
Well I was a single dude with no real debt so I made a decent amount of money on a 9 month deployment tax free!
I got mine done in Korea for about 1000USD (total).
I can provide a somewhat more up-to-date answer. I got it done 2 months ago and paid 1300 € for both eyes (EU).
Hey, remember that scene from dead space?
https://youtu.be/zqQ3gTLoa38?t=11
I have a prescription for Xanax, and it does jack and shit to me. I've increased my dosage a few times, and it still does nothing. It's not a tolerance issue, it's never worked.
same, I dont see how its addicting, it just makes me loopy if I drink with it, I dont get this major relaxed feeling, i got it for flying nerves so annoying it doesnt help as much as 4 beers before takeoff
"People who enjoy the Xanax high have Anxiety disorders"
It alleviates 95% of my anxiety and helps me to act and feel the way I always used to before I had mad shakes.
Don't be. I love drugs but that is one I'll never touch because of how badly I've seen my friends get hooked on it. They turn into a shell. It's just as bad as an opiate addiction if not worse. Pop multiple xans and drink knowing they'll black out.
Their friends told dealers not to sell to them because they wanted to help them kick the habit and they still sought them out. It's pretty bad. IMO xans/ benzos are the worst drug in terms of availability and popularity. Yeah meth and heroin fuck your shit up but xans are on the same scale once you're hooked. It's made worse by the social acceptance they have or had at least when I was a teenager
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After the Xanax, it was like, "What's that burning I smell? Oh yeah. My eyeball! Groovy!!"
That is the thing I ALWAYS tell people about. The thing I remember most about lasik is the eyeball burning smell lol people are always horrified, I find it amusing now. I got it done in 2006 and my eyes are starting to decline so I will likely see if I can get it done again, though I wonder if knowing the process will make it more scary the second time?
“I’m Antsinmyeyes Johnson!”
LOL The lasik procedure is so quick! The setup took longer, I feel like. Getting those Clockwork Orange things for my eye lids and all that!
This made me laugh so much
I have to take xanax just to get through the glaucoma testing. Lasik is a hard pass. I've never even tried contacts because I'm borderline phobic of anything closer than my glasses to my eyes. Had to get my eyes checked recently at a new place and they were like so have you ever worn contacts? Me: nope. Them: why not? Me: you'll see if we can even get past the glaucoma test.
Be it the puff of air or the little ring of light, can't do it. I feel terrible about it because they're just trying to do their job but I just can't.
My husband even putting his contacts in or taking them out in front of me bugged me out for years.
....I guess I might be more than borderline phobic, all that said.
Want some nightmare fuel? If your lasik goes south one of the things they do to try to save your sight is place a contact lens made out of human amniotic sac on your eyeball that you can’t see out of or remove for like 5-7 days.
I totally get it!
I had laser corrective eye surgery, they gave me no drugs. Just said lie still and try not to blink. The smell of your eye being burned by a laser is the exact same smell as burning hair
That...that scares me a lot. I can’t imagine doing it without being drugged up !
You sure it was Xanax and not something like dilaudid?
Can you get that in pill form? They definitely gave me 2 pills some time prior to the procedure. I'm pretty sure it was xanax because I had only heard of the drug, never seen it or knew anyone that took it. I know others who were given valium before their surgery.
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THEY FORGOT?
My mom had corral transplants. She said you’re completely unaware of anything. They do a combination of fentanyl and Vicodin and something else.
One Benadryl and numbing drops.
Interesting, not me. My eyes were numbed but I didn't get any pain killers until after. Didjt matter though I didn't really feel any pain until the numbness wore off an hour later
I want given anything, they offered, I declined. It was weird more than painful.
Really? They didn't give me anything but a few rounds of numbing drops before the procedure.
Though I did get mine done like a year ago, so maybe they stopped with it.
They didn’t give me shit, I had no medicine, just had to stare at the orange laser for a minute for each eye and they were done. Would’ve liked something for anxiety but it was the military so that’s a no go, got the surgery for free so that’s the trade off I guess
I didn't get any painkillers just only numbing agents for my eyes. It's probably the weirdest experience of my life, felt like I was being probed on a spaceship or something.
It does more harm than good to be unconscious during the procedure apparently, I’m not sure why though
They numb your eyes for the surgery, if that lightens any terror u have like I do
My main problem would be doing sudden movements that would fuck everything up.
There was one time where I had to stay with my head completely still so they could take pictures of my teeth. The main thing I couldn’t do was swallow saliva since it could mess up the pics. The thing is that I always swallow it (and that’s probably instinctively), so naturally I did it and had to redo the procedure 4-5 times.
Luckily, they could use the somewhat messed up pictures and it all worked fine and swine. However, a surgery on my eye is much different from a normal X-Ray like exam.
It’s not that I don’t necessarily trust the surgeon, but it’s a relatively risky procedure that could possibly ruin my vision. Besides, would I see the stuff going into my eye despite not feeling it? If that’s the case then at least my hand will start shaking.
Of the video that I watched, the machine that does the surgery will stop if it detects large or sudden movements, so you’d probably be fine. But if you’re uncomfortable with Lasik, then you do you and stick to glasses or contacts, no judgment, everyone has their preferences
I’m relatively young so maybe I get less worried as time passes, maybe the procedure also gets safer. Let’s hope for the best!
Yeah! Medical advancements ftw
I was told by my surgeon that the laser moves and compensates faster than your eye can actually move. They map your whole eye before the procedure so the that the machine knows every possible way in which your eyeball could move.
the machine won't cook your eyes if you move them and it is really quick and easy
Yeah you can see when they do the physical stuff, but it's mostly laser, with the physical part being at the beginning.
You just look at a red dot that is then very blurry while the doctor constantly reminds you to keep looking at it.
That said it is definitely a spooky experience when they do the physical bit, but it was pretty easy to stay still then. The real annoying part is not blinking, but it's made to be very hard to blink, so a sudden involuntary blink attempt is still perfectly safe for you.
They "numb your eyes!?!?!"
Fuck the fuck out of that, that sounds awful
It’s just anesthesia eyedrops, they don’t use a needle to inject any drugs. I mean, I assume most surgeries use some form of anesthesia to either knock out or numb the part getting surgery, so it makes sense to numb the eyes (sorry if I sound nonchalant, I watched a lasik video after one of my best friends told me she got it, and while it was graphic I was mildly intrigued)
Your eye's are pretty numb to begin with.
I once picked a shard of plexiglass out of my eye, if you've ever used contacts you get over the touching your eyes reflex.
Why? What's scary about putting in eyedrops that numb your eye?
No, what is awful is they are shot acting and wear off fairly quickly.
I'm guessing it's the odds that you would go into REM sleep, since REM = "rapid eye movements".
You have the procedure like I did which was termed “all laser” if your eye moves the laser moves with it .
Dude it's like being on Cloud 9. I've done weed and what they give you during LASIK is much, much stronger. You're technically awake, but it's like you drank so much you could blow a .1 or some ridiculous number like that and smoked enough pot (at the same time) to not be able to walk. It's some ridiculous shit bro
They better drug the shit out of me because if the needle into your eye part is real then I prefer traveling to another dimension on the meantime
Edit: thanks lads, no needle into my eyes. Good to know at least
there is no needle in your eye...
No needle, buddy
It’s called laser eye surgery for a reason bro. They use lasers, not needles
Why would they use needles?
No needle, but if you get PRK instead of lasik they do scrub off the outer epithelial layer of your eyeball with a scrubber.
I wish I had your surgeon. I got none of that, just oxycodone for after
Oof bro
My mom (cardio surgeon) had me get LASIK from the same doctor she got LASIK from, and the dude was sooo good
I mean honestly it wasn't a big deal, they numb the eye so I didn't feel any pain, it was just for when the numbness wore off.
I had no idea that drugs were an option. I did mine without anything and it was super nerve wracking.
if weed's the strongest you ever had i'm not surprised you found it to be so impressive. weed is one of the weaker drugs, it's also a psychoactive drug, so it doesn't blow you away like, say, opioids.
i find drinking to be a better comparison. even when i ate weed and am couch bound, i am not out of it. i actually worry more about things like breathing or if i have to use the bathroom.
if i drink a comparable amount, i'm about to pass out.
Also it takes like 2 or 3 minutes. It was weird, but honestly super quick.
Don’t know the specifics, but my cousin got lasik 2 weeks ago. He said he didnt even know when they started and finished. Preparing took like 10minutes and the procedure finished in like 1.
And worse...you can smell it.
Can you describe the smell? I can’t literally imagine what an eye would smell like, much less a burning one
I've never had the surgery, but friends of mine who have say it's burning flesh. Like burning rubber and sulfur.
Oh God that was the worst... smelling your eye burning by a laser
Take the Valium they give you, then you are feeling just lovely.
I cut my finger on a deli slicer and was awake for the surgery (fixing the tendon I cut). They just injected a bunch of stuff into my hand to numb it really well.
You need to keep your eyes focused so they don't move too much during the procedure. Can't do that if you're asleep.
And you see the needle coming right to your eye.
There’s no needle it is a laser.
I remembered talking to a guy about it a long time ago and thought he mentioned a needle. Turns out it was more likely a microkeratome, which is a tool containing a razor blade that cuts a flap in your cornea. Lasik uses a laser to reshape your lens, but they need to get to the lens by popping the hood on your eye.
They can also use another very strong very fast blast of a different laser to cut your eye open as well.
They do pop the hood on your eye but it is done all by the laser itself. It's honestly was very little time and pain for something that has paid dividends on the years since. I wish I could have done it sooner but the technology wasn't there earlier and the money certainly wasn't either.
I imagine doing it all by laser is a newer approach. Razor blades to the eye are also an option.
Here is an illustration of a microkeratome on an eye. It's an illustration, so not graphic, but still not great to imagine. https://www.aao.org/image.axd?id=de5c7ef6-5b92-498e-8302-83de35588fd6&t=635186718921330000
Mine was maybe 10 seconds per eye. Prep took a couple of minutes, but the part where they hold your eye open was just a few seconds. I hate my eyes being messed with, but so glad I did LASIK - 14 years and still 20/20.
so long does it take for you to use your eyes again? my biggest concern about getting it is not being able to see for a week after.
I rose maybe 10 seconds after they were finished with the surgery and was able to glance across the room and read the analog clock on the wall. Rest assured, you can use your eyes immediately. There was some (temporary) discomfort for me throughout the healing process between minor eye dryness and the tissue in my eye being swollen from the procedure, but it's well worth it. I would do Lasik 100 times over.
Edit: removed an extra 'a'. :)
are you serious? i though you have to have it cover up until it's healed to be able to use it. My job need me to use my eyes and I can't take off any longer than a week at a time.
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I had it done about a year and a half ago. I was only out of commission the rest of the day, and only because I couldn't focus on a computer monitor, not because I couldn't see.
They gave me a clear mask thing to wear at night for a week.
I was fortunate enough to be able to take a few days off, but I probably could have returned to work the next day. The day of your surgery, your eyes can feel a lil burny after the numbing drops wear off. I accidentally washed everything out with my tears almost immediately after my surgery, because holy shit, I could see without corrective lenses for the first time in over 15 years! What an amazing gift!
I was advised to go home and try and nap to sleep through some of the initial discomfort, and so I did. When I woke up the burn was mostly gone. Similar to what r/kaybee1776 mentioned, I did have to cover my eyes at night for a week or two with some really fashionable eye shields held on with medical tape. You do this so you don't accidentally rub at your healing eyes while you're asleep. I also had to wear sunglasses while out during the day for a bit because the sun can be hella bright for you, but other than that and a strict medical eyedrop routine, it's pretty easy to heal! Plus, YOU CAN SEE! Hands down the best thing I've ever done for myself.
Ah yeah, now that you mention it, I was also advised to go home and sleep.
really?! i couldn’t open my eyes and started sobbing because i was freaking out that they fucked it up. my eyes were sensitive to bright lights before the surgery but it’s really bad now lol the day of was the worst thing ever.
As the other person said, the results were immediate. The doctor had me read a clock across the room and it was clear enough. Not perfect, your eyes at that point are quite irritated. And he strongly urged me to spend the next 24 hours with my eyes closed to minimize any risk of tearing the flaps or distorting anything.
Then for the next couple weeks you put in eye drops a lot, and you get quite sick of doing that.
And your eyes will be slightly dry. Apparently there are nerves on the cornea that detect eye dryness and the procedure cuts them. Mine were pretty dry for about 6 months, and I'd put in just regular drops once or twice a day. After that I largely stopped. My eyes are still a bit dry 2 years later, but its very minor.
Yeah you have to protect your eyes for a week or however long, but you can see perfectly minutes after after the surgery.
They give you a few sets of eye drops that are on a schedule, as well as some that are allowed to be used for when you feel discomfort.
The effects of some o them are strange though, one had me tasting metal, like they're eyedrops, but you can taste them.
They warn you to "baby" your eyes for 24 hours, but I was seeing pretty clearly when I walked out right after the procedure.
yeah mine was 22 seconds for one eye and 24 for the other. they count down too so you can control your anxiety through it. it wasn’t pleasant but i’d definitely do it again to have my vision like this again.
does it hurt?
not during! it’s like just pressure and seems scary. afterwards my pain was terrible and so it made me freak out too.
thanks. im planning on having a checkup to see if im eligible. LASIK is pretty expensive for me here, almost 2 months salary worth
yeah it’s not cheap. it’s worth it to me though! i paid about $3k usd for basic lasik. I had an astigmatism in one eye, not sure if that really affects the price or not.
Exactly.
Any shots or numbing drops? I'm just starting to get over my needle phobia because pain sucks. An 'Eye-Leah" commercial (some med for macular degeneration) taught me you get shots in your eye and I am not about that one bit. I'll keep my legally blind eye if there are eye injections involved ;-;
Just numbing drops. Then you go home with a couple of different eye drops to use for 7-10 days.
Oh wow, 10 seconds?! That’s so much quicker than 10 minutes! Did setting up the eye tool (the one that goes in your eye socket) take long? That’s the only thing I’m afraid of tbh
Nope. They waited to put that in until right before they started.
Did you have PRK instead? Because for LASIK, "the part where they hold your eye open" starts with them holding the big suction thing onto your eye, cutting the flap, opening it and then rolling you to a different machine for the actual LASIK. I mean, it's fast, but it's not "a few seconds".
Everyone there referred to it as LASIK and my current eye doctor offhandedly mentioned that she could see the LASIK scars. I don't remember being rolled, but it's been 14 years, so could have happened. It seemed like seconds, that's all I can tell you.
I got it done a few years ago and have been very happy with the results. I wrote up my experience on r/lasik (edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/lasik/comments/1i9x4q/my_lasik_experience/ and that sub has a lot of peoples writeups now) at the time but in short: it doesn't take that long and isn't really scary at all. You, obviously, can't see what is happening as they do it so you really only need to be brave for like 2 minutes as it's going on, then it's all done.
The post op regimen is kind of annoying but only lasts a few weeks then: voila! No more glasses!
How do you keep your eyes open without blinking for two minutes?
I apologize if this sounds graphic, but they use numbing eye drops, and they insert a medical instrument to keep your eyes open. It’s a tool that’s similar to how surgeries hold or “clip” flesh in place while they perform an operation of you’ve watched any medical documentaries or dramas. You can look up a Lasik eye surgery video on YouTube if you’re not too squeamish about putting things in/near your eyes.
Well then I'm def getting LASIK in the future, I can't see for shit and I hate the dent my glasses make in the bridge of my nose.
Haha got mine done 4 years ago, but after reading your comment i immediately felt my nose to see if i still had those dents. Also on the hair from the glasses temples.
To stop blinking they actually just used tape to hold my eyelids open,as u/GardenLeaves mentioned that they also put stabilizer/guide on your eye too.
What's the post op like?
It's been a few years now but it was like: medicated eye drops (not covered by insurance and cost like $200) every 4 hours, and regular sterile lubricating drops every hour for the first 2 weeks. Then for the next 6 weeks regular eye drops every 2 hours or as needed.
You also can't _rub_ your eyes for 6 weeks, and i had not considered how often you actually rub your eyes during the day (you wear hard plastic glasses/eyepatches when sleeping for a few days) and it's hard to wash your face when you can't rub your eyes. With all the drops you're using your eyelashes get gross and you just kind of have to deal with it until the time is up.
There are two major types of Lasik one actually cuts your eye, that's the one I had, and the other shapes the outside of the eyeball (PPK). That one has less restrictions but is, I believe, very painful after the procedure and they give you painkillers.
If you're interested check out r/Lasik, lots of people are happy to talk about the experience and I recommend it heartily.
The scary part is that the surgery can go wrong and you could end up with worse vision or blind. A TV Meterologist committed suicide recently because a lasik surgery fucked up her vision so bad.
My aunt also got her vision fucked by laser eye surgery. Future surgeries corrected it, but for a good few months she was essentially blind.
Same thing happened to my brother although I wouldn't say he was blind. He did need the extra surgeries to fix it.
If I recall correctly what she got wasn't actually Lasik, but a newer and less refined form of correction surgery. Lasik can still fuck your eyes but the odds of that happening are much lower.
Don’t go to a fly-by-night $100 per eye clinic go to the place that all the celebrities go with a surgeon who’s done thousands of the procedures. Chances of things going right are in your favor if you do this.
Except it wasn’t LASIK. She had a different procedure, much newer, called SMILE.
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I don't understand I implanted teeth in her eyelids why is she so upset?
She didn't have LASIK. If you're going to post stuff like this get the facts straight.
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Any surgery can go wrong and lead to that...
SHE DID NOT HAVE LASIK
Correct, my mother's eyes were damaged pretty good when she had LASIK done when I was a kid. Some small detail they only noticed about her corneas being abnormally weak or something like that, and she had to use eye drops for the longest time. I'm not sure if she still does, but it wouldn't surprise me. She also said the procedure was kind of torturous, so there's that.
This was in my area. Such a sad story!! Young mom with kids and a husband. I believe she had some weird and rare issue where her eyes were literally in pain 24/7 and there is no fix. I could be mistaken, but that’s was i was told. That scared me for life and i don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it.
And this is why i ponied up the extra cash to go to the best doc in my region with a 99.x% success rate... Maybe it was a non issue, but my eye sight is perfect now and it sure gave me more peace of mind going in.
And these stories are why I'm fine with glasses.
I only have one good eye but still wear glasses. I'd never chance Lasik, even my eye doc says no.
The article says that the role lasik played in her suicide remained unclear and also says she has two young children. As someone with three young children, there's about a billion things that could have been causing her problems other than just her dry eyes.
Nowadays it’s even faster than that.
Go for it and don’t look back. It’s a game changer.
I heard that most of that ten minutes is setting up, waiting for the freezing to kick in, talking about the weather.
The actual surgery on the eye is finished in a matter of seconds.
It sounds amazing, I’m just a broke college student though, so maybe one day after I get a stable income I can do it
Ten minutes total, maybe. I was in and out in that time. About 3 minutes per eye.
I woke up once during eye surgery, it wasn't Lasik, it was to restrict my eye muscles to keep my eye from randomly drifting upward. I was high as a kite, the docs were talking about cars and laughing, and I remember lamenting that I couldn't laugh with them. Saw stitches go in and out, but no pain, no discomfort. Just high, lol.
Also you should know that Lasik has the potential to give you life long pain, some patients have killed themselves after Lasik surgery ruined their eyes
After learning this I decided glasses are a minor inconvenience
Yup same. I’d rather be able to correct my eyesight with glasses and contact lenses than risk a kind of Russian Roulette with my eyes and being stuck with a problem I can no longer correct.
Its not a 1 in 6 chance of side effects. Its a 1 in 600,000.
We take plenty worse risks than that all the time.
Yeah must absolute suck for that one person who I’d never want to be. I just opt out of unnecessary risks like plastic surgery, for example.
I'm just saying calling it russian roulette is extremely disingenuous.
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Ok...you realize glasses aren't made out of glass right?
It's plastic...the frame will break before the lenses shatter
And any injury incurred by falling will heal...unlike the surgery
You don’t think I know that? LOL Honestly when people say things like this it’s such a useless over-expressed point to make because ultimately, I’m not going out of my way to seek out and pay for falling down on my glasses to ruin my eyes. That’s an accident. Obviously daily life is a risk in itself - that doesn’t take away the fact that lasik is an additional risk one is choosing to make. I could drown or slip in the bathroom - doesn’t change the fact that lasik is an additional risk. PERIOD.
I’d rather test my luck with something else like swimming in the ocean where an eel might eat my eyes out. That’s a possibility too, probably unlikely but maybe someone somewhere doesn’t go to the beach for this specific reason. lol I just personally choose not to risk it through surgery.
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It is FAR more likely that lasik would ruin my eyesight - not just full on blind me, mind you - but even just ruin it ever so slightly wherein glasses wouldn’t be able to correct it. This has happened to a couple of people I know. And for others still, the fix wasn’t permanent. So nope - far less likely that I could go blind from being injured by my glasses in some freak accident than having lasik surgery especially when I mostly just wear contact lenses. So your point is moot. I’ve been wearing glasses for more than 30 years and have never been injured by them. :)
Yeah, I understand that. Not every surgery has a 100% success rate, although I think Lasik surgery is somewhere up there. I like my contacts, so I’ll probably stick with these for the time being
I doubt any surgery has a 100% success rate, you totally have to weigh the pros and cons and evaluate the risks
Lasik just seems (to me anyways) like one of those drug commercials where the potential side effects are worse than what it's supposed to treat
But it's really between a patient and the doctor to decide the best course of treatment for a given condition
And then the whole Final Destination movie scene. That's what makes me afraid of the surgery.
Oof same
Ten minutes? Try 30 seconds.
10 minutes? what are you talking about? Mine was about 20 seconds per eye. I was off the table in 3-4 minutes.
Probably talking about total time. It was about 10 minutes for me to get everything in place, done, and then removed
They had me in a private lounge with an ipad I could use to browse the net and gave me the benadryl and some eye numbing drops for something like 10-15 minutes before time of the procedure. The procedure itself happened so fast I literally said "that's it?" And because for YEARS I've had astigmatism I almost fell over when I put my foot down. Because the floor was in the wrong place. My wife drove me home after the first application of the medicated drops after the procedure and I took a nap. But before I went to sleep I saw the cats waiting for me by the front door and I said "THEY'RE HUGE!" because, the high index prescription and lenses I'd had for many years incorrectly sized everything I interacted with and everything I saw. There was a certain amount of re-calculation necessary afterwards. My guitar playing too - the neck positions were in a slightly different place. I totally would do it again. The sheer improvement in my life is so massive I can't even describe it effectively and this is five years after the fact.
It really isn't that bad, you can't see anything, you're lying on a bad, they give you a valium and you chill for a while, then they put numbing drops in your eyes. Then the get to work, put the eye-opener thing in, which you can barely feel, then they do their thing and you don't feel it and as its literally on the surface of your eye you can't see what they are doing. It's really not a scary procedure to go through. The valium also really makes you not give a single fuck about what is going on. Plus they gave me oxycodone after the procedure
But it is extremely scary to watch the procedure.
I had PRK done (similar to lazik) and the actual time of having the laser blast my eyeballs was like 20 seconds each.
The whole process for me, both eyes, took like 2 minutes. Maybe 3 tops.
It's pretty chill really, however, the smell of your eye burning is something you don't forget. And that they don't tell you about.
It’s more like 1 minute per eye, it’s very quick
it last a lot less than 10 minutes per eye. the entire surgery didn't take 10 minutes.
I considered it in my 20's but my eyesight improved in my 30s so I'm kind of glad I didn't get it.
I had PRK, which is a (safer, but longer recovery time) cousin to Lasik, so I can't speak for Lasik. But my experience was about 7 minutes total surgery time, with about 45-60 seconds of actual lasering of the eye. And they do one at a time. So a few minutes to set up one eye, laser, a few minutes to set up the other eye, laser. Done.
It sounds scary, but it's no big deal.
But if they ever ask you if you want another Xanax before surgery, you say YES!!!
You literally cant blink. They put a retainer on your eye so you cant move it. Not that it sounds any better lol.
I had it done a few years ago, so glad I did it.
Don't they use a tool to keep your eye ball open? I mean, that'd suck if it was a nah, you gotta just pain thru and hold your eyes open!
Yeah that’s what I meant by “you can’t blink.” Although maybe I should clarified how in my original comment
I got LASIK and it was entirely worth it. The Valium they gave me for the procedure didn’t work for me and it still wasn’t that bad. Your eyes are numbed, you don’t really feel the thing that holds your eyes open, and it’s over so fast, you don’t really have time to freak out about it. The healing period is worse than the surgery itself.
You're in the room for maybe 10 minutes. Each eye took about 30 seconds for me.
It's not painful. It's a little weird. But very, very worth it.
LASIK didn't go so well for me. I now have severely dry eyes, and get starbursts/haloes when I look at concentrated light. Unfortunately life doesn't come with savegames, so there's no going back.
Lasik is pretty wild, but not too bad...its the smell they don't tell you about that makes it rough.
Do they do something to prevent you from blinking?
Yes, they use numbing eyedrops and insert a medical instrument that keeps your eyes open
My eyesight is fucking horrendous. I want laser eye surgery, but I guess I'll wait until I can't stand my eyesight anymore before I do. It also terrifies me.
The flap can detach later too.
True but that's why you should opt for the laser cut one and not the mechanical option
My aunts eyes are so bad her cornea is gone or smthn and can’t get lasik. My eyes are going bad fast too and I’m afraid I won’t be able to do lasik. Does anyone know how bad ur eyes have to be for this to happen?
They just put numbing drops in your eyes, hold the lids open, keep adding drops to your eyes, do some shit, and you stare at a laser.
You don't even feel that dry eye watering from keeping your eyes open too long. It's seriously painless.
I got PRK so the first three days of recovery were terrible. Lasik you'll be normal by the next day
You’re awake but they give you a sedative and you don’t feel anything. You also dont see for a majority cuz the procedure makes the eyes go blank. The only thing you feel is pressure. You have pain for a little bit after but I just slept and when I woke up I basically had 20/20 with a little blurry but at this point I’m pretty much perfect vision.
Source:had lasik on Thursday. And have 20/20 vision atm.
When I went through with it, it lasted less than a minute per eye. You’ll take 10 minutes of the surgeon’s time, but the procedure itself is quick and painless.
Had Lasek which is the shitty uncle of Lasik, would not recommend.
I could never go through with LASIK - the small chance that the procedure won't go well and my eyesight would be permanently ruined just scares me too much.
Also my astigmatism is too bad for me to even do the procedure so I mean...
Yeah but my lasik only lasted about 4 yrs. Now my eye sight is worse, i cant even wear contacts. I fucking hate glasses.
I should never have had lasik, it just caused my eyes to deteriorate faster. And the doctor had to know I had this condition when the test were ran, because the doctor who told me about my eyes and explained why Lasik didnt work for me, used the same scans.
Just reading this LASIK thread is making my anxiety go from 0 to 100.
Mandatory LASIK ad
Yep. Tri-focal/transitional lenses suck, so that’s probably next for me.
It doesn’t always last forever tho. I was wearing glasses again 8 years later. But at least my vision is 20-60 and not the 20-400+ it used to be.
Did you have dry eye? How's your vision at night? I'm considering doing it but I'm a bit afraid of those two things
I actually did PRK because of the shape of my corneas, and I was so paranoid I did them one at a time. I was pretty lucky and I didn’t get too many side effects. Your eyes are pretty dry at first, but nothing super painful (after the first week!) and that went away quickly. I also had some flaring at first with lights at night, but again that settled out. I can’t remember having other issues at night until recently (over a decade later), and it’s mainly just more difficult to read street signs. Which is why I started wearing glasses again.
Still glad I did it, though. Six months afterwards I ended up in the hospital for 6 days, and being able to see without fumbling for glasses was one less thing to stress about.
Yea no Final Destination 5 ruined that for me
The last time I let a doctor take a look at my eyes I ended up with permanent damage to my eyes. Think I'll pass.
Had some periodic, irregular shooting pains in my right eye for about a month before I went. He shoved some cameras in my eye and hit me with several flashes and lights so strong they made me see the veins in my eyes. My vision was a total blur for a couple of days and I'm very light sensitive and prone to headaches now.
He didn't find anything wrong either. That was 10 years ago.
Edit: Added the story.
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That’s good. Is there any reason my eyes get sore if I stare at the screen all day? Does that mean the screen is too bright?
Eye strain (which is temporary) is very real—what’s been disproven is that screen time damages your eyes. Take frequent breaks from your screen to refocus at longer distances (I find it better and easier to simply get up from my desk, which is a good idea regardless), use a program like flux to adjust your screens color temp, and of course limit your screen time. 🙂
Great information, thank you!
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Yeah, my iPhone automatically goes into that mode at night so I can sleep better. I’ll look into it for my work monitor, thanks for the tip!
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Thanks!
I have to use this setting all day at its warmest color setting. iPhones for some reason now days will make me nauseous otherwise. 😣
what? how?
Masturbation. Didn't you get the blindness memo?
I couldn't read it.
hahahahahahahaha that made me chuckle
r/BetterReplies
My palsm are also hairy
I thought that was hairy palms?
oh lmao
You’re constantly looking at things from less than a few feet away on a device that emits bright lights. When’s the last time you just looked at a tree and watched the leaves blow in the wind from 50 feet (or meters) away? I use technology so much that it’s truly bizarre when I look at nature. I have a greater appreciation for nature now though so I guess things aren’t that bad.
I use technology so much that it’s truly bizarre when I look at nature.
bro go outside more lol
That domestic mean it’s bad for you though. Where is the harm
Looking at stuff close to you for extended periods and constantly does harm your eyesight. Optimally you should at least look out of the window and focus somewhere farther at least a couple of times an hour. I don't have source for this because it's been some time since I read about it but you can look it up.
there is no concrete evidence that says looking at close stuff all day harms your eyesight.
I use my phone to watch the trees
I was like 5 and my dad started taking me and my brother on trails after my parents divorced at the time I hated it so much I thought it was boring now that I'm older I really appreciate it and love hiking
Eye strain from stairing at screens for so long.
i cant speak for everyone but my day is wakeup, turn my alarm off on my phone, shower, make breakfast, brows reddit on the phone while eating breakfast, go to work, work an office job from 8:30-5:30, go home, watch stuff online or play video games until its time for bed or stay up to late gaming.
That stuff will kill your vision and theres research that believes that not getting enough sleep causes dementia.
Most screens dont filter out blue light. A program like f.lux will help reduce eyestrain.
Eye strain is short term and no damage is done to the eye.
I was about to say that too. This guy is totally misleading.
Misinformed=/=misleading
He is misleading people by saying you can have eye damage through using computer screens.
Misleading implies a malicious intent that he doesn't have, misinformed and spreading his misinformation he received is still misleading, but with a different connotation, I guess.
It does not kill your vision, that’s just a myth
You need to get more sleep.
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My girlfriend and I have been been competing each week who can achieve less average screen time on their phone ever since the iPhone started showing that data every Sunday. Its getting pretty serious now. I was on a win streak for several weeks till she fucking shows me her 12 minutes per day average when it showed up today. I was pissed off but also impressed.
Is there any evidence for this or is this just a myth? The only thing I found from medical sources when looking into this is that it causes temporary eye strain with no long lasting effects.
Luckily for us around 95% of vision problems are caused by genetics. Let's say you have some sort of a vision problem 5% of it was caused by staring at screens and 95% is by your DNA. So people like me can just curse our parents :)
It’s just a myth. There is, however, evidence that not getting enough sunlight as a child will make you nearsighted
Huh... I remember that I was already nearsighted when I was young (~9-13) even though I was quite often outside, while i got my first PC when I was 12... Before that, I gave almost never used one
Genetics are a factor too, of course. If you’re screwed on that front you’re out of luck.
Some scishow for the curious:
The effects of blue light on eyes: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4z0JvFa9lx8 The nearsightedness epidemic: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qwQzTKHIkb4
The most that I can find says that it can lead to nearsightedness. Nothing about actual vision loss.
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Doctors have been known to give wrong advice and believe (and say) myths before. Just because you're an eye doctor doesn't mean you haven't fallen victim to that.
r/techicallythetruth
Except it’s not. There is 0 evidence that screentime ruins eyesight. There is, however, evidence that not getting enough sunlight when you’re growing leads to be nearsighted. So enjoy the internet! ...outside
I'm in no position of authority, however according to my eye doctor it isnt the screen that hurts your eyesight, its spending too much time looking at something close to you.
According to the him either the navy or airforce trains people on the 20/20/20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.
Edit: I'm not saying he was right or wrong. Just sharing what I was told by an optometrist.
Definitely not the Navy that trains on that. Source: was a Navy IT for 8 years.
Everyone knows doctors can never be wrong. Doctors hate him!
I spend a lot of time at computers and I am incredibly short sighted but I can see stuff an arms length away really well
He's just pulling numbers out of his ass, there's no evidence for this.
Yep. There's gotta be an app or extension for that.
I played outside all the time as a kid, and I'm still nearsighted. I got gypped.
Damn you, genetics!
I mean, there's a muscle group at the back of your eyes that control focus, there's no logical reason that if the muscles are fixed and working to have you focus at something close for extended periods of time that you would have a lesser ability to focus at range as a result. But that would probably result in eye strain and headaches.
People lose 20/20 vision because the shape of your eyes adjust over time, either becoming oval shaped and stretched (Short sighted) or compress more (far sighted).
I've been on the computer about 12 hours per day for the last 20 years and my eyesight is perfect.
I’m jealous. Nearsighted over here
Hopefully mine remains I always figured sooner or later computer would take it's toll but hasn't yet.
I miss my eyesight. i regret using my computer everyday for the last 2 years, im 17 now and im going to get my eyes tested cuz i cant see far away
Well I didn’t even have a computer when I was 11 and I still had to get glasses. At 17 it’s very unlikely you’re actually losing your eyesight, you’re just nearsighted.
On a tangential note, if you plan to make a career of being at a computer make a habit of hand and posture exercises now to avoid the future pain of carpal tunnel and upper crossed syndrome.
Tips from someone as nearsighted as Velma,
Edit: the arms are plastic and literally any store will bend them to fit better if they are falling off your face.
Such a great post, I’ve never bought online and heard of goggles4u as a cheap option. Have you ever used them??
Personally, no, I'm in Canada and have a -11-ish prescription so my options are more limited.
I tend to use Clearly Contacts but my sister's have around -1.5 and -4 eyesight so they use Zenni. Seriously, she got 8 god damn pairs of glasses for under 250$ inculding heart sunglasses!
I will say,
Lol it’s no big deal just get contacts.
Contacts are rather expensive for many people, unfortunately. It's also a real pain to have that extra step in the morning and at night. It would be so nice to be able to wake up on the morning and just see.
I also have seasonal allergies, and contacts don't always play nice with that. :/
Lasik?
Maybe someday. I tend to have very bad experiences with other people messing with my eyes - I usually can't even have my eye pressure taken due to a vasovagal response causing me to pass out :(
I'm able to manage putting in contacts on my own, but only with a mirror since looking at the reflection instead of what's about to touch my eye makes it easier.
In any case, it probably won't be for a few years until I'm in a position to justify it financially anyway.
Oh I totally understand that.
I’m near sighted and I’ve been wearing contacts for about 10 years now. Without them, I can’t see a darn thing but I can’t wait for the day when it’s possible to wake up with 20/20 vision. The whole process is pretty scary though (at least it sounds scary) so I’m putting it off until I feel more comfortable with it haha.
It’s also a real pain to have that extra step in the morning and at night. It would be nice to be able to wake up on the morning and just see.
I agree with the latter sentence, but I don’t really view it as a pain. It takes less than 10 seconds.
Obviously I think everyone with bad eyesight would prefer good eyesight, but to say that you regret staring at your computer so much is a bit extreme in my eyes. (Pun intended).
It definitely takes me more than ten seconds. It probably takes about a minute and a half or two minutes.
Shit, wish I'd known this before just now at 23, when I'm not too long from being totally finished with vertical growth.
I don’t know about this, grew up mostly in the sunshine and outdoors am still very near sighted. :(
Genetics can screw you regardless. There’s just a “nearsightedness epidemic” thought to be caused by spending too much time indoors
Yes I keep telling my kids that we need to go outside and stare at faraway things like mountains or the islands across the water from us. lol Probably won’t help but can’t hurt trying. :(
It might not prevent an eye problem, but it might keep it from being too bad. Spending time outside shouldn’t hurt anyway :) good luck!
Yes outdoors and sunshine is good for the soul anyway. :)
there is no nearsightedness epidemic, the only thing that may have changed is that it's easier/cheaper to get diagnosed/treated so more people do it instead of living with slightly bad vision
My source was scishow. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qwQzTKHIkb4
I pretty much lived outside my whole life and my eyes are bad. Maybe it's something weird like genetics or something.
Too weird. Better blame the internet ;)
I think blue light can cause eye strain, that's why newer models of pcs are rolling out night light features to turn the light warmer at night.
Maybe it only affects if it keeps you awake or not but my eyes feel better using this function for a week and are blurry less. For the record every eye exam i take says my eyesight is fine so I really think it's the amount of time I spend in front of a lit screen.
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I dunno man. I don't think a placebo is going to make me think my eyes don't hurt.
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I'm well aware of what the placebo effect is but I don't really think it's the case with me. the difference is too night and day. Lack of evidence doesn't always mean something doesn't exist and studies like that can take up to ten years to yield reliable results. It could also be a situation where it only helps certain people. Call it a placebo, I call it being aware of the variables and also just yknow, knowing my own body pretty well.
Especially since my eyes got better BEFORE i started actually looking into it as more than just a setting my new computer had.
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Ok Susanne.
Harrah! The optometrist I went to kept giving me the side-eye when we talked about my phone usage (I do use my phone too much). I am 32 and only just started needing glasses. Barely.
Nah bro if you use the computer until you eyes get tired and your vision is more blurry if you do that for days at a time it fucks your eyes up
r/woooosh
Oops?
Wait a minute...
/thread
Nah it’s those dang books you keep reading at night
That's not fair, I blame CRTs
Haha nice!
Jokes on them, i think i look good with glasses
My eyesight was bad before I ever got onto the internet :(
Dark mode FTW
What, did you think /r/eyebleach was a suggestion?
T-T
As simple as that.
If something is 1-2ft away from me I can see it perfectly
I use to have 20/20 vision now im -0.5 -0.5 ;(
-0.5/-0.5 isn't a thing...
20/X refers to what you can see at 20 feet vs. what someone with average sight can see at X feet. 20/20 means that at 20 feet, you can see what someone with average sight can also see at 20 feet. 20/40 would mean that you can see at 20 feet what someone with average sight can see at 40 feet.
-0.5/-0.5 implies that you can see something half a foot behind you and so can someone with average sight...which obviously isn't the case for anyone except mothers.
Reading a book before bed. Now I mostly surf the web until I get tired.
I've been trying to break that habit myself. Even with "night screen" enabled, I find that looking at my phone makes it hard to go to sleep. Where as reading a book wouldn't have that effect on me. But it's so damn hard, I usually end up down some rabbit hole of nonsense on my phone, I simply lose track of time.
Artificial light does weird things to your circadian rhythm.
Even more so if you have bipolar disorder. That shit will fuck up your sleep cycles something fierce then you’ll be manic which is even worse on your sleep. It’s a great way to be batshit.
I hear blue light therapy is supposed to help people with bi-polar, can anyone vouch for this?
It's a mixed bag. Bipolar disorder, for anyone who doesn't know, is a mood disorder where a person's moods cycle between depression and mania. Many of the things that relieve depression cause mania so it's particularly hard to treat depression in someone with bipolar disorder. Light is included in this category. The northern hemisphere has a 20% increase in mania in the spring and the southern hemisphere has a 20% increase in mania in the fall. So you have to be really careful. Even in people who are medicated.
Blue light is great for treating depression but you have to be really careful that you don't use so much that you become manic.
Do you mean that each hemisphere has a 20% increase of mania in the spring? It just happens to be September during the Spring for the southern hemisphere?
Correct! Sorry, I was unclear.
The blue-light thing is real, but I also think reading and swiping and tapping on our phones is much more stimulating than reading or doing a crossword or sudoku on paper. It’s 11:18 here right now though, and I’m deep in this thread, so clearly this habit dies hard.
The worst is waking up in the middle of the night and then not being able to fall back asleep, so what do you do? You check your phone of course. And then the light tricks you into thinking it's time to wake up. But when you do try to fall back asleep, you really can't now because your mind is racing because you've been surfing reddit and social media for 2 hours and it's now 4:30AM so you do the math of how much time you have to sleep before you have to wake up to get ready for work and then...
alarm clock goes off
This comment gave me PTSD
Haha it’s 7am where I am and I am on the wrong side of that 7am.
Currently 3:32 in the AM for me. Luckily i work swing shift ‘cus I’m a cool guy ;D
And yet here I am
Can confirm. I'm a programmer, and the late night coding really failed fucked up my sleep, to the point I went two straight days not being able to fall asleep. I had to change my habits for good and take sleeping pills for a couple of months before I could get back to normal.
I had the same problem. What worked for me was moving my charger outside of my bedroom and plugging in my phone overnight. Can't get lost on reddit if you don't have the phone with you. Bonus: you wake up each day with a fully charged phone.
plugging in my phone overnight
wake up each day with a fully charged phone.
Don't most people do this?
Can confirm some don't, my girlfriend is notorious for leaving her phone unplugged at night while it's almost dead lol.
I would do that but I’m in a LDR and those moments we can talk are precious, so we tend vc overnight
I’ve heard that leaving a phone to charge for longer than it needs (like overnight) can mess up the battery over time
You heard wrong, current batteries don’t work like that.
No you're wrong! I'm calling my dad to settle this
He's not home right now. He went to blockbuster
Never change, reddit ;)
If you'd like to test it yourself on a laptop, open Command Line (CMD), type in powercfg /batteryreport and check the total watt-hours over time. Your battery will degrade over time, and that tool will help you track it.
Battery University also recommends that you do not leave the phone on the charger overnight as you'll stress the battery. (Scroll to the end of the link.) https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries
Short answer: to prolong battery life, don't charge it to 100 percent and don't let it go to 0, either. That's hard with a laptop, but easier with a phone.
were talking phones, not laptops, laptop batteries may be different, i dont know. Phones these days just stop pumping power to the batter when the charge is full. This isn't a car battery in your garage, its a computer and its smart enough to not ruin itself.
Also, literally in the second paragraph of your own link it says Li-ion batteries cannot be overcharged.
Theres things like you said to prolong battery life, but leave that mofo on the charger all night every night if thats what you want. Its not hurting the battery.
I find I don't have that problem with e-readers. I was a diehard, paper rules out always kind of person when it came to books until a couple of months ago. I'm just so tired of moving with multiple boxes of books and having to increase the number of bookshelves I have. Got a Kindle, doesn't make it hard for me to sleep like my phone does, and I don't have to have the lights on to read, it's a win-win.
Funny, I don't use the backlight on my Kindle for the same reason I don't use my phone before bed. Also it really depends on the book, whether I want to read it on Kindle or from a paperback.
The backlight is supposed to be designed to avoid the same difficulties with a phone/computer backlight.
As far as the switching goes, I haven't moved my whole collection over, but I will be, and I'll try to sell all my physical copies except maybe my Harry Potter books and some with more decorative covers. It's just a matter of downsizing for me though.
Don't get me wrong it's definitely an improvement over an LED screen, but still noticeable to me.
This. Books next to the bed, phone in the other room, separate alarm device. It's a really good ritual to be apart from the damn phone overnight so you can't reach for it.
I always read with white on black (dark mode) and blue light disabled on my phone (i prefer paper books, but I move a lot and I can't deal with the heartbreak of having to pare down my book collection to fit in my car anymore). The letters eventually turn such a deep yellow that i get naturally sleepy and drift off. It is pretty nice to not drop a giant book on my face and i can read while lying on my side with absolutely no difficulty.
I always found on my side with an actual book the easiest position? Like you lay the book down on one cover and have it open at 90° and read the upright side. Then you rotate the book 90° and rest it on the edge of the side you're now reading.
Makes me happy to know I’m not the only one doing this. It just makes sense!
download f.lux. It dims and tints your screens as the sun sets. It's actually amazing at winding you down at the end of the night.
If you lose track of time, try setting a timer. I have one that goes off at 9pm, to give me a phone free hour before bed at 10pm
if i try to read like that I always end up finishing the book and getting 0 sleep. reading 600 pages in 6 hours in bed is a must when its exciting
No TVTropes in bed.
I go to sleep easier when watching things, even if it’s early-ish (like 8 pm). For example, the other night I fell asleep while watching a movie and it was only like 8 pm. But at the same time I’ve drifted off when reading a good book.
Try out a kindle e-reader. The lowest brightest on my new phone (which is already lower than my old phone) is still super bright compared to the lowest brightness on my kindle. Even in complete darkness I can't keep it on the lowest brightness because it's just too dark.
Scrolling this far down the reddit comments is the rabbit hole of nonsense
I have the blue block turned on full at 7 pm. I still try to put it down by 10.
Damn you, reddit
I think a ton of us struggle with that. I have had to work on my sleep hygiene. Now, I only go to bed with my Kindle, which is "just" a Kindle, not even a Fire, so it is only good for reading. I leave my phone in another room as my "oh shit" alarm if my old school alarm clock doesn't work.
I lose either way, screens keep me awake but I get lost in books then look at the clock and it's 5am.
Now I have an alarm set (on my phone of course) to go off so I stop reading at a reasonable time.
Just play mine craft battle royale
Buy a book and start reading it. That will help the issue
Try flight mode before you get into bed. Then pull out a book.
I'm currently in that rabbit hole
Put your phone in flight mode and read from the Kindle app, in dark mode. Through Goodreads I discovered that a big part of the population just kept on reading, they're just a bit more hidden. Reading is mindfulness. It will improve your sleep and your life.
Ofcourse its going to be hard to go to sleep if youre on your phone, lol. Your brain is active, chemicals are firing.
Are you even surprised?
There's a shit load of good audio books and podcasts available, even on YouTube. Get a sleep timer app and you're golden. About 40 mins of anything as long as it isn't too funny does the trick for me
Agreed.
Put the books on your phone, and read it at the lowest brightness/night mode setting you can comfortably read at. The act of reading and not having to strain your eyes will have you out in no time flat. Plus, if you're so inclined, turning the brightness up can help you finish that chapter or power through the end of the book.
The trick I found is to charge my phone on the bathroom counter and keep my book on the bedside table. It helps me to get up in the morning too because I need to get out of bed to snooze the alarm.
It helps me to get up in the morning too
The bathroom idea works if your bathroom is close enough to your bed, but I'd also like to recommend (and I am in no way affiliated with them... it's free anyway) the Alarmy app for this same reason.
You can set different ways to disable the alarm and one of them is to take a picture of something and it has to match a picture that you pre set. So for example I have to take a picture of my toilet every morning from the same angle I took the original picture from lmao.
And you can not turn off the alarm until you've done whatever you set up as the challenge. But it's great that I have to get out of bed to take the picture. You can even set an app setting to disable powering off your phone. No other apps can be opened, no turning it off, no turning the volume down, no nothing except whatever you set up. It's infuriating at 6am but it works haha.
You can also set it so you have to do math problems of differing complexity (which you can set the difficulty of), shake it a certain number of times, scan a barcode on an item, match a picture, some puzzles I think... Lots of options.
Anyway, I just always like recommending it when someone mentions a tip for waking up in the morning because it used to be a serious issue for me... Sorry for the ad.
I used to use an app that had options like that but I didn't like the association I was forming with waking up. It was always a frustrating experience with some added panic. That's kinda the point of it, I get that. But it was making me dread the concept of waking up.
I still use an alarm but I've tried just going to bed sooner. Also I plan to wake up even earlier than I "need" to so if I do wake up, I have some free time in the morning (positive reinforcement) and if I'm struggling for whatever reason I have a little grace time.
By all means, use apps like these if they help, but I think it's equally important to try and make waking up less of a dreaded experience.
I do this exact same thing! It really works for me. I even put the phone all the way on the bathtub ledge so I am reminded to get right in the shower at my first alarm.
*halfway through chapter: bzzzt bzzzt
Good little lifehack tip
trust me, do whatever you can to get back into reading and being unplugged before bed (set an alarm to shut down or use an app or something). I've gotten back into it over the past year and I swear I gained back critical thinking skills I didn't realize I had lost and I'm sleeping so much better.
Amen!! I stopped looking at my phone in bed. Replaced it with reading one chapter of a book each night. Now I fall asleep so much quicker, my sleeps are way less restless, and I truly do feel like I’m smarter for it. I feel more creative and productive, and I think my memory has improved. Highly recommend!!
I've put my books on my phone. Makes it a lot easier since I can just switch between them.
Or: it makes it difficult, since I can switch between them ;)
Happens to me all the time. Downloads book, gets bored, and then opens reddit.
I love reading more than anything, but I always seem to put it off, if I have something else I could be doing instead.
Stop reading boring books?
I do. Then I get on reddit.
I actually sold my iPad because of this. I wasn’t using it for reading, I was using it for internetting and gaming at bedtime. I got a kindle paper white and when I put my phone down, its kindle reading time.
Unlike most other things in this thread you can change this any time you feel like.
The internet didn't get rid of books. You can still do this. If it's what you want, you should do it.
No, you killed this, the internet didn't. I've never been one to browse my phone once in bed. I read all the time before going to bed.
This....I love to read. I used to read every day, probably a book or two each week.
Now, even when I try, my phone compels me. Short reads, lists, the ability to talk back...
But I miss it. For something totally in my control, I'll oddly divided.
You can still do books. I got out of the habit. It just takes one good book to put you back in.
I’ve stopped bringing devices up to bed (except my Kindle). I’ve started reading so much more again, and I definitely get more sleep.
This one you can fix, but it takes some determination. The internet designed itself to be addicting.
Delete all your addicting apps, including Reddit. Then every time you get the itch to browse your phone, read instead
The difference between your comment and a number of others is that it's not hard to choose to read the book, whereas it's not possible to go to Blockbuster or watch Saturday morning cartoons. One good benefit is that you will sleep better if you choose the book over the surfing.
Read a book on the Kindle app!
I used to do the book thing until I started staying up way past when I should be asleep because I can't put it down.
This is kind of where I'm at right now. I've been slogging through this one book for what seems like a LONG time. I just want to finish it off, but goddamn is it long. But it's also a decent read. But here I am, shooting past my intended bed time by 20-30 minutes.
I'm going to try to start doing this again. It'll be on my Kindle, but I'm gonna do it. I have so many books I want to read, yet I am sitting here refreshing reddit and trying to find content on youtube and netflix instead...
(if you see me continuing to comment in my history tonight, that's because I am going to start... but not until tomorrow... yeah, that's the ticket...)
I still try to read once in a while before bed but I used to read every night before smart phones were a thing (I'm 30 now). I'm only starting to realize now how addicting phones are and how having the internet at the tips of our hands all the time can make us become so attached to it.
I try to fit in time for my other hobbies like playing guitar or reading but it's so easy to get caught in the habit of just watching Netflix or looking up stuff on your phone all the time.
Mate, get yourself a kindle. Or whichever reader, it doesn’t matter. I’ve been an avid reader my entire life and books have never been in a better place!
I can get books cheaply, easier, and basically instantly. Any time of the day or night. My entire collection comes with me when I travel and a kindle is much more bedtime reading friendly than most books.
Trust me... this is one area of life that’s still amazing and right there for you to get back in to.
Don’t bring your phone into the bedroom. It’s not good to look at artificial light before bed anyway. Phone should be away a good two hours before you go to sleep. Now read away!
Get a Kindle paperwhite
I make myself feel better by reading ebooks in bed. I'm still on my tablet but hey, at least I'm not just mindlessly scrolling through social media :/
the issue arises when the book PICKS THE FUCK UP
and now u cant sleep. only 6 more chapters i can finish it by 4 and be asleep by 430!
I broke myself of this habit. I now read for at least a half hour before bed. It's done me no end of good.
I've only started to get back into this this year and I sleep so much better for it. I read on an eReader so it's not as "good" as a physical book, but it does mean that I can turn off all the lights and just doze off when my body is ready and it'll save my place and turn off automatically.
I've finished 2 books this year and am working through my third. No complaints about this plan because I rarely remember what I read online at night, whereas the book has a narrative I can all tie together.
I go through periods of trying to practice better bedtime routine, and barring anything interrupting me (illness, usually), here's what I do:
Voila! Reading before bed.
You killed that, not the Internet.
That's up to you buddy.
This! I do it all the time and it's so much better to read a book instead. I gotta get back in the habit of stopping electronics use 1 hour before bed
I'mma have to stop this myself. Read a book before bed the other night and had an awesome sleep.
Reading a book before bed
i've switched to listening to an audiobook before bed
I purchased a book light and have been trying to get into the habit of reading 2-3 chapters a night. Currently going through Eldest (from the Eragon books)
Yeah, I think I read more now.
I used to do that. Decided to just go back into doing it since I had a pile of unread books. It's been relaxing and really helps me sleep.
I put myself to sleep with Audible books. Set up a 15 min timer and I’m out. The next morning, I only have to rewind a few minutes to pick up where I fell asleep.
Waking up when the book smacks you in the face.
I read my kindle everyday before bed. With the backlight being very dimmable and not having the same type of screen as a phone I find it very relaxing. You should look into it. I don't tend to read long stretches unless I am having trouble falling asleep, but eventually I finish one and move on.
I still do that though? The internet didn't kill that you can still do it fine. I have a Kindle Paperwhite.
Hate to be that person but this is a habit you can control on your own. If you really really miss reading a book before bed, do it. I understand surfing the web gets one in a seemingly unending loop but I think it's breakable.
That’s on you, nothing stopping you from doing that.
That’s what I’m doing right now.
Iv never been a reader. Last October I decided to sit down and finally read the harry potter books (im a massive fan of the films and had read parts of most of the books). Took me about 10 weeks to get through them all but forcing myself to read 50-100 pages a night was actually really good. I started this year with the intent of reading a book a month starting with the Game of Thrones books. Its a week into April and i've read nothing. I need to force myself again.
I still read books almost everyday before bed, I don't like to play games or surf the web before bed, it makes me sleep worse...
I try to read an hour when I wake up and an hour before bed.
I have to read before I can fall asleep at night. I have all my favorite books on a tablet and most mornings I wake up with the tablet on my face. lol.
Like in every family sitcom.
Same. I have bad lighting in my house though so I can't really see well enough to read in my bedroom, hate booklights. I tried putting it on my tablet but I get distracted by the internet instead.
I just use audible.
Set the sleep timer and just relax in the dark and listen to a story.
Just about done revisiting Dune, but also got through Shogun pretty quick too!
Honestly, I have to read earlier because a good book really gets my energy up. It's more of the start to my day (or afternoon, whatever) than the end.
Audible. Sleep timer. Its wonderful.
It’s also not the same as staying up until 2am with a wormlight clipped to your book.
I used to read the Percy Jackson and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books obsessively every night in middle school, now I just binge Netflix or Reddit till I fall asleep
Oh, you just reminded me that I should be reading a book right now before bed, instead of about how the internet is killing things like reading books before bed. I am not an accomplice to murder. Gnight!
Most libraries have ebooks now if you feel like combining old and new habits.
Listen to an audiobook. It’s a great way to fall asleep.
It’s really hard to keep the habit up, but I’ve found that when I cut myself off from electronics at a certain time of the day (dinner works best for me), my evenings become a time to slow down and rest much better.
I download long form articles to put myself to sleep. I recommend Article Reader for Android and Slate Star Codex as reading material.
I feel like that ones on you.
I don't really think that's the internets fault. I read before bed just last night. You can but books with a few clicks and get them to your door in a few days. Or even instantly if you have a kindle.
Ban the phone from your bedroom. I did this. You'll sleep better and get reading.
Needs some self discipline but it was a good move.
No one last check of Facebook, email etc. An outright ban. Else you'll get drawn in....
You won't miss it.
I read before sleeping and have done since childhood. I am having trouble reading an actual book before I sleep now because I have to use a light source, possibly a candle at the moment , which has to be turned off.
The convenience of eBooks on my phone, which I can just drop and forget about to go to sleep, is massive. I prefer an actual book mostly but the handy "light source contained" nature of my phone keeps the phone in my hand before sleep
Om the other hand, the internet brought us Audible, for which I'm undyingly grateful.
I do that too but I don’t feel tired. I just stay awake until my phone battery dies
Yes! I used to read sooo much! Now my attention span is so screwed up from my iphone I can’t concentrate on a book long enough to read it. I’m totally aware of it but can’t seam to crack it.
We all can but we don't give ourselves enough incentive. I did it for about a month and felt great.
Exactly. And I feel bad because I’m not reading.
I used to spend all my downtime reading. I was so much smarter.
How true. I've been making an effort to go to the library and keep a few books on the nightstand. But I'm not as good about it as I wish I was.
I relate to this so much. I WANT to read my book but I also have check various apps bc now my brain has adhd. It’s a work in progress and definitely is dependent on how good my book is!
I switched from reading under the covers to playing DS to playing 3DS to playing on my iPod to reading Reddit on my phone.
Grow a backbone then
This going to sound weird to some people but I think others can relate. I was a kid and teenager in the 90s and there were stories that no one knew for sure if they were true or not but there was no way to fact check them. Example- Marlboro already has a plan if weed gets legalized! They'll come in a standard Marlboro design but they'll be yellow instead of red and they're going to call them "Marlboro Sunshines".
It may sound goofy but without being able to search it you had to choose whether or not to believe it, think about it, spread it to others. Instead of pulling it up and ending it in a second you could have a whole conversation marveling at the idea.
Also I find I second guess myself a lot more and end up googling things. Say I decide to do something that I've done once or a few times back in the day and I think I have down to do it again. Lets say changing a part on a car. Now instead of going with my gut and figuring it out/remembering along the way I know I can just google it, and by doing so I cheat myself out of a much bigger feeling of accomplishment. Instead of doing it myself I'm just following instructions.
I think the biggest urban legend was Marilyn Manson surgically removing two ribs so he could suck his own dick. I mean...every little kid around the world heard that one.
And that he was the friend from Wonder Years!
Oh yeah I remember that going around too.
There’s something called “the google effect” that researchers were looking into for a while. People have a harder time remembering how to do something, but remember where they found the info. So you might not remember how to fix the thing on your car, but you remember that google can tell you how to do it. We don’t need to remember as many things anymore.
Not saying it’s a good thing. All I know is that some scientists have looked into this.
That's actually pretty interesting. It makes sense though. It's pretty much us co-evolving with technology without even realizing it. In a world with seemingly endless information at our fingertips it stands to reason that our brain would delegate. It can store a web address or it can store a multi-step process. If there was zero chance of the internet ever going down it would actually be arguably a positive in some ways.
I personally would rather just remember the thing because I lived half my life in a time where that was the only option. I imagine a kid who was born with all this tech being their norm though doesn't have the same feeling seeing how they were raised with "google it".
If you’ve ever used a search engine, your brain has changed from it. “Ah, I’ll just look it up”, is a real problem. We are stained!
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I didn't mean to sound like I don't see the very clear merit of having a resource like the internet at your fingertips or that it wasn't handy by any means.
I used the car part example because I am very mechanically inclined and between memory, inclination, and contextual reasoning and for me personally, that's one area where most of the time I could have done it without the internet. There are still some things that without the internet I wouldn't even know where to start too though.
It's just bittersweet sometimes.
And that's funny you read that in a book because I never had a source, it was just an urban legend that was passed around in stoner circles as far as we knew. Any idea the name of the book?
When I was in middle school, my friend told me that the robot girl’s brother on the show Small Wonder was Billy Corgan. The show was on in reruns at 5am and we stayed up all night on the phone to catch the credits. It’s a fond memory, but it would’ve been a lot more convenient if we had just had the internet.
Perfect example! If you had google it would have been a minute long discussion and on to the next thing. Definitely handy but instead you had a night of fun with your friend probably debating back and forth over it and just generally having fun.
I feel bad that kids have lost that but at least they don't know it.
Or the classic, "the original Barney got arrested because he hid drugs in his tail"
Never heard that one but it definitely would have fit right in!
Marilyn Manson was Paul on the Wonder Years.
10/10 would purchase Marlboro Sunshine's
...yhear that marketing robots?
Isn't there still plenty enough bullshit going on online
Yeah but for whatever bullshit is online there's ten sources of the correct information most of the time.
I miss when concerts didn't have a sea of people filming a video from their phone
Béla Fleck wrote this recently (and I've heard Neil Young saying basically the same thing):
"We played the new tunes live and developed them in front of an audience, which always helped us to know when we had the arrangement right. These days we don’t do that so much. The first rough version gets so widely distributed, and people assume that it’s the final version and not a rough draft, and might judge the tune on that first run-through. Back then, the internet was newer and the downside of playing brand new music and letting people pass it around it hadn’t occurred to me. You don’t get to reveal a brand new record, when everyone already knows and has recordings of all the tunes. And they might even prefer the live early version, which is frustrating!"
Neil said something like, 'You play a new song, it's on youtube. You play an old song and mess up, it's on youtube. You play a show with a big cocaine booger hanging out of your nose, it's on youtube.'
I'm paraphrasing, because it's been a couple of years since I've read 'Waging Heavy Peace', but the cocaine booger thing was a reference to 'The Last Waltz' movie in the '70's.
Oh yeah, I didn't really remember where that was from, but I did read Waging Heavy Peace a few years ago too. So it was definitely from the book.
It’s harder to see in the newer releases of the movie because they tried to edit it out. I imagine if they hadn’t and you watched it on blue ray, it would have looked like half of Bogota.
Neil also has a policy of refusing to play any songs that fans shout out requests for.
Comedians have the same problem - they need to be able to bomb in order to develop new material, but if you're famous then you can't afford the bomb because it'll be all over YouTube.
I remember hearing a comedian say they would see Richard Pryor do a guest set at a club on Monday night that was just awful. Then they'd see him Tuesday night with the same material a little more polished, and it would do a bit better. Then better Wednesday, better Thursday, by The weekend he'd have at least a couple pieces of gold salvaged from that awful Monday night set
Lately Joe Rogan and some other comedians have started using some fancy locking mechanisms that from what I understand keeps your phone locked inside a bag of sorts while you’re at the show, so you can keep it on your person but can’t use it. People act way too dramatic about 98% of cases of phones at concerts, but a comedy act is quite a different story; leaking that footage can have a much bigger impact on a comedian than a live band. I’m no fan of being restricted from using my own phone for any extended period but it totally makes sense for live comedy acts.
There's also the fact that any distraction during a comedy show is death - your attention can drift away then come back at a concert or even a plat, but in comedy you have to remain engaged. If you miss the joke that sets up the next 3-5 minutes of material then it's going to make no sense, and you're going to think the show sucks, then you get bored and check your phone and the cycle repeats.
I honestly love hearing the creative process as artists develop and refine their work. It makes you appreciate the final version more, at the very least.
It's cool in retrospect, but less cool at the time because you can't always see the diamond in the rough - it can just seem like a bad joke/song.
I saw one of the Wayan Brothers a few weeks ago, and he mentioned this at the end of his set.
Many years ago Chris Rock would do weekends at some of his favorite clubs across the country, places he played before he was famous. He'd bring all his writers and they'd work out material at these smaller venues, huddling in the green room between shows to go over what worked and what didn't.
I love the Fleck-Tones
My favorite band ever.
Future-Man broadened my musical horizons!
I took my Dad to a Neil Young concert about 10 years ago. Near the end of the concert he asked me when he was going to play "like a rolling stone". Ya Dad sorry he already played that. lol.
I bought a Banjo recently so of course I've listened to Béla Fleck the last two weeks, but I was not expecting to see his name being brought up here.
My favorite musician. The guy dared to take to banjo to every genre you can imagine. And it never fails to sound good. Before I started listening to him, I used to really care about what genre I was listening to. After I familiarized myself with his work, I realized that it doesn't matter. Nowadays I think of music in two "genres": good and bad. Anything can be good or bad. And I was one of those people who only listened to rock at some point. I wasted so much time being close minded.
Great comment. So many of us start checking out a genre and give up right away because we happen to start with the “bad” stuff. I get a lot of “classical music is boring” comments from my students, and all they’ve heard is background classical in a book store or basic learning songs. They have no idea how massive the genre is and how exciting it can be. I’ve made it a point to search and search with different genres until I find something I like. I am surprised every time.
Whoa! It’s been a while since I’ve seen another human mention Béla Fleck. Sweet! 😄
I have Bela fleck stuck in my head right now, so reading this comment was jarring. Synchronicity.
You had me at Bela Fleck.
Lots of people formed an opinion about it back in the day without knowing the details, but this is the reason for the whole Metallica vs. Napster debacle. Someone leaked an early unfinished version of a song and that's why Metallica was so mad about it.
That's a big thing in stand up comedy too these days. Comedians will go to things like smaller clubs and open mic nights to workshop new material, see what jokes land and what don't. But now people have their phones out all the time and if they record an up-and-comer telling jokes that aren't landing (because they're not ready yet!) they can kill a career.
I think this is a transitional problem and I don't fully agree with the artists' interpretations that people judge it as a final version. Sure there's a ton of videos of like "[insert artist] Top Fails!" but I don't see those videos as being truly that popular. I'm optimistic that people understand sometimes there's an off day or whatever.
I do think lots of people are really interested in the artistic process though. And seeing early versions of songs or comedy sets is an amazing resource for this. Also, preferring a live version of a song has always been a thing, even if it wasn't an early version. If you subscribe to the idea of Death of the Author, this isn't even a small problem. It's just how it is. And isn't it great that there's a record of the version somebody prefers? I understand maybe this could have an impact on record sales but that's a monetization model that's been becoming more and more outdated for a while now.
What? Bela has been around the jamband scene for years. He knows bootlegging is part of the culture. You got a source?
I think there's probably just a huge difference between the number and quality of tape recording is digital recording. 98% of people can produce good quality recordings.
Whether the concern is real or imagined is a different point though.
Yeah I attend a lot of live music and am close with a number of bands and many others who see live shows frequently too, as well as with lots of music fans who are newer and/or less involved with the same bands and fans. None of any of those people stake any reputations or out any actual weight into something like a live cell phone recording from the audience. The distribution and revenue aspects of the industry have obviously changed around significantly in recent years, but it didn’t make listeners stupid enough to judge music on the grounds of “in that new dark, wobbly music video they released at 10:47pm last night makes them just sound like a gargled mess with a bunch of hollering, I won’t be listening to that band anymore!”
I remember Paul McCartney complained about this recently. I think when he had a show at the cavern club he politely requested no cellphones and someone still took theirs out. Wish i was old enough to experience one without them.
It’s was great. A sea of lighters in slow songs has so much more warmth and glow that cell phone lights.
I remember going to the Rocky Horror Show at midnight when they still allowed lit matches, water pistols, rice, and toast. Pure magic.
I've gone lately with everything but the matches.
I've gone a few times and they still use matches
I've gone lately & they still use flame throwers.
They allow everything but the matches (lighters are fine) at my local one, and the one request is throw the toast and rice backwards. The cast is cheap, the screen is expensive.
Care to elaborate, so confused by this comment
It is tradition to attend showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show with various props (rubber gloves to snap, rice to throw, toast to... crumble? can't recall) to use at various points in the show. It's very much an audience-participation thing, and I guess matches were part of the original equipment list.
You got me curious, so here is the props list with the points where those props are supposed to be used. It's a great tradition, and if your theatre is having a Halloween screening of RHPS (many do), you should bring the props and attend!
Toast: for throwing when Dr Frank N Furter proposes a "toast" to Rocky
Host: "People in the front throw back, people in the back throw forward, people in the middle throw up..."
Crowd: "But Not On Your Neighbor!"
There's a live show aspect (often put on by local theaters) of the movie Rocky Horror Picture Show that has an insane cult following. It's basically #1 for "cult classics" and people either really love the movie and the live shows or despise them
Oh god I saw that movie like 15 years ago and absolutely hated it. My mom showed it toe thinking id love it but it was just not for me. Fucking 70s were weird
Watching it at home and watching in a theater with a shadow cast and all the gimmicks makes for two VERY different experiences.
Seeing it at home is like fucking a glass of water. You have to go see it in a theater
I have also been told this, by my father of all people and he dislikes musicals as much as I do. Made me think that I should actually check it out.
It's a bunch of nerds making fun of how ridiculous the movie is. You go for the experience. The movie is god awful and everyone knows it.
Ok yeah that makes sense.
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Matches (lighters, flashlights) would be near the beginning during "Over at Frankenstein Place" when Brad and Janet first approach the mansion. Particularly during the line "...there's a light...(over at Frankenstein Place)..."
I've never been able to use lighters at theaters (because people are stupid and the theaters are usually old) but flashlights are still fair game. And at homebrew shadowcasts I've been to we've still swung lighters!
You just gotta find your freaks, man. They're out there.
It's tough because it is at the same time as people holding newspapers...lol. The water pistols don't help that much
Magic yes, but PURE? 😉
I saw it in like 2012 and they allowed it. That was also a small production in Pittsburgh
Still use matches
Uptown Theater in Minneapolis? If so they still allow all those, besides rice and substitute matches for lighters, but it's still amazing. Also "Janet"
I like to imagine that there is a guy right along the stage with a big bowl of rice, just chowing away.
Before the show started, I lit a bottle rocket inside the theatre. It hit the roof, fell down, and exploded about one-third of the way down. There was a trail of smoke right back to my seat and everyone's water pistol was full. My date wasn't that impressed with me.
I don't miss that smoking inside is mostly banned.
True, I don’t miss the second hand smoke.
I'd take the second hand smoke over the asshats recording the entire concert on smart phones and tablets any day, but maybe that's just me.
Uhh I will take healthy lungs ty
I don't think a few concerts where some people happen to be smoking will impact the health of your lungs in any meaningful way.
What about the security that are roaming the crowd every night? The performers that are going from concert hall to concert hall and spending every evening breathing that air? The event staff and concessions people right outside? Its not just about you and the crowd that chose to be there, it's also about the people who are there to pay bills and feed their families.
Let’s be real, most touring musicians and roadies are degenerates. Smoking is the probably one of the healthier things they do
You're not wrong, but there are a lot of moving parts in any concert venue, plenty of which are people who aren't either of those things and are just normal people doing the job they're being paid to do. Asking them to fuck their lungs up is just wrong.
Edit- spelling and punctuation
The performers that are going from concert hall to concert hall and spending every evening breathing that air?
Lmao are you serious? Those guys were probably just doing coke backstage.
I think the point was "what about the people who are exposed to it every single day who are otherwise trying to be healthy?" regardless of who those people are. He just happened to use 2 examples, one of which admittedly probably a bad example. But rather than latching on to the bad example to make fun of it, why not address the true spirit of the question?
Because it's trying to bait me into an argument? I wasn't even advocating for allowing smoking at concert venues so this is some pointless strawman bullshit that I refuse to participate in.
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I know, I shouldn't have...
Isn't it sad? Heres an upvote, spread the love
Then stay inside and watch concerts on tv, nerd
We gonna get you high tonite.
/r/phonesarebad
I actually have a smart phone and yet somehow I am able to resist the urge to whip it out of my pocket and film an entire concert - shocking, I know!
Yep. Just you.
Just you. Fuck smokers. So selfish.
Username checks out.
Depends what they're smoking!!!!
No, it doesn't.
2nd hand smoke is douchey regardless.
I agree, weed smoke sucks too and I hate when people treat me like I’m stuck in the ‘50s when I don’t want to smell their skunk spray.
Man, you need to chill out! A little weed never hurt anybody! You know nobody has ever died from weed right?
Cool! Still smells like skunk anus.
Not my weed! I only smoke that sticky icky!
Troll
Right, it's so obvious I don't even want to give him the downvote because I feel like he must have made a bet with someone about how many downvotes he can get.
Not directly from it, but the side effects of being high, definitely
Nerd
Nah everybody loves the ganja man! Never had one complaint! That and vaping is a gravy baby!
Vaping is annoying, visually (big ass cloud) and the smell (fuckin fruity smells smh)
Nope. If I wanted that shit in my lungs I would smoke it myself. I don’t want another person making that decision for me.
I'm sorry all you guys got downvoted. I'd take the smell of even a real skunk than dirty sticky beer on inside venues and sweaty BO. I think the weed smell adds to an expierience. Much worse things than a harmless smell of people enjoying themselves.
I quit smoking about 15 years ago but I have legally smoked on an airplane. Imagine that now.
My first kitchen job, I could smoke a cigarette and flip steaks.
They even sold cigarettes on the plane.
Oh they still do, duty free hasn't gone away.
They aren’t sold on the plane, they are sold in the airport.
In all flights I've been, they sold it in the plane too, along with parfum and alcohol.
I was at an outdoor concert last summer and everyone was smoking these funny-smelling cigarettes.
As a smoker, I agree 100%. But I do hate it when I get into a venue and they don't allow re-entry if I want to go outside for a smoke.
i kinda miss it. it atleast masked the smell of sweat BO, and stale beer.
Uhg, you couldn't step foot in a bar for a second without having to wash every article of clothing afterwards though. I am glad smoking inside is banned in most places.
Am a smoker can't agree more, smoking in pubs was pretty horrible, don't smoke inside my own home either can't stand it, grew up with chain smoking parents who wouldn't open windows.
I sure hope you smoke away from any neighbors homes. We don't want your smoke either, and it ALWAYS comes in our windows.
edit: Oh look, loser smokers have taken offense to their dirty habbits. Cute.
Tomorrow when I go out to smoke I'm gonna fart in your fucking window
Of course he doesn't. Too disgusting to be in his own home but the smoke goes fucking everywhere but it's ok because it's "outside". Also he just throws the butt wherever he wants. Selfish asshole smokers are all the same.
No houses for at least 50 meters in any direction from my smoking deck so your safe.but my cat will keep shitting in your garden so sorry about that.
I find those easier to smell than smoke, plus they don't make you cough. :G
I think that's better than the literal cancer smog.
I didn't realize how much i didn't miss it until i visited a casino and it smelled like a giant ashtray.
Not in Miami it isn’t. Come out the club just reeeeaking of cigarettes
Not that I would even visit them, but I wish people had the right to create smoking bars if they so wished. The whole idea of “it’s my right to make thing X illegal just because I don’t like it”, is lame and leads to a lot of oppressive laws.
It would not work because every bar would become a smoking bar again then.
No they wouldn't, judging by these comments the majority of people prefer non-smoking bars nowadays.
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I'm not 100% sure on this but I think murdering people is a bit more of a problem than opening a bar for smokers that nobody is forced to go to.
As an asthmatic, I don't.
I still remember going to restaurants and hotels as a kid with my family and them being asked 'smoking or non-smoking?"
Oh God.. my lungs hurt and my voice would be fucked up for a day after a night at a show... So much smoke .
And you think people follow that? Funny.
Civilised beings do…
Not everyone is civilised though. I've had to tell people at my work to stop smoking in the showroom. Very frustrating.
I just saw Dream Theater a couple weeks ago and I thought the cell phone lights were really cool. I hated all the people filming above their heads though, that shit was irritating as fuck.
Same actually, I imagine it was for Through Her Eyes too. I actually thought it was cool, I saw them in SF. I got some clips myself of the some solos too, but I tried to not block anyone
Nice we were at the same show! I was in row 7 towards the back against the wall. It was cool, we were able to stand up and not block anyone. We got some pretty good footage of the the show as well.
You also used to make a lot of show friends. Now it’s people on phones looking for the others they came with. Was a lot more fun when we all didn’t have $1000 attention anchors in our pockets.
I always take as many lighters as I can to concerts still for others fuckin hate cell phone light
The equivalent now would be holding their vapes up 😂
I still see way more lighters than cell phone lights during slow songs.
Don't forget the guy that snuck a can of WD-40 in and would make a flame thrower out of it at heavy metal concerts.
We should all start smoking again
I have a GIF of a burning candle that I pull out for that.
I went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra over the holidays and the crowd decided to all pull out their cellphone lights instead of lighters. I'm still not sure how to process that.
Literally had a handful of concerts that were about the lighters.
Tons of these comments make me think of times that were more rich.
And at every televised sports event there was a sea of sparkling flashes from disposable cameras
I accidentally lit a joint on one of those lighters.
Not if everyone was running f.lux
I think a good solution to this is to film every show, and make available for free people to watch later. I know it wouid cost money, but they could sell a few ads to pay for it.
People want to show all there friends that they were there. That’s why they film, not because they’re actually gonna watch it later
I don't do it for friends, I grab snippets for myself. Watch em every so often when I'm needing a small concert fix.
And then they show their friends that really don't care but they pretend to.
I’ve been taking video at almost every show I’ve been to for the last decade. I go back and watch the videos when I feel down and they always cheer me up.
When I saw McCartney last year, he was annoyed because everyone was whipping their phones out to record him singing Beatles songs but noticeably fewer were recording his newer stuff. He made remarks to the effect of “these songs are 50 years old, give the new stuff a chance too!”
As much as i absolutely love the beatles, His Wings and solo stuff was the highlight for me. Even his new stuff. His last 2 albums were incredible to me.
I agree, I felt his annoyance was very justified.
I went to a Green Day concert in 2017. Halfway through Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Billie Joe Armstrong stooped singing and told everyone to put their phones away. It was pretty funny.
There was a short, sweet moment at concert venues where the smoke-filled air was gone, but cellphone technology hadn't given rise to a crowd full of phones. In retrospect, I saw some pretty great shows between about 2003 and 2010.
hai
I was there and he did. Stopped mid-song (“Twenty Flight Rock”) to tell people off and then barrelled right on back into it!
thats awesome! I wish Paul did these songs (lesser known and covers) at concerts. Usually only done at aoundchecks but i could never afford it
It was an awesome show. I didn’t have the nerve to film there though. I vlogged about the show but obv its more before/after stuff and us telling you about it: https://youtu.be/2IasC7D_u18 DEFINITELY the best show I’ve ever been to though, and I’ve seen Paul 9 times now! Haha
Yeah I’d love to do a soundcheck but I really don’t have soundcheck money! I have to make do with listening from outside the venue or backstage. 😭
What a great video and channel! subbed. Yeah, Cavern Club with Paul, it cant get better than that. What were the 8 other times you saw Paul? He's my all time favorite artist. I was supposed to see him in 2016 for his One On One tour but had to waste my ticket. Made me sad because he played Temporary Secretary and he nwver plays his 80s stuff, yet McCartney 2 is my favorite album ever
05/04/2003 - Sheffield (Hallam FM Arena)
29/05/2003 - Sheffield (Hallam FM Arena)
01/06/2008 - Liverpool (Anfield Stadium)
20/06/2010 - Glasgow (Hampden Park)
20/12/2011 - Liverpool (Echo Arena)
27/05/2015 - Birmingham (Barclaycard Arena)
28/05/2015 - Liverpool (Echo Arena)
26/07/2018 - Liverpool (The Cavern Club)
12/12/2018 - Liverpool (Echo Arena)
I got quite a bit of footage from that last Liverpool show including a bit of backstage stuff! https://youtu.be/I3ju0wi34sc
And yeah I saw Temporary Secretary a few times. Worked amazing live! Pity you missed the show...how many times have you seen him?
Unfortunately last year at the Texas Austin City Limits festival (weekend 2) was the only time ive seen him live, but i cant complain since that was front row. Im hoping he announces something near me later this year though.
aside from the cavern club do you have any other favorite shows you saw? I think the 2003 ones would be cool because i love his song "Lonely Road". Also the tour (forgot which one) where he opened with Rock Show a few years ago would've been cool.
ACL looked amazing! The crowd looked wild an I’m sure you had an amaaazing time!
I was 14 in 2003 and I’d only just started getting into McCartney so I wasn’t 100% familiar with his stuff - especially the newer stuff like Lonely Road - which is a pity because whenever I listen to Back in the US/World the new songs are a highlight!
That was the Up and Coming tour that opened with Venus And Mars. Great opener! Though when I saw it in Glasgow the acoustic guitar wasn’t working so it had to be played on electric which was pretty cool!
After the Cavern I’d say my favourite concert was the 2008 Liverpool Sound concert at Anfield. Wonderful day - threw it down all day! We listened to the long soundcheck from outside the arena, met some great people, the warmup bands were amazing and the set list was fantastic (first time he played A Day in the Life, the full band version of Something and that real deep cut called In Liverpool).
Although I met the man himself backstage in 2015 so...it’s a tough call! Haha
I just looked up his Liverpool Sound setlist and thats awesome that Dave Grohl played on a song. The 2016 Seattle show i was supposed to see had Krist Novoselic on Helter Skelter.... so i have to ask, how did you meet Paul? What does it take to get backstage?
Yeah he played guitar on Band On The Run and drums on I Saw Her Standing There. A lot of people were expecting Ringo when we saw the extra drum set but Dave Grohl was still cool!
Here’s the story of how I met Paul (albeit briefly!): https://joshgill.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/live-review-paul-mccartney-out-there-tour-echo-arena-liverpool-28th-may-2015/#more-10181
PS sorry if my replies seem like death by links and I’m not just trying to shamelessly self promote, but it’s kind of a long winded story to type on a phone haha 🙂
I’m not sure how many phones are out in GA since we had pretty close seats , but one of the amazing things about desert trip a few years back (young, dylan, waters, McCartney, stones, who... oldchella) was the older crowd was nearly phoneless.
Singing and laughing and crying and dancing and lighters. One of the best times ever.
There was one older lady a few rows in front of us with a full size iPad trying to record sometimes, but that was almost endearing.
glad you had a good experience there! that sounds like an amazing concert. I was front row for Paul and the old people were complete assholes to everyone. This old guy almost started a fight with a kid who was no older than 12. Still a great show!
My experience is somewhat the same, the most annoying people at concerts are the 50+ and the 15-18 year olds these are the people who generally will talk throughout the entire concert, not care about anyones space and push in front of you despite it already being packed so they end up blocking the view of anyone below 1.70.
I get that it’s sad but I completely understand wanting to have the memory recorded for you to look back on for the rest of your life, even on his death bed he will have that memory literally in his hands able to watch it over and over rather then just a dim memory from his childhood
should just do like Dave Chappelle and confiscate cellphones as you enter the venue
My wife and I went to see City and Colour and before one of his more popular songs Dallas Green said something like “There’s already enough shitty cell phone videos of this on the internet so put your fuckin phones away.” And most people did, it was nice.
At a show I went to last year, the band had an entire super complex and creative video projected behind them that was basically the visual part of the concert experience, and it started with a "please leave your phone in your pocket and enjoy the show" kind of thing. Well of course people took out their phones and started filming that exact bit.
It wasn't even that long ago, phones good enough to make semi decent photos in concert condition getting maybe common around 2010.
Even digital cams were too shitty for that for a long time, I'm remembering after buying a DSLR with the money my first real job, many local bands asked to shoot some pics at their concerts. That was in the early 2000
Josh Klinghoffer from the Chili Peppers once didn't play the solo to a song and instead pulled out his phone to pretend to record the audience. I'm conflicted about it. While I dont like seeing the sea of phones, I also believe that if someone paid upwards of $200 for a ticket to a show they're entitled to enjoy the show how they want, not how the band wants. If it really bothers the band they should make a request at the start of the show, or in between numbers, and they should make the request based on the fact it distracts them, not that "you people shouldnt be living through your phones, you should be watching the show through your own eyes not a screen, etc."
Dallas Green requested it for one song in a concert I went to. People still had them out.
Nightwish had an introduction video asking for no cameras, yet people kept filming.
I only filmed my favourite song and some clips of others
I have never been to a concert since smart phones came about. And I never will. Prefer the memories I have over that bullshit.
I’ve been to concerts, and it’s really mot as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Yep, I've been going to several concerts/music festivals a year for several years now. I've honestly never had a moment where I thought "wow I wish all these cell phones weren't here".
The only concerts I've been to were Ringo Starr and his all star band, David Byrne, and Paul McCartney but i was born in 2001 amd all those shows were last year. I had so much fun, but u do wonder what im missing by growing up around smartphones
I'm 26 so I've gone to a few concerts before smartphones were everywhere. Imo it doesn't take away *that* much from the experience. I saw Paul a few years ago and most people weren't filming the whole thing. Maybe it's the concerts that I go to but I haven't really been to one where everybody was filming the whole thing. Usually people would film a bit of their favorite song and that was about it.
ooh which tour did you see Paul at? I was supposed to see him in 2016 for his "One On One" tour but that ticket went to waste. Hes my favorite artist.
One On One. It was amazing
How was Temporary Secretary? I wish he played 80s and 90s stuff live still. McCartney 2 is my favorite album ever
Life, you are missing life. And so am I spending time on here, gonna go dive for some lobsters.
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Jack White has it as well
My only complaint is caused by my own fault--not wearing a watch. I have concerts down to an art form with regards to last-second bathroom and bar stops, and me (and everyone around me) not knowing what time it was threw me for a loop. The experience was, of course, worth it.
I’ll agree with anything he does
I've seen Childish Gambino twice in the last few years and both times we had our phones sealed into little magnetic pouches on our way into the venue and unlocked on the way out. The best way to experience a performance IMO.
I wish movie theaters would adopt this technology. I pretty much hate going to the movies any more, because I know at least 5 motherfuckers are going to be on their phones constantly. And it's not the kids doing it. It's the people my age (40s - 50s), which makes me sad.
I go to the theater often and this is not a constant experience for me...
Barely ever see a phone out in the theater in an intrusive way. Might vary heavily by region though?
Also varies by demographic / target audience. I see a lot more phones in kid's movies than I see in adult-oriented flicks. Bored parents maybe?
Happened to me during captain marvel, but most of the time people are alright.
Ugh. This is my mom & I’m sorry. She never, EVER turns off her phone much less the volume. She knows how to, but whenever I call her out on it, she just gives me a dirty look and waves her hand at me as if to shush me. LUCKILY I’ve personally never seen her phone go off during a movie, but I’m still bitter that she won’t listen to me when I beg her to silence her phone.
If the 17 warnings from GEICO and the other ads before the movie don't make her silence her phone, nothing will. 😂😢
Turn off your phone or the gecko dies
The only people I see on their phones in a movie theater are old people. And it’s always on super bright.
That sounds kind of dangerous in case there is an emergency where 911 needs to be called
People called 911 before cell phones
But before cellphones, other useable phones were much more common. I cant remember the last time I saw a working pay phone.
Strangely I found them all over the place in disneyworld. Odd given their emphasis on using their apps for everything you do there
People survived without antibiotics for centuries!
They got around on their foot! Made fire with rocks and wool!
:D
Yea and more people died
And also had the situation get worse/died due to not being able to use a phone on them immediately.
My phone is the receiver for my Dexcom blood glucose monitor. I will put it in do not disturb mode (and am not glued to it constantly like some people) but I cannot turn it off or put it in a Faraday cage.
I'm surprised I haven't heard of any of these places being hit with ADA claims.
From what I can tell, they're not faraday cages, just a bag to keep people from being on the thing
Do you keep it with you? If so that would be okay since the signal can still be received a short distance away.
Yep, a link I found https://www.overyondr.com/
Wow! That’s a neat idea.
Yup this is the exact bag they used, you keep it on you the whole time.
Or if someone needs to be reached in an emergency, like a house fire or a babysitter problem.
They have phone usage spaces and unlocking docks at them. Might take a few minutes longer to access the phone for contacting a person back, but not un-doable.
If there's an incident that requires emergency services at a venue, the venue will have already gotten them on the phone by the time the audience has even realised there is one
Im sure the Aurora victims feel the same way
That’s a very different set of circumstances. A concert venue is not the same as a nightclub
A lot of concerts take place at nightclub type venues. Also, Aurora was at a movie theatre. You're thinking of the Pulse shooting in Orlando.
Oh yeah. But again different circumstances. I pointed out that if an incident happens at a concert venue the venue will be in touch with emergency services immediately. You have proceeded to name numerous venues that don’t typically have concerts in them.
And in restaurants too. It’s always middle aged people I see on their phones, not young adults or older folks.
I can understand a concert or a movie, but who cares about a restaurant? You really don't know what someone is doing on their phone when they're out at dinner. Me and my wife like to play games via iMessage while we're waiting for our food.
Probably more a comment on the inaccuracy of the stereotype
Yea that’s what I meant I don’t really care that people are on their phones lol.
Even when they aren't on their phones, they leave it turned on in the cupholder between our seats and it keeps lighting up with notifications and shit. It's so distracting.
Then just say something to them? Or the staff?
Oddly I was going to say 'movie theatres' as my thing the Internet will be killing off.
Going to the movies used to be a regular event- weekly or at least a few times a month there'd be something worth seeing and 'dinner and a movie' was a date night. It'd be months before today's 'new releases' were on home video (VHS and then DVD) so if you wanted to see 'that movie' you had to catch it at the theatre during its airing window. Add to all that our TVs at home were bulky projection TVs if you were a baller, maybe you had a sexy flat-panel once they first launched but were expensive and relatively small to start. No way to get that 'theater-level immersion' at home without spending a pretty penny.
Now? I've got a living room that puts theaters to shame, the seating is better, the drinks are cheaper, and there's nobody in the front row using their phone to play candy crush or bejeweled. If someone's talking during the film it's my girlfriend and the biggest annoyance is when my cat decides to paw at the 70 inch screen because Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy is twice his size. The release windows from 'theater' to 'home media' have been significantly shortened, to say nothing of the fact that I have an entire collection of media that used to be a whole DVD rack in the size of a couple hard drives and the day a new movie drops on home media I can stream it at 4K- no need to hit up Wal-mart and hunt for a DVD or go to Blockbuster for a rental anymore. "Dinner and a movie" became "netflix and chill" because Postmates and Netflix made it possible to have an awesome meal delivered and the movie piped right into my house.
Yeah- if you absolutely have to see it on release day, then the theatre is the only way to go; but that scope is getting smaller too as a lot of the great drama and action is happening on serialized TV shows (which I can also stream) and basically everything in theaters now is superhero movies.
The internet killed video rentals, is killing physical media, and it's coming for theaters next.
My wife and I still go on dates to the movies, then dinner afterward, but not nearly as often as we used to. I don't think we've ever gone to a movie on opening weekend, either.
As for the time between when a movie is in the theaters to when it's available at home, I remember when it was years between those events, back in the 80s. :-)
My wife and I still go on dates to the movies, then dinner afterward, but not nearly as often as we used to. I don't think we've ever gone to a movie on opening weekend, either.
Oh yeah I agree don't get me wrong, my girlfriend and I hit the theater too but like you guys- never on an opening weekend, and not nearly as frequently as my ex-wife and I used to (and I was married in the early 2000s before the internet was 'the way to get media').
As for the time between when a movie is in the theaters to when it's available at home, I remember when it was years between those events, back in the 80s. :-)
Haha I was still a young'in in the 80s so I admit I don't have that experience but I know what you mean; and that definitely furthers the point- the studios have caught on that streaming is coming for their box office numbers so they're trying to close that gap as much as possible. After the first... two months (?) or so of a movie being in the theater I doubt there's anyone going to see it anymore- they pull them, sit on the hype for a while to let it build, and then release it on home media to maximize revenue. Smart move- but I think we're headed for a time when a cinema release is a month long max, and home media releases are mere weeks later which will be the death knell for theaters for sure.
So.. I'm kinda guilty of using my phone at theaters; but only because I have ADHD and fiddling with my phone is better than standing up and moving throughout the theater. I also make it a point to sit as far back into a corner as possible, use Night Mode, and have my brightness all the way down, and phone on mute.
But I'm still that guy and I'm very sorry. I am enjoying the movie and trying to do so as respectfully as possible.
I’m sorry but no. Don’t use your cell phone period. The phone shouldn’t even be on. This is just extremely selfish. You are saying your movie experience is more important then everyone else’s around you.
Yeah there are countless other things to fiddle with that aren't a bright square of light which will hinder everyone else's experience.
U rite tho. Next time I'll just be shuffling, standing up, walking around the aisles, in and out of the theater, disturbing everyone 10x as much as sitting 100% silently in a back corner with nobody around me and a screen that's dimmer than a firefly. Good call. Death to the cellphone.
Or don’t do any of that and don’t go to the movies if you are unable to not disturb everyone else there. It’s selfish.
A person with a crying baby doesn’t get to just sit there because they want to watch the movie.
A person with a crying baby doesn’t get to just sit there because they want to watch the movie.
I still remember when I went to see Ghost, in 1990. There was a woman about 5 rows behind us, with a crying baby. The little fucker just would not shut up. At one point, the mother was making "goo goo" sounds to try to placate him. When that didn't work, she gave him her keys to play with. Finally, several people started shouting at her to take her child out, and someone went for a manager. The manager told her she had to leave, and as she did, she yelled out, "He wasn't being that bad!", to which another patron replied, "Oh, yes, he fucking was!"
Whoof. Sorry for wanting to enjoy the movie experience while having a disability. Fuck it let's ban children and people with tourette's syndrome from movies, too. How dare they disturb those around them. 🙄
BTW been going to movies like this happily and without a complaint or a mere negative look from anyone for easily the past 10 years.
Just sounds to me like you have a locked-in concept of "NO CELL PHONES" and you'll die on that hill, regardless of any different given situation.
That being said, I hope you develop a disorder that stops you from enjoying things. Maybe you'd be a little more understanding.
If the kid can sit quietly not bothering other people they should be free to go to the movie. Same with any disorder, but I’m sorry it’s extremely selfish to recognize that what you are doing is detrimental to every other peoples movie going experience because you feel entitled to it. They literally tell you before everyone movie to put away your damn cellphone. Why shouldn’t the rules apply to you?
You may be missing the part where I'm not disturbing anyone. You see, to disturb someone with a cell phone, it would require the slightest hint of light to be hitting anyone else's eyes. It doesn't. Or, it would require the phone to be making noise. It doesn't. Or it would require me to be talking on the phone. I don't. It's the equivalent of someone with Autism wearing earmuffs / earplugs at the theater. I'm not disturbing anyone and you're trying to tell me to stop going to the movies because you think you might be bothered by it (fun-fact: you wouldn't, because, again, I give a shit about other peoples' theater experiences and understand the issues with cell phones; but, again, I don't hit any of the problem areas.)
I bet you bitch out your waiters at restaurants and don't tip because you misordered your own food, too.
And if you don't, do be aware that that is the type of person you're coming off as right now.
Can you see your cellphone light? Cause if you can see the cellphone, that means other people can too. Just because someone hasn’t said something to you doesn’t mean it’s not annoying anyone. Any light even a dim cellphone is much brighter then everything else in a movie theater. The human eye is drawn to it. How is this at all similar to someone wearing earplugs? Do those earplugs emit light and bother other people in the theater? No they don’t. Stop trying to justify your entitlement, you believe you’re threaten experience is more important then everyone’s else’s and that the rules don’t apply to you.
Perhaps you have a smartphone that has an ancient screen, but with my phone at its lowest brightness, with Night Mode on, it's barely visible to me while it's pointed directly at my eyes. Being in a pitch black room with the phone in this mode, face up, standing literally a foot away, the screen looks off. I can't see the device at all in the dark.
You're basing your unnecessary assumptions on complete guesswork.
Also do your theaters have everyone crammed in right next to each other? I can't remember the last time I went to a movie and didn't have 2 - 3 seats between me and the next person (easily 10 feet away). And if I can't see my phone in absolute darkness from a foot away, nobody even 5 feet away is going to be bothered by it while there's a GIANT, BRIGHT PROJECTJON directly in front of them, with audio drawing their attention to it, too.
Sir, or ma'am, all due respect: Once more, I have ADHD. I understand, know, and LIVE a life of distractions. I know what would be distracting to me, and to others with my condition. If I wouldn't be distracted, someone without an attention disorder wouldn't, either.
Unless they were deliberately staring at me / my phone instead of the movie they paid to see. Or they were you, with not only the best disturbance detection I've ever heard of, but also apparent super hyper uber night vision and peripheral vision that picks up near-nonexistent light from 10+ feet off to your side.
I’m not a big fan of cell phones in theaters or actually theaters in general but I do think that your zero tolerance attitude is coming across kinda petty.
Dudes got a condition and you’re basically saying fuck your issues, conform. Yeah it sucks if someone is bothered by it but by the sounds of it this guy is really conscious about it and tries to handle their shit respectfully.
The way you talk about how minimal cellphone light pollution is going to ruin your entire movie experience makes you sound like the entitled, privileged one, IMO. They sit in the back corner of the theater for Christ’s sake lol
I appreciate you. I'm getting downvoted to hell because I'm trying to enjoy the same experience as the average person would.
People are acting like I'm sitting in the middle row with my sound blasting, brightness maxed, playing a game.
Like I enjoy sitting in the back corner, requiring distractions to focus, while my friends are in the middle rows, silently enjoying the movie without so much as turning their heads.
What I do enjoy is seeing beautiful movies on giant screens with phenomenal audio and all the other cinematic experiences going to the theaters provide. I also enjoy seeing other people enjoy their movie-watching experience; so sorry for the rant, but it's feeling like everyone else here is just making me feel like shit for even wanting to go to the theater.
It's just because you're going against whatever the hive-minded, popular opinion is in the thread. Majority of people here have a zero tolerance policy towards cell phones because... reasons, I guess? and don't really even know or even want to even understand what your circumstances are.
Basically they just see the fact that you said "I get on my cell phone in the theater", ignore everything else you just said, including all the context, and just jump to the stereotypes you just mentioned here because "cell phone in public space bad".
Plenty of other fidget spinners he can use that don’t have a damn light and are expressly against the rules of basically every theater in the world. So much so that they usually play a damn clip before everyone movie showing how annoying the thing this person is doing literally is. He inconveniences multiple people by using the cell phone.
Plenty of bigger issues to care this passionately about :/
How much energy do you think commenting on reddit takes? These guy knows what he is doing is wrong and still does it anyway because they are selfish. He’s free to do it I suppose but he’s selfish if he does, nothings gonna change that.
I have ADHD and I purposely bring a fidget toy just for this reason. Usually I play with it only during the slow parts of a movie, but usually I can get engrossed in it pretty quickly
Do you have a suggestion for a brand or model of fidget spinner that doesn't make noise? Every one I have makes an annoying hissing or rolling noise.
It's not a fidget spinner as much as it is a toy.
I'm on your side. How can you disturb anyone doing what you're doing?
Tbh, how do people even watch TV during the day (or at night with the lights on) if they can't stand a light in a theatre.
Because people don't pay to specifically watch tv during the day with the lights on
Honestly only noise bothers me... I don't really see how so many people can't just ignore a static light... This dude doesn't even have the brightness turned up. Unless you specifically look for it I'd be super surprised you could even see it. The cinema screen would probably over power any light reflecting off a surface.
And anyway, even if you don't pay specifically to watch the tele, surely it's totally unwatchable when there are lights on anywhere in the room then?
No because it's not the same situation. If I go to the cinema I went to a place where I could watch a movie on the big screen in a dark room. I did not pay money to have someone on their phone in the corner distracting me with the light from it. Any light shining that's coming from somewhere not on the screen is noticeable. Watching tv at home is not the same because it's not the same circumstances. If there's a light bothering me I can change the angle of the tv or where I'm sitting, I can close the curtains, I can turn off the light.
I'm still not convinced the light from the phone would at all be visible. In this situation
Dave Chappelle does that too. Makes a ton of sense in that context - especially if he’s trying out new jokes that are still rough around the edges.
Had this happen a few times at the Comedy Store and the Laugh Factory. It’s usually a pretty solid indication that someone BIG was there and wanted to test some new material.
My favorite strategy was when I went to a Logic concert and toward the beginning of his set he said "Ok everyone take your phones out and snapchat the fuck out of this next song. And after that we're all putting our phones away and we're gonna be in the moment." It was perfect. Everyone got to take a video or post a snapchat story of the event without bothering anyone, and the rest of the time I saw almost no phones.
Weird. I saw his final show and they didn't do that. But he did ask people to put them away. Most did, for awhile
Idk why he said it was his final show, he's headlining festivals this summer.
Dunno maybe he meant not as Childish Gambino? Looks like he's now touring as Donald Glover.
Naw Childish Gambino is headlining Coachella and some others. Has a new album coming too. Idk. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people hype up a "last show," and then book more shows lol.
Edit: Sorry I misread about the "new album," I guess he's promoting a movie? Guava Juice or something idk it sounded like something he would name an album
He's booked as Donald Glover. Childish Gambino is a character
He's literally listed as Childish Gambino though?
This is America Tour or PHAROS? I was at PHAROS both years.
This is America. It was his very final show as Childish Gambino. It was at The Forum last year.
Lucky you! I only seen him on this recent tour, but I do remember him telling the audience not to record, because "this show is for you. Not them out there!". We want to record because I want to have something to remember it by but also forgot to actually just watch and enjoy the performance as it should be felt
Aziz did that too at his last stand up show I went to. I was a huge fan and wish they would do it at music venues too.
Fuck that im not a 12 year old school boy who’s gottta have his phone taken away
*Childish* Gambino... ok I get that name now.
That there is some nursery-level "nanny policy".
Some wannabe avant-garde performer in my country yanked a phone out of someone's hand during a gig, and bit it to pieces. Calm the fuck down granny, that dude was just happy to see your performance.
Downvote as many as y'all please.
But still, all I can see is "Hurr-durr, technology is bad, back in my days, we knew how to properly enjoy a concert!"
It's a way people enjoy things today. Every photo-video is a tiny trophy they can hang on to in the long run. Back then people kept the tickets, or some band-shirts. Now, they can scroll back their FB, Insta feed, or whatever kidz these days use, and relive the moment for a few seconds. And it's awesome.
Sure, I know some people can overdo it, they might be still learning, or simply just plain stupid. But it's their fault, not everybody else's who'd like to snap a pic or a short video, or just send a "this gig is awesome, wish U were here" (or ~~"shit, forgot to feed the dog!!1!"~~) to someone.
I mean, people make such a big deal out of this. People keep saying, that all those photos are unnecessary. But; when google photos burps up some pictures, from like 2005, I go completely crazy, and happy, even over some out-of focus, shitty pics of my old dog, or a school event with my long lost friends, or a concert...
So taking photos are awesome. Phones, and all the possibilities they give us, are awesome. Sure, there are jerks. Fuck them, but don't blame it on just those evil, scary phones.
Fiona Apple and another favorite of mine, Neko Case, have that policy as well.
TOOL pretty strict on it, as well.
Jeff Mangum and Neutral Milk Hotel do too
Wait, are they still performing?? I'd sell a kidney to see them live
Was a couple years back( 2014-15?) when i seen wm, but i remember tehre being papers saying no photography allowed and such
Prince was a true baller. I didn't really care for his music when I was 20, but now that i'm 50, I really enjoy it. And I appreciate his rare talent.
What's your favorite song/album?
I really enjoyed Purple Rain.
Can't go wrong with that. The deluxe version that came out a few years ago is great. It's on Spotify and other streaming services too.
I feel bad I didn't like it when I was young. I think it's because my sister liked it and she's a bonehead. lol What a musician he was.
Yeah, Prince was the tops. We all come around eventually. :D
My mom was a Monkees fan in the 60s specifically because her sister was a Beatles fan and she hated her sister. She later grew to appreciate the Beatles too though.
HAHA. Here's a cool fact, Neil Diamond wrote some of the Monkee's songs. I like them both dammit.
Sign O' the times is epic. Love Symbol is good if you want some of the later stuff with a mix of genres. 1999 if you want some of the funkiest music you will ever hear. Ahh man there are too many to list!
He's right. I'm a short guy and I usually have a hard time in concerts, with a sea of cellphones hovering above everyone's heads it's not even worth it to go...
Yeah but look what happened to him
I was at a Placebo gig a few years back and Brian Molko stopped to lambast some fuckwit who brought a gopro. I think he even said he'd fight him.
Placebo are quite open about how much they hate phones at their gigs. And i completely agree. I don't want to see my favourite bands through your phone, Guy In Front Of Me!
He wanted his audience to have a Gold Experience.
Except no one actuall ygot kicked out. I've seen both Prince and Tool, and both shows had a hard ban on cellphones, anyone caught using one was just asked by security to put it away. Some people multiple times.. I wish they'd kick them out.. I even yelled "kick em out!" a few times, but not one person that I saw filming or taking pics was actually removed from the show.
I miss the days it was actually possible to buy most concert tickets without hovering over a mouse button waiting until the precise moment they go on sale and without competing with bots.
You mean the days when you had to camp out overnight to be near the first in line? Or when you kept dialing Ticketmaster but would get a busy signal and have to keep retrying?
Ya, camp out overnight and have Ticketmaster tell you it’s sold out before they even went on sale.
I lined up for Rush tickets at 8pm, and I was sixth in line at the biggest TM outlet in Toronto. 10:01, it opened and the manager said it was sold out.
A friend got through on the phone right at 10, and they got nosebleed seats. 15000 better seats sold before he got through, seconds after 10 am.
Fuck Ticketmaster, and the good old days weren’t that fucking good.
God why can't ticketmaster just go die in a fucking hole already? Seriously the price gouging is insane, what the hell is with all these fees that have nothing to do with the show or the venue that push it up more than double the price of the ticket?
Getting charged delivery costs for tickets that arrive in your email in an automatically generated .PDF attachment.
Getting charged a booking fee even though no human interaction is required in the whole process, and you know fine Ticketmaster also gets money from the venue for the rights to sell tickets on their behalf.
Getting "Timed Out" messages when you're submitting payments on the website, checking your email and there's no confirmation received that your transaction went through - then resubmitting your order and instantly getting the confirmation for that transaction - then hours later receiving the confirmation for the original transaction that supposedly failed, leaving you out-of-pocket for two sets of tickets for the same damn concert.
Getting in touch with Ticketmaster to complain that you'd accidentally bought two sets of tickets and to ask for a refund, only to be told that there ARE no refunds. But why not try to sell your tickets through GetMeIn (which was Ticketmaster's wholly-owned ticket reselling agent)?
Discovering there's a percentage cut for listing tickets on GetMeIn, so Ticketmaster gets money on the original sale and the resale, even though no human beings are directly involved in the sale or resale; it's all done online.
Getting told within seconds of a gig going on sale that tickets are fully sold out - but then immediately checking out GetMeIn and discovering a whole bunch of people had somehow already listed their tickets at higher-than-new prices.
Discovering that GetMeIn also charges delivery on electronic tickets that instantly arrive in your email in .PDF format, with no human involvement at any part of the process.
It all just fucking winds me up.
This is why I never go to live anything anymore. It's just not worth it.
I see lots of small bands. I never pay more than 40 and that's with fees. My wife complained to me that I never take her to concerts and I'm just like well get into bands smaller than maroon 5 and we'll talk.
I actually do see small bands at bars now and then, or I'll go to live music that's part of another package, like when I got to see flow a few years ago in edmonton for $20 because they were playing at an anime convention.
Last "real" concert I went to was offspring/311 and tickets were $25, about 10 years ago. They actually still charge pretty reasonable prices compared to many bands, but many other bands don't.
I tend to go to smaller events that go under the radar and thus enable a headache free transaction that does not involve ticketmaster,
Much like promiscuous tennis equipment, Ticketmaster is a fucking racket.
This brings back memories of the '90s.. lining up for hours at Ticketmaster for shows at Skydome, Molson Amphitheatre, Massey Hall, Molson Park.. especially the Amphitheatre, seats sold out in seconds, and they'd say "sorry guys we're in the grass already"!
Providence Civic Center always did it best. You camped out to get in line for bracelets. Those bracelets allowed you to return for when they sold the tickets and you were ordered based on your bracelet. Now granted, the whole front row or at least front/center was held aside by radio stations/contests/etc...but still, you had a good shot at getting great seats if you earned it.
Used to be second row reliably...which is better than first, because when everyone stands up, you end up standing on first row's seats...lol.
I saw one show like that. The local radio station had a “mystery show” - big band, small venue. Wrist bands get handed out at 9 am or something.
I knew that the Smashing Pumpkins were doing a tour like that, so I grabbed three friends and we camped out. At 8 they announced it was them, at 9 we all had wrist bands and +1 tickets, and a couple days later about 500 of us crammed into a club and saw them play.
I don’t get how that would help? Isn’t that just the same as lining up for tickets only you have to do it twice?
I was really young at the time; how did they pre-sell all those tix?
I assume they all got snagged by corporations, scalpers and friends and family of TM.
Oh, dude. Before record stores could do Ticketmaster, having to go to Sears for it.
Going to Fiesta was better than Sears; you could go to a Fiesta for tickets that was not in demographic area for said concert, and there'd be nobody in line.
Got so many great seats that way.
Some venues I've been to they reserve 50 or so tickets for people who come in case it's a high demand one.
For the words of the profits
Were written on the studio wall
Concert hall
And echoes with the sounds, of salesmen, of salesmen, of salesmen!
How were all those tickets sold? I don't understand.
still better then the scum of the earth scalper and their hordes of bots... There is a fucked up place in hell for those pieces of shit
still better then the scum of the earth scalper sand their hordes of bots
Who do you think was in line before you, or making the phone busy?
No bots that's for sure. Also there was a limit as to how many tickets you could buy. You could also take trips to the middle of no where ticketmaster locations and not have to worry about people camping out.
I really wish some artist would request in person purchase only on their shows.
I guess I'm just lucky that I don't listen to mainstream music enough to want to go to their gigs. I've never had an issue trying to get a ticket to a rock or metal gig I want to go to as long as I buy the tickets a day or two after they go on sale.
I don't either. My girlfriend really likes Brand New. Not exactly Jay Z. Tickets would go on sale for their shows and be sold out the second they went up. I had something like 10 friends/family ready to go the second they went on sale. No one got tickets. Immediately after they would be on stub hub for $800... No fucking joke.
$800 for Brand New?
Sigh...
I remember I camped out for $17 tix for The Unforgettable Fire tour in 8(5?) and we all got great seats.
And what a show that was.
Metal shows, for sure. That’s the beauty of them. Unless you want tickets to a metal festival, then it’s harder.
I live near Donington in the UK, so getting a rock/metal festival for either Download or Bloodstock is easy to buy and get to. So im lucky on that count
Does Ticketmaster have a vise-like grip on venues like they do in the states?
Being into small bands is so rewarding as far as live experiences go. Tickets are generally only like £10, £15 each so you can go to loads of shows, no real worry about tickets selling out, and the venues are always great, small places where you can get right up to the front with no trouble. Plus the other fans are always super into it so the crowd is way fun.
I got tickets to see the Black Sabbath reunion tour in 1998 by pretending to be grocery shopping. The store didn't allow people to line up inside so I just walked around the store with a cart until the service desk opened and was the first person to get tickets.
yes the first one. It makes getting the tickets an event in and of itself!
Head down to your local H.M.V where they had the Ticket Master computer and order tickets, have them print them off and hand it to you.
I'd always be showing up at Famous Barr at exactly the time they went on sale only to find out I could only get a seat in the nosebleeds.
I still remember people talking about lines when Garth Brooks came to town in the late 90s. Camping, line fights, having people in line at every location in hopes that someone would score.
Fun fact, because of that, he now just keeps adding shows on a city till one doesn't sell out. Fucks up the scalpers too.
Yep when we saw him in the mid to late 90s he ended up playing 6 shows in our city.
Heh, I went to buy Endgame tickets online the day they were available and all of the theater websites were crashing from so many people buying. I was thinking that I should have gotten up earlier, and I was also thinking, if we didn't have the internet I would have had to camp in line to get the ticket!
I got first in line lotto once for NIN. Sold out after the guy behind me got his tickets. I was legit scared someone was gonna try to jump me.
Or when you kept dialing Ticketmaster but would get a busy signal and have to keep retrying?
With a rotary phone...
There’s still certain bands who do this where you have to camp at venues to get tickets. It’s cool but also basically means only kids who can camp out overnight get tickets
The first time I went to Glastonbury (which was, what, 1999, 2000, not forever-forever ago) I walked into Our Price, a record shop, and bought a ticket about 2-3 days after they went on sale.
Today, you need to have 3 machines and your phone open, along with your 5 other friends doing the same thing, and hit refresh on each from the second they go on sale. Even then you still rarely get them.
On the one hand I'm glad others want to go, but on the other - it does make it so much more of a mission to get all your friends together.
The first one.
And the fees. The god damn fees that cost 2/3rds what the fucking ticket costs it's self.
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pay 4x the price because someone bought up all the tickets.
It's not somebody buying up and selling all those tickets at 4X the price - it's Ticketmaster.
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If there's a limited supply of something and a lot of demand, the only options are: distribute them arbitrarily (i.e. "who got here first"), or distribute them by market price ("who pays more"). In either case, the amount of people missing out is the same.
Ticketmaster is the scalper now. They have the tickets available for the venue, and long before those go on sale for the public, they put a specific number of those up for "brokers" to buy and resell, and hold a good amount of them for after the public sales open and for contests/etc. Then they may or may not have it open after that to pre-sales for the public. THEN they finally have it open for the public, with the remainder (read: likely a very small portion) of the tickets left. Then they will let some of those tickets they held go on sale very slowly, in a few at a time, until the show begins. So of course it's "sold out" right away - the majority was bought by "brokers" (aka scalpers) and bots, or held by Ticketmaster for contests or later sales.
I completely agree that they should die in a fire. Brokers should be banned, that would free up the majority of the tickets without a doubt.
Edit: If you want to get rid of resellers completely, they could easily just make all tickets non-transferrable/non-resellable. But they don't because they make money twice on their tickets.
I got tickets for a show last year thanks to a Spotify presale. Felt pretty good about it. Then I realized that Tuesday was the Spotify presale, Wednesday was the Facebook presale, Thursday was the Deezer presale, and Friday the tickets went available to the public. I bought my Spotify ticket towards the end of the day on Monday and 70% of the show had been sold out already. I didn't even do anything wrong and I still felt scummy about it. People who didn't worship the ground this band walked on and followed their every social media presence were basically screwed out of seeing them live.
I likewise just got tickets to a show because of a Spotify presale, and while I got pretty good seats, the mostly slim pickings were pretty disgusting considering it was still the presale.
Well that's really only the big acts. Smaller bands tickets stay on websites at relatively low prices
Smaller bands probably are far less likely to be managed by Live Nation (read: Ticketmaster).
good god seriously
I wanted to see Elton John perform before he retires but every time the tickets went on sale they went from somewhat expensive to instantly bought and resold for crazy prices
bastards
1 second for Gorillaz. 1 fucking second. i had 2 phones and a computer set up. they were up for resale at 400% within 5 minutes.
The days of having your friends buy tickets on the east coast an hour earlier than when they went on sale in Dallas.
Fucking RIP S&M 2
Just like lesser known bands, I guess. That's what I do.
That isn't entirely the fault of the bots though. Bots are just the digital version of scalpers, which were an issue before the internet. The bigger issue is there's just a lot more people vying for the same amount of tickets these days (overpopulation, artists having bigger followings and thus more demand for their tickets), but literally all the venues are still the exact same size/capacity they have been since they've been built. Even newer venues aren't built any decent amount bigger than any of the older ones. There's just far too many people.
We attend very different events
You don't have to do that anymore. Last show I bought tickets for with ticketmaster they had a queue and you get a random order.
It is possible for most, it's the minority of big acts that have scalpers.
I've never had this problem. Maybe start listening to indie music lol
The solution is "change your personal interest and/or preference for music"? Screw that.
issa joke dude. Chill. Anyways yeah I'm sure that sucks but unfortunately that's not a problem with the internet, it's a problem with living in an overpopulated world driven by celebrity worship.
I stick with the old concert photographers rule, which is they could take pictures for the first two songs then they had to fuck off. So I do something similar, just a take pictures for a short period of the show, then store the thing and watch the show.
that has always bothered me and i don't even go to concerts. The logic behind it makes no sense
don't understand the logic of paying for a ticket just so you can watch the show through a tiny ass phone. Don't mind the shitty recording it was recorded through my phone... Nobody is going to watch a shitty quality/audio concert recording through a phone... So what's the point??
It's really to show off that they're having fun. I understand taking a minute or two clips. But if you're uploading the whole thing to Social Media then you're straight up just bragging about it.
Exactly.
No one watches your shitty snap/insta story of the whole gig.
And we can't hear the music just your drunk ass singing over the top.
Must've had so much fun watching the gig on a tiny phone screen all night. /s.
The fun part is imagining how cool everyone thinks you are for being at a concert and how jelly they are
↑ social media in a nutshell
That's what social media programs people to do, brag about stuff so they can "build" their virtual identity around that.
Where do you draw the line between sharing and bragging
The distinction is up to the people that know you.
at my last rave I saw someone doing a facebook livestream lmao
I’m sure there are people doing just that, but just Saturday night I kicked back and streamed about a half hour of a facebook live feed of a concert that a fan was recording from their phone from about 3 rows of people back from the stage.
The songs obviously weren’t studio quality and you could hear the fans around, the video wasn’t by any means recording steadily on the stage the whole time, but I enjoyed having it on my ipad next to me and hearing the show and watching parts, the guy recording was clearly enjoying the show every bit as much as he was before he got his phone out to share it, and all the other fans around him were still living it up with no setbacks or inconveniences while he was streaming.
Sure, there are people who go to shows and record things for reasons that might really be worth it, but the reddit hivemind always up in arms about “they’re missing the concert they paid for!” and insisting that phones shouldn’t be allowed at concerts can only relate to a seriously insignificant minority of cases.
Personally, at concerts I’ll usually snap a couple of photos to look back on, sometimes I’ll check in on facebook, and maybe I’ll record a clip or two of something that’s unique to a live performance or of the chorus to my son’s favorite song if he isn’t with me (or of him rockin’ out if he is). There are also shows when I don’t even think once to pull my phone from my pocket until I’m ready to catch an Uner home. Either way, nobody’s put out by it, and moments are often captured that I and other fans and the bands enjoy sharing amongst each other and looking back on, and this is the case for damn near everybody who takes the chance to capture some memories of a concert they’re at.
For every one of the artists that complains about phones or insists that they not be allowed at their performances, there are many more who encourage the opposite. Sure nobody wants to play to a crowd of people staring down at a device in their hands like redditors make it out to be, but that’s simply not what it’s like in the slightest.
All the examples of “no phones at my shows!” listed here have their roots in an era of the music industry when a band’s path was to sign a deal with a record label, record a dozen or so songs for an album, the label would release that album to the radio and to be sold to fans at stores, then the band would go on a tour and perform primarily that album live as a means of promoting said album to try to increase that albums sales. In this day and age, the era of streaming services, the era of smartphones that can record video, that process has shifted all around and the primary means of earning and growing performing music is much different for most artists.
Bands that made it in the industry decades ago and follow that up by carrying on the same process could rightfully think “they can’t release my live performance on their low quality microphone, what if I stuttered or something?!? The fans must hear the studio recording!” Nowadays, though, bands aren’t gonna lose an album sale if someone hears a less polished live song; they’re much more likely to gain streams from a fan at a show sharing how they sound live. Instead of the powers that be in the industry supporting the bands and paying them a chunk of the sales from their songs that were only sold as full albums, now artists have spotify chopping up pennies into fractions and dangling them over their heads, shaking their fingers “ah, ah, ah, you don’t get this .4 cents until they play your song to at least the halfway point!”, and live concerts have a different purpose than they used to when these artists who don’t want phones out made it.
TL;DR: bring your phone to the show, snap a couple pics, record some if you want, share it on social media, and as long as you’re not intrusively obnoxious about it somehow then unless the artist says otherwise, in most cases you and the bands will enjoy and appreciate it, but nobody but a bunch of redditors who weren’t at the show will be put out by it in the least!
Or you’re trying to record it so others can see it.
Do you go on Youtube to watch full sings recorded on a shitty phone camera? Have you ever seen a rock concert recorded on a phone? They suck.
That's really not the case. When was the last time you watched a full video of a concert shot from somebody's iPhone? It's really a way to signal 'Look what I did last night!'
I don't watch full concerts, but often these people upload it to YouTube splitting each song. I sometimes look these videos up for my own memory or to show others what the concert I went to was like.
Its not THAT uncommon in the jam band community. I've definitely listen to some live streams shot/recorded through peoples phones.
I could see that being the case for the Jam Band community. But for the most part nobody is watching you concert footage. There is legit concert footage on YouTube that trumps whatever recording you took. I'm not against doing a few minutes of recording, but there's no need for *everyone* to record the *majority* of the concert. It's like taking a video of fireworks on the 4th of July
I mean saying that the majority of people at concerts record the majority of the concert is a pretty huge over exaggeration.
Yeah that was hyperbole. They're recording an unnecessary amount in my opinion.
But you know what is uncommon? The jam band community.
Is this supposed to be a joke?
When was the last time you saw a fan record a full video of a concert on their iPhone?? I will sometimes record a chorus to a song my son likes to play for him, but almost nobody records things at shows the way redditors like to act like they do.
I did stream about a half hour of a facebook live feed Saturday night that was being recorded by a fan right up close at a concert. I and a number of others enjoyed hearing the show, and watching parts here and there, the guy who was streaming was still enjoying the show fully, not like he was staring straight at the screen the whole time, and everyone around him continued to enjoy themselves fully as well without being put out in the least by someone recording to share with other fans who couldn’t be at the show. Later on, some members of the band liked the live feed post.
A ~1/2 hour recording of a concert, universally enjoyed by the attending fans, the fans who saw it, and the performing artist... shame it bothers so many redditors who had nothing to do with it so bad 🙄
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Funny but not quite the same,some of the time at gigs its actually harder to see whats happening on the stage cos of everyones cameras,so its not just judging how someone else experiences something,its them negatively effecting your experience directly.
Yup. For most things it's fine. for a concert it's fucking nonsense.
It's so annoying to have 15 phones surrounding you for the entire show at all times.
I don't understand it. I really don't.
I get people taking pictures of everything else or filming everything else. But not that.
Also as another aspect to be honest as a gigging musician myself writing our own material with a band,sometimes someone posting your song filmed from half way through,with a phone mic,out of focus,at a weird angle etc is a bit annoying.Especially if you've been working on a video/proper recording for it yourselves or if the song has a narrative that works chronologically.Sometimes you are still working on it to some degree and are excited to play it as part of a set of more fully finished tunes but don't necessarily want to share it with the world at that point.I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for comedians workshopping material.As a fan of both music and comedy i've been lucky enough to be at gigs where artists have shared stuff from upcoming releases and it can be awesome to get a sneak peak into whats coming,would hate for that to stop because some people can't help getting their own version and posting it.
It honestly makes more sense why people would do it at a concert.
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to be able to remember an amazing moment.
That you will absolutely never fucking watch again.
I absolutely watch the clips again, why are you assuming I dont lmfao?
I record parts of songs I like when they're played live. I watch them to remember the experience because I sure as hell won't remember it forever. What's the problem here really?
Nothing, he's just a cunt.
at gigs its actually harder to see whats happening on the stage cos of everyones cameras
And before the inevitable "But a phone is a little tiny obstruction over a big stage. Surely you can't be complaining about missing so little of your view!"
It's a lit-up, flickering, attract-the-animal-brain sort of distraction that doesn't just obscure, but also attracts your gaze. Plus, it's likely to be right between you and what you want to look at, since it's recording what you want to look at.
...and don't call me Shirley.
I went to a show last week that was in a rather small venue, and there was a guy directly in front of me recording the entire show on his phone. I'm pretty short and the venue was packed, so until I managed to get out from behind him, I was forced to watch the concert through his fucking phone.
I don't judge anyone for taking clips or photos of a show, because I get that it's great to look back on those things every once in a while. But I don't understand why people are so cool with being disrespectful of everyone else who also paid to be there just so they can get a shaky cell phone video.
Briefly, sure. 30 minutes of shitty footage?
No.
The upvotes indicate to me that there's a generation coming up who thinks this is the norm now
I hope so but the internet and reddit are not random samples of society by a longshot
Yeah I don’t give a shit if someone wants to take a photo or video. It’s cool to get good shots of things you experience.
I've only seen one or two good cell phone pics of a sunset
Thanks! I often record bits of live shows then edit a montage for later viewing. I do this with a lot of other things as well.
I video or photo my friends enjoying the show
Actually they've found thats not really true.
In some cases taking photos of something negatively impacts your ability to recall an event vividly.
Eh, they are a subset of the 'so drunk they won't remember shit about the show anyway' group, so not making great choices is kinda their thing.
I usually make the effort to get a couple of clips from my favourite parts of songs. I replay them and watch them back loads and it always brings back great memories from the night.
people don't just watch it through the phone...you realize that recording through a phone doesn't mean that you suddenly can't see anything but the phone and can't hear right?
Am I the only one that likes listening to bootleg concert recordings? Sometimes I like the live version of a song much better than the recording and wouldn't be able to hear it any other way, and the quality is not too bad with recent phones.
My first ever concert, I followed this mentality and didn't record any videos. That concert was 4 years ago, and I don't remember a fucking thing from that concert. I don't remember what songs were played, in what order, nothing.
Since then, I've made sure to record at least one full song from every concert I go to, and I find myself going back to those videos, and they bring back the memories from the concert. Having taken videos has enhanced my experience of the concerts. It takes me back to the atmosphere, and the rest of the memories follow. I will always take a video at a concert from now on.
So what’s the point??
I like to take one or two 30-60 second videos at shows I go to. I post them on Facebook and change the privacy so only I can see them, on rare occasions I make them visible to friends. My memory sucks, so when I see a video or two show up in my Facebook memories it helps me remember it. Something about see the video from my own perspective really helps. There’s been tons of times I see videos of shows I went to and COMPLETELY forgot about it, despite being a great time.
Cuz I want my friend to hear a sample of what it's like, or I like the song and I want to learn it later. That a problem for you?
Yes. The audio quality isn't anything like being there and live recording always sound like shit. Always.
Also, I can promise you NO ONE watches these videos you send them.
I promise your friend doesn't care to hear the shitty audio quality of your video. And if you want to learn the song later you can't just listen to the recorded version from the album? Instead of massively impacting the experience of the people standing behind you in a negative way? So yeah I do have a problem with it. It's massively selfish.
You know that not every band playing is an overly famous band playing in a stadium right?
As a person who spent 10 years going to shows several times a week, most of them tiny basement and garage shows, yeah I know that. Doesn't mean they don't have recorded music.
Doesn't mean they do
Cool, well in that case if they're cool with it and it's a small venue then go ahead. That's an edge case though, and everyone else is talking about the rule, not the exception.
But it sounds and looks like shit on your cell phone.
I agree, the purpose is not to be listened generically.
Who's watching the entire concert on their phone? If it's a band and a song that I really like, why can't I record a part of it so I can remember the experience? Why do you assume nobody watches their footage ever again? Do you not take vacation photos/videos to save the memories? Smartphones can take videos with good quality and audio nowadays too, believe it or not.
I 1. have a really bad memory and 2. a mental illness that makes me question my memory, and also typically I spend $300-$400 to go to a concert, and it’s usually only for bands I really like, so yeah, I’m gonna take a couple fucking pictures and videos to remember the moment. This is the reasoning a lot of people have. Also, the only people who get upset about this kind of thing are usually pretty pretentious and think they’re better than other people because they don’t feel the need to record. I promise you I can still enjoy my concert while taking a 60 second clip that I can watch back and reminisce.
/rant sorry.
In 2013, I went to see a few bands with a friend. The venue for one of the shows was so small, the entire place was a mosh pit, save for the bar at the back. I saw so many people drop their phones, even saw one girl, after the show, crying because her brand new iPhone 5s was smashed and completely fucked.
If I go to a show, I usually take an older phone that I have and keep it in my pocket. I've been to enough metal shows that I know if I can get injured, then my phone will most likely get destroyed.
If it is dark at the venue it really hurts your eyes and is distracting.
I actually love that this is a thing. Tegan and Sara are one of my favorites and they're really funny on stage and banter is a huge thing in their fan following. Tons of great stuff besides their music to enjoy seeing them live but I don't get to go to every show. Tons of bands have similar situations like stage sets and special effects I might otherwise never get to see at all. I didn't get to see The DOC's comeback show at the Bomb Factory and that killed me but someone uploaded some clips and hearing him use his new voice in a new song was heartwarming as hell even without actually being there.
I understand that artists may want people to live in the moment but the truth is that they can do a performance whenever they want, even when they don't really want to I'm sure but I pay a fair amount for some tickets and I'd like more than a hazy memory or general feeling of the experience sometimes. Especially for true favorites. And to be honest what ruins a concert for me most of the time is people being drunk or high(a friend of mine is actually allergic to marijuana so someone smoking means he uses an epi or has to leave), acting like assholes, pushing to get closer to the front, other people's BO, the shitty audio setup a lot of places still have. Just stuff that is all part of going to concerts really but much more annoying than phones.
I go to about 20 concerts a year from intimate venues to stadiums. I literally could not care less about people with their phones out. Unless they're obstructing my view with an iPad, the way they choose to enjoy a concert has no effect on me and imo just makes whiners seem like old cranks.
Yeah this complaint always just comes off as pretentious and overly nostalgic and sentimental. I actually enjoy a concert more recording like 30 seconds at different parts. I know that if I wasn't recording during those parts, my enjoyment wouldn't be significantly different, and it's nice to have the memory to look back on even if the quality isn't great. If I was going to concerts just to hear music, I wouldn't go to concerts, I'd just listen to the music on spotify. I go to concerts to have fun, dance a lot, and make memories.
I went to see Foo Fighters a few years ago. To this day, I still go back and look at the videos that I recorded from that concert cause they're so fucking awesome.
I’m behind you. I don’t want your phone in my face. It blocks my view and it’s distracting. The screen is always set to maximum brightness and it interrupts the experience for everyone around you.
It’s not about you. Just be present and stop that shit.
No, it doesn't. You're making up problems where there are none. I would have to be standing so close to you that I was making complete contact and be the exact height that my phone is directly in front of your eyes for a four inch phone to block a thirty foot stage from your view. You are far likelier to have your view blocked by a tall person standing in your way, and guess what sweetums the world doesn't revolve around you so if you find your vision blocked by someone just trying to innocently enjoy a concert fucking move two inches to the left and stop being a whiny ass.
Are you literally incapable of enjoying a show without shoving your phone in the air? Do you think my visual field is incredibly narrow? Do you not realize it’s like having someone shove a bright fucking television in my face?
You’re right, it’s not about me. Or you. It’s about the general experience for everyone, and not a single person in the room paid to have your phone in their face. Or for you to catch them in your footage, for that matter. It’s rude and distracting. If you do it to me a show I will ask you to stop.
It’s not that hard. Just keep the phone dark, or if you absolutely must film something follow old concert photography rules. You get the first 3 songs or 10 minutes and then put it away. If you can do it at a movie you can do it at a show.
Are you literally incapable of not trying to control other people's lives?
Do you not realize it’s like having someone shove a bright fucking television in my face?
lol I can't understand how you think saying shit like this is helping your case. Either you're so delusional that you've actually convinced yourself this is true, or you think I'm so stupid I'm going to accept this ridiculous statement. We both know that this is an absurd hyperbole and that phones aren't actually a distraction unless you choose to make them one.
If you do it to me a show I will ask you to stop.
And I will tell you, albeit more respectfully, to fuck off. And guess what there's nothing you can do because again the world doesn't revolve around you so you don't get to dictate what other people do at concerts :) so sit there and be miserable and whine all you want but it's not going to change anything. I'd recommend instead you stop being such an unreasonable ass and get over it.
If you’re incapable of seeing how a blinding screen in a dark space could be distracting to the people around you then I don’t know how to help you. I ask again, do you find it appropriate to use your phone in a movie theatre? Are you the kind of person that listens to videos with sound on your device in a shared public space? It’s the same damn thing.
Asking you to be considerate of those around you isn’t being unreasonable. It’s just basic adulting.
Re: controlling lives
You’re literally dictating the experience for others by deciding that anyone bothered by a phone is an ass. I’m just asking, and I did say ask, that you consider the impact of your actions on others. Hardly unreasonable. No one wants your phone in their face. No one paid for that. It isn’t complicated.
concerts aren't a dark space my dude. Most of the concerts I've been to have had bright flashing lights. And people who are on their phones are recording. Meaning their phone is showing the exact thing it is recording, and that therefore the phone is the same brightness as the rest of the room.
Asking you to be considerate of those around you isn’t being unreasonable.
Asking people to stop doing something that doesn't affect you at all because you want to control other people's experiences is most definitely unreasonable.
Plenty of concerts are dark spaces. Lighting design is done for a reason. Artist pick the lighting they want for the room for a reason. Let the artist control the environment and the experience. If the artists TELLS you to whip out your phone than by all means have at it. You want to take a quick snap at the beginning of the show? No big deal! Be reasonable and there won’t be an issue. Otherwise, leave it alone. This isn’t hard.
You also don’t get to tell people what affects them. You have a hundred people on here telling you it has an impact and is distracting. I’m telling you I find it distracting and that, if you were doing it regularly, I would ask you to stop. You know what doesn’t impact other people? Keeping your phone in your pocket and just watching the show.
Also, if you don’t understand how screen brightness works I’m not sure how to help you.
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Myopia is a hell of a drug. Good lucky buddy.
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Lol. You’re a kick buddy. You’re the most deterministic dude I’ve dealt with in awhile. Empathy is hard though, I get it. Live your life duder.
Empathy is hard though, I get it.
well good, the first step to overcoming your problems is realizing they are problems. I'm glad you are aware of your struggle for empathy and I hope you are working on fixing it.
Lol. What are you practicing your arguing techniques for? This bully gig is hilarious.
Whatever it is you need to soothe your wounds I hope you find it.
I confess the fact that you bother to downvote my comments is additionally humorous.
Soothe my wounds? You're the one with the wounds here dude. This entire thread started because of your wounds.
Haha. You literally replied to someone to tell them they, and anyone that agreed, were a farce. That’s the gateway here. The whole subcomment is filled with people who agreed that phones annoy them at shows.
I don’t actually think you give two shits about the topic; you just like the dance. Sophomoric games. Fills a void. I’m guessing you do the same shtick elsewhere online. I’d be bemused if you actually tried to swing it in person.
All good dude. There’s no point in discussing with someone that doesn’t acknowledge first hand reports of other people’s experiences. Or, even better, claims he/she will invalidate them by explaining the laws of physics. Quelle strategy.
I’m still laughing over the myopia bit. You really didn’t get that one.
If someone claims that they can see 360 degrees behind them, would you say they were wrong because that's impossible for a normal human, or would you place more trust in their "personal account"?
“360 degrees behind” lol.
as in they can see in every direction. 360 degrees. Including behind them. Not as in a 360 degree rotation from looking forward...
Whatever you say boss. Killin’ it.
feel free to hit me up in another 3 weeks when you finally come up with another cheap nitpick to waste my time with :)
Well said.
This. Reddit loves to bandwagon their hateboners for things like cellphones and social media. "DAE hate instragram food picture cellphone concert?" It doesn't affect you. Let people enjoy things how they want to.
It doesn't affect you
Well it does though, it's obscures your view
Nobody needs telling this at cinemas.
Phones won't usually obscure your view at a concert in my experience
They won't at the cinema either. I sure as shit don't want them distracting me at either the cinema or the concert.
I guess we're just going to different kinds of concerts? When I'm going to a show, usually the stage show will vastly overwhelm the puny amount of light a cell phone a few rows in front of me will put out.
What makes you think you're a few rows in front of me? You're directly in front of someone.
Tell you what. Next time you're at the cinemas, wave your phone around in front of the people behind you. After all the cinema screen will vastly overwhelm the puny amount of light of a cell phone.
And it's not just you, it's the thirty other ones that are in my line of sight.
Just accept it, you're being a selfish jerk at concerts by recording on your phone.
The point you were making about the show being brighter than the phone is analogous to a cinema screen.
I guess so, I just don't understand how it's that distracting. I've never been bothered by the light from cell phones at a concert, whereas I have been bothered by it at movies.
So it's a matter of degrees then? You're fine recording your 15 seconds but a person doing the whole concert is selfish? Where is the line?
Uh, yes, it is? If someone takes a couple photos at some point, why the fuck should I care? If someone takes 15 seconds of video, what does it matter? It's 15 seconds out of a 2 hour concert, I don't give a fuck.
For context, the kinds of shows I'm accustomed to are big rock and metal shows, with usually a few thousand attendees. If you're talking about a quiet, intimate setting like a coffee shop or a bar where a quieter kind of music is what's going on (e.g., jazz), yeah I can see it being a big deal, because there's not nearly as much room for everyone and the seating arrangement is a lot different.
Exactly, tall people are worse than phones.
Can we ban them?
I'd like it if all concerts were sit-down concerts honestly.
Right? If we all sit down it'll be fine, but nooooo the front few rows felt the need to stand up
Either all sit-down or all general admission tbh
Or at least put them at the back the of the show, like we do for photos
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Because they want to do their recordings and don't want to feel like an asshole.
yeah, i cant say ive ever been bothered by or even noticed a cell phone at a concert.. but people on reddit wont stop complaining about it
It’s fine in short bouts - maybe a photo or a short video. But when people go ‘live’ and have their phone and it’s bright ass screen right in front of you for an entire show..that’s unacceptable. One time I -politely- asked a woman to not keep her phone up and she got all huffy and asked how her ‘boyfriend was supposed to enjoy the show when he’s sick’? 😒
Yep, unless someone is recording with an iPad then someone holding their phone in the air to record isn't blocking anymore than someone waving their arms in the air because they're at a concert having fun, phones are tiny. And phones today aren't phones of 10-15 years ago, the video and audio isn't shit, you can take 4k video with HiDef audio and image stabilization. And there are tons of fan cams of concerts on youtube that have been watched millions of times and since not all concerts get pro shot they are sometimes the only way that truly unique moments get caught on film, so they absolutely aren't things that "no one watches". It's just whiners who don't like other people enjoying things in a different way than how they enjoy things.
Exactly. I went to an A$AP Rocky concert recently and watching videos of me shaking the camera because the mosh pit wouldn’t let me hold still, hearing rocky do the sad songs, etc just make me so happy.
but you do care
No. I don't.
I did stand up for many years, until about 10 years ago. Even then cell phones were becoming a problem - not just people taking videos, but constantly checking their phones. It takes them out of the moment, and since they missed the setup they don't get a joke and they think the comic sucks Now they're bored so they check the phone again, and miss the setup for the next bit. Now they're so bored they start talking to their friend saying "why do you think this guy is funny?" and they both miss the set up to the next bit, and it cascades.
Entertainers have to be met halfway - the people aren't paying attention that's quite literally no way we can do our jobs.
I've been to a chapelle show where they'd lock away your phone within a sleeve until you leave. I thought this was great.
Aziz Ansari did that too! It was kinda nice especially if he's still crafting his jokes.
Jack White does this too. I was really annoyed, but it was actually really nice to have no phones anywhere for 3 hours.
Or iPads. Ive seen that before and I wished someone would throw something at those people.
And vertically at that. Ugh that’s annoying.
That wasnt that long ago. I'm 25 and remember cameras in phones being too poor in quality for most people to bother trying to take photos. The odd person would have a cheap digital point and shoot.
One of the stronger examples of this that I've seen was a a couple of pictures of Pope Benedict XVI election, and then Pope Francis. Both the pictures were taken at similar angles. Pope Benedict was just the crowd watching his...introduction, I guess? whereas everyone had their phones up for Pope Francis. I did not like the second at all. I'm not particularly religious, but that would've destroyed the moment for me.
Or holding up a 12 inch tablet to record video.
Saw Dave Chappelle a few years ago - they lock up your phone before you go in. He said it was to try to make sure people are more present in the moment.
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https://www.npr.org/2014/05/22/314592247/overexposed-camera-phones-could-be-washing-out-our-memories
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I try to find a balance. If there’s a beautiful view or experience, I try to take one good picture of it when I first see it, then I put my phone away and soak it in and ignore my phone. Then I might take one more as I leave if there’s something in particular I want to capture. I think it’s just about being mindful of what you’re photographing instead of having a shotgun approach to your camera
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Does it occur to you that it's very easy to not do any of those things you just said while still taking whatever recordings/pictures you desire? Maybe you're more upset with the idea of people doing something you disprove of that you don't even realize it's not actually affecting you, you're just upset that you're thinking about it.
that's not a thing. I've been to many concerts, seen many people with their phones out, and have never had my view blocked. Phones are tiny, just move three inches to the left for fucks sake. Someone being tall is more of an obstacle than them having their phone out...
did you read my comment where i said that ive only held my phone above my head at one concert which was my first and now i keep my phone at face level or below my face where it’s shielded by my entire body when i decide that i want to record? at this point, even im not annoyed by others crowding me in order to get a good shot or angle even if i don’t do it myself. in all honesty, i see that as part of the concert experience.
It's fun. Looking back on videos I had taken at concerts this year really brought back all the good memories of it. I see it the same as snapshotting something for a photo album. Granted I tend to do this at the start of the concert and keep it out of my hands for the rest (cause I'm damn busy dancing). I sometimes pull it out for key moments like a favorite song playing and regretted not having it when Demi Lovato literally walked right past my chair because a story no one would believe without footage (thankfully someone else had an alternate angle - I couldn't have lucked out on a better random seat lol).
People like you are why I don't go to concerts anymore.
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Last concert I went to was before cell phones even had cameras. Just seeing footage of concerts with cell phones out everywhere makes me sick. You people need to learn you can live without the damn things in your hand all the time.
Tells people to live their lives, deliberately avoids concerts for over a decade because of the way people are living their lives.
If you climb down off your high horse and actually bothered trying out a gig in an era where everyone has these new-fangled talkie boxes, you’d probably find it doesn’t really affect you as much as you think it would.
Source: have been regularly attending shows for the last 20 years. Have seen the transition from pre-phones to post-phones.
Is it kind of annoying? Sure. But it only bothers you as much as you let it. If something small like other people using phones is enough to keep you away from doing something you like, I’d argue that the issue isn’t with other people.
That last part is very true. I booked seat tickets on the last concert I went to and this person in front of us stood up and refused to sit down for the entirety of the concert. Was it kind of annoying? Yes. But I made the most out of it, even though I had to sit in a quite uncomfortable way in order to see anything. And I ended up having a blast.
If you rile yourself up about something you simply cannot change over and over again, it's gonna make you unhappy. And at that point, it's more your fault than somebody elses, really. "It only bothers you as much as you let it" is a great way to summarize that.
I really want to know what gigs people who make this complaint go to, and how often. I go to a lot of shows and off the top of my head can only think of one time when someone was genuinely irritating with their phone, and plenty more times when people were irritating or worse without a phone in their hand.
Unless someone is doing me harm I just keep my eyes forward and enjoy the night.
In the last few years, the only issue that sticks out in my mind that I’ve had was two massive dudes either side of me, clearly uninterested in Jimmy Eat World playing, shouting their conversation across me. I put up with it for a while until it bothered me enough to move. But that was it. It interrupted me for like a song and a half. Didn’t ruin the evening by any stretch.
I find that most things like that or phones or drunk people dancing near you or whatever are just part of the evening. You can’t let it bother you or you’re guaranteed to have a shit time.
Talkers do suck and I've been to a few shows where the artists call them out on it which is great. My worst was getting clocked in the face by a guy who was either a dickhead or completely off his tits (or both). No one was moshing but he was going off smashing into people and doing fly kicks and shit, everyone gave him a wide berth after a few of us got knocked to the ground but I ended up with a fist to the face and getting smacked into a column and had to leave to go to the emergency room lmao
That was definitely a rarity though and I love how loose people get at gigs! One of the few places you can just lose yourself for a couple of hours and see some artists do their thing.
They're the people who are there for the "show" and not the music.
What does that even mean? If I am paying $200 for a ticket, I want to experience the whole thing - enjoying the show includes watching what they are doing on stage.
Last summer I went to see ELO and had tickets on the main floor so I could not see the stage at all due to tall people in my way. My view of the video screen was partially blocked by the woman in front of me who had her cell phone out above her head for literally the whole show. She was recording the screen (not the stage) the entire time - why??!!
Exactly what I said? Some people like seeing the stage/lights/lasers and others are just there to listen. Cell phones don’t bother me because 99% of the time I’m dancing in the back, eyes closed, mind elsewhere. Some people like the sights as well as the sounds and they’re the people who get offended. I don’t so I don’t give a shit.
Oh sorry about that! I took your comment as sarcastic.
Jack White did something awesome when I saw him last year. When you got your ticket scanned, you were given a pouch with a pin-lock to put your phone in during the concert, and as you were leaving the arena, the people at the doors would unlock the pin and you'd throw the case in a bin.
It was incredible, not a single phone screen in an arena with 10,000 people for 3 hours. Honestly all concerts should be like this. Can you imagine if there was a Coachella like this? People would actually go for the music.
Last time I went to a concert, I'm not sure what pissed me off more: The guy in front of me recording most of it on his phone, or the fact that he did it in vertical video.
This is the main reason I don't go to shows anymore. Bugs the fuck out of me.
Yeah, but when you're a 5' nothin it's really helpful to use your phone as a periscope.
I saw a comedian once (Daniel Kitson) who is really strict about cell phone use at his shows. At one point, he stopped as he saw someone using their phone (probably just checking a text, not filming). He said "excuse me, could you put that away please? I know you're trying to be discrete about it, but the screen is illuminating your face like a shining beacon of passive-aggressive disinterest". Quite possibly the best way of telling someone off for that.
Ugh. I was sitting behind a couple last week. He filmed practically the whole show on his phone and his wife watched the concert live on his phone with her head on his shoulder.
Same concept, but nature. It's really trendy right now to go outside and camp/climb/whatever, whereas 10 years ago when I was doing it there wouldn't be any other people there. Now it feels like I'm going to the mall, even pretty deep in the backcountry sometimes.
I always get annoyed going to rock concerts with my dad. We always get seats because hes old and likes to sit for the most part but when that old song hes loves comes on you bet your ass we are standing up and ruining no less than 3 peoples videos and photos.
You can still easily prevent this and I don't know why it isn't done more often. Have the roadies rig up a bunch of super bright infra-red lights on stage facing the crowd. We can't see them; the phone cameras will be witnessing the sun and not much else.
Or sunsets.
Makes trying to shoot a live event kind of irritating when one has to thread the needle through a sea of phones with a telephoto lens. I should bring a stool.
My brother went to a Jack White show where people had to put their phones in a sealed bag.
Go to smaller shows. At least the few shows I've gone to most people just enjoy the show. A few will film a song or two or if something crazy happens but otherwise most people are busy having fun.
Went to A Perfect Circle concert a few years ago and there was a hardcore ban on phones. Literally anything and anyone using a phone would get the boot.
It was a surreal experience being at a concert with no phone in front of my face. It was magical, but sad how much smartphones have ruined live shows.
I admit I do this, but I like to get just a minute or two of footage and then get back to the show. Absolutely no point in trying to film whole sets; the point of live music is to be there, enjoying it as it's made. I just want a little video to remember being in that live experience.
why? this complaint is always so pretentious to me. Those people filming aren't impacting your experience at the concert, and it's allowing them to enjoy it more so why judge?
Mainly because it's distracting, often blocks the view of other people and detracts from the experience.
no, it doesn't. That never happens lol. That's not how perspective works. Someone would have to be standing literally right in front of you and the exact height for their phone to be in front of your eyes for a four inch phone to block your view of a 30 foot stage.
Maybe not at the concerts that you've been to. I've been to concerts where at least ten people in front of me have had their phones up recording and I couldn't see a damn thing until I moved. So yeah, it does happen.
sounds like you need to get better at finding a place to stand then. Because clearly you are too short and standing too far away from the stage. It's not those people's fault that you are incompetent.
Found the person with their phone out the whole concert
nah, I record a couple of snippets usually for sure, but not the whole concert.
You see it less and less these days. People take photos sure, but nobody seems to film whole songs anymore.
Or when you go to a EDM show and nobody is dancing. Live and let live I guess
Oh yeah. I once went to a concert event and my sister wanted to borrow my phone for recording/showing to friends. Cool, right? Except she used 5 GB of data sending videos on iMessage.
Your friends wanna see the concert? They pay for tickets. They have conflicting events? They pay for my data.
The number of times I’ve been in a great show and had the person next to me on FB or instagram instead of watching the show is insane. I kind of get videoing a snapshot (although still annoying), but spending $100s of dollars to just spend all your time on your phone is crazy to me.
I remember when I was 19-22 and I had a digital camera with 32MB of space. I had 1:47 of space to film. I really had to judge, how and when I would be filming Muse, or Kasabian. What parts of what songs did I REALLY want?
This was great cuz it freed up the other hour and twenty eight minutes of the concert to just watch.
I used to film concerts on my phone and would catch myself looking at the screen more than at the concert itself. I wanted to save the moment to revisit later, but never really ended up watching the videos again because the audio quality and lighting are kinda meh. So I stopped doing it and started enjoying the actual concerts.
I actually went to a local bands performance last weekend. They were amazing. They only do 90s covers. About half way into their performance i noticed not one single person had their phone out. It was eerie. Almost like there was a policy against it or something. It was awesome. Havnt seen that in a while.
I wish I could personally give you 173000 upvotes for this.
vertically
I'm fine with people filing a song or two. If you're recording the entire goddamned concert, or (what I've been seeing more and more of lately) streaming the concert to Facebook or some other site I feel the urge to knock the goddamned phone out of your hand.
I've actually tried to pull away from this in recent years. I'll snap a few pictures for memory sakes or record when a band does my favorite song because reliving that energy and the live version is awesome but I try to enjoy the show overall.
There was nobody filming at the most recent concert I was at, aside from the woman in her 60’s in front of me. The strangest part was that the place was full of people in their early 20’s. Maybe they’ve finally started to realize that it’s better to actually experience the show while being at it.
This doesn’t happen at smaller shows fyi. I go to shows in Seattle every week and don’t see phones. I admit it’s a problem at big mainstream shows though.
And bots buying all the tickets the second they go on sale just to end up on resale sites.
Jack White makes you place your phone in locked bag. Outside the venue there are unlocking stations. Brilliant and bold idea. He explains why he does it and I totally get it.
Hey, at least they aren’t filming on their iPad.
Avoiding people. Especially with work, I hate video conferences more than anything.
I refuse to turn my camera on in meetings. I don't see why it should matter to anything and thankfully nobody seems to have cared yet.
Same! I only have it on if I’m leading the meeting. I really hate how meetings are possible anywhere and anytime now because of Zoom/Skype meetings. It blurs the boundary between home and work.
Discovering the secrets of videogames by talking between friends
And outright lying to Kadien that you can unlock a golden lightsaber in the phantom menace ps1 game if you finish it without dying and laughing at him when he spends ages trying to do it only for it to not work but fuck you Kadien I'm not sorry because you pants me in front of Bridget and she saw my dong and I really liked her and you ruined it.
Yeah fuck you, Kadien
I still do this. Ive been playing BOTW finally and am trying not to look anything up, but instead just do a lot of exploring and asking a couple of my friends about the cool things theyve found or done. Im sure they themselves looked those things up online but at least I can ignore that anf still capture that sweet nostalgia magic lol.
I did both my play throughs like this and I have a question for you: Have you found the golf course? I didn't come across it until late on my second run and it was really awesome.
Whaaat no I havent come across that yet! Is it a korok seed game?
It's not a Korok challenge. Just a mini game that you can use to turn rupees into more rupees, but it was a really fun surprise when I found it.
I'm trying to do the same thing with all of my Switch games. I don't have any friends who even have a Switch but I'm still enjoying the feeling of finding something out by yourself, without the Internet.
"I figured out
GTA San Andreas cheat sheets were literally hand written on pieces of paper and passed around between my mates at school
I remember the first Pokemon games for Gameboy, when a friend showed me the infamous missingno glitch. My mind was blown!
I remember when my cousin told me how to unlock the three Regi's in Ruby, since I didn't have the booklet with the braille thing. The whole thing was so complicated, but finding them for the first time was really cool.
something something under the truck
Reminds me of the game Adventure on the Atari 2600. My friend up the street knew the secret, amazing secret mind you, of being able to see a secret room where the software developer left his name. That was so fun to discover. Of course the cartridge case artwork looked nothing like the game. But no matter, it was such a fun game to play.
One of the best twists I remember was finding out who Sheik was in OOT. And being the girl in the group of friends, I was the only one who thought that Sheik might be Zelda. It just so happened that I beat the game the same night one of the other guys did, and I got to give them a huge I TOLD YOU SO. :D
If that game came out now, it probably wouldn't have been the same. Just as I imagine FF7 would have been ruined with its huge spoiler...
My friends and I had a traditions when each Dark Souls came out that none of us would look up anything on the internet. We were only allowed to tell each other about stuff in voice chat- no texting each other infodumps.
It's the closest I've ever felt to 90s gaming since.
Back when I was about 7 me and a school friend from a different city actually hand drew screenshots of how to get to secret areas in Mario Land/Mario Land 2 on Gameboy and posted them to each other as we discovered them during our summer holidays because it was too hard to describe over the phone, haha.
Staying up late on a cool summer night flipping through channels with my mom, settling on MeTV because we only had basic cable and watching old horror flicks while we laughed at how corny they were all the while thinking internally how terryifying the concepts are if only they had the technology to execute it properly, at the same time not realizing that years later you will reminisce over these times and realizing that these simple moments were some of the best you've ever had.
Anxiously waiting for your school district to come across the bottom of the screen on a snow day. Now, they tweet or post it on Facebook.
To be fair I still refresh their twitter just as madly as I would stare at the local news scrolling.
Or waiting for the TV guide channel to scroll to your channel.
Or buying a TV Guide at all!
Apparently my old school district still does that because nobody in management is "comfortable" enough to use social media
You could still go to your local news website and see it instantly.
In my area it was a secret to know that if you called the "bus barn" where the drivers picked up their buses in the morning that they were, in fact, the very first to be informed of delays and cancellations because obviously (in retrospect) deploying the buses with no school in session would be a waste of time and money. Whoever answered the phone there would be able to give you reliable info several hours earlier than a radio DJ or ticker tape at the bottom of the local news. If I recall, around 3am, the bus barn was responsible for sending out a car to drive a random route to assess the road conditions and actually make the call about a delay or cancellation. It was a life hack from 1993 or so. Now there's an app for that or robocaller for parents.
College I work at has an entire app, and you can turn on notifications for cancelled classes.
When I was in school, it wasn't on TV yet- we had a 6:30am siren if there was a 1.5 hour delay, and an 8am siren if school was closed.
Or you could listen to the radio, but man, nothing beat the joy of hearing that siren...
I feel this.
The area I grew up in snowed maybe once every other year, just a light dusting. I believe once or twice it matched up with a school morning and we had a legitimate district-wide snow day from school, and you better believe those were some of the greatest days of my life– going from "I have to wake up and go to school" to "I have to throw snowballs and watch morning gameshows".
Canadians can’t relate.
True, we had to listen to the radio, and keep your fingers crossed for your school to be named.
I meant that Canadians go to school anyway lol
Yeah, i knew that was your joke, just tried to flip it on you again....
Ohh... r/wooosh
I never had this :( I was always so jealous of snowy states...(and countries)
I was 20 when I had my first snow day, can't relate.
No, Now they call you at 5:30 am to tell you there's a 2 hour delay.. then again at 6:50 am to say they are cancelling for the day... then 2 minutes later because you have 2 children , but only the cancelation call is repeated , not the delay call.
I have such fond memories of sitting in our mom’s bed with my sister at 5am waiting for our school’s name to roll at the bottom of the screen... and the disappointment that followed when by 6, there was alas none. Or the happiness of getting to get back to sleep.
As a teacher though, that would have been so frustrating. Just earlier this year I had the experience and it was nerve-wracking being up at 4:30... waiting for the announcement... not knowing if I should get ready anyway... getting ready anyway... and only getting the message from my SD as I had finished scraping off my windows in the snow.
Quite a few things I could mention (going to the mall, privacy, etc), but I really miss going to the store to buy an album I like. I loved record stores. I still like buying the CD because it contains art work and there’s just something special about having an album in your hands that you’ve been waiting years to listen to. Now everything is on iTunes or Spotify. It seems...more impersonal than it should.
You know, there are still lots of record stores. And the rate at which people buy vinyl is actually growing.
I have a pretty big vinyl collection. It’s great it’s making a comeback but what’s not so great is that the quality control for new presses is absolute shit. We have far too many in our collection that skip the first time we play them. Just today in fact, we put on a rage against the machine limited edition picture disc and it skips on the first track. It’s scratched. Bought the for Emma forever ago album (bon iver) and it skips on skinny Love, first play. Bought The Weeknd album, opened it and instead of getting the double album we got one record from The Weeknd and the other was thievery corporation. I mean at least it was a good album, but how the fuck do you put the wrong record in there and no one notices? It’s gotten to the point where we try to avoid buying new records because we can’t open them to inspect for scratches or listen to make sure they don’t skip. Apparently the presses are pumping out a ton of records to keep up with the demand and so cutting corners and no quality control is the norm.
That sucks that you've had bad experiences with new records. Personally I've bought roughly 30 new records and a bunch of old ones, and I haven't had many issues at all. Some records don't sound amazing, and some are slightly off-center, but I've never had a new record skip and I've never had one that's more than slightly scratched. A lot of them come kind of dirty though which is super annoying because they're really difficult to clean
Ya it does really suck. The first time we had an issue was about 3 years ago. It looked like a piece of lint or a plastic shaving fell on the record when the vinyl was still malleable and got wedged into one of the grooves. There was no way to remove it and it skipped awful. We took it back to the record store and I think he gave us credit or we exchanged I can’t recall. He was really surprised that happened and reassured us it was really rare and we shouldn’t have any more issues— we had already won the lottery on that, so to speak. I wish that was the case. At this point if we buy it new we try to open it and listen at home immediately or open and listen to it on the store turntable. It’s helpful but sometimes we buy something and don’t open it for a little while. Then we get screwed because it’s been too long for the store to take it back on good faith. This is especially true for the scratches. Ugh. We don’t have this issue with older pressings. Like so many things the quality was just way better.
It could be your record player. My brother bought a vinyl copy of Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication, an album infamous for being compressed to hell and back. Playing on one player it skipped because the mastering was terrible, but I believe it played fine on a different one.
I don't listen to vinyl though, so I'm not an expert.
Sadly, I've come to find that many bands don't know that mastering for vinyl is completely different than mastering for CD. I've heard some vinyl records that sound horrible all because the label or band didn't take the time to master or re-master it correctly for different media. The pressing plants will press whatever you tell them to, even if it is going to sound crazy bad.
Ya sometimes I notice subtle differences in the way the vocals or the music sounds on the vinyl but so far nothing major. It's just problems with the actual pressing of the vinyl that really sucks these days because we keep getting defective records.
Analog music is coming back in style for sure. A huge portion of my friends have CD and vinyl collections now. (I'm in college, for reference.)
I'm in high school and a few of my friends also have vinyl collections. I don't think any of them have CDs though, there isn't much of an advantage to streaming if the streaming is high-quality
The big advantage, is that you have a physical copy of it. So, when licensing issues pull it down from Spotify, or Pandora, or whatever, you can still listen WITHOUT sailing the high seas.
Plus, there are liner notes, which I always loved. Sadly, I don't even find those in new CDs anymore.
CDs are more of an afterthought for artists these days it seems, while vinyl and streaming seem to be overtaking it, vinyl for novelty and larger artwork and streaming for convenience.
Recently saw a band that said they will not be releasing their latest album on CD due to the cost. They had the money to do physical for either vinyl or CD, and went with vinyl.
If you're a liner notes junkie, look into power metal albums. All of the major releases have them, and often times they really enhance the album (concept albums are a big thing in Power Metal)
And the rate at which people buy vinyl is actually growing.
Same is true for CDs, the last few years CDs by themselves have made artists and record labels more money that streaming has in total. While every one talks about how much of a come back vinyl has had the last decade or so the CD bizz is booming even bigger. Just in the case of CD's they never totally disappeared from store shelves the way vinyl did so people don't realize it as readily.
There are no record stores in this part of PA, my friend. Maybe Pittsburgh, but I wouldn't drive 2 hours to see Jesus.
I loved Tower Records, because not only did it have a massive selection, they also had that section with those cool McFarlane figurines. I spent so many hours browsing that store, never looking for anything specific but just enjoying seeing what was there. I was so sad when they closed down!
I lived down the road from the Seattle UW District Tower Records in the 90s. I too miss flipping through the LPs and CDs. They even had a separate classical section in a glass showroom with its own music playing.
My dad used to go to Tower Records all the time for their classical selection. I’d have so much fun going there and looking at all the album covers.
I remember as a little girl always being scared of and intrigued by the adult section at TR. It was someplace I couldn’t go so naturally I was curious 😅
Go to Japan! Still a ton of Tower Records over there. The biggest one in Tokyo is something like 9 floors tall. It's fucking amazing.
Japan is weirdly the last bastion of a lot of stuff in this thread. Rental stores, an aversion to public filming, booming malls, physical media. It's weird, I love it.
Yeah, that Tower Records is in Shibuya.
Tower Records always had the wildest imports and singles. I always knew I'd find a rare CD on my trips there.
That last month that everything was $5 or less was pretty sick though
There are still 2 Tower Records stores in Dublin, I think they’re 2 of the last ones standing.
Their all over Japan. Physical media is huge there.
i buy cds still, i feel like people think it's dumb, but i was honestly sad when my cd player wasn't working correctly. i still haven't figured out why it acts like there's nothing in there when i put a cd in.
My dad called me old like a week ago for saying I bought my car specifically because it had a CD player, and the next year's model didn't
I love CDs...
I was furious when choosing between two new cars last fall and neither one had a CD player as an option. I have a lot of music on CDs you can't get electronically (small folk bands from the 80s and 90s) and now I can't conveniently listen while on road trips.
You still can. Burn those suckers to your computer and also them into a $30 1-2gb mp3 player and aux cord. You'll be jamming in no time.
If you have any number of CDs 1-2 GBs is not nearly enough, but otherwise yeah
I was about to say I have 326 songs on my iPod to refute your statement, but then I checked and that thing is 4gb. So yeah, you could probably fit maybe 9 or 10 disks in there? It's about the same as having one of those CD travel cases with the same number of slots I guess.
The internet killed ripping CDs, I guess.
I stopped when it took longer to rip a disc/s myself than it did to download the entire album with bonus songs from different release areas of the world.
I was always into mp3 players and nearly all my music on them was my cd collection, it was my music with me.
then I think a combination of the musicians I liked either stopped putting out albums and live shows and tours became fewer and more expensive or the bands broke up or had such a massive shake up of members they weren't the same anymore.
Periods of time without new releases and the alternatives not appealing to me really drained my enthusiasm for music 2009-2019.
As well as the communities I would use to discover music that appeals to me changed; online sites and forum message boards stopped getting activity, magazines stopped giving away promo cd's or changed admins/editors and thus the 'character' of the place changed etc not to mention radio or TV channels changing or closing.
I like that streaming services like Spotify have suggestions and similar sounding stuff, and you can expand your tastes and have small bursts of discovery in new genres, but without a person on the other side of that suggestion music feels a bit impersonal to me now and I usually spend my time with other hobbies now.
Strangely I have less emotional ties with films going digital, and whilst 99% of my games are digital steam purchases I still think that games in a case for consoles should come with booklets.
As another user pointed out, yeah, an aux cord connected to an iPod or phone works fine (or Bluetooth audio), or some cars are even equipped with a usb port (mine has all that and a CD player, I was very, very happy).
I just personally really like having CDs as an option cause I like having mix CDs from friends, or sometimes I don't want to bring my iPod, and I don't keep all my music on my phone. Sometimes I just enjoy flipping through a CD collection. It's not like I can't solve the problem, I just like the option enough that I will find it and pay for it
i buy cds still, i feel like people think it's dumb,
Hard media has it's advantages. It's not going to become inaccessible (if you don't lose it), like streaming services could be for any number of reasons.
It's not going to become inaccessible
it will when they stop producing those cd-reading thingies.
Probably true! Maybe in the future they'll be able to take a super high def image of the disc face, capturing the digits (or read it in some other manner).
Plus you can just rip them to FLAC and keep them forever. They are digital media after all...
Okay
My car can only play CDs so I still get them too
You know they still make them right
yeah
And those public headphones CD stores had so you could listen to music samples
Yes!! I miss going up to the counter with the album I wanted and saying "can you play this on the headphones for me please?"
I'd stand there slightly dancing for a good ten or fifteen minutes whilst I sampled the album tracks I hadn't heard on the radio.
I was listening to Alan Cross on "An Ongoing History of New Music" talk about this today and what he said made sense to me.
The difference with records and CDs against Digital files is that:
The Strawberries in downtown Boston was 3 stories tall and you could spend hours in there absorbing the music vibes.
Buy yourself another record player, vinyl is back in style
I still insist on buying physical music. I know that it will one day make me seem like a fogey (if it doesn't already), but I want my music on my terms, when I want it. I can make my own digital copies, in whatever format.
CDs are fun
I still like buying the CD because it contains art work
and if you were lucky, the lyrics.
I recently got a new car as a gift from my family. The first thing I did was was move all my CDs from the old car to the new one, and was super confused when I tried to put one in, only to realize there was no CD player. I had to stop for a second and came to the realization that I am old, lol. I have all these CDs, some from so long ago that I love dearly, and I feel like I have nowhere to play them now.
I've got a disc drive for my computer pretty much just for ripping CDs. Let's me keep a backup for in case whatever happens, and lets me put it on my phone so I can actually listen to them.
I think newer cars even have USB ports you can just buy a drive for and load up full of songs if you want. (My car still has a cd player cuz it's old)
There are still lots of little interdependent stores that sell CDs and or Records. Not to far from me is a store that specifically sells used CDs. Just rows of CDs lined up and down the walls in those wooden box tables. They sell records too but CDs are their bread and butter. Ive gotten so many gems out of that place by just buying cheap random CDs that looked interesting.
I still do this. I have a crazy amount of CD’s all uploaded on my MP3. I refuse to switch to spotify where I’d have to pay for basically a music streaming service of the artists I own on CD already. I rather give my money to the artist directly.
Books in CDs where nice. I bought a PS4 last year. First time had a console since PS2 as a teen. Was kinda annoyed and surprised don't have proper manuals anymore. Used to have instruction manual with pics and lot of Info. Only got a few games on the ps4 but was just one sheet of paper that had logo on front and controls on back
Same here! The Witcher 3 has a nice manual, and a cd that goes with it! I liked it a lot.
One thing I had and loved for years before I got lost was aoe2 manual. Had a book with info on different races and units. History etc. As well as that fold out chart with the tech trees. Was pretty cool
And discovery of music is very different. To find something new, it pretty much had to be a friend introducing it to you. There was a much more social aspect to it
Yes it was! I enjoyed hanging out at a store and talking to people about bands.
My friends and I will still share new bands/songs we discover, usually sending links to each other. Not quite the same but the intent is still there.
I mean...You could still just avoid that stuff. CD stores and record stores still exist and bigger name stores still have music sections.
I don't bother because I was never good at not dropping them or fucking up my cds growing up. I have a small binder of old cds from middle and high school and none of them work because they're so scratched up or got some shit spilled on them. I was an awful kid lol.
I only hang onto them for nostalgia.
Yes. And getting a CD or tape and pulling out the insert to look at the artist's pictures, read liner notes, and, if you're lucky, the lyrics.
This one hits home for me. I worked in a music store in the late 2000s for several years and it really was the best job but towards the end you could just feel that it was all fizzling out. The ipod/zune was really taking off along with digital downloads. I turned in my keys when I found out that I was pregnant and then lost my grandmother back to back but the store wasn't around much more than a year after that.
Oh my god I’m actually the exact same
Funny you should say that because I remember when CDs started becoming popular people complaining that the artwork on CDs was so small and didn't compare to the larger artwork on (LP) records.
There are still a lot of record stores out there! I got a few lovely albums just last week!
When I was a teenager, every school holidays my mates and I would beg our parents for some money to top up our savings and then jump on a train into the city to scavenge through rare cd shops. We’d pick up new albums, and sometimes T-shirt’s and posters, then all go back to someone’s house and listen to each other’s finds until the wee hours. I’m glad we’ve now got services that put so much choice of music in our pockets, but I do feel bad that future generations won’t have those memories that we have.
I still collect cd's and tapes. Big cities will still have a little independent CD and record store. Also if you go to a concert most bands will have at least a few Cd's to sell. I don't keep a lot because they take up space and I also don't even have anything to play them on right now, but really cool Cd's or rare finds are cool to have. I used to have a ton of tapes, you can get really rad old ones from the 80s for like 50 cents each at thrift stores. Unfortunately they got nabbed in a breakup. I also used to collect VHS' which was my favorite. When all the movie stores were going out of business they were giving them away and I used to get boxes of them from garage sales for like a dollar for 20, since no one has a vcr anymore. I had them all stacked against a wall like 5ft high and 4 feet across, and I had some REALLY cool ones. One of the best was a professionally done up copy of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee's sex tape, with a cover and everything. Lots of bands in the 90s put out music VHS' too, those were great too put on in the background at parties. They were also stolen in the breakup, unfortunately, though today I might not really have space for them.
As someone who was super knowledgeable about music, I miss how worthless that knowledge seems to have become.
I used to make amazing mixes tapes and CD. I was the go-to person for good music at a party. I had special playlists on my iPod for different party vibes. I’d spend hours (days?) building them.
I mean, I love the algorithms that make the choices for you, they make good choices! it just makes me sad that there’s no discovery and surprise like it used to be.
Although I gotta say, I don’t miss buying an album for one good song and get an album of absolute shit.
You know, I have to say this is one thing I don't miss. I spent WAY too much money back in the day buying entire CDs (or cassettes, I'm that old) for just one or two songs. Being able to build my own playlists and hear whatever song I want with a few clicks of a screen rather than having to dig out different CDs is actually pretty awesome.
I still buy cds for my favourite bands even with options like spotify and iTunes. I like seeing the cover art and somehow just streaming music from my phone or iPod isn't the same as putting the cd in while I'm driving and listening to it that way. I also feel better buying the cd because I'm supporting the artists who create it.
I still go in a record store if I can find them.
This has come full circle to vinyl. Lots of places sell it. Hell, even Target. But I look at it and realize I could buy it on Amazon and most likely get the digital version for free for the same price.
Can't even buy vinyl in the store anymore.
I kinda miss how music was marketed and a reallypopular album created social cohesion in your friend group. It was a different experience than now.
I’m a huge fan of ‘the album’. 95% of the music I own is on CD, the other 5% is vinyl. I’m now 38 and have no idea how to listen to music without FM radio, CD/Record player or single song YouTube search. I now have Xennial anxiety because my car lease is up in a few months and I’m not sure that I can afford a new car that has a CD Player.
To add to this, hearing a great album all the way through is really satisfying.
While I have probably found more music on Spotify than record stores, I do miss the whole experience of going in and searching for certain artists and then discovering new ones. I distinctly remember being 16 and wrestling over an obscure Cure single with my friend who was probably a bigger Cure fan, but I saw it first. Now you just text a Spotify link. That’s kinda gross. Record stores and the like really helped shape my personality as a kid and I’m sad they only barely exist anymore, but also disappointed in myself for not even trying to shop at the ones that are still around.
Two stores if you like buying CDs: Bull Moose and Savers.
Bull Moose has pretty much any CD you could want for really cheap. Around $4 for a CD, or less. They are used but Bull Moose tests all the CDs before putting them on the floor. Great atmosphere there.
Savers has a lot of CDs (depending on where you go). They are like $1 or $2. I got a huge stack for like $10. The thing is, you have to check the CDs to make sure they aren't scratched. Also they don't carry everything, nor is it in any sort of order. It's fun to find a CD you wouldn't have bought otherwise there (like a band you haven't listened to in ages.
Hope this helps you somehow! I love CDs too!
I remember in the late 90s I had to drive a few hours to Chicago just to find this obscure (at the time) album I had been craving which gave it an extra association to a feeling of ‘adventure’, and to this day I still cherish that original cd even tho I have it in countless digital formats
(Edit: Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun, still one of my all time favorites)
Apart from music, whenever I want to buy something physical I prefer going to a store nearby. It's faster to pick it up at a store than to order it online and wait for it. I used to buy computer parts from a few stores nearby, now there's literally no stores in my city that sell those parts. I hate having to order online and wait.
I deleted 80gbs of mp3s the other day I think. Spotify is a decouple edged sword.
I think this is one of the reasons I really like Korean pop music. Their albums are always well designed and come with photo books and little freebies... it’s hecking cool man!
Impersonal, and way too convenient. All too often these days I'll see something on YouTube through Reddit and the next day when I'm in the car I'll just download their entire discography on Google music.
I always buy an album on CD so I can rip it on my phone and put the disc in my car. Sadly every time I check target they carry less and less. :(
Vinyl for whatever reason they carry more every time I check the CDs. Hopefully people come around to collecting CDs again as well.
Anybody from the south side of Chicago remember Hegewisch Records? So fucking cool going in there, getting some CDs, maybe vinyl, a poster or t-shirt, and a lefty out back. Good times.
I actually still buy records because it's almost always cheaper than buying the album on itunes.
Of course spotify is a thing though, so there's heaps of songs I often listen to but don't even own a copy of at all
It's all about instant gratification. Gotta get that Bam Bam Pop.
A similar thing to you, buying video games in a box, and that game coming with a 50 page booklet about the game. I don't think the internet killed the booklet bit, but it definitely killed the phyisical box bit. My childhood bedroom had shelf wrapping half way round the room of cd and later dvd cases. And that new game smell of the booklet is lovely.
Going to the mall is still definitely a thing
Start collecting vinyl. It usually comes with a free digital download. I buy vinyl, seperate the discs and store them safely (prevents damage to the artwork), then listen digitally while flipping through the big 12x12 vinyl artwork. They're usually limited runs as well, many under 1,000 copies so it's a collectable and many can become super valuable over time. I started collecting 15 years ago once i went iPod, and some of my $20 records are worth 10-20X that now. I jokingly call my record collection our retirement fund when my wife asks why i keep a bunch of those giant blue plastic storage bins filled with albums every time we clean out junk from the house.
I actually miss having limited access to music. Scarcity produces more appreciation. When I got a new album, that would be all I listened to for at least a week. Now you're on spotify and you get bored of everything.
I think of a song I want to listen to and I get it on Spotify. and I reminisce about how ridiculously inefficient it was to go to Strawberries explain to this person with song I was talking about and pay way too much, the whole process was ridiculous. As for the cover art, you could get way more information in a web site than an album cover.
I used to manage a Strawberries in the early aughts. Too corporate for my liking, but still a great job with cool fringe benefits. I’ll never forget watching Norah Jones’ keyboard for 15 minutes at the House of Blues.
This is the biggest thing I miss as well. It's not going in to the record store to buy an album I already know I want, it's looking for a certain band and finding random stuff that nobody ever finds or knew about.
For example, I went somewhere late one night with some friends when I was about 16 and just happened to stumble across an old demo from Rage Against The Machine. It had the original versions of certain songs that were completely different when their first official album came out, and also had songs where the instrumental parts were the same, but the lyrics went on to be used in another song later on and were replaced.
It was the atmosphere of the store, the randomness of just happening to find something that wasn't widely carried etc.
I really miss that.
I can't relate. I don't see what people liked about that.
Digital downloads and streaming killed the album experience. I’d argue that way fewer modern albums are built to be a cohesive experience, and instead they’re just made to be a collection of standalone top-40-hopeful tracks.
Also the experience of listening through an album and finding a track that makes you go “holy shit” or “I didn’t know x person was featured.” The internet ruined surprise features and sleeper tracks.
Also I feel that the creativity in album art has declined as the medium became even smaller and less tangible.
Meeting scene girls in record stores was cool but I'm glad the internet killed much of the music industry because music is such bullshit and waste of time.
Reading. I used to read almost one book per day as a child. Now I have a lot of trouble focusing and I rarely finish a book even though I find it interesting.
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I'm the same way, but I've been trying to get back into it. I have to believe that our attention span isn't irreparable, and that it can be regained with practice.
if you have the attention span to keep working at it :P i have the same problem i ordered lots of books and haven't read most of them nor am i actively reading them right now
regained with practice
It is a skill. You need to develop it and maintain it. My SO and I are both in the process. She is more of a mind that she is just bad now and I am treating like a skill. She constantly stops reading because it is hard now instead of easy like when she was younger. I read like it is a chore and after a few months I am already much improved and read for pleasure much more often and she is about where she was.
Persist dude!
I hadn't read in ages, started reading GoT in about October last year when I got a job involving a commute, blasted through the whole series by January. Find something that hooks you in and do it. Sometimes you have to make yourself get through bits but it's worth it I find. Now my only problem is I can't find time to read books I WANT to read because I have to spend time reading text books for my degree.
Except I find that when I read an older book my attention span is there no problem. I think it has more to do with a lot of the books that are published these days, for me at least. I just can't stay interested in them.
I thought my attention was permanently fucked, and I couldn't live without internet. I am as close to an internet addict as you can get (look at my reddit comment karma if you don't believe me..that's all built out of 1-3 karma comments). But last year I went to a country that didn't provide internet for tourists, and I was there for a week. I was fine. I decided to read some books this year. I can do that, just fine. After years of reading either one book or zero books. So far I've read five books this year (maybe not THAT impressive, but they were mostly all on the longer side, including one over 1000 pages). I read them straight through. My advice: literally read stuff you love. Don't convince yourself to read classics if classics bore you. Don't convince yourself to read the new trendy books if you can't really see what the big deal is. Read precisely what you love, even if they're trashy romance novels! It doesn't matter. Books are pretty much the most fulfilling passive activity there is..better than television and the internet.
I agree, but the problem for me is finding new books and authors I want to read. The old books I read that I love are almost always books that I've already read. I have a very hard time though finding stuff published nowadays that hits me the way those older books did.
I have a question for you. Did you feel like your verbal/writing skills improved again after getting back into reading books regularly? It's a hypothesis I have for myself...
No, not particularly. I've been writing and speaking the same for years.
Yo. I really needed to hear that from someone that isn't me. I mean, these years (i'm 16F) i have only wanted people, teachers, my parents.. To think i'm interested in classic books and not in dumb rom com. Like hey i'm r/notlikeothergirls . There's this culture that divides things in high class and low class. Why is, for example, "Twilight", low class and "Ana Karenina" high class?
You know, they both achieve their objective in the public they sell for. I haven't read nor watched Twilight, but i know it's just teenage romance. If it has sold so much, then it works with romance just as good as Ana Karenina works with family and politics. And why should I be more interested in Ana Karenina? I mean, yeah, historical context and deep messages. But hey! Maybe i don't feel like jumping into such a long, deep and hard book! Maybe i want to get my face red when i imagine my crush as the boy in Twilight, you know what I mean? I've got books to feel that way, and yeah they're teenage romance, why should I feel embarassed?
Did i make any sense, tho? Anyways, i really needed to take this out of my chest.
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Yeah I actually agree. I mean, I understand that my experience of life thus far is limited enough to not completely understand Ana Karenina, and i understand that Twilight is just a bunch of stereotypes. They just can't be compared, the quality change is too high, Meyers only wanted to give girls my age something to mentally jerk off to, honestly; while Tolstoy made a whole complex story that really deals with things and wants to make something worth reading. Anyways, they were just examples.
Not only they're different quality, but different time, purpose and public. They're good at their thing, i guess. And yeah i don't think you're full of crap tho, why would i
I think that makes sense, yeah. You read what you want to read. For what it's worth, I think reading for pleasure is rare enough that reading anything can almost be considered "high class", so I really wouldn't worry about that.
I feel that way too. There's definitely a dip in quality, being sacrificed for quantity.
That's part of it. Ever since books became a commodity in the 90s and publishers no longer saw themselves as overseeing the culture touchstones of their generation, books became less about quality and growing authors and more about the next huge sale, the "it" book.
I've started to wonder too if they're being written differently, for an audience who grew up reading different things than I did.
I agree. I have a hard time getting into modern books these days. I'm in the middle of contact by Carl Sagan right now and it hits all the right buttons for me, I know books are very personal taste but just throwing it out there.
Switch to audiobooks, since you can listen to them when you're on the bus, walking the dog, etc. it works better. I have finished tons of books (and yep, you will recall what you 'read') by switching to audiobooks
Redkatt Not for me. One loose thought and "wait, wtf was happening?"
I had this problem - and I found that if I speed up the book to 2x speed, I only focus on the book (well, and immediate surroundings, so I don't walk into traffic or anything). Also, most audiobooks by default are so slowly paced, 2X actually feels like the right speed for me.
Huh. Never thought of that. I'll try that next time thanks
Build up to it slowly. Do 1.1x for a day then move up a bit. You won't even notice.
I get more reading done with audio books than with eyeball books these days.
Im a delivery driver for work, Audiobooks for me are just so much more compelling than listening to the same 10 songs on the radio on repeat. Feels good to learn where I could be wasting time instead
I've made the switch to audiobooks and its helped me get back into "reading". I do a lot of stuff with wargame miniatures and models, so I'll just slap one on while I'm painting or assembling stuff. 2 leisure activities for the price of 1.
Audio books have their place, but I feel like they work with story based books like fiction or biography types. For nonfiction books with actual information, I just don’t absorb and process it well through audio book and need to read it.
But I think reading is a skill. You need to develop it and maintain it and there is no true substitute for being able to sit down and concentrate on reading. My SO and I are both in the process. She is more of a mind that she is just bad at reading now and I am treating like a skill. She constantly stops reading because it is hard now instead of easy like when she was younger. I read like it is a chore and after a few months I am already much improved and read for pleasure much more often and she is about where she was. I still listen to a ton of audio books as well.
I find I have to tune out everything, if I want to enjoy reading a printed book. I refuse to read it on any sort of device, for example, because it's too easy to jump over to another app "just to see what's up" and lose my focus. My wife reads with the TV on, and I just don't know how she does it.
I found with audiobooks of any type, playing them at 2X speed makes it so my brain "locks on" to the book, and doesn't let me get distracted.
I really like reading on my Kindle. The e-ink feels like reading on paper to my eyes and brain. They don’t have any other apps to switch to. But I usually have 2-3 books I am currently reading, so being able to bring them all and switch at will depending on my mood is really nice. I also love the highlight and bookmark features, as I read a lot of nonfiction with facts, stats, passages I want to remember and circle back to. I’m not toting around a highlighter and tabs when I’m reading a regular book.
I enjoy reading out at a brewery or coffee shop or park because I am out, so I might as well keep reading. At home it is too easy to turn on the tv, and I cannot read with that on. My buddy was even weirder than your wife. He would read, have the tv on, and also music. Like WTF are you doing?
I still have my original kindle with e-ink! I gotta remember to use it more
I still have the Kindle with 3G from 2012. I keep it in the glove box of my car, connected to the USB because the batter is pretty bad by now (although it will still go a few days). Since the 3G still works, it syncs anywhere and it is perfect if I find myself out and about and need my books to pass the time. I have last year's paperwhite Kindle that is my main one and my SO has the current basic Kindle.
Probably the same one I have, with the actual physical keyboard?
No, mine was the first fancy shmancy touch with only the one physical home button. I did have the older one with the keyboard before that, but I gave it to my mom when I upgraded to the touch.
Do you read it while you drive?
No, but I don’t always have my bag with my regular kindle with me. Also, my work does not allow outside electronics in the building, so I tend to not carry it around on weekdays. But if I end up stopping at a brewery on the way home, or the park, or have to get a tire changed, or whatever. It’s nice to be able to grab the backup kindle, have it sync wherever I am, and be able to pick up reading my book immediately.
I have the same issue. Try reading more than one book at the time.
Same. And I have e-books too, my reading list is huge and half the time I have zero concentration to read more than a few paragraphs anymore. All because my brain is more used to reading things on Reddit.
Download them on your phone, and read whenever there's a smallest free time. Having lunch - read some with it. Sitting on the bus to work - read a chapter. Even when just standing in a long line to whatever, you can read a page or two.
That happened to me after listening to audiobooks constantly for a few years. I used to be able to read 8 hours of anything like it was a job with just a few breaks, but then it got to the point where I could barely make it a half hour. I started reading first thing in the morning and and last thing before bed and now my attention span is coming back. Now if I can't get through a book, I toss the book.
I had trouble with this, and I would recommend trying to find books that are REALLY interesting to you. I just think with the insane number of books out there, you just gotta do some searching to find the real gems that become nearly impossible to set down. I read all sorts of shit, so if you have any favorite genres, I'd be happy to make some suggestions
Trouble is, when I was younger even things that don't intrest me, I still read
This
Science fiction?
Easy, medium or hard reads?
All 3!
Easy: The Martian, Ender's Game. Both made popular by the movies but the books are the type you fly through.
Medium: The Commenwealth Saga. An argument could be made for this being hard based on length and amount of stuff going on, but I would argue it's really story driven so it keeps you engaged enough to not notice the length.
Foundation series is also a must read for sci-fi fans. Small books that leave you with a lot to think about.
Hard: As stated by someone else Seveneves is brilliant, also Anathem by the same author is fucking amazing. Really heavy in science but so worth it if you make it out of the first 80 pages.
The expanse
Seveneves is long but really rewarding, and definitely at the "hard" end of the scale.
I don't have a particular favorite genre but I only read books that are of interest to me. Anything that touches upon psychology, and thrillers, detective stories, etc.
I think reading is a skill. You need to develop it and maintain it and there is no true substitute for being able to sit down and concentrate on reading. My SO and I are both in the process. She is more of a mind that she is just bad at reading now and I am treating like a skill. She constantly stops reading because it is hard now instead of easy like when she was younger. I read like it is a chore and after a few months I am already much improved and read for pleasure much more often and she is about where she was.
Opposite for me.
The internet opened up genres and authors I would have never found. A simple search will pop up something that is similar to what I just finished reading.
Might just be you don't like the books you're reading.
I play a fair few games and spend a lot of time on the internet. But when there's a book I actually like I'll read that thing till it's done.
No I choose the books myself according to my interests. Them being interesting isn't the problem, it's my attention span.
I think having the attention span for reading is a skill. You need to develop it and maintain it and there is no true substitute for being able to sit down and concentrate on reading. My SO and I are both in the process. She is more of a mind that she is just bad at reading now and I am treating like a skill. She constantly stops reading after 5 mins because it is hard now instead of easy like when she was younger. I read like it is a chore and after a few months I am already much improved and read for pleasure much more often and she is about where she was.
Dam, that's no fun then.
Not something super easy to fix either.
This should be top comment. I LOVE reading. I have so many books in my home, and two by my nightstand currently. But now with the internet and my phone constantly buzzing I just don’t sit down and read, let alone finish a book!!
It’s so sad because it’s something I genuinely love.
This is more a matter of willpower than the internet killing a thing you like.
I had to go on vacation to a place with no wifi to actually get to where I could read a book from start to finish.
Habits can be rebuilt. Make the effort, and you'll rediscover your passion.
Thank you!! Such a positive comment!
Same..I don't know if I have adult onset adhd or what but I can't focus on things for long.
Unless it's something I've read before like harry potter.
With audio books I’m able to fill almost all dead time with reading. Driving, cooking, dishes, chores, etc...adds at least 1 book per week now. And I don’t mind doing the stuff as much.
Anyway, I mention as I’ve heard it can help some that have a hard time focusing on sitting and reading. (And not at all for others. My wife can only listen to books she’s already read.)
I actually look forward to my drive even in traffic because I get really into the books Im listening to.
The greatest thing I ever did was put a waterproof Bluetooth speaker in the bathroom. Now my showers are where I get most of my book listening in.
On the downside, my showers now take at least 30 minutes longer.
I'm not sure my water bill could handle that...
I often wrestle with my own personal rule that I never listen in bed. As it means I'll listen until about 6am... and still have to re-listen to it all. :)
So much this. I've always got an audiobook on the go. I picked up a great pair of true wireless earbuds for $40...you can use one and charge the other, and keep swapping for more than a whole day's worth of listening.
I have started reading a book a month. It isn't much I guess, but it is better than none. And having a "deadline" for finishing keeps me from just not bothering, which I would totally do. Because it is a real goal of mine I keep it up. I've been doing it since October 2018 and have kept up so far.
I've started reading a book a week this year. I rarely read anything that wasn't assigned before now. It's something that I've been wanting to improve about myself, so I decided to dive into the deep end. You can do it, if I can. I'm starting book 14 on Monday
Obviously humongous books are probably unreadable in that amount of time but I've done books up to ~600 pages in a week now. Heck, this past week I read ~400 pages in two days.
It helps to break the habit into a small task like "read a page". That tricks your brain into getting started and you'll always end up reading more. I look forward to reading almost every day now.
I'm reading a book at the moment, "The Idiot Brain." I love it. But I started it months ago, put it down for a long time and am now slowly trying to get back into it. The other day I read 10 pages and had to put it down because I kept zoning out--even though I enjoy what the book teaches.
That's a good goal. When I break out of my bad habits and get back into reading, I usually go for 50 pages/day. I think the next time I get into it, I'll be going for a dedicated chunk of time instead.
I started reading again last summer and have been cranking through a book a week. Last two years of HS and freshman year of college made me never want to read again.
Now I'm an English Major, so go figure
To me it is the polar opposite, I am now more interested in reading than ever before. Being able to play around with text size and such, taking notes and highlights on the Kindle app helps me a lot. And thanks to r/Fantasy, I keep finding books and even whole new subgenres that I did not even consider before.
Kids books are a lot shorter and easier though.
This may be sarcastic?? But actually I’ve found young adult books easier for me to sit and read even though I’m 30.
A kindle (not the fire) is amazing for getting you back into reading. You can't justify not reading as being too cumbersome (the size of the book) or too expensive (most ebooks are $5-6 cheaper than their physical counterparts).
While physical books just feel good, ebooks are a great, convenient way to keep reading. I spend about 30 minutes every two or three weeks looking on Amazon and my local library for books I want to read and I'm usually set. The best part is, if I don't like it, it doesn't take up random space on my shelf.
Plus, if you wait for a sale you can get the Kindle pretty cheap. I got the regular kindle for $50.
As much as I love what technology has allowed us to do my attention span has massively suffered for it, I used to be able to sit there reading all day no problem but these days even focusing for a few hours is a stretch for me.
It's comforting to know I'm not the only one who has this issue. It's something society as a whole hasn't talked a whole lot about yet.
YES! All these responses are so comforting. I get boarder line depressed thinking how much I used to read and now not at all.
I find that if I just read, I feel a lot better. My phone calls to me every few minutes and occasionally I'll pick it up; then realize I was actually enjoying reading, and put it down again.
I developed Nystagmus as I got older and struggle to read books. I loved reading but it's a struggle so I haven't read in a while.
I actually find that I read a lot more because it’s more accessible.
Oh man, can I relate to that!
I used to be such an avid reader. I would "devour" books like it was nothing. 500 pages, 600 pages, trilogies, anthologies, book series... If it piqued my interest, I would bintch read them
Nowadays I can't even get through average sized books, even from my favorite authors...
I'm the exact same. I used to be a voracious reader and would have two or three books on the go at the same time. Then I started spending more and more time on the Internet and now instead of reading books I just browse shit on reddit. My concentration span is nothing like it used to be. I know it's probably like a muscle that needs to be exercised but I've gotten lazy.
YES!!! I’m glad other people are like me!
So true..
same :(
I used to be the same way! Except now, for me anyway, it's not so much my attention span, or the desire to read, is gone, but that reading physical books zonks me out. I don't know why, either. I look at my bookshelves and see so many books/manga I want to read but I don't because I know I'll just fall asleep. It's so super frustrating, and it's one of the many reasons I've migrated to audiobooks instead. At least I can still enjoy books in some fashion.
I can’t read paper books anymore, though I’m old and grew up with them. I now need a glowing screen. So I don’t get the appeal of the kindle paperwhite.
From my perspective this is due more to smartphones / tablets than the Internet.
I still have a Kindle and recently I pulled out an old book I haven't ready in a while, and it was nice. I do the same thing with music...if not an LP/CD, just a dedicated DAP where it only plays music, no smartphone distracting me.
Audiobooks on your commute. I don't go through them that fast, but I can get through an average book in a week or two.
Same here! I've notice I got too impatient and skipped to the end around high school and haven't been able to really get into a book since. The last book I've completed was called "The Last Town on Earth" (I think) and that was more on and off. Now I read stranger's life stories on the web.
ive always hated reading and writing growing up. the only books i ever liked were the ones full of pictures and barely any text, like elementary level encyclopedias, where i could just look at all the cool images of shit i thought was cool.
I'm trying to limit my Reddit time for this reason. I want to be able to focus on stuff again!
Probably a lot of this is just down to growing up and having more responsibilities. You haven’t got the endless free time of childhood anymore.
But all that aside, if you have time and attention for internet you have time and attention for books.
Why not read right now? If you miss it, then you deserve to do it again.
I try from time to time. But it's much harder to focus than it used to. I keep getting lost in thoughts or wanting to reach for my phone, etc.
Find a quiet place in your house and turn off your phone or just place it in another room altogether. Get some bloodinthefields-time.
EXACTLY! I’ll start reading then I start thinking of all the tasks I need to do. Then whoops missed a bunch of texts, better respond. Oh while I’m on my phone let’s browse all social media.......book forgotten.
The internet is the reason I read book, it’s exactly the resilience required to finish a book vs the fast-food mouth feeding of the internet that made me never stop reading. Reading book is harder because you actually need to invest your imagination and thinking into it, with the more consumerism and propagandists the internet has progressed over the decade, reading book will make you look past into all the futile panicking and desperation coming out of the bad part of the internet, and be the person you want to be.
You know you can still read books even now, right?
Really? :O
Hell yeah. I think the last book that fully held my attention and got me on a reading binge for the other books was 2001: A Space Odessy by Arthur C Clarke.
I ate that shit up. Went to the library to get the others out on loan. I even had to wait on a list to read the last one of the series. This was three years ago and it was awesome. Think I finished that Sci fi binge by reading Animal Farm and A Brave New World.
Been half way through Dune ever since. Which is depressing.
I also found The Foundation series a bit hard to read so I gave up. Asimov's writing style is a bit hard for me.
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Lmao I meant actual books with no images and more than five words on each paper page.
Yeah, same.
The peak for me was when I was 16-18. We had 5 hours a week of "free" periods at school where we actually had to sit quietly in a room with teacher supervision and do homework/studying but I just used to read non-school related books and no one tried to stop me and would usually get into them enough to spend another 5+ hours a week reading them at home. Pretty much as soon as I left school I started reading less and less until I just stopped since I wasn't in a position where I had nothing else to do. I am admittedly more of a visual person and still read manga/graphic novels but at the same time feel like i'm missing out.
Something about the book market feels overwhelming looking at it now, the barrier to entry is so low that it's flooded and it's hard to know what book is worth my time reading since you need to invest so much of it.
Kindle on my phone has saved this. I read even more than I did as a child. Commute to work; reading. Eating dinner; reading in one hand. In bed; reading.
Not to mention kindle books are cheap as piss on amazon, I got children of time for a pound.
Ugh, so relatable. My friend's wife still reads on this type of level and she keeps encouraging me to read more. I need to commit to it more...
This one hit close to home
Now I have a lot of trouble focusing and I rarely finish a book even though I find it interesting.
It takes work but you can break the habit. All habits can be broken with enough effort. Every time you train yourself to click as fast as you can through a webpage or a social media app, you're building a habit against the potential of your attention span. With enough work you can enjoy those books again, but you might need to take a break from the internet to do it.
My attention span is so bad these days I can't even finish a
Read an entire book per day as a child?! That’s astounding—or astoundingly misread by me.
I mean, books for children tend to be pretty small.
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Holes only has 25,000 words. That puts it at approximately three hours of reading for an adult. Most adult novels have 60k+ words depending on the genre.
Don't feel bad that you can't finish books which you pick out as an adult as quickly as you could finish books you picked out as a child--your tastes are more sophisticated, and the books will require greater dedication for that reason alone.
That said, go back and reread an old favorite occasionally. I still dig out my Animorphs and Goosebumps books, and even the Sonic the Hedgehog little novels printed by Troll (yes, that is really the publishing house).
It was reading appropriate for my age though I was early. I liked detective/adventure stories. Reading was my favorite hobby and I still had time to play outside and do my homework. When I was staying with my cousins, my aunt would make us do "dictées" which is, she'd read us a small paragraph and we'd have to write it down with as few mistakes as possible. I'd ace that every time since spelling was not a problem for me because of all the reading. I'm pretty sure reading a lot as a kid helped me with learning new languages more easily. I understood grammar from an early age. I miss those times haha.
I used to be able to read books, play video games, watch TV, play outside, and go to school, as well as dick around on the Internet for a little bit. Ever since graduating I've been lamenting an inability to do all of these things, but I realized recently that...
I was staying up until two AM and just sleeping in school x.x;
I used to read a at least one book a day. Real full length books, from about fourth grade on. That was pre-internet.
Wow, you have issues. I still surf the internet all the time and read books.
Good for you mate.
What kind of books were you finishing in a 1-2 days? Were you absorbing every word or was like skim reading? How much time were you actually putting to books?
Not your OP but I was reading all the words, albeit very quickly. I read for at least three hours a day, often more.
I loved reading and from ages 7 to 13 I'd say, I would read those detective Alice books, one per day, over and over. I had a huge collection of that kind of novels (about 120 pages each i think.) It's books from what we call in France "Bibliothèque verte" or "Bibliothèque rose."
Journalism, via forcing a change from subscription to eyeball/ad/click-based revenue.
"Get the facts right" became "get it out first".
"Unemployed person on Twitter" became "journalist".
"Don't become the story" became "your identity drives your reporting".
"Be objective" became "advocate".
Newspapers and reporters became brand names.
The evening news became the evening six hour opinion block.
And the total use of sound bites only, clipping what people say into pieces to help advance whatever agenda you have is horrible.
Also things like that crap that Jim Jeffries did, changing the questions and answers around to make the subject look like a total monster. Yes I get that he is a comedian and it is not a news show, but it masquerades as one.
that crap that Jim Jeffries did,
what did JJ do?
Jim Jeffries interviewed [Avi Yimini] (https://www.youtube.com/user/IDFTraining) but was secretly recorded by Avi. After a shooting in Australia ( I think) they edited Avi's statements and views about immigration of muslims and other things. They mixed questions answers and reactions to fit a different narrative. Avi talks about it on his channel that I linked.
He's done it before, too. But the guy who came out about that didn't film the thing.
But ironically, this is a thing the internet will hopefully kill as well. He's been misrepresenting people who have their own internet presence, and who can immediately call his bullshit as soon as he comes out with it. And in Avi Yimini's case, it actually shows him saying the exact offensive shit he's trying to pin on Avi. Seems kind of obvious he's trying to lure Avi into saying callous shit about Muslims, but he actually calls Jim out on his bullshit.
Jim Jeffries has made himself out to be completely unreliable. And the fact that he isn't being raked over the coals for the shit he said, let alone slandering people, makes all his associates and audience out to be unreliable as well.
A lot of traditional media lament the massive drop in trust in media. But what caused that? More media. Turns out we all watch the watchers.
I always thought he was a bit of a cunt but I could never figure out why before.
And in Avi Yimini's case, it actually shows him saying the exact offensive shit he's trying to pin on Avi. Seems kind of obvious he's trying to lure Avi into saying callous shit about Muslims, but he actually calls Jim out on his bullshit.
Watch Jeffries' live stuff, or even his shows. He makes edgy jokes like that all of the time. There is a difference between edgy jokes about religion and Yemeni's immigrationist stance where he straight-up does not want Muslims in the country.
The only one who is misrepresenting stuff is Yemini. This is all based on half a clip that immediately cuts out before he finishes answering the question, with the rest of the video paywalled and/or unreleased. Yemini didn't show the part of the segment where made he made the comments about Australia ending up like the "same shithole" where immigrants come from" in his hidden camera segment, it just shows him waffling before a question.
You mean where Jom Jefferies draws the Prophet Muhammad and says a dingo would throw up if it are a Muslim baby?
Yes? It's weird how the purtianism and political correctness only kick in to disingenuously argue on behalf of bigots. Jeffries does a lot of really edgy humor.
It's a fake controversy pushed by far-righters because Jeffries interviewed a far-right Islamophobe and showed the things he said. They didn't actually mix questions and answers, they just trimmed the bits where the interviewee waffled about before answering because it was part of a larger field piece.
This is something the internet created...or at least made far worse...that I wish would go away.
Echo-chambers! Narratives that detach people from reality. Anyone doesn't think exactly what you do is "far-right" or "alt-right". I'm a progressive and I get this shit all the time because I don't keep up with all the social media nonsense from the younger generations. Even ignorance defaults you to the opposition.
Perfect example of this was last year in Australia - an evening "news program", A Current Affair, ran a report on the "danger" of Fortnite. They took an out of context half of a sentence from a psychiatrist that's an expert in the area, who was talking about how "people with elevated mental health symptoms can, when exposed to violent imagery, can potentially become aggressive themselves" - the program only used the last 5 words of that sentence.
The same program also did a similar thing back when Pokemon Go was all the rage, citing family safety and an apparent panic about safety. Journalism sucks and as you've said, pushes an agenda.
Agreed. I love Last Week Tonight and Full Frontal With Samantha Bee but they definitely masquerade as news. They don't outright report but they provide all this information as if it's factually correct when in reality several aspects of the story are out of context individual facts are cherry picked to promote their view.
The problem is that so many people listen and get their news from these "sources." For example, I can't tell you how many people (even Republicans) actually believe that Sarah Palin said, "I can see Russia from my house." She never said that, it was Tina Fey on SNL.
To be fair, that Tina Fey line is really just a paraphrasing of what she actually said.
“They’re our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska”
you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska”
And that's true. What is not true is the dippy-sounding "I can see Russia from my house!" which makes her sound stupid, and I've heard enough from her to know she doesn't really need help with that.
She was literally trying to claim foreign policy experience because her state is close to Russia. And when asked how her proximity to Russia gave her foreign policy experience she said that you could see Russia from alaska.
The Tina fey joke was an accurate distillation of what she was saying and the stupidity with which she said it
While true, she said it in the context of trying to prove she had substantial foreign policy experience. Which in and of itself was completely idiotic.
SNL was simply exaggerating her baseline idiocy for laughs, which is network comedy 101.
While annoying I don’t think the misattribution in this case is that pernicious since it’s usually “oh yeah, remember that really dumb thing Sarah Palin said?!” and yeah, she said a really dumb thing in a similar context, just not exactly the specific dumb thing you’re thinking of.
How on EARTH does the original quote NOT make her sound stupid?
Because it's true.
So what you're saying is you're that stupid, too.
Because there is an island in Alaska where you can see Russia.
That doesn't mean the governor of Alaska has foreign policy experience. Sure, they exaggerated it, but it was still a stupid statement.
I don't like Palin nor her policy I'm just commenting commenting on the factuality of the statement.
Context matters.
... Is everyone reading this a moron, or just you two?
I think a lot of people aren't fair to her on this one. I would think that the governor of Alaska, being separated from the rest of the US and between Canada and Russia, must have some interactions. It seems relevant to me.
It's like when getting your first/second job, you put volunteer or school activities on your resume. :-)
I would give her a pass if she articulated a single way In Which proximity mattered. She couldn’t.
NO ONE BELIEVES THIS, and her actual quote is at least as fucking stupid.
I can state that I have talked to several people both in person and online who told me that she actually said it. I had to correct them, and they didn't believe me until I showed them the video of the two statements.
And what's stupid about her actual quote? it's like saying, "You can see France from part of England" which is also true.
As others have stated above, Palin made those remarks as evidence for her foreign policy experience which, of course, is asinine.
Honestly curious, why did you think she said that in the first place? How do you remember this happening but have apparently forgotten all context? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here and would love insight into your thinking.
It's completely irrelevant to international diplomatic experience.
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This is painfully true. It's so frustrating because 15-25% of what he says may be true but then 25% is unsubstantiated opinion and the last 50% is misleading in one way or another. Some people act like it's a bastion of hard hitting investigative journalism but its just another comedy bit.
Is that what this is called? I noticed Alex Jones does the exact same thing. He talks really fast, interrupts himself after the first "fact" and says something to the effect of, "this is all well documented you can pull it up on Google" then a few seconds later he's talking about interdimensional elves or some shit. I hated JO for doing that and had no idea it was the same technique Alex Jones uses because I'd never heard Alex talk.
Yep. It’s basically “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit”
Since when are comedians telling jokes beholden to journalistic standards? Hell, journalists aren't even beholden to journalistic standards. Opinions and outright lies are reported as news every day. Crackpots with zero credibility are given weight under the guise of presenting "both sides" of an issue. Self-appointed experts with no credentials beyond the ability to talk faster and louder than the other people on a split screen discussion become trusted purveyors of truthiness.
Part of the schtick of weekend update, the daily show, full frontal, last week tonight, and every late show segment with a host behind a desk, is that they look like a reporter. It makes the jokes funnier when they are played as if they were news.
The Onion doesn't need to shut down because foolish people believe their stories, and neither does any comic lampooning the ugly state of TV news media.
The problem is that people think it is real news, and John Olivier obviously believes what he is saying and uses the show to push his agenda. The Onion is very clearly not real, where as Last Week Tonight is talking about actual events but making jokes out of them. Essentially riding the line between actual news and a comedy show. He isn't actually lampooning TV News Media, he's just as big of a problem as it.
The issue comes when you actually know half a thing about whatever JO is talking about. He says something false, misleading or just made up about the topic and you go "Well, no, that's not true" and you get the "Oh it's all just a joke!" except that all the real stuff is true and should be listened to like real news.
I dunno. I'm just not a fan of how he treads that line despite the fact that I agree with him. And the comedy is just dull now. He has a VERY simple, repeating style, just in the way he talks about topics and how he sets up jokes.
You know advocacy pieces have been a valuable part of journalism for, quite literally, ever, right? There's more to journalism than the Five Ws, especially for complicated issues.
The issue comes when you actually know half a thing about whatever JO is talking about. He says something false, misleading or just made up about the topic and you go "Well, no, that's not true" and you get the "Oh it's all just a joke!" except that all the real stuff is true and should be listened to like real news.
Give me an instance where this happened, let alone when that was the excuse.
I'm not saying advocacy is bad. Convincing people of your viewpoint is the best discourse there is - but the problem comes in the methods in which you do that. He portrays his show as news, but it's all a joke so there's no need to actually be fair or show both sides or compare things, because he's just going for the easiest joke or the funniest set-up.
For example, the nuclear waste video of his. There's an article that says it better than I can: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/08/24/please-john-oliver-please-talk-to-a-real-nuclear-scientist/#20f02f2a18f5
Essentially, like many scaremongering pieces it's really easy to go "Think about everything exploding, we all die of radiation and the world ends!" The easy jokes (especially those he makes in the video) are always going to be blowing things out of proportion, that's how jokes tend to work. But nuclear is and remains one of the cleanest energy solutions out there, so while he did make a funny segement about the mishaps of nuclear waste, the take away is "Nuclear energy is bad, we're all going to die and have seven fingers". Even stuff like "they dumped waste in the ocean!" Yes. Water is an absolutely amazing blocker of radiation.
To bring up a brilliant piece from XKDC "For the kinds of radiation coming off spent nuclear fuel, every 7 centimeters of water cuts the amount of radiation in half." in reference to treading water in a spent fuel rod pool. https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/
Yes, obviously dumping it out in the ocean isn't ideal, and yes in the past there have been many missteps as people learned more about nuclear reactors, but coal is worse in every way. But John Olivier isn't going to make a segment about that, because "nuclear waste turning the ocean green and glowing and we're all mutants" is funnier than "coal is literally killing our planet". So his audience gets "nuclear bad!" instead of an actual reasoned piece comparing things. Ironically, he actually did do a piece on coal - on jobs and the industry declining, not on how bloody awful it is.
coal is worse in every way. But John Olivier isn't going to make a segment about that
I agree he played up the dangers of nuclear, and as someone who wishes we would embrace it more I'm also upset, but I did think that piece did talk about how bad coal was, maybe just not directly compared to all other forms of energy
Give me an instance where this happened, let alone when that was the excuse.
His video on the wage gap was bullshit from start to finish.
He framed the concept as 'being paid less for the same job' even though the statistics are just about mean wages. The whole concept has been debunked by economists ample times since the '70s, yet he was just parroting the debunked statistics as truth.
I dunno, I definitely sense a difference in the delivery of Weekend Update & Jimmy Fallon vs Last Week Tonight and the Daily Show.
The former will use a fact to set up the obvious punchline. Like the punchline isn't even possibly true and it's a big joke because they start laughing about it and stuff. The latter will take a fact present it then present a whole bunch more info, some true, some misleading, and there's no traditional punchline because the joke is how insane the world is that all this stuff is true; and it's like yeah it's partially true but it's also out of context.
Since when are comedians telling jokes beholden to journalistic standards?
"I want all the prestige, perks, fame and following of running a news station and also to be able to hide behind my comedy shield when people take me to task for being treated like the thing I am imitating".
Stewart pulled that shit too when he was on, same crap. It'd be excusable if they didn't believe the hard bent their show runs on and get preachy in addition to it.
Oh no! I thought last week tonight was actually a good place to get information on topics I wasn't knowledge in.
It's funny and it does raise interest in fringe topics.
But it's reported with a slant. After a John Oliver ep it's good practice to look into the subjects yourself before taking any strong opinions.
It is.
Yes, but actually no.
The Daily Show is a cancer that metastasized onto the other networks.
Here is Jon Stewart’s own response to that.
Assuming that's the Crank Yankers bit (can't watch ATM), all he's saying is "I want all the prestige, perks, fame and following of running a news station and also to be able to hide behind my comedy shield when people take me to task for being treated like the thing I am imitating".
And Stewart/Colbert were the ones out of that bunch I actually have some respect for. These people want to be the leftist Bill O'Reilly, but also to avoid being treated like him.
Yeah, ironically he became the exact thing he was railing against here.
People looked to him for "news" even when he was supposed to be a comedy show.
Now his prodigy are some of the most toxic people on television.
EDIT: To clarify, Stewart and his cronies have literally become some of the most divisive voices in media. Even some liberal types I know can't stomach people like Colbert and Bee anymore.
People looked to him for "news" even when he was supposed to be a comedy show.
How is that his fault though? He can’t force people to not watch him.
To clarify, Stewart and his cronies have literally become some of the most divisive voices in media. Even some liberal types I know can't stomach people like Colbert and Bee anymore.
Stewart at least had a little more character to him. He was always lopsided but would punch left occasionally.
His minions do not. Colbert, Bee, Noah, Oliver, etc... They are almost caricatures at this point
That's why you see shit like Jim Jefferies did recently with Avi Yemini and getting no pushback from it.
Colbert absolutely punches left occasionally. Dude hates Bernie Sanders for some obscene reason. It's actually annoying, but still counts.
Because Colbert is a complete DNC shill and the DNC does not like Sanders. They literally fucked him on the nomination.
Look at Sanders fundraising vs the approved candidates. He is burying them.
Seriously, the DNC should have to report the Colbert show as an in kind contribution
I think it's because during the 2016 election cycle Bernie held a similar role to Trump's: Harnessing Anti-establishment sentiment, Appealing to populist ideals that put the working class first, and running as an underdog against the wishes of their party and the media.
Sure they came in wildly different flavors of those things, but regardless of what flavor they came in those aren't exactly endearing to wealthy members of the establishment's media team.
I only watch Colbert and Oliver, and I strongly disagree. They both do punch Left, but there really hasn't been the opportunity to in the past several years with Trump and his idiots dominating the news.
They both do punch Left, but there really hasn't been the opportunity to in the past several years
Imagine how thorough of an echo chamber you'd have to have constructed for yourself to say something like this.
I'm pretty sure one of his most popular episodes was when he called Tom Wheeler a dingo who was FCC chairman appointed by Obama.
You aren't watching the right news.
The Dems are literally a fucking clown show right now.
If the Dems are a clown show, what are the Republicans? They're a fucking insane asylum, that's what. There's no comparison to be made here.
And you've just undermined everything you've said by revealing that you think factual news is the "wrong" news.
Also, you're a TD poster, so you're already too far gone to discuss anything with.
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What does his/her liking anime have anything to do with his opinions on politics?
Meanwhile, T_D is clearly a political echo chamber.
You post a non-stop stream of anime porn, you fucking retard.
Lmfao. Let's look at that "non-stop stream of porn" I've been posting. These are the latest 50 images I've posted:
http://i.imgur.com/osJY0mt.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JPWkzh1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DedMWz4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9HkYcmc.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/hcamzPU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ppMozZa.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nHBqFQB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7nPsxw0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VwxBLOl.png
https://i.imgur.com/CEirVhA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PBSsdpa.jpg
(this one is NSFW, so that's one pornographic post) https://i.imgur.com/w7iZEby.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LWuOsa5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/T5dKOlg.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BAZcevW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/w1Y4lCm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YpLZoDg.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/lZyfPnw.jpg
https://imgur.com/a/USjV2ow
https://i.imgur.com/Tsj8YQt.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0P91rwX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ZRHQtC9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4uCl2kX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/K7v381G.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fpVsYSM.jpg
(Oh, here's another NSFW image. 2/26? Yup, that's a non-stop stream if I've ever seen one!) https://i.imgur.com/uWzEBwS.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2ZpiH47.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/w3RSEs6.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2RbAMSU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9NKNI2A.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uCyAhKB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/IX74lRM.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5o7ECJN.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7SJg6y7.jpg
(Oh, here's a 3rd. Wow, it just doesn't stop, does it?) https://i.imgur.com/jH9WgYj.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/CnwguRP.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YmlvRm4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WGiUIjo.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kZBi3at.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/qEt2pQ1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5sfPbV7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KC2BzrU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/i30Lmgq.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uGVVO0W.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/D5b8TIR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8PIgLUW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6ZqDHa4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cpdodtt.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/j9ifoaL.png
https://i.imgur.com/xVIWxBz.png
Yeah, you're right. All that porn is absolutely disgusting. You're really opened my eyes. I'm going to change my life and dedicate myself to our Citrus Colored Emperor!
As fucking if.
If that is your idea of "porn", then you're a lunatic. But, I shouldn't be too surprised. Just like your pathological liar of a God Emperor, you can't help but spout nonsense to try and justify your bad behavior. That's honestly the worst thing about Trump. He's empowered people like you to be shitty with no remorse, rather than hiding it like you used to.
What would you define as the "right" news?
I don't think it's necessarily his fault, but what the show became and all the spinoffs are bad for society, and I don't really blame Stewart for that, it's more of a people as a group problem. It would be nice if he would speak out against some of the negative effects of newstainment that he pioneered though.
One of the best things that's ever fuckin happened.
Much of what the Daily Show became under Jon Stewart was a direct response to Fox News propaganda that masqueraded as news. At least the Daily Show billed itself as comedy.
I get tired of the "Fox is propoganda" angle when literally every other major news network is completely liberally slanted.
You don't like Fox? I get it, but lets not pretend CNN, MSNBC, CBS, etc are in any way objective.
It's not pretending to say that the other networks are more objective than Fox. Those corporate, for-profit networks aren't even that liberal. There are plenty of issues with the TV news channels, but that's not the same as them being propaganda.
Fox News was literally started with the intent of giving positive coverage to the Republican Party. The level of coordination between the Republican party and Fox News should be unsettling to everyone. I mean, Sean Hannity talks to Trump almost every weeknight. They hardly ever criticize him, and when they do, it's in the mildest terms.
those corporate, for-profit networks aren't even that liberal.
This is just not true.
They hardly ever criticize him, and when they do, it's in the mildest terms
Because he is actually doing what we want him to do/
Go ahead and take the wayback machine to the 8 year nap the media had when Obama was president.
Not only did they never criticize him, they actively defended nearly anything he did.
those corporate, for-profit networks aren't even that liberal.
This is just not true.
Yes, it is. Define "liberal" then. They're firmly on the side of capitalism. They barely question the legitimacy of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Are you calling them liberal because they don't want to discriminate against people because of their race / sexuality? Because they acknowledge that climate change is real?
Because he is actually doing what we want him to do/
"We" meaning right-wingers? The majority of Americans disagree with the majority of his policies.
Go ahead and take the wayback machine to the 8 year nap the media had when Obama was president.
Unlike most of the people on this site, I was an adult already when Obama was elected. I remember. The media still covered Obama critically, thought not as critically as they should have. That's different than being his mouthpiece.
The reason there's so much negative coverage of Trump is that he's a delusional nightmare of a person.
Much of what the Daily Show became under Jon Stewart was a direct response to Fox News propaganda that masqueraded as news.
Because all the other news stations aren't enough?
It was a political comedy show. It wasn't a "news station."
It wanted to be the leftist Bill O'Reilly without being treated like him.
sound bites only
And the total use of sound bites only, clipping what people say into pieces to help advance whatever agenda you have is horrible.
(ot but i literally just found out how to do this)
this is so true btw, probably not the best example, but recently here on Dutch tv they used a clip of Kylie Jenner saying she hadn't got anything done and presented it as her saying she didn't get anything done at all. The clip was actually from an interview in which she said her boobs were all natural. Completely abused that clip.
It's on Comedy Central. If you get your news from a show on Comedy Central, you're already fishing in a puddle and wondering why you're not getting a bite.
I think Coolsville sucks
So the news has become Space Ghost Coast to Coast?
What's with far-right talking points getting upvoted?
Jeffries didn't do anything. He edited out all the waffling the guy was doing to get straight to his answer, which is not nonstandard practice for a field piece on a comedy news program. The guy's pretty well known for being so anti-Muslim that he's willing to work with white supremacists, and the fact that Yemeni didn't release the full unedited footage shows what a fake scandal it is.
The rest of the video that supposedly "exposed" Jeffries was edgy religious jokes that Yemeni was trying to highlight, except those jokes already make up much of Jeffries' live acts. There's a difference between shitting on religion and xenophobic fear of Muslims in your country.
Found Jim
"well respected journalist" became "comedian with strong feels"
I honestly feel like (figuratively) bashing someone’s face in with a pipe when they try using John Oliver as a source.
I call them john Oliver progressives. They constantly talk about 'the issues', but if Last Week Tonight hasn't done a show on it, they are mysteriously quiet
Oliver is infuriating in his selective use of information. If you're not knowledgeable about the issue you'd never know.
But without funny man how will I remember what year it is?
The "well respected journalists", such as they still remain, are Ivy League-educated members of the professional and ruling classes. Journalism used to be a middle-class business. The middle has fallen out, and there is nothing between the Ivy Leaguers working at a few national newspapers and the vast number of un- or barely-paid bloggers and Twitter personalities who dubbed themselves "journalists" because they couldn't find real employment.
Hahaha what??? Man, if I didn't think you had no clue what you were talking about before, this seals the fuckin' deal. You're so full of shit. None of this is true. None of this is remotely true.
There are hundreds of papers around the country that pay middle class wages to the VAST MAJORITY of journalists.
Only one Ivy League school even have a J-school (Columbia, which is grad only) and U. Penn and Cornell have Comms programs, which I guess is like journalism??
The BLS says there's 50,400 reporters, correspondents and broadcast news analysts in the U.S. and the median salary is $40k a year.
Who the fuck are these "ruling classes" that make $40k a year?
How many people do you think Columbia--and hell, we'll throw in Cornell and UPenn for shits and giggles--graduate from their journalism programs?
Columbia has about 400 grads a year source, Cornell has 100 source. Looks like UPenn even has less than that source.
So some how with 600 grads a year those Ivy League colleges are sending their graduates to work for $40k a year at 50,400 positions around the country and that's a ruling class? What?
Meanwhile the rest of the universities in the country are poppin' out 18,400 journalism grads a year?
Seriously, you're talking out your ass about something you clearly have an opinion on, but know nothing about.
I'll take this one. I remember as growing up, I was genuinely interested and thought journalists were the real MVPs. Being in action or secretly investigating things.
Of course there are some that still follow through this, but the generalisation worn off and I totally despise how they "portray" themselves now.
They were MVPs because of their work. You knew a few of their names, but journalism used to be a "dead author" situation because the reporter was just the name at the top, in small text.
Now, with everyone's individual Twitter presence, there's all this crass brand-building and identity horse trading. The goal is now to build a big enough Ezra Klein-y brand for yourself, and accrue enough access to power, that you can run off and start your own blog site that will hopefully get big enough to sell to Comcast.
RIP Brian Williams' career
What drives me crazy is that due to rushing stories out, and probably all the laid off editors, it's nearly impossible to find an article that doesn't have at least one typo. Just a silly little thing that bothers me, but it feels so unprofessional to see so many typos everywhere.
That and autoplay videos. I want to read my news, not have someone read it to me, and certainly not automatically.
Super irritating, and a direct result of copy editor job losses.
Not just copy editors. Photographers, videographers, video/image editors, web people, they've all been replaced by reporters who are expected to be able to do all those things AND fact check AND meet deadline.
The typos are what I find unexcusable. If I make a typo in Chrome, it's underlined and I can right click to get the correct spelling. If I type it in my phone, the keyboard makes suggestions. For actual articles, there are at least 3 free word processing apps and programs that have spell checking features, and might even offer grammer checking. Most times you have to try to make a typo. To be clear, I'm just talking about misspelled words.
Get the facts right" became "get it out first".
Getting a scoop has always been a thing. If you get the information before your rival papers, and publish in the morning edition rather than afternoon or today's paper rather than tomorrow, that all but guaranteed sales.
Newspapers and reporters became brand names.
Again, not new. Remember Walter Cronkite?
The evening news became the evening six hour opinion block.
This is because of cable, not the internet.
If anything, what we've learned by now in 2019 is how often the news is wrong. It used to just be that only a handful of people told us the news and then that was the narrative. What are people smoking that they think the 60s and 70s were some golden age of free press?
Getting a scoop has always been a thing
Yes but getting a scoop wrong used to be a lot more egg on your face.
cough, cough, collusion.
telling people what they want to hear is more important than telling the truth
Not really outside of national rags and anchors on national news. If anything, it's worse these days since everything is globally shared and bullshit can get called out hard and fast.
Yeah, Fox News came out in the late 80's and 24 hours news came out in the 90's.
Fox came out in the late 90s — 1997. 24-hour news really became a thing after 9/11.
Why do I have to scroll so far down to see this? Depressing.
"Get the facts right" became "get it out first"
that has been a cornerstone of reporting forever dude.
The "facts" part is more a part of journalistic integrity and professional standards than it is quickness to print
Indeed. As much as I want to agree in sentiment, there is literally a Mark Twain quote about how "a lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
that has been a cornerstone of reporting forever dude.
Yeah, but before "get it out first" meant "get it ready for tomorrow's paper". Now it means "put it on the website in five minutes."
I mean, they had special editions and the like just for things like this. Also, the phrase, "Stop the presses" didn't appear because they were thinking about the next day's paper.
The need to get news out fast didn't always mean they had a day to process the information.
[deleted]
Good point
WR Hearst begs to differ. Nothing has changed.
"Unemployed person on Twitter" became "journalist".
Don't let those "Verified" blue checkmarks see that or else they'll harass you off Twitter.
I honestly can't wait for the day somebody brings a libel suit against Twitter for the statements of a blue check account. "Verified" = "endorsed by Twitter", right? It's gonna be great. And by great, I mean a shitshow.
...that isn't what the blue check mark means. There's some white nationalists, like Nick Fuentes or Lauren Southern, with a blue checkmark. While especially egregious activity can get the check mark removed, it just means that it is the verified identity of someone of public interest.
TIL that doing something egregious means your identity can no longer be verified
At the rate that Twitter is banning and censoring people, it's only a matter of time until the remaining content is de facto endorsed.
Journalism was never good, we just weren’t able to find out that they were full of shit.
Since the late 1960s, Duranty's work has come increasingly under fire for failing to report the famine. Robert Conquest was critical of Duranty's reporting in The Great Terror (1968), The Harvest of Sorrow (1986) and, most recently, in Reflections on a Ravaged Century (1990). Joseph Alsop and Andrew Stuttaford spoke out against Duranty during the Pulitzer Prize controversy.[22] "Lying was Duranty's stock in trade," commented Alsop. In his memoirs British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, then The Manchester Guardian's correspondent in Moscow, talked of Duranty's "persistent lying" [23] and elsewhere called him "the greatest liar I ever knew.".[24]
What Duranty knew and when
It was clear, meanwhile, from Duranty's comments to others that he was fully aware of the scale of the calamity. In 1934 he privately reported to the British embassy in Moscow that as many as 10 million people may have died, directly or indirectly, from famine in the Soviet Union in the previous year.[25]
Both British intelligence[26] and American engineer Zara Witkin (1900–1940),[27] who worked in the USSR from 1932 to 1934,[28] confirmed that Duranty knowingly misrepresented information about the nature and scale of the famine.
Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.
— Michael Crichton
Not so much an opinion block really, but an editorial entertainment block where you hear the brand of answer and spin on truth you want to hear or miserably expected. It's all about making money and the brand.
I hate to break it to you, but it has always been shitty and opinionated.
The internet has just exposed it.
This has as much or more to do with the 24 hour news cycle and cable. That's how we got "entertainment" news.
You have to go back a long way to get to a point that subs paid for journalism. I recall talking to an editor of a local paper when I was younger, mid 90s before the internet was much of a thing, and he told me that subs pay for the printing, ads paid their salaries.
Craigslist killed journalism, not Facebook. Facebook's just eating the corpse.
This is a pretty bad take. Those things all always existed, you just didn't know before.
Ya lol newspapers were always brands
It's like people forget where Yellow Journalism comes from.
Broadcast aside, I don't think your gripe is with journalism. It's with what were previously called "bloggers." Anyone can throw something up on Medium or HuffPo. Literally zero skills, credibility or brain cells required. Journalism has always been about getting it out first. Evening deadlines for the morning paper were still a thing before the internet.
What happened was that suddenly news became free. Nobody wants to pay for subscriptions. Online ads generate a fraction of the revenue print ads used to. No more listings or movie times or anything like that. The internet fundamentally changed the role of newspapers in our society and the industry failed to adapt.
Nobody wants to fund it because it doesn't make money, so journalists get paid shit for one of the most grueling and thankless jobs there are. Then people like you blame the reporters instead of looking at the big picture.
Oh, and sensationalism has always been a thing. Ever hear of yellow journalism? Internet wasn't around in the '20s.
Please, think before you post, because this crusade against real journalists is bullshit. Not that they care because their motivation is a well-informed electorate.
To reiterate, bloggers on Medium or wherever are not real journalists. Please don't refer to them as such.
Source: am journalist.
If I wasn't working as a journalist in local news, I'd give you gold. But alas, I can't afford that. I'm so tired of people blaming the reporters, what do they think we do in the newsroom? Think of ways to spin shit? NO! We report what we can confirm after making sure we have reliable sources. Make sure it has real news value. Jesus Christ.
You start out reasonably well, but then the second half of it you totally blow it. Yes, no one wants to pay for subscriptions, that part's correct. But in typical journo fashion, you then blow it completely.
You're blaming Medium and Huffpo and other clickbait-driven sites for sins you've committed.
Are we supposed to then just forget that the NYTimes/Wapo/TIME/etc., all collectively pushed the last two years of Russia-gate/piss-gate, and then Iraq WMDs before that? Or what about "Milk is now a symbol of White Supremacy" being an article by The NYTimes? What about the Covington kids? If this was limited to the no-talent blogosphere, you'd certainly have a valid point. However, this is coming from even the most prestigious of papers, ones that I'm sure you'd give your left arm to work for such as the NYTimes, TIME magazine, WaPo, etc., To claim it's all "not from real journalists," is an outright lie. Almost every article is by an advocate of some stripe with an ax to grind, facts and objectivity be damned.
It isn't just the fictitious content, but also the lies by omission, the refusal to acknowledge what is plainly evident to even the most casual observer because it runs counter to your paper's narratives. You ignored OP's part on advocacy, probably because you're no less guilty than any other. Instead you just pass off the blame onto those who you think are beneath you. Truth is, in my eyes you're about the same as them in terms of reliably "getting it right."
We're not going to memory-hole all the times you guys misrepresented, mischaracterised, and borderline slandered people you didn't see eye-to-eye with before then issuing page-six corrections, (if at all).
Source: am journalist.
You should go learn to code.
You're right, I didn't mention that. I said they failed to adapt, but it does go beyond that. Some of the nation's best news outlets have absolutely done their part to erode their credibility. I would never deny that. The New York Times and the Washington Post don't deny that. I'm not saying they're perfect. In fact a ton of this could have been avoided if they'd pulled their heads out of their asses.
t's all "not from real journalists,"
I never said that. Don't misquote me.
Almost every article is by an advocate of some stripe with an ax to grind, facts and objectivity be damned.
This is a lie though. The absolute vast majority of articles in actual newspapers are written by people dedicated to their craft, who adhere to a code of principals and ethics you don't find in many jobs.
I certainly don't think anyone is beneath me, but I do think there are people who talk a lot of shit about what they know nothing about. You don't know the people who write for those papers. What gives you the right to judge "almost every" reporter out there? I'd be surprised if you knew even one.
You should go learn to code.
Well, uh, as a matter of fact...
Yes, but journalists were calling out his politicians and that's not okay, even though there is lots of evidence of collision. His type of journalism IS bloggers and YouTube conspiracy theorists.
In fact a ton of this could have been avoided if they'd pulled their heads out of their asses.
Yeah. It's really sad, because I am a HUGE proponent of free speech and open platforms. I see them as essential to the health of a democracy, and I would love to see the media be trusted and respected. I wanted to be a journalist for a while when I was a young teenager.
t's all "not from real journalists,"
I never said that. Don't misquote me.
I suppose I did misquote you, and I apologise. Effectively you said:
It's with what were previously called "bloggers." Anyone can throw something up on Medium or HuffPo. Literally zero skills, credibility or brain cells required.
Unlike the MS-13 "animals" comment that got run with, where there is ambiguity about the 'whom' or the characterisation of each subject- you plainly regard these people to be effectively bloggers of yesteryear and to have no credibility, skills, or brain cells.
This is a lie though. The absolute vast majority of articles in actual newspapers are written by people dedicated to their craft, who adhere to a code of principals and ethics you don't find in many jobs.
In this I disagree with the last part most of all. I've worked many jobs, even jobs that are as simple as picking up a bicycle and moving it from place-to-place for a bike share company (BSC). They'd worked the same job for over seven years. In that time they had worked out a perfectly optimised system of stacking, and had a divvied-up responsibilities list, illustrated guides for how to pick up and manage the weight of the bikes to not hurt your joints, found new ways to slide them into their position so as to not knock them over, etc., it was a remarkable work ethic that opened my eyes to the idea of "pride in one's work." They were well-paid but also managed to put out numbers that were in my opinion very well worth the rates. That was simply the first of what would be many instances in which I confronted the belief that people considered their employment part of their higher calling. It makes me wonder if the reason so many men off themselves when they're fired or their job site closes is that it is a pseudo crisis of faith. But that's my personal musings, and would be completely unfit for a paper that I owned to publish as it is borderline conjecture. (However, if I worked for a middling newspaper I'd simply throw a few interviews in and I'd have an article.)
If the majority of journos had the same level of self-respect and discipline for impartiality and such that you maintain they do, why do TIME magazine covers look the way they do for Trump, but not for Barack Obama? Nothing about drone strikes on civilians, nothing about ISIS, nothing about DNC infighting leading up to 2016, nothing about the ACA's many failures, Fast and Furious, nothing about Catch & Release, nothing about TPP, nothing about, well, much of anything. He got a free pass on the covers, and they did all they could to make him appear serious, a leader of men and our nation. Impartiality be damned, this axe won't grind itself.
https://imgur.com/a/n7jZpqK
I certainly don't think anyone is beneath me, but I do think there are people who talk a lot of shit about what they know nothing about.
You certainly speak as though you do, but I'll give you a pass on any claim of ignorance and rather then call you duplicitous. It says that they knew what they'd insinuated in the last four years about Trump, Russia, various social issues pressing in from the sides, was all wrong, or at least severely flawed. That they published all that anyways, even though they knew better, says nothing positive about the state of journalism at even its highest echelons.
I happen to have been part of various movements that were written about as well as knowing a few journalists and bumping elbows with a few journalists at times. Most are more concerned with deadlines and their activism and if they're "doing enough" with that activism, and if they're getting enough eyeballs than if they're covering their facts correctly. These were even some pretty "up there" papers.
In all cases of my personal experience in movements or groups where I was interviewed, the inaccuracies often outnumbered what they got right. Broad quick questions were asked, some writing was done Rita Skeeter style to present a narrative that sounded juicy or salacious or as a way to present a "threat," or tried to make us out to be greater (or larger/more impactful, or socially-minded) than we were. These were different groups that I've been a part of over the years, everything from a bicycle club which later earned an NAACP award, even though frankly nothing we do is race-based. The paper sure went out of its way to make it sound like we were because they liked us. They'd ask totally irrelevant questions "do you serve black people?" (I mean yeah, we serve everyone.)
Fair enough. I regret your experience with journalists. I can't even say I'm not guilty of the same short comings in my past.
Give some of the papers that aren't "up there" a chance. Maybe you'll have better luck. Not to mention that local journalism is dying a quicker death than the rest of the country and could really use some of those eyeballs about now.
I can't even say I'm not guilty of the same short comings in my past.
I hate to pull the typical Neo-Struggle Sessions stuff that we're seeing where there's apologia demanded of those who are brought low, but out of genuine curiosity, what would you say you've done/are doing/are going to do to address this, if anything? ("Nothing" is permissible, I don't really care who you are and don't have any intention of trying to wreck your career, unlike certain individuals on twitter.)
I understand that addressing it runs counter to the interests of drawing eyeballs with outrageous headlines and borderline clickbait. I understand that the majority of the sales come from the coasts- they’re not only mostly headquartered there but they also lean democrat, especially in the urban centres. Effectively, this makes it "by one side, for the same side's consumption."
Not to rely on news to talk about news, but Gallup found that faith in media hovers around 21% for Republicans, and 76% for Democrats as of Oct. 2018. (Of course this was about six months ago- and before the Mueller investigation came out, who knows what those numbers look like now.) Even WaPo admits that only 7% of journalists are Republican, which I think has a considerable influence on what gets published and how it gets covered, and also has a major sway on the "faith in media" figures.
Do you agree? It's okay if you don't, and prefer to believe people in your profession are impartial, rather than having an ax to grind.
There are a few journos I respect for their work ethic, but I don't hold their word to be gospel, either. Glen Greenwald/Matt Taibbi's are a pair of good examples for their works on Bush-era Wikileaks and work during and after Rolling Stone, but as I understand it, they're prone to their own failings and opinions.
Give some of the papers that aren't "up there" a chance.
Got any recommendations?
Atlantic and Aero have had some decent articles that were clearly investigative and had "first crack" at some pretty interesting content, (including the Grievance Studies hoax) and at least make a run of defending free speech, rather than tacking to political party policy. They have a market and they seem to know it well, and don't tend to deviate from it/evolve much.
What would you say you've done to address this?
I mean, you run a correction and do better next time. There's no secret formula. It's a high-pressure job with tight deadlines. Mistakes happen and a piece of your soul dies when they do.
But to be completely honest, it's just not the career for me.
At legitimate newspapers, no reporter cares about eyeballs. That's the publisher's job, not editorial.
As far as the majority of journalists being Democrats, well, my theory is that they're the ones observing, interacting with and inspecting our society at the most intimate level. If they're mostly Democrat, there's probably a good reason. That and it really is a thankless job. Don't see many Republicans who care about informing a populous for very little money.
Got any recommendations?
Assuming you live in/near Detroit and are talking about the Free Press, amen, Gannett can suck hairy gorilla dick. That company has done more to kill journalism than anyone else, including Trump or NYT and WaPo eroding their own credibility. I hope those news empires die a quick death so something with actual journalistic standards can take it's place.
That being said, there are still local reporters working local stories for that paper.
Same is true for the Detroit News, but DigitalFirst deserves the same criticism as above.
I'm not familiar with the area, never been, but here's a list to click through. Look for something non-profit. Sometimes there's specific statewide publications that will focus on something like legislature or investigative reporting. Though I'll admit, they're few and far between.
I know not every journalist would agree, but I think you're in good hands with Glen.
But to be completely honest, it's just not the career for me.
What makes you think so? You're at least self-aware, and not taking much personal affront to charges I've leveled at the industry. Maybe you've already mentally checked out, got one foot out the door, etc., but I'd like to hear what you have to say. I assume you're learning code, since you said "about that..." earlier? What languages? They started me out with C# and Boy that was a hard learning curve compared to Python.
At legitimate newspapers, no reporter cares about eyeballs. That's the publisher's job, not editorial.
Interesting.
Don't see many Republicans who care about informing a populous for very little money.
I generally don't see Republicans working in fields that don't earn money, you're correct about that. Whether it's education (10:1, and removing the top-paid professorial positions/STEM positions within the field skews the ratio even further), Journalism, or other similar fields.
they're the ones observing, interacting with and inspecting our society at the most intimate level.
Wouldn't you say that in a way, though, they certainly blew it on understanding the working class and rust belt, the "salt of the earth," people that are arguably the pulse of our society? I'd say the disconnect between the left/Journos and the working class has never been wider.
Assuming you live in/near Detroit and are talking about the Free Press, amen, Gannett can suck hairy gorilla dick. That man has done more to kill journalism than anyone else, including Trump or NYT and WaPo eroding their own credibility. I hope those news empires die a quick death so something with actual journalistic standards can take it's place.
No disagreement here. The local paper's gone from bad to even worse since it got bought out by them. At a certain point it just gets delivered out of sheer momentum and tradition of having "a paper delivered" rather than any intent to read anything in it. For me it was shortly after the buyout, it just got completely unreadable.
I developed a lot of leadership skills as an editor at a few papers. I have talents beyond writing that can make me much more money. My girlfriend is a journalist and I see how hard she works every day for far less money than I would.
I have my foot in the door in tech management. Learning Python because the company I work for will pay me to. Even some of the hardcore journalists I went to school with are throwing in the towel pretty early in their career. It's a tough gig.
Maybe if I were single and didn't have to worry about supporting a family I'd stick with it. But I want an easier life than that.
Also, I've really enjoyed our discourse. Doesn't happen on Reddit so much anymore. Thanks for your critical perspective.
tech management
Scrum project management? That’s what I’m aiming for.
it’s a tough gig
Yeah, I don’t doubt it. Conflicting pressures and metrics of performance leads to poor quality that is delivered behind schedule or missing elements of a ‘done’ product. The name on the article or the brand of the paper gets tarnished for every bad product but the incentive structure’s gone pear-shaped from the sound of it.
Also, I've really enjoyed our discourse. Doesn't happen on Reddit so much anymore. Thanks for your critical perspective
Same to you. Here, one all too often can only go so far before someone gets called something no matter their alignment, and I think we are suffering as a result. There’s also a critical amount of failure to acknowledge one’s own positions on an issue- simply parroting. It’s my personal opinion that Part of this may be due to self-identification with policies.
In my country most traditional, respectable media are massively biased. They are not bloggers, they are not underpaid, and for most of them their work isn't grueling or thankless. And a lot of them sound exactly like you: Blaming the audience for not trusting them.
But you're the one doing the job. And when I see the news cycle spin up after an election that would go barely noticed if parties the journalists agree with won, or I see a 9/11 truther get a podium in national media because he's on the right side, yeah, I start doubting your integrity.
Shit, even the one journalist I know is massively biased.
You're right, though. You failed to adapt to the internet. People can get news from anywhere, and double-check it from nearly endless sources. Just today I checked a South African news channel's YouTube channel. Turns out they post shitloads of videos, all of them barely watched. You're not just competing with the local yokels anymore, or the handful of professional papers in the country. You're competing with the world. And for every blogger-turned-journalist, there's an avid fact-checker. And for every person who blindly complains about journalism, there's a person who's criticism is founded in experience and research.
There is no crusade against journalism. There is scrutiny.
I'm not blaming the audience for not trusting media. I think there is plenty of reason for trust in newspapers to be at an all time low, and I think there's a lot of work to be done to fix it.
Also, it's certainly not perfect in every country. It's not just your country that struggles with biased media, it's most. First step is to stop watching anything on cable, they're all shit. Second, pick up a local newspaper. One that covers your city or region, that's the news that people need to pay attention to.
Not all news sources are created equal and I would never refer to them as such.
At least you seem able to see through the lies of what I'm sure is thinly-veiled state propaganda in your country. More people should.
Look, I never said all journalist were perfect. In fact, I think there's a lot that needs to change in the industry. And I don't represent nor speak for every journalist.
But don't generalize them.
A lot of them are some of the hardest working people you'll ever meet who work under situations of extreme stress for little pay just because they want you to know what's going on. Hate on 'em as much as you want, but at least give 'em that.
To reiterate, bloggers on Medium or wherever are not real journalists. Please don't refer to them as such.
There is no centralized authority tapping people on the shoulder with a pen and dubbing thee journalists. Any jerkoff can now declare themselves to be one.
There aren't "real journalists" now.
Well a degree is a good start. Am I suddenly an engineer because I have a Raspberry Pi? Am I a doctor if I recommend my friend take Advil for a headache? You could literally say that about anything.
Writing for a legitimate publication is a pretty good start. Maybe stop calling bloggers journalists and the name will mean something again. This kinda of lack of media literacy is part of what got us into this shit show in the first place.
You say there's no one dubbing people journalists but that's exactly what you're doing.
Thank you! I'm so tired of people blaming journalists for their own media illiteracy. If you can't tell the difference between a Twitter account and a credible journalist than you are part of the problem.
This is an understated issue when people have grown up with little to no exposure to traditional media structures.
People either begin not to educate themselves, or, in a more likely scenario, find "alternative" media that does everything they claim to despise about the media but worse. Some just watch YouTubers that lightly paraphrase reports from the exact outlets they've abandoned. Most often, it just results in people finding whatever "independent" source affirms their biases.
I don't think reddit even knows what editorials are, let alone tabloids. There's a distinction between cable news and historic outlets like The New York Times. Hell, a lot of articles reddit gets mad about are entirely explained in the body of the article, but reddit never reads more than the headline.
No one is saying put unilateral faith in journalists, but I have yet to see someone with a self-consistent position towards the supposed collapse of journalism.
As someone who used to work as an associate editor at a newspaper... Fucking this.
I can't imagine going back to working in journalism these days, because--whether you want to believe it or not--most news media (not just Fox News, but most of all of it) is absolute garbage.
Yes you put this into words perfectively. I loved reading the Sunday paper back in the mid 90s (it was huge) and it all just felt so authoratative. I also miss magazines, the record store, and of course the movie store. Jaron Lanier has suggested we put things behind paywalls again so knowledge is actually valuable again and people do worthwhile work for their jobs (music, journalism, etc...)
The Internet hit newspapers with a double whammy: classified ad revenue went in the toilet, and Google's indexing took people away from their home pages. Print journalism was a huge driver of quality content on other media (TV and radio). As newspapers made deep cuts to their newsrooms, 24-hour TV news channels needed ever more content to fill their time slots. That's part of why the quality and quantity of information declined so precipitously.
There’s still plenty of good journalism out there, though. It’s just buried under all the clickbait crap. I’ve been reading Reuter’s a lot, lately.
I legit call this exact thing brand politics and it's destroying all of us. No one has personality or character anymore it's all a persona based around their personal brand, everyone is, as salesman always say, "selling themselves."
Not only journalism but the whole delivery of news and information. Once upon a time we listened to one of the networks once or twice a day for TV news, national and regional. We read a newspaper for local, and talked to neighbors and gossiped. We also were not inundated with a continual stream of it either. It was easier to trust the news because we knew where the source was from and because of that, we knew the source was trustworthy. If someone falsified news, they were fired and that became news. But, it was more or less trustworthy still. Now, we have to take time to research a source, see who owns it, see what objective they have, all the while being inundated with it from several sources at the same time all saying different things. And that breakdown of the system along with this anti-intellect movement is going to be the death of us.
Cable news started this trend before the Internet, but the Internet made it much worse.
I'm a journalism student, and literally all of what you said are issues that are discussed in class. We're all being taught how they're affecting the industry and what we might be able to do in the future to fix it. Unfortunately, 'get it out first' is a really big issue that we can't do much about.
I worked with a number of J-school students doing radio several years ago. They were much more concerned with being given a platform to do their own advocacy and push their own politics than they were with accepting assignments and doing factual work.
That's a huge concern too. A lot of students are very opinionated nowadays and aren't afraid to show it- which isn't a problem. With a lot of them, however, their opinions will likely move into their work, I fear - that is a problem.
The fact that we know and have to discern which publications are left and right today is dreadful. I have met a lot of bright and hard-working people in my program though, so there is reason to be optimistic.
"This is extremely dangerous to our democracy."
I kind of like the idea of de-elitifying journalism.
Anyone can get the scoop, so I didn't go to school for it. Big deal.
It practice it seems to be as bad as journalism is now so there's no telling if it would have worked.
The problem is the death of the journalism middle class. There are many fewer working reporters with moderate professional training and middle-class incomes now. They've been replaced by a small cabal of highly paid, Ivy League educated staff at the national papers, and a vast number of "freelance" bloggers, low-wage local reporters, and no-wage social media users.
So there's either zero quality control, or all the quality control is done to push an elite narrative.
Yep. It's gone haywire on both ends.
At least I can still accesses the wires for plain old news. I don't watch any TV whatsover. No cable no local no nothin'. If I need to hear breaking news I'll flip on the radio. I don't get any more newspapers or magazines. Everything is too far gone for my tastes.
You just need to know where to look to find reporting that suits your needs. The internet means there's a niche for virtually anything.
I like the cut of your jib.
yeah journalism really fell off, it’s about doin it first now instead of doing it well
The "advocate" one is easily the shittiest change. Look no farther than your least favorite political sub and it becomes immediately obvious.
Journalism did it to itself. USA Today and its penchant for photogenic fluff. Steadfast refusal to becoming internet-available until it almost missed the boat. Many dedicate themselves to one narrow position of the political spectrum. Then they gave away the content for almost free.
Yep. Now news online is biased, made by idiots, out-of-context, unoriginal, uncreative, unentertaining, and fake. And it's fueled flat-earthers, clickbaiters, anti-vaxxers, politics, blogs, and other news sources.
It's becoming quantity over quality. Telling facts and truth doesn't mean crap if you've got people giving you more views on more publications. And if you want to change an article's meaning or context to prove your point, it's as easy as F12 or a Google Search, or just finding another news station that's reported on fake events or taken something ooc.
Journalism has always been like that, the internet just exposed it
Flat earthers clickbaiters and antivaxers is a good example because they are dumb. The more frightening thing is when, for example gender science and global warming enthusiasts get too much involved. I don't mean that global warming is fake but so many people support it for pure ideology or political stance. The "good" places are also filled with idiots, and even if someone would ring a bell and prove that global warming is not true, such news would take a loooong time to penetrate the emotional wall build by activism.
This is so true. It’s honestly sad to see an industry change like this.
I remeber a time when I could read 1 article or watch 1 news piece about something and feel like I was informed. Now I need to get 2 or 3 takes from the left and the right to feel like I have the whole picture.
You should check out Delayed Gratification by the Slow Journalism company
I wish I didn't have to scroll so far to see this
Speaking as a journalist now: same
Dude. Well stated.
I like the book "amusing ourselves to death" it's about that stuff
Exactly right. I went to college to become a journalist. They taught us the old way you described, but in reality the new way was already in full swing. I graduated with a useless diploma full of values no one follows anymore. The workfield is completely cutthroat, because it matters whether you're first. Not if you're right.
A TV show once did an experiment where they tried publishing completely fake news articles, sending them as if coming from a company they made up on the spot. All of them were published without checking the source, one of them even made it to national television. Not one person called their "company" to verify. It's disgusting and shameful.
It hasn't changed that much. Most complaints about modern news are equivalent to the columns in newspapers that only got a few inches. Details were sparse and weren't deeply researched back then either. There were also opinion columns that ranged from well thought out to trash, and that still exists. There were a few pieces of real journalism back then and today. The main thing that changed is that the short articles (few column inches) are easily and widely shared, so naturally sites have a much higher ratio of those.
News is just a group blog.
This should be top comment
News used to be something you could watch to learn something new. Now it's something you should avoid if you value your sanity.
Don't you think at this point that if a new news source were to emerge that would present videos and sound bites with proper context and just report the facts that they would quickly become the most popular news outlet? Like, does no one see the benefit in the long game?
To be fair - this began before the internet with 24-hour news.
Fox News began the trend of partisan infotainment, and it was downhill from there.
Journalism has always sucked. Yellow journalism caused a war.
I remember many many years ago there was a mine accident in Sago Mine here in West Virginia. Thirteen people trapped.
Then one night they were found. A flurry of reports went out, newpapers were printed straight away reporting ‘12 found alive’
Well guess what? It wasn’t twelve alive, it was twelve dead. If they would have just confirmed that before freaking the fuck out and giving false hope to everyone then the backlash that followed would have been avoided.
Still the internet overall helped with regards to fact-checking and ease of access which really trumps everything else by quite a bit. It is a shame that downsides came with it too though
"Be objective" became "advocate".
Yeah no, historically, journalism has mostly been about advocating and affecting change rather than staying objective. It wasn't until recently (last 50 years or so) that objectivity became such a big deal. In fact, the guy whom the Pulitzer prize was named after constantly published exaggerated/fake stories and straight up clickbait (or the equivalent at the time) articles in an attempt to gain readers.
Journalism nowadays is actually pretty objective and just the facts compared to a 100 years ago
Journalism nowadays is actually pretty objective and just the facts compared to a 100 years ago
Ten years ago, maybe. We're back to the heyday of yellow journalism and billionaires owning their own media outlets.
This is a good one.
It’s moving back to subscription-based.
Being able to evolve as a person and having people understand that belief structures can change over time, instead of being beholden to something stupid I wrote on MySpace in 2005. There’s this crazy thought that whoever you were one time is who you’ll always be, and we don’t allow people to become better.
Exactly. Internet footprint is real.
Mystery in videogames. I feel like playing was more meaningful without wikis and guides readily available. This especially applies to MMOs - knowing the game used to be a really great feat.
I think the real magic lost in MMOs nowadays is the sense of community. Inter-server PUGs for dungeons minimize downtime but give people no incentive to play nice with their on-server groups.
Everquest and its ilk used to have an unwritten rule that you never piss off the healer. People playing healers weren't rare but also weren't super common and you needed them to run dungeons. You also needed a balanced group, though, so you had to balance people's needs and demands.
You could run dungeon A for the tank gear but then the healer wants to do a quest for an upgrade and the ranger wants a new bow, so you run a bunch of shit together. By the end of it, you knew each other well enough to form a more formal group.
That's gone now. You can call your party all kinds of slurs and basically just auto-match with a different group. Sure, there are admins and mods still but in the old days, you had to maintain a reputation or people just wouldn't play with you.
Honestly the magic always gets lost for me when they allow you to just warp instantly to places. When you just sit around in the town waiting for a raid instance to pop and then knock it out in 15 minutes, then wait for the next one. The sense of community suffers cuz you get random team members anyway, and the immersion is gone as well.
Like in WoW, you wanted to do Scarlet Monestary as an Alliance player? Get a group together in Stormwind then do the SM run. It was an adventure, and that's what I really miss. The whole act of having to travel together for a long distance connected you with the randoms you got, and you'd usually turn them into friends.
I think there's a push to return to things like this in MMOs. OSRS is a huge success and wow classic is coming out, but problems with each of these is everyone already knows the most optimal thing to play/do for gains.
but problems with each of these is everyone already knows the most optimal thing to play/do for gains.
And there is the problem. Everyone wants to level up with their friends in an exotic world. Nobody wants to sit at max level and raid the same 9 bosses over and over for 6 months.
I stopped playing countless MMOs because I hit max level. There was still "progression" but it wasn't exploring the world.
Yeah, it's a big problem. I'd be incredibly happy if a new MMO came out with an emphasize on the world over max level raid content. Not that raids aren't good, they are, but I want more. It certainly seems like Blizzard has no idea how to create content other than that these days.
Come play on a new EQ TLP server with us, it's still mostly good :)
Those words. I know some of them.
Star Wars Galaxies pre combat upgrade is the game I miss for than any other because of how close the community was. The best gear in the game was made by players and not found through dungeon runs was the best.
I miss early guides on the internet, nice little notepad docs with fun ASCII art at the beginning by the author. Then it evolved to watching unnarrated walkthroughs on youtube, mimicing what they do step by step until I get unstuck. Now I hardly even play games anymore, I just watch letsplayers do it, and when I do actually play games they hold your hand so much I would never need a guide. I remember finding Giratina in Pokemon Pearl just by noticing something interesting on the map, and when I came face to face with it I felt like an explorer god. Now it’s unheard of to not know about a pokemon, let alone where to find it.
I love gamefaqs.
I do like some let's plays but they're rare. I'd rather see a written out guide that I can follow step by step rather than seeing someone else do it themself. the written guide by far tends to be more thought out.
Same. I just find it easier to read the steps and only go to video is the instructions are vague and I need an image for reference.
Every time I get a new PC since my Windows ME in like 1999 I've copied the same folder where I save general important stuff over to my new one, that same folder has probably been on like 6+ different PCs over the years. Had a look deep into the folder the other day when I was bored and found a TXT document from the 90's with a moves list for Bio Freaks on N64 complete with ASCII art at the beginning and everything, felt like an archaeologist uncovering an ancient text, haha.
Absolutely. I remember the first time I played World of Warcraft (vanilla), creating my character and entering the world. It felt so huge and incredible that I actually felt like a real explorer discovering all these places and interacting with other adventurers.
Now it's all about min maxing, optimising everything, skip the quest text and optimise play for tangible results per minute.
Try breath of the wild without guides.
I refused to look up anything when playing BoTW, still haven't.
I stopped playing World of Warcraft the day that my supposedly casual raid guild beat a new boss on release week, and told everyone to skip the cinematic because we could just watch it online later.
The fun experience of an MMO is to experience it together. Not just rush because several big YouTubers already have walkthroughs and all the cut scenes up online.
I stopped playing World of Warcraft the day that my supposedly casual raid guild beat a new boss on release week, and told everyone to skip the cinematic because we could just watch it online later.
That's sad. Especially crazy for a supposedly "casual" guild to say that too. Watching it later totally kills the atmosphere/experience as I'm sure you'd agree.
This mindset has actually killed some games for me because I *like* efficiency. I really want to do everything the best way possible. I play quite a bit of Stardew Valley and get really caught up in doing it right that I forget that I'm supposed to do it for fun. I started playing multiplayer with my partner and I think she appreciates that I know so much about the game and how it works, but I also find it easier to let go and not worry so much when I play with someone who doesn't know the game inside and out.
I've done it with other games too, like Skyrim. It's fun to make a sword that one-shots dragons through a process of smithing buffs and enchanting buffs looped but it definitely takes the adventure out of it.
I specifically steer clear of games like Stardew Valley or any game with time restraints like that because I know I would stress too much about being optimal.
I can barely make it through the Persona games for this reason, and even then it's with a lot of saving and reloading and looking things up.
It sucks and I wish I wasn't this way.
Sometimes that "stress" can be part of the fun. I guess it depends on the person though; also more importantly how one responds-to/interprets stress. It's also probably only like 10% of any sort of possible stress one could get compared to playing competitive games like Starcraft or DOTA.
I feel like Stardew Valley would have been too tedious for me if it wasn't for the wiki.
Some stuff like gift tables or fish tables are just way too tedious to try to remember and/or learn.
I definitely enjoyed the game more by using the wiki.
Oh definitely I'm not denying the usefulness, I use them even when I'm playing just for fun. I more mean the like, min-maxing the crops and year 1 guides and whatnot.
Hmm. I agree to disagree. It wasn't fun being stuck on things because of poor game design.
Yeah, /r/gaming had a frank discussion about it when someone claimed The Lion King was harder than Dark Souls.
Video games were not well designed. Like at all. You had a few hits, but a fuck ton of misses. Go look at a list of greatest games ever and it's mostly games from like 2005 to now.
That's not true at all. Whilst it is true that games on average are much better today, we also don't get the truly standout games. Games like Halo, Starcraft or Zelda:OoT are classics in a way we kind of don't get anymore.
Oh come on.
Red Dead, TLOU, the most recent Zelda, Skyrim, etc.
I don't think anyone is going to be talking about those games in 20 years like the three games I mentioned.
I'm just gonna disagree man. In fact, I don't think the game Halo is talked about all that much. The series is, but not the game itself.
Yeah, not a popular opinion but I'm a strong believer that Halo wasn't that special, it was just in the right place at the right time.
The whole FPS genre was designed for PC hardware and KB+M controls so they didn't translate well to console. Halo was a breakthrough in that it was made specifically for console from the ground up and built around the limitations of the hardware and controllers rather than just trying to copy what was on PC so was the best console shooter experience at that point but if Halo was only released on PC at the time it would have probably got 7/10 to 8/10 kind of scores and done well enough but not have become a flagship franchise. It felt a bit slow an imprecise compared to other shooters of the time and weapons didn't have a great sense of impact.
And it's why Ocarina has held up. Other than Souls and Bloodborne, basically no game has been able to successful mimic it's combat.
Meanwhile, Halo has been surpassed 100 times over with it's combat.
Hard disagree. Hell, people are still riding the Skyrim train despite that game being almost eight years old. That game lasted two console generations. The Last of Us is still hailed as a gaming masterpiece. Games are still great.
The Last of Us is more of a movie than a game.
There's nothing wrong with that. That's one of the reasons it'll be remembered: probably the most perfect blend between movie and game. Better mix than Telltale's games, Quantum Break, or anything by David Cage.
if the most perfect most revolutionary classic came out today you probably wouldn't even care and still jerk off to Ocarina of Time
What games released in the last, say, 3 years, would you say are revolutionary enough that they will still be talked about in 20 years time? That's the bar that the games I listed set.
Those games basically invented a basic genre so of course newer games can't make that big of a leap, but when we're talking classic in terms of outstanding quality with big impact:
BOTW, Witcher 3, Undertale, Hollow Knight, GTA5, RDR2, Persona 5, Doom 2016, MGS5, Monster Hunter World, Overwatch, Stardew Valley
Revolutionary genre defining games in the 10s: Dark Souls, PUBG, Minecraft, Rocket League, Hotline Miami, League of Legends, Portal, Destiny
Not to mention tons of indie games that push the boundaries of what games can be.
Zelda OoT had the water temple, which killed my enjoyment of the game.
Man.... Encountering a Jedi in earlier days of SWG.... I truly felt mythical.
I feel you on this. When I did my first play through of Red Dead Redemption 2, I got stuck on a certain part - Googled it for help and subsequently spoiled the ending of the game I waited 7 years for. I cried. I had avoided all spoilers and articles on it for nearly a month prior to this. Still love the game but it would have been just a bit better if the ending wasn't spoiled for me.
I purposefully sequester myself from the internet when playing a new From Software game. I want no opinions, no information, nothing whatsoever. It makes the games so organic.
I remember the struggle. Leveling a character in WoW Burning Crusade. I felt so cool having a max level, and actually knowing all the zones and appreciating the first time going to a Major city.
Now it's almost always pay to win..
Just don’t look stuff up?
I’d argue that looking stuff up and still not knowing was part of the fun back then. Fact and fiction would blend together in old forums. Rumors and hearsay would make it hard to know what to believe, and sorting through it all together, when no one had definitive answers, was something lost in the age of datamining.
Back then there’d be people swearing they found a secret level or character in a game, and others would call bs, but both sides were equally suspect, and equally trustworthy. And the process of sifting through it all and finding the truthcould take weeks, months, or even years.
Haaaa, thottbot
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I hate data mining and how people just assume you're as keen on it as they are and treat the information that isn't even officially out yet as widely known. Leave some mystery to be exposed!
While I could just figure stuff out myself in MMO esk games. It wouldn't be optimal, so nah.
*Although my love for optimal only goes so far
Other sorts if games though? Nah, not unless I'm flat out unable to figure things out.
Yip. Lot of games on PS1 having to try figure stiff out. If lucky would be small guide In a gaming magazine or something.
That's kind of subjective. The info was always there but it's just closer now.
I would say that the majority of people don't even bother to look up a guide unless they've been stuck in the same room for more than 10 minutes, sometimes dungeon solving isn't fun.
"hidden effects" on items in certain MMOs without a way to prove the effect, was something that was always interesting. I'm thinking FFXI and Diablo 2 specifically, but I assume there were others?
Playing Disgaea post game would be such a drag without guides, but playground rumours are definitely fun for sure.
You don’t have to google things tho. I get in mmos others can so it makes you at a disadvantage but if your just playing single player game you can just do a blind play through.
you can always play some of the more obscure games
iter vehemens ad necem is one of my favourites
This is where dnd comes in.
Isn't it a bit ironic that you're like:
"I need more mistery"
>googles "how to beat X"
It can still be fun when you play a game that is a new release. Also for a long time wikis weren't used by a lot of people. They still aren't, but certainly they are by a lot more people, and probably/possibly a majority now.
When playing a new game you can even document content in the wiki.
Problem is that it's really hard to find a good game that is a new release, because usually it takes some time of people playing it before it gets fully reviewed at which point its not really quite as new of a game.
The mystery makes games last soooooooooooooo much longer. Zelda OoT took me a total of 7 years because i was always stuck at some place or another. Then one day you figure out where to go next & the breakthrough is AMAZING, love that feeling. Had to get a friend to help me through Water Temple.
Now if I'm stuck someplace for like an hour I just cave & look up where to go next because I feel like if I have that information available to me I'm "wasting" time if I just keep trying to figure it out on my own.
Just don't look at the wiki...
AFV
Yeah, the magic of that show was lost when you could just go into the internet to see funny videos
And when Alfonso became an ad banner for kid movies.
Wipeout
Shoutout to the OG, the Japanese show MXC that would air on Spike TV
MXC was a fucking riot
Right you are, Ken.
Yes with the rediculous overdubs! What a blast from the past. People get excited about Wipeout but mxc was so much more fun
Well in developing countries like India the 90s you talk about in West lasted till 2005.
Still remember how good it felt to watch outdated shows on TV not knowing whats the current season is.
=3 was a good replacement until he ditched the platform. He allegedly came back to it but I just never came back to it right around when he started chopping all the videos into pieces for the ad revenue while also getting "guest hosts" in hope of finding a popular replacement.
Also the time limit. You could mindlessly watch random funny videos for an hour and then you’re done. Move on. Now you can mindless scroll reddit or FB or whatever all the time in all your free time. Look back and you didn’t accomplish or absorb anything.
Bob Sagat should offer to comentate Youtube videos for a modest fee.
Don't get a little touchy Bob, I'm just a little stretchy!
That show fucking sucked and you knew it. I had to watch it growing up. Instagram videos are generally bad and they're still way funnier
"If you get it on tape, you could get it in cash!"
Who was your host? I grew up with Bergeron.
Both Bergeron and Saget.
I have literally ripped open your account to tell you to make a damn part 5 of the no sleep series you did.
Boy have I got some posts for you.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/5x8gsc/emergency_alert_update_5/?utm_source=reddit-android
https://www.reddit.com/r/ThrillSleep/comments/5xjgha/emergency_alert_update_6/?utm_source=reddit-android
https://www.reddit.com/r/ThrillSleep/comments/5xxczy/emergency_alert_update_7/?utm_source=reddit-android
Dude....
I don't personally like parts 3-7 but there they are.
Yeah. I kinda lost its no sleep vibe after 3
Shouldn't have brought in the government conspiracy stuff.
And your host.... TOOOOOMMMMMMM BERGERONNNNN
daisy fuentes and john fugelsang were my favorites
That show was lost when alfonso ribero started being host. I hate that guy
I grew up with Tom B and stopped watching when he stopped hosting. He has the charm for it.
Too bad you missed the Bob Saget years.
Ya it was all downhill after Saget left
Well there were the Daisy Fuentes years. That woman could wear the hell out of a dress...
I didn't much care for his corny overdub jokes tbh.
I watched AFV for the first time in a LONG time the other day. Color me surprised! I was expecting a complete change in formula, to have already seen all the videos, and didnt even know it was still on the air. My expectations were not the case and it brought me back. Alfonso Ribeiro is a great host and hes definitely Bob Saget or even Tom Bergeron, but once i heard that theme song i was right back to feeling endeared! And hell, I only saw ONE video i knew came from Youtube.
God, getting up on a Saturday morning and watching the AFV episode that got recorded on the VCR as you ate a bowl of Cocoa Puffs... Those were the days
Tom Bergeron was THE MAN. It's not the same without him.
*AFHV FTFY
What’s AFHV without Bob Saget?
I was even pissed when they gave that other show to Dave coulier. Total sell out. Cut. It. Out!
America's funniest people! Admit it, you loved the jackalope
this is how old i am:
when i was a kid, AFP came through the mall in my town and set up a camera, filming all of these people for like 1 minute intervals. my parents dressed me up like ross perot and had me go do an impression of him on camera there.
i have not thought of that memory in a really long time.
Did it ever make it on the show?
Thats what it was called but the initials were AFV
not until 1998
You're overestimating the average age of this website's user base. The majority of people here probably didn't start watching AFV until about 2000.
Probably don’t even remember when Bob Saget hosted it.
the original theme song was so fucking tight, all of the later incarnations were just pale imitations. that shit was bonnie tyler with horns. fuck yeah, where's my kid cuisine?
shit I think I just dated myself
Over here in Europe we probably didn't start watching it until 2005.
most people on here were born in 2000. :o
i'm probably in the oldest 1% at age 33.
Don't you mean, America's Funniest Home Videos hosted by Bob Saget?
It's being rebooted as we speak https://abc.go.com/shows/videos-after-dark.
Unfortunately that show is a total let down.
I don't know, I haven't watched it. I can just search youtube for "1 hour fail compilation" for funny video material better than AFV ever was.
Yeah I feel a bit of nostalgia for AFV but that's all. The internet is way better.
Naah. I hated that show even before the internet. Drove me nuts when week after week the video that was dubbed "America's Funniest" actually was just a video of a kid doing something cute. It's not America's Cutest Videos.
I remember my dad would wake up early and would start his morning routine of sipping on some tea and catching old re-runs of AFV.
I miss that too.
Bob Saget actually has a new video show. You can watch it online here.
I caught it the other night. It's a mix of the old AFV and a bit of newer webvideo shows. I'm not sure that I'll catch it every week, but it's something I'd watch a few episodes at a time once in awhile.
I miss Tom Bergeron. Sure, Alfonso is...alright, but when Tom was hosting, those were the good old days. When I would be excited every weekend for the next episode. Now, I only watch it every 2 weeks to a month.
Why can I hear this?
I remember as a kid how excited I was after dinner to cook come popcorn and sit next to the fireplace with my mom while cracking up at the other families that shared heir videos. It's just one of those things I miss about my childhood, actually spending time at the the dinner table with my brother and parents then laughing with them. It's sad now when I babysit for my cousin, her kids (4, 6, and 9) all have their own laptop/kindle and they like to watch their science videos and play princess games individually. I didn't have that stuff growing up, and whenever I do babysit I play outside with them on the trampoline or with their scooters and pellet guns.
AFV lost my interest to instant YouTube videos years ago. But now I have kids. We routinely watch AFV (albeit on Demand) and it’s just as family wholesome as when I watched it with my parents years ago.
The original whose line is it anyway.
It's still in TV
YES!
Even us European guys miss this!
I miss my dad pointing out all the fake ones :/
i still watch the episodes with Bergeron. so fuckin' funny.
I mean you technically still have Ridiculousness on MTV
I can still hear the Ska intro.
Meh, most of it was just people falling over or doing dumb stuff. With the internet there’s a much greater diversity of funny videos
High school reunions. There's no point to them anymore. I already know what you look like, who you're married to, what you do, basically everything.
Yeah when I was younger I was excited to go to them. Then when I had one I didn't want to go because I could see which people were showing up and it wasn't the people I wanted to see haha
Underrated comment.
I didn’t go to mine... It was also the cost of a concert ticket !
How much/what did that include? In the process of planning one and trying to figure out what people will spend/what they value.
I’m not sure since I didn’t go to mine... I heard a little about it. They rented out a room somewhere that wasn’t even in the same city as the high school. Our high school was large and had plenty of space to use for a reunion. I’m sure there was expenses such as food and other stuff but it was something like 70 or 80$ per person... no thanks! I’d rather spend that money on something fun.
When I was 15 I transferred schools so I was only at that high school for 2.5 years anyway. Most of my friends moved away because cost of living is too high here. 🤷🏻♀️
Wow that does seems a bit much! The current plan in place is looking like $40 presale and $50 at the door but it includes light appetizers and open beer/wine bar with full cash bar. I’m worried it’s too much but even if you scrap the open bar you’re looking at $32-35 person just for the rental space and what not. I figured it would be an easier sell if it included free alcohol lol.
Well, good luck to you.
Ha! This one is so true. Now people only go to see how much you filtered and photo-shoppped your pics.
"It's too late! I've seen everything!"
OTOH, I was close with a lot of people in high school who weren't in my particular year. I'm very grateful for social media for being in touch with many of them.
Reunion friends are a different fish. I witnessed it with my dad first, as I was setting up his reunion website long ago (mostly writing HTML directly in an editor, heh). You start to have connections and shared stories from past reunions, and you just become the reliable reunion crowd, regardless of what you all were in HS.
Sure we have social media, but it's still fun to meet people you care to know in person. While you can chat here and there or call once in a while, it isn't a proper substitute. Their mental growth aren't that obvious online or in brief calls. Although, it does make big life event reveals less special when you just congratulated them on fb last month or sth.
Yeah I recently had my 10 year reunion come around. None of my old buddies RSVP'd so I didn't. And I know everything anyways. Still would be nice to chat with them in person, but it's not as exciting as it once sounded years ago.
I went to my 15 year reunion, and a whole 5 people showed up including my wife and me. It was sad....
Video games released being complete and ready to play
It’s a travesty I had to scroll so low to find this.
Yeah, I really hate this day 1 DLC season pass crap, it just seems like a way to squeeze money out of [Purchase the Reddit Season Pass to unlock the rest of this comment]
I miss being able to put in the disc and play a game right away instead of having to download a 40 gig patch on top of the 40 gig normal install
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That gosh darn KONY2012
Knew that was bullshit the moment it went viral. Multiple friends bought that retarded starter pack thinking it was gonna make a difference, I could only smh.
It was like the first domino to start this never ending chain reaction of idiotic campaigns and movements..
The E begging has really gotten out of hand in recent years I agree
AFAIK it wasn't exactly bullshit, they managed to raise a fuck ton of money for the charities helping the victims, it just didn't actually help catch the guy (although pretty sure he lost his war anyway).
If I'm not mistaken, before 2012, Kony hadn't even been in power or relevant for many years.
Colby 2012 :/
His time is coming.
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I feel the same way. I think 2012 is when social media really took off. You started seeing stupid. The internet used to be fun.
Mayans called it.
Interestingly, 2012 was the year that Google announced that they will no longer be maintaining a strict separation between search results and advertising. So i imagine that's when the internet truly became all about the $$$ and the lines blurred between information and stealth advertisements.
I agree too that the internet shifted that year, despite not having any hard numbers. I imagine that the smartphone craze blew up to corners of society and the money potential behind it took over the content that was being made.
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The mayans where right after all
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Video calling, ads, changes with YouTube and Facebook. Became more mainstream and focused on the big social networks rather than the multitude of different low level guys
Was reading into this recently, it's actually quite fascinating. Although this took place more over the course of 2012-2013. At that time, the percentage of the population that owned smartphones surpassed a pivotal 50%. This statistic was intersected by the falling percentage of people who used computers to access the internet. In other words, the primary usage of internet shifted from computers to mobile devices. There are even infographs out there about this, check them out!
There's no denying the mobile online experience is vastly different from that of a computer. What's more, marketing professionals saw this coming in advance. They also saw dollar signs as they recognized the potential to reach consumers 24/7. They werent going to be hesitant like they'd been at the dawn of the internet before porn proved there was money to be made online.
That's why everything became suddenly monotized once smartphones went mainstream. If you read into the history of Facebook, you will notice many changes and updates from that era catered more to optimizing the amount of information delivered to audiences. Then, they opened this avenue to anyone willing to fork over the cash.
Dive even deeper down this rabbit hole to discover how this computer to mobile transition was largely responsible for the stark cultural contrasts surrounding the 2012 and 2016 elections. Also interesting is that prior to 2012, we didn't have Uber. How the fuck did we get around?
Comment posted from my smartphone.
This comment is an absolute eye-opener. I wasn't aware that "most people" use a smartphone to access the internet. I still use my laptop and desktop for everything internet based. My phone has the BBC Sport, News and Weather Apps plus Facebook and that's it (aside from a couple of games I use to pass the time). I can't envision using mobile to do anything aside from those handful of apps, texts and calls. I genuinely thought everyone was like me.
I'm like you too, dude. I'm so like you, last year I purchased a desktop. I'm not even a gamer. I just really like computers. We are in the minority, though. I'd kill for a not-smart phone with a good camera and Uber. Nothing else. I'm so tired of all these interruptions when not "online". I like being able to separate myself from that world.
Also, remember when the goal of manufacturers was to make cell phones smaller? Those were the days...!! Not sure how accurate this is, but I've read the reason cell phones keep getting bigger now is because advertisements are more effective on big screens.
When my last computer started to go funky I never replaced it because it is so easy to use the internet on my mobile, and I was a tech oriented person. I only miss it for long form comments and essays.
Also, remember this? Holy crap, the Mayans were right! 😂 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon
Honestly, I'll probably get downvoted for this, but I really think it's the iphone 4 that did it.
It had full internet access, wasn't an exclusive for AT&T only anymore, and sold tens of millions of units by late 2012.
I really feel like the net prior to 2010-2012 'self selected' for computer literate people only, and computer literate people tended to be less insane in general due to the basic level of competence needed. You had to have a basic level of ability to know how to do stuff online, and that filtered out most of the crazy.
The iphone 4 meant an influx of level-0 users to the net. Flat earthers, anti-vax soccor moms, 80 year old racist retiree, all got twitter on their pre-installed iphone app. Everything was made so easy and user friendly, no one had to actually learn how to work anything anymore.
That 'barrier of entry' on the internet was incredibly low prior to 2010, but it was at least high enough to keep out the absolute morons. That speed bump was demolished by 2012.
I was just watching old Grey’s Anatomy re-runs from season 9, which came out in 2013, and I was surprised to see that none of the characters were using a smartphone yet. That’s 6 years after the original iPhone came out. I got mine in 2007, and I lived in NYC, so by 2013, smartphones were de rigueur.
My mother didn't get a tablet and smart phone til '15. Same with my aunt and even my hyper-religious 3-kids with 4th on the way cousin who is not even 30. That entire segment of the population was barely internet literate for the entire 2000s. They just didn't sit down at a computer and surf the web.
Neither did the party girl, or the divorce mom, or even the dude-bro. Or the old school blue collar engineer even, construction worker. Very small % of these populations had 10h+ a week internet routines.
I am dangerously close to /r/iamverysmart territory here, but I really do feel like the smart phone invaded the internet with morons. It made it too easy. It was never hard to begin with, but there are just tons of really fucking stupid people in the world, and they couldn't figure it out until Apple and social media companies held their hands every step of the way (because they wanted that sweet sweet ad revenue for their eyeballs).
We lost our common ground. The vast majority of the net back then had at least some things in common. Now anyone can be anyone on the other side of the keyboard and it's forced people into little niche circle jerk communities to try to find that camaraderie again. This has been a negative for everyone.
You aren't wrong. It all coincidences with the increased prevalence of lowest-common-denominator content such as listicles and clickbait video thumbnails etc.
I feel another contributing factor was when businesses started to have a presence on social media platforms - previously is was just all about the people, sharing interests and moments. When brands and businesses started to create accounts there was a paradigm shift to promoted content and trying to vie for the attention of the influx of users to these platforms.
I noticed the same thing in Veep. In season 1 and I think 2 as well (2012-13) they are still using blackberries with the whole keyboard as buttons.
Wow that's a great point! I hadn't considered how an easier, more user friendly internet would have opened some flood gates. While your perspective may be undeniably elitist, you still earn my upvote.
You could probably say 2012 is when smart phones really became ubiquitous. They existed a while before then, but weren’t the default option
Instagram, Snapchat etc blew up. It was the birth of modern social media.
I don’t think streaming video and fast online browsing was accessible on your phone until maybe late 2013 to 2014. Now you don’t have to ever be without your favorite shows or your fancy Internet forums like Reddit
Before 2005.
before 9/11...that was the landmark that killed old subversive net and privacy at the same time
I was online first after 2001, so I only have heard tales of pre 01-internet. How was it?
I myself had home access only from 1998 on...so, there was a lot more going on in texts...loading pics would take forever and the first vids were all grainy and bad quality...so you had a lot of anticipation going on for the years to come.
look up the sound a dial up modem makes...this could go on for minutes. the pcs were crappy and crashed a lot. but it was a universe of its own. small voices could be heard and did not get drowned in commercial best bidding floods of content. it was intimate and there was this hope as to what kind of tool it will become...
9/11 I witnessed live on tv (cnn) while chatting on the net and I said in shock to my flatmates this is going to change our lives...the flight restrictions were implemented almost immediately and soon the net had to become "safer" too and all the registering started. before you could participate in a lot of stuff without registration...
all the things to catch the small fish and will let the big ones untouched because they always counter it somehow...
if I was an evil entity and worked on a plan to survey (a/o profile!)as many people as possible I would try to invent the internet...now everybodys home is bugged and under control and the fun free things wont last forever...then it will be a real curse.
Have you ever watched the show, "To Catch a Predator"? It was kind of like that, except we also had punters and Frog in a Blender.
Also, bing-bong-bi-bi-bing kwoooooooo kwaaaaaaaa ding ding kwooooookkaaaaaaaaah you've got mail!
Newgrounds 😭
This actually generic, but at the same time I think you’re about right.
I remember being in class and seeing my first “click bait links” in 2012 (maybe 2011, but it was right around then) and then again for like the next 2 weeks I felt like only clickbait was showing up. I very vividly remember thinking in the moment that social had peaked at that point. I wish I’d have written it down, because it looks like classic Monday Morning QBing, but I legitimately remember being bothered by it. The memory is so vivid, I could show you the seat I was in when it happened if we were in that room.
Now it’s a thousand times worse than I could have imagined.
At first I rolled my eyes at 2012 but I do think there was a bit of awareness that developed around that time. Like suddenly everyone was aware that everyone could see everything you do online. I think it really shows in tweets - back then people talked differently. It was more personal and a bit less filtered and polished.
Before 2000 for me. When most of the other people on the internet were nerds like me.
2012 is when social media became truly mainstream . 2006-2011 was a transitional period
I'd argue that 2012-2016 were the last good years of the internet/YouTube.
nope
You forgot about Facebook
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Also, scrambled porn on TV and softcore porn on the premium channels.
I lived for the free weekend previews of Cinemax. There was a site I had bookmarked that listed all upcoming free previews on Directv. I would quite literally plan out my schedule in high school so I could watch the softcore stuff on Cinemax. I'd then record scenes with my old Boulder flip phone and use the vids to jerk off to later lol.
I lived for the free weekend previews of Cinemax
You and me both brother.
Coed Confidential, Hotel Erotica and then whatever random film with one of the same 20 or so soft core actors. Those were some great weekends.
When I was 13 the Playboy channel would unscramble for about 5 minutes every day at 4 pm. Also there was a cable access show in my home town where two guys would go to local strip clubs
a cable access show in my home town where two guys would go to local strip clubs
And ... that was just the whole show?
Pretty much, it was purely an excuse to show boobs
Spice channel! My grandfather had one of those descrambler boxes or whatever.
Eros America
the old blurry nipple. at least i think it was a nipple. also 56k modem pic downloads. id want to wait for the whole pic to jack but one pic would take an hour. by the time a boob was exposed i couldnt help myself.
Sometimes i like to hold a magnet up to the monitor while on softcore pornhub to get a nice nostalgia nut.
I remember there was one in the park one day. I was about 8, I didn’t know what I was looking at (at the time), but I knew I liked it
When he was a kid, this guy porned.
And he liked it.
But didn’t kiss a girl
In retrospect looking at my friend's older brother's Playboys in 3rd grade is how I knew I was straight.
Woods porn.
Ah yes, I'll never forget that bike ride home in 5th grade when my friend and I discovered a treasure trove of porn mags someone had thrown away.
Woods porn. Also porn mags hidden in the back of your parents closet.
Until you found the epic load drop between pages 14 and 15.
Risk v reward: the early years.
I remember telling my 12 year old son that he couldn't play GTA because I heard you could buy hookers and it had in game sex. He looked at me like an idiot and said "Seriously? I can get real porn on my phone." It was an uh huh moment.
There’s a growing belief amongst psychologists that this is having some serious effects on kids and their attitudes to sex. I’m not normally one to buy into that “think of the children” stuff but if I was his age and I had a device in my pocket that gave me access to countless hours of every kind of pornography imaginable at the push of a button... well... I can tell you my parents wouldn’t have seen a lot of me.
On the flip side I am more discerning in my consumption. As a teen anything would do.
Exactly. These days I spend hours determining exactly the right clip to jerk off to.
Spend 1 hour looking for the perfect clip, 20 seconds to finish.
We'd get more done if we didn't wank.
True...I would’ve made all my dreams a reality
Hell yea. I found the absolutle dirtiest porno mag in a garbage can once. Think it was called Nugget
I don't think I want to know what was in Nugget....
Yea it was pretty twisted. Diaper, plastic wrap fetishes, period blood, golden showers, etc. Figures my first time seeing a porn mag was THAT level of dirty.
Damn and I thought Penthouse was a bit raunchy
Or buying it from that one kid on the bus. I don't know how he got it but I was buying what he was selling.
I used to get them underage by going to the newsagent, picking up a newspaper then browsing the magazine section. When they weren’t looking I’d slip a few porn mags in the middle of the newspaper. Then I grab a bball magazine or two, and because I felt guilty I was stealing I’d grab some chocolate bars too so I could give them a bit. Ore money. I’d pile it all on the counter and they’d just fan out the paper, bball mags and chocolate and ring up the total. Then I’d leave with my secret stash hidden in the news paper.
Hahahah you sneaky bastard!
Knew I wasn't the only one.
Nothing beats a used porno mag with sticky pages
It’s all fun and games until you stumble upon some sticky pages.
Good old porn in the bushes.
Fuck yes! I was fortunate enough to be one of those kids and my god did it make my childhood great.
I found one in the bushes at after-school club once and I ripped some pages out and took them home. I stored them in the Kleenex box I kept next to my pillow (not so subtle), and then one day I freaked out and hid them in a bush in the lane behind our house (talk about going full circle). I'd occasionally go out into the lane and look at them, usually end up jerking off in the lane and cumming all over the bushes.
Man, those were the glory days!
Edit: I just remembered one of the pages I tore out; it was some blonde chick stuffing strawberries in the her pussy! Fuck me, that's hilarious.
What an odd time to grow up. Old enough to remember porn mags yet young enough to experience the explosion of internet porn.
I do wish I was about eight years older to have experienced it longer, but man, I’m glad I was born when I was. It was like being alive in a fantastical world when the magic/ mana/ mysticism drains from it as technology progresses (like that Love, Death, and Robots episode with the Kitsune) right before the last of the magic goes away.
I think the western world lost what little mysticism it had clung onto once the internet became ubiquitous.
ew it's sticky
I cherished and hid the porn stuff I could find like a leprechaun and his gold. It was usually shoplifted Playboy but when you found the real dirty graphic stuff it was so exciting.... I used to sit in my tree smoking cigars I lifted and enjoy not reading the articles . I was 14 and it was 1965. I have the entire Playboy centerfolds collection now and I can actually see the girls I used to ogle and walk through mammory lane so to speak.
And for some reason, there was porn in the woods. Never quite figured that out.
I will never forget my first found porno mag. It was paper GOLD!
Back then, the pic of a boob was enough to go and today you spend hours browsing infinite porn contents because no clip is "exactly" what you are looking for.
and it will be passed around among friends until the moment it got lost or someone was caught by his/her parents having it
Bramble mags
Wasted so much protein on them.
Yeah...having access to unlimited porn for every fetish possible at your fingertips is WAY worst... 🙄
Couch Co-Op in video games. Never gonna have another game like Golden Eye on the N64.
This is it for me. Should be way higher. I miss having people over to play games rather than going to our respective houses and going online. It’s nice for those friends who have moved away maybe but damn I miss proper couch multiplayer.
Having a day where two of us have the same 2-4 hour time-slot available is not going to happen very frequently with adult responsibilities. Couch co-op might have been fun, but spending a large part of the available time traveling seems a bad use of the time now that it is much more limited as a resource :(
I think this is probably why online gaming is becoming such a focus. Sure, it would be more fun to play with your friends in the spare room, but with online all you need is a spare hour and some decent organisation, and you can play in your pyjamas of course.
Also, now that the Switch is a thing, surely couch co-op is in the best place it's ever been? You don't even have to be at home to play, and there's a good number of high quality games out there that can be played casually and in tabletop mode.
I don’t understand why you got downvoted, only having couch co-op as a means to play together would be a major inconvenience and would completely erase MMOs as well as other genres.
Again I’m not saying online multiplayer as an option is bad. It’s that it’s killed couch multiplayer. My son really liked Destiny when I played. Would have been nice if I could have played it with him without resorting to buying another TV, another PS4, another copy of Destiny (Plus DLC) and another subscription to PS+. As much as I love gaming with my kids, that’s too rich for my blood.
Unless you are married to your gamer buddy and both still want couch co op lol. Of course kids still reduce the time you have
My roommates and I have all been friends for years and we all love video games, so we have like three TVs in our living room with three or four xboxs, a wii, and a Playstation 2 in storage so whenever we play any game we're all in the same room and it's great
Nintendo still make local multiplayer games, I also have a few new indie games on my desktop which have local multiplayer.
After companies realized that you can earn more money on two people buying two copies and playing online instead of buying a single copy and run it on the same system the amount of games supporting local multiplayer quickly plummeted.
Tons of great local multiplayer games on the Switch, both Nintendo (Yoshi, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Mario Kart/Tennis/Party/Bros. U, Snipperclips, online sub comes with a bunch of classic NES games some of which are multiplayer, etc) and third party (tons of great indie games, classic fighting games, etc). Personally, I've had a lot of local fun with Wizard of Legend, 20XX, Just Beats and Shapes, Jackbox games and Overcooked 2 just to name a few more indie games.
After companies realized that you can earn more money on two people buying two copies and playing online instead of buying a single copy and run it on the same system the amount of games supporting local multiplayer quickly plummeted.
It's more than just that. It's a lot harder to do technically now plus people are more sensitive to frame rates. If you try Goldeneye in 4 player now you realise that it's a bit of a jerky mess.
It's a lot harder to do technically now
Not really, maybe in the sense that less game engines come with out-of-the-box splitscreen support as a feature but back in the day most games wrote their engines from scratch anyway.
people are more sensitive to frame rates.
Games which split the screen in 2/3/4 pieces are rarely games which require high framerates. If the game is not splitscreen there shouldn't much of a performance impact as the GPU still only draws one view.
I'm kinda half remembering it now but I saw an article a while back talking about the death of split screen which said something about modern games makes the extra GPU load for doing split screen proportionally higher compared to older games so it was harder to implement. I think it was that occlusion culling wasn't common in the golden age of split screen and you just had to half the draw distance but it's standard now so you are having to render loads more compared to single player, something like that.
Can't remember where I saw the article now
My dad and I used to play games in split screen all the time before games were able to play online. We would sit there for hours and play together... some of my favorite memories was playing vigilante on the N64 with my dad or Mario Cart 64 balloon mode
Friendships were made thorough Mario Kart 64
There is plenty of great couch co-op today on Steam, some on Switch, and a bit on other consoles as well.
Smash ultimate.
I don't remember prices back then, but now a spare joy-con is a pretty hefty investment. If the other person already has a switch then it's much easier, but part of the "joy" of going to Rick's house in the late 90s was that he had a Nintendo 64 and 3 controllers so we could hit us with green shells like idiots in Mario Kart.
We used the gc controller adaptor, all my friends have at least one gc controller.
The wired pro controllers can work pretty well too
PvZ Garden Warfare 2 does a great job of 2 player co-op. But I hear you, the days of picking up a controller (no accounts needed per player) with three other buddies in the livingroom playing Super Bomberman 2 and Golden Eye appear to be gone.
If it helps, the latest Bomberman on the Switch can have up to 8 players all playing on the same console.
The Switch is still a haven for these types of local multiplayer games.
The lack of splitscreen on consoles is honestly what is destroying my interest in them, that and the online subscriptions, why would I buy a console now when I can get everything they offer an a pc and with no console divide, and it's starting to get cheaper to play pc now with all the console subscriptions you're forced into
Add-on: I miss the focus on most every game being playable in single-player mode. Nowadays a lot of games are MMO only, or both but the 1P version is an afterthought. Maybe I just wanna play at my own pace without being attacked every half hour??
I don't know how many people played Call of Duty for the campaigns, but I was one of those. I wanted to get the not-so-old Modern Warfares on Steam, saw the absurd prices and that most of the DLCs, bundles and packages were multiplayer-focused and said "hell no!".
I'm more of a fan of empire-building games myself, but even those are becoming more PVP than PVE. Really keeping track of your EB game and advancing faster than a snail's pace (without paying to win) is a whole feat in itself, and battle is not necessary to keep the game interesting; and NPC battling is more than enough to keep it extra interesting. But empire-building games are increasingly becoming MMO, full-on war games with a little empire building on the side. To make it worse there's a whole gaming subculture about the gradual progression of all things towards being war games, there's a superiority complex going on, so if you prefer the building part of empire building and try to play like that and not bother anyone...well you deserve to be attacked so often that all your progress is undone, don't you?
Now that I think of it, I had an entire rant going back when I'd gotten well and truly sucked into such a game and was trying to dig it out of the clutches of that culture.
Like :
Some are only on Steam but a lot of them have a console version and this list is absolutely not exhaustive.
Problem is a lot of the stuff on steam is very short round based games. Which is fun, but I'd love something a bit deeper than that. This is why me and the gf put 2 PCs and 2 TV's in the living room... Looks ridiculous but we've had so much fun playing together on the sofa.
Would mind giving some examples of games you play ?
We got overcooked on sale and really enjoyed that for a bit. But like I say, bit samey and short. Currently we've got quite addicted to Warframe, honestly I'm struggling to get the other half to play anything else right now... I really wanted to pick up Borderlands 2 whilst it's on sale but we're really broke at the mo. Oh we got Far Cry 4 on sale and really enjoyed a bit of that together. Those good damned eagles though... I was also excited to see that Outward has co-op, so.ething like that would be a nice change of pace for us.
I appreciate the social aspects of playing in the same room together, but split-screen is and always has been a torment from hell.
LAN parties were where it's at though.
LAN is better than splitscreen most of the time if you have the option. Me and my friends frequently bring PS4s and TVs to each other's houses to play on LAN together and it works well.
I was so relieved to have couch co-op confirmed on Borderlands 3.
Seriously, perfect dark, golden eye, all of those were great.
Yes! I remember being so little and my big sister inviting her friends over after school to play that and other N64 games.
Now my friend’s kid is that age and plays multiplayer games online with strangers. I’m not saying that’s bad, but, it definitely doesn’t sound like there’s anywhere near as much laughter involved.
Halo Master Chief Collection?
My wife and I have played a LOT of Borderlands over the years because of this. We’ve been playing games together since Toe Jam and Earl were young, but the options for couch co-op are slim now. We both hate most of the Lego games. I love Gears of War, but they’re too, well, Gears-y, for her. Anyway, we just bought Borderlands again when the collection (the second two games... sad because the first is still my favorite) went down to $15 for PS4. It’s still fun, if not as funny as it was the first couple of times through... and it was never as funny as the Gearbox writers thought it was.
I pulled this out the other week for friends to play.. My god those controls are janky as fuck
Do you have a Switch? If so: check out Full Metal Furies. Amazing co-op game.
No but I’ve been seriously wanting one, it seems like there are lots of good Co-Op games on Switch. I have a ps4 right now so that’s where I was coming from with this post.
It's sort of based on a gimmick but have you seen the game Screen Cheat? It's probably one of the more recent local co-op split screen shooter games. It's kinda neat too.
Lots of couch co-op games have been coming out recently but not very many split screen shooters if that's specifically what you meant.
emuvr might allow you to do that again.
new COD allows split screen local. also try mother russia bleeds, rocket league, enter the gungeon, broforce.
they still exist!!!
Luckily it's making a comeback. Companies realized that people who played couch co-op in the 80s and 90s now have kids and are looking for games to play with them.
Not really for kids but you should get a friend and play Borderlands 2. It's so great
I've heard good things about Borderlands GOTY Enhanced, which steam automatically gave me for owning the first game.
Borderlands 2 is vastly superior in any way but the first one is a gem nonetheless
Board games and table top war gaming are some hobbies you should look into.
We have nights at least once a week where our group meets up to play new or existing board games we have.
Also, warhammer 40k is amazing for trying to reclam that feeling of gaming with a group. I play with friends and in a club. Every monday 20 or so of us meet up at a shop. We hang out, BS, game and it is great to be able to have that face-to-face time while you game
Still exists.
Every week without fail I go back to Google and type the same search "couch co-op [insertplatformhere]" and get disappointed. Do you remember Sniper Elite ?! Two friends strategically sniping away on a full campaign mission! Today, Sniper Elite doesn't even play multiplayer on the same console. The closest we could get was to bring our two PS3s in the same room and play Far Cry 4. If I was a game designer, I'd include couch co-op in every single game I design!
I feel ya. Me and my daughter have been getting into playing games together. And trying to find local multiplayer games (like split screen or whatever) for anything newer the ps1 is pretty difficult. I mean there are definitely some decent titles to choose from. But not a ton.
There’s plenty of co op games available. I’m having fun playing couch co-op on Divinity Original Sin 2.
Split screen is great when your tv is huge.
I think widescreen resolutions killed local multiplayer more than the internet.
Borderlands 3 is supposed to have 4 way couch co-op splitscreen.
Not sure if I missed it. But did anyone used to split up the screen with cardboard to avoid screen watching.
Me and a buddy of mine used to play halo on his xbox 360 way back in the day. I thought those days would be gone forever but the nintendo switch has brought them back! Now we enjoy beating up bots in super smash every weekend.
I'm sorry but a) there still are local multiplayer games, and b) GoldenEye is fucking garbage. There's plenty of games which came out later that were much better.
Perfect Dark exists though, and that game is pretty much taking everything great about the Goldeneye multiplayer and adding more great stuff to it
My social life
As someone from before the Internet era, what social life?
Weirdly my social life is fuller of trustworthy friends than 10 years ago.
Wait til you turn 30, man.
I am 30.
Really, you don't look it
I know :)
Yeah it's hard to tell if social media and texting has kept me in touch or kept me farther apart from some friends.
I haven't seen a good out of state friend of mine in 3 years. We still text a few times a month...is that keeping us together? Or is it providing just enough contact that we don't bother with a trip or even to use the phone to call each other and have a real conversation?
That's really up to you and the people in question. I moved out of my home country a few years ago and I greatly appreciate that I can keep in touch with the friends that matter and of course my family. I grew up in the days when a landline was the only way to talk directly to someone in a different location and if that was the case today, I would have the chance to talk to my friends and family a couple of times a year. Thanks to the internet, I can now write and talk with them daily or simply whenever we want and that's absolutely awesome.
Yeah it's great for those sorts of situations, where actual visiting is not feasible, and even phone calls can be expensive.
It's trickier when people are in town, or a short road trip away. I think it too often fools me into thinking the relationship is being tended to.
That is exactly what I said
I would attest to this except i didn't really have a social life before the internet anyways. But it's definitely kept me from really going out there to try and get one.
r/suicidebywords
Buying a video game and reading the manual on my way home (in the car).
Catalogs as a kid. Sears Christmas catalog with all the cool toys.
I used to like to just close the book and randomly open a page to see what I’d get. Sometimes it would cool, sometimes it was something lame. But it made it more fun.
Not knowing EVERYTHING. We used to have conversations about nothing significant and everyone contributed what they knew and now it's like, just google it.
Idk.... me and my friend group still go hard on that. We kinda view having to google something as a crutch
Yeah we mostly google it once it's been debated a little.
Once someone whips out the phone to Google it, we lost the game.
I just lost the god damn game
It's so weird when you a tell story to a 9 year old, and she pulls out a phone and fact checks you.
Now to properly fuck with kids you need to think ahead of time and create a fake website or cleverly vandalize a Wikipedia page at just the right time.
When (if) I eventually do have kids I'd like to not let them have a phone until they're at least 13, but I feel like there will be pressure to get them one earlier.
Yeah, good luck with that.
Once the kids go to school, all bets are off. She might not have a phone but she will be continuously exposed to it.
It's part of the culture now.
I know it won't be feasible. Maybe I'll move them to a third world country lol. Obviously joking but really I wish it were possible to avoid giving them constant access to the internet, but I won't make them social pariahs because of my beliefs. Honestly I'm not sure I want kids anyway so this might be a moot point.
I know it won't be feasible. Maybe I'll move them to a third world country lol.
Too late. Even third world countries are getting phones.
Cell phones towers are much easier to set up than dragging cable everywhere, so it's a preferred approach there.
Haha I was joking anyway but I doubt every kid has a cell phone there. That seems like a luxury that a lot of families wouldn't be able to afford. Sure the parents might but cell phones are expensive.
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Not to mention the things we Google really aren't all that important. You can know every pop culture fact in existence and still be dumb as a post.
People still don't know jack shit.
You'd be surprised how many people simply refuse to look for information they need.
We still know nothing, though. We just memorized the routes to get to something. How many people know facts? Or do they just know how to Google the fact when the time comes to tell it to someone?
Diablo 2 lan parties. Sure you can still do them, but it's not the same.
I was going to say Lan parties as well. Just playing video games with your friends in the same room really. Totally different feel then online with a headset on. Now most games don't even have a local multiplayer. Or they need to talk to the server to play. So you try getting 8 people playing the same game over one internet connection and it all goes to shit.
I miss lan parties...or just sitting on the couch with my best bud playing a couch co-op
It was great. A whole room full of computers with people playing for days. Civ, battlefield 1945 and all kinds games depending on the mood.
When we organized these parties we also set up a console room, so people could also play ps2 games or watch movies. We did this in a friends house that had a pool, so people alternated between activities.
We always played red alert 2. Hours and hours. One party we had about 15 people. All the computers in one room. And 4 tv's with 4 xboxs all linked together to play 16player halo. Such a gokd time.
Nintendo saves this for me and my friends, also tabletop games.
A few months ago, my roommate set up a ps2 emulator on our living room computer and we set up an nfl blitz tourney with all of our friends. It was one of my best memories from college and it was way better than playing video games with better “quality” with each other over the internet.
I remember having weekend stay-overs at friends houses. Played through half of Borderlands 1, played through all of L4D2, Beat Halo 3 on the night it was released. It was so much fun. I miss that simplicity. Having a 12 pack of sodas and a couple pizzas and chips on the table in the basement.
I’d love to go back to trying to set up a lan to play duke nukem 3D only to end up in the same session in different maps...hiding in tiny cabinets was fun too.
I really enjoy "LAN" parties, even though I was born just a little too late to experience them when they were the only game on the block. And I really enjoy the convenience of playing a modern game on a server, versus having to setup the LAN for older games you and your friends want to try out.
We just had a lan party last weekend. But only old games with multiplayer mode, in a place with no internet access.
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Four player split screen was way better, and it was cheaper because you only needed one console. Winner stays on!
Age of Empires 2, Warcraft 3 and Dota, Halo, Red Alert. Please bring back LAN and local co-op, I do not want to play with strangers.
Yes! Massive amounts of baal runs.. halo2 was sick with like 8 tvs
Anyone remember Redvex for D2? I was a part of that crew lol
Yeah, when bunch of no skill losers on battle.net loaded it and thought they are good.
In the end they were weak with shitty chars so they has to resort to flashing my screen black
I was referring to those with skill who developed the plugins, not those who used them. I created a cool plugin that allowed you to play hangman in the game. Tell me the harm in that.
Found Joe Rogan!
Been to 2 LANs on last few years. Lot of fun. Friend of mine ppl he knows normally do one a year. Good fun. Mostly Playing older games there. Aoe2, L4D2 some battlefield and cod games. So many good one's
Yeah, gaming in the same room as your friends in general. LAN parties/ split screen games
Modern lanparties: people doing the exact same thing they would be doing at home, only talking to each other when getting a smoke.
What lanparties used to be: Playing local multiplayer games with minimal latency with everyone else in the room. Actively coordinate what games to play and who starts the server. Have a dedicated machine for serving LAN games.
Enter a modern lanparty, and you see people playing frikkin'n MMO's or shooters that work exclusively through online matchmaking. I try to get a game of L4D2 going on every lanparty I go to, because I know it will be the most fun moment of the entire weekend.
Yeah, one of the main reasons people started doing Lan parties was because of the fast latency you'd get vs. playing over dialup. Online multiplayer was a thing way back in the mid/late 90's but it was useless for any game that needed less than a second and a half ping to be playable. Games like counterstrike came out and were impossible to play over dialup. I was a nerd with nerd friends back then and I remember how fucking awesome it was to get all set up at our Lan and see 12ms ping in counterstrike!
I think it's cool that people still do Lans, but I think the aura around it these days is lost because of how fast our internet speeds are at home. We don't need to have Lan parties because of slow internet. I have gigabit fiber at my house and can load on to Chinese game servers and still have less ping than we used to back in our old school Lans with 1/10 network switches.
Started out having LAN parties for Duke Nuke'm back in the day. Diablo 2 came later, than oh man so much time having HALO parties, war craft, battlefield.....you are right not the same today.
Being contently alone. I could go sit on a rock out by the lake and think. No one could reach me. Sure you can mute your phone or not take it but the damn thing is there. Its waiting for you to return and deal with what was missed. I can never escape for awhile without consequence. This is, for me, the dark side. My tech is always expected to be on so I am too. Nowhere to hide and be by myself anymore.
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I wish I could do this, but I’m a teenage girl whose parents rely on me being accessible in order to make sure I’m alive and such. It’s a balance. Sometimes I just wanna be alone though :/
I never use my phone during holidays and stuff usually though, only recently when I say merry Christmas to my boyfriend. That’s my time to spend with the people I love, don’t touch it.
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Well no, they don’t (they’re incredibly lenient compared to any other parents I know.)
But if I disappear for a couple of hours in the middle of the night I’d rather have them be able to contact me. I’m also notorious for being bad at communicating that “hey, I’m leaving now, I’ll be back at this time, bye”
When I go to a friend I can be like “bye, I’ll be back today” and the only reason they’d check up on me is a “oh, when did you say you’ll be back? We need milk so if you could walk by the grocery store on your way home that’d be great” or “you’re not home yet and it’s 11.pm. You dead?”
The thing is that I’m always out and about in the middle of the night with my friend. And well, we’re stupid so we usually end up in the weird areas or just somewhere where we feel unsafe (so basically in my town). My parents would NOT want me to be in those places without being able to contact them, and that’s very reasonable.
Also I’m oblivious as shit so I’d be quite likely to end up staying out til sunrise if I couldn’t check the time/get reminded to get tf home and sleep.
Well that was longer than I thought
That's what she said ....^(sorry)
Mood
My high school aged daughter has a car. We don't require her to tell us when she goes somewhere after school instead of coming home. She can go out anywhere she wants day or night so long as she's home from midnight to six am (local law for teenagers).
In exchange for all that freedom she simply must have her phone on her so that we can reach her if we need to for some reason, and so that she can call for help if she runs into any kind of problem.
IMO that's not helicoptering, but you may think otherwise.
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We do ask her if she'll be home for dinner. Aside from that it's nice when she tells us where she'll be (which she usually does), but not required.
Unlike when we were growing up I should be able to reach (and therefore find) her at all times, so where she is physically at doesn't matter as much.
This. Its so bizzare because the parents of today's teens, didn't have cell phones themselves at that age. I mean, I'll let my children have phones once they're 14 (not any younger) but its like... they can be fine without them. My friend's kids are both teenagers and he's completely against them having cell phones. He was a teen in the '90s when cell phones were very primitive. Teens did fine back then, they can do fine now.
Sounds easy but it really affects your social life
Take a cruise vacation. You can't use your phone at sea and have to pay for slow internet. It's a wonderful feeling not having a phone on you.
Thanks, that sounds like a good plan.
Oh gosh, it's gonna sound stupid, but VHS tapes. Or any physical medium for videos. I grew up with em as a kiddo, so they have that nostalgic feel. I was chatting with my younger cousin about Disney movies once and mentioned I had the Aristocats on VHS. Her response was "What's that?" Swear I felt myself age 50 years. I'm a stubborn old mule and still buy movies I like physical though. I still wanna have a movie marathon when the internet is down after all!
That feeling of putting the VHS into the machine, pressing play, and hearing it whir a couple seconds until it came up on the screen.... And you had to rewind... Earn that movie.
Be kind, rewind!
Be a friend, rewind when you reach the end!
Also...how those few seconds were also terrifying because you weren't sure yet if you actually may have "worn the particles off that tape" as your parents would say you were going to, regularly. Haha!
I have a minivan and it has a VHS player. Just last night my kids came home from their dad's and said they had looked through my stuff in the garage(I'm storing a few boxes there for now) and one of them had an armful of tapes. She said,"Mommy look at all the new tapes we have to watch in the car!!"
It made me just...really happy-and annoyed because I was saving them for Easter and he let them go through my stuff. Wtf. Anyway. Yay VHS!!!!!
I had a kid once ask me what a dial tone sounded like. I literally had to pull it up on YouTube so they’d understand 😖
Kids never fail to make me feel ancient
They also don't understand when you say,"I was like, goooodbye...CLICK." Lol.
I don't miss my favorite movie slowly degrading in quality because I watched it too much though.
Yeah, I'm no stranger to that. Apparently I watched Fantasia so much that my poor grandparents' copy wore right through
My copy of Fantasia was so fuzzy on the dinosaur part, because I didn't like that section as a kid and would always fast forward through it to get to the ostriches. It was very noticeable when I dug my tapes back out and watched it again.
Haha, my copy is long lost to the sands of time. I think there might be a blu ray copy somewhere in my house though
I was thinking of that too. I remember the rare orange and green tapes. I also remember the old Transformers movie was one of my favorites and I even watched it way later as a teen when DVDs were big and you could hardly find VHS players but as soon as I popped it in the player stopped working :(. I sort of miss the “coming soon the VHS and DVD” that the announcer would say when before showing a trailer when DVDs were picking up traction and becoming normalized
VHS rot was a thing. I do not miss tapes for that reason.
Wasn't ever as bad as people make it out to be. Unless you stored your tapes in florida swampland or something, they don't rot
Never happened with any of my tapes. I got tapes from the '90s that are at my mom's house and I guarantee that as long as I got a working VCR, they'd be fine.
In contrast, I can't even tell you how many DVDs and CDs I've had that got scratched and would skip like awful.
I wouldn't say the internet killed VHS, but rather DVDs.
In a more general sense, the internet killed physical video
I maintain a DVD collection for those times when the internet goes down. My college roommate got hooked on The Simpsons from my collection during one of the many internet outages at our apartment, lol.
The internet in the dorms here is unreliable at best, DVDs come in handy then!
In 2015 I had moved to Denton, Texas and started going to UNT down there. I got a tiny studio apartment, and being a broke college kid I didn't have any internet. Thankfully the library at the school was 24/7 so that late summer/early fall I spent lots of nights downloading a crap ton of Bobs Burgers and King of the Hill episodes on my laptop and then watching them at home where I had no internet. It was lonely as fuck at the time, with my boyfriend still living at another part of Texas that we were at before so I needed to keep myself entertained in that place.
Wasn't even four years ago but I am already kinda reminiscing on them days. Also spent a lot of time playing on my Nintendo 64 emulator... which reminds me I wanted to play some Mario Party tonight but got distracted by Netflix. Thanks, internet!!!
Do you remember when DVDs and CDs first came out and they were being touted as 'Indestructible'. I think I proved that wrong in a week.
My sister and I watched Shrek & Finding Nemo so much on the VHS we ruined the tapes! That subsequently led to my first act of piracy (got a friend to copy hers onto a blank VHS)
Physical Blu-ray is still better than streaming though! I still have a collection of movies I want in as good a quality as possible
My grandma had the VCR and then the other thing that would rewind the tape Super fast for you.
Good one. The intense inconvenience of having to rewind a tape before you could watch it, knowing you had something taped but you didn't label it so had to check all the blank tapes. I had a Beta machine before VHS won the war and it had a corded remote control, it was so futuristic to me!
You seriously miss VHS tapes? God, there were so many infuriating things about VHS that are just gone now, and good riddance I say! I get that it’s a nostalgia thing but I only really have bad memories of crappy resolution, degradation, bad sound quality, tracking problems, taping over stuff you wanted to keep by accident etc.
My attention span with all those snippets of information.
I actually enjoyed going to the video rental stores beforehand to check out new release movies and games.
I think this is an underappreciated part of those stores that torrenting/pirating kinda killed unintentionally. Interested in a game or movie but not sure if you want to drop the full amount? Rent it and try it out, then decide if you want to shell out the full price.
Now it's just download the show/game/movie for free, maybe buy it later (probably not).
Excellent points.
I loved going to Blockbuster as a kid! We'd pick out a movie and get some candy to eat while we watched it. At mine there was a big bin of candy and it was amazing. Everything was so different then.
I remember seeing the posters for new movies and getting excited about upcoming releases
Shame. People jump on and are just complete fuckwads and never have to deal with the consequences. If people had to look someone in the face, they mostly wouldn't spout the shit that they do.
People were dipshits back in the day too. There's just no record of it. But trust me, I remember.
Some people were openly dipshits. Many were closet dipshits who shut their mouths in public.
Distance, impersonality, and worst of all anonymity of the internet allows people to bring out their inner fuckwad with little to no real life consequence.
I'm a solid 205cm tall metalhead, do you think a 140 short 13 years old pissant would look me in the eye in person and tell me how he shagged my mother? Because I highly doubt it. In this case, internet gives people a sense of security.
I think he's talking about the twitter mobs. Before the internet only celebrities could be publicly shamed; now we're all open to it. Yay!
Twitter made it so you can talk to people you shouldn’t be in contact with. I doubt 100% of the trolls would say that shit to Dwayne Johnson’s face.
But "community" is a much broader place than it used to be. Pre-internet, you pretty much only knew the people you worked with, played a sport with, lived by, or went to school with (and only those in your classes, not the whole school). When your community is that small, word of mouth is just as capable of ruining your life as being publicly shamed is now. Though we did then have the advantage of being able to move to escape that sort of thing. I admit the longevity and availability of information puts a new burden on anyone who's the victim of a public flogging.
At least the nazis were quieter for a while
True
I have a few scars as testament to other people's idiocy. They were assholes whether or not they could see you.
I know, I remember too. I was one of those people.
How movies could get away with saying this is based on a true story and get away with it like the Texas chainsaw massacre or serial mom. Now you can go online and see what was true or false
Pepperridge Farm remembers!
Pepperidge farms remembers
It has literally always like this. The Twitter brigade are the same people that sat around in sewing circles and church luncheons bitching about so-and-so doing such-and-such.
I grew up in a small town and watched gossipers tear down anyone who wasn't exactly like them. It's all the same thing. This isn't new.
In some ways, it is better now. Before, those sewing circles tore down anyone not like them and if you were in a small town, there was likely no one like you to give support. Now people seem much more ok about doing “weird” things because they have communities online to show it isn’t weird, just uncommon where they happen to live.
It's both ways. Sometime you say with your name on the internet, or if you get filmed, could make you go viral in the worst way. On the other hand, anonymity lets you be a troll fucker.
Quite the opposite. Social media has introduced never ending, extremely public shaming.
This applies to texting, as well. I've had some unbelievable text messages from people I know saying awful things to me that I know they wouldn't have said to my face or even over the phone. It's as if by texting it they can say what they truly feel with no recourse - get shit off their chest and move on. However, this girl has a memory like an elephant.
People used to sit atop flagpoles dude
Didn't the internet bring back public shaming in force?
Eh, I quite enjoy anonymously talking shit. There's something magical and liberating about being able to tell a 250lb gangbanger that I fucked his mom and there being nothing he can do about it.
Ringing the telephone service to find out what the exact time is - "at the third beep, the time will be 11.11 and 30 seconds". it settled any argument - eg. whose Casio calculator watch had the correctest time. everything is now set to servers and if you want to know what time it is in Manitoba you just ask the Google machine
that's oddly specific
haha. I guess I was going for some thing rather than just something.
5618323801 - The one in my town is still live :)
whattimeisitrightnow.com
There's also time.is.
yooo i have a casio calculator watch
Su-weet. Original?
I have no idea. How do you tell?
"Google machine"
Handwritten letters. Even my penpals in countries unknown don’t write letters anymore. They message me. Sad
I still send handwritten letters, snail mail with collaged envelopes! Because there is something so real, earnest, and authentic about a tactile letter... USPS owes me one, keepin' them afloat.
My sister joined a convent for a little while. The community had a computer but the Sisters were not allowed to have email or cell phones or anything like that, so we had to write physical letters to each other. I loved it! In a lot of ways, writing letters is so much more intimate than sending a text or even making a phone call. People open up very differently in a handwritten letter, maybe because you have to consider what you want to say before you write it down and you also have more time to consider what someone means or feels when they reveal something to you. It just seems like people are more open and reach a little deeper when writing a letter. I felt closer to my sister in a lot of ways when we were sending letters as opposed to when she returned home and I could just send her a quick text. The ease of communication now can diminish the depth of it.
I'm looking for a new penpal if you want a letter!
Where are you? I'd love to pick up a penpal if at all possible.
I had a Romanian penpal when I was a kid! The school set it up for whoever wanted one. I think I was about 10 when we started writing and kept in touch until I was about 15, when my parents broke up and we moved house too many times. It was really cool, we'd tell each other about what school was like in our countries, what holidays we celebrated and what subjects we were studying at high-school.
Man, I haven't thought about this in years and it is such a wholesome memory from a generally unhappy time. Full nostalgia mode engaged.
I’m still penpals with my VERY FIRST penpal at 8 years ok. He lives in Ghana. I now live in japan for 10 years and I’ve met a few students from the university in my city who would visit him when they travel there. We even started a charity for a school near this place of business.
Texting and video calling is great but I miss real letter......or maybe I just miss licking stamps.
Oh.....We are both now close to 40 years old.
Man I miss those too
Living and actually being apart of the moment. Not behind a phone recording it.
A world where social media influencers did not exist.
Unemployed people will always exist, though.
But the infomercial kings/queens had a power something similar.
Case in point: Billy Mays
What am I supposed to beat off to in a world with no social media influencers? Porn?!
I miss browser flash games I would play in the school computer lab.
Things like coolmathgames are still around.
Io games are better than ever, with examples like surviv, krunker or evowars
Those are alive and well! I still check armorgames and notdoppler and sometimes even shockwave, all the time.
Thanks!
Poptropica and Club Penguin! Hell yeah. I miss those days too.
I’m seeing a few people say movie rental stores. I think specifically the moment when Mom and Dad say “let’s go rent movies tonight” and you knew you were in for a night of staying up late and eating junk food.
Those were the days man.
Note: My first Silver!
Note2: Man oh man my first gold! I knew Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back was going to positively impact my future!
Yep! My parents would give us a rating limit, and let each of us choose one so we could watch them during the weekend. It was always a fight to the death who got their movie Friday night.
I'm glad most of us grew up together in a way. I get tired of hearing insane stories of methhead parents or creepy cousins or whatever. Blockbuster movie night is as nostalgia inducing as it gets.
We would go to family video, which was right next to a Papa Murphy’s. Get two nice movies for the night, a pizza to make later, 2 two liters of soda, kick back and enjoy.
Holy cow, another Papa Murphy's fan!
My brother and I grew up in California, and less than a mile from our house was a Papa Murphy's and two doors down from it was a Blockbuster.
Every Friday night, we'd rent movies and get pizzas and sodas. For us it was always Mug's Root Beer and usually the citrus soda Squirt.
Edit: Oh, I almost forgot guys. If anyone is ever in California and has to go to a Costco, try to find Dad's Root Beer. Blows Mug's, A&W, and Barq's out of the water.
I moved to LA from Minnesota a couple years ago. I don't have a car. One time my roommates were out of town and I had the use of their car, so I looked up the nearest Papa Murphy's. It was 45 minutes away. I drove there only to find out it had gone out of business (like, how??). So I looked up the next closest one and drove another half hour away or something. I was determined. I got my pizza and drove home. It was a 3 hour journey for that large pepperoni, but it was worth it. Papa Murphy's is amazing.
Although I will say, if you're ever in North Hollywood, you absolutely must go to Little Toni's. They serve the best pizza I have ever tasted in my entire life, bar none. Luckily for me, that's only a block and a half away :)
Sadly, my family moved from California to New England about fifteen years ago--the nearest Papa Murphy's is hundreds of miles from our house.
I haven't had a Papa Murphy's in over a decade.
Although I will say, if you're ever in North Hollywood, you absolutely must go to Little Toni's.
Duly noted.
Also, Ruby Red Squirt really takes me back...
Jolt Cola
Surge
Crystal Pepsi
I live in Glendale and I'm going to take up your claim. Those are big words.
You drove 3 hours for pizza you still had to take and bake at home? I'm from Sacramento and I love Papa Murphy's but at some point I would've just looked up the nearest costco, ate the whole pizza, and called it a day.
If I just wanted the most delicious pizza I would have gone to Little Toni's, which I can walk to, as I mentioned. It's far better than Papa Murphy's. But I wanted Papa Murphy's. Anyway, I thought it was clear that I was expecting an hour-and-a-half trip which turned into a 3 hour trip unexpectedly. Fallacy of sunk cost, I suppose.
Is Squirt good? They sell it in the Food Lion near me and I've always been kind of curious.
Yes
I don’t like grapefruits. Would I like it?
I don't like grapefruits either and I love squirt. Its got the same amount of sugar as a sprite. meaning, its a sugar drink that tastes citrusy
I wouldn’t say it’s as grapefruity as it is citrusy. Just take a chance and buy a small bottle. And drink it cold. I think it’s really refreshing
Squirt is honestly one of my favorite beverages. Give it a try.
Oh, Squirt is very good. It's somewhat like Fresca but sweeter.
I miss being able to say the word "squirt" without sexual connotation being first and foremost in peoples minds.
The Chicken Bacon Artichoke Thin pizza is the best pizza they have. I love it!
Depends how fat you wanna be.
Chicken bacon artichoke or chicken bacon ranch stuffed pizza.
There's one seriously a block away from my house, if you've never cooked one in a smoker I advise you to find somebody with a smoker
We'd get Squirt and grape drink from nob hill, then go pick up like 4 frozen pizzas from papa murphy's and start inviting friends.
It got pretty brutal when the pizza starting running low.
Hey, there was a Nob Hill near our home too--and we got grape soda there all the time.
I have no idea what the actual name of the productbis. It was just purple bubbles and said GRAPE across it. Best soda I have ever had, strangely.
Where in CA? I grew up in antelope and this sounds like my neighborhood. Maybe it was just common back in the day?
Watsonville--a little town about fourteen miles south of Santa Cruz. That was the town with the Strawberry Festival every year.
Oh, and right across the street from Papa Murphy's was a pizzeria with video arcade called "Cassidy's Pizza." There was a Jack-in-the-Box and a K-Mart in the same little area too.
I worked at a Papa Murphy’s for a few years in high school haha
My franchise owner was a cool dude who always wanted to start his own business, and after he left the Air Force he started a Papa Murphy’s and would pretty much only employ high school students bc he liked giving them job experience and our labor was cheap
This... is my childhood exactly. There was also a taqueria in the same parking lot, ah the memories.
Does anyone remember it before it was Papa Murphy's? Here it was called Papa Aldo's before it got bought out
I did the same! This was in California. Once my mom forgot the pizzas on the roof they fell off and she went back to get them and they were intact lol
Fridays were movie night! If it wasn't a theater adventure, it was a rental. Complete with hotdogs and a pile of sweets and popcorn!
For us, Friday was pizza and movie night, every week. Mom and Dad would put a sheet down on the floor to stop us from spilling pizza sauce on the ugly orange carpet from the 60's, and we'd all watch a VHS from Hollywood Video or Blockbuster. It was usually Aladdin or Cheetah.
Plus, Family Video had a curtained porno section so your parents were able to get their movie for their late night jollies in the same trip!
Friday night pizza night movie night! We did this almost every Friday. Our blockbuster was and still is right next to the Papa Murphy’s.
Still is? Do you live in Bend?
That’s where I grew up! I lived there last summer too.
My mom still rents movies from the last surviving Family video in our city. Still brings around that bit of nostalgia sometimes.
Whoa, I had no idea Papa Murphys was so far ranging. lil’ old Vancouver Washington should be proud.
You don’t happen to live in Wisconsin, do you?
I'm in wauwatosa and the family video nearby is connected to marco's pizza, you can even order for delivery and they'll bring a movie with your order
Huh
What was confusing about what I said
Nothing, I just meant like huh cool
I’m a Michigander myself
But you also sometimes live in Wisconsin, right?
Idahoan chiming in. I think Family Video and Papa Murphy's must have been in a particular sort of relationship
Ok, because there is one close to me that’s attached to a Pizza Hut, and I was wondering if you were talking about that one.
Was this a Chicago suburb?
Grand Haven
My mom couldn't pick a good movie to save her life. We watched so many low budget movies with my mom because we didn't want to make her feel bad.
My dad would take us to the Giant Eagle video rental. Loved that place.
Thanks for putting 2 then two because I probably would have thought you'd made a typo otherwise.
We still have a few Family Video stores around where I live.
I miss Papa Murphys! I lived in Kansas a couple of years and that is one of the few things I missed when I moved back to Michigan
I distinctly remember one day from my childhood where we did this, and I also had gotten a new Gameboy Advanced game -- I didn't think life would get any better than that.
I'm still not sure.
I would go to a local video store that also had a great selection of games. Every year they gave the kids at my elementary school vouchers for free rentals over the summer. I would often choose to rent N64 games with mine.
And that's the story of how I played Paper Mario for the first time and ever since then it's been hard to find a game with the same impact.
We lived in Waldort, Oregon, and the guy who owned the video store had a photographic memory. Rarely had to officially check anything out, just paid at the desk. Always knew what movie you were trying to remember based on some obscure bit you remembered. Such a cool little shop.
Two? When VCRs first came out, we would rent a machine and like 5 or 6 movies and stay up all night and take them back the next day.
Man I loved Papa Murphy's take n bake
Same exact scenario in my small town ... Almost like they planned it
We always would go when my cousins from Texas were staying with my grandparents to visit, all my parents grandkids would come to the house and we'd rent a bunch of horror movies and eat junk food and stay up all night
Ours just closed this winter, and it's a bummer. So much cheaper than streaming, and better quality than streaming.
From Texas by any chance?
Tracy McGrady once stepped on me at a Blockbuster. He was renting GTA 3.
6'8" former pro basketballer stepped on you.
Did he say sorry?
He did and he called me a lil n word even though I was white
I'm still white
No shit? He did the same thing to me in 1997 except I'm not white anymore.
He's not Canadian!
I don't know if I should say just ask raptor fans or if raptor fans would claim him as their own 🤷♂️
The mental image of an All-Star multi-millionaire basketball player renting a video game is just so strange to me. He could have easily just bought the game right?
I mean yeah I assume so but this was back when Blockbuster was still a thing. I don't know what adults used it for.
That and Slip & Slide memories!
I think that's actually most people on here, it's just that creepy/meth-head family members are more interesting things to talk about on reddit which is why you think they're more common than in reality.
No, they're pretty common.
No, they're commonly upvoted.
No, they're just pretty common.
I'm glad most of us grew up together in a way.
I think it's suburban middle-class childhoods that we share that are giving you a sense of unity. I agree, I feel it too: socioeconomic status is a very powerful thing.
[inb4 people rush to give counterexamples of how they are the exception of the non-middle-class-suburban child who still rented Blockbusters. I know you're out there, but that's not the point I'm trying to make.]
It's actually really refreshing, reddit doesn't seem to be full of people who grew up middle class in my experience.
That statistically makes very little sense. Number-wise most people here would grow up that way.
Oh I completely agree, which is why it always seems odd. Maybe it's just the loudest voices but all the comments I read make me feel like I grew up rich when I know I didn't lol.
In gonna tell you a story; I once was a little boy, I woke up in a good mood. Felt great. Walked into the hall and greeted my mum like the good boy I was!
I was immediately greeted with rage filled yelling, telling me what a naughty kid I was and I need to "wash that shit off your face right now, we have to go out!!!"
I started crying, I had no idea what was wrong or what was in my face. Bawling my eyes out, I sorrowfully looked into the bathroom mirror...
I had big circular glasses and a mustache drawn on my face! The glasses weren't even fully done!
I panicked and couldn't figure out how this had happened, all while my brother was snickering away!
My mother & I quickly put two & two together, she apologised to me and gave my brother a good yelling too. He didn't care much because he doesn't seem to understand emotion, he's a weird kid.
My mum was scrubbing away at my little baby face trying to get this in of, but it wouldn't fade.
Because you guessed it!
The fucker drew on me with PERMANENT MARKER!
I sat there for what I think was 3 hours (but was probably only a few minutes), getting scratched red raw to get this ink off of my face.
We went out and I so had this ink on me, but slightly faded. I still have it to this day!
That's a joke, but I do think we have a photo somewhere, not sure.
I hope you enjoyed my random story.
I did.
Thanks!
I have meth head parent stories and movie night rental stories. So I'm only left out 1/3 of the time. Go me!
A lot of children with methhead parents probably have similar stories. Not mutually exclusive experiences.
My town still had a video rental store even a few years ago. I was really bummed when it finally closed down.
I too am glad that I grew up in a nurturing, non-abusive family.
Idk man, I played old school Runescape.
[deleted]
Why? What'd you do instead? Book renting from the library?
A little bit of that, but not much.
I read a lot, but we usually just bought the books or I got them from school.
Idk why we didn’t do that. The one movie we rented was Rose Red. It’s still one of my favorite movies. :)
Squeaky wheels squeak the most
I’m 15 and I remember when I was really young we would do this but I think I was born a little too late to really remember it.🙃
One night we switched on the TV for movie night and discovered Gladiators. We then had Gladiators family night for awhile. That show was great as a kid.
Every Friday, my sister and I both got to rent a movie. We would get pizza and rootbeer and build a fort to watch our movies from, which usually ended in us falling asleep in the fort. Always a great start to the weekend!
Fuck man I never had this and I'm experiencing nostalgia for you.
Nah Blockbuster nights were the best. My parents would pick a movie, and my brother and I got to pick a game to rent, no rating limit, back in the days of the most violent PS1 game being 2d GTA. Almost like Contra with cars and F bombs...
The game usually served as the babysitter, my parents could watch their movie in the living room, while we played the game in the basement. It's genius if you think about it, instead of paying 60-70 dollars for a babysitter they spend $5 on the game and $4 on the movie, this was also 97-99ish
And yes we were spoiled we had the ps1 four player adapter for twisted metal two or three, and the first dual shocks to play ape escape.
My mom worked at a convenience store that rented out movies so we would always get the newest movies the day they came out or sometimes earlier.
It was great and we ended up usually watching a movie with my dad while he had some drinks every night while my mother worked overnight. It was always pretty awesome.
I still go to my parents place usually once a week for dinner and I'll always watch a movie or two with my father while my mother tries to stay awake on the couch.
It's always a good time and my brother and I have grown up loving movies because of it.
When I was young, I was never included in the Blockbuster run... But I was always so jealous of the lipstick candy bubblegum things my sister's brought home.
It’s funny. I was born in 1999, so I remember going to Blockbuster a number of times when I was maybe in Kindergarten.
Then Netflix started and I remember how my parents would let us pick movies for our queue back when it was still primarily a mailing service. They’d usually get 1 movie for just the two of them (something that we kids wouldn’t appreciate as much) and 2 movies that we could watch as a family. It was always exciting to open the Netflix envelope to see which movies we’d gotten.
There were a few times that we streamed things from Netflix, back when they were just getting that started. I never imagined that that was going to become the norm just a few years later.
Man, we had a local rental store and my family was good friends with the owner (to the point that the owner had come to our house for dinner once). I remember going every Friday to pick out a movie and if I had gotten an A on my spelling test I got to rent a video game as well! (I didn't get to rent video games often... I still suck at spelling)
Now that place is an awful Chinese buffet. Like, even compared to regularly crappy Chinese buffets it's crappy. Makes me sightly sad everyone every time I drive by :(
Blockbuster movie night is as nostalgia inducing as it gets.
Ed Sullivan is rolling in his grave.
You must have had hundreds of siblings... and you must be an amazing warrior too!
Lol no, only three of us! We only got one movie per night.
You didn’t also get to pick out a movie from the “Free Kids Movies” section, too? Are you sure you didn’t get 2?
That was always awesome because, aside from new releases, if it was a cartoon, it was in the free section (including stuff like “All Dogs Go to Heaven,” all the Disney movies - i.e. not just direct-to-video sequels, and TV shows). But the best part, at least to my young self, was that it included all the WWF wrestling videos...
Every weekend:
Mom: “what do you got?”
Me: “Wrestlemania 2, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,...(whispers) and Bogus Journey.”
Mom: “No, you get to pick out one ‘pay’ movie and one ‘free’ movie.”
(My little brother walks up carrying a stack of vhs tapes almost as tall as him): “There are 4 Beethoven movies!”
Mom: “No, you can only have two. Put 2 of them back.”
My brother: “Fine...” (He comes back holding only *Return of Jafar.”)
"Fight to the death"
Well, they got better.
My parents would give us a rating limit,
i remember being pissed that so many movies i wanted to see were rated R
now i am pissed so many movies are rated PG-13
See, my family still does this, but with dumb internet videos instead of movies. We all pick one or two and watch them together.
I remember purposely gaming the free movie promotions. They gave you a free movie rental on your birthday and a free movie rental if an in demand movie wasn't available. If you rented an in demand movie and returned it the next day you got $1 back. So on my 20th birthday I stood by the cash register waiting for another customer to ask if one of those movies was available. He asked them if AI was available and they said "no" and gave him a voucher to rent it for free. So I grabbed another in demand movie, showed them my id showing that it was my birthday, got it for free, asked if AI was available, and got the voucher. Then next day I returned my movie, collected my $1, then rented AI with my voucher. Next day I returned it for $1 credit. Basically got paid $2 to watch two movies.
Can't do that with Netflix.
We did the ol’ coin flip in my house to determine who would watch their movie first.
Blockbuster for me was only done when I was with my grandma or with a babysitter. It was best with my grandma because we both had to watch her movie in the living room but my choices she wasn't interested in so I got the back room VCR to myself, if you know what I mean ;)
She was smarter than that lol but I snuck a few fast ones on her.
Same! We'd go to Mr Movies in my hometown, which was just down the road from a local Pizza place, and then it was home for pizza and Warner Bros cartoons and Flubber. Man.. I feel nostalgic now. Looking back, it didn't used to be a choice to support local businesses. It was just business as usual.
All of these lovely stories about trips to the local video rental store. Yet not 1 peep about the forbidden porn room and trying to see in between the swinging door or look under the curtain whilst tying your shoe. My mom never knew of course.
Ahh blockbuster nights with the fam. Fond memories from the 90s.
I always thought that when parents show up with gifts, they want to watch our stupid ass movie.
My brother and I would get to pick the video game for the week and it would switch between us each week and I remember once my brother started to get pretty mad because I chose Pokemon snap like five times in a row
I remember my parents having a night out (small town dance or something) and my brothers and I stayed at home alone. I was maybe 12, my older brother was 14, younger brother was around 7. They rented the porky’s series for us, all R rated movies. Those where the days.
This and I got to sleep on my 2nd night for it.
Our local non-chain shop would let you buy credits. So my parents would stop in occasionally and pay for like 15 rentals. Then they’d occasionally tell all us kids (5 of us) to get on our bikes and go get movies. We’d haul ass down and spend ages pouring over the racks to find movies then spend the weekend watching them, sometimes over and over just cuz it was rare.
Ahh the good ole days!
Our “blockbuster” was in our grocery store - We loves each getting to pick one video, and then going to the freezer aisle to pick out our frozen meal, which was a super specifical treat.
People were happier back then.
Less disappointment in a bad movie choice. Now so many choices less satisfaction.
I lived down the street from my home town's local movie rental place. It had one of those deals on non-new releases, 5 movies for 5 days for 5 dollars! My dad worked from home to a degree, so whenever I was home sick from school he would take me to pick out my movies, and then he'd make me ramen at home (because I was a super picky eater and that's all I'd want). I'd usually convince him to watch at least part of a movie with me, not that it took much convincing. I have very fond memories of those days.
The video store I worked at had that deal. It eventually was just any non-new release for a $1 for 5 days.
It shut its doors in 2005 while I was still working there. The last night, several of the employees and I were there after locking up and we stayed drinking until about 3am. We reminisced a ton and took what we wanted (boss said we could).
Best job I ever had.
I knew a couple guys at my local video store. As long as I rented a video, they'd give me a few extra videos for free. I always wondered why that store went out of business...
It probably doesn't take very much for them to make back the cost of buying the actual video. Assuming it cost them $20-25 - for all I know they got bulk or wholesale rates and paid even less - by the time it's a year old, that movie should have paid for itself. Old movies that nobody rents any more? They're just taking up shelf space, it's easy enough to throw them in if it encourages people to rent a few other ones.
Rental places paid more for new releases. Huge summer movies where you'd get dozens of copies cost $80-100 each. Regular new release movies were cheaper than that, but not as cheap as retail prices. This was the VHS days right before DVDs starting picking up. I don't know why it was like that, but it was. I used to process new releases for rentals at a rental store, and the included invoice/packing list had all the prices.
Similarly, libraries pay a lot more for ebooks- I forget exact numbers but it's like $100+ for an ebook with a limited number of uses.
Rental places I get cause they're earning back the money eventually, but price gouging libraries is just pathetic
Yes, wholesale. I can't remember exactly how much each new tape/dvd cost, but was considerably under MSRP.
One of the better things we had were the promotional movies we got in a couple months before release. We didn't rent these out, they were for "staff use only" to see if we wanted to purchase the movies to rent. Awesome that we were able to watch things before they were released on home media, but sucked because of a watermark throughout the movie, like "Copyright 2001 Dreamworks" or something to that effect.
I'd never even heard of those promotional videos, although I guess it made a lot of sense, especially before franchises took over film the way they have nowadays. Would staff take them home to watch, or did you just watch them at the store during downtime?
We'd take them home. Sometimes we wouldn't get it back from the others and would have to go bang on their door to get it to watch.
They let me take new releases as well. But it's not just how much the video cost, but how much the store brought in. Rent, insurance, utilities, upkeep, and employee salaries starts to add up. At the end of the day, there's a certain amount of sales that must be made just to break even. And I wasn't the only one they gave "discounts"
I'm guessing 95% of profit was from new releases then?
Worked at a video store for about 6 month before closing. Older movies just don't get rented very often. Renting them out for cheap is better than not making any money at all. Our's were $0.49 for three days.
Working at a video place was awesome. It was the 90s for me and we would put on Empire Records all the time. There was even a popcorn machine so customers could snack while browsing. Such a chill spot. Plus the magical free rentals in the system when friends or hot people came by.
Had a video store up until a couple years ago like that. $5 for 5 movies for 5 days for non new releases. They had a good selection and was down the street from my place. It was still pretty popular in the area over things like red box and Netflix since they had some obscure titles.
The strip mall ended up getting burned down in what I believe was arson related about 4 years ago. I really really miss it.
My brother conveyed similar stories when the Hollywood video he worked at closed down. I remember him coming home with boxes full of video cassettes
That’s how it was at Family Video around me. $1 for non-new releases for either 3 or 7 days, depending on how good the movies were (“Highlander,” 3 days. “Highlander 2,” 7 days).
That, and the fact that they didn’t make you pay for your siblings’/parents’ late fines before you could rent something, are big reasons why I never went to Blockbuster.
The last time I remember going to Blockbuster, I was 14, and I only had enough cash on me for one rental. And I remember there was this really cute girl behind me in line at the register, when the clerk tells me that there’s $10 in late fees I’d have to pay in order to rent. So, slightly embarrassed I couldn’t afford it now, I tried to argue my way out of it, and I asked “What movies?” And he says, “Monsturd” (not a typo) and “Simon Birch.”
“I didn’t rent those...!,” I immediately replied, as I glanced behind me, more concerned with convincing the girl than the clerk.
I walked out thinking, “I’m going to kill my little brother,” but by the time I got home, I was more confused than angry, and all I could do was ask, “What the hell? Why those? That’s gotta be the most random pairing of movies ever?”
The next county over from me is like something out of The Twilight Zone. The people and society are very strange (and frankly, kind of dumb). They have a whole chain of video rental stores and I have no clue how they're sill in business.
I moved to Toledo Ohio and the weirdest thing I've noticed is seeing a bunch of Family Video's still open and doing business.
I'm pretty sure they're fronts for the local mob.
Family Video is the chain I was talking about! That's pretty sketchy.
Worked at blockbuster for a few years in high school. I totally agree it was an awesome job.
Best boss ever.
Sounds like a Kevin Smith movie
Definitely had moments there in which life imitated art. Example: someone came in wanting to know where the new releases were. Everywhere in the store had neon signs above each section stating what they were, including "NEW RELEASE". Just had to point to it for them to feel the shame of not reading.
Damn. Even video games? Good guy boss.
Yup! I grabbed a few games, but not much. Was more of a movie buff. Hind-sight being 20/20, I wish I had grabbed more because of the retrogame craze going on now.
My ex worked at a blockbuster when we lived together. One of the coolest things was seeing new releases like a week before they officially came out.
I would pirate movies, but I would always stay away from new releases because they were ALWAYS flagged for copyright. So getting the actual movie was cool as hell.
We reminisced a ton and took what we wanted (boss said we could).
One of everything?
I'd usually convince him to watch at least part of a movie with me, not that it took much convincing.
My father was very anti-TV, only turning it on when eating lunch, and the channel he watched was either Discovery, or Nat Geo. When they were still only playing nature shows.
He would always talk shit about movies and pop culture, how they are a waste of time, etc.
So my favorite thing to do was seeing him catch a glimpse of the movie I was watching in the evening, seeing him stand in the hallway for a while with whatever project he had in his hands, and get closer and closer to the living room until he got to the recliner, and sit down in it. One time he stayed until the very end of the movie (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), and got up absolutely embarrassed, gathering his stuff and bolting out of the room as soon as the movie finished. I gave him shit for that for years!
Of all the movies haha awesome
That's why I had to mention it. We are not religious by any means, but swearing has always been taboo in my home!
HEY BABY EVER HAVE YOUR ASSHOLE LICKED BY A FAT MAN IN AN OVERCOAT???
I was about to say the same thing. Can you imagine if that had been the Dark Knight or some ridiculously good movie like that?
My Dad always gave me shit for watching stupid movies and TV shows. But one time we were watching Star Wars and he switched it to Dumb and Dumber while I was looking at my phone.... I called him out within seconds and he got so embarrassed haha. He doesn't openly judge taste anymore.
Discovery, or Nat Geo.
If he was that against TV, why on Earth did he pay for cable?
My mom liked to watch TV
That's wonderful. It's funny you bring up Jay and Silent Bob, because I distinctly remember that being a 5 for 5 for 5 movie I got one time. I had no idea what type of movie it was beyond "comedy," and my dad came in and watched early on. I was definitely more embarrassed at the end than he was.
This is so wholesome. This is also me as a parent lol
The fact that he still turned it on during meals is quite surprising. I am not against TV, my kids watch some cartoons and movies, but the only thing I am strict about is to not watch it during dinner. It kills any conversation.
Haha my dad was the same with the Simpsons. "Why are you watching this shit?" Then stand in the doorway and laugh at it.
Sure
Jesus. Has literally nothing ever happened in your life that you would be skeptical of something so fucking mundane?
My dad was like that. If I was legit sick (because he knew) he would get a boatload of movies and junk food. My mother of course was in the opinion that if I was too sick to go to school I was too sick to do anything other than exist. If I played video games I was "faking".
EDIT: Grammar
ugh my mom was the same. i hated when she came home for lunch for that reason. i just wanted nintendo/nickelodeon/price is right/nickelodeon/maury/mtv, in that order. then more switching between nickelodeon & video games until bed, then watch letterman/nick @ nite all night. i have no idea how my grades were actually high. — fast forward a couple decades... i’m left with a fantastic, yet totally useless, knowledge of pop culture, and for some reason the worst insomnia ever. (but i haven’t wanted a TV in my room since middle school, and still don’t, which is weird considering i would have raised all hell without one back in the day) — but now i lurk reddit for hours until i fall asleep, and have convinced myself it’s fine bc night mode. oh well.
When my dad made food for my brother and me, if it wasn’t breakfast food it was usually ramen. It wasn’t sad or anything, he just wasn’t good at cooking and figured he couldn’t screw up dry packaged ramen. So it remains a comfort food for me as well :) I also remember movie rental days. The video place I went to was called Video King and it was next to the Food Lion grocery store, and my mom would accidentally write checks to “Lion King” on a biweekly basis. Also a fond memory for me
Had a place like this near me. It was called Video Hits. They rented consoles too and I was so excited when I got to rent an N64!
Ours was Video Update. I rented N64 games and saw the box for Stephen King's IT and refused to ever again go near that aisle.
[deleted]
Oh yeah, I've told my dad quite a few times how awesome he was while I was growing up. For example, he was usually the only dad on field trips, and instead of following the prescribed order of exhibits at the zoo, museum, etc., he let us kids pick when and where we wanted to go.
I got married in my favorite museum a couple of years ago, and a huge reason why I have such great memories of that place is because of him - and he knows it. But it's been a couple of weeks since I've talked to him. I should call him soon. Thanks for the reminder!
They made it an experience. "Here's all the cool cult movies we've found, you'll never find them anywhere else..."
Those movies are RARELY even online. That sucks.
That is beautiful and poignant.
There’s a brick and mortar video store down the street from me that a buck a movie for 5 days, get 4 and you get a 5th free. I’m so confused how in 2019 I’m living back in 99
Our local store was privately owned and we went so much that we knew all the people there on a first name basis. It was frickin’ sweet when games went on sale to refresh the stock because they knew what kinda video games I liked and held back stuff they thought I might want so I got first pick. Most of my N64 games were from there and I got them for dirt cheap.
Oh man, that brings me back to when I got chickenpox in 1st grade. My mom brought a whole stack of VHS tapes home. I watched all of them, but I watched the TMNT movie so many times in that week that it wore out the tape and we had to buy it back from them. Lol
Thanks for saying this! I work from home and my kids are in middle school. On days when they're home sick, that's exactly what I do (except via Netflix). I'll bring my laptop down to the living room and say, "now I do have a lot of stuff to get done," and then we'll just sit there and watch Captain Underpants or whatever, and drink ginger ale and order chinese food (because that cures a cold, apparently). I hope my kids will have equally fond memories of those days as I do.
I'm sure your kids will remember! It's that kind of thing that make kids feel special and loved. You reminded me of a few other times when my grandma would have to pick me up sick from school because my dad would also have to go to job sites for his business and wasn't available. She would always take off work right away if she was needed, and she had an amazing boss who wouldn't think twice about letting her leave. Every time, she would ask if I wanted to pick up McDonald's on the way home, and I usually said yes because she knew my dad rarely gave us junk food. On the very few occasions I said no, she would give me a worried look and say, "oh, it's serious." Then I got some next-level grandma TLC.
What a great thread spurring all of these happy memories! Thanks for listening. It has absolutely brightened my day to share it all!
Me, my parents and my sister would have Friday night movies every week. Take a trip to the video store, rent one, and go home and have a nice dinner, sometimes takeout, and donuts or some kind of dessert. It was great. Sometimes we would even camp out in the living room and have a slumber party.
You don't have to stop. Redbox and small local video stores (at least in my area) still exist. That's basically exactly what my best friend and I do all the time.
At age 30 I’m not trying to have slumber parties on the floor with my parents, man!
^^I ^^wish ^^:(
Public libraries also have movies too!
My mum would let my sister and i do this once a fortnight. I now do the same with my younger two. Takeaway, Movie, popcorn its something they look forward to.
My whole family did this except we called it “Lounge Day” typically held on a Saturday and we’d each rent one movie so about 6 movies from blockbuster and get a whole bunch of junk food and lounge around in our pajamas
I also miss not knowing what movie I want and walking around and looking at the art on the cases and picking a movie. And talking to the people and getting a piece of candy or whatever
My parents used to own one of those stores (catered to Chinese). We had a stack of rewinders in a 5x5 grid and I would shove the tapes and and press them down to rewind. And as soon as one popped up, id shoved the next one in. It was like wack a mole for me haha
I've tried to recreate this with my kids the best I can. Finished our basement a couple summers ago and built a decent home theater down there. Every Friday night is movie night. Usually pizza, popcorn, and we take turns who gets to pick the movie. Usually rented from Amazon or Vudu, sometimes we'll pull out an old classic that we already own. They all look forward to it. Hoping they look back on that with the same fondness I do of going to Hollywood Video.
My weekends regularly consisted of renting a N64 game and playing it all weekend. I loved it, and my mom didn’t have to drop $60 on a new game every month or two.
I must have rented Lord of the Rings: Return of the King enough times to actually buy the game.
And you got to figure out if you actually liked the game or not.
I think after the first dozen times I rented Destruction Derby 64 I knew the answer, but I just kept renting it...
My parents owned a store and I grew up working it. The memories are something I can never experience with my kids, and it makes me so sad.
Me being a young weeb, video rental stores were my way of accessing anime when it was still getting it's footing in the US. Ah memories.
You’re 27 too?
Turning 28 in July. God damn you’re good lol
I’m 30 and experienced this. God, those were the best times
I'm 44 and same.
I'm 16 and same (sorry for breaking the chain of people getting older)
Get off my lawn
waves fist in the air
You could have been born on February 29 on a leap year, bud.
actually quantum physics forbid this
Yeah, I'm more of a mechanical physics kind of dude so I wouldn't know.
no it's a meme
No
I'm 37 and also experienced this until I moved to Guam.
I thought you were talking about guantanamo bay first lmao
Before I moved there, I seriously thought the same thing.
I'm 10 years younger than you and experienced this too.
I'm 15 and I still remember this
☑️ I'm in this comment and I don't like it
I'm 18 and I experienced this while growing up, it was only the past 3-5 years or so that blockbusters closed down here in Australia
There's still one in Oregon, US
I swear most people on reddit are.
I work in a video rental store, and I think it's so cool when parents bring their kids in for the first time. The kids are going nuts, they don't know what to think, and the parents always tell me they haven't seen a video store in years and it's so nostalgic for them to be in. I really hope they never die out completely, it's such a cool experience
Yep, for me it was never about the movies, it was roaming the seemingly endless aisles of videos, watching trailers for whatever on the infuriatingly small tv and my local video store had a kickarse arcade in it.
Now days for me at least, i feel like watching a movie, browse netflix, cant find anything so i go back to browsing the net and wondering why i keep paying for a service i rarely use.
My mum and I had a tradition of hiring a stupid amount of movies every week until our local video store finally closed down. I had a couple ex-staff members recognise me years later... "Omg! You're the girl that used to hire like 20 movies at a time!"
I've replaced this with movie night but via Amazon. Each kid (only 2 that care) gets to pick one every weekend. We have a battle to see who gets Friday night. The one that sheds first blood gets Friday.
Oddly enough I can still almost imagine the smell of my local movie rental place growing up. I can't even begin to describe it, it wasn't gross or anything, but it was distinct. That was such a big part of my childhood. I wonder if I went in the building it used to be in, if it'd still smell the same..
I remember that smell. Must have been a mixture of popcorn and plastic.
Oh fuck, man. Every day felt like a warm sunset. Bike riding, running, playing video games in your friend's basement. Disney Adventures and a Kid Cuisine.
That. That was an extremely happy memory you just gave me. Thank you.
Seriously, Friday movie nights were special! We always went to a local movie store with a Dominoes Pizza right next door. So, my dad would order the pizzas & we'd spend the next 30 minutes looking for movies.
Also, my parents didn't care about us getting rated R. My friends knew too, so there we were, a group of 12-year-olds watching all kinds of raunchy movies. It was so great!
We didn’t have Blockbusters in my area growing up, but we had a bunch of the mom-and-Pop shops.
My favorite memory was New Years Eve ‘99. I was home from college and had mono, but my mom rented Evil Dead 2 on VHS (I had rented the first one the night before), and stayed up late watching it with me. She didn’t do gore, so her screams were the stuff of legend. All of it was made worth it when she cheered at Ash’s chainsaw montage and “groovy.”
RIP Mom. I love you.
Wow....didn't even know I missed this. We even rented the VCR.
I'm old enough to remember VCRs being a luxury particularly if you weren't sure they would win against betamax. So my parents would rent one for three days during Christmas hols. We would pore over the list of available videos and each of us would get to rent four videos. We would spend three days watching everyone's choices, no walking out. they had to endure a Terry Gilliam movie from my list and my mom and I will never let my father forget how boring we thought Blade Runner was. Known forever as the one where it was dark and rained the entire time. We did this for a few years. It was a lot of fun.
That smell in Blockbuster, that candy and carpet smell, I get high off it.
YES! Blockbuster smelled like candy and plastic and carpet.
Hastings had books and cd’s and sometimes a coffee bar in addition to movies so it had a book /coffee smell too.
Pizza Plus (local to my small town) smelled like...well, pizza.
That was also my first job in high school. On the pizza side, not the video side but on the weekends my boyfriend would meet me at work, we would rent a movie and watch it in his den with the door open so his parents had full view of us. Lol.
That’s mostly what my memories are of movie stores, being in high school and going to dinner and then going to rent a movie after. My town didn’t have a movie theater and you had to drive an hour to get to one, so movie renting was very popular.
Walking around and feeling so nervous the first time they hold your hand in the video store and you’re both trying to act so cool like nothing’s happening and just choose a movie like you’re both not totally freaking out.
Actually, now that I think of it, the smell was nostalgia and hormones.
My god we had a grocery store in my town called Dillons (Kansas based) that had a movie and video game rental section. Every other Friday we grab a movie, an N64 game, a Digiorno pizza, and orange soda.
Fuck me life was good.
That sounds perfect
We still have several Family Video stores in my city. A few of them also have a pizza place that makes surprisingly good pizza, so it's not unusual for us to grab a pizza and a movie (you get a free rental w/pizza purchase). It always starts out sounding like a great night, but then we spend half an hour wandering around the shop trying to pick a movie, we struggle to find time to watch it, and half the time we end up owing late fees on it because we don't make it back to the store before it's due back.
It was so great when I was a kid, but the magic is gone and it makes me sad! Admittedly, I also spend half an hour scrolling through Netflix trying to find something to watch, but at least that doesn't cost me gas.
Every blockbuster I went to had this specific delicious smell that just made me feel so good when I’d go in there. I miss that smell
Believe it or not there is still a rental place where I live!
My parents would let me rent a movie or two every weekend but never bought me any junk food :(
Holy crap i miss those days. I remember we would go as a family to rogers vidoe every week and i remember just finding dvds and looking at the cover. I remember i would always watch scooby doo and the Simpsons.
I think Rogers was only a Canada thing, other redditors probably wouldn't understand. Those were the days.
They were. It was like block busters i think. I remember having a block busters where I'm from.
My parents would say no to the junk food every time. But my sister and I still always asked. I even knew they were almost definitely going to say no, but it was part of the ritual.
Never mind movies. I miss when you could rent video games at the stores. Now, it's either Gamefly, Redbox, or nothing, because PSnow is just too leggy
Yes! Our video store gave out free popcorn. My dad and i had so much fun. Years later, my husband and i would go, get some candy and then pop over to the papa johns that was next door. I miss video stores so much.
Definitely this. My parents would let me have 4-5 friends over and take us all to Blockbuster on a Friday evening. Normally we would get one new horror movie and a couple older ones. We would tear all the cushions off the couches and chairs and camp out in the living room with tons of junk food and soda (normally there was a 'no food outside of the kitchen/dining' rule). And we would just pig out and watch dumb horror movies until Sunday.
Thinking back to the days where blockbuster was a thing makes me want to cry. Just going to that store and then going to the chip shop right next to it was always good, shit I miss that store.
Yeah... and i know streaming movies is way more convenient, but there was just something so nice about the routine of a movie night going to blockbuster. The way it smelled and looked in there aesthetically was always so 90s, even into the 2000s.
There used to be a blockbuster and a Pizza Hut near me in the same plaza and it used to be so lit, rent a movie and pick up a pizza. Good times
I actually have a movie rental store still open close to my house. Which is surprising! My husband and I will rent movies a few times a month. We have satellite internet, so streaming can get dicey. Low quality and buffering. So we rent a lot.
I miss those days, Mum would take my sister and I down to the rental store we would pick out a bunch of movies that we would watch together, We would buy fairy floss, malteasers, and a bunch of potato chips. It's sad to see them go
These do still exist. However, it doesn’t change that nostalgic memory.
Same. Nothing like looking around video shop at movies. Would only find some new movies when u see then there. Then if good allowed to hire a game out a game if good
You know, when the rentals started people were saying the same thing about going to the movies with the family. There was a period when the majority of americans saw a film in theater at least once a week.
Video game rentals as a kid were awesome too.
Or having a birthday weekend and renting the whole NES or SNES system.
Ugh. Nostalgia
Yeah now I just stay up late and eat junk food all the time. Times are tough my friends.
I think it’s up to those who were able to experience this to try and create that feeling for our kids. Although it won’t be the same, it could be just as special and nostalgic for them one day.
Our local movie rental was literally the pizzaria in our 2000 people small town. So usually we would get pizza and a vhs
They kinda died as I was growing up. I remember seeing Netflix become a thing and thinking “that’s stupid, why would I wait a full day to get a movie when I can just run to blockbuster and get it right away” (because they original only delivered and didn’t have an online service.
Boy was I wrong.
They're free at your local library.
yes! wewould go to our local drug store cuz it was cheaper than block buster. but every once in a while we would go into an iconic block buster until it closed. then we went to the library cuz they had 'bue rays' dvds and then we got netflix and waited to mail in the discs
now fuck i can watch a movie that was released on youtube for $4 and not even leave my browser
but i do miss family movie nights like you described just above.
I miss how important the cover art was on those days. No Googling imdb or rottentomatoes, a lot of luck involved in whether you'd actually get something good. Possibly why we hired the same movies several times.
Will get buried but I will never forget the night my dad took my family to Blockbuster and there was a $50 late/lost tape fee on the account...I’m actually still dead.
I mean you can still do this. There is Red Box sure but most public libraries have a large selection of movies too and it’s free.
They should bring back blockbuster somehow some of my best childhood memories involve that store and getting ice cream after
There is one left in Bend, OR! I went last weekend for a good hit of nostalgia while in the area, and props to the owner for figuring out a way to make it a tourist destination + video rental store.
The rental fees are the same price as they were in 1998, surprised me. Good selection too. I never knew I missed video rental stores until that moment.
Netflix will bring it back eventually, just like how Amazon opened brick and mortar bookstores. It all comes full circle.
God. You know what it will be? When we have content split over 20 streaming services we’ll see those places return.
Same. I instantly clicked on this to say movie rentals
You made me shed a tear
I got that kind of feeling up till I was like, 5. Good times.
Indeed
I still do that
I actually went into a video rental store today in Highland Park, California. The last thing i expected to see. They had Superbad for $2.50 a day
But now you don’t have to suffer the crippling disappointment of finding out the movie you had your heart set on was already all rented out!
I can still get a bit of this feeling when browsing the movie kiosks here in Aus. Nowhere near as fun as the video shops tho.
When I got to have a friend over my dad would drive us to rent a few video games
you were in for a night of staying up late and eating junk food.
That's every night now.
Now that all movies and music are basically free, it's way less special . I don't remember the last time I watched the same movie within a short time span
I'm right there with you. Friday night of it wasn't high school football season it was either dinner and Blockbuster or dinner and Borders. Either Sega or N64 games and a movie or a new Goosebumps book. My dad and I would watch the movie first and the rest of the night I would play the game until my eyes hurt. Then on Saturday I may have two of my friends whose parents never let then rent games over to play. Those were some great days. Zero responsibilities to worry about, just games and movies all weekend.
We still go to the movie rental store (Family Video) every so often. It's, obviously, not as common any more but still nice to browse the shelves and maybe find that movie you wanted to see in the theatre but isn't online yet and get it for the night.
JFC, right on.
Omg yes! I used to rent movies nearly every weekend at this store with my boyfriend when I was 17. Yes the internet existed back then and yes downloading was a thing but I just absolutely loved going there. The guy who worked there was amazing, he knew every movie he had in store and always had awesome reccommendations. I moved out of my hometown and started working somewhere when I was 22, and movie guy apprently had gotten a job at the same place. We immediatly recognised eachother and started talking about movies again.
He had to close down his shop because he didn’t get enough customers. So sad that the place doesn’t exist anymore.
Family Video is still going strong with 700 locations.
https://www.newsweek.com/blockbuster-hangs-one-store-family-videos-700-stores-stay-alive-thanks-1035453
I miss those days. Peanut butter M&M's, and some shitty action flick or comedy movie, like Evolution or Last Action Hero.
I have VERY vivid memories (some of my first memories) of driving down to blockbuster with my mom and dad and renting movies and I would always get a candy called Lollipop Paint Shop (I have to look it up haha) and my parents would get jiffypop for all of us. Man I miss that.
However... there was one time when we went to rent a movie and brought it back. We put it in, and like usual couldn’t skip the previews. This DVD was a little different though, there were so many goddamn previews that in the end we just gave up and went to bed and never watched it.
Now we have Netflix. Although it was really sad to see out old local video store, Chet’s video, close down. It was run by nice people, I have so many great memories of it... they would always give you free popcorn as you rented a movie and they had a huge wall of candy me and my brother adored... man I miss that place, and miss going to it, but like everyone once we got streaming we didn’t go to it for years. By the time it shut down we hadn’t been there in probably 5-10 years
And Hastings for us! Movie rentals and aisles of random shit. It was perfect.
It's the age of nostalgia, and there's a few independent movie rental stores that have opened up around my area. I need to go rent a movie some day.
well i think with too many streaming services we may see them come back, but you may have some in your town that could use your support.
Yeah man it sucks; now we can do that whenever we want.
I still do this sometimes at Redbox. It is fun
Yeah man, agreed. Our pizza store was across the road from a Domino's, so it'd be a trip to Domino's then a walk over to pick out 3-5 movies while we waited for our pizza.
I agree. In junior high I loved on Fridays going to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video with friends to pick movies to watch. I remember also thinking how fun it would be as a teenager to do that when dating someone.
Our local video store was one of those non-affliated ones owned by an Asian immigrant family, who'd actually chat with you and recommend movies when they have time. The owner was a pretty cool old dude. Back when internet wasn't a thing you couldn't really find out much about movies excepts words of mouth, and his recommendations were spot on more often than not. One weekend his store was broken in and a whole bunch of video games and stuff were taken. They never recovered from that and closed after a while. We switched to pay-per-view cuz the next closest video rental store was far away. But boy did I miss the human interaction sometimes.
Redbox?
I'm here thinking I really didn't like the whole renting movie concept.
I loved getting to choose a movie from Drugmart every Friday night.
My parents borrow movies from the library.
Man when we were all little kids, every Friday night was family movie night. Good times.
Chat rooms. I used to go on Habbo Hotel and just enjoy talking to random people. I wish I could find something like that for like 25+ year olds.
Pools still closed
aids in the pool
and stingrays
Stingraids
Truvada for prep
Habbo! I haven’t heard that name in years ! I used to love playing on habbo and talking to randoms too haha. Such a blast from the past to hear someone bring it up.
Legit. I'm in the same boat. The best alternative I've found is chatroulette type sites but it's hard to wade through all the people just wanting nudes.
I guess discords the replacement currently but idk how to find just average everyday discords I can pop in and talk to randoms with.
Same here. I only downloaded Discord to try and find some odd chat room or something but alas, You can only join rooms you already know. The public ones are all game related. Kik is retarded. Even the local Reddit page is just a METRIC FUCK TON of dudes trying to stick their penis in somebody. There just isn't a good chat room anymore.
Agreed. If you ever find one let me know bro
Yea I was really into xat as a teen but alas... it's still all teens. Definitely want to find something that's not so closed off, or specific to a hobby, fandom, or celebrity. They get super focused and then it just dries up because theres no new content or no way to develope it more.
I used to look at chat rooms on this website called deviantart
Irc is an option. There are a lot of good channels on snoonet and freenode!
Habbo Hotel
IRC is still alive and kicking. Try it!
Go to 4chan?
No I haven't. I checked it out a long time ago and didnt care for it. It's not really a chat room though is it?
It's a message board. Someone posts something and anyone can see it or answer it.
I haven't tried it myself, but from what I've seen online, VRchat on Steam seems to fill that niche pretty well at the moment. I don't think VR gear itself is a prerequisite to play it either. Might be worth looking into.
VRChat. Its exactly that feeling and you dont even need VR to play it.
Another similar site was cokemusic.com
Like habbo hotel but sponsored by coca-cola. You could redeem the codes under coke bottle caps for in game currency. There were mini games too like sumo wrestling and an entire ecosystem of creating your own music records and distributing them to people.
My siblings went on Habbo for their "computer time" but I branched out to cokemusic. I had to figure everything out myself, meet everyone on that site by myself... It was a very unique and adventurous experience for me. I miss those days of the early internet man. Great times, full of discovery
There is a mountain of discord servers with random people chatting on any subject you could imagine.
My first high school men's locker room had a poster advertising Habbo Hotel for a long time. I doubt they ever took it down.
Honestly just play any multilayer game and you'll get this.
Most multiplayer games are filled with the toxic vocal minority that ruin the fun for everyone. At least in my experience.
Not those multiplayer games, I'm talking MMOs.
[deleted]
Wrong type of multiplayer games, you'd want a multiplayer game with a massive community.
The stock market. It used to be a great place for people who could do some quick math. Now it is a game of computers bidding and selling within fractions of seconds and well dressed guys with connections who hit the buttons...
Turns out computers are good at doing quick math.
2+2 is 4
-1 that's 3 quick maffs
Everyday mans on the block
Smoke trees
See yo girl in the park
That girl is a ucker
r/redditsings
I hate Americans
As is Big Shaq.
*if you program them correctly. I have already shared this playlist on this thread, but here are some things that go wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7-8rATmLj8&list=PLVXfteUFBgmqi2EfyAB19pXnQpQd_1zxH
Not that well dressed anymore, that's something I miss.
And I still manage to lose money.
Welcome to /r/wsb
r/wallstreetbets
are you looking at long term growth or making a quick buck? If you are looking at long term growth, its not that hard. Berkshire Class B and owning the stocks on the DOW, if a stock is removed from the down, remove it from your portfolio. That simple.
I'm following the advice of /r/wallstreetbets to make some quick tendies
Well you now know where your mistake is.
If you want quick, risky money, you should just buy crypto. Bitcoin's up like 20% from a week ago.
You don't buy in after its gone up...
Considering it's in an ascending triangle, with huge price targets from experienced investors... Crypto isn't like stocks. 20% is nothing. There's still huge room to grow.
Seriously, the stock market was already run by sociopaths, now it's run by computers programmed by sociopaths
lol whatever dude. It's not that hard to make money as an individual investor if you pay attention to what you're doing and arent stupid enough to give in to your emotions.
The more efficient the markets are the better. It's a good thing that prices can adjust within seconds of changes occurring. This is very basic financial theory
Umm it's been computerized for like 30-40 years.
Not having access to literally all the information. By that I mean I love that there is a wealth of knowledge at my fingertips but there's also a lot of garbage, noise, and information that I just don't need to know.
Imagination is dying. It's good for the brain to get "bored" and wander and think and imagine.
Yes, and also being able to tell what "news" was real and what was fake. I remember my mom telling me how the stupid magazines at the cash registers were extremely faked and just made by paparazzi for drama. Now 90% of the Facebook "articles" I see are things that come straight out of these magazines and everyone believes them.
People believed them back then too. There's a reason they took up that valuable real estate in a grocery store.
True. I guess it's just more blatant now that everyone is like "did you see so-and-so is cheating on insert celebrity SO name with insert other celebrity name????" And sharing things on Facebook. It's ridiculous.
Back in the day everyone was also like "did you see so-and-so is cheating on insert celebrity SO name with insert other celebrity name????".
Most people read those stupid magazines your mom told you about. The people who read those stupid magazines simply switched to sharing the same stupid articles on Facebook.
It took so long for us all to realise this and yet is seems so obvious now. We just, as a global mass of internet using people, basically assumed it would just enlighten and teach us all the truth and get rid of fake stuff. How wrong we were and how scary it is to find out that with unlimited information comes so much trash and fake info, and the ability to seclude oneself within an information/media bubble that reinforces what you want to hear and what people want you to hear. The need for critical thinking has never been as high but people are using it less.
Boredom is so important, 100% agree. I've stopped enjoying things I used to really like, simply because I have such easy access to anything I want to consume, enterainment-wise. It's amazing having all that stuff but i find a lot of the time I can't choose what I want to watch or stick with anything as I am assailed by all the options I could be watching. Concentration is shot to pieces too!
Hah, totally agree! Ok, for a healthy balance I'm off to find things I disagree with on /r/unpopularopinion and... A guy having a bowl of cereal with water?!? I'm gonna need some /r/eyebleach, then....
Wait, I think I was supposed to be concentrating on something. Oh well. Back to Reddit.
Hahaha - what were we talking about?! 😂
It can be tackled. Try /r/nosurf for cutting down, it's helped me loads.
Thank you mate, will definitely check this out
What an interesting concept. I'm gonna check it out right now!
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this. This. THIS!
The bar used to be being able to explain an idea clearly enough for at least one person to understand it and be able to communicate a passable rendition onto other people. In any given circle of idiots, this would virtually guarantee that fringe, crack-pot, ideas stay that way. Now, anyone can claim the Earth is flat and have it show up in their "friends'" (whatever that means, anymore) feed right in the middle of legitimate information and news. Like... Send... Repeat.
An expansion this is the pouring over what media are you did have. I have all the photographic memory of certain encyclopedias books and magazines I used to read over and over again at my grandparents house when I visited. Just being offline and general gives you a lot more headspace for to imagine things and think without consulting the internet or feeling like you have to be distracted by something else. I've noticed on occasion certain musicians or other artists talking about going offline so they can become more creative again. Years ago I got really into underground cassette labels and browsing thrift stores for old copies of albums for that reason. I put a lot more discovery to chance by doing so, which people had to do in the past. As much as I love aspects of online culture in the internet I feel like there's so many people no reaching creative potential because they just keep recycling the same stuff over and over again in different iterations.
Imagination is dying
Bullshit. There's more of, well, everything right now than ever before as well as more people around to do and imagine it.
Just have a look at stuff like etsy, deviantart or even youtube. Tons and tons of people doing creative shit all day, easier to access than ever before.
That is not proof that there is more original content, only that what original content there is is now easy to find. Consider that in the past your exposure to creativity was generally limited to either your immediate locale or mass audience creations. Now when you go on Instagram you can see stuff created by people from all over the globe. That superficially resembles "more", because you see more, but it is not necessarily the case. I am pretty certain it's a smaller percentage of people producing but with a global population of producers, which crowds out some of the field.
That is not proof that there is more original content, only that what original content there is is now easy to find.
It's not a proof, no, but I'd say that it's a pretty easy guess to say that there is more original content now that there are billions more humans around along with many many more porple that don't need to spend all their time just surviving. That and more people have access to the means of being creative.
There's undoubtedly more in raw numbers, yes, but not necessarily more in proportional terms.
The point about more people having access to means of creation is a fair point though and you may be right. That alone might result in more creation even in relative terms, though I personally expect creatives will be creative no matter what tools they have access to as long as they have the time. Certainly though it would limit the types of creations, and possibly even numbers of creations and certain technologies make creation less time-consuming.
I still think that for some people at least, smart phones reduce the amount of time spent "daydreaming" or even just with understructured thought. It's so easy to just reach for the phone. When that wasn't an option, I at least didn't more time just thinking about stuff during down times.
He's probably one of those people that would rather flip through the same three social media sites on loop than actually put any effort into being creative, and instead of adressing it to his own laziness he just conflates it to say that that's how everybody is so he feels better
I can tell you for certain though the lack of "boredom" means I sit and think about things for extended periods of time because it's so easy to just reach for the phone. You say that's laziness, fine. Call it what you want. Maybe e should call drug addicts "lazy" for not just "getting over it." But it's ridiculous to just make a blanket assertion that the effects of the technology couldn't possibly have a deleterious effect on some people. Blaming that 100% on the person is reductive, and not much different from the same, tired "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" arguments that've been pretty throughly debunked scientifically at this point.
If you're really gonna act like grabbing your phone instead of having a hobby is the same as having a drug addiction then i desperately need you to put the computer away and learn to crochet or something because we are reaching tumblr levels of please go outside right now
I take it you aren't familiar with the concept of analogies.
Just because it's an analogy doesn't mean it's a good or apt one, if you really wanted to get all social about it a more appropriate one would be fast food, comparing the usage of the internet in lieu of a hobby to the fast and easy appeal of nutritionally void fast food, neither is very good or fulfilling in the long haul, but give you an instant rush of dopamine that's easier to achieve habitually
If you're going to be pretentious in your analogies at least pick ones that don't make you look like an edgy 13 year old
Yeah dude, the analogy was "pretentious." Because it really is a display of special knowledge to make that comparison. Really takes an elite mind to be aware of drug addiction and its effects. Give me a break.
It's not about "edginess" as if somehow it gives you cachet to talk about phone addiction (who, exactly, thinks that's cool in your mind?) It's about discussing a real, scientifically documented phenomenon that people are still working on to fully understand. But hey, let's just dismiss reasonble commentary with mindless buzzwords, catch phrases and personal attacks rather than engaging with the argument. Surely that will prove something.
Heroin it is definitely not, but blithely dismissing the problem and attacking the people making a perfectly valid observation for failures of character is empty-headed and needlessly venomous. If you want to attack the argument, fine. That's fair game Attacking the person for merely offering an opinion is bullshit. I have to wonder why it is you felt so threatened by such a banal observation that you felt the need to attack OP personally.
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Rick's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Rick and Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick's existencial catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Dan Harmon's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have a Rick and Morty tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
see that's a good analogy, rick and morty tattoos represent heroin, and wubba lubba dub dub represent the addiction that can't be shaken due to societal pressure to not care about things
K
I don't see that. Having all the information is amazingly powerful, but I still find my mind going off the map here and there then going back to see if it makes sense according to real sources.
Think it just takes a different discipline or something.
There was a thread about how young people didn't understand what it was like to live in a world before the internet, and some whipper snapper posted about how miserable it must have been to write research papers back then. I'm not saying it wasn't, but it's just as miserable now. Standards rise to meet what's being produced. The internet gives you access to more information, more assistance in checking spelling and grammar, more help formatting sources, etc, but that just means that instructors expect perfectly spelled, perfectly written papers with extensive bibliographies. They didn't when I was a kid.
Imagination is dying.
I disagree. But I'm a misanthrope anyway.
If you’re a misanthrope, shouldn’t you agree with that statement?
No. I prefer facts and information and I still think people think too much with their heads rather than being objective.
I find that statement offensive, accurate, and appealing.
https://youtu.be/LKPwKFigF8U
Those fuckwads who declared April Fool's Day over... There is a joy to humor that this old tech reporter still appreciates.
I love learning shit I don’t need to know. Useless facts are fun.
The age of misinformation
It seemed to me that there was a lot less obnoxiously narcissistic people, probably because before Instagram, YouTube and vine, not everyone could be famous.
Yep, narcissism feels directly encouraged by mainstream culture now.
Also, in our efforts to combat the narrow standards and excessive bullying of years past, the pendulum's swung too far back. Our entire concept of self-esteem is now so skewed that modest people are encouraged to "stop hating ourselves" and so on; people with a robust but still healthy amount of confidence are considered average or even modest; and what we now call "confidence" and "self-love" are just full on narcissism.
You've articulated something I've felt there. Different people need different advice as you say.
Getting "taken down a peg" is not always a negative thing, can in fact be a tool for managing expectations which is considered a healthy skill, and many modern people need to be taken down a peg.
Kinda.
But I feel that's because there's no underground culture anymore. You can be famous doing anything because there's so much shit. I think it's cool that people can enjoy things they couldn't enjoy because they didn't even know it existed.
Death of the monoculture.
There are still underground cultures out there, they just stay off the internet for the most part. Publicity leads to commodification, and commodification leads to the death of the soul of a counterculture.
They existed. They were just obnoxiously narcissistic about way more basic things like winning the best blackberry pie at the county fair.
I liked it when their narcissism was carefully shelved instead of splashed everywhere
I don't think they're saying narcissists didn't exist, but that current media trends and popular culture encourage their behaviour rather than stifle it. Which I'm inclined to agree with.
I just imagined Peggy Hill ...
It currently rewards that sort of behavior.
Twitter ruined everything more than anything else combined imo.
Totes. I have a few long time friends who these days basically talk like they're posting an update to facebook. So, they say "I did this and that" and basically expect me to give them thumbs up. They're not interested in having a conversation about the subject any further or discuss other things. It's like they're just broadcasting their own news to other people. It's actually pretty freaky to watch.
Ugh. The 'LifestyleEnhancers', 'LiveYourLIfe', 'FreedomLiving' all over Facebook make me wanna' puke. How obnoxious is it to sit around a beach you can barely afford, fake how happy you are, bullshit everyone about how easy it is and telling everyone how to have a better life. Fuck them.
Ppl not taking pictures of every goddamn thing or snapping selfies everywhere you go
There is a balance to this though..
I've had 5+ 2-3 week vacations to the US (I live in Norway) in the past 8 years and I barely remember anything I did during those times. I struggle with remembering anything long term if I do not have something to help me retrieve the memory.
I have a picture of a wendy's baconator being presented to me as my first meal arriving to visit a friend years ago. It is a seemingly pointless picture of a burger and some fries but that picture helps me remember the whole first few days of the visit.
It is really hard to know which pictures will work for this in the moment so I take a ton of random pictures while traveling. It helps me remember and to order my memories years later.
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Nah - you gotta put in on Instagram and run through 50 filters with some kind of a clever caption or emojis or it didn’t happen
yeah, the advent of the internet really made everything more superficial, and sometimes that's bad, and sometimes it can be good to be able to capture memories
I think it's easy to blow the frequency of this out of proportion. I don't see people constantly snapping pics or taking selfies pretty much anywhere I go.
Sorry, I can't really agree with you. I agree more with this XKCD comic: Photos
Being able to travel and visit beautiful places before Instagram (or social media in general). Not only are the crowds exponentially larger at many of the photogenic spots, but travel "secrets" spread faster than viruses now. These places are overrun with people taking 1000 selfies just to convince everyone else that they're living such an amazing life with their over-saturated filters.
Didn't Justin Beiber get a place in Iceland shut down or something after filming a music video there?
Realistic standards. Everyone can search up images and videos of very attractive people and those are the standard to which everyone else is compared to.
Same goes for talent. Used to be you could think you were pretty good at something because you were better than everyone you knew—now a zillion people are searchable and way better than you can ever hope to be.
It's not just physical appearance, now you compare every aspect of yourself to the entire world. I work at a nature place and my boss does the social media stuff, we were talking about how we're too picky about choosing photo and videos for the social media pages because we're comparing our stuff to the social media pages for all of the other parks, and National Geographic, and super famous wildlife photographers, and all of the other related stuff. So we gotta remind ourselves we don't need to "compete" like that, ha ha.
To be fair they were around back in the day in magazines and shit, but my god they’re everywhere now. And I can be as self-confident and as secure of a grown-ass logical woman as I want to be and I still feel like total shit next to models and actresses. Even knowing they’re airbrushed half the time doesn’t make me feel better. Oh well. At least I’m not completely unfortunate-looking.
Any male under 6 ft is subhuman these days. Unless they are rich or extremely handsome facially
I have literally never looked at a guy and gone oh well I would have dated him but he’s not quite 6 feet tall...I don’t get women who hold guys to that inane standard. How tall someone is doesn’t make their personality.
Height doesn't indicate personality. But let's not bullshit ourselves into thinking appearance is not linked to assumptions about a person. This is why attractive people get treated better than ugly people. Tall guys are treated better than short guys.
Tall guys are treated better than short guys.
Maybe if you're handsome. I personally have never received any favors or better treatment because of my height. In fact, if anything, women often seem threatened around me. Being tall + resting bitch face (or murder face when talking about guys) is not a good combo.
Not being a guy I’ll take your word for that last part. I assume it’s true because society as a whole is dismayingly shallow AF. I’m not someone that would be called gorgeous or beautiful or stunning so I know full well how it feels to be on society’s attractiveness fringe. I just think it’s stupid beyond belief to make assumptions like that. Honestly I’m demisexual so I don’t even feel attraction to someone unless I have an emotional connection with them first, so I largely ignore the shitshow that is the standard of beauty. Except of course to compare myself to other women sometimes I guess :/
..... what's demisexual
Not being able to feel an attraction to someone unless you have an emotional connection with them first.
This could be an issue of confirmation bias. This is blown l way, way out of proportion. Sure, it exists, but not to the extent some people on the internet would lead you believe.
Obviously it depends on the location. I'm a student in university in Canada and from my perspective it's legit. Girls must compete with each other and having a taller bf than other girls is a victory.
That's true. I certainly can't speak for anywhere else, and I can't really speak for anyone else. I've just personally noticed a big difference between how often people mention women who only date guys 6ft+ and how often I actually see women date guys I'd consider really tall.
Thing is most guys inflate their heights and girls can't even tell a legit barefoot 6ft from 5'10. People can't judge accurately unless they are taller or equal to the person they are judging
Naturally women are a bit confused on the difference between 5'10 and 6" when men have been telling them 5' is actually 7' since the creation of the imperial system.
Getting pretty close to incel territory
I've seen so many women online and in real life say they will only date above 6ft. Incels are extreme in their views but this is one of the points where I agree with them.
That's a far cry from saying you're subhuman. Come back to reality.
You are [word], therefore you are wrong
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Totally. Not only have really good looking people become more visually accessible but theyre also now physically more accessible too. Models used to be on tvs and mags, completely inaccessible to your average joes. Now, everyone is just a click away and slide into their DMs you go lol.
My new phone has a beautify mode. Fuck off.
Edit: I mean the phone can fuck off with its beauty mode
What does your phone's auto photoshop have to do with anything? If anything the existence of a beauty mode further proves my point
I mean the phone can fuck off lol
ohhhhhh
In a weird way ignorance. News of new games and movies was mostly word of mouth so it was always special when you would find a rumor of something you really wanted to be true or find a secret or Easter egg without the entire internet already spoiling it for you. One example of this is as a kid I caught a shiny Pokémon without knowing what it was just that it was rare and it was the coolest feeling, like getting Willy wonka’s golden ticket. Although obviously I’m overall glad that the internet has gotten rid of the lack of communication
That feeling like you discovered this great new band that only a few other people knew about..,
Or even a certain song (or secret song) on an album that blew your mind.
You can still do that. It also sucks.
Learning about a new movie by seeing the trailer in the theater was great. Now you hear about a movie’s casting choices months before a trailer, and you watch the trailer on YouTube, and it just loses some of that surprise and magic.
I got my first shiny recently (I started playing a few months ago). It felt the same way for me and I'm an adult. Getting your first shiny is always a magical experience. Mine was a Kakuna and now I have a shiny Beedrill and I love him.
Communication. I mean like people can talk on a phone but when it comes time to see them in person, they lack interest or get awkward. Also there is way more people being bullied and tormented online just because it’s not a face to face confrontation.
I think more people argue now than pre-social media. It’s now so easy to talk to literally anyone than it’s extremely likely you’ll find someone every day that you disagree with.
There's also the other way around, where when I text them they only send short responses and don't really show any interest. So I've stopped for the time being. Then when I see them in person, they're just distracted by their phone.
I feel like I’m the exact opposite. I can talk your ear off in person and sometimes on a call but texting? Not a chance. It makes modern dating nearly impossible it seems like since the first line of communication now days is via internet
Music as an album. Now days, bands often release hordes of singles and everybody just listens to Pandora like shuffles. Even when you do download an album, there isn't much focus on it as a whole because subscriptions offer all of the "hits" and none of the deep tracks.
I've started collecting vinyl just to help recreate this for my kids. It's working too. They are starting to appreciate the art and love playing records.
As a struggling metal artist myself, we love doing full albums. The problem is music consumption just isn't geared up for that. When your only realistic source of income for any music is relegated to online streaming, you have to do it that way. People don't consume entire albums anymore, they are after the quick dopamine release of a single track that hooks immediately.
You may hear the argument that it "forces artists to be better musicians" which isn't true. It' relegates their powers of composition to providing that "hook" as quickly as possible at the cost of producing something a little more thought out and/or interesting. I can't imagine an average 18 year old getting through most of the Led Zep or Pink Floyd back catalogue these days. Why? "It takes to long to get there!"
If your song goes beepy boopy hummable melody in 15 seconds, you got a hit!
It's incredibly painful to see bands you once loved because they played original prog metal devolve to "easy to play for the band, easy to remember for the crowd" drinking-themed songs that are designed to be popular. Everything that made them stand out compared to the others, gone.
I've walked away from more than a few concerts of previously loved bands over the years. :/
(and fell asleep during Satyricon but that's a wholly different story lol)
Satyricon has always made me sleepy haha. I just never got that band. I love black metal, but they just seemed overly simplistic for me.
I hear you though. But then if you want to maintain any sort of stability you have to do it. My older catalogue has some 8 minute masterpieces that I doubt would even slightly get the traction it did in the late 90s. These days, it's got to be fully well produced and instantly hooking. The well produced bit is the big thing. Yes there's the argument that "you can get great quality in your bedroom" which is true. But professional quality? Nope that still takes pure cash to get it right. A bedroom rig can't compete with an experienced dude in the studio. And frankly, bedroom recordings don't cut it in the real world. Disappearing into a forest with a boombox to record your album doesn't hold the same cachet it did in the 90s.
And don't get me started on the whole djent thing... it makes me want to hurt myself.
But alas, this is the world born from piracy and instant access. And to me, it's really not better. And I reject this notion of "It's amazing, anyone can release without the big wigs!" That's the real shape of it, you dig through 1000 artists to find the one worth bothering with.
Nothing wrong with simplicity here and there, just not all the time.
Underground metal is a safe haven for physical albums, vinyls, and even cassettes. Many bands don't release on streaming services and some are hard to find on YouTube, but it's a gold mine if you know where to look.
Even quite a few above ground metal bands structure their releases around albums as a whole. But they might have youtube and streaming as well.
Could you give me some hints on where to look for such bands? I‘m having a hard time the last few months on finding new good underground metal. My last find was probably Mgla (if you can even count them as underground).
There are some underground bands such as Akitsa and Rippikoulu that do release on streaming services like Spotify. The best place to expand from bands like that is looking them up in the metal archives and looking for connected bands.
I also check out record label websites and see if they have any rares I haven't seen in forever or haven't heard of. I'd keep a look out for any metal swap meets in any large town near you as well.
You could also hit me up here on Reddit to share music, always. I love talking about old school metal.
That happened long before the Internet. Top 40 radio stations and music videos killed album – oriented rock.
I was literally complaining to my friend about this last night. Gone are the days of the journey of an album, of following the ebb and fall of the sequence of songs as the artist envisioned. I still unconsciously remember the order of songs to albums I listened to over and over as a teenager, singing the intro to the next song as the current song is ending.
Now my flatmates look at me like I am crazy if I ask Spotify to play random songs from one artist for more than 3 or 4 songs. Sometimes i just want to immerse myself in an artist, in the kind of vibe their music creates.
Albums.
2 hits
2-3 learn to like songs
2 learn to tolerate songs (don’t immediately skip)
6-7 garbage filler songs.
You listen to crappy artists. Pandora and the modern world is perfect for you. And that's ok. For me, I would have never found thousands of my favorite songs.
Mix Tapes.
If you never spent a week (or longer) making a mix tape and dropped it in your crush's locker, you missed out.
Something about the effort it takes to physically produce something like that, coupled with a rose, and a handwritten note that says, "I want to fuck you someplace very uncomfortable", that drives chicks wild.
Like the back of a Volkswagen?
Or in your ear?
This needs to be higher. I used to make mix tapes and everyone always wanted copies. I was pretty famous at my University for making gym tapes that people loved hearing while they worked out.
Or even the casual mixtapes. A lot of us couldn’t afford a lot of music in the 90’s. We would pool our music and just make these insane chilling mix tapes for eachother, and the bonus came not only in the selection, but the surprise mic’d in intro/outro shit and hilarious sketches we’d make to fill time and spice it up. You’d get a new mix tape and you’d be anticipating the hilarious segues as much as you’d be enjoying the music- and it was awesome knowing that others of your friends were cut the same tape and were probably listening at the same time.
If I was good at one thing in this life besides breathing, it would be making mixtapes. Shame I never had the chance to demonstrate my skills and be proud for once.
It was definitely an artistic expression that now, is so automated by streaming services, you can create your own channel or something and even share it to your contacts but, it's absolutely nowhere near as intimate as the perfect mix tape you made by physically holding the record and play buttons at the perfect time again and again until the tape was full.
FL studio is easy to learn, or just make playlists. People will find the good shit.
I don't aspire to be a world renown dj. I just would have liked to make friends or deepen the connections I already had by handing out personalized mixtapes in my adolescence.
I used to listen to the radio for hours waiting for that song I wanted to come on so I could record it to the mix tape I was making without buying the tape or CD, plus you know, recording a song from tape to tape pretty badly degraded the quality.
The idea of buying a tape & later on a CD was completely out of the question for me & my parents, so all my music was purely recorded off the radio, & honestly I was pretty happy with that. I used to be genuinely puzzled why anyone would pay for these songs when they were “available” for free.
Spoken like a true pirate!
Yes, I believe that’s exactly how it went down in middle schools all over America.
Straya too man, love it
The first care package I sent my future husband, who lived across 2 state lines at the time, had a CD called "a case of the mondays", with everything from Johnny cash's "Sunday morning coming down" to u2s "beautiful day", and we still listen to it on car rides, years later. The most agonizing part on my end was trying to time the delivery for Monday. Worth it.
A girl I had a crush on almost 20 years ago (we never got together, but she's still a friend) still has the CDs I made her. Story of the Year, Millencolin, My Chemical Romance, those CDs were and still are bangers.
A varied, non-targeted online experience. Glad I got to spend some time exploring the internet before every page shoveled only what you have already seen back in your face, and kept us stuck in this stagnant, reaffirming bubble.
Between 1998 and 2002 the internet really felt like exploring a new frontier. There was an amazing moment where lots of kids understood it better than the majority of adults. My mom didn’t limit my access. I saw some things I shouldn’t, but I also got to experience history in the making.
You know when you really like something... Then the internet makes it into a meme?
At first I used to love when that'd happen. Nowadays, memes die every month, and therefore if I talk about the thing I liked that turned into a meme the month after, I run the risk of being called a normie.
If you got friends unironically using or calling you a normie... I don't know what to tell you.
You know who's a normie, u/subterrainio
R e e e e e e
What's wrong with that?
Yup.
You’re usually one of the first to see a meme, and then 2 weeks later when everyone starts talking about it, you have to pretend to care about it again and discuss it like it’s brand new
Yeah like nowadays everything is a meme. Can't make a damn joke without it being a meme. Can't talk about anything funny you saw because it's a fuckin' meme. Open facebook, instagram, youtube anything and you get pages dedicated to reposting memes. I miss when memes were few and on the low like WTF BOOM and Firin' ma lazar.
https://youtu.be/qFGqhEVr7lk
This is a video for you
I see you are a man of culture as well.
Yeah, "Mr Stark I don't feel so good" had me on the verge of tears, and now a bunch of 14 year olds post it on everything.
Not being spoiled regarding a book/movie/tv show.
I miss going to the movies without having been spoiled by people posting about everything related to the movie.... Sure, you could say, "well, just don't go to the movies subreddit or forums (or whatever)." But it's not just those places... there's facebook, twitter, instagram, snapchat, and loads more sites/apps that will post top stories/trends that will contain spoilers.
I miss being able to ask someone a question without being told to "just google it"
No, I don't want to google it. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'm trying to have a conversation and using said question as an ice breaker? I mean.... don't you miss being able to express interest in something and wanting to socialize with someone, which could lead to more things to talk about? Google is great, but it can't replace the need/desire to socialize. We all need at least one person to talk to.
gotta firewall yourself from the internet 1 week prior to the movie's release up until you see it.
Yes
Snape Kills Dumbledore. Three words that made part of my adolescence very unhappy.
See I'm the opposite here, I have worked in a customer facing tech position and am currently finishing up my CS degree. The amount of calls I get from family about their iPhones is ridiculous and a good portion of the time there is nothing that I can do about it. It takes hours of my time that I could use for studying.
Take for example if you go into your contacts select a person and then select message to them on an iPhone 6 today it's seems that it will open the texting app but if you don't have a message already created to that person it won't do anything else. My uncle to delete all of his messages after they are sent because he doesn't like a dirty messaging app is at a loss because that is how he texts people and he refuses to take that it is a bug as an accepted answer because it worked before.
I don't own Apple devices both out of moral reasons do to how their company treats customers, and overtime I've developed an affinity for Linux and Android devices so that is what I use. I use Windows enough for gaming and other tasks I cannot do with Linux, but for some reason everybody on my family wants me to fix a strange issue with an iPhone or iPad and I don't even use the device. 9/10 times the answer is to Google the process myself because they are doing something wrong, because I am I'm unfamiliar with the device taking me longer than it would them.
Kids playing outside. I literally never see kids on bikes or playing in the street anymore.
I live on a cul-de-sac in a suburb in Indiana. In the summers, the kids are playing outside all evening, riding bikes, etc...so it still happens! My daughter who is 7 doesn't have to come inside until 9 (sunset is past 9 in the summers). But yes I agree it's more rare.
Just so no one teases you, it's "cul-de-sac"
Lol good call
Good call-de-sac
I went to crown point high school in the 90s and lived in a cul-de-sac (Indiana suburbs of Chicago for the most part) and this was definitely every single night, riding bikes, playing in the woods, going across the park to play hockey in the unused tennis courts, climbing trees, couple games of any sport we had a ball or frisbee for, mischief etc. until your mom yelled for dinner and then after that you had until sundown or heard a parent shouting your name. I never wore a watch for telling time back then, only for style. Glad to hear that somewhere the practice continues.
Donut county outside Marion?
In OC CA not so much
Yeah this has always kind of concerned me for when I have kids in the future, because some of the greatest times of my childhood came from exploring outside & roaming around the neighborhood. I worry that if I make my kid go outside, he'll be the only kid outside & then who the hell is he gonna play with?
I can’t speak for all areas, but where I live there was a massive cultural shift after 9/11. A massive cultural shift in general, but considering the amount of people I know who lost someone in the towers, it was a bit more I guess. But there became this sense of everyone is out to get you, we need to be sheltered from all harm, and that means giving up your freedom in order to be safe. I was able to be a roaming vagrant... and then I wasn’t.
As a kid I was in my prime vagrant phase just after 9/11 in an area that was also heavily affected, although not in the city. I still wandered freely and most of my friends did too. It's interesting you saw that as a turning point while it didn't really affect the way I played
I agree. But people really need to have kids first.
Growing up in the 1980's.... summer days... dawn to dusk bike riding and outdoors.
I kind of wish the kids in my neighbourhood would stop playing outside haha. I can’t open my windows without hearing constant screaming form the group of kids in my neighbourhood. It’s the worst when it’s hot out and you’re trying to sleep in. I get what you mean though, I have so many fond memories of growing up in a townhouse complex. My sister and I would set out in the morning and go knock on all of our friends doors and play outside until the street lights came on and we all went home.
I hate when they scream. Like, even when I was a kid I didn't get why other kids screamed for fun. Screaming is for emergencies, didn't you read The Boy Who Cried Wolf?!
Yeah it only took my parents slapping me once after I was screaming outside with my friends to never do it again.
The house behind mine has like 4 kids or something and their parents just ignore them, they’re honestly so annoying the whole neighbourhood hates them. They just sit outside and scream and swear all day. Idk there’s something about screaming children that just irks me like no other, I’d rather listen to a lawnmower outside my window all day long then those high pitched shrieks. Those kids even broke into my moms car once while she was visiting us and a few others in the neighbourhood, they’re like 10 ish too or around that age. Like how much of a failure of a parent do you have to be that your 7-10 year old children are breaking into people’s cars ? We live in a super nice neighbourhood too, those children are the only ones around here committing crime lol.
Hey OP, people like this are why you don't see kids outside.
lol I don't mind kids in general, I just don't like them when they break into vehicles and scream all day. there's nothing wrong with well behaved children playing outside. Trust me if you lived near these kids you would honestly be shocked at how horribly behaved they are. Despite how horribly behaved they are, i've never prevented them from playing outside or confronted their parents.
"People like me" have nothing to do with children not playing outside anymore, it's parents who plop their kids infront of a screen all day instead of encouraging them to go outdoors. When we were kids our parents wouldn't let us sit indoors all day, they'd kick us out in the morning to go play and not let us back until it was dark. Unless the weather was truly awful we would be outside. If you allow your kid to sit inside and play videogames and watch tv all day, chances are that's what they are going to do. There were times when I was a child that my neighbours were annoyed with us being loud and out of control, it didn't prevent us from being outside, but it did teach us to be respectful of others when they complained to our parents and we got an ear full when we came home.
Scream and shout and run around is just what kids do when left to their own devices. It has nothing to do with bad parenting or whatever. I'm interested to head how they broke into a car though. Do you mean you left it unlocked and they jumped in it? I dread the say that children's laughter and fun outside becomes painful to my ears, and that I have to complain on the internet that I need to shut my windows. Are they child soldiers? No. Are they being traffiked in some kind of sex ring? No. Are they indoors watching pewdiepie videos? No. So just be happy for them and be a cool neighbor man.
No they went around trying doors to see if doors were unlocked on a bunch of cars in the neighbourhood and trashed people’s cars and stole things out of them. Not your typical 8 year old behaviour, as I said, you have to be a pretty shit parent if your children are out at night breaking into people’s cars and stealing, I said nothing about being outside yelling being a reflection of someone’s parents. Although I’ve never personally spoken with the parents or the kids, multiple people in my neighbourhood have asked them to control them yet they refuse, my elderly neighbour wrote them a letter practically begging them to check their kids behaviour yet nothing’s changed, if multiple people in your neighbourhood come to you and say your children are out of control and you do nothing, you’re a shitty parents in my eyes. It only took one complaint for my parents to make sure we never distrusted our neighbours again and became mindful of other people’s peace and quiet.
There’s also a huge difference between children playing outside and children constantly screaming, swearing, lighting things on fire (yup they did that too), throwing rocks at people’s cats, and being general menaces to the neighbourhood practically unchecked by their parents. I said I wish the kids in MY neighbourhood would stop playing outside, not children in general.
And if literally doing nothing but getting frustrated with my property being destroyed and my peace and quiet constantly interrupted by shrieking and swearing children makes me a bad neighbour then so be it. Should I bake them a cake and thank them for destroying everyone’s property, hurting their pets, and making our nice neighbourhood thoroughly unenjoyable ? Would that make me a better neighbour?
The kids in my neighborhood are always screaming and every time, it gives me a mini heart attack. I dig that they're playing outside and having fun, but whew. Scares the shit out of me.
I don't believe internet is the reason behind this but it definitely played a part. It's mostly the parenting style now, kids are babied for far too long. A lot of parents don't let their kids out to just do random stuff.
My sister and I were born almost a decade apart, I grew up just as internet became expected for everything (early 2000s). For my sister, she's known the internet (youtube, google, facebook etc.) her whole life. We both still spent a bunch of time outside, her a lot less than me but she still was out with her friends after school for hours.
My friends and I during high school and middle school would just go wander around and do stupid stuff around town like explore abandoned buildings or just walk around. When I go home now during college breaks, even if local schools are in session I don't see anyone around.
Another part of the problem is that a lot of places just aren't very conducive to outdoor and active play. Parks and playgrounds these days are often designed with very young children in mind, (heights are lower and merry-go-rounds are a rare sight) so they get boring for older kids. Swimming pools deeper than five feet are hard to find, pools with diving boards even rarer. Accessible wilderness areas are often small or nonexistent. Suburbs are really bad about requiring you to have a car to go anywhere, everything is too far away and sidewalk systems rarely take you anywhere. And a lot of places kids can get too, sometimes there are so many rules that it's just not fun. (especially for older kids who need more challenging activities)
And a lot of kids today are put into a lot of extracurricular activities, they just can't schedule time with friends very easily.
I used to skateboard badly around the neighborhood, hop fences, and get all kinds of injuries. My grandma never shared it with her friends, because it would have looked stupid.
Hell I’ve walked away from injuries were I thought I died for a moment.
Im glad i got to play outside before the nanny state came down
I wouldn't say the internet is to blame for this, sometime in the late-80's and early-90's, there was a consensus that it was too unsafe for kids to be left alone outside, and businesses lined themselves up for this change. First it was play areas like Chuck-E-Cheese and Discovery Zone. Then television networks noticed a rise a children viewership and focused on that (aka the golden era of cartoons), then the video game industry, and lastly the internet.
Same! It's almost percieved as weird just to see someone walking around with no motive. The nextdoor.com community in my neighborhood is always reporting "suspicious" people out at night. I love a good night walk but now it makes me nervous that people will freak out.
Lucky, I get to see this often. Winter is very long where I live, and it's a small town (where parents can actually trust their kids to be able to go outside without getting stolen) so once Spring/Summer comes kids are constantly outside until it gets to cold not to be.
I've felt this one for a while now.. when I was a kid we would always be outside riding our bikes, playing baseball, football and mostly road hockey where our parents would have to come outside and make us come in because it was getting dark. We still had gaming systems like N64 and Playstation but online gaming and the internet didn't really take over yet so we still played outside a lot.
My friend has a 4 year old daughter and sometimes when I'm at his house she will just be sitting on the couch watching youtube videos for hours on end and it kinda makes me sad to see that when I think about all the fun stuff we did when I was a kid. I'm sure this isn't the case for every kid now but I am seeing it more and more as technology advances.
I dunno about ur country but here that's because of Crime
I grew up in the most notoriously dangerous city in the country, and kids still played outside back in the days before “stranger danger”.
Was it "the most notoriously dangerous city in the country" back in the days?
It was.
Yeah my friends and I are all around 20 and we’ve noticed a extreme drop in kids hanging outside compared to 5-10 years ago.
Time. If both parents have to work, the kids are at a sitters or daycare or are home alone and are not allowed outside til parents get home. Then Saturdays is for all the stuff no one had time to do during the week or kids sport events. Sunday's are the only "free" time that kids and families have.
On our case, our street is extremely busy, so the kids stay in the back yard. If you arnt walking down the street, you would have no idea they are back there. We also dont have any families with kids around us. So to go wandering around with friends isn't really an option.
It sucks in some ways but it also has some perks .
My kids play outside but we live on a cul de sac there are 4 different families of kids who usually end up at one house or another.
Biggest thing I worry about is when I was a kid (I'm 34) there were no cellphones so people paid much more attention when they drove. Can't count on that anymore.
I think that's partly because it's not really as safe a world for kids to do so without supervision, and the lack of supervision was what made some of those times great.
In my area it's pretty safe for kids to run around the apartment complex. Lots of areas not easily accessed by non-residents that they play in and run around screaming in.
So it might depend on where you live so if you're a parent looking for a place to live to raise kids, keep those things in mind. Places close to parks especially private parks for the area are good places.
Aren't overall crime rates lower than they were in the 80s or whatever?
I wasn't alive in the 80s so you'd need to compare to the 90s for me.
I tried to find specific statistics relating to crimes against children but could only find a statistic that compared the 80s and 90s so at least between those two eras, things got worse. This will take more than a moment to really get my answer and I'm not invested enough to do that lol sorry.
The crime going down doesn't mean it's still safe, though. There's more tools used to lure children now than ever and as always, human beings are opportunistic.
However if we were to find that crime against children went down between the 80s/90s and now, and we also observe children are outside unsupervised less than they were in those eras...Um..Yeah. Kinda got your answer right there, don't you? Opportunities are less for children to be left alone and within view of someone taking advantage of that fact.
Most crimes in general are committed by people who see the opportunity to potentially get away with it. This is why most crimes against children happen to them by someone they know already like a family member or family friend.
So yeah there's a LOT to unpack here if you want to really discuss specifics but I think I made my point enough here. It's never safe for anyone, that's why you teach your kids what to do in scary situations and don't leave them unsupervised and in terms of adults, the more you're aware of things and know what to do, the better prepared you are, the safer you are.
I'm not gonna keep getting into this though I wasn't really expecting anyone to reply to me (I never am) and I don't have the energy for more than this so I hope my hypothetical answer is enough. If you find the right statistics sure i'll reply.
I'm not invested enough to look for statistics or keep the conversation going either, lol.
Thank you for being one of the few people on reddit to understand and let me move on with my internet browsing lol. Have a good day bro
Before all the video games, i mean, we still had those but not so popular, we lived in this big apartment building with lots of kids. When one was outside, another 2 noticed and came out til there was like 10 of us and we just played random games. Some kind of nerf wars (didn’t have bullets tho), football, hide and seek etc.
Taught my boy how to ride today. He didn’t even fall. Neither did my other son
Did you try pushing them?
Lol. I did. Then balance kicked in.
Oh god I just commented the same thing heh
I still see it pretty often
I remember as a kid when nearly the whole neighborhood would get together and play. Even my mom and dad (they were young when they had me) would join in as all time center or QB when everyone was playing football in the street. Later on in middle school kids from school would ride their bikes right at the end of the day and go to the community pool to spend the rest of their day there and I’d leave right around dusk as I was told “be home before it gets dark”
Had a day back when my kid was 11 or so, told him it was waaay to nice outside to be sitting in his room playing video games. Forced him out and about.
I head off to the store about 30 minutes later, and I see my son, and a few of his buddies sitting in the school park playing their nintendo DS'......
I see plenty! But they're all chavs so that's still terrible...
Having to physically go to the library, use the Dewey decimal system to find what you were looking for, photocopying and highlighting. I don’t know, there was just something satisfying about it, like I really had to work for the information and I would definitely feel like I accomplished something when I was done. And printed pictures.
Having kids helped me rediscover the library. I live in a town with an amazing library system and we walk out with stacks of books every time. My 7yo is nearly proficient with searching for books (using the online catalog) then writing the Dewey code and finding it.
If you’re fortunate enough to have a good library system nearby, I highly recommend you check it out
YES! I went into my local library and asked for some help. The librarian started to give me the title and author and was telling me which shelves to look for. She was shocked when I asked her for the DDN. She said that the only people whoever ask that anymore are other librarians.
The IKEA Effect is likely why you liked that more than just googling the info. (I personally like googling more)
This is why I never did well in research or referencing.
The fucking dewey decimal system
This is one thing I could live without. No way could I have written my 15 page paper with 32 resources in APA format in one night last week for grad school without internet libraries.
I still do this as a high school student! Of course, I use the internet a lot more but I'm at the library all the time and I just love finding print resources.
I miss walking into a library and seeing endless rows of bookshelves filled with volume after volume. Now the space in a library is mostly taken up by desks and computers instead. I understand the change, but it still makes me sad.
Recipes without hearing about your life.
Fuck off Karen, I want your couscous recipe I don't give a shit about your son's graduation.
This, so many times this. Everytime you look for a recipe these days you have to read a book about it first.
And at first, you could just scroll to the bottom. But now some of them started chopping up the recipe and putting it inside the book they want you to read about it.
I hate so much about this. I hit a point where if the recipe wasn't in an easily accessible format, even if I have to scroll to the bottom to find it, I don't need that recipe and fuck that website's SEO bullshit.
I really like the ChefTap app for this. You share a recipe article's URL to the app and it scans and snips out the trash for you.
It works remarkably well on pages that only contain one recipe (most of them) and can store up to 100 recipes without costing anything.
It's because Google prefers long form articles. They usually indicate that the page is more authoritative. Recipes didn't have much content for google to parse and rank.
OH WOW ME AND MY HUSBAND JUST LOVE THIS RECIPE
Ok, I've seen this said many times on reddit and I don't get it. I look up recipes on blogs all the time and I know that the recipe in at the bottom of the page after all the life stories. I simply scroll to the bottom and read the recipe. I guess there are people who actually read the whole thing, since it is still a thing. But it's not any more annoying then any other web site, where you might have to scroll a bit until you get to the part that you're interested in. Why unnecessarily hating on the Karens for posting their life stories? It's their blog. If you find it overly annoying, then don't use their recipes.
Agreed. Browser find (ctrl-f or similar) for “ingredients” or “instructions”. Not so hard.
Video games in general.
Back then you just played it. You played your game and enjoyed it. When newer stuff started coming around like halo and call of duty l/medal of honor. You played the game and had fun.
Now fucking EVERY SINGLE GAME is some hyper competitive contest to show who's dick is the biggest. Even single player games are like this now. There's a META for every thing now. And if you don't use the meta you're either bad or stupid.
I miss playing for the sake of playing the game and not trying to be better than everyone and then fuck their mothers after.
Internet culture and ease of access ruined alot about what gaming was to me.
I remember being content with being super shitty at Diablo 2. My best friends knew the ins and outs, but I just wanted a character that could rush people. Never did get it, but trying new builds to do so was half the fun. Now I'm sure with the internet it'd be stupidly easy.
In Diablo 3 there is a ranking for how fast you can clear a solo rift (just a big dungeon) usually there are two (sometimes three) builds with hardly any differences. I mean, yes they are that good, but it is super boring to grind for hours until you get every piece just to see that the meta has changed
It's why I stick to jrpgs most of the time. The story and music just take me to a different world like when reading a good book.
I recently got invited to a GTAV money drop Discord channel where the channel creator was trying to sell absurd amounts of GTA money for insanely low prices. Literally more money than you could ever possibly need to buy multiples of each item that costs money in the game. (100 million for $5)
He couldn't figure out why nobody was touching his shop. He asked if it seemed sketchy and got no response. He asked if people were afraid of being banned and got no response.
Eventually, someone types "Honestly, I think people wanna just enjoy the game with others and not ruin the whole play/earn/reward dynamic outside of the occasional money drop." and the channel flooded with "Yup" "agreed" and "this" responses.
Was really nice to see, since the ingame money mechanics are completely "carrot/stick" but several years post-release they finally managed to make the stick just as much fun and it shows.
I probably sound like a dumbass for saying this, but what the fuck is meta?
Meta= most efficient tactic available.
Usually meaning, best weapons, best paths to take, best way to farm for stuff, best way to do XYZ.
Perfect!
I found the Talos Principle nice. It's an experience I'm glad I had. The game itself is a puzzle game set atop some wonderful world building.
The current generation of hate gets clicks reviews are quite unhelpful as well. That hate and anger takes a life of its own on social media I have always found disturbing.
This is why I stop reading about a game pretty much the second I realize I like it enough to finish it.
Doesn't really work for multiplayer titles though :(
Well, to be fair, the arcade games of the 80's and early 90's basically all had points totals, and it was always a big deal to get your name on there. So that competitive spirit has always been there. But now you're competing against everyone in the world and not just everyone in the local area, and that makes a big difference.
Dating.
Thanks to tinder, texting and social media in general your expected to know eachother before the you go on a date, which puts even more expectations on the date itself.
I miss getting to know people in person. Even if I can ask the same questions over text the subtle facial and body cues aren't there and what might have been a great connection get missed, or a shitty connection looked too far into because the vast majority of the factors that go into attraction are being ruled out with all emphasis remaining on how good people are at commuicating, or manipulating, verbally.
Shit when I was in sixth grade and wanted to ask a girl to the upcoming dance I had to find out her number (phone book maybe or mutual friends?) then call her house, explain to her Dad who answered the phone who I was and why the fuck I needed to talk to Kelly. Then if I was really respectful and charming and if he decided to actually put her on the phone after that I had to shrug off all that anxiety and ask the cute girl from math class if she wanted to go with me. Nowadays kids just plan to fuck in the bathroom at school by scheming the entire thing over texts or messaging apps or something, maybe already exchanged dick pics/nudes... Life was fucking harder back in the olden days of the nineties but more satisfying when she said yes because your ass went through an ordeal for that time you spent together. It certainly was not prearranged instant gratification. I just feel like it was all so much more real.
As a man who doesn't use Tinder, and who doesn't even have an account, I find that the fact that Tinder exists actually gives me an edge in the dating world that I didn't have before.
A significant percentage of women enjoy being approached in person, and the less people that approach them in real life the more confident I seem when I do that.
While it's a good outlook on the situation there's seemingly a significant amount of 40+ year old men who feel the same way and aren't using Tinder either.
I actually get approached a lot, just by guys twice my age so I've gotten somewhat desensitized to getting hit on in public settings sadly.
I am not 40+ plus by the way, I am at the "Tinder age". I just don't use it and prefer to approach women in public.
Do you get approached by young people, or just by people twice your age?
I get approached by a lot of young women, which being bi I don't mind and they usually at least try to flirt but the guys my age almost always ask for my number or snapchat instead of asking me to dance or having a meaningful conversation.
By your response however it seems you are talking about being approached at night clubs.
I was actually taking about day time approaches in the street, shopping mall, etc. which are less common, and that's where I get my edge. Sorry for not clarifying.
Yeah I spend a lot of time in clubs and bars so even when I get approached at work or something I still hope they'll ask me to go out dancing.
Yeah I see your point. Work still doesn't count though.
I am talking about being approached by a complete stranger while you are walking down the street at 4pm. A real approach, not some dude screaming from a construction site.
Those kind of approaches are very rare, and that's where I get my edge. Usually the girl will be caught off guard and will enjoy the conversation, which generally leads to going out later.
These approaches have a much higher rate of success than those at Tinder, work, etc, so basically that's why I'm a non-Tinder user who loves the fact that Tinder exists!
I dont really consider strangers talking to me on the street "an approach", or at least not a serious one and most of the time I put my guard up instantly when people try it because they come off as more aggressive than courageous.
Exactly what I'm talking about. The few who can pull it off, and do actual, serious, but at the same time fun and enjoyable approaches, get the edge.
That's why I stick to daylight approaches on the street, and no dating apps.
Your case is different because you are usually not approaching, so I'm guessing you'll have to figure on your own how to proceed. But trust me on this one: there is a much better dating life outside of Tinder.
That’s awesome! I’d much rather guys try it in real life. It’s more comfortable to speak to someone, hear their voice, and have a conversation before agreeing to meet.
The last guy I dated, I asked him out.
I’ve had tinder since it launched and as a rule I don’t text before hanging out unless it’s us making plans for when and where to meet.
I really miss Minecraft before it was memed. It was such a wholesome game that I honestly loved playing when I was younger.
It hasn't stopped being a wholesome game, there's just way more stuff in it now.
As an original player there's almost too much stuff in it now. I get overwhelmed when I go to play, even just playing with the old school materials, so I can't really enjoy it the same. It's just me. It doesn't help I've been kinda burnt out on the game for years
You can choose an older version in the launcher.
1.8 gang
It wouldn't be the same
This might not help, but I stopped playing for a long time (I last remember horses being new when I was playing a lot) and came back to a torrential downpour of content.
Picking up an old school goal helped. I want to build a house for the night, get iron, get diamonds, maybe go find a jungle. By the time I got going, I could see the content in pieces instead of all at once.
I haven't tried servers again but single player is fun again in hour or two long chunks.
okay that's just blind nostalgia. it would 100% be the same, you just played too much of it and became tired. yes, obviously you can't relive your childhood exactly, because you're older.
True
If you feel that way about the game, the java versions at least allows you to pick the version you like to play. I always go back to play the traincraft mod as it hasnt been updated in a while.
That's sorta how nostalgia works, especially with games. You think about somethign you loved as a kid, and you watch youtube videos about it, and you maybe learn all these easter eggs and secrets and get into speedrunning, etc. And you just really want to play. And then you finally do and...meh. The controls suck, the play is too easy, and the experience just seems...boring.
What you are really nostalgia-ing for is the excitement you had as a kid for the game, when it was still new. You're now used to all this new technology that can do so much more, and sadly, all you can see are flaws. You didn't give a fuck as a kid that the nintendo 64 cord was only like 4 feet long, and now if you play, that's all you think about.
Same. I stopped playing it for a couple years while I went to grad school. When I went back to it, I was so overwhelmed by everything new. It just hasn't been as fun.
Polar bears kinda turned it off for me but I can’t wait for Hytale
Fucking granite, diorite, and andesite clogging up my inventory...
Story mode was way more fun than I expected it to be.
I play with Mod packs and get C64 flashbacks at how long it takes to load now.
My problem is infinite world size. I love exploring the world, but I don't like a birch wood biome that is literally a whole 4:4 map (Largest size).
You "can" make an old world, but it's far too small.
Also, there's no way to play the OG tutorial worlds that they added when it initially released on 360.
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It hasn't actually. Alpha was only 3000^2. Infinite is 30million^2.
Alpha and 360 wasn't close to infinite.
Ah ok, my bad, I started playing in Beta
I've never had that problem in any game, and it sounds completely absurd to me.
The one time I played Minecraft there was virtually nothing to do at all except dig holes or place blocks in a pre-generated environment (no animals/enemies that I saw). I think it was like a beta version or something (as this would have been 2009 maybe even earlier). Completely boring borefest non-game.
So to say that the game hasn't constantly improved seems absurd. If I was to play it again I'd still probably say it has only like 5% of the features I'd ideally want in it.
No one said it hasn't constantly improved, we said it isn't the same as the game we spent hours upon hours on. It's overwhelming now for an old player that didn't play continuously as it updated.No one said it was a bad game, so stop projecting your minecraft boner at me plz
Considering that I don't play the game (aside from one time 10 years ago) I don't really understand why you'd say that I have a "Minecraft boner".
I just said that I played the game in it's [very] old state, and it was junk. Seems like there's stuff to do now which would make it better. Perhaps you'd say this is making too extreme of a comparison though, but I'd say that extreme cases still have validity.
No one said it was a bad game
Well, I did. At least that it was a bad game. Adding features made it better, and hence goes my argument that there can never be enough features.
Good for you dude.
And they're developing Hytale now, and I'm trying to make a web version of Minecraft (it's not doing so well; I've made a rasterizer, but I suck at collision algorithms. I've still been trying, though. I found DEs recently)
Thank you u/BenjamimaPancake, very cool!
Lol hytale
Theres still great smaller servers. The actual game isnt ruined
I actually can't wait until the game stopes being sported by mojang. Minecraft has a very active mod community so chances are it will develop in to something like OTTD or ORCT2. and active community making new content and patching the game.
Sir, have you heard of hytale? It’s essentially the people who developed hypixel, a popular Minecraft server, developing their own game that plans to be more easily moddable and more community based than the current Minecraft (it’s not released yet)
How did the memes ruin it?
The memes are fine but the "fortnite=bad Minecraft=good" memes is getting stupid now
That's just how things are.
The more people you have on the internet saying "This is a good", it will make more people saying "This is a bad"
I can verify that half of that is correct at least.
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Not that bad of a game but the fanbase is kind of cringey. But they are mostly kids anyways
The fans are as cringy as the haters.
The game isn't. The playerbase is. We already went through this cycle with Minecraft and FNaF: a massively popular decent-to-good game gets a big, young fanbase that is fostered and catered to by streamers and LPers, and recieves massive backlash from older audiences over it. At least, until something new comes along.
It originally attracted people of all ages and as the original group of people lost interest, (as people lose interest in time with all games) the people who were left were kids, thus it made it seem the game was a kids game.
I just started playing again yesterday for the first time since 2013. Feels like a totally new game so the exploration of it is back again for me.
I stayed up until 4 last night playing Minecraft. The last game that had me stay up that late was Halo Reach
I never quit playing. Me and a few friends still play too. This. Day. We used to have servers full of castles and mines and man-made villages and when we get bored of that we go play on the BIG servers and have even more fun. It was worth the cringe, gotta say.
Still on the boat
It's worth it! I was just playing on The Hive with some friends playing treasure wars and it was great! (Once you find a lobby with no hackers ofc)
I was a part of an adult community. It was fun.
Same, l miss that place. Still have it's main world "H" stored on a drive somewhere. It's too big to load but l'd like to boot it sometime and just wander around the place.
We had a fairly big server (10 people on at all times) that slowly dwindles down to maybe one visit a month, then it was shut down. We hardly even talk nowadays. I really miss those times.
There's tons of awesome modpacks that I still have a blast playing with my friends. We set up a small private server and explore until we're bored, then we get a new modpack. We ran out of good mod packs at one point, so we started making our own. Fun times.
My teens still go back to it often. I think they get exhausted with the screaming of competitive games, and just need to mellow out. They aren't even trying to grief other players, it's just them and their friends building massive freaking palaces to the sky
Minecraft just started getting popular with older people again. Fortnite replaced It as the meme game for 12 year olds.
Surprised I had to scroll this far
I still go back to it now and then. I'll get bored of it for a bit, then get an itch to play again. I run a small server that just me and a friend mostly play on. Sometimes we wipe and start over when we get bored. I find it's kind of satisfying starting from scratch.
Before the infant invasion, back when the game was only known to indie game nerds with their ears to the ground, Minecraft was what you made it.
My memories of Minecraft were of clan warfare, castle sieges, rain of arrows, and TNT cannons.
There was a clone of it on xbox that we'd play because minecraft wasnt on it yet. The world was just so much deeper that when I got minecraft I was really disappointed. This game went so deep we had to mount rescue missions for each other a lot. It was always a milestone when we'd get to a new layer of rock we hadn't been to before. Once our city was large, we had this pit that we'd jump in and just fall for so long to get to any specific level. I wonder what that game was called.
I remember I used to play a sort of knock off version called CastleMiner Z because Minecraft wasn’t on Xbox. Honestly probably the best builder/zombie game I’ve ever played.
what does it mean it was "memed".
i never played it.
For a while it was derided as a game for little kids, probably as the original target audience grew up and hit that age where coolness is really important. I think most people have come back around, though (or maybe it's just been with replaced with Fortnite as "the game to make fun of").
yes, i remember, the so called "9 year olds" (or 12). In spanish they are called "nino rata".
It's funny, because back when I started playing, the term everyone used to describe it was 'adult lego'
The memes have somewhat died off tbh. I still play it every now and then
I remember playing it all day with my cousin. Just building shit. I also remember watching Yogscast which was the thing that got me into minecraft tbh. Shit, I remember when I didn't have a way to buy minecraft because I was too young to have a debit card so I just played the alpha version which, despite being bare bones, was incredibly relaxing
Amen to that
I miss pure vanilla servers. The dread of joining a server and hoping there were not players spawn camping, then walking maybe 1000-2000 blocks away from the spawn, being very careful to not find other players, looting anything you find on your way, starting your life and hoping no one ever finds your base.
My favorite part of all was just having that dread. That constant fear of someone finding me/my base and having to leave and find a new place to live. I even had hidden emergency chests scattered with gear and food in them in the vicinity just in case I had to abandon everything.
But most modern servers don't have that same magic or sense of adventure. Like you join in a map where they can't kill you, with facilities to teleport you to a random location, give you starting gear, blocks or commands to protect your buildings from being looted/griefed and even payed ranks (as in you pay the server owner) to get benefits and stuff that don't exist in the base game (say for example a sword with a ridiculously huge knock back or a bow that spawns lightnings wherever they shoot).
Bro i still play minecraft and love it. I cannot stop building pls send help
Minecraft was memed from release. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
dammit i'm feeling nostalgic now
I’ve always preferred Terraria.
Last night I went to my friend's house and three of us spent three hours playing minecraft together, I don't think that it's lost its wholesomness at all
The original Civcraft was one of the most unique gaming experiences ive had.
This is sooo not an answer to this question -.-
YTMND
PUNCH THE KEYS FOR GOD'S SAKE!
LOL!! I friggin loved that site!
But www.ytmnd.com still exists! And people still upload to it!
Get in there and upload moar!
Prior to reading this, I hopped over to the site to see if its still there.
CATCH THAT MAN!
I used to find it funny that people who loved that site didn't even know what movie that line was from.
The radio star
Internet killed the video star
The kids are disco dancing, they're tired of rock and roll
just rediscovered this album yesterday. Gem.
With the rise of podcasts, Radio got its revenge.
But what brave hero will be the one to kill the internet star?
The star
the newspaper star
Global Warming.
Damn it
Damn it /u/bibbitybobby
In my mind and in my car
We kahn't rewind, we've gone too far.
Oh, oh oh, oh oh
Video killed the radio star the internet killed the video star surely!
Thats so fucking bad, I love it
When that song comes on now I always sing "Internet killed the old media..."
Telepathy killed the internet star.
I remember an old flash animation that (edit: made) this parody. This one, "Robots are our friends", the one about the milk man... Oh, the memories.
Beat me to it
Have you tried DMT?
Jamie pull that shit up
The 'ok' sign.
👌
Not seeing emojis everywhere.
Honestly I much prefer old fashioned Text faces than these annoying graphics.
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\ (•◡•) /
👌
the internet didn't ruin it, it will only be ruined if you become complacent in this new meaning trolls have assigned it to mess with the media.
You're right. Major corporations are already censoring it due to it's racial ties but me using it will change things.
🤔
"The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force."
The ok joke was after idiots reported pepe being a literal nazi symbol. Turns out people are that dumb and the joke took off
Same happened to milk and now clowns.
The milk is my personal favorite. But ok is great beacuse of it's widespread success.
I don't think anything will be as successful. I think it was a perfect storm of well-timed shitposting and the media screeching over literally everything Trump does, including the OK sign.
Just wait till the 2020 run to heat. Spread pictures of trump and milk
Except the thing is, regardless of their intent a bunch of white supremacists go around using it. So sure, maybe they started doing it to mess with the media, but now it's a racial dogwhistle in reality.
Yeah no.
If a bunch of white supremacists do a hand signal to identify each other, it is a white supremacist signal. I'm sowwy if you don't wike being on the same side as the KKK wittle baby.
I'm sorry you're stupid
My kids are the fucking worst with dead memes. They find them out last, and then you’re subject to this bullshit for months. 😑 They’re 11 and 7, so they think it’s hilarious still.
Remember when it just meant that, or that you got to hit your buddy because you caught him looking at the 👌 below your waist
Hysterical stupid people ruined the OK sign, not the Internet. They did the same shit for drinking milk and cooking with onions.
The entire point of this chain of psyops is to claim as many totally mundane aspects of living as possible for "wHiTe SuPrEmAcY" for the sole purpose of making moral busybodies physically incapable of even being alive.
I never heard of the cooking with onions one!
Ive also never heard of that, what is meant by this? Genuinely curious
Can someone explain this one to me? I think I'm out of the loop.
Basically 4chan, being the chaotic group that they are, wanted to stir some shit up and spread false info on how the ok symbol is a symbol of white supremacy. Now idiots have picked it up and thinks it's true so now Blizzard is kicking out people in their arena when they see people doing the ok symbol.
Yay, humanity? Thanks for the response!
You're welcome.
You don't understand how this works. It's not false info to say something is a white supremacist symbol because white supremacists thought it'd be funny to start doing something and now they use it to identify each other. Like a Nazi salute wouldn't stop representing Nazis if they were doing it as a goof. If a shit ton of white supremacists have a symbol that they use for identification, regardless of its origin, it is a white supremacist symbol.
But they don’t do it to identify with each other
Yes, but it all started as a joke. Like the flat earth jokes then uneducated people picked it up.
4chan.
My assumption that the greater part of the human population is somewhat intelligent.
think of how dumb the average human is
half of them are dumber then thst
Moving to a new place without stalkers/enemies knowing where you've gone.
Anonymity used to be a thing.
Calling the phone number to hear the time and temperature. Repeatedly. All summer long.
I still have that number memorized and it’s been... 30 years?
Or calling SportsPhone to get baseball scores from the west coast when your team was on a road trip.
Or the disappointment of the west coast scores not being in the newspaper the next day because they printed them before the results were in.
cries
There used to be a number you could call from a house phone and it would automatically call your house right back. I was an annoying little fuck that used to do that all the time. I thought it was so funny watching mom, dad or one of my siblings get up to answer the phone (the phone that hung on a wall) only to have nobody there.
Yeah, 777-(last four digits of your number), then you clicked the hang up, heard a tone and hung up. Your phone rang within seconds. It was a commonly used trick described in the phone phreeking section of the anarchists cookbook. Every twelve year old with the internet knew that one until, I think, the phone provider removed the service due to abuse or overuse, and generally being some troubleshooting function the public wasn't supposed to have knowledge of.
Time and temperature? Did clocks and thermometers not exist before the internet?
The state I live in still has this number. It’s a fun distraction for a toddler
Wasn’t it POPCORN? The # you dial for the time?
Video rentals.
Nowadays, you only have to show up, sit down and scroll some lists. Part of the fun of gathering friends for a movie was going out, buying snacks and picking up a video at the rental.
I agree, u/Shitfaced_cuntfucker.
There’s still Redbox and similar movie rentals, plus you can still go out and gather friends + food with or without renting a physical copy. Don’t let digitalization take away that at least.
Eh, that still doesn't have it. It's the idea of walking into a dedicated store and browsing shelves. Seeing a bunch of other people there. Having a movie or trailers playing on a network of TVs.
I remember doing that with my parents,I actually forgot that was a thing for a bit lol,my memories are now flooding back to me
Favorite song coming on the radio instead of picking up whatever device and playing it whenever you want
That’s a big one too. I would spend hours waiting to find out who it was so I could go buy the album
After seeing The Silence of The Lambs in an era of no Shazaam or Youtube I struggled to identify the song being played as Bill dances in front of the mirror after applying lipstick. It was not even on the OST. For anyone who wants the name of the song, here it is
I have so much songs on Spotify on phone. When I'm driving I often end up listening to radio in car since I just end up skipping songs constantly.
I do the same, even with songs I like I think because I've heard them so many times they play out in my head in the first few seconds and I'm just like fuck this.
I still listen to the radio in my car, the radio sucks though. I only like 2-4 stations, including Kfog, classical, jazz (for old people and also me) and the Stanford university radio station that is basically miscellaneous but sometimes cool, offbeat stuff.
Radio may have been better and more varied in the before 2010. But it’s a lot of overplayed stuff and ads.
I like Spotify a lot more. I can type in peculiar genres, like chillwave or chiptunes, and find many playlists about it. There are less ads than radio, by far.
I only listen to radio cos my commute isnt too long and my car is really old.
Empathy
I feel like I gained a lot of empathy through the internet, because of being able to read other people's experiences. If that hadn't been an option to me, I'm almost certain I'd be a worse person right now.
Just one word... memes.
Trust me man there are some really messed up ones out there.
This. A million times this.
Privacy or something.
What's that?
Idk but it sounds fake
You can have it if you feel like it. Most people would rather have services that sells their profiles to advertisers and are free.
If your profile is completely free, then wouldn't it be better to use your brain and make up an anonymous identity, for example, /u/wasdninja then put random image in case you feel like it, that's not literally your face?
You can have it no matter what, it's not rocket science.
The agency will remember that
>posts something about their life on facebook
>damn I hate internet, literally can't even have privacy anymore
Map-reading and people's ability to give or to follow directions from place to place. I know people who can't walk down the block without Google maps. (I really wish I were exaggerating, but I am not.)
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This for sure. Needing to go to the bathroom on a long trip used to be a scary proposition. Now siri can direct me to a close Starbucks in seconds. Waze can tell me if the way I was going to go is now blocked by an overturned semi too, and send me a different way. Even better, Waze knows when I can just exit the freeway and drive a few blocks on city streets to avoid the whole thing. That was pretty much impossible to do, driving from one place to another, with no local maps in between. Not to say I didn't try. I wouldn't trade those abilities for preplanned routes and sitting helplessly in traffic again.
in Rand McNally, they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people!
That sounds like an awful place and I belong there.
Yeahhhh gotta say. Totally changed my life. Opened up the world and eased the anxiety of not knowing how to get back on track if I get lost. BUT, I can definitely say it's affected my sense of direction since I don't use that "sense" at all, so it's a little Column A, a little Column B.
Agreed! There's such a greater sense of "freedom" when you know that you don't have to constantly be aware of every turn you make if you're any place new. I would have such anxiety if I went somewhere and had to keep track of every street or block I went down just so I know I'd be able to get back home again. It kept me from truly enjoying the place where I was.
Now with the GPS, there's no worry. I know that all I have to do is pull up the map and instantly I know exactly where I am and where I need to go.
GPS is awesome, but I do miss maps and feel that it’s a shame that my children would have a hard time getting from point A to B if they had to use my Rand McNally.
I literally could not do my job without them, being so new at it. Never saw a major use for gps before now
I think you might have rose-colored memories. I seem to remember having a hard time trying to find someone who could follow directions on paper maps well enough to actually give directions to the driver. Far too many times the "navigator" was simply the person who held the map until the driver needed to look at it.
Of course, I also remember trying to get directions from people who would give directions according to buildings that weren't there anymore. That was always fun.
reminds of an old Jeff Foxworthy joke....
"Ok so the map says to take the blue line out of Phoenix....."
Old school paper maps aren't for everyone, but they will be nice to have around if the GPS network gets taken out by a solar flare or the like
It's definitely a skill, but I can read a map, and my kids can't. They don't have the patience to learn, and given everything else they have to know, I get that. It's kind of silly to learn archaic, unneeded skills unless they just interest you. It still seems like a shame to have lost that ability. On the other hand, it's not like they taught us map-reading in school. I imagine if the need for it ever comes back, people will figure it out.
archaic, unneeded skills
I take it you've never had your GPS give up the ghost in the middle of a long trip. I have, and I was sure glad I knew how to read a map (and that I had bought maps of the area before heading out).
If you want to get your kids to learn to read a map, just take them out in nature beyond the battery life of their phones. I'm a big supporter of going camping simply because it makes people learn new and unusual skills in a fun way. Of course, when I say camping I'm not talking about driving to the campgrounds, I mean putting your life on your back and walking for a few days.
My kids loathe camping. My husband and I love it, and we forced them to endure it, hoping it would grow on them, but it never did. We always tent/car camped. I can't even imagine how pissed off they'd be if we'd made them backpack. They are more environmentally responsible and aware than I ever was, or am still. They just don't like being dirty, or feeling vulnerable. I've had to accept those things aren't going to change.
Damn, I feel so lucky now. My kids love camping. We go out for a long weekend every summer, and there is usually a bit of "OMG my phone" panic at the beginning, but they always have a good time.
The internet has made my natural affinity with maps almost entirely obsolete. I have a near-photographic memory for maps, and a great sense of direction. I just need to look at a map of an area for a few seconds and I'll be able to navigate perfectly. This was a super useful skill to have fifteen years ago, but is pretty much useless now. Driving to places I've never been without turning on the GPS is basically just a party trick these days.
I disagree, I am annoyed that my excellent map reading and sense of direction have gone to waste because of gps. Most people I knew could give directions, they just gave them too late. Once I (or the driver) missed a couple exits they got the point and started giving directions in a timely manner.
I don't think this is an internet thing. I personally have a really good sense of direction and could drive or walk to most places I've been to before without looking at a map. But I also know people who get lost WITH their map app open. My college roommate in particular would need me to repeat directions 6-8 times per turn. Sounds like you have a stronger sense of direction than the people you know.
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IDK who downvoted you, but you're right.
In the last couple of years I started using google maps to make the route, then I write down the directions and follow that. it forces you to pay attention, and you get a much better understanding of the area.
Damn, I wish I had Google maps as a kid..
As someone who is completely at a loss when it comes to remembering directions, you have no idea how grateful I am for the invention of the GPS. I’m completely useless (and always have been) when it comes to navigation...
Funny. But just last night I was thinking about how cars used to have a “map light” so you could read your map at night. So obsolete with gps on phones and in cars these days.
Is that what the light is for?! I literally just use it to check my hair at night lmao.
I bet you miss getting your info from encyclopedias as well. Do paper maps give you traffic info and travel times?
I don't know my cardinal directions without a compass. I can navigate with maps or most directions if given a "Follow traffic up main street until you hit X street, then turn left." If you tell me to turn West I will glare at you. I was never taught that and I don't carry a fucking compass with me.
If you can see the sun and have the time you have the cardinal directions
I wasn’t taught how to calculate that. It comes up seldom enough that I don’t think to teach myself. It’s like saying if you have a sand timer you have an hour without explaining minutes.
It takes all of two minutes to learn
Face your analog watch, align it so that the hour hand points in the direction of the sun (you might have to twist your wrist a bit, or take it off). 3. Now imagine a line starting from the center of the dial halving the angle between the hour dial and 12 o'clock. This line will point south.(northern hemisphere)
Don’t own analog watch. As this isn’t 1980. I use my phone for time keeping. Also not sure what you mean by the line thing. Like I cannot imagine it. Hence this being an issue with the advent of the internet.
Maybe if you spent more time trying to understand instead of being snarky you would.
I just do it in my head , it's not complicated
I literally can’t imagine it.
It’s the middle of the night where I am kind of hard to play with sun light without it also hard to imagine as I don’t own a watch either so not like I’m used to it’s light play.
So your advice of 1980s watch having is hard for every day potential where I may need to know where west is.
Ok, so you're a bit slow.
How is that my problem ?
You offer no practical solution. Mate.
Doesn’t help with directional learning. I’d buy a compass before a watch to get the direction. Thankfully god works and I can orient myself with that if I have a signal.
I never though I'd say this , but it Ain't my job to educate you.
Go search YouTube you lazy prick
I'm gonna disagree. Even before technology, reading maps is hard as fuck. It's a legit talent.
Actually, you are exaggerating a lot. I still get a lot of good directions from people of any age and I - if I can say that - do so as well.
Having Google Maps now is nothing negative. I don't know how someone can actually miss reading Maps? You can literally still do it but you now also have a safe and quick alternative.
And do you really miss getting directions that are totally complicated?
Idk man I can still read a map real well.
I have the worst sense of direction ever. Everyone makes fun of me but I think it's a legit problem i don't know how to get ANYWHERE even places I go to often. Google maps is a huge help but even with it I get lost sometimes
I am one of those people. My spatial awareness is incredibly skewed, so Google Maps is a wonderful thing for me. I don't get lost in Toronto anymore!
It's all just a bunch of squares.
I don't miss this at all. I got lost in a foreign neighbourhood thinking I'm doing something illegal because I'm not from there searching for s friend's house with the only description I had was from a vague dream he told. It's horrifying not knowing anyone there while walking in the heat of the midday sun covered in black clothing. Now, just a quick search on Google Maps and I've got at least a rough idea of where I need to go. Where it took me about 3 hours walking around back then, it only takes me about 5 minutes of searching now. 100% not doing again.
If I didn’t have GPS, I would’ve been lost for 6 years now
I know someone who can walk down the street with Google maps and still get lost. She once took us 15-20 blocks in the wrong direction.
I kept telling her we were heading the wrong way but she didn't believe me until I stopped 2 random strangers.
I think GPS and google maps are much more helpful and detailed, in many ways a modern marvel in technology. But like you said, I know people that are too reliant on google maps, have zero sense of direction. I remember going back to a colleague's place after going to a restaurant 2-3 blocks from her home waiting for her, she got lost and I mean lost for at least 40 minutes because her phone died, can't make this up.
I can't even do that with Google maps! I have zero sense of direction. Thankfully I have the nation's tallest building in my city to use as a guide.
I love maps and knowing how to get from place to place without necessarily needing a map, or planning your route beforehand so a map/navigational tool isn’t absolutely necessary. My wife has no concept of direction and doesn’t understand this fascination. I intend to continue to annoy her with it as long as we both shall live.
My SIL explained to me once that small town people don’t understand things like exits and road names.
It wasn’t entirely related, but you reminded me of her telling me that. My family has memed it to hell internally.
I mean, I'm just one person, but my sense of direction was still very bad in the 7 years I was driving before I got a smart phone. It's gotten better now out of necessity and practice. Actually, it started getting better with the help of GPS technology. Still bad compared to the average adult.
It's the difference between using a map to help you navigate and letting the mapping software do all of the navigation for you.
I often navigate without a GPS once in a while on my motorcycle. It's really pleasant because you end up on nicer, slower roads. Google Maps will keep you on the fastest road.
I remember using a MAPSCO to figure out how to drive home from my grandparent's house. These days, I don't remember where I'm going unless I've driven the route a few times, because my GPS does the thinking for me...
I find that walking down the road people ask me for directions less and less. It could be because of mobile map services or because now I'm older and therefore panhandlers are more likely to target me since I have more money than child-me.
A part of me liked when internet was smaller, no sites that has zero values informations and no sites that is just a copy/paste of a different one.
Thought nowday you don't need any technical knowledge to post on the internet which also mean more peoples with different knowledge can post their results
Yeah I'm that guy... I like to learn
I find it hilarious that back in the day websites used to cram as much stuff as they could on one page so it would only have to load everything once. Now-a-days they put as little as possible on a page so you can click "next" and load another page with a picture and two sentences of text. Now do that 24 more times so our ads can keep reloading!
I see something like top 10 X . Sounds interesting till I see it's one thing per page and have to click next each time etc. Just close it
Install ad blocker
there's sites that instead make you wait 5 seconds on full on ad rape page before you get redirected to actual page, which can't even be blocked by ad blocker, now those are the cancer.
There's always Zombo.com. You can do anything at ZomboCom. Anything at all. The only limit is yourself.
Before social media and wikipedia.
Same lol
The music industry.
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Information overload. Yeah. The internet is a double edged sword.
Sometimes I find myself worrying about various things that don’t effect me at all and I have no control over at all. And higher education seems to want us to know about the plight of literally everyone anywhere, now and throughout history, even though our awareness does not help those people/ animals/ the environment. Hardly, other than trying not to give money to corporations that destroy the natural world, that own every brand of products we use everyday, and the brands that call themselves sustainable options are often pricier.
All it does is add fire to my depression, which I’ve sort of had since middle school. When I focus on myself and my circle, I feel more in control and accepting of reality. Yes it breaks my heart that orangutans habitats are being destroyed because of palm kernel oil, but what can I do about that or the 1000s of other terrible things mass media wants me to be sad about?
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It’s not too hard to break that kind of habit. If you really want to, in a few days you can replace it with other habits, such as pleasure reading.
Then again, we’re inundated with BS about politics/ celebrities or other shit. But you can choose what you watch, read, what subreddits you allow in your feed, and so on.
I live with my parents who are sadly glued to the 24 hr news cycle and preoccupied with ... just everything bad going on. So I try to avoid that but it’s in the central area of the house.
If I lived alone, I would never watch the news, or celeb bs, or other things that don’t interest me, or have a noticeable negative effect on me. I’ve had enough sad media to last a lifetime.
Btw, I have ADD too. Sometimes information can feel like a current taking me away, but I still have control over what I spend my time on.
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I’m sorry, it sounds like you’re going through a very hard time. Try to remember it is temporary.
It reminds me of a time, several years ago, after graduating from college (with zero job prospects ) and the end of a difficult 2 year relationship that made me gradually like myself less and less... I was unemployed or bouncing aimlessly between various min wage jobs for the next couple years. I was unhappy, to put it mildly.
This is a time when you especially should be choosy or limit your media intake. If a show makes you feel more depressed, turn it off. If an article is a major downer, stop reading it. Replace it with a hobby that you’ve been saving for “someday”.
Be compassionate to yourself and take care of yourself. I know it’s easier said than done but protect your heart. Your mind needs to heal from what you’ve been through, and you may benefit from going to see a therapist for a while.
Anyways, have a good evening. I hope you find a good job and a new dog who makes you happy.
Society’s ability to hold a conversation. Deal with lulls without pulling out a phone and then completely zoning out into a screen. I swear lunch with friends has turned into them sitting there on their phone.
No doubt. Went to lunch with my husband yesterday. Our phones remained in my purse and his pocket. We were the ONLY ones in the restaurant having a real conversation and not looking at our phones. One entire family of 6 nearby and everyone (parents included) were on their phones through the whole meal. Sad, really.
Yeah, when I go out to eat with my family, my parents are usually on their phones the whole entire time looking at Facebook.
You should kindly ask them to put them away and converse with you.
The friendly bar room argument/discussion.
There’s a bar in my neighborhood that I go to specifically because it’s full of old timers who just want to shoot the breeze, drink, and watch old movies on TCM. I love going there and talking classic cinema and long forgotten stars with the regulars, no one jumping on their phone to check IMDb. If an argument gets really heated, they keep a copy of Leonard Maltin’s comprehensive movie book to lookup directors, actors, etc.
The ignorance of not knowing so much shit.
I believe the internet is well connected to the record breaking suicide rates. We, as a human cohort, are absolutely overwhelmed with media and information. We're not wired for it. We belong in a certain amount of ignorance to maintain mental balance.
Also the American economy is so terrible. Median income has stagnated, cost of living is so high, and so on. Old people / huge businesses have all the money , many won’t live to see the consequences of climate change , control everything, and destroy the environment to keep making money that they’ll never be able to spend anyway.
Yeah that’s pretty damn bleak, in addition to overpopulation. That being said, as a female, I wouldn’t choose to live in any other time in history.
I mean there's also the fact kids teens and adults know the planet is going to be pretty uninhabitable soon so.
Sure. I think we're making partly the same point. Our youth is extremely aware of everything, especially how bleak the future looks.
When an animal is overwhelmed and cannot use the emotions of anger/assertion to control a problem or anxiety/panic to avoid a problem, it collapses into hopeless/helpless depressed states in an attempt to conserve energy and endure. It's no wonder depression is so vast. We're overwhelmed by life and feel powerless to change any of it.
Might be happier if we were just ignorant to all of it and then one day a super flood that climate change caused just took us out.
Yeah I understand what you mean. Hell even I'm very depressed for that exact reason i find it hard to even do anything as always start thinking what's the point?
Might be happier if we were just ignorant to all of it and then one day a super flood that climate change caused just took us out.
That would be nice if the world was more perfect. But unforunately we really can't afford to be ignorant especially now even insects are dying out at alarming rates for example.Eventually that will work its way up the food chain to us.
Mom n Pop stores.
I've been to cities where chain businesses are considered "basic" and "uncool". If you suggested going to a chain restaurant like Applebee's to a friend group, they would give you tons of shit.
Well..ya. They are awful. I recognized that by like age 11 in 1997. I don’t think we needed the internet to know chain restaurants are uncool and shitty
I typically rain hell when people suggest chains. Very limited list of places I'll allow. BDUBs is one of them.
Chain RESTAURANTS and Chain STORES are usually treated different.
I only go to Applebee's....after dark.
If someone suggested I go to Applebee’s i would think they were trying to kill me. Chain restaurants are worse than basic and uncool
Rose colored memories. I remember local shops having high markups, low inventory, and devil may care attitude on customer service because “where else you gonna go?”
The good Mom 'n Pops never went away. We just got rid of the crappy ones.
Small niche stores were you could learn about a hobby by someone who worked there a hundred years and started doing it because they knew all the ins and outs. Fishing and tackle stores. Model kit stores. Comic book stores. That weird store with knives, bows and outdoor gear. Even if you didn partake in the hobby you would feel like it was special and different
Not always. I thought I was doing the right thing by supporting small business. I got smiling, familiar faces, but a total bill higher than online AND it's been over 3 weeks and I'm still waiting. I'm starting to think perhaps theres a good reason this is an outdated business model.
Yep, call me a capitalist or whatever, but mom and pop shops have a low selection and way higher prices. It's one thing when their quality use to be better, but it's not anymore.
I think it's moved to higher-end or specialty stores. You don't have a mom & pop shoe store you have a bespoke leather shoe store. Or you have a high-end cycle shop. Stuff like that.
It will be hard for big chains to beat them on prices because the volume isn't there and the big chains won't be able to offer the personalized level of help.
Depends on where you live. Where I'm at, most places are still locally-owned.
Not for long
I get what you mean, but I gotta say when I go in to a mom and pop store these days 9 times out of 10 I walk out wishing I just went to a chain or online.
It's almost impossible to find one that has a friendly knowledgeable staff, inventory in stock to actually buy, and prices aren't more than say 10-15% extra than a big box.
For example, there is a cigar shop near my house that has a great lounge and staff. The inventory is always super low and you know know what they actually will or won't have.
Oh boy, let's pay more for less! And let's hope they actually decided to open the store on time today.
Eh, those are the ones that fell victim to capitalism due to their own laziness, no sympathy. I still gravitate towards mom n pop shops when I can, and the owners actually give a shit about their business. I appreciate the work ethic a lot of them exhibit.
I've seen national chains and big boxes have ripoff prices and crappy/lazy service. Your point?
Ya'lls experience with mom and pop shops is a whole lot different than mine from before the days of the internet. And I'm guessing that a lot of people had the same experience as me since mom and pops always go out of business when a franchise shop moves into town.
That mom and pops had local monopolies themselves and acted the part. You’re smart, act like it.
The ability or willingness to spell words correctly
When you try to correct some one (because honestly, for example, if you’re trying to get attention to something serious, all your crazy misspellings and grammatical errors are going to turn someone away) and they respond, “iTs jUsT tHe iNtErNeT, No OnE CaReS”...oh man, it’s just a SMIDGE OF EFFORT, IT HURTS NO ONE, INTERNET OR NOT!!!
It kills me. And in this day and age, it is STUPID EASY to look up a spelling you’re uncertain about, but no, the people on the internet reading your post aren’t good enough for a well written post. Fuck off.
I don't want to sound too serious about spelling and grammar but people not giving a shit leads to a collective lowering of everyone's standards of communication. Back in the day, an obvious spelling error would jump out at me. Now, my brain has adapted to overlooking this and just gleaming the meaning. I'm completely convinced i can't spell for shit now, because i don't have to.
Even 'professional' websites, literature, journalism etc goofs up grammar and spelling on the regular. We either don't notice anymore or we've just stopped caring.
Social life. Your friends will check their phones and glue their eyes on screens even if you are hanging out with them. Rude!!
In my group of someone does this you immediately get berated/made fun of/ and other shits
Same. Screenagers smh
Especially at restaurants. I hang out with a friend who does this when the food comes. Cos his mouth is busy eating... ummm k?
Club Penguin 😓
there are some club penguin sites dedicated to making playable versions of old club penguin
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Normal eye contact during conversations.
Innocence. I used to think the world was basically a pretty good place.
Less “internet killed x” and more “growing up killed x”
It is. In fact this is the most peaceful time in human history believe it or not. There's books written on this topic.
It seems like things are terrible because media outlets play everything bad around the world, and it's instantaneous.
Yes, we do have our fair share of conflicts. That's always going to be with us. That being said, today's wars (though still terrible) tend to be much more isolated.
Its not like the fall of Constantinople and then most of Europe going on a mass crusade for example, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
Also, could you imagine if the the world was so connected during the Mongol invasions of China, the Khwarazmian dynasty, and then Europe?
Or the black plague? There was a reason people back then thought it was the literal end of the world.
https://youtu.be/rNCw2MOfnLQ
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I thought that quote called the dead layered like lasagna.
But if you lived, you might have had an orgy and gotten drunk all the time, which was pretty cool for the time considering most were destined to work the fields until they died and have all their income taken by their lord.
But if you lived, you might have had an orgy and gotten drunk all the time, which was pretty cool for the time considering most were destined to work the fields until they died and have all their income taken by their lord.
By the same token, if you were in ancient Rome, you might have been Caesar, but more likely you were doing some flavor of hard labor, and even Caesar didn't have broadband or air conditioning.
I’m saving this comment. I hate how everyone, especially people in their 50s or older that watch a lot of tv thinks the world is such a terrible place. My dad is so brainwashed by news outlets and tells me soon doom and gloom story on how to avoid being murdered every time I leave the house
Also a lot of poverty issues are being dealt with quite well. Yes femine, lack of vaccines and such exists but way less than even 20 years ago.
This view is so complacent, I hate seeing it repeated.
It's not meant to be complacent, please don't think that.
I say this to hopefully make people realize that things are in fact getting better despite what the news displays.
There's always going to be a need for improvement. I feel though that if we learn history, we can see how far we've come, and avoid the mistakes of the past.
Edit: complacency is something that I fear. Look at Rome for instance, and the Graci brothers. (I'm butchering the spelling). Things were so standard in corruption with nothing changing, that it inevitably lead to the fall of the republic.
People post this boilerplate list of talking points all the time, but it's basically all bullshit.
Steven Pinker, whose book you are referring to, grossly exaggerated how common violence was in hunter-gatherer societies, and ignored the fact that the instruments of state violence are much more efficient now than at any time prior and that in the modern world there is a non-negligible probability of global nuclear annihilation that was not present in, say, 1659.
Imagine Hitler, armed to the teeth and in full Jew-hating mode, but he hasn't killed anybody yet so everything is a-okay. This is Pinker's viewpoint in a nutshell. It really is just clueless complacency.
Learn your history
A key indicator that someone doesn't know what they're talking about is their use of extremely vague, lazy appeals to "history" or "books" or some other broad concept. You just read an article about Pinker's book on Slate or some shit and now you go around parroting its bullet points like a sage.
Yeah you know everything
https://youtu.be/rNCw2MOfnLQ
I took European history in college, shitbrains, I don't need to watch a fucking YouTube video.
If you have the attention span to read more than a paragraph of actual text, then read this paper on Pinker's book.
This. Now we know all sort of shit, I can see sex offenders close home, I need to keep an eye on my kids everywhere because I fear a fucking psycho will abduct them or would even try crazy shit, I hate to know those kind of PoS scum exists.
On the other side, there's a lot of shit available in the internet that kids don't need to know until they have the right age.
But this is the exact point. Your kids are safer today than at any other point in human history. You might feel less safe, but statistically they actually are safer.
I know, everyone is. Think about it, some of the reasons is because you take better care of kids, teens take better care of themselves or are still drove around by their parents, if not you can still see where they are at all times, call them, know if they are speeding up, or if they crash/got robbed, stabbed, whatever, almost instantly, same for criminals, pictures, cameras everywhere, security cameras, etc.
In the 80s I was outside the whole summer, my mom didn't know where I was most part of the day. As a teenager i used public transport everywhere like many other of my female friends. Awareness is the key to a better world.
Amen to that
On the bright side, that's likely just down to the media trying to make the place look awful for clicks. It's generally pretty good.
Hand written letters.
My mom makes me do these every Christmas... 🙄
Good. Don’t complain to her too much. She cares. You’re connecting yourself to a timeless human tradition and writing neatly and carefully is a useful skill for life.
My emails always end up reading like a Victorian era letter without me even trying so it would be nice if hand written letters were more common
The times when a band you loved would give a certain radio station the first play of a new single, and you'd clear your calendar that evening to listen to that all important first play.
Record to cassette of course 😋
When I was 12, Moving Pictures by Rush was aired on Q-107 in Toronto as a 'World Premier'. I'll never forget sitting there listening to it for the very first time. Mind fucking BLOWN. Not to mention my name is Tom so it was even more Mind fucking BLOWN. :)
My vanilla sexual desires
People not having a problem admitting they dont have enough information on a topic to have an opinion.
I very often say this when asked about something I'm not well-versed in, such as a specific political issue, and many times people interpret this as a challenge to keep pressing on a topic until you "confess" or whatever. It's incredibly irritating.
Wondering. No one wonders about much of anything anymore. They just look it up on their phones. It's become mildly socially unacceptable to ponder out loud that which is technically Google-able, even if you're doing so in an attempt to spark conversation.
Sad and dystopian, if you ask me.
This hit me in my feels
Yep, we've lost something.
You really struck a point. I think it's healthy to wonder. I decided this long ago and the only thing I REALLY stuck with is NO FACEBOOK. Still all my "old buddies" from school... I have no idea what's happened to them or their lives. But they remain always "LEGENDS" in my mind. If I found out they just wouldn't remain legends. :)
You can still contemplate quantum physics, philosophy, and the universe, which aren’t easily answered, but then you risk ending up in constantly questioning your existence
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead." - Einstein
I know people have been posting this one a lot but the way you put it is just too accurate. I just wish every conversation couldn't be killed with one search.
Lol I wonder out loud all the time . I might be annoying as fuck. But I like looking around and asking questions .
Being able to play the video games I bought
Curiosity.
I don't have to sit and wonder about something, because I can just Google it. There's definitely value to not knowing an answer and having to sit down and think it through.
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/r/outside
I'm addicted to Outside. I'm close to Level 28 at the moment - hope to hit it before the month's up.
Haha my bday is this month too. I’m almost at level 30. 😅
Unbelievable haha
same
My buddies and I used to argue for hours about little stuff like "I'm pretty X was in that movie" and then someone else disagreed "no that was Y, they look similar but it was based on a book who that director has adapted before..." It led to fun discussions, but now it takes two seconds to Google. You're wrong or you're right. Next conversation.
I see this as a huge plus. Before instant information, it was always whoever appeared more confident to “win” these debates. Now it’s so easy to instantly shut up a bullshitter
I am still pissed about the asshole in my high school home room that swore Gandalf (Ian McKellen) had died. I tried to correct him that is was Richard Harris (The Harry Potter movies' first Dumbledore) that had just passed, but he called me an idiot and said I didn't know shit.
Fuck you, bro. I am STILL mad.
ehh the issue though is that a lot of conversations are about just learning about new things or trying to figure something out
being able to just google it sometimes can make conversations just coming up with new things to google
You can kind of combine them. Have the discussion, turn it into a bit of a game and then someone googles the answer. Aka the great debacle of 2018... when 5 people couldn’t remember what that movie George Clooney and Sandra Bullock were in was called.
Exactly this.
But dude, that was totally Macaulay Culkin in The Sixth Sense
Yeah google is fucking incredible when you think about it
To each his own, but I do not miss this. Maybe I'm a know it all, but fighting with people who only have a passing relationship with accuracy drove me nuts.
Totally fair point. It could be frustrating as hell when you knew you were right.
Agree. Sometimes I give up on explaining why I know something and just have google tell them instead and that’s a lot faster
You’re missing the point. The fun isnt in being wrong. The fun is in figuring it out and playing trivia detective. Now whenever this happens it just ends with one person feeling like an angry idiot, the other feeling like a smug asshole and whatever conversation that was just brewing grinding to a screeching halt. So many times I see one of my douchebag friends ruin a perfectly good debate by pulling out his android phone, pushing up his glasses and say “WELL ACTUALLY, “ and then watching everyone sit around awkwardly.
A lot of times there weren't enough resources to even be a detective. Yes, some people are insufferable asses when they are right. Other people are hopelessly put out of sorts when they are wrong, no matter how gently you tell them Lawrence Fishburn is not the actor playing Nick Fury in the MCU. But... Google didn't invent those people; they have always existed. What's new is, for everybody else, we actually have access to the truth (or at least facts), and more importantly to me, we've grown accostomed to having the facts, so the nature of these conversations have improved before they even get started. In the past, people just declared things and, if you were lucky, there was an old encyclopedia lying around, that may or may not have been up to date. Just as often, the "winner" ended up being whoever was the intellectual bully, spoke with authority, claimed to have some random uncle that worked in the field, or (the one I probably hate most) had such a pleasant personality that was hard to challenge. Even worse, sometimes we sincerely trusted these people for those same reasons. That's why you have people in AskReddit posts commenting that they didn't find out pit bulls aren't half wolf until they were grown because of something their uncle said at a party once. Where now, we can all quickly agree that Morroco doesn't use euros and move on to the meat of the conversation, which is planning the vacation. Or whatever.
I realize your miles may vary, though.
I really don't know what people like about being ignorant. It sucks and having a way to know stuff is stupidly good.
This was legit a scene in an episode of HIMYM. Them all arguing at the bar about trivial things, only for it to cut scene to all being on phones Googling an answer in seconds.
Going into Blockbuster stores with my family
I remember jumbo video giving out popcorn while you decided which movie you wanted to rent
Yes! Every Friday my dad would pick me up from school and we’d go straight to Blockbuster and get whatever new war flick or western he wanted me to see, those are some of my fondest childhood memories with my dad.
Damn bro, me too
This is my answer too! Totally awesome date night and I miss it.
Going to a class reunion and really catch up with classmates you haven’t seen for decades. Now that we have social media it’s less of a big deal now.
Honestly surprised class reunions are still a thing.
I heard they're starting to die off.
When my 10 yr reunion was coming up, I was already hearing shit about planning about 1.5-2 yrs prior. My 20 reunion is in about 1.5 (class of 2000) and I haven’t heard a fucking peep.
It’s fine...the 5 people I care about from high school are still my close friends so, I don’t need to go anyway, lol.
Borders.
Borders nailed the atmosphere of a bookstore. Part library, part commercial book store, part coffee shop.
That place made me want to read more.
Privacy. The internet is a good place for everyone's personal life to be thrown around in the wind. In the real world, nobody knows who you are and usually don't care enough to get to know you. Basically, you can't feel anonymous.
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Dude I was the best madden player in the world because my dad got frustrated and said the game was rigged. Then on the Internet I found out there are neckbeards who know exactly what angle to press the joystick at the exact moment screen pixels are in a certain state and consider a 216-0 score to be a failure because the maximum is 223-0.
Oh man, I agree!
in the late 90s I bought walkthroughs for my ps1 RPG games. In addition to game tips, I really loved the artwork and I was like, the best at drawing in my class of 4th grade kids. I would spend so much time looking at the walkthroughs if it was my sisters turn to play. Or I could show my friends the walkthrough, or my drawings based on it.
Laugh if you want, I loved those physical copies of walkthroughs. Prima games made their money. Some of those early RPGs were not exactly intuitive. As a kid not knowing how to further the story, I appreciated being able to check what to do next.
Also, before voice acting in games, I read every box of dialogue. I was really good at reading for a 9 year old kid!
**also, as others have said, Nintendo power magazine or Playstation Magazine. My friend had a subscription to Nintendo and got really excited to show me at school.
I’m a 19 yo college guy and I know this sounds weird, but photo albums. I love going through my family photo albums when I’m home, seeing my parents and relatives in their younger days lol. I feel like a lot of people will/have stopped making them because everyone has a phone which can store pics. If I ever have a family I’m gonna definitely try to have photo albums
I enjoy film photography and I've found it's really fun to buy a multi-pack of disposable cameras before going on holiday or some other event, and just giving one to your other half or friends and just taking pictures, having limited exposures makes you think more about what you're snapping too.
It's also fun to throw them in a draw when you get home, then giving it long enough before getting them developed leads to a lot of smiles and surprises of what pictures were taken when finally looking through them.
People feeling content with their lives. It used to be people just tried to do their best. Now everyone is comparing their lives to the .01% of the population that are either fitness models / super rich / digital nomad types and feeling really shitty about themselves all the time.
Physical media. Damn do I miss going out and buying something I can touch with my hand-fingers.
Did you have two hand-fingers or ten hand-fingers
Um. This is awkward, but 7½.
Foot-fingers rule
What about things you can touch with your foot-toes
I'm not getting rid of my collections. Honestly, a lot of the stuff pumped through my cell phone sounds like garbage for whatever reason.
And you don't technically own the things, just the license to use them.
Sane political conversations.
Bullshit. My step dad is internet illiterate. The way he does political arguments is he'll have the initial argument, then for days after he'll leave you newspaper clippings from articles trying to prove his point. Like the RL equivalent of someone who blasts you with news articles.
I don't want to comment on your step-dad specifically, since I don't know him. But he can still be a victim of the internet ruining political discourse. The old media that he consumes is competing with the new media, and social media is becoming a huge source of political divide in our country, since new views are getting out there and being made into a bigger deal than they are. And issues like #metoo wouldn't have become mainstream without the internet.
Well, backing your argument with sources is a good thing, isn't it?
Those haven't existed for a millennia.
Yeah, man. The 1010's had some frankly genuine and amazing political discourse. What was distinctly amazing at the time was the centralisation and formalisation of the Novogoradian enterprise into a fully fledged bastion of Christianity in an area where no one thought it could be possible. Simpler times, my friend.
Nerf bastion
Ya, what you said.
I don't think this had as much to do with the internet as it had to do with Main Stream Media going of the deep end for relevance, although _that_ was probably caused by the internet at its root so maybe.
Are you kidding me?
Oh I thought you said conventions... was gonna point to 68 lol
Ive discovered recently that most people are pretty sane IRL when it comes to politics. Its NOTHING like the NPCs on reddit/MSM shoving agendas down your throat.
Exactly. I always had a decent time having political conversations and debates in real life
That's because everyone around you irl has similar political beliefs.
I had a nightmare trying to get by in the south as an atheist, but on the coasts it's all great.
Atheist and lived in the South intermittently. It's not as bad as you are suggesting. Yeah there is a lot more God everywhere, but generally people didn't give a shit if you were anywhere near the general populace. The boonies were where all the crazy religious nuts are at, and I've seen the same breed up here in upstate NY. It's mostly just rural folks that are huge into religion where the more populated areas are mostly a (surprise) mixed group.
This was 20 years ago, and I'm not white.
It was bad, especially in smaller towns, where your social interactions began and ended with 'so what church do you go to?'.
I'm Native American. Spend enough time in the sun and people start speaking to me in Spanish. I was also raised in AL for 8 years, then lived in NC, FL, GA and SC every once in a while. Probably spent almost half my life down there and I'm 36. I mean, obviously everyone has a different experience in life, but in general I haven't found the religious stuff even close to exhausting. Hell I tip toe around my in laws more than I ever did in the South and they've been living in Buffalo NY since their great grand parents came over on boats (obviously hyperbolic but you catch my drift). I've just recently had to talk to my daughter about who god was, what heaven is all about, and how different people believe in different religions that sometimes have nothing to do with either of those things. This was after they basically programmed her into thinking her great grandmother was an angel smiling down on her from heaven and now she's terrified of doing anything to make her sad. Thanks MIL, now my daughter is terrified of someone she's never even met in her life.
Might be true to an extent but I don't really like having debates with people having similar opinions as me. I'm always looking forward to learn and maybe even getting my mind changed!
Lots of conservatives of all sorts back on the east coast, they just didn't make everything a religious fight, or resort to conspiracy theories when they ran out of arguments.
That's super important. I can't deal with super emotional people trying having debates.
NPCs?
It's a term that was co-opted by right wing circles to criticize people who use a lot of buzzwords and what they perceive to be parroted talking points.
Ironically, the people who tend to use NPCs as an insult typically use a lot of buzzwords and parroted taking points.
In general, it is a way of attacking arguments without actually addressing the legitimacy of the underlying claims. Everyone says the same thing so obviously they're all just robots repeating from the hivemind and not just people being informed by like, reality.
The other creepy thing about the term is that it casually denies the personhood of political opponents (For anyone who doesn't know, it stands for Non-Player Character, originally applied to bots in video games).
It's what people from the donald trump subreddit call anybody that disagrees with them. Pretty much anybody that criticizes Trump can expect a maelstrom of "NPC" this and "NPC" that.
Very few actual people disagree with Our God Emperor, so any voices to the contrary must be super-powerful AI bots and Soros-paid shills.
It's like his inauguration crowd insanity, but longer-term.
Hey wait, I'm a Soros-paid shill. What's wrong with that?
He doesn't send checks on time, I've been a Soros shill for 4 years and I still haven't been paid!
Ah, you have to make sure you're signing the workman's form, not the volunteer form.
SHIET
I always fuck up the paperwork...
The fact that I can't be sure if this is sarcasm or earnest says a lot.
That's something only a Soros-bot would say.
That's probably true. Being on the internet is like being in a car. It's easy to yell and get mad at some 2 ton hunk of metal for small, insignificant shit.
Thats an interesting analogy.. But yea. Like the other day I was ubering from the airport to home (about a half hour ride) and the driver had some radio station on talking bout politics. The news station was going on and on about impeaching trump and convicting his whole administration. He made it clear he was not a trump supporter, but he was reasonable enough to see through the fabricated outrage that MSM is shoving down americans throats.
He literally restored my faith in humanity. It was eye opening. If people could just get off the internet, and engage in candid political conversation with the public they’ll realize theirs nothing to be so insanely outraged about.
I had a talk with my mother yesterday about her belief that Trump is the best thing to happen to the US and that she’s apparently worried about black people deciding to take over and make white people second class citizens.
It was a wild experience, lemme tell ya. These people are real.
You are proving his point exactly.
He said most people; its not a surprise that outliners exist.
Belief of Trump (or any Political Person) is a good point to start a political conversation, but of course you had to give an over the top example.
Just because she has this believes does not mean you cant have a sane political conversation does it? But yet you slander about her regarding her believes on the internet
Just because she has this believes does not mean you cant have a sane political conversation does it?
Yes?
That's because it's actually an insane position. You can't have a good discussion with an insane person.
Believe me, I’ve tried. She’s even convinced libertarians are trying to make the government too powerful and restricting, and taking away all guns and healthcare.
Even showing her the literal definition of it, she reasoned that it’s a cover for the true shady dealings they must be having.
The mental gymnastics on play here are impressive. You can’t reason with the unreasonable.
She probably did not came to this position or believe totally from her own. Something or somebody did make her to come to this idea.
Which goes for any believe whatsoever, and just because you dont agree with it, does not mean you cant discuss/debate it with the person even if you believe their believe is questionable.
It depends more on the person then the believes to have a good (political) discussion.
But considering Reddit is an echo-chamber and the downvote button will be used to downvote stuff you dont agree with, basicly hiding it given enough downvotes, instead of enabling a discussion as well as, well being on the internet, its rather pointless to future this discussion.
Ive discovered recently that most people are pretty sane IRL when it comes to politics. Its NOTHING like the MAGAts on reddit/Fox shoving agendas down your throat.
Is this a joke comment
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Im not sure I understand.. how is my comment ironic?
It exhibits exactly the problem you are talking about, screeching about "NPC's" and the "msm." Literally exactly the problem.
Yeah, his Reddit history shows it too. Great example is here and here where he says something and then edits the comment to "Hillary Clinton is who I voted for" once it gets a lot of downvotes.
Figures. The people shouting loudest about how terrible the internet is for politics seemingly are always most involved. Course, me pointing it out seemed to get on some peoples nerves, but that just exemplifies the problem even more.
The people shouting loudest about how terrible the internet is for politics seemingly are always most involved.
That's the absolute truth, though. It seems like every single time.
I don't get it, either.
/r/lewronggeneration
They were never sane bruh. Political shittalking and sabotaging goes back to the 1800s.
You should post that link on every comment on this thread...
Yeah. Maybe it's because I hate myself, but I fucking knew I shouldn't I shouldn't have read this thread.
I'm of this opinion. It's not the generation that is worse at discussing things, it's that people get extreme with their opinions and insults online.
People who are extremely aggressive with their POVs are also much more likely to participate in "discussions". Making discussion that much easier means that those people, while still a minority, are going to look like a majority due to how vocal they are.
Salons are still a thing, just rare
Sane political conversations.
You mean anything that's not reddit.
Blame Russia.
Trying to keep photos of my kids off Facebook is fulltime job. People just post pictures without a second thought. I have to make an announcement at every family function just to be sure.
I never raised kids before the internet, but I really can't think of a pre-internet equivalent.
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My mom told her friends on the phone when I got my period, I overheard her. This was, like 17 years ago, but I remember I was so mad! I would have been mortified if she posted any kinda puberty info on fb.
A few years ago I had to convince a person that posting pictures of her 7 year old kid running naked through a sprinkler was a really bad idea... It is absolutely staggering how little some people think about these things.
Part of it is some parents going "they're MY kids so I decide!" in a form of "children as possessions" way. Such people should not have kids :(
Just curious, why bother? We are 'videotaped' every day by cameras all over the place. CCTV, ATM's, retail stores, kids included. I figure no matter what I do, my kids faces will end up online, especially with their friends having access to phones, etc.. so we roll with it.
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That sounds very extreme. We certainly do not do this. My family is from the UK and we live in Canada so my kids get to follow their cousins and vica versa. That's it.
I personally don’t think young teenagers should be on social media, but that is not my call to make.
However, my point was parents posting everything about their children’s lives with no thought on the child’s privacy.
I absolutely 100% agree. My daughter is a 14 yr old singer who raises money for SOS Children's Villages International. We monitor her SM useage but she uses it for a very positive reason. Some of the shit we see posted by teens is vile.
Ladies and Gentleman I present to you... part of the problem ^
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you..... complete ignorance of my family.
Just because your faces are on security footage, which mostly gets deleted after a certain amount of time, doesnt mean you need to feed the facebook machine.
We have our reasons. But biggest thing for me is that my Facebook is my Facebook. Not my son's. When he's old enough he can decide how public he wants to be with whatever website is cool then. Plus, I want to set the example that not everything needs to be shared online.
Downvoted because my kids faces are on Facebook? Reddit has so many idiots. LOL.
It's weird, but I kinda miss using foldout glove compartment maps..
You can still make the choice to do this. Also not be in a hurry. Get lost on the road! Woohoo!!
They still have them. And if you are driving pretty far without a chance to drive by anything man-made for a long time, it’s good to have as a backup in case your phone can’t get reception or you don’t have car GPS
I miss lining up for concert tickets. They were like mini parties. Someone always had a ghetto blaster. No stub hub bullshit either.
Came on this thread to post this. I’m sad my kids won’t ever have that experience. It was amazing. In the mid-90’s, it seemed like I was regularly camping out for shows. I remember vividly the crowd at Turtle’s Music waiting to buy tix for the Offspring, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, and Cake. You’d occasionally run into the same people - but generally every show had its own particular vibe.
(And God love that dude with the ghetto blaster.)
my attention span. example.... watching an entire movie without looking at my phone to see wikipedia, IMDB, etc..
Sitting at an event and participating in it, not buried on my phone.
The addiction is real
Jacking off without porn
Ah the old memory wank.
Finding valuable "diamonds in the rough" at pawn shops or comic book stores. Everyone knows or thinks they know the value of their wares based on ebay.
Not only that, they are too illiterate to dig a little deeper and search on eBay by completed and sold. So some idiot has their item up for $150 because they have apparently lost all sanity, recently smoked crack or whatever got them to that delusional belief. The person now believes their item is worth $150 because that’s what came up when they searched. And so that’s what they price it for at their yard sale or on craigslist, etc. But had they gone two clicks deeper they would’ve found out that in reality that item sells for $30 with free shipping.
Having to go to a friend's house to play some games. Nowadays multiplayer is exclusively online, and it is nearly killed off with the exception of Smash Bros and Mario Kart. Every game had local multiplayer. Me and my brother's would play Rallisport Challenge 2 all the damn time on the Xbox and it was the best time ever.
This whole thread is like 80/90s nostalgia. So sad to see so many little, but awesome, things gone or replaced.
A girlfriend spending hours putting together the perfect mixtape with a custom photo cover. I still have two such tapes--one sent with a recorded "letter" at the end. They are deeply meaningful to me.
It was like a little village of stores under a roof and you could go spend the whole day there and see all this beautiful stuff in person and eat in the food court or just sit on a bench by an ornamental fountain and imagine what it would be like if you were rich enough to own one as your house...or pretend you were shopping for your wedding; or you were the set decorator for a new science fiction television series and you had to find all this futuristic furniture and props to use; or you just won the lottery and could buy anything you wanted.
Now they’re all bargain outlets and all grungy.
They were huge...five or six aisles as long as a grocery store was wide, every one lined with little imaginary rooms within side walls, like life-sized dioramas, or small TV sitcom sets lined up for filming, or the real-life equivalent of catalog photos—all strung together in huge rows.
It was like IKEA, only straightened out instead of all curled up on itself...and with many decorating styles, instead of just Swedish Modern.It took an hour to just see everything once, then you could go back and start over, paying more attention.
There was always a little break area with drinks and snacks for you to wait while they arranged financing if your parents were buying anything, but to me, just being able to look at it all was the best thing.
I love malls and I'm glad not EVERY mall is dying but it's clear where some are. Specifically what I miss is arcades in malls. The only one I've found near me has a cover charge which is weird AF to me.
My mall still has an arcade thankfully
In Australia we have plenty of thriving malls, probably cause Amazon is shit here and such
In america it depends on where you live. The mall in my hometown is exactly the same but a mall that's in a kinda shitty area but had decent stores got bulldozed (They smelled like mildew too so that didn't help).
Where I live now has three malls that are all seemingly thriving.
Remember if you were the fucking best at Mortal Kombat and you went into the arcade at the mall you could play for hours on a single quarter because you never lost? Goddamn I miss that, it was like testing your skills on the ocean, you might be able to beat your best friends and your sisters but if you killed at the arcade it was like global confirmation of your dominance.
I liked that too. We didn't have mortal kombat at my arcade but we had soul caliber and I would end up drawing a crowd because of how long I'd been playing. I was also a girl in a still sorta-not girl-friendly environment (most girls just played DDR which i was bad at lol) so I felt like a real big shot.
Sorry this took so long but I'm not a girl and Im not bothered if girls beat me in a video game. I just had two sisters to play against at home. If you won you deserved it, though, regardless of button jamming one attack 😉. Here's something fun because I'll bet I'm older than you(at least a little). I haven't really played video games since around PlayStation, no numbers or anything, that one. I recently saw a bunch of kids playing Tekken 5 or 6 maybe on Xbox. I played Halo with my cousin a few times so I knew the controller. I was like "fuck is that Tekken?" and they were all like "yeah you wanna get in the tournament, this guy's unbeatable!" I grabbed it and picked my guy and smoked like 8 kids in a row because they weren't dedicated to learning the combos and multiple hit configurations which, it turns out, have survived since Tekken 2 along with the characters as well. Kudos to the creators for keeping the old moves and adding new ones! I actually had a lot of fun!
I even wish the malls in the bay area would die a bit. Parking is a nightmare.
I wish I had saved it, but I remember reading a post that explained why malls went from super popular to closing all over the country. I don't think it was primarily the Internet that caused it (they started declining before the Internet became mainstream), but rather something like for several decades malls got huge tax breaks, and once the tax breaks went away most malls couldn't afford to stay open without drastically increasing rent, and the increased rent drove out tenants.
Really interesting, didn’t know malls ever got tax break.
I know where I live there is still one really good mall, and 1 that is doing ok but not it’s former self. 2 are on it’s last legs, with not many stores open. And then one totally closed down a few months ago.
It’s kinda sad really. I used to love going to malls.
That’s interesting. I always just thought the Internet was killing malls.
Thank you, I didn’t know that.
It kinda figures that the “tax breaks for the rich” that they actually eliminated would be the ones that created public spaces that normal people could enjoy....
Jordans???
If you’re ever in the Boston area, hit up one of the Jordan’s Furniture stores. Its an attraction, to say the least.
Thanks, I will. ;)
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Thank you!
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You probably never knew them when they were at their best.
Shopping malls with a variety of stores. Now it's only a few malls with 90-95% clothing stores and a lot of annoying salespeople selling from carts.
So this only sorta counts since the internet created it in the first place, but forums/messageboards. They’re still my favorite way to communicate online, and especially to archive knowledge and community information. Things like Facebook and, well, this site, have kinda killed forums.
But I’ve been an active member of the VWVortex for 14 years now and basically everything I know about cars, I learned from that place by some extension. I was even a professional mechanic for awhile based on fundamentals I learned from other users.
Facebook and Reddit move to fast and have horrible search features and their display algorithms discourage chronological listing, which makes finding old posts nearly impossible.
Physical paper assignments in the classroom.
So much writing, reading, worksheets, you name it is on a chromebook or phone, it feels way different from holding a pencil and paper
I loved daily newspapers. When I was a kid, my dad and I would get up early on Saturdays and go to town (we lived a few miles out from the small town where I grew up/claim as my hometown) and we’d go to the gas station and buy a Saturday paper and whatever other small things we felt like getting at the time. Maybe a gallon of milk, or my dad would put some gas in his pickup, or something like that. And then he and I would take the paper home and read the different sections together. Now people just wake up and read shit on their phones.
I still love the local paper, and honestly I really tried to get into my Google news a million times so I wouldn't have to drive to the gas station and buy it, but no matter how many times I clicked "I do not want to see stories like this anymore" I still get news about the goddamn Kardashians every, single, fucking, day. Fuck you online news.
I get a free daily paper and I have no idea how to cancel it.
The “outsider” edge. Back in the day innernette was where the nerds went to hang out where they didnt fit to society. These nerds created their own cultures and varied memes which lasted for months on end or even years. Think Sparta remixes and YTPs and YTMNDs. To get into the meme sphere you had to look for it or be friends with someone who ventured onto the weirder sides of the net. Today everything is clean, sterile, commercialized adfriendly crap. Social media is here to distract us, not connect us. Memes aren’t internet inside jokes anymore, they have no shelf life, and come and go in a breeze.
I miss the old internet, fuck normies
https://youtu.be/e25DsEwA5hk
Holy shit, someone unironically using the term normie... lmao
I asked my grandmother this question and she told me she misses seeing the bright stars at night. She grew up in rural South Dakota and on any cloudless night she could see the Milky Way galaxy. When she was about 25 she had kids and her husband got a job in a small city, maybe 100,000 people in the metro area at the time, but to her it probably felt like NYC compared to the the rural area. She says that you can really only see the bright stars on a cold night away from the city. The internet didn’t directly kill that for her, but it did make it much more difficult
Wait what? What does the internet have to do with light pollution?
What did we do when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!?
*Japanese
let him go, he's on a roll...
it's never over
I moved to a city of 30k and I feel like I’m in NYC sometimes. I have to drive out into the country sometimes because I can’t handle it.
Used to live in a rural place before family obligations forced me to move to actual NYC. I swear every summer I go into a reverse seasonal depression because of how much I miss the woods and the stars. Don’t have a car so I can’t exactly leave. The city’s got a lot of museums and stuff to do but it’s like a giant cage sometimes
I would probably kill my self if I was you. I am so sorry
Here I am at least still able to go fishing,hiking and mudding. It’s just like an hour drive tho.
Computer games that I had a disk for.
Phone books. JUST KIDDING!
Actually, I remember looking for my name in the phone book when I was young. Pretty pumped to see it there.
I know, right? They don't even hurt anymore.
The joy of discovery in video games.
With the internet, games are datamined and wiki’d in their entirety before they’re even released. Years-long marketing campaigns make it feel like I’ve experienced a game before I even have a chance to put my money down. There’s no mystery anymore. No secrets. No surprises.
My brother before he commited suicide
News
I miss having all the news agencies work off the same set of facts and then tell you their opinions.
Now opinions are being told as facts. So, I miss facts being actual facts. The alternative facts that pop up from some place no one knows or is documented with no real credentials is ridiculous. And more than likely it’s just someone’s opinion.
That and the sourcing. Terms like “Experts say”, “People Familiar with the matter” = made up
That's just a blatant misunderstanding of journalism and factual information
Enlighten me.
HentaiHaven.ORG
Hanime master race
I don't wanna go on Xvideos that shits fuckin gay!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMA60IL63_A&vl=en
LMAO
Little did he know Reddit has the exact stuff he needs...
I wonder how many Redditters it takes to realize that a comment like the one I made is intended to be a joke?
When social media wasnt a thing. And people were forced to go out and meet people. Also mental illness has gone up a shit ton and I blame alot of it on the internet. Ofc it's not the be all end all but definitely a factor
Diagnoses of mental illness went way up. You wouldn't get rid of all the psychiatrists in the world and claim that things are better since nobody is getting diagnosed.
Like 25% of young women these days are on antidepressants. If a quarter of women throughout history suffered from mental illness and we just somehow never noticed I’d be incredibly shocked.
I wouldn't. People fail to notice family members and friends suffering from mental illness all the time. Or they notice but make up excuses because of the stigma.
Also the faking of mental illness. Gives jackasses an excuse to jackass.
Has mental illness gone up or is it the ability and acceptance to diagnose it?
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There's a big difference between the two is all I am saying. The data would be impossible to analyze. Anecdotal comments are just that though and issues existed a long time before you came along and found a pile of things you don't like. I understand your comment but it's pretty ignorant and extremely narrowly focused. Read a history book or something.. jesus.
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Could you be any more passive aggressive? Pick a side and stick to it.
And I wasn't triggered. I think it's a very centric, uneducated post. It does matter, a lot. If mental illness is increasing then that's a big time problem. If it's just finally being properly recognized on the regular then that's a good thing.
Also mental illness has gone up a shit ton
Do you have a citation for this? Even if you do, there could be a multitude of factors, including but not limited to less of a stigma now than before.
Agreed. Social media was the start of the decline of society
Edit: Reddit is still great, though. It's much better here. Just Facebook is full of whiny trolls and instagram is full of narcissists.
That's sorta debatable. You'll find assholes everywhere. It's more apparent on Facebook because such things are not 'downvoted' as they are on reddit. So the shit things remain visible.
Edgy
I kind of miss having to search for answers to questions. It kind of means more if you have to work for it.
I miss the feeling of figuring out a forgotten song lyric or name of an actress after trying to remember for days or weeks. Remember how validating it was when it finally came to you. I miss that. Now we head straight to Google.
I love finding out lyrics. So many bands you don't appreciate their song writing until you see it written down. Who fucking knew "Funk Soul Brother" by Fatboy Slim was so poetic?!
I totally just looked up the lyrics. Ya got me
Playing the Oregon Trail on CD rom. Along with other no internet computer games.
Being able to have an opinion
YouTube videos that didn't involve a 5 minutes long intro, droning on about subscribing, and merchandise, or PATREON...
Just show the fucking video. I'll be more likely to subscribe if it's not treated like a professional tv series. If I wanted that I'd watch an actual tv show.
I missed when we had days where I didn't run into someone who's only form of communication is memes. I can't go a single day now of one idiot having to feel like they need to meme something or "URP! RULE 34! GOTTA PERVERT IT!".
We are not in the golden age of internet communication.
True. Although I do love memes, I also enjoy being places I don’t have phone service.
Yeah like sometimes the worst group conversations I've had are just people randomly blurting memes or vines/tiktoks.
It's fun for a second especially if their impression is good, but after that its like I really want to just have a conversation without someone blurting out something in the middle of someone's sentence.
Privacy
IMDB made Me obsolete. I was always the go-to guy for people vaguely remembering a movie with a odd plot element that might have had that one guy from that show.
My normal sleep schedule.
A trip to the library. There was no other way to get new reading material, so the rarity made me books more valuable. Now, there is an infinite amount of material available at all times.
Split screen gaming
I miss wondering.
Like, I wonder why... Or I wonder who... Or I wonder if...
Now you don't have to wonder. Google knows.
Google knows all. No need to wonder. Cut that shit out.
I miss the days when people couldn't just Google up information to back up any outlandish claim one can think of. Vaccines gives you autism? Here's a study made by dubious people, but it's a study so it's "scientifically proven". Pesticides makes people gay? Well here you have a scientist whose research of frogs can't be replicated. but hey, he's a scientist, and he claims them frog went full homo! Some politician making suggestions you don't like? Don't worry, there is always some journalist misquoting research, or a university student who wrote a paper to fit your narrative. And it's all just a Google away.
That's not necessarily the internet, though. It just makes it easy. It's a misunderstanding of the scientific process. "I read one study..." ok, I read 15 that says the opposite.
I'm with you 1000% on hating it though.
Well also shitty people who concoct shitty “research papers” that support whatever their finances what it to support.
The people who believe stupid shit have about a 99.999% chance of never having read any paper in their entire life let alone one about their dumb belief.
It's hard to understand and takes mental effort to learn. The two things that gullible idiots hate the most.
Agreed. Wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't so much BS but anyone can post something online whereas an encyclopedia, etc actually had to be published. It's created the ability for stupid people to continue to believe stupid things
But on the flip side of that coin, it's that much easier to disprove people on their bullshit. It's not that hard to navigate the internet and track down your sources.
the problem comes down to there being so much bullshit available. So while you can find where things originates from fairly easily, if you still need to properly dig through it to make people actually understand why it's bullshit. Most people are happy with just reading an abstract of a study, or even just a journalist's interpretation of the abstract. So if you want to make someone understand how for example a study is being misrepresented, or even worse just bullshit, you often need to go through a pay wall to get too the actual meat of the study itself.
So no, it's not easy to track down the sources. Unless you just want to go with the shallow "It's from Chipmunk News, they are highly bias towards rodent viewpoints and constantly produce anti amphibian propaganda, so their opinion is irrelevant." which never makes people change their mind, but only partakes in people digging themselves deeper into their ideological camps.
And also that there are cultures and figureheads surrounding such bullshit. They end up having their own edicts, their own forums, their own spokespeople and own media productions.
Ok pal lighten up. It is much easier now to find out information on subjects than it was back then. While I agree that there is an abundance of bullshit, it's still much easier to get to the bottom of problems that arise in conversation with friends.
No matter how much evidence you have, people will still refuse to accept the possibility they’re wrong
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What was the argument exactly? They’re both on it, is the other person saying Queen isn’t on it?
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But it was released on a Queen album lol
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I’ll support you
Gay frogs make me laugh. Frogs change gender based on gender ratios in their environment. This was literally the conflict in Jurassic Park.
Pesticides makes people gay? Well here you have a scientist whose research of frogs can't be replicated
that's what the want you to believe, the frogs were actually gay the whole time, the water was just getting gayer as the years moved on
Clearly you aren't familiar with such famous pre-internet eras like McCarthyism? It's far better now than it was before the internet with false claims.
Clearly? Fuck you, man. Don't just go assume that people are ignorant to well known historical events just because you disagree with them.
Movie rental stores
Redbox isn’t quite the same, but I like using it.
Redbox is what did Blockbuster in, not the internet imho. They just made the horrible, horrible mistake of not buying Redbox when they were for sale.
Not everything is available on streaming services! At least Blockbuster and other chains had a massive selection.
Netflix discs. They have a big selection, much larger that their streaming service.
A lot of people dont realize you can still rent discs, probably because most people borrow streams, but it's funny cause Netflix started as a disc company and it wasn't a small thing.
I still have my 5 disc plan from the early 2000s, got 5 right now. Not everything I want to watch is available for streaming.
True, and I actually have it. My niece didn't even know they had discs or even started with them. Felt so old.
I'm a bit surprised that there aren't enough film connoisseurs that can support the occasional video shop renting and selling movies. There's a lot of great movies that aren't regularly available on any streaming service, that most public libraries don't have, and the only place you can buy the DVD is on Amazon.
I've still got an old fashioned brick and mortar video store by me, it's great.
I kinda miss the era of chat rooms and AOL/Yahoo Messenger. There was an intimacy to that style of communication that's lacking these days.
I miss the AOL message boards
Secret places- swimming holes, diving spots, hidden hot pools, unknown beaches, quirky bars down tucked-away alleys, noodle houses in unlikely, unfashionable parts of town, secret camping spots that only you and your mates knew about. They were yours, and a handful of lucky others in the know. Maybe, you told one or two other people who were cool and deserving enough to be let in on it, and everyone knew not to shoot their mouths off. And that was it, from one generation to the next- secret, secluded places, made special as much by their secret-ness as by their awesomeness.
And then along came the internet... "Hey check it out, here's me and my bellend mates at this wicked spot, it's totally unspoiled, nobody goes there, here's the gps"... Absolute knobjockeys. Literally none of the places I used to go to as a kid aren't overrun by locals and tourists alike now. As a child of the 70s and early 80s, and watching my kids grow up now, I say with 100% confidence: we had it better. Life was better before the net, especially for kids.
Being a 5 yo calling my dad daddy
I'm 22 and still call my parents Mommy and Daddy. I'm not gonna let the fact that some people use "Daddy" in kink ruin it for me lol.
Consider yourself lucky. Boys have it tough these days.
my innocence
Going to the department store to buy that new album that just came out. We even belonged to Columbia Record Club at one time so they’d come in the mail. Still...as a long time music lover I’m happy to have music so available anytime, anywhere.
Knowing secrets and Easter eggs in games. Now people just look everything up. But it used to be fun to discover things by yourself and be able to show off the secrets you knew to other people.
going to arcades. Now its just FORTNITE
The arcade was the single most important cultural center to me from '77 to '02. Every family trip, I was drawn to the nearest arcade or at the least the nearest coin-op. My infatuation even led to me being unintentionally and temporarily abandoned at a hotel when I was five.
We lived a mile from one, so every weekend I scavenged every coin in the house that I could find and rode my bike to the arcade. Over the years, I became friends with the owners and their families and I met future roommates and best friends. It helped me get jobs, free movies, and a place to escape to when things were rough.
I competed every day against some great and memorable players...
The "day shift" were a bunch of "old" guys who finished their work before the arcade opened and would spend from 10 to 4 there. They played a lot of golf, pinball, and millipede and were funny and fun.
There was the cable guy who specialized at SF2 and was big. He would body you off your stool with his fat ass and he would use the weakest most frustrating strategies to win. If you started beating him, invariably out would come, "my shit won't come out" or "my side is broken". I miss those games.
I was pretty good at Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and Soul Caliber, so there were guys who would come from rival arcades specifically looking for me. My Lei, Xing, Shun, and Kilik were all well practiced and dangerous. The exposure to these styles led me to attend a local wushu school and also study Chinese.
But most of all, we had about 16 guys who would regularly play Tournament Cyberball. Ever since that game showed up in the late 80's quarters would be stacked and you would have to wait hours for a chance to play if you lost which was a really good incentive not to lose. Those guys will always be my closest friends and we almost single handedly allowed the arcade to expand to three times its original size; although, SF2 probably helped.
Theyre bouncing back, lots of Pinball places and Barcades around now.
Hand-written letters. Postcards.
Having a conversation without people “looking things up” every fifteen seconds
Demo cds for video game consoles
Social interaction.
Good debates between friends! You can literally never argue who was in that one movie or who is singing this song because you’re just a quick google search away.
Physical Activity... when i was a kid the neighborhood kids and i would get home from school and play hockey, basketball, soccer, tag, anything outside with other kids from the neighborhood... you just dont see that as often anymore. Its all video games and fortnite now. Although i guess its cool that kids can bond over there love for video games and form friendships that way..
I hate that the internet killed the point of going to class reunions and the curiosity we had about how our schoolmates turned out and what they look like now. We know everything about everybody all the time now. Life holds no surprises any more.
Slacking off. Like genuinely slacking off. Now there's always something to do. Work is nonstop, so is procrastinating and everything in between.
I just want to be able to do nothing without feeling like I am missing out. But because of the internet, I may never know that feeling again.
This.
Exactly... i work at a health shop and theres really not much to do when theres no customers. Its right next to the beach also. I always just want to have a normal conversation with my coworkers about life or current events but they always act like were TOO busy or always have to be doing a task.. Im always thinking in my head " slow down bro jeez." People are constantly thinking they have to be doing something 24/7.
Very true, everyone seems to have that mindset now. Dude, I'd love to be near the beach though. It must be calming. Kind of jealous!
Its not too bad lol.
what? just put away your phone and leave the house. plenty of things to do
Wish it was really that easy. My job expects you to be available almost all the time (even weekends). And even after putting away my phone for lets say a few hours, I'm hit with notifications and things that have to be done. Before you know it, there goes your day.
Then of course interacting with people that are also mainly focused on their phones. It's a strange cycle.
Back when you could have a normal ass conversation with people without it constantly being reverted to politics. It's embarrassing to hang out with some friends anymore because all they want to do is talk about Trump. It's fucking boring.
I came over for Brauts and DBfighterz dude. Not to hear you regurgitate someone else's opinion.
Dude my husband won't stop talking about politics because it's so constantly in his face it's driving me kind of insane. I specifically ask him not to because it makes me too anxious right now (Especially cause his sources aren't always reliable so sometimes he freaks me out with something that ends up being bs or not as big of a deal).
Sigh. I just want to talk about cute animals and tv shows
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I tried a compromise and he wasn't able to, so I took away the compromise. I started threatening him with a version of a swear jar only instead of putting money in he has to put in a pinch of glitter everytime he brings it up when I have told him recently not to (because it varies and sometimes I'll start the convo if I CAN deal with it).
He's pushed it to the point where I might make good on that threat.
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Lol dude don't tell a complete stranger, based off one subject of them being annoyed about something, that they aren't a good match with their partner. We don't end up in arguments over it I just remind him to not talk to me about it, he says sorry, and we talk about video games. I also didn't remember asking anyone for dating advice.
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You're still talking to me dude. I found it offensive. Your words weren't chosen carefully enough because you neglected to remember you are, again, speaking to a stranger on the internet and deciding to give relationship advice lmfao. Unsolicited that's rude as shit.
this is why you dont take relationship advice from reddit. lmao what the hell is this post?
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Currently 10 years deep in my relationship and the OP's situation is not uncommon at all and happens all the fucking time in a single relationship when one person is passionate about something the other isnt. These are MINOR problems when you're in a relationship with someone you love and always come and pass. You don't just throw away relationships with people you love over stupid little problems that irritate you, and especially not because some dude on reddit told you to.
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FUCKIN YESSSSSSSSSSSSS.
I’m torn on this. On one hand yeah it’s annoying and sometimes you just want to enjoy the moment or the company of others. On the other, people are taking shit seriously that should be taken seriously and should have always taken seriously.
I take my job seriously. I don't talk about it 24/7 either.
Must be nice to be so disconnected from the things this administration does that it can become boring.
Your username, and general douchy tone prove my point.
Your response proves mine
Unless you're an illegal or an isis sympathizer nothing trump has done is something you would notice.
Paper maps. I love reading them, folding them up correctly (a skill few people have), and not being stuck on GPS which is egregiously wrong way too much
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Mid 2000s when Garmin GPS’s started to become cheaper. My dad use to do outside sales for his work and would use to use paper maps to get from one Distributor to another. Than his company gave all the sale people GPSs and we started to use it for family trips. Been that way ever since.
I definitely use GPS often, but I have to admit, I love going on long road trips. And I've come to find that I also enjoy picking up a paper map and looking at where all the roads go ahead of time before a trip. I just like seeing where a road could possibly take me if I come across it...!
Aw man right before smart phones I remember driving off the highway to Toccoa GA to go the BoB museum because I saw a highway sign about it and was bored. Got a paper map from the visitors center and plotted a backwoods way from there to Tennessee all through North Georgia. It was a fun adventure. No street view, no time estimations, just highlighter on a map, and maybe those mile estimations on segments if the road was big enough.
So go get one. They are harder to get since they suck compared to their electronic counterparts but you can probably track them down.
Apple Maps is pretty great now I rarely have an issue with it
Fuck Apple maps its trash as shit. Google Maps FTW
Google Maps is what you use when you want a 5 minute drive to take 20 minutes
Arguing over nothing over a campfire with friends. stupid facts or pieces of data that cannot be verified at that exact instant. Nowadays, people just ask out loud to their phone or watch and get an answer. every interaction or discussion seems futile, since there IS an available right answer, even in the middle of the night in the woods. I miss having to talk about it and come to a consensus or bring it up the next day.
people just ask out loud to their phone or watch and get an answer
Siri, whose stronger, Superman or the Hulk?
My belief that most humans are actually decent.
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
Sane news that did not exist on a 24hr basis
Casually watching TV and actually paying attention to it.
Reading the comments made me want to go back in time.
Record stores, and soon, bookstores.
It was so fun to walk into a cool independent record store (or nearly any record store) and see the big elaborate displays on the walls, display racks of new albums by bands that have become legendary, new bands you've never heard of but would become monster hits, hear the absolute newest music on the in store play, talk to seriously knowledgable music lovers who worked there that could tell you about any kind of music you wanted, and even music styles you didnt know existed.
It was exhilarating, and I loved it so much I eventually started working in record stores. That became a problem because the pay sucked, even for the manager (which I became), but the job was so great that I couldnt leave.
Then Amazon came along with an infinite inventory that no store could compete with and killed the brick & mortar store. It was a little more complicated than that, but that was essentially it.
Letters from friends. There's nothing quite like getting a letter in the mail one of your friends handwrote and mailed to you. My wife and I met in college and both went home for the summer and we wrote to each other constantly. Email and texts and facebook are just not the same.
You could start working when you get to the office and finish work when you walk out. I’m amazed at how we’re setting new standards every generation to how many hours we’re willing to give for the same salary. Work-life balance is getting disintegrated.
Proper YouTube. Youtube's demonitization of channels is killing them off. A semi-popular channel Joe Goes has left for good pretty much. Turns out Joe had to start writing articles for a clickbaity website to make money since YouTube wasnt paying him anymore. It really sucks to see someone go to something so desperate after being popular for years.
The simple joy of find and learning things by yourself. When gaining information and experience via internet became so convenient, we'd stop feeling satisfied with work we have to put into making ourselves smarter
The old YouTube where creators didn’t care about losing monetizing over the word fuck
When the weekend hit, you knew mom and dad were taking you to Blockbuster to rent a game on your N64 for the weekend and your buddies were gonna come over. Those nostalgia feels.
My brain cells
Split screen Multiplayer gaming
Bookstores.
Lists that were complete in one page.
Privacy
Walking around blockbuster, picking random movies. It was always an event on friday/saturday nights going to the stores to find a movie or two.
Scrolling thru movies on my screen just doesnt have the same magic
I miss emoticons.
A limited palette of symbols that straddled the categories of vocabulary, punctuation and tone of voice.
";)" and "..." were, for a brief moment, as much a part of fluent written communication as a question mark. Now we have to have a hiccuping emoji in 24,000 race-gender-age combinations.
Civility.
Dating. Not even a decade ago, finding someone to date was quite the process. Most of the people I ended up dating were people in my classes or coworkers. It was always hours of talking on land line phones and making plans to meet up somewhere with no actual way to check in if you were lost or running late. There was also this feeling of just you and your SO vs. The world. It felt like there weren't very many ways for others to meddle or give temptation.
Now dating is fucked. It's always just one swipe away from bigger and better. It's having unlimited access to this person's information and getting to know who they really are without even having asked any questions. It's having the best means of communication but being stood up and ghosted more than ever.
This may make me sound like an old fart, but I'm 30 years old.
I totally agree with this. The way we date has changed. The way we meet others has changed. Now we are a split second away from anything & everything.
being able to make innocent jokes without fear of it being filmed and used against you later
Drove VA to FL as a 18 year old. Just some weed and a map.
My buddy and I hopped on a bus from France to Serbia when we were 18 (about 6 years ago). We had never been before and had no idea what to expect, but it seemed like fun so we did it.
Adventure is still alive and well, my friend.
When it wasn't for everyone.
I was born in 83, so when "the internet" really came into being I was just coming into my preteens. It used to be this weird, strange place that the average person only ever used if they needed to look up a book or if they wanted to chat on AOL. That was about it for almost everyone. None of the popular, cool kids in school ever used the internet and barely touched a computer. But the people who built all the websites of all the cool, interesting things, those were all just weird random nerds who liked having websites about cool interesting things. They were web-geeks, and this was a place where they could call it their home. We chatted on phpbb message boards and bbses and talked in MUDs and built our own websites that we used to share who we were.
A good way to measure this is to watch any sort of "popular culture" television show from the 90s. Take something like Friends, for example, a show about a bunch of beautiful popular people in their 20s. How often do they use the internet in that show? How often is the internet part of their lives?
And then compare that to any show today on the Disney Channel or the CW, where the main star has an online video channel or they're a blogger or something, regardless, the internet is a huge part of their lives.
It used to be a place only for the freaks and the weirdos. And, now, who are the biggest voices on the internet? Kylie Jenner. Jake Paul. The popular, beautiful people who would have shoved me into a locker or bullied me when I was a kid, they now rule the internet. And all the freaks and nerds have been shoved off into the dark corners and relabeled as incels.
And all of those websites? They've all changed. If I wanted to look up a recipe in 1995, I'd find some actual person's little web page on geocities where they've written the site themselves and it's just a listing of recipes with a counter and some gifs.
And now? WELCOME TO FOOD NETWORK DOT COM. WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENABLE NOTIFICATIONS? PLEASE SAY YES. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE TO EMAIL UPDATES? PLEASE SAY YES. HERE'S A POP-UP. PLEASE VISIT OUR TWITTER AND FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST ACCOUNTS. ALSO HERE'S AN EMBEDDED VIDEO ADVERTISEMENT THAT AUTO PLAYS ABOUT A NEW PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION FOR TYPE TWO DIABETES ENJOY YOUR STAY.
Reality.
iGoogle
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I know huh. The internet has never been the same for me since they shut it down. Nothing comes close to iGoogle. Most people I mention it to don't even know what it is.
What a gem it was.
My hope for this world
People waiting to get home before they watch porn
Newspapers. Real, old school, full newspapers. I probably sound like an old fogey here (I'm 35, if that matters), but I really do miss reading the paper early in the morning with my coffee. Robins singing and the smell of coffee and newsprint is about as "morning"as it gets for me.
The ability to move past old mistakes.
Toy catalogs from JC Penny. We used to wait for them to come in the mail and circle everything we wanted. I’m old.
I remember the Sears catalogs that came out around Christmas. I believe they were even called wish books. The pages were really thin and there were hundreds & hundreds of pages of items to look at/choose from.
Privacy
Making easy friends without saying,”what’s your snap?”....Oh, you don’t have social media? Fuck you
the ability to converse normally in person
Nintendo Power. I didn’t actually grow up reading the magazine (I was too little to know that it existed, during the final years of its run), but it would’ve been cool to get tips and news for upcoming games, straight from the pros at Nintendo! But, now we have stuff like GameInformer, so it doesn’t really matter. Still, a part of me wishes I could’ve gotten to read the magazine during its initial run, so I’ve dedicated myself to try and collect as many of these issues as possible. It’s a nice piece of gaming history!
I’m still a teenager,but I remember around 2008 when the internet wasn’t as much of a corporate space as it is now,like I remember all kinds of YouTube videos that have since been taken down,and all kinds of different opinions that twitter would blast people for now,I really don’t have a lot of experience on the internets early days,but that was my take.
The early days of the net happened in 1999 not 2008 lol.
I know,but they were the early days for me and other people around my age
2008 is very early for the internet..lol ur literally being "that guy" that people are complaing about in the comments
I gave up drinking a little over 10 years ago. I needed to. But one of my motivations was being at a stag party and seeing my early adopter mate putting photos onto Facebook with his iPhone. In my line of work, I didn't need that. It took a while back then before people realised all the fish hooks around that.
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I saw the same comment 10-15 rows back, and I was really hoping this one was the same person, just like 10 minutes apart.
Winamp, it really Whips the llama's ass.
Baa.
The internet give and the internet taketh away. I miss chat rooms with strangers. Facebook made it normal for everyone to know what everyone actually looked like as well as stickam and just video or voice chatting with people you both knew and didn't know. Now everyone just texts or video chats with people they already know. Theres not really just chat rooms out there full of random people open to random people anymore. I kind of miss it. I liked that way communicating and meeting people. Reddit is the closest thing to it. Or Amino. But it's more for rabid dedicated fans of something and I'm just not that dedicated to some celebrity or lifestyle or hobby to keep in contact with the same people over time.
IRC is still rocking along just fine if you know where to look and more recently Discord fills that role too, surely
IRC? And how do you find chat rooms open to the public with discord? I thought they were all invite only?
IRC - Internet Relay Chat. It’s been going since the late 80’s..
True with Discord, I don’t like that as much.. but I’ve still ended up on a bunch of servers via associations with subreddits or youtube channels etc.
Record stores and blockbuster
Having a Disagreement and accepting we both might be wrong.
Bookstores. Especially used and specialty bookstores.
Book stores.
I still go to Barnes and Noble. I do buy things there. But sometimes I find a really expensive book, and look it up with my Amazon app. If it's cheaper, I order it online.
Yea, I'm killing bookstores too.
Old Reddit
Not the redesign, the place where people cited sources in discussions rather than just reposting, shitposting, meme making and opinion spewing. When the upvotes meant that the argument was well constructed and contributed to the conversation. The downvote meant you were reposting, shitposting, meme making and opinion spewing. Puns were accepted and allowed.
I can't believe I scrolled to the bottom twice, viewed more comments twice and didn't find this.
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Holy cr*p! I didn't think I was going to get a reply this far down! I'm glad someone else thinks about it. I figured I was in the pit, in the bottom of the rabbit hole, in the bottom of oblivion... The hive-mind would have sent me there anyway. :P
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LOL!!!! I loved every word of that response. I miss "reddiquette". I was in Uni studying Politics and Philosophy when I was introduced to reddit. I swear I only passed some of my courses because this platform gave me a place to practice logically constructed arguments. The one that bothers me is downvoting the completely valid opposing view. The difference between a theory and an opinion is that a theory can withstand counter-arguments.
Photography.
People not being total dicks about what others like. Cringy being thrown around at everyone. An 8 year old isn't being cringy. They're being 8.
I miss arguing with friends about some piece of trivia, like what actor played a certain role or what band did a specific song, betting on it and then having to go home and look it up. The delayed satisfaction and work involved in finding proof mad being right so much more satisfying. With the entire universe of info literally on your phone this is a thing of the past.
You can still argue and debate before looking it up -- I do this frequently with my friends.
The internet.
You see, once upon a time, the internet was a little niche of counter culture and it was easy to find interesting things. There were all sorts of neat little personal websites that could easily be found on link lists or search engines, and when you had had enough internet, you could sign off and easily go about your "real life" business offline. It also was populated by a pretty chill group of people, and there was a sense of community.
Imagine a nice little secluded beach cove with a few friendly regulars, clear water, and interesting sea shells.
Then imagine your little cove starts to become more popular. Drunk jerks on Spring Break start showing up causing a nuisence, corporations move in to capitalize, burying the neat shells under expensive cabanas, and a DJ comes in and starts blasting the same song in different mixes while showing photos of the Kardashians on a giant screen.
Being able to lose contact with people naturally.
I really miss just hanging out with friends. You know, like 20 people all pile up at one guy's house and sit around and drink, maybe smoke one. People just don't do that anymore. Everyone is at home on their phones.
Or even if they do gather together, they'll be on their phones.
People still do this. Just gotta hang out with people that actually like to socialize.
The ridiculous amount of censorship and oppression that goes on these days is killing the internet. Fuck that shit. If you don't like reading about things that upset you, move on and shut up.
I'm looking at you Reddit.
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. All I said was that censorship is bad. oppression is bad, and folks are coming out equating me to Nazis! Such is your right! Enjoy!
Further edit: Oh, great...now I've pissed off the Christians...
Yup. A mod banned me from a marvel sub because I don't like Captain Marvel. All I did was say as such and poof. Banned. Fun. If that becomes the norm Reddit will die.
In all fairness, Reddit deserves to die if that’s the case - which it is slowly becoming apparent.
Reddit is not a free-think engine. It is a echo chamber that is anything but tolerant of views that differ from their own.
The idea that so much of Reddit is okay with censorship is ridiculous - and people are mainly okay with it because the ones being censored are people with differing views. Gone are the days that people actually were principled and stood for something. This new age is filled with a bunch of pussies that think that people must give two shits about their feelings.
I know that feeling. Apparently I was strawmanning white supremacy somehow with no proof. Marvel sub is very much a incel jerkcircle.
Do you mind copying the exact comment that got you banned?
what was the full comment? maybe you were being a douche about it?
• don’t censor people’s opinions • stfu with your opinion
Censorship is an action, not an opinion. He didn’t say anything contradictory.
And what do you censor? Opinions.
Are you going to avoid me calling out your line of thinking or are you going to continue arguing with people who have yet to tell you what I did?
You’re right. Congratulations, you won this Internet argument. Can I clean my house now? Thanks.
I don't really think it's about winning or losing. But okay,
You tell me, you have the self-agency to clean your own house I hope, i'm not really interested in taking responsibility of your day to day.
You can voice your opinion that you want censorship all you want, just don't do it is what he's saying.
That’s not what OP said and you are retarded.
Oh no! Covok48 called me retarded! My feelings!
I’m sorry you can’t read.
"Come see the violence inherent in the system!"
"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"
If people disagree, they're allowed to voice that opinion any which way they like.
Welcome to the internet, it's free for everyone dipshit.
Exactly right!
Cutie-pie,
That's not coherent to your previous statement at all, where you was just completely butthurt about people getting irritated at things they don't agree with... or rather, even worse... things they're not even comfortable with. But same difference.
That sounds awfully patronizing.
Well, you just don't understand me at all. I'm not patronizing you, but you just can't get past the whole unwarranted censorship issue over trivial things. I'm not butthurt about people getting irritated; I'm frustrated that freedoms of expression that are being lost on a global scale.
I'm sorry I started popping your bubble-wrap. (now that's patronizing :{)
Hmph, you read only the final part of my comment and that's how you lead on? I meant you calling me 'cutie-pie' instead of trying to formulate a decent argument... that still as condescending as it can be.
Well that's exactly what I was talking about in my original comment so why were you going back? That what human interaction is, communication is a completely open and free thing to commence with anyone out there... even if something is only tiny, the internet is massive.. people can comment on that which upsets them because that's just expected from human rights, no matter how much or little it makes them uncomfortable. Now if you can't deal with that you probably should just make clear you aren't wanting to start an argument... or better yet: don't fucking reply?
This isn't about people getting instantly butthurt for no reason, look past that and atleast try to have a normal discussion with actual arguments and casepoints instead of complaining how much people complain.
I was responding to you calling me a dipshit. You hurt my feelings.
Welcome to the internet, it's free for everyone dipshit.
I'm free to call you cutie-pie.
My point was: The ridiculous amount of censorship and oppression that goes on these days is killing the internet
What you did was to (ineffectively) say that I was "butthurt" and not "coherent", when it was not the case. I was making a point that censorship and oppression (i.e. banning subs and users from voicing their opinions) is a bad thing.
Feel free to call me any names you want. It's your right. And mine.
Unfortunately., the powers-that-be (and I'm looking at you. EU) are censoring free speech and banning simple and harmless things like memes. That is, in my mind, fascist, oppressive censorship. Like China is practicing,
Have I ever said you weren't free to call me that? I'm not asking you to behave like something in specific at all, but i'm still able to voice my frustration with such a meaningless and shit-eating comment... I know the context, don't worry.
Are you even in the same conversation as me, I hear what you say over and over and i've responded to that with the EXACT same arguments... with your lack of coherency I was referring to you saying 'exactly right' in that same obnoxious reply, since it was not in line with your first statement... you just misread that part of the conversation. Same with me calling you butthurt over this, that was again still referring to the context put in by your FIRST comment... that's what I meant and i specified that clearly. That was just a pointless attack on people getting emotionally attacked by seemingly unimportant or trivial thing... nowhere have you mentioned the radicalities of larger groups of people like organizations or subreddits. For some very intricate things large sums of people can go to great length for things very specific and at the large scope of the internet... the things that are being muted snuffed and banned are just a fraction of what's put out there, and to ban speech is only due to regulation of people or opinions that are either dangerous, hateful, or out of control... i'd like to see the specific sources of claims otherwise if you can provide that.
You're still acting the same way, this isn't just about insults or aggressiveness... of course I can call you whatever i want during this conversation, have you ever spoken normally to another human being?
Well, I wasn't the one who started with the name-calling.
Let's agree to disagree. Have a good day friend.
I'm not upset about the name-calling? You didn't even call me any names to begin with... I LITERALLY only said I didn't care for it.
So you're not gonna respond any further? This isn't an opinion my guy, i've stated facts, provided arguments, and asked only for a few sources behind what you were saying... that you aren't able to give me that concludes this argument to my side fully.
But whatever, if you want to be stubborn that's up to you... good night to you too then man, that was a wild talk.
It's cool how much you've mastered the technique of 'saying things but technically not saying anything'
how are you going to say that censorship is a problem, but also tell people to stop expressing their opinion 🤔
I'm in no way telling people to stop expressing their opinion. What All I'm saying is that corporations and the feeble-minded immediately want to ban anything that upsets them.
Call me any name you want; it's your right. Feel and express anything you want...that's your right too..
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I know what I said. What’s your point?
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Elaborate.
You're speaking under the impression he is saying those people don't deserve a platform to complain about being infriged on in regards to >"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"
He is telling them to fuck off, not bar them a platform to speak.
Edit: He doesn't deny their freedom of expression, but rather he refuses to respect it. This is not censorship or hypocritical.
Christianity had lost most of its grounds nowadays. Christian Bale can say he thanks Satan (this was actually a bit overblown by the media) and nobody bats an eye. Instead of society happily moving on, now LGBT organizations are trying to fill these shoes. TV shows used to not having problems casting a funny gay character. Today this is insulting. Now they shove a LGBT characters just for the sake of "diversity". I hope this trend will die soon and character's sexual orientation (or race... what the heck, Rowling?) is revealed only if it is a plot point.
You mean women and people of color demanding that they not be the but of everyone's joke anymore? That their opinions and thoughts be considered valid. You also mean not being called out on racist stuff?
I don't miss that.
No one is stopping people of color or women expressing their opinions. Censorship is censorship.
No one stopping them from expressing their opinions. But they're challenged that each and every single step of the way. When their opinions do stand up to all the unfounded an undeserved scrutiny, there are literally dismissed as being delusional by young mostly white men who believe they have a right to call someone a N**** on the internet. "Institutional racism doesn't exist/study shows that black people are violent/why can you make fun of white people but I can't insult you/ why aren't you talking about the epidemic of black on white crime/etc etc etc"
The only people I see clamoring for absolute free speech is so that they can convince you that they are somehow genetically Superior to someone else.
Very subjective
There’s having a problem with censorship and then there’s just wanting the ability to be racist, sexist assholes
In what way was I being a racist, sexist asshole in my comment?
I've actually become much more liberal in my years on Reddit, and accepting of other people's opinions and values. Censorship is a creeping fungus on the internet, and we should embrace the freedoms we are entitled to, whether they are "good" or "bad"
PS: no offense to fungi and lichens around the world,
I don’t think he was specifically targeting you, just pointing out that many people who dislike censorship only do so because all they say is hate speech or something
Well, defining hate speech is impossible, so....
No matter what you say back, it will clearly be indicative of the hate you have for me. If you disagree with me, it is 100% completely because I’m black - if you can prove otherwise, go for it, but you won’t be able to because feelings are what define “hate speech”
Okay I mistyped in my previous comment. What I meant to say was the I don’t think he was specifically targeting him just pointing something out. I’ve edited the comment so it should be fixed now, unless of course I misunderstood your comment.
Lol the downvotes speak volumes and prove my point.
Wait.. what?
People downvote me because they don’t think that a fundamental human right, such as free speech, is a ok thing.
Are you okay?
I’m a-okay. Why do you ask?
I’m guessing you’re a watchpeopledie refugee or a Nazi spewing racist shit who got banned from some sub.
Reddit is a private site and they can censor whatever they feel like.
And you support calling people Nazis, based on a comment on censorship.
I'm fine with being called whatever. I don't care what you think, but freedom of expression is a right we all should have.
But Reddit, and other websites, aren't required to give you a platform. You want to say whatever you want? Make your own website where you can do that. What's happening with Reddit was inevitable, any time something goes big and corporate, it will get changed to appeal to the mainstream. Blah blah blah you either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain or something.
That’s what we did with Gab, but for some reason people keep calling it an alt-right platform and PayPal fucked it over
Well, if you're going to have a "say whatever you want" website then of course you're gonna attract some controversial people.
That’s what happens when you boot all the dissenters off the other platforms
You're absolutely right. Reddit started off being a free forum, and due to corporate pressure, has bowed to those who control the purse strings. What they forget is that the users are what makes them money, so they're actually shitting in their own back yard. When corporations take control of censorship, it's time to take a good, hard look at who is actually pulling the strings. Not everyone has the resources to start up their own platforms, and the fact that platforms become corporate lapdogs is disheartening. Look at the mess Facebook and Twitter have made of themselves.
I guess it depends on how many Redditors are here for the extreme content. Tumblr traffic has been declining rapidly ever since their ban on adult content. (granted, the site had plenty of other problems before that, but traffic is really plummeting. And porn bots are still a problem and also they still won't do anything about the Nazis, ugh) I don't use Reddit for extreme content myself (unless you count occasional porn as extreme) and I don't know what portion of Redditors do, but if it's a significant number, then yeah, more restrictions will hurt the site. Hard to say how much damage it would do, though. Reddit has some other stuff going for it besides extreme content, but porn was one of the few things that Tumblr did well.
With Reddit, I think it might depend on the extent of restrictions. How far can they go before it really hurts site traffic, that's what I wanna know.
Well, I don't really subscribe to Reddit (or anywhere else for that matter) for porn or extreme sensationalism. (I would look elsewhere for that if I wished) I just thought I would voice my concern for escalating censorship on the platform. Banning subreddits at the behest of corporations or overly sensitive users (usually masked corporate operatives IMO) is troubling. I've been on Reddit for almost 8 years, and I've been watching the decline in freedom to express oneself. This used to be a good forum for expression.
Calling people Nazis is also freedom of speech.
Are you being sarcastic? We have less censorship than ever.
Well, that's about the biggest load of crap I've read today,
Are you being sarcastic or dumb?
It's literally identifiable.
Are you being obtuse on purpose?
Youtube, Google, and Amazon censored anti vaccine vids.
Is that your best example?
This may be an unpopular opinion, but music. Music before autotune, when the artists actually had REAL talent. Classic rock is still one of my favorite things to listen to. Early 2000s back to I would say the 60s is where music peaked and now it's filled with Autotune, untalented people (not saying that some of them aren't good, it's just rare), and repetitiveness to be 'catchy'. I feel bad for the kids who have to grow up in this genre of garbage music and know nothing different. I just hope their parents raise them properly with good music, I know I will.
"Music today isn't garbage, your ability to find good music is." There's tons of amazing bands making great music, but people aren't willing to actually seek it so they make the generalization that music today sucks. Also, autotune died off years ago. Artists today may be altering their voice, but nobody who has an ounce of success is using that warbly T-Pain effect anymore.
I was basically saying that good music is harder to find nowadays then it was then.
It's not nearly as difficult now as it was then. Today you have Spotify, Youtube, Soundcloud, ITunes, Google Play Music and a million other services to find what you're looking for. Back before the internet, you had to go to a record shop, and they'd usually only carry mainstream hits, and so smaller artists were left behind because their records wouldn't sell well in a store. There were some specialized shops that may have sold more obscure stuff, but if you were in a small town, you had at most 1-2 stores and no obscure stuff to speak of. Now you can look up genres on Google and find something to listen to. Spotify even recommends bands based on artists you already listen to. Your argument sounds like what kids on r/lewronggeneration say about music, and it's simply not true.
I mean on the radio, radio songs are not what they used to be I'm not saying in general. Because you could easily go onto the internet and download the music you'd like. But, if you were to go onto a pop radio station for nowaday hits most of it isn't good. Granted it all depends on your taste in music. For me personally, new music is garbage with few exceptions. But, in this generation nobody really uses the radio anymore. The hits back then were better by comparison (once again in my opinion) then ones now.
But if we have the Internet available, then what's the point of listening to the radio anymore? It's terrible, you can't choose what you listen to, there's annoying DJ's talking over the music, if you're too far away from the radio tower you'll just lose the station, and there's obnoxious ad's and the audio quality is terrible compared to what's available on the Internet. And if you don't like new music, that's fine. I don't really like it either, but the great thing about the internet is that there's literally tens of thousands of bands and artists that you can listen to, spanning back as far as recording technology itself. Radio doesn't have a need to exist anymore, in my opinion. There's even a country that shut down all FM stations back in 2017.
Sometimes it's a nice feeling to go on a radio station and hear a song you forgot existed and just jam out to it.
True, but I also literally just did that on Spotify earlier. You can save songs that you'd otherwise forget about.
But then you over listen to them to the point where they become annoying. I just did that with It's gonna be me.
Well I guess that's up to the listener, whether they want to listen to something a million times or just once.
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I don't like autotune when it's overused to the point where the actually singing goes to garbage. I think we can all agree that past a certain point it's just too much autotune. I don't care if an artist uses it just as long that it isn't too much.
Going out and climbing trees. Playing board games with my family.
Both trees and board games still exist. Nothing, not even the internet, is stopping you from climbing a tree or whipping out a monopoly board to play with your friends/family.
I feel like boardgames are becoming more popular and the more recent ones are much more fun than the classics like monopoly.
But there is now more awesome board games then ever.
I miss having an amazing and exciting world out there. Now i know it still is out there to be seen, but i wish i could go look at attractions for the first time with only seeing a couple photos of them first. Now i can look at thousands of photos or videos of anything i want.
Then go somewhere without looking it up first. Maybe wander around for a while. That's how I ended up at this bitchin' fountain in Spain, along with their Arc de Triompf. (I don't know I didn't know about the latter beforehand, lol)
Accomplishments. I seem to procrastinate more since the internet causing me to get a lot less done throughout the day. Cat videos get me every time.
Not knowing of insignificant news or information about people that will never have an actual effect on my life.
Privacy. If you said or did something stupid, it was forgotten in a week. Now someone posts it on Youtube and it's remembered forever. CDs and DVDs.
Going to a friends house and sitting together to play split screen video games. Then staying up most of the night eating junk and continuing to play or just hanging out
The word "daddy"
Having an actual CD collection and the huge CD case. Now I just play spotify using Bluetooth. Not the same..no album covers, no CD sleeves with lyrics.
My innocence
Going to Blockbuster/Hollywood Video on weekends. Saturday Morning Cartoons.
multiplayer games back when multiplayer didn't mean playing online
Walking around the movie store trying to pick out a movie..
The ability to escape politics.
Playing chess in a chess club.
Before if you wanted to play even a casual match you needed to go to your local club. Now clubs are, in general, only used for tournaments.
Books.
Non-competitive gameplay. I grew up with a lot of couch co-op, and even some competitive games like Smash Bros. felt like it was competition in the name of fun. Then online games, live e-sports tournaments and the like came around, and now every time I play vidya with someone else, it feels like practice for a tournament. I've played Super Mario Party three times since it came out. I have not played anything less competitive than that with another human in years.
I feel you. Everyone wants to play as if they're some pro wannabe and that's all they're all about.
I have a friend I win \~10-20% of the matches of smash we play 1-on-1, he wins the rest. I turned on items once, just for fun. He lost every game we played with items. There was another guy there, and him and I traded wins, my other friend couldn't beat, or even outlast, either of us. He didn't know how to play with items at all. Couldn't do it. It's insane how tournament-mindset-gotta-win people get.
Damn. That's rough. For me, some buddies keep up with the competitive scene and the tournaments and keep talking about smash as if they're pros and it really just sounds like wannabe talk. I just wanna have a fun game that could go either way...
TV. I don't watch much TV anymore as its all too accessible at the push of a button on the net. I even miss the adverts and having to go to the toilet, or checking up on dinner. Hell I even miss having to read a TV guide and then waiting for something that looks interesting. And I definitely miss the Sunday night movies.
Video game secrets. Back before I had the internet, we would have insane rumors about ways to unlock things. Most memorable was Mew hidden under a truck by the SS Anne in Pokemon. The kids would all talk about it in the playground during lunch. Nowadays it's too easy to just Google things.
I just miss cheat codes in general. Some parts were just difficult and you just wanted to progress in the story mode to see what happens.
Guys casually arguing about trivia in bars.
Harambe
Being able to say something obscure without it being fact checked by everyone instantly.
AOL.
LAN parties aren’t the same
Brick and mortar bookstores... at least where I live.
I miss missing people. Now that we have social media I can’t away from people. I know what they eat. I know who they vote for. I know where they go. I know way more than I ever wanted to know.
I miss the old days when our lives weren’t open books.
Letters, handwritten. No comparison with email, text, social media. Letters were often several pages of thoughtful prose. You wouldn't send something with just a couple sentences.
Actually owning a music collection.
Since I grew up in the CD/Internet era, that meant having the files to the music so that I could do anything I wanted with them.
Such as putting them in any music library program of my choice, make videos or edits of them, DJ with them.
Not to mention that if the streaming service I use all the sudden decides to take it off. It's just gone and I have to find another way to listen to it.
Physical media that I actually own and have complete control over.
due process
Blockbuster video. I still miss the process of going and choosing. There was a rush when a new title arrived. Its much easier now but that rush don't happen no more.
Calling landlines. If I wanted to ask a friend to come to the amusement park or come hang out over summer, I had to call the family line and ask for said friend.
When I first got my first girlfriend, I had to call the family line. And ask whoever picked up if so and so was there.
The reason I’ll miss this? I don’t get to see the other end of this. My daughter gets a boyfriend? He should call the house so I can grill him the same way I was grilled as a kid while waiting for her to get ready. Or to ring the doorbell, instead of texting “I’m here”.
Omg, Actually forgot all about this.
The internet ruined itself. Either in 1993 or 2004, depending on your generation.
People being outside playing and hanging out
This is more recently since social media got more refined but there used to be LIFE on these streets everywhere. I remember when I was younger everyone had bikes, played outside, socializing more. It didn't matter if you were actually friends or not everyone was free game come summer time and you had a bike and water gun. Nowadays you'd be lucky to see a kid outside playing with friends, they all hangout online if they're not directly at each-others houses.
Privacy
Real friendships.
Minimalist web design which predated "Web 2.0". Websites should look like this: https://motherfuckingwebsite.com/
Splitscreen local multiplayer games. The internet almost completely killed this. Thank you Nintendo for not abandoning splitscreen multiplayer.
Invisibility
My attention span.
Hand written letters
[deleted]
up
My will to live.
Crazy people being crazy on their own and ignored by the public, instead of crazy people connecting to other crazy people and being acknowledged.
Before the days of FB and Instagram etc, it was nice that when bad photos were taken of you, they were usually seen by a few people before being stuck in a drawer somewhere and never seen again. Now they’re splashed all over the Internet forever and you’re tagged in them for everyone you know to see.
Getting offended.
Like it's a difference between Pre-Internet offended and post-internet offended.
I'm sorry that I said I don't like chocolate, Barbara. But that's no reason to call my mother a cunt.
Completely agree. For instance, I got down-voted today because I said I didn’t like the smell of beans. Apparently, my personal opinion on the aroma of legumes really pissed some people off.
Bar arguments. It used to be based on your inherent knowledge of a subject and your credibility, and most were never resolved or were resolved much later. Now it’s googled and settled instantly.
Old movie trailers that didn't show all of the good parts of the movie in a 3 minute montage
That's why I don't watch all the trailers now. Especially marvel ones. They release heaps of trailers for one movie. Normally just see first one or main one and then stop. Some people watch all of them. Find the movie better when things happened and you don't know everything.
Being able to take a joke.
[removed]
[deleted]
YESSS!!!
Newspapers. I could spend all day seated at a diner counter with a stack of newspapers (and all the coffee I can drink, poured by a wise-cracking, raspy-voiced waitress) learning about the world. Now? I can read through one in about 3 minutes, most of it is ads and nonsense, and chances are pretty good that I'm already aware of the stories that are printed inside.
Standing on a street corner waiting and wondering if your date was going to turn up
Record Stores are coming back... but there aren't nearly enough of them and records are pretty damn expensive now. I absolutely miss stores that were entirely dedicated to music on physical media and merch from various bands.
They're still around, but they used to be all over the place and I loved them all.
Everyone used to be fun and unique. Now everybody has the personality of a brick.
Are you sure it isn't just you? I meet interesting new people every time I go out on weekends. Maybe get to know someone before you judge them by their Instagram profile or how they look.
I can’t agree more. I can’t start conversations with people these days because everyone is the same. It even happens with some of my close friends and it’s so frustrating. It’s like everyone is placed in this shit slice of “personality” and is afraid to move out of that. I think social media has made the teenage fear of judgement much, much worse than it used to be.
I love lamp.
Couldn't agree more. social interaction, in person, now is dead. I try to make small talk in elevators if the person isn't preoccupied or looking pissed off and I get looked at like I'm standing there naked. This weird scowl like "who the fuck do you think you are?"
where do you live? Because it is absolutely not like that where I live in Aus.
If I had to guess, America. Most Americans hate small talk, especially in big cities.
Not my experience in Boston, Charlotte, Atlanta, or D.C.
Chicago. Downtown. I literally have been loving where I am for 4 years and barely know my neighbors names. I'm sure they don't know mine.
Weird not like that in UK
I wish it wasn't. And it hasn't always been this way. It's like this is a new thing (last 10-15 years). People get all their social interaction from their best friend, the iPhone.
We have more unique people than ever. The fuck are you talking about? There's so many hobbies and interests now.
Meanwhile, everyone used to be the same. Certain things were cool and not.
No... just no. Everyone is this or that. Everything is black or white. We all wear the same things. We all listen to the same music. We all watch the same 5 shows. Our eyes are glued to our phones and our attention spans couldn’t last through a genuine 5 minute conversation with a complete stranger. We’re all addicted to cheap thrills and dopamine rushes. Celebrities are famous for the sake of being famous, not due to any actual talent. We’re all brain dead social media zombies trying to impress people who we don’t give a fuck about. We all spend hours on hours every day just scrolling, not doing shit... I could go on forever.
I'd rather have the freedom to do that than basically living in a society where only a few options are seen as acceptable.
For fuck's sake in the 50s, everyone had the same religion, political slant, etc.
It's ok to be gay now. Okay to not want children. Okay to be black, atheist, a slut, like comic books, be a female who wants to do a "man's" job, etc.
Technology gives us information and we're using that info for good. We're currently at the most peaceful times in history. Violent crime is down. The rights of people are up.
I'll trade that over not being able to hold a 5 minute conversation.
[deleted]
I agree.
I know you're being sarcastic, but sexual shame losing its grip is a good thing, IMO.
[deleted]
Go fuck yourself, dude.
There's nothing wrong with sexual exploration. And the sooner moral police like you die out the better.
[deleted]
Instead of arguing. Imma let you speak your piece.
Why do you think having sex (and potentially a lot of it) is wrong? Who do you think it hurts?
It hurts incels who encourage it because they think they'll get a chance with a woman. Sound familiar?
Incels don't really encourage it as far as I know.
Also, isn't that the problem of the incel? Not the slut? That's like blaming McDonald's for getting them fat.
Society has became more accepting... if you fit the profile.
We aren’t at the most peaceful time in history. We’re not currently at war overseas, but we’re in turmoil in America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Central America. Probably even more places then that.
The rights of the people are up... if you meet the social requirements. Any views opposing the masses will lead you to be shunned, banned, ridiculed, and blacklisted.
Our systems and policies are failing miserably and will inevitably crash leading to another dark age if we don’t get our shit together.
But hey, at least we have fake personalities on Instagram to entertain us while the ship we call Earth slowly sinks.
We aren’t at the most peaceful time in history.
https://www.good.is/articles/closer-to-peace-than-ever
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/we-enjoy-the-most-peaceful-period-on-earth-ever_b_57ab4b34e4b08c46f0e47130
https://slides.ourworldindata.org/war-and-violence/#/title-slide
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904106704576583203589408180
No surprise that you picked random wars and ignored it. Hell, from the 1940s to the 1960s, we had three separate leaders responsible for the deaths of millions.
Any views opposing the masses will lead you to be shunned, banned, ridiculed, and blacklisted.
Got anything to back this up?
Society has became more accepting... if you fit the profile.
Not really. You have at least a faction of support for pretty much anything you might be or want to be. Society is more accepting of different people than ever before.
“No surprise that you picked random wars and ignored it”
Dude what are you even talking about? Lol. I said we’re not currently at war but we have inner war within the society of our nations. We face political stance wars that divide our countries. Never in America have we been so divided since the civil war.
Conservatives and whites who aren’t full of guilt have fucking war waged against them just for not conforming to the new political beliefs that have been plagued on us from the agenda pushing mainstream media. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has admitted to banning conservative personalities on their sites.
This all ties in with the “if you fit the profile” and the “if you meet the social requirements” statements I stated.
Honest question. What kind of rock do you live under?
but we have inner war within the society of our nations. We face political stance wars that divide our countries. Never in America have we been so divided since the civil war.
A. Do you think this is new, fucking really? It's also funny that you mention the past.
B. There were times when literally supporting another party got you labeled as a communist.
C. You have nothing to back this statement up. How would you even measure the division of the political line?
Conservatives and whites who aren’t full of guilt have fucking war waged against them just for not conforming to the new political beliefs that have been plagued on us from the agenda pushing mainstream media.
And their it all come out. Turns out, you're just a person with a persecution complex.
Conservatives have the most popular fucking news network on TV. A president in the White House.
Whites have an easier time than anyone in the country.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2017/09/16/job-discrimination-against-blacks-and-latinos-has-changed-little-or-none-in-25-years/#10c407b051e3
You literally have a fucking golden egg and this country and your complaint is that you can't say and do anything you want without people criticizing.
The problem here is that 90% of the US used to believe your bullshit and now that it's split, you have a big problem. You don't want freedom and rights and equality, you want to shout you opinion and have no one question it.
Lemme guess, Christianity is being persecuted, and sexual culture is destroying this country.
There it is. It’s very clear that “white” and “conservative” were hot buttons that you were just dying for me to push lmao.
I gave you a simple example of a demographic of people who society is trying to silence, and all of the sudden I’m a white nationalist nazi who has a “big problem” wow, so scary.
The irony in all of this is, your response right there validated everything I said. Shame culture because of an opposing view point. You probably wouldn’t have even realized it if I hadn’t pointed it out to you.
You liberals really are something different...
[deleted]
You’ve failed to realize social media culture is now just regular culture
/r/lewronggeneration
Your personality is literally your penis
I guess you can call that a big personality
For you
I've heard your personality is horrifically girthy 😳😳
[deleted]
^^ example of someone with the personality of a brick
Amen
Split-screen video games. I'd much rather play borderlands with friends in the room with me than play some fortnite shit with a bunch of fuckhead strangers.
Softcore porn
Skinamax
Hotime
There's more of it now than ever before, easier to find as well. You just have to look for it instead of just saying that you miss it.
Try "Porn for Her" (or something like that) on PornHub
Malls. More specifically, specialty or theme stores.
Up until around the mid-00's, I loved wandering around malls looking for shops dedicated to things other than clothes. Books, trinkets, artwork, videos, music, games, software, electronics, gifts, and gods know what else. It was so much fun to explore and discover, even if I often didn't buy much 'cause I was broke.
I've done a few mall-crawls in recent years, and it just isn't the same. There are still a few specialty-type stores left, but it most of them have moved totally online or gone out of business in this age of multi-national conglomerates (Not that that part is entirely the Internet's fault). Plus it feels like the ratio of clothing stores keeps going up. Maybe I'm just getting old and tired...
Nope, you’re not getting old and tired. I too miss this a lot about malls. I used to go once a month just to window shop and see all the interesting things to see. I even remember on the weekends they used to have live music in one of the courtyard areas where the escalators met.
It really was something you could dedicate the better part of a day towards if you wanted. Now it’s hard to get anymore than 30 minutes of enjoyment out of a mall.
Battletoads
My social and sexual lives.
Record, and book stores.
Bust mostly, anonymity.
Going to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. My dad worked alot and that was one of the few times we'd all spend time together as a family.
My will to live
My soul...
Having friends
Fansubbed anime. Quality wasn't great, but watching some of my older stuff I can definitely say that legal sources like Funimation and Crunchyroll are NOT really any better. Lots of errors in modern subs. Translation errors, basic grammar mistakes, stupid typos...all things that even a minimum wage editor shouldn't miss. Corporations are too greedy to get a decent editor though, I guess. The big fansub groups were just as good and sometimes even better than modern legal subbing. Streaming quality is also pretty shit itself. TV rips were never the best thing ever, but for example Sentai Films uses 1-2Mbps for 1080p anime. That's like 4-5 times too lower for h264 encoded file. Anime really only starts looking good in high-action scenes for 1080p at around 15Mbps. But no site goes that high. Legal streaming was supposed to fix the "quality" issue fansubs had. So basically we have fansub quality work (or worse) but it costs money and data suggests the money is barely really going to the producers (look at how much money Crunchyroll's CEO makes lol).
So what I'm really missing is ambition. There was a like of egotism in the fansub world, groups fighting over who is better what not. But there was also a lot of ambition and care. A lot of groups really wanted to have top-quality work. All the legal streaming sites don't seem to care about that at all. They just want to push sub numbers higher and higher, line their pockets more and more without actually increasing the quality of the subs/dubs. So I guess my issue is more with "Streaming" than it is against "the internet".
Privacy
Couch co op.
My brain.
Humor
Movie rental stores. They used to be the staple of the community.
Not having Facebook be a thing.
There are a lot of things posted in this thread that are very much alive... Which is unfortunate. People don't realize these things are dead and gone because of the internet. They're being actively killed by people acting as if they're already dead lol.
You still have the option to do a lot of these things! Stop blaming the internet and go experience the things you love(d)!
I think there was something kinda fun about a lot of like bigger games before the internet became the way it was. Like I saw this video sort of re-reviewing old school Runescape and how it was fun since you couldn’t really just look everything up. Obviously the internet existed then and you needed it to play the game, but it wasn’t the same as today where there’s like guides for everything. You just had this huge open world with all the lore to explore and figure out for yourself. It was fun being a kid and going home after school and playing with your friends and then going in the next day and telling everyone some cool new thing or place you discovered all in your own.
We had no idea what we were doing, and undoubtedly did everything just about as inefficiently as you possibly could have, but that was the fun, figuring it all out. It was just kind of innocent and pure.
It’s not like games suck today, if anything they’re definitely better, but when you know you can just google the objectively best way to do things it’s just a different feeling. I was playing a game earlier and I literally spent an hour and a half looking at spreadsheets and googling if it would be more effective to farm cows or rats. I love the game, but it’d be nice to sometimes be able to go back to before I knew I could just look up how to do everything.
Unless your the rich kid who could buy the paperback copy of the guide.
Being able to tell people how much you just adore cream pies without making folks uncomfortable.
Second-hand stores.
I remember a time when you could occasionally find a vintage drum machine / synth / video game system in a second hand store which was priced cheap because nobody knew what it was. These days, the prices are worse than eBay.
I still have some glimmer of hope every time I see a second-hand store, even a chain like Cash Converters, because I have that memory of finding something good. It annoys my girlfriend, haha: "You know they never have anything good!"
Humor, honestly.
Humor used to be about observation of human nature, societal observations, relationship observations, making light of hard-to-talk-about subjects, and getting people to laugh because when we laugh we don't feel so bad, but we live in a world where everything is offensive, and comedians and actors/actresses get fired and blacklisted because of jokes they tell.
Unpredictability and privacy to do what i want
Avoiding people
I enjoyed getting the Sunday paper and coupon clipping with my family.
Hanging out at the mall.
Trying out a new restaurant - now you can peruse the entire menu online (usually) and read a ton of reviews. It's hard to find a surprising new gem nowadays.
Challenging games. I swore to myself that I would beat Final Fantasy without any walkthroughs and was only allowed to consult the Internet one time throughought my whole playthrough. It took me a very long time to beat it but when I did I felt a real sense of achievement. I sincerely hope other people do this as well.
Also, gameinformer magazines.
Going to Gamestop and walking out with a game in my hands. It's VERY nice having them all available digitally but it can't compare to that car ride home reading the Halo 3 manual in anticipation of playing it the moment you entered the house. Doesn't help that Gamestop has since devolved into Hot Topic 2
Music!! Everything is so accessible. Theres no excitement in waiting to hear if your song gets played and the music charts mean nothing. No buzz when a new album is released. Pretty sad
Yes everything what this guy just said.
Also cinema trips you need a small mortgage if more than two people wanted to go
Being in a room with friends or family where everyone is present. No phones, no looking up shit, no sharing memes or stupid photos but actually talking about stuff and arguing about stuff and being connected.
Not sure what family gatherings you have, but mine are still mostly like that. Even with friends. It's an unspoken rule that you shouldn't pull out your phone unless it's an emergency.
Mostly it is the same but there always seems to be that person who has to look everything up. It’s annoying. Maybe we can just be wrong rn. It would be ok.
Privacy
Knowing that kids will never wait for a song on the radio or be agonized because they can't remember the name of a song. Shit is to easy now...
Record Stores. Flipping through the stacks and finding that new thing that you didn't even know what a thing. Listening to a new tape in the car on the way home.
And radio for that matter. Waiting for that new song to come on so you could tape it on your boombox.
Or buying the in-store music, which Always seemed to be something cool and undiscovered.
Maybe not many will agree with this, but I feel thanks to internet and websites from where one could stream anything they wanted at any time they wanted has led to people not respecting the routine/schedule much. As a kid, and growing up, i remember how I used to wait for the weekend so that I could watch my favourite Tom & Jerry, and other small sweet things like that made the weekend even more special. Or that Friday night/Sunday afternoon movie premier on TV. A kid today could stream any cartoon when ever they wished for, and movie/entertainment is available 24x7 on Netflix. Present day, a weekend is all about resting (to work for the upcoming week) OR recovering from the Friday night party hangover.
peoples manners. Too many people playing on their phones not paying attention. I don’t see as many people doing random acts of kindness. Fewer people giving up seats for those that need them. not as many please, thank you, excuse me or sorry. I am victim to this trend as well despite my best efforts.
r/phonesarebad
My self confidence
I would go to the grocery store and buy the PC gaming magazines with the demo discs and play the absolute shit out of whatever games they had on there.
Privacy in general. You can look up almost everyone and find out who they are related to or where they live. As someone that very much desires a private residence, I really don't like how intimate details are laid bare to anyone who wants to know.
Just being able to go out and play with friends at the park etc. Feel like the internet has made it harder for young children to be social and enjoy being kids. Instead they are glued to their iPads and phones which could lead to socialising issues when growing up
Privacy
So many pristine abandoned locations. All it takes is one post with a location and suddenly there's hundreds of people that all think they're the only person who wants to go see this thing. Give it a week until it's covered in graffiti, a month until there's fences and cameras and a year until it's gone forever.
Music being able to grow and form its own sounds in its own space organically.
Newgrounds
The Newspaper.
Waiting for the paper to arrive, the thump of the folded paper hitting the front porch (mostly), the tactile feel as pages were snapped and turned, the black ink on finger tips, the reading / perusing order of the paper unique to every reader, (mine was front page, Dear Abbey, comics, Hints from Heliwese, sports, rest of paper.
Then of course the multitude of uses for paper after serving it's primary purpose (fish wrapper, trash can liner, papier mache, cleaning windows, shelf liners, book covers, and many more).
Tapping a screen is no where near as satisfying as reading the paper.
relatively ad-free browsing. goddamnit
A reasonably priced physical newspaper subscription.
Blockbuster Video
Club penguin
Looking in the newspaper to see what movies are playing.
Today a chickadee landed on my finger twice. And instead of really enjoying it and having it make my day, I just wished I could have snapped a picture of it so I could post it to social media to show everyone.
Going through a video game blindly.
I've got literally no impulse control so if I struggle on something in a game for more than a minute, I'll look it up. 100% my own fault, but my lack of impulse control plus it's ready availability ruins the experience compared to when my sister made me think all YouTube videos were scary and I'd spend an hour only to realize I was actually back at the start of the level.
Watching movies and being genuinely surprised when someone big makes a cameo appearance.
The old YouTube, where you could only get noticed if you had something interesting to post. I wouldn’t have to sift through garbage all day, there was always something to watch that was entertaining.
Also I miss downloading music, it’s very hard to find a full record without running into dead files or a virus.
Too many conversations go like: "Oh! I read about that online!"
But they don't remember enough to elaborate on the subject in any interesting way. Congrats, you briefly read a wiki page while taking a shit.
If I miss one thing about MySpace, I liked going to a person's page and listening to a playlist they created while browsing through their profile / etc.
More smartphones than the internet, but same gist.
I have a crazy "photographic" (yes I know such a thing doesn't really exist, it's just really really good) memory, and also a love of trivia. So my friends would always call me whenever they wanted a definitive answer to a trivia question if they were out somewhere.
Ever since smartphones came along, they just google it now, and never call me anymore :(
Video rental stores. I miss going to a Blockbuster and browsing through movies. It was a unique experience that Netflix can't replicate.
Video Stores. The excitement as a kid of picking out what movies to watch or games to play gave way for some intense play throughs to finish a game within the 3 day deadline. Same with the movies. The click of opening that DVD case, priceless.
Buying a game once and thats it you have the whole game.
The last online game I bothered to play a lot was rainbow six vegas. They’d have a field day with that game now charging extra for all those maps, guns and customizations. It would all be released separately via packs, dlc and passes etc and introduce some bullshit online currency.
Weekly shows and special TV events. Where everyone watched it that night or at worst someone taped it and had to watch it the next day to talk about. It allowed a group of people to talk about things for a week of speculation and discussion. Sure there are a few shows now that have this impact (GoT), but a good portion will binge it later on a streaming service.
I think Lost was the last show that had this widespread impact and that started to peter out midway through due to story issues and streaming sites. The writer's strike around that time pushed some serious web content for a few years too; that drove people away from network TV.
Enjoying the moment as it is and taking meaningful pictures at the right time. Nowadays people don’t really enjoy it just think of it as a social status or something to show for likes and reactions. Pictures used to be scrapbooks and decorations around the house full of memories now it’s just something on your timeline or page.
The message boards and forums of old. Maybe that's why I like reddit so much.
I hate to be “that guy” and I know this is extremely cliche, but when YouTube was still in its infancy. Very few people, if any, made money on YouTube so people just uploaded stuff for fun. It was low quality but it was raw and it was real and it felt like our very own mad max wasteland birthed by people just trying to have fun. Whether something was created out of love, or just to shitpost, it felt more human. The person on the other side of the screen felt more human. YouTube today... well... it’s just television now. Not that that’s a bad thing, just different
Yes! When the first minute of every video wasn’t just self promotion. REMEMBER TO LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE AND ALSO HERE IS MY IG AND FB AND SNAP AND.. 😑
Mcplay world
I remember when my dad set my account up for that and I would play it all day. It’s a shame that I forgot my password
Yea when they shut it down I was sad cuz I couldn’t update my treehouse anymore
The video star.
The internet killed the internet. I remember the early days, websites running on html, geocities, YouTube was whatever the hell you wanted to upload, tons of game studios pushing out B games between the blockbuster titles, you could stumble down truly wonderous rabbit holes just googling something (instead of just paid ads and results), you could find buried links to pirate random songs or files needed.
The internet used to be a truly wonderous place full of exploration and creativity, it was like Alice in wonderland meets the wild west.
Now it's just whatever makes the most money. It sucks.
My mornings and bed time
Rational discourse.
My sense of humor. Everyone thought i was pretty funny until I found memes. Now that is the only form of comedy I know.
Quizilla :( I spent so many hours of my preteen years writing fanfic there. I wish I still had access to those horrible pieces of work
Being as close to friends' parents as your own because you were always dropping by unannounced and if they weren't there you stayed anyway to wait. Making live music around bonfires. Trial and error in every aspect of your life. Dating and relationships. Sane political positions. A world without a surveillance state. Pretty much everything. I used to think the Internet would save the world. The more fool I.
Vine
Spoilers. I remember reading the last Harry Potter book as a kid, before I really had any understanding of the internet. I remember crying my eyes out at reading Fred’s death. I’d never been so impacted by a book before!
I’m sure at the time the spoilers were out there, I just didn’t use the internet enough to find them. Now I can’t open Facebook without something (especially Game of Thrones) being spoiled for me. It was a lot more fun when I would be genuinely surprised at plot twists instead of expecting them because I saw someone post about it.
Not knowing something. Now during a conversation there inevitably comes a point where one of you will pull out a phone to find a fact or pull up a graphic. It’s an interloper. There is an intimacy to a good conversation and the World Wide Web isn’t/shouldn’t be party to it. Not knowing something and having to accept of yourself or the other person that in the moment is humanizing. We’re all too certain about things in our fortresses if facts and it’s unhealthy for us. We should be unsure of our footing, or at least cognizant that we might slip at some point even if we feel we have a solid purchase. It keeps us humble.
Man you write well
You’re very kind.
Waiting each week to get together with your friends or family to watch that tv show you all like.
Feeling comfortable showing up somewhere and knocking on their door to see what they were doing that day.
When there isn't much to do you made something to do, like practice a skill or learn a hobby, rather than jump on Netflix or YouTube or pointlessly browse social media.
Learning how to do something from someone else physically teaching you what they know.
Tv and movie trailers that didn't spoil the entire show or movie.
Being able to see an advertisement and knowing it's just an ad.
Pulling out that shopping magazine and circling what you want for Christmas.
I have plenty more but that's some of the big ones I miss
Serendipitous discovery. When I was a kid in the 1980s we would go to Portland OR and visit Powell's bookstore. I would browse for hours discovering all kinds of books I never knew existed. I discovered a book about Roman coins that fascinated me. That sense of serendipitous discovery was magical: You never knew what could be just around the corner.
Nowadays everything is catalogued and available in an instant. Which is better in just about every way but it somehow kills some of the romance and mystery.
This hit me right in the feels.
Heated arguments with friends over stupid shit that we were all convinced we were right about. Also asking random questions of people. Curse you Google.
Photo albums and the cool big books you could choose to put your photos in. Also post cards to an instant.
Movie rental stores. Five movies, five days, 5 dollars. I miss the wandering around, choosing movies based on the cover and synopsis on the back. While eating a little bag of free popcorn. My kids will never get to experience that and it makes me sad! There’s something magical about the anticipation and excitement that comes with not having everything at your fingertips...
Vine
I actually miss being limited in the music I listened to or the shows I watched. I didn't realize it at the time, but having something on a CD, or having to wait for a specific day and time to record a television show, made everything more enjoyable. I feel spoiled now and enjoy both less...but maybe that's just an age thing too.
I get nostalgic for the connection sound of a dialup connection sometimes, but I dont miss the slow speeds.
Asking strangers for directions. Calling stores for their hours. And generally interacting with humans to get googleable information.
It’s how a shy kid can learn to get over a fear of strangers. Now people just pickle in that fear and...become incels.
As a millennial, I would have liked to know what the Friend/dating scene was like before MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, and Tinder came along.
I think it must have been cool how if you wanted to make friends/date you did so by meeting people in person and being kind/friendly.
One thing I don’t miss is having to print off directions to navigate. Thank god GPS was available by the time I started driving!
Not really sure how to sum this up but:
I miss when people would actually keep some thoughts to themselves rather than blurting out every ignorant opinion and when they actually did blurt out the thought they were forced to engage in a 1 on one interaction rather than having a mob of people join in.
I guess the best way to put it is social boundaries, some people don't understand that social media isn't a platform where you should grandstand but is usually a place where its best to assume you're sitting at a table with your friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances and should tailor your post around the idea that you're in that social setting rather than just in your own head or among friends.
Fan contest videos on YouTube. Back when YouTube was still rather new, people would have contests where you can win small things like five bottles of nail polish, in order to enter you have to submit a small video. Now all you have to do is follow their 55 million different social medias
Going to blockbuster as a kid and simply walking around and basking in the glorious feeling that was being surrounded by so much cinema gold. The possibilities were endless.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c_SC6WKCPTk
Regional trends and fashions. It seems like almost everyone dresses the same and speaks the same everywhere I travel to in the US anyway. I miss the "bubbles" of uniqueness we once had.
Calling my Father, 'Daddy'
Local sites (although near you as well) like waterfalls or sunflower fields, shut down or restricted because of stupid selfies and instagram freaks. Bad pictures, poor quality videos, and compressed music. People walking around like zombies with their phones. Spoilers everywhere after a movie or book is released. Paywall news. Faux news. Trying to get a ticket to a concert. Job sites that waste your time by just collecting resume data. Lazy people ordering food or groceries and then driving to the place to have people bring it out to them. Rant over.
Journalism. Though the internet isnt the only thing that killed it.
Heathly relationships.
The fun game of "how do I know that guy" when you're watching a movie. There was no imdb so you wouldn't know exactly or remember until like three days later in the shower. I miss that sense of relief when you had something you couldn't remember suddenly come to you a few days later.
Privacy! Now everyone has a camera posting everything on social media and now everyone knows everything.
Buying an album at a store.
'hang out' spots. Before you could contact anyone anywhere, you had to have a few spots in the neighborhood where people congregated to socialize and meet up. If you had nothing to do, you went to these spots and typically there would be crowds of people there that you knew. From then on, you made plans with friends. It was a super easy way to make tons of friends if you were not very social, people were constantly introducing each other.
For me, it was the basketball court near my house, where there were often 50-100 people there at any given time, many who I knew. People would drink and smoke and hook up and socialize there. There were also various bodegas where there were always locals hanging out outside of in large groups.
Today, with the internet, those areas have mostly gone away. People don't need common areas to meet up, they can just contact people directly to meet up. In a lot of ways, this has made socializing more exclusive, its much harder to meet people now.
Not being spoiled on movies/tv/whatever was really, really easy.
Especially when it came to things being released at different time internationally. A show could have its local release delayed by a year but it wouldn't matter because there wouldn't be anybody else you know who had seen it already.
Not having access to Wikis for video games. I play a new video game and for the first few days I'm wikiing more than playing to be "efficient". Although recently I played subnautica for the first time and forced myself not to wiki anything.
Catalogues. I used to love looking through catalogues, almost like window shopping. My mom used to do a ton of mail order shopping in the 90's-00's so we always had some in the nail box.
Hulk Hogan would still be a racist but it wouldn't be as widely known if it wasn't for the internet
Trying a game out for the first time from the retail store. They always had games that we never heard of and we would go and rent a few games for the weekend. We would look at the cases and have no idea what type of game we were renting and there was no YouTube to watch gameplay before you rent.
Glove box fulla maps
More good singleplayer games/couch co-op games. Too many games nowadays focus too much on the online multiplayer aspect without delivering a game that's just fun to play by yourself.
Going to Blockbuster. I loved going there with my husband and debating over which films we were going to rent. I also worked in an independent video shop and it was the best job I ever had.
Gingers don’t have souls
My innocence
Being able to deftly lie about facts... or at least promulgate what you thought was true :D
Now everyone is gonna check google on you, or Snope you
Being able to drive somewhere once and remembering the route. Once my phone got maps, that skill went away overnight.
The radio star
When people didn't think the world was flat
Debates in pubs that could go on for hours about some obscure character or something we could barely remember, involving questioning random strangers when they passed to see if they recalled the name of some obscure show or whatever. The conversations would go on for ages and now we just Google it and it ends there.
Unless Google can't answer or or gives two conflicting answers
I guess I suppose you could say that the arguments got upgraded to extra hard mode. Fake facts to be debunked too I guess
Game magazines with #Demo disks.
My friends and I would all meet up on Wednesday nights to go to the local store which had every magazine you could imagine. We would each buy a magazine and go back to my house to play the demo disks.
We would bring the magazines into school and swap them. Draw some of the cool art we saw in them for art class and tell fiends about the cool new games we had heard about.
Do you remember the amazing demo disks you got with games you never heard of but played the same demo 20 times in a row.
Self obsessed morons weren’t celebrated before the Internet. Now they celebrate each other, which snowballs into the media, and then promoted even more. It makes me sad.
It makes my skin crawl.
Local investigative journalism.
I don’t know if this is true everywhere, but our local journalism is now a joke. It’s like they’re competing with the internet, with clickbait headlines, reporting more on celebrities, gory killings, etc. Very little reporting on news of actual importance.
The drunken bar room debate.
Recording songs off the radio during top ## countdowns. (As long as the radio host didnt speak over the start or end of a song!)
Sitting in front of the tape recorder with the radio playing, waiting for a good song to record. ⏺ And praying the dj won't talk through the ending! Nowadays you hear a nice song, possibly use Shazam to identifying it, and it's available for download or streaming eeeeverywhere.
Tangible documentation. Now the storage is just 'soft'. The device goes off, or the Internet goes out, and everything will be lost.
Photo albums, scrap-books, folders, files, diaries, journals, calendars, year-planners, everything. You could even decorate them the way you wanted, or purchase the merchandise collection of your favourite cartoon/movie making it so much more personal.
I understand the cloud storage has its own pros: even if some "thing" is lost or stolen or perished, you would have its contents. But still, it supposed to work as a back-up and not a complete replacement.
Going over to friends' houses to play video games, and having friends come over to my house to play video games.
I’m sorry, I don’t really know anything about gaming. Why can’t you do that anymore?
It's all online these days for the bigger games. Games companies prefer this as they don't need to split up the console's resources to show two different views on the same tv for the two different players, so it makes the games look better. But less fun when you want to play on the same console (plus console companies have two sales needed instead of one etc, two copies of the same game sold etc) :(
The internet killed couch co-op gaming. Not altogether, obviously, but it's to the point where nowadays the majority of people playing co-op games will do it over the internet rather than side by side with another person.
Do you like the side by side situation better? I’m just curious because I know almost nothing about it.
Now that I'm older? Not so much. But who knows how co-op gaming would've evolved without high speed internet? All of my best memories gaming were when I was younger and would play co-op on the N64. :)
It is more that you had to in the past.
The original Starcraft (a space war strategy game still popular, especially in Asia) didn’t even support TCP/IP (internet play) until really late in it’s life. It could only do local IPX/SPX. I’d get off work at 10PM and drive to the “bad part of town” to my friends, play until sunup. It was fun.
Thank you! That does sound like fun.
Not entirely the internet'a fault, but I miss photo albums.
Parents and grandparents still have them. Cool to look at them every now and then from when kids
They still have them, but they aren't being updated anymore.
Yea neither are mine really now I think about it.
Online gaming didn’t require constant research on “this patch’s best x” (weapons, strategies, character builds etc.) The learning curve was natural and you could just pick up a controller and play. Now you literally have to do “homework” just to survive online because things are so competitive.
A good ol' discussion... Now people argue, find they disagree, google the "answer", and move on...
Back when I was a kid, we would argue for hours, trying to use reason to convey our perspective, a discussion could go on for hours and it was great fun.
Couch Co-Op gaming.
Definitely. Or playing single player games hired out and taking turns. Do a mission or a death each etc
25 cent arcade machines everywhere. 7 elevens, sub shops, malls, gas stations.
Subtle debate. Anything outside of hyper-right or hyper-left makes you feel like a loser. I say this and all my friends agree, then I bring up an individual or topic and it falls apart so quickly...
Sigh.
Friends to play outside without looking at mobile
Releasing a full video game on day one... No day one hot fixes or dlc... Just went to the store and choose the one you wanted
No spoilers of any TV shows, after the show aired, there would not be any spoilers available right after. No one could discuss what happened on the show unless they either saw it together, or called each other after, or talk about it the next day at school. Now, I have to watch it soon before I read a spoiler in the internet.
Not just film photography, but darkroom work.
45’s. They were 99 cents!
Snail mail.
Being able to disappear
Local multiplayer, and LAN parties.
I know these still exist in a different and highly limited form, but it's not the same.
Lan parties havent gone anywere here
An ability to get an easy erection by seeing a woman naked or in lingerie. Now I need a shit ton of bizarre kink I've become so desensitized. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Its own freedom of speech or lack of censorship.
e.g.
Remember when youtube was creators posting their own material without fear talking about controversial topics or saying 3 song lyrics would get them striked/banned?
Pepperidge Farm remembers!
Youtubers being able to actually enjoy making their content without worrying about demonetization
Being able to get back to somebody tomorrow or the next day. Remember when cell phones didn't exist and "well you know, I was busy and didn't have time to listen to all my messages yesterday" was something you could get away with?
Pepperidge Farm remembers!
Being able to "Google" a phone number & actually getting results.
I just realized I misunderstood the question thought you meant by " internet killed" that it was something you can no longer find or do online. But I'm gonna keep my answer as it pertains to the misunderstood question.
And for the correct question? I'm gonna say it killed a lot of relationships. Marriages. Loyalty. More than a lot it's destroying society. It's like a cancer spreading poisoning our society. Killing morals, killing intimacy, killing love. Killing values. Responsible for more than 50% of divorces...namely PORN. DATING SITES. CHEATING APPS. STUPID SOCIAL MEDIA.
It has killed millions of women's self esteem, all these selfie apps that edit photos, change waist sizes, breast size butt size, clear up skin, whiten teeth, sculpt bodies, remove wrinkles, add hair, of course there's so many beautiful people online, they're all fake ! I don't know one woman who hasn't in some way edited an online photo to enhance her looks prior to posting it. It's sickening and it's sad how society has turned on women and treat them as sex objects who are basically valued by how they look!
And every porn watcher out there gets mad and defensive when anyone criticizes their disgusting porn, calls it for what it really is.
I miss routine. I miss weekly activities.
You still get routine at work (maybe - there are way more "flexible" jobs now than ever before, both more jobs allowing employees to set their own hours and more jobs demanding flexible availability from employees).
The weekend still exists.
But beyond that? Not much. And that's a big thing that ties together a lot of the answers here. There's no Saturday morning TV routine for kids. There's no Friday night routine for family TV. If people are ever excited, they're excited for something to be out, very rarely for a specific event. Even if you're excited for the new episode that comes out tonight at 7pm, you're excited that it's out, that you can watch it whenever is convenient later, not excited to watch the new episode tonight at 7pm. There's no weekly trip to Blockbuster. There's no waiting for your favorite show to come on or scheduling who controls the TV when. There's just Netflix. There's no weekly takeout. Why plan when you can just order it from Grubhub? Outside of school and work, it feels like fewer and fewer people are engaged in regular activities. I don't know anyone who gets together with the same people every week to watch sports anymore. I don't know anyone who gets together to play sports - fewer and fewer gold buddies who have a standing tee time. The last time I saw a regular group of friends with a dedicated night to get together at a certain place was a decade ago when I was in college when we'd go to the local brewery every Thursday night, and even then it was already unusual.
And it has weird corollaries. You never know when people are home anymore, even your closest friends. Every plan is last minute, or at least always subject to last-minute revision. Every activity is scheduled individually, and always subject to interruption. Every single person I know is perennially late (myself included) because everything is scheduled as a one-off and everyone can preemptively warn and apologize - even if it the timing of their apology doesn't mean you spend any less time waiting for someone who's late after you already got there.
Even if you did somehow form a group of friends who all go out together once a week at the same time, things fall apart like dominos now. One person says they can't make it, and one by one the rest drop out. Once it gets down to the last few, it just gets canceled. There's no more showing up and simply seeing who's there, even if it turns out it's only two of you - the closest you get is already knowing it'll only be the two of you and deciding to go out anyway.
There's nothing specific to look forward to. There's nothing to become comfortably bored with. There's nothing to grow up with and realize you took for granted. No weekly ritual that bored you to death as a kid, and that grew to comfort you and bind you together with your friends and family as an adult.
And it makes people feel more alone. The only groups you feel a part of are the most intimate, closest friends - the people lucky enough to have friends they speak with every day, where the one-offs pile up until they add up to what a routine would have given you before. What kind of smaller, everyday groups do most adults feel like a part of anymore? What experiences do we even feel like we share with strangers? A lot of shared experience vanished in a puff of convenience, and most of that has to do with things becoming on-demand. The experience, the routine, was something you used to share with people even if the thing the routine surrounded might differ wildly. Tastes always differed, but there was always this connective tissue. We like different TV, but the form of the activity is something we share. We like different restaurants, but we know the excitement of takeout night. That's all but gone.
There's church if you're church-going, but that's about it. And it seems from my friends and acquaintances and the people I see that a lot of people are seeking out religion right now because they feel this loss of everyday routine. And I think for a lot of people that's why it doesn't really take - following a prescribed routine isn't the same as the everyday routine you grew up with it. There's a big difference between a schedule you agree to follow and a schedule that follows naturally. Choosing to stick to a self-applied schedule and stream a new episode every Friday night is not the same thing as waiting to see a new episode every Friday night was, and very few people self-apply that kind of routine to their lives anyway.
A lot of the things I cherish most as an adult are things still anchored to routine, like holidays and seasonal activities. You can't stream Christmas in July, and I can't put off picking the berries until a more convenient day. But almost all of those things are big, annual things. The lack of small, everyday, weekly activity still feels like a gaping hole.
Counter-intuitively, it makes every day feel more and more the same too. Everything is on the menu every day. And often, that means looking at the menu less and less. If I can stream it tomorrow, why stream it today? It makes it easier than ever to procrastinate away your own leisure.
And I don't know how you go back. How do you recapture that when you know that there's a much more convenient alternative? Getting together to watch family TV on Friday night because that's when it's on is not the same thing as choosing to get together on Friday nights to stream family TV. And if it involves other adults, it's impossible to keep to any schedule because there's no escaping that you all know that things can be moved around.
It feels like we lost this huge, fundamental part of human society, and nothing really replaced it. It isn't that the times changed and the things we were doing each day and each week shifted, that we merely feel out of touch because the routine today doesn't look like the routine did when we were kids, but that in a lot of places where we used to have routine, there just isn't a routine anymore.
Nicely said! Read it all and I can easily relate
The radio star
Edit: never mind that was video
Saying everything you want without everyone getting offended
Porn and jerking off
Hear me out though. When I was a pre-internet teen I'd constantly be on the lookout for wank material. I'd fantasize about Xena for hours and my masturbation sessions were beyond epic because I had minimal material to work with. A Playboy or Hustler was the utlimate treasure to find for a 15 year old.
Now teens are just like Incogito mode->Pornhub -> go to sleep. There's no imaginations anymore.
I'm scared today's teens won't know the rush of sneaking a lingerie catalog under your coat in a retail store or having a wank over pics of a celeb in People magazine.
It's tragic really
People. The internet has fueled nothing but jealousy and greed across the world. All anyone cares about nowadays is the reaction they will get on social media. Everything is a show and people don’t have mutual respect for one another anymore.
Step siblings playing innocently
My attention span.
[deleted]
This made me smile.
“TSN” was truly ahead of its time. I was a part of the early betas. I signed up for the beta with some form that came in a Sierra game.
When “INN” and TSOY came out I was truly blown away and spent hundreds of hours playing. I remember playing hooky from middle school a couple of times to play all day. And I ran up some absolutely enormous bills doing so... (parents were not amused).
Music. The excitement of choosing a new album and bombing back to the House with friends to listen to it. In its entirety.
It's also changed music for the worse as well. Songs with long intros are gone. People tune in. Unless there is vocals initially it's click on to the next one. Guitar solos as well
And the conversation that goes with it.
Renting movies.
Common human decency. Feels like we are all constantly looking for the next viral moment to put on our feeds. Used to be someone saw a little old lady getting kicked in the head on a subway they would do something about it. Now they just take out there phone and record it.
coffee / lunch breaks without people constantly staring at their phones
My social skills.
Face to face communication!
Watching dvds and buying albums.
Privacy.
Not having to pay a membership fee to play a game.
Fuck you Microsoft
Early morning cartoons. With streaming services and stuff you can watch them whenever you want which is all well and good, but I miss waking up early and sitting through like half an hour of this exercise aerobics program so I didn’t miss Pokémon or Cardcaptors. It’s just lost a little of that magic
Being excited for new films or TV shows without them being spoiled or over advertised so much you already know the whole thing before seeing it
The word daddy
Privacy. Independence.
Being normal
•A real fucking social life.
Avidgamers. Used to have a ton of friends on role play boards but don't know how to reach them anymore.
The normalization of talking to people in public.
Society without social media.
Messanger, good old minecraft in its prime My will to live
Passing hand written notes in class. Fucking texts.
Single player games
talking to friends over a phone.
Sort of a post internet thing, but I miss when you had to send a text to buy games for your phone. They felt so much cooler when you had to look up the game in a magazine and then hope your parents didn’t notice the extra charge at the end of the month
Healthy discourse. There’s no discussion or debate anymore, like who was in a movie or how old someone is. The answer to everything now is ‘just google it’.
Real socialization. I grew up during the end of the analog age so I got to witness the transition into the digital era (VHS tapes transition to streaming, clocks which you need to read the time changing to where they tell the time, etc.). Something the Internet has totally fucked up is physical person to person interactions. Ever see groups of people together at dinner yet all on their phones totally separated and oblivious to each other? What makes me even sadder is the loss of kids playing stickball, Manhunt, just running around in the streets being children. Beam that annoying dumbass down the block when playing Asses Up. He’ll learn soon enough how to play well with others. They all congregate online with “friends” who they mostly never really get to know or communicate with other than for gaming purposes. I miss seeing others interact in the real world and grow with newly acquired understanding that is accompanied by such experiences and interactions. We’ve stopped learning from each other to simply judge from the safety and security of our homes behind a screen. Shit, people don't even know how to fucking talk to someone to get in their pants anymore which is why they send unwanted shitty dick pics.
the word daddy,now everytime I call my dad I feel a bit gay.
thanks internet
He enjoys it ;)
Lining up for a band's latest album at HMV and meeting other diehards!
Sitting down and reading a book without getting bored or distracted.
My childhood innocence and naivety
This is a weird one, but I think internet porn killed sex. Or at least, what we used to see sex as. Sex is a connection, when it comes down to it, but internet porn turns it into an image or a lifestyle to be pursued and not a something to be shared. The idea of sex in our society was already turned into a commodity long before the internet, but the sheer omnipresence of the internet has beaten a very unfortunate idea into our heads: sex is not a connection, it's an image. Sex is a screen, it's a click, it's a scroll-bar where you skip to the good parts.
Hell, this drives a lot of that 'Incel' culture. Half the guys today who are 'involuntarily celebate' would have women in their lives that love them if they just did away with the image they are pursuing and looked for love instead. Instead of striving to be a sex god with hot women on their arm, they should be a person worthy of love.
The effort you used to have to put into being part of a band fan subculture. You heard about a band that would never get FM radio airplay (except maybe once in a blue moon on a college station). You had maybe one or two friends that were also into that band. You might subscribe to their (snail mail) newsletter to find out when they were playing live somewhere vaguely near you. You would have to beg the local record store to special order their LPs. You would spend hours trying to transcribe their lyrics, usually getting some major stuff wrong, and then arguing about it with other fans. You would have a 4th generation cassette tape bootleg recording of some live show.
Now it's cool and all that today you can find the entire discography of any band or musician, including lyrics, encyclopedic history and backstory on every band member, recording session, and song, tons of concert videos, etc. within three clicks. But there's something lost in lacking the effort.
This reminds me of what being an anime fan was like in the 90s/early 00s. Fansubbed VHS tapes bought and sent through the mail man.
Conversations with eye contact and empathy.
Music scenes . Something akin to the Seattle scene of the 90’s. Unfortunately it looks like you’re never gonna have that again
Human socialization. Like face to face talking.
record stores... I miss finding new bands at the actual store, or reading liner notes to see who bands thanked then finding their CD's i miss browsing for hours in the store and then listening to the entire album.
Being excited to see my friends every day at school.
The internet has created a large amount of social detachment within the younger community. Any event/party or just leisure activity you go to, someone will be using social media to show the world how much they are enjoying, rather than experiencing it for themselves, through a lens. It’s kind of ironic that I am ranting about this on a social media platform yet the one thing that was meant to get people closer has also made them more detached.
reading magazines to get all infos about an upcoming game i want to play and then the feeling of finally buying this game and walking/driving home with your treasure... reading the booklet inside out to get all possible information before getting home to insert the disc into the gaming console and acutally directly play the game instead of downloading all kind of hot fix patches uploaded the night before.
it's all digital downloads bullshit nowadays.... which is cool because i get all my games but i miss this old ritual of mine... :-)
Wild stab in the dark, but going by the disgruntled context, is this either that OK hand sign thing or a rick roll?
Yep, the second thing you mentioned.. spot-on... still a fitting comment weirdly enough, lmao.
GODDAMMIT!!!
Dammit
Common sense.
I miss when not everyone in the world felt oppressed/offended when they actually aren't.
Well good fucking thing that still doesn’t happen today?? Who do you think you are to tell people when or when they aren’t offended? Sounds to me like you’re a little too privileged to understand the struggle that minorities have to deal with literally every single day.
I miss when not everyone in the world felt oppressed
You mean before black people had an outlet to voice their oppression??? Back when the privileged whites could oppress and dominate minority communities and nobody could speak up because there was no way for them to? Jesus fuck take a look in the mirror cuz you and your white supremacist friends are the fucking reason that these people feel oppressed and offended. Statistically speaking 100 minorities are oppressed for every 1 white person that says yeet unironically. That’s 20,000,000 million minorities that have been oppressed. Do you really not understand that?
Oh whoops, dropped this /s
I appreciate your enthusiasm for sarcasm, but to become a master you mustn't indicate it.
I'm a human, and this action was performed manually.
I know I know :( but sometimes when I don’t put the /s I get downvoted :( what should I do? I don’t wanna get downvoted :(
It’s a small price to pay.
You’re right 😔 I vow to never /s again.
For comedy’s sake!
And this ladies and gentleman is who i was referring to.
Take a seat at the back kid the adults are talking.
cough cough sarcasm cough cough
Internet killed the radio star.
Record stores. I loved going to the record store and discovering new music, usually by the album cover. I absolutely love that I can stream or download (legally) new music or discover new music via apps. But there was something so fun about going to a record store.
Record stores still exist. Vinyls have kind of made a comeback.
piczo, when I was in middle school this is what everyone I know used instead of myspace basically. Kind of like a rudimentary Wix kinda thing
Ah yes, used to spend hours playing with html and css on piczo~
Yessss, custom mice and scrollbars were my fave 😍I wonder how many baby coders were born from Piczo.
Social media. I don't care to see about your life happening in real time. I would prefer us hanging out and finding out the old fashioned way. It makes reconnecting more significant. Also, people think too much of themselves (due to social media)...I really don't care what you had for breakfast. I don't care about you trying to spam a whole lotta shit for sales at your job. Last time I was on Facebook or Twitter half of my friends had turned into fucking robots for their employers. Also instagram, I don't care about your outfits and when/where the picture was taken. It might not suck so bad if it wasn't so ubiquitous and instant.
Reddit is cool tho
Many people are talking about the advent of pocket video cameras on phones ruining moments but they're forgetting the first thing video killed... >!The radio star.!<
Tumblr.....
Tumblr is still around... technically....
i wish there was some sort of backup for all that quality content that got deleted that doesn't involve going on twitter
most of it wasn't deleted, just hidden. use tumblrview.com
Thanks for the advice :)
Funny cat videos
The internet
Honestly though
Video rental stores. Being able to walk around with a date for an hour in a rental store was a great way to kill time and get closer to one another. Plopping down on the couch and pulling up Netflix just doesn’t have the same impact as driving through town and looking at all of the cheesy movies before finding something to watch (or not) for the night.
i have no idea how to use any of the internet dating sites, I’d imagine that’s the primary way to meet other people now. Back in the day it was going to the bar and talking to people. You never knew what was going to happen.
The words “oral” and “coming”. I actually go out of my way to not use those words anymore.
Going to the public library or the school library. It was a wonderland of free books to read. Several of my favorite childhood books, I would have never discovered, if I hadn't been browsing in the library or have friends point them out. They also had a movie day for kids, one Saturday a month or so. They had a pull down movie screen and an old projector. Lots of good memories.
Now, I can order a book and have it sent to me cheaper than if I drove to the library. It's convenient, but it's impersonal and lacks any charm.
Door to door encyclopedia sales job. It was a hard gig, but an honest one
The good ol days of YouTube, ya know the =3 days, the days where everything was recorded with a potato and YouTube wasn't selling out to huge corporations
The Shrek movies before the internet made it weird
I know I'm going to shoot myself in the foot for posting this, but I actually kinda miss nyan cat.
Letters, just always thought they were cute
music videos on vh1
Legit, StumbleUpon
Club Penguin ;~;
Vine
Born in 1967 - so, everything.
Mix tapes/CDs
Literally everything
Playing outside
We used to own a pub and 80% of the lively conversation was debate about facts. It would send people to the library, asking people for advice, making phone calls and asking for opinions. Sometimes these investigations would last weeks, months or years! The minute the internet became available, all of that died. The Cliff Clavens of the world were no more. Kind of a bummer.
Ask Jeeves
The album
inb4 hur dur nur, Astroworld nur
no. No one cares, they just play Sicko Mode over and over and over again in the dining hall until it makes me want to kill
Meaningful relationships.
Uninterrupted social interactions
The Video Star
Internet killed the video star.
ZD TV / Tech TV / G4 TV
non-MMO coop multiplayer games
Definitely miss couch co op games. Sit down with a friend and try to finish a game u hired before u have to take it back
Going to the dvd store after school to borrow a movie or game
Video rental stores
Fuck I wish I wasn’t late to this thread.
Many parts of reddit nowadays...
And I don’t know how to sound like I’m not some freak by Reddits current standards but some thing should stay.
Really the biggest one right now is how tame /r/WTF is becoming. I honestly feel like it is censorship. Terrible shit happens in this world and it should be shown somewhere. Maybe there are terrible people who relish human suffering or try to exploit that kind of thing but I don’t think that means it should be toned down overall.
The people need to be challenged and persecuted not the content itself.
Arcades
Dating!!!
Miniclip
Mixtapes
Listening to the radio.
Blockbuster
Now baby I'm the ripper your baby daddies worst nightmare
Catch me by the Claire, I'll be right there.
Second hand bookstores. The smell, the dust and thrill of finding old stuff you never heard of, the cranky old guy with a beard and booze breath that ran the place.
Videos stores. I used to work at an express video and that was the best job I’ve ever had.
The smell of BlockBuster
My uncle Ron 😭
Not being constantly ‘available’ for work calls and emails.
The electoral process
Record stores
Any sort of trivia.
Card catalogs at the library.
Also, the Scholastic Book Club, back in elementary school, where you filled out the little list, sent it off and that moment when you saw the books in your cubby was the high point of your day. Plus you could get a free pizza at Pizza Hut if you ordered enough books.
I think the most accurate quote I've read about the internet, I forget where it was, but they said it's made life a lot more convenient and a little less romantic.
Missing people. Wondering what people from your past are up to.
Vine
Minecraft, but it’s coming back strong! Still got hope
Club penguin
Internet Killed the Radio Star...
Homestar Runner
Teen girl squad 🤣
Smart exchanges at the bar. Now we just Google shot and the conversation is over.
Talking to people and describing things without anyone having to Google for examples.
Book stores.
Especially used book stores -- browsing for things you didn't know you were interested in.
Yes!
Social interaction
Talking during class, nowadays every one in class is sucked into their social medias and hardly interact with other students during class.
This! Class is so depressing. I cant even ask to borrow a pencil without people giving dirty looks
People are too busy looking at people online and don't realize there's people around them
Letter writing
Club penguin.
Blockbuster!! I miss it so much.
"... the radio star..."
Playing outside when I was like 12 you really could start to notice it people who used to come out everyday stopped to play club penguin or Xbox we started to talk less and less over time because of it I hate that
Pictochat
The radio star.
Stan Lee. One of y’all killed him.
I miss going to Blockbuster
Watching YouTube with little to no adds
I suppose I mean the entirety of the video games
The radio star.....oh wait that was video.
Finding discarded porn in the woods...
I mean who was throwing all that porn in the woods in the 90’s????
You could literally walk 10 feet into some trees in any neighborhood and instantly find porn mags.
Found a dildo about 20 feet into the woods when I was in 5th grade. My friends and I sort of knew what it was, but not completely. Long story short we threw it at each other for about half an hour. Good times.
Human interaction
Born on the internet and killed by the internet: Tobuscus
Honestly it is having a good argument with someone about a fact. I used to be that you could go back and forth with someone about who that guy in that movie was, or who won the Super Bowl five years ago, but now you just look it up in 10 seconds.
Maybe I'm looking at the question in a little different light, but my parents were very overzealous mormons (mormons are typically pretty chill and helpful, their beliefs are more solidly layed out than most think, although I have different theories on why we are all things, if a Mormon who doesn't think they gotta be the next prophet or something reads this, respect, my parents were different) and believed social media to be a tool almost purely of the devil. So I was never allowed to have Internet access until I said idgaf what you think at 17. But it was too late. The Internet killed off one of its own most precious, stress relieving internal organs before I could strengthen it or enjoy it. It killed vine....and the vine organ attempted to respawn as a cancerous lump. Now known as tik tok....and its growing. Rip ⚰ ⚰ ⚰
Actually good Minecraft parodies.
Comedy
As a wrestling fan, surprises. Even when I try to avoid spoilers, I still come across them unintentionally, and too much is announced ahead of time
My overall faith in humanity.
Blockbuster shops
Toys R Us
Playing outside
I miss the good old days of going to places like Toys R Us and Blockbuster just to see what they had available in stock. There's also that sense of wonder and amazement that most people experienced as kids. This may just be a nostalgia thing, but I really do miss those days.
Being able to do the ok sign because it’s apparently racist now
The massive Sears and JC Penny’s catalogs I’d destroy with blue ink pen circles of every “cool” toy before Christmas.
Not knowing the answer to a question
Ticket stubs. Everything's mobile entry now. And I get it. It makes sense. But I bought a ticket to the Final Four and I'm here right now and it has been a bucket list kind of thing, but because I bought through a third party site, I don't get the actual paper/cardstock colorful ticket stub as a memento.
On the bright side, for a long time I thought the immersion and unlimited supply of MMORPG content had killed tabletop RPGing for me.
I was wrong.
Genuine human interaction
VH1s top 20 video countdown.
Irl friends
Rare collectible objects (trading cards for me) actually being "rare" and hard to find and not just expensive
Kind of a reach, but how hard it is nowadays to avoid spoilers. Before if someone tried to spoil something you just had to leave or block out the noise. Nowadays you have to avoid any social media to avoid spoilers. Better shut off your internet once Endgame comes out.
My attention span.
Travel Agency. Considering my in-laws owned a large thriving Travel Agency for decades, and the internet sent them out of business... Tavel Agent's. Your travel experience was often greatly inhanced when using a good one. Travel Agents went beyond just booking flight time or a cruise departure etc, it would get down to finest of detail. People connecting people.
The earlier, cooler Internet.
Being in the same room as the people you are hanging out with.
How about all the idiots deciding to dump their loved ones ashes at Disney after hearing someone do it on a blog or whatever?
GUYS.
GRANDMA ISN'T ON THE HAUNTED MANSION. THEY VACCUUMED HER UP.
Adless youtube. As a second grader I would come home from school and watch LEGO stop motions on bad weather days for hours. Many memories with that too, my sister and I also made a website for free! 2009 was a whole new ball game. Better one at that.
The idea that meeting someone special comes through normal daily social interactions, instead of the soul-killing repetition of swiping through peoples' advertisements of themselves. Maybe this is just what dating feels like at the end of your 20s, with a 21st century twist. It's just hard anyways.
I just made it into that generation, but blockbusters...
Renting Wii games to play for an hour then quit because it’s too hard
Looking at the cool toys they had in like one tiny ass section in the corner
Renting the last air bender and watching it with my dad on our tiny ass tv
The magazines on the spinny thing
Being terrified of the horror movie section
The movie night bundle of popcorn snacks and a movie
Not taking back stuff for two weeks...
Then when the store went bankrupt we bought every DVD of the super Mario super show. I still have them a decade later.
Good shit
Buying a cd and reading the liner notes on the way home in the car. Then as we upgraded our Ford Tempo to a Sunfire with a CD player: listening to the cd on way home reading the lyrics
The idea of making money as a musician.
Going to blockbuster video on Friday nights. Maybe picking up some candy or popcorn with your movie while you're there.
blockbuster - I loved actually going to the store and finding a movie to rent or a game when I was a kid, then hitting up some fastfood on the way home and gaming through the weekend. Now I love netflix and everything else but its just nostalgic
Good irl social interaction.
Everything is “creepy” now or “awkward” or makes someone “uncomfortable”.
It’s so fucking hard to just talk to and meet people in real life. Social media and dating apps have just fucked up the balance massively.
People sit in their little bubbles, in their safe spaces on the internet.
Stores
My social life
Having an opinion.
Humans talking to each other.
I was just thinking about this sitting in the theater for Shazam today.
Movie trailers used to be a big deal. You almost always saw something new if you went to a movie on opening weekend.
Either they didn't show them on TV that early or it was just harder to catch them, but getting to see the trailers was a big deal.
Now, I had already seen every trailer on YouTube days ago.
I can't remember the last time I 1st saw a movie trailer at the movie theater.
The OK hand sign
Paper catalogs. Man I used to love to get a catalog in the mail and spend time browsing through the pages. It just isnt the same when it comes to online "catalogs".
Another thing.... decent soft core porn films on cable. What is out there now is garbage compared to what used to be shown.
Going to concerts without seemingly every person having their phone out the whole time. I understand taking a couple of pictures or a video of your favorite song, but the people who literally livestream entire concerts to their Facebook shouldn’t come if they can’t simply live in the moment.
Games that didn't need patches.
Granted, games were really simplistic in those days, but I live in an area which still has pretty shitty internet. This pretty much dictates which games I can and can't play.
Physical media in general. I miss flipping through my old CD/DVD cases just to admire my collection
Where I live you can take a ride like a taxi, but using motorcycles. You would need to go to a street corner where to hang out, and oppose to using a meter, you need to negotiate for the fare. A start-up created an app for it, much like Uber but on motorcycle. They have added services like delivering food to your door, courier services and even shop for you. It's great, I can actually stay at home for the whole day because anything I need I would just hail one up.
I'm not sure I miss the old ways.
Blockbuster
Full-size old school encyclopedia sets.
Going to a physical movie store; but I prefer streaming, just miss the nostalgia of it.
Daddy being an endearing term
I swear most memes don't even make it 24 hours before they're dead
Movie rental stores. I loved browsing everything in person
The fact that we will never have games that we get to openly discover new worlds without being spoiled on everything thats ever in it.
No kid will ever know what it's like being excited about a Zubat because at that point we didnt know it was garbage, we were just excited because we'd never seen it
The internet being good
I miss flipping channels looking for something to watch. Not the tv guide channel but the act of scanning through the channels.
Electronic parts hobby stores like radio shack well they also killed themselves by not focusing on that. Micro center kinda replaced that though.
Watching a film/tv series without spoilers Admittedly I’m not the oldest person to ever be on reddit but even when it was something as simple as say, watching ‘a quiet place’ I really wanted to go see it in cinema and never got the chance and now having recently watched it it’s not nearly as good as I had hoped as I could basically guess what was about to happen due to all the reviews and things that pop up or best moments from x type of films etc
Off color banter, everyone is a fucking SJW now cant even make jokes anymore without getting mass reported or banned from things.
Look at all the people trying to ruin peoples careers because of 8 year old tweets.
Rage comics
Pepe
Tik tok ruined a lot of electroswing for me
I used to like waking around video stores and reading the back of the boxes. I miss the whole video store experience.
Reddit.
Any meme song. I used to enjoy Africa. Now it's a meme. I used to enjoy never gonna give you up. Now it's a meme. I used to enjoy take on me. Now it's a meme.
Human interaction.
Websites that weren't content aggregates.
Idk why but owning a physical copy of a game (especially my old PC games) and being able to put the disc in was really cool. Nowadays you can get everything from online stores like Steam and such and it just doesn't have the same feel to it.
Idk, I guess i just like having physical copies of things. Same thing with books - I can't read on a Kindle because I love having the physical copy of the book in my hand and be able to flip the pages.
Finding video game secrets/strategies on your own or with the help of friends.
Video games that I only have to spend money on once.
Privacy
Kids imaginations and playing outside
The possibility for men and women who didn't look like supermodels and bodybuilders to form romantic relationships.
Dating, before the age of apps.
my freedom
I really liked the old MLG days, call me cancer but I had a lot of wholesome memories from that era
Kindness and empathy
I've been pissed at that. But, I'm also seeing more of that now. I think it's still there. You just won't get it from Pewdiepie garbage
Cyber Cafes where you played LAN games against others.
Just wondering things in general and all the good conversation and chit chat that comes from it.
Seriously, it was more satisfying to argue back and forth about whether or not it was Sinbad that was a genie in an awful 90s kids' movie or if it was Shaq than to simply run to Google or iMDB and get the answer.
Going to a pawn shop and getting a good deal. Especially on musical instruments. Now they look up the value online and you pay almost the same price you would for new.
Chain music stores. I miss going into a Tower Records and just browsing through the selection, usually finding something I didn’t know existed. Spotify is definitely more convenient but way less fun.
I went to Zia records in my 20’s and I would buy the square black sunglasses that come in all different lens colors. I haven’t been able to find a quality pair since. I always wore those and I’d like to wear them again
Saying “daddy” I almost got kicked out of English class because I couldn’t read a poem with “daddy” written in it without laughing and disrupting the whole class. My teacher has no clue how embarrassing this is for me.
Where's that guy who had the gamertag "Ligma" for the last 15 years?
Making plans in advance and actually having to show up to know what’s going on.
Split screen gaming
Attention spans
The Video Star.
Arcades
I once woke up after drunkenly passing out on the floor in a college dorm. People were throwing things at me. I threw a paperball back at the first person i came to to see who just happened to be a massive black guy on the foot ball team. He chased me down the hall and I locked the door. That was 12 years ago. Somewhere in the bowels of Facebook is a video of that.
Nothing. No, I mean literally doing nothing. I miss just staring blankly and thinking about life, anything really. With phones, we always have friends to text, social media to check, games to play, etc.
Club Penguin.
I miss going to blockbuster and browsing the shelves, hopefully finding the one I wanted was available, taking it home, watching the movie from beginning to end in one sitting. As for returning the movie though, fuck that.
I kind of miss dating before all the apps. It made you actually have to get out of your house. On top of that, you could just directly talk to people, if they were interested, thats that, keep chatting--whereas now I feel like a lot of people only want super specific types of partners and the whole "if I go with this, Ill miss out on the really great person just a few swipes away."
Of course I say this and in reality Id likely not have time to go out and meet people outside of apps. But I definitely had a different mindset and motivation when it came to dating pre-internet/apps becoming mainstream.
Only partially the fault of the internet, but me reading books regularly
When people didn’t think the earth was flat or that vaccines were bad. The internet has become a breeding ground for all kinds of weird theories.
not knowing stuff and arguing about it
Not knowing everyone’s opinion on everything. If everyone is an “expert,” no one is an expert.
Video rental stores. Dad and I used to rent a couple movies every weekend and the especially good ones when mom wasn't home. The last one in my city just closed in March.
Going to book stores and being surprised by something awesome you had no idea was coming out.
Dungeon magazine: A curated list of homebrew standalone D&D adventures.
Born in 2001, can't relate
Going to blockbuster on a Friday night spending an hour arguing what movie and/or video game to rent.
Rental places, the last family video around my area closed down late last year. I really liked picking up a movie every now and then, or renting a game to give it a try before forking over $40+.
Being able to have an opinion
I don't listen to music the same anymore. I used to love finding songs on albums/cd's/cassettes i bought through sheer luck. I used to listen to the limited music I had so much that my mind would start playing the next song on an album as soon as a song finished.
Libraries. The encyclopedia. There's something about flipping through the pages of a reference book, that I don't get from looking at a screen. When I was bored as a kid, I'd read random articles from my encyclopedia or even a dictionary. The encyclopedia even had sets of transparencies to show layers of things like human anatomy. At the library, I would pick random reference books and try to understand. The constraints of books force one to focus on what's available to them on the pages.
Blockbuster
The ability to walk away from the phone for more than 15 minutes without 3 relatives and 2 friends messaging you on 15 different platforms asking if you're dead.
I've got my family pretty well trained that sometimes I like privacy and sometimes that means literal days sometimes up to a full week off the grid if I can manage it. My girlfriend places 10 phone calls to family before noon. My mother's new in laws are the same way. They are constantly in contact with each other in 3 different social media groups and if im absent from any one of them for even a half a day they start calling around looking for me. It's so bad that they expect departure and arrival texts from everyone at all times it seems. Going to work? Well better update your status when you get there or we'll be reporting you as a missing person.
This is more of an issue inherent to cell phones but social media has amplified it in my life.
Splitscreen multiplayer.
Games that shipped without needing to download a patch for 3 hours when you plug it in to try and play.
I used to win a lot more arguments before Wikipedia.
Having cool places that only the locals would know about.
I'm from a town that is a popular tourist destination for outdoorsy stuff. When I went back this summer, a few of my friends and I decided to go to this "secret" water hole. It takes about an hour to hike there, but the place is awesome. Clear, cool water that is deep enough to jump off the surrounding cliffs. Not many people knew about the place, so you tended to have the whole place to yourself and your company.
But apparently now there is an app or website where people can share this? Needless to say, when I arrived there it was clear that the secret was out. I miss the days when you had to do some exploring to find these unique places.
Not hearing everyday about internet outrage for something 'offensive' that a rich person said.
My self esteem
There is a great local business that thought they caught someone stealing and the accused person wrote an article basically calling them shitty racists and a whole bunch of people went online and left them one star reviews based off of a one sided article by a kinda shady lady. The lady who wrote about the business also happens to own a satire website about white apology, so her motives seem a little questionable. It sucks for this small business who had legit concerns about being stolen from (they weren’t, and she definitely didn’t steal anything) and instead of it ending there, the person who wrote about the business turned it into a racial thing. All the while saying the owner has a racist haircut. so yeah, internet “reviewers” killed a small, local business based off of one persons tirade.
Seeing movies when I am ready to without it being spoiled the second it comes out.
I walked down the magazine aisle yesterday just to remind myself of the late 1990s the heyday of magazines just before the Internet killed the trend.
Many local stores had thousands of magazines and I would go there often it was a fun thing to do.
There was even a time when computers and magazines got along. Those big monstrous Computer Shopper magazines or Family Computing with BASIC programs.
Shopping. Most of the stores I used to shop at are out of business and buying clothes online gives me anxiety because even when I measure myself, the clothes rarely fit.
Actually being social in person, im a freshman in highschool and everyone is so glued to their phones and they're terrible at being social in person but they'll gladly snapchat you all day long.
The thrill of hunting down collectables that no one knows the value of at yard sales and flee markets.
Going to the library and reading books to figure out how to fix and build things
Being content with your life and not having to constantly compare yourself to everyone making you constantly feel lacking and anxious
Lining up for movies or concert tickets. I loved staying up all night in line with other fans for the experience and fandom. The web and pre sales killed that.
LANs
Not having to involuntarily know about the lives of shitty celebrities.
Like I can't scroll through Facebook/Instagram without seeing a post about some delinquent
Stumbleupon- we had a moment of silence when they shut it down.The joy of serendipity is gone.
I'm part of the last generation that experienced things in person for the first time versus the following generations who google everything first. ie googling how something will feel and researching the life out of a topic
Vine
Anthony from smosh
Having an excuse to talk to people.
“How’s that restaurant?” ”Read the reviews.”
“Excuse me, what time is it?” ”Look at you phone.”
“How do you spell... [anything]?” ”Ask Siri.”
...
😕
Video killed the radio star
Geocities and angelfire.. the original fb and myspace
Privacy
The "serendipity" feature on Reddit.
Not being forced to play a battle royals game
MySpace.
minecraft. you fucked up a perfectly good game is what you did. look at it. it's got autism.
Going to flea markets and card shops looking for hard-to-find basketball cards. You could insert any collectible cards or items here, but I was into basketball cards in the 80s and early 90s, until eBay destroyed the market and the fun.
I think it was called bad luck brian? It was my favorite older meme
The old gmail layout
Entertainment creators and companies actually doing whatever they want instead of being heavily influenced by social media vocal minorities and the average consumer not caring enough to fight against it...
Getting along with friends in a get together party and talking shit the whole day after the internet we rarely meet each other and even if we do we are too much into our phones 😢😔
[deleted]
I have a firm rule that I never add anyone I currently work with. If I'm no longer at that company, I'll add you. But only then. People I work with do not need to know anything about my private life, my political beliefs or my family. If they ask, I lie and say I don't do "social media". don't even use my real name on there, so good luck finding me. Co-workers are Not Friends. Sad but true. More people should be like you and there'd be less drama in the world.
The video star.
Old video game design. I still love video games now but I wouldn't be surprised if someone from the future told me that cheat codes or secret modes will never be a thing again. NakeyJakey has a good video on YouTube that sums up my opinion pretty well.
To be honest, porn. It’s just so easily accessible. To much of a good... (bad?) thing. Also, holy shit there is just so much choice on genre. It’s like going to the fridge after you just dropped 3 bills on groceries and you just don’t know what you want to eat. Or trying to order at the Cheesecake Factory.
Yep, I liked the analogy I saw in a yt video 'the great porn experiment'- the guy pointed out that having a nice greasy burger once in a while is great, and won't do you any harm... But having a pipe that delivers a never-ending stream of free burgers into the privacy of your bedroom...weeellllll, that's probably not so good!
Creative music made by truly talented artists. Everything is producers music now; change my mind.
jackson taylor & the sinners
It kills the warmth of handwriting. When I was an adolescent, we always wrote love letters to someone we admire and we had to wait a couple of time for a reply. Ever since the internet became ubiquitous, people just send a message then get the feedback within a few minutes. We have lost the fun of waiting!
Not knowing what everyone thinks about everything and what they do every single day. I miss not being connected to one another permanently.
I know you can just not check up on people but still, having to call someone or see them and them telling you how they've been is something that was waaay more awesome before social media imo. Miss that.
Harambe :(
Malls and bookstores.
Specialty stores. I mean like Gamestop, family video/blockbuster, best buy, etc. If you go any of those now, you already know what you are looking for and most likely already checked to see if it was in stock. It was fun for me to go into those stores and just kinda see what they had.
The ability to just enjoy something. Nowadays that thing you like has a bad stigma attached to it because of some toxic fanbase, or someone is yelling at you because that show is "problematic."
Video rental stores
BLOCKBUSTER
Privacy
A REDDIT LAYOUT THAT DIDN'T SUCK FUCKING ASS
Retail. I miss the mall.....
Craigslist singles
As a single man in a small rural town, I really appreciated Craigslist personals. At least in the early days. I used to meet women from the other side of the county that I never could have bumped into another way.
But I have to admit that the quality contacts abandoned CL long before the feds shut them down. It still amazes me how quickly CL took a turn for the worse. I suppose it was the "Craigslist Killer".
It was great. I'd put up a profile with my pic, something basic.. and I'd always get laid by a decent/good looking chick every couple weeks. Now I have to use apps and step-up my in-person game to get them. Sucks.
People whip out their phones whenever something crazy happens, and put it on their social media for everyone to see. It really ruins a lot of parties and other things where you might do something fun yet dumb that you don't want everyone to know about.
Also, I like the idea of just being able to disappear and be alone for a short period -- not like running away, but like taking a little break for a day, without being wondering why I'm not replying to things.
Sleep.
Porn, used to be that a man could rub one out quickly with just a topless scene in a movie or maybe a sports illustrated, but then the net came along and it just keeps getting more and more hardcore and difficult to get your wank. Pornhub seemed like heaven the first time, now its like living in a cake shop, all i do is eat cake and dream of a burger
Before the internet there is a beauti in relations But internet killed the Beautiful relations of people's
I just wish phones stayed stupid. Smart phones drove all this social media craziness, the feeling of being always connected, and the feeling of "missing out" if you just disconnect, and the anxiety that if you say or do something stupid/embarassing someone will just whip out their phone and start recording you to be posted for everyone to see within 30 seconds of you doing it.
If i actually think about it, Smart Phones havent improved my life. Sure, its nice to be able to instantly look things up, or get directions to somewhere (this one i wouldnt mind staying), but is it necessary? No. Did we manage just fine before it? Definitely.
Writing and (even better) getting letters. It was a way to document your life and it was like getting a gift to receive one. Yes I can still write one but I almost never do, and the ones I have sent after the nineties are never answered.
I will bet good money this was way too late, but there used to be this phone number that would randomly connect you to someone else calling the number. After the advent of the internet it died because you could accomplish the exact same thing just as easily. I distinctly remember my friend hooking up with a girl off of that number.
The lack of ads on YouTube back in the day. The amount of videos you can watch on YT now without having to watch an ad in the beginning or having your video interrupted with an ad is abysmal compared to just few years ago. When people realized being a “Youtuber” was a valid career option and you had all these youtubers who made 6+ figures from ad revenue. Nowadays the platform is just filled with people clickbaiting their 10 minute videos for “easy money”. I really hope this trend dies because I think YouTube is one of the greatest platforms that brought knowledge and exposure to people around the world on literally any subject. It would really suck to see YouTube continue to gravitate towards being a cash grab for people who think it’s easy money.
I miss hosting a BBS and watching people log in and post comments, play Jewel Quest, etc. I remember my dad and I bought some 1200 baud modems that were in a tub skid at the old Boeing surplus store in Kent, Wa. - That's gone online-only too.
Dial-up BBSes.
Down time from work and friends.
Work is pretty self-explanatory. It used to be that when I left work, work was over. Sure my boss could call me at home, but that would be very uncouth and only for emergencies. Now I get emails/texts/calls on weekends on my cell and even though I tell people not to email me on weekends, they still do and there is definitely an unspoken agreement that everyone respond to emails even on weekends.
In terms of friends; I'm not a huge introvert but I have some friends/acquaintances that while I like them, they can definitely be a bit tiresome and are hard to deal with constantly. Before social media, I would bump into these people maybe every 6 months to a year around town or when I was back in my hometown. We would chat for a bit, maybe get coffee, then be on our way again. Maybe schedule lunch together if they were a friend. Then we wouldn't chat for another 6 months. This was the perfect amount of contact in my books, and allowed us to remain friends, keep in touch, but not grow sick of each other.
Now I've grown sick of a lot of my friends because they message me on facebook or insta and want to hang out every weekend and we're just not that close. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that they want to be friends, but our conversations just don't flow cause our lives are so different. We don't have enough in common to hang out every weekend and social media forces me to come up with excuses not to hang out.
I miss the fact that we used to have so many phone numbers memorized. I mean like 50 or more. Now I don't think I have any numbers in my head at all.
Video games. Microtransactions ruined games
Calling my father "daddy." yeesh people.
children being able to call their father "daddy" without me being mildly uncomfortable
In person lan parties.
One of the best things about getting off on a staurday night back in 2002. Was going to someone's place with 3 xboxes and TVs. To just play Halo all night.
I miss gojng to the videostore Saturday night with my friends, taking 30 minutes to an hour to pick a moive and unk food and have a great night watching a great story
In store inventory.
Those old boxy websites that didn't put ads everywhere. Those were the best, but now even newgrounds has an artificial modern vibe to it which I passively accept.
I used to have so many hobbies - art, reading, writing, crafts
Since Facebook I have done fuck all in my free time :(
I miss deep conversations and the feeling of being in the moment. I feel like my cellphone and the internet have destroyed that for the vast majority of us. I can go out to eat without being on my phone. I can’t go to sleep without checking my phone. I can’t wake up without checking my phone. I can’t sit and talk with my wife without checking my phone. I will sometime just leave my phone somewhere to get away from it, and I’ll find myself absentmindedly reaching for it.
I’ve gotten so used to having information at my fingertips. I’m so used to looking up something every time I have a question. Half of my conversations with my wife seem to be about memes and videos we saw today. No, I’m not an old guy. I’m a recent college grad that got his first smartphone in college, so I remember life from before I had it. It’s even infected my parents. They are constantly on Facebook when I visit. I don’t want to discount all of the value and convenience that all of this has brought us, but it has left us with problems as well, problems that do make me sad and miserable to think about.
Being able to have an opinion not be shit on instantly
Split screen gaming. I used to play with my brothers, friends, family, and even friends of friends on my Xbox360 split screen all the time. Now there's plenty of multiplayer games that don't even have that option, it really sucked when I found out Halo 5 didn't.
yesss. me and my boyfriend always want to play games together and we can never find anything split screen. it’s so sad. it’s our favorite way to bond and it’s becoming obsolete
I'm glad games can be played online now though, I don't live with my parents or siblings anymore so it's cool that I can still play games with them
My will to live
Ugandan knuckles
Blockbuster and similar stores. There was nothing like Friday night, going in and finding that game you've wanted to play for WEEKS since it came out but it was never there, then you finally lucked out and they had ONE copy left. I really loved how some games had cheat codes on the back of the box. It was so great cause if you got a game and didnt like it you didnt feel like an asshat for spending $60 bucks on it, you could return it and try another one. So good, so many good times
I miss those internet forums/fansites. Being a mod there was like winning at life.
Blowing out your birthday candles and everyone actually watching. Now everyone whips out their phones. I once went to a birthday party where everyone including the person blowing out the candles was recording.
carrier pigeons
Video game arcades.
I miss all our crazy conspiracy theory wack jobs being confined to the front porch of the house and the local barber shop. Now they are literally everywhere. Especially that Reddit place.
My attention span
Banned subreddits
Students reading books instead of quoting something stupid and fake-newsy they found on the internet without checking sources first..
Toys R Us
No.
The company that bought them, took a massive loan on the brand and ran with the money. Leaving TRU in the lurch, then it died. It was a profitable store got screwed to oblivion.
A good pub debate...
Hamster dance. The internet grew and hamster dance died
Privacy
Probably playing outside since most kids today play mainly video games
Before having an MP3 player or a phone to stream music on, I was a kid who loved walking around the park and listening to music. The problem was that portable CD players were much too large to run around with and they would skip. Plus, if I was out walking long enough, I would want to swap out my CD. In this case, I bet you walkmans were superior, but this was the early 2000's.
So what did I do? I got a portable radio. It was super cheap, and I think my mom bought it for me. It was kinda hard to get a good signal for the station I wanted (Radio Disney was my jam).
I still kinda miss listening to the radio more often. Now I listen to music or podcasts on Spotify when I go for a walk or am riding the bus. I think what I really miss the most is "getting to know" the radio hosts.
People paying attention to their surrounding whilst driving.
Kayfabe
Video game instruction manuals
The Video Star
Privacy.
Unfortunately only going to get worse.
My childhood.
Being Social. From being face to face to being phone screen to phone screen. Classes are going online, Everyone who is single is on dating apps, You no longer have to go to the store to get shopping, and there is no thrill of meeting someone in person. I’m sure people will agree with me on this, but the Internet is slowly killing society.
Everythings online! I’m currently being a hypocrite because I am online, but thats because I have to in order to function with ‘society’.
When I have kids, they aren’t getting their first phone until they’re 13. I don’t care if other 5 year olds have the latest iPhone or Galaxy, either wait until you’re 13 or buy your own. If they do wait until they’re 15, expect an old iPhone 5, or a Nokia 3310. (My first phone I was 13 and I only had an Nokia Flip 3G)
This society is just ridiculous, so many people think they’re incognito online, making incredibly racist/sexist statements or discriminating against Muslims or others.
Man I miss the good ol’ days before the internet
books. my attention span got raped by having the internet in my pocket 24/7. and this is coming from a real rape victim
Ugandan knuckles, may he rest in peace
Physicality and community.
I've noticed both of these are really tanking in the modern game industry. In the older internet days everything you bought - every game and every expansion - was from a magazine or a game store. And while it was a pain, especially if you didnt get a local releasae, there's something nice about having cases. Hell I'm picking up a copy of Dungeon Keeper, and even that has a full color insert, a disc, and a nice little jewel case. Compare that to the Steam and Epic focused market of today, and there's nothing you can do to keep your games with you.
And the internet I feel has made video game communities a lot less connected. Take World of Warcraft. Guilds used to be these weird, but nice little friend groups youd stumble into either by chance or because you quested with some guys who liked you. You learned to like them, and worked together. When new content came out everyone was hyped to hop in and try it. Now, guilds are either barren chatrooms, or high-level groups that "guild" together for easy access to farming or resources. There's no reason everyone sticks together, since now you can just google the top rated guilds on a server and ask for invites.
The value of music.
Lining up for a video games release. And being hot shit because you had halo 2 before most kids could get a restock. I guess it's easier. But man those were the days.
Liked it with books too. Remember pre ordering Harry potter books and waiting in line for shop to open which was all themed out as Harry potter then getting your book. Start reading it on way home in car
Magic the Gathering.
When I was younger I had to ride my bike to cautious stores moving for what rares they had available. I had a book of rares that I would ask to trade with other people and look through their rares. Digging through nickle boxes. Booster packs. Running into a type of deck you have not seen before.
Now you can just individually order the cards you need to build the deck you looked up on the internet.
Yea. lot of people still prefer booster boxes and packs tho. Something about opening some packs to see what u get as u go through the cards
Blockbuster. I used to love leaving my house and driving ten minutes, just to find that The Mask is already...actually nevermind.
Going down to hirea new movie out and find all their copies are out and the anticipation builds as u have to wait another day to see it
Every once in a while you would find a gem, like anime movies that would end up being regarded as the best of all time, or some sleeper action hit. But most of the time, there was an abundance of romcoms and rancid horror/thrillers to choose from. I do miss the atmosphere though.
Outside.
Facts and opinions didn't not have level footing. With the Internet came the 1v1 representation of the argument. It's not a debate. A fact is irrefutable.
Human interaction.
Chain Letters. Pen Pals!
My social skills
Vine :(
Physically buying and reading books.
AOL’s mail notification.
YOUVE GOT MAIL
Going to blockbuster. My dad used to take us during weekends all the time. Things are more efficient now but I still miss those times.
Going to the video store.
The excitement of going to Blockbuster to hire out a movie for the night.
Blockbuster
Old pewdiepie
[deleted]
No older than that pewdiepie before the adpocalypse pewdiepie before 50 million pewdiepie
Nuance. Everything anyone utters is immediately seized upon by an army of shrill robots manufacturing click-bait.
Rock/pop music superstars.
Back when TVs had three, maybe four channels, when someone was really famous they were really famous simply because they had to be sufficiently interesting to a vastly bigger audience for the networks to put them on TV. And when one of those superstars - Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, etc. - released some major, new thing, we all knew about it, even if we weren't fans of that particular artist.
When Michael Jackson's Thriller video came out, for example, eeeeveryone tuned in to watch. And when a bunch of musicians decided to get together and do something about famine in Africa, putting on a simultaneous concert in London and Philadelphia to raise money, almost half the entire population of the Earth watched it. The sense of anticipation for something as huge as that was magical.
Nowadays, with a million outlets from which to get information about your favorite star, stardom itself is smaller. Combine that with near-universal use of instrument pitch correction and auto-tune (including live auto-tune) - even on the performances of the very best singers - and the sense of wonder at the sheer talent of the most famous stars just isn't what it used to be.
My social life.
:(
There are internet related things I miss that the internet killed such as being able to pick what kind of news articles and types of ads you want to see on yahoo. It was amazing, like they cared. They even had real journalism at one point. Now they just force kardashian articles with different titles but same content because they were bought out by the mother.
Getting a girls number and feeling like it was a top moment of the year.
MySpace, gone but never forgotten
Remember organizing your top friends on your page? Haha
People being able to engage with each other socially rather than through a screen, I feel like a lot of people are scared to interact face to face nowadays
The radio star
Like before 2014ish 4chan
Taking pictures with a disposable camera and waiting for the film to develop from the drug shop. It just felt so exciting and magical to come back from a trip and share photos with friends or even other people who went with you. Today people just automatically post photos on social media and its just not as special anymore.
Original YouTube, now it’s just a business site where you have to hire a whole bunch of people to edit your let’s plays and spend 100s on a setup
My dad
Porn.
It was cool to travel to a place and have only seen pictures of it in magazines. And to visit tourist sites without so many people trying to get the best shot of themselves for social media.
Phone dictionary/Diary. I loved to go through yellow pages in my childhood & that precious moment of victory when you found the number you were looking for.
Very late to the party, but doing fun things without your future/current employer or coworkers finding out. Ex: like getting drunk and doing something even slightly embarrassing or stupid. We have a double standard now; live free and dress how you want and do what you enjoy, but keep it a secret if it's not completely wholesome so you don't get not hired or fired because of an Instagram post from high school where you did something stupid when you were barely 18.
Video stores.
Video rental stores.
I could spend hours at the local one. Blockbuster was garbage compared to it. But eventually it closed down and like all things it’s easier to find online.
My attention span
The video star
My wife.
Club penguin. I will never forgive the internet for erasing my precious puffles.
Real news reports. Everything is an opinion piece at this point. I just want to know what happened/is happening, not how you feel about it and why I should feel the same way. Let me form my own opinion, maybe do some critical thinking on my own, rather than being told what my opinion should be.
Hentai Haven.
Movie stores like Blockbuster. I used to go to them every weekend when I was younger. It was definitely something to look forward to.
DVD’s. I miss having to insert a disk to watch finding Nemo and watching that ad for pirates of the Caribbean before the movie starts. I miss having to insert a second disk after Timon and Pumba find Simba in the desert. Same goes with CD’s for music
THINGS I MISSED
AIM
ChaCha
Grooveshark
Megaupload
Orkut
Heat.net
Napster
AltaVista
GeoCities
So many hours wasted on the internet :D
OMG AIM!!
Another one I forgot. There will never be another like it haha.
I still have the cd's for aim!
Movie rentals 😢
Not knowing something, and then having to really make an effort to learn about it. I know that seems silly, but discovering things like new bands, etc. was so much more rewarding when you learned from friends/others with similar interests. Then you got to pass that along and share it too. Don’t get me wrong, I love free access to so much information, but there was just something special that’s been lost along the way.
Music stores, and video rental stores.
Malls.
I miss the Buzz of being in a mall on a weekend and everybody enjoying themselves.
Even more so around the holidays when people were doing all their shopping.
It makes me a little sad that the youth will say we still have malls but not know the wonder that they used to be.
Online shopping and E-Commerce are devastating retail.
Single player games. Maybe "killed" is too strong a word, but right now I feel like The Witcher is sort of like The Black Knight in The Holy Grail.
Buy a PS4.
I hate knowing that my brother spent most of his childhood on the computer instead of playing outside.
No ads on youtube.
The video star
A long-distance call meant something, dammit.
Internet killed ads. Man, I remember the creativity you had to have to capture eyeballs in a magazine. Now Lysol wipes can interrupt your video and tell you about cleaning. No creativity! No risk! Ads ain't what they used to be. It's all about "going viral."
Blockbuster. Renting new movies every Friday night.
Privacy
A sense of wonder and mystery. If you want something you just buy it. There's no looking at used hook stores for a copy of that book you've wanted for years. You'd hear rumors of secrets in video games and there was no confirming or denying it. There was a lot of bullshit floating around but the sense of wonder was really magical.
See also: Pete Holmes' Conan bit about googling stuff.
Sitting outside the local record store on new release Tuesday. I remember not being able to sleep the night before...
Photography...
Everything I grew up with.
Privacy.
Why can't we have vines back?
To sum all these comments up: mystery. The internet killed mystery.
Books
Wish I had the attention span too read. Too bad my brain and it's dopamine would rather watch naruto for 10 hours straight.
I used to feel such immense pride when I could say I had seen every episode of a TV show because it meant I had watched from the beginning, catching every episode when it aired and setting up blank VHS tapes to record any episodes I had to miss. Now of course it’s much more convenient to binge watch, but the pride isn’t there.
Going outside and asking the neighbors to play and then having so much creativity as you go out pretending to be rulers of kingdoms, wrestlers, tv show characters, etc. I do still talk to the same people but I’ll never get back the pure joy I felt when my parents let me play outside and we rang the doorbell of the neighbor’s and you could hear the footsteps of kids running down to answer the door then go to ask their mom if they can hang out. I miss all the stupid ideas we had and all the dumb things I said, I was a kid and being one. Now, I see so many kids on their tablets and I feel like my generation was the last to really have so many kids outside, other generations might do the same but there will always be significantly less people.
Also, I am in high school now and those neighbors are like siblings to me. I’m really glad I met them so long ago. It’s weird knowing that one of them is graduating this year and I will follow soon after. Becoming an adult is a little scary to me.
Memes.
A meme in motion is just a .gif. A .gif with sound is a video.
A PICTURE, A MOVIE AND A TALKY ARE THREE WHOLLY DIFFERENT THINGS.
My best friend john come back john I miss your happy attitude and infinte wisdom now you just sit online all day and say "get rekt lol" please you are 199 pounds overweight I'm willing to help just come back to reality
Blockbuster Video. Torrents/internet killed DVD night. The hunt for the perfect movie. Excitement of renting the last copy. Finding hidden gems.
I miss those days.
Video game arcades.
Social interactions with humans. I miss having to go outside and hangout with people. I miss being more extroverted.
Very recently I asked my friends how we spend leisure time at home before the internet. Next time I was visiting the internet at my friend‘s house was down. We were watching music videos on cable tv and commented them and talked about whatever came to our mind, just like we did before the internet. I truly miss this.
I have two I complain about:
Shopping without 8000 reviews. Now I do hours and hours of reading reviews on multiple sites and figuring out what is or isn’t a dealbreaker. Before you went to the store and grabbed what they had. Or just listened to word of mouth.
And
Then massive amount of news thrown at you from every direction. It seems everyone is an evil, child molesting, murderer, drug addict who kills animals. Twenty years ago hearing about a bad daycare was rare. Now it sometimes feel like you can’t trust a single one with the news articles on Facebook everyday.
Discovering new stuff. Algorithms recommending things i already know about has sometimes made it harder to find “new and different stuff”
Talk and enjoy with my family
Popping by on a friend. No message. No email. I remember with my parents and grandparents that we would just visit someone by sake of convenience or curiosity. It was fun. Less structured. Usually a cup of tea or coffee and a brief chat.
hobbyist electronics stores. I don't want to buy a $0.50 component on the internet and have it shipped in a 4 in cube by itself.
The physical feeling of nostalgia. Being constantly bombarded with nostalgia has left me completely numb to the actual feeling of it. I don’t think I’ve experienced a nostalgia rush in like 5-6 years.
LAN parties. The coveniece of playing with friends all over the world is awesome, but I miss meeting up at my buddy's place and having six of seven of us all working our Xboxs together for some OG Halo action.
Libel laws and slander laws that held publishers and writers accountable for making up crazy lies. There was always "yellow journalism," but now there's actual "fake news" and it passes without consequence. With print media, the same paper that screwed up the story printed a retraction and apologized in front of the same audience it lied to.
Being able to ask someones opinion or advice. I mean, I'm not dependent on people tellig me what to do, but sometimes I feel better about trying something new on my own if i've talked to someone about it first. Like putting tiles on my bathroomfloor, og properly repairing things around the house. These days, if you try to have a normal conversation, people will just tell you to google it and that'll be all. Then I'm left, feeling like a moron, as if I don't know how to google stuff, and interacting with actual humans is a thing of the past...
This was simple for me to answer. Watching kids play outside!!
Walking into a dusty corner of a library carrying a film canister, loading it into a machine with a downward-facing projector and cranks, and turning the crank until I've found the document I'm looking for. My, how I miss microfilm! -- NOT!!
Wondering things. Now a days of you don’t know something you look it up instantly and forget about it 5 minutes later. You used to wonder about it and have to lean about it to find the answer.
Conversation.
One on one honest conversation.
Used to be, you pay someone a visit to catch up, sit down and have a drink, and bond.
Now, people send the occasional text message or email back and forth, or watch their lives unfold on Facebook. If you do get together, you already know all the details, and there is really very little to talk about.
Kayfabe.
Being a walking encyclopedia though not cool, attractive or in any way a social positive, used to be more impressive than being a shittier less comprehensive walking google/wiki.
Sure having to only store enough data to make a successful google search is more practical, convenient and might even enhance the abilities of a know it all in a way that upholds or even upgrades the usefulness of a know it all. It is however significantly less impressive and lacks wow factor.
Being a know it all may only be impressive to oneself or to a select few when they need you enough to excuse the annoyance of a know it all. That said my point still stands.
Life was full of adventure and hope before the internet. If you were about to embark on a new chapter in your life such as a new school, you didn't have the luxury of taking a virtual tour of the place on the internet. You just went in without that knowledge and experienced life for yourself. In a way, the Internet is one big spoiler as far as new experiences go.
I actually miss blockbuster video :/
It was something to do on a slow day and a reason to get out of the house.
Newspapers, and good Journalism.
The News Cycle is so short now that people report on anything without fact-checking. They need to report on it quickly before you hear about it on Twitter.
There was a time when going to see a movie was a big deal. When it was released, you went to the theater and you paid money and you sat and watched it. You couldn't pause it while you checked your email. You couldn't rewind if you weren't paying attention. You couldn't schedule it to work around your preferences.
And after the movie was done, you could only see it again by paying full admission again and sitting through it in the same way. If you missed your window to do so, you might not see it again for quite a long time. Maybe years. So you really absorbed that movie. You thought about it after it was done for days. The mood really hung on and permeated you. You talked about it with all your friends. You savored it.
Now, we eat movies like popcorn. 100% at our convenience and 100% at the pace we like, and often on a screen the size of an iPad or even smaller. And I'm not sure it's a bad thing. In fact, I like that freedom. But I'd be lying if I said something wasn't lost by it.
Yeah I miss feeling sort of drunk/high after leaving the movie theatre. Now I don't bother going because I can get it for cheaper online in a few months.
Exactly. I didn't see "Glass" in the theater because I sort of counted on my fingers how many months I'd have to wait until I could download it. I'll watch it on my laptop while I make dinner or maybe hack around on Reddit on my desktop. I might skip a couple parts if I'm bored. I might pause and take a nap and come back when I feel like it. If I do at all. And within hours of finishing it, I'll forget 90% of ever having had the experience.
Like I said: I'm not sure I'd ever want to give that freedom up (who wants to miss a movie simply because they were working too many late nights while it was first run... or had the flu... or whatever). But I find I no longer remember individual movies much more than I remember individual peanuts eaten out of a bowl.
Yeah, my movie reviews to my friends are usually "yeah it was good. Had to watch it twice because I fell asleep halfway through. My partner and I have started sitting down to watch a film every well, and phones aren't allowed, we have to watch the whole film. Its been really good so far! Definitely remembering more of the film.
I think the last film I went to see was the emoji movie with my younger cousin. I didn't feel the drunk/high feeling after that. I just got depressed 😂
Blockbuster. Or any movie store really.
Snail mail
Lan parties
My innocence
Privacy
Sales of tickets for concerts going to the people most dedicated and willing to camp out. Now it's about who has the fastest PC and internet, or folks who want to resell.
That being said, violence at these types of event have probably gone down, so it's well worth it.
Real, true friendship.
Vine
Good memes.
The okay sign
Privacy.
I used to read a ton of books. Used to....
Porn on tumblr
Going with my family on a Friday night to buy junk food and takeout then rent a VHS or as time moved on a dvd each for the weekend. Then watching them as a family.
Dad did and still does have a great taste in films, had a great film education going up.
Now because of Netflix and the like, picking films as a family just doesn't seem as special. Plus that once a week was when I got junk food or take out now it just seems kids get that kind of stuff all the time.
Socialising.
Now, whenever I walk around anywhere, I always see at least one person glued to their smartphone. Look up and see the real world, people!
Free time.
Playing video games with all your friends in the same room. I miss the days of co-op/lan video gaming. You’d be up all night enjoying one another’s company. While online multiplayer is cool, I definitely think actually being there in person with everyone around you is a better experience.
I still do that plenty with my friends :). Sadly there are less and less games with local MP.
That's why ironically boardgames have slowly replaced videoo games in gatherings
My attention span.
The video star
I see what you did there
Shhh. Don’t tell
Hacky-sack circles. Almost all of my friends carried one with them and would break it out if we were bored.
Club penguin
Having a 'den' and hanging out there with my friends when I was a kid because videogames weren't really a thing yet. I feel bad for future generations who won't experience that
Club penguin!!!
😢
[deleted]
Ok
Old meme, ah those day
Not having to worry about my social media status
Ugandan Knuckles
Blockbuster
do you kno de wae?
Human interaction
Go down to any bar and have some.
I guess I should have been more specific. Human interaction with your SO. His heads buried so fucking deep in reddit he’s even got me on it just to see what’s so great. Sure miss talking to him! Cheers if I see you at the bar!
You probably won't see me at the bar, as I'm not old enough. About your SO, just talk to him about it. I think he'll understand.
Ha! Wrong! He has turned into a monster
Then I'd ask you to re-evaluate your relationship
My innocennce and my childhood and my childhood dreams.
Christmas Shopping! You used to have to go to a bunch of stores to find the exact gift everyone wanted and there was this elation when you found the perfect thing. Now you can just buy it on amazon all at once which definitely ruins the fun and doesn’t feel Christmas-y at all.
With you on that one
Newspapers.
Honest relationships.
Being able to go more than a week without seeing a new movie/game/show and NOT seeing some kind of spoilers everywhere. Fuck those YouTubers who just HAVE to post as soon as possible and put spoilers in the thumbnail.
Free time
Accountability
Wondering what happened to my high school classmates until we saw each other at the reunion.
Writing (and receiving) letters from you friends and loved-ones. I like to think I was a very good letter writer.
Serotonin
Dating. No one meets the old fashioned way... and if you try to meet someone, they give you a dirty look and dismiss you.
Getting all of your friends together for big splitscreen/ LAN Partys.
A reality where people don't have an opinion about everything
Holding a Physical Letter of a loved one's with own handwriting.
Personal opinion.
Having friends I could send postcards or letters to. Used to do calligraphy, big illustrated letters type of shit and I’m lucky if I ever even received a text saying “thnx for the card lol”...
Not being able to check everything someone said. You had to care about whether something was right, and look it up. Now, a lot more people just don't care: some dude in an ivory tower will always have it figured out. It was always true, but knowing your most trusted source might be wrong led to a lot more empathy and peace, rather than seeing others as questions that can be immediately answered by everyone with absolute certainty.
On the other hand, there's a lot more certainty.
Conversations have lost diversity to an extent with everyone having access to similar information.
Video rental stores
privacy
As music streaming got more and more popular, small 'band' cafe's that had fresh start ups and things of the like got pretty much eradicated. Noone goes music scouting anymore. Noone goes to a cafe or bar to have a good time, dance, chat, everyone just goes to clubs to get shitfaced. I hate the 'wrong generation' term, but honestly? I think I would've liked it much better back then. Atleast according to grandma's stories..
The surging popularity of the internet in the last decade or so killed off a lot of the nuances the early internet had. It was still novel and full of mystery, stacked with the efforts of bored, nerdy young people solving boredom in curious ways.
Then the majority of total dumbasses and conservative old farts showed up in force and used it to broadcast outlandishly idiotic ideologies across cesspools like Facebook, reaching countless new converts like never before. It's been a shit slinging fest between those sorts and the stalwartly politically correct crowd for what feels like forever. Nobody ever needed to use /s for any reason, because people understood that the internet itself is a sarcastic place on a fundamental level and should never be taken too seriously. The internet has definitely kiled that aspect of itself.
Ahh... it's not your fault, kindly noob reading this, it's all the other people that suck, I swear! No worries, I wuvs you lots n lots!!!
Second chances.
People used to be tarred and feathered by mobs way back in order to ostracize them and shame them. The internet, especially social media like twitter have brought that back with a vengeance and on steroids. You share some crazy stuff that is considered offensive, good luck. Even if you meant no harm and it was a misunderstanding, you may be f**ked
Stay away from social media. Unless you just post funny vids or food pics like me. Haha
Music. Specifically buying physical albums/CD's. I'm sure multiple people have already said this, I didn't read any comments yet. But I think that is a serious for society. Of course, you can still go buy physical albums but it's not the same. The significance of the artwork and packaging is pretty much no more as well. Musicians cant really make the same mark on pop culture to the extent they did up until like the mid 2000's. IMO, of course.
Also: porn. Early teen boys dont don't have to work to get a glimpse anymore. It's all free and anything you're into is available in an unfathomable amount. I think that definitely is going to have weird and unpredictable societal side effects. "Scrambled Porn" is a term that is unknown to anyone under the age of like 27 today. Everything is is just in your face now. No paywalls.
This makes me sound old but I'm in my early 30's. Not young, but definitely not old. I'm part of that last generation who saw the world before the internet blew up. Crazy.
LAN parties.
Heated bar arguments. Used to love it when, in bars or on couches, you would suddenly get into a pointless argument about what actor did what movie, where area 51 is, who wrote what book or if Nelson Mandela is still alive. Nowadays, as soon as there's the slightest disagreement about anything, the conversation stops, everyone pulls out their phones and looks it up. Fun is over and you have to try again. I am so pissed because of that, I keep banning this behavior when having bar talk.
There used to be a site where you and your friends could queue music you both liked and it would alternate playing it. It’s been shut down for years now probably because of copyright issues, but I still think about it every now and then...
Pirating , damn that shit was much easier before , now it's hard as fuck
Reading comics on the toilet until my legs got numb, now I'm browsing Reddit until my legs get numb
Are they currently numb?
Yes
Same
The English language
Yes, that still exists for some people.
Consumption Junction. Miss that site
My will to live...
My soul...
Napster. The music and remixes you could download for free were amazing. Napster truly was the greatest music “app” ever. And I’m talking about the circa 2000 Napster version.
Crazy that Metallica’s “I disappear” song began the disappearance of the greatest audio P2P file sharing internet service ever.
Privacy
Youtube
Video Games. There is no Coop anymore. You can't have LAN parties, which is way more social than massive online gaming!
Worst of all is none of the console games have a couch coop anymore! I am back to playing super mario world and getting drunk instead of the a new resident evil, because they do not know how to spell coop. And I really do not like sports games :)
Everything needs to be online, bigger, bloodier and full of 12 year olds that don't know anything about playing cooperatively.
Game walkthrough books. I had all the pokemon ones and my friends always wanted to borrow them from me.
ICQ
Movie rental places, it sounds dumb because there's a lot that I don't miss. I don't miss when you would want to watch a new release and they were ALL out. Or renting a movie and the VHS had tracking issues, or the DVD was scratched, etc. But I did like owning movies. Not a fan of streaming.
Wanted to show my son Forest Gump, wasn't on Netflix. That's ok I have an old Apple TV. Hook it up and it won't access my Apple account. Says it will send a code to me or my wife's phone. Does not do this. Pull out my Android box. No streams available.
There was an austerity to the old system that I miss.
I miss toys’r’us. I miss just walking in there. Target and Walmart have such a weak toy selection. I miss wanting to but a toy for a relative and driving to to a Tous’r’us.
I miss actually fun/interesting stores. Just clothing and makeup shops and well there is still the toy store but it's on its last legs as kids, even small kids, lose interest in toys because the iPad is .. more entertaining? Easier, quicker, more seductive?
It's fine to look at stuff online but I'm never in town anymore
Hand writing. I find if someone writes something I can't read it. I still like using pen and paper.
Privacy. You're photos can be placed on social media without even knowing that they exist.
Handwritten letters💌💔
My ability to be sexually satisfied by one person. It wasn't permanent, but it was long enough to ruin my relationship. Pre-internet, I'd get butterflies from a sweet look. Post-'net I seemed to expect variety. Now all I want is her and she's moved on.
Movie trailers. Showing up extra early for a movie so you wouldn't miss a single trailer used to be half the excitement.
I really miss movie rental stores like Blockbuster. Having media streaming is definitely awesome and convenient and special about renting movies or games, getting snacks, and enjoying them. I feel like it made it much more of an activity than it is now.
Not to mention I think you spent more time appreciating the movie when you rented it.
AOL instant messenger 😖
Not spoilers about movies, tv, sporting events.
Blockbuster and borders were nice
Being able to have enough attention span to read a book or magazine.
Seeing an animal for the first time.
I remember when I was a kid, I used to get excited when I'd hear about a new animal that I hadn't yet seen.
And then when I would finally get to see one, I could just spend the whole day looking at it.
There was a genuine feeling of being able to discover the world around you.
Our dignity.
completely losing touch with those weird high school kids that you weren't really friends with after you graduated.
My innocence
I miss being able to hang out with my friends without someone picking up a phone to check social media, text messages, etc. This isn't to say they're all constantly on their phones when we hang it, but it would be nice to just spend a day together without the presence of our phones. The last time I hung out with a group of friends without someone being on their device was probably back when I was 8 or 9. But then again, I am only 18 years old.
Playing outside with your friends. Nowadays everyone is on their phone.
A real social life I heard it was easier to make friends before the time of the internet (I need friends even one will do)
I missed the older YouTube, before it became publicized and everyone started mocking themselves for views. Back then, everyone wanted to share their ideas originally, which was cool.
Being cut off from civilisation. Sometimes it’s nice to have no phone signal, WiFi or 3/4G and be alone with your thoughts.
I’m sure there are plenty of places that meet this criteria left in the world, but I bet the list is getting smaller.
The local video rental store in my college town was great. Super obscure B movies and weird titles were great to find, and the people running the store were interesting.
People now post quotes, poems, etc to show off. Earlier you had to read an entire book to even know something like that has even been written.
Newspapers. A Sunday paper could occupy hours of your time and gallons of coffee. You could read it anywhere and find out all sorts of cool information. It was glorious.
Kinda like Reddit but you had to carry paper around.
Gaming socially - Split screen and LAN parties. This one player per box shit sucks. I miss going to a friends place and playing together, even if split screen isn't ideal, it was still way more fun being together.
LAN parties never die in Australia with our internet, our mates still get together and go in the shed with our new home network. All like 10 of us just like 5v5 on CS or Rainbow. Maybe even COD:UO if we feel like it.
Human interactions.
Wandering the neighborhood with my buddies, with no electronic leash. It was like you were adrift on the ocean, wherever the wind took you, you went, and you'd see whoever you had too see when you got back.
Game shark. You can put in code to help you beat the hard levels in certain games.
Club penguin.
My dog
Patience.
Talking on the phone with friends, I used to love it. Now most people seem to avoid it, preferring text message. Man, I miss phone conversations.
The Encyclopedia Britannica. This puppy took up an entire wall in our house and it was paid for using installment payments. Who the hell pays for books using installment payments? I'd pull it out once every year to use on a school project like "what is the otter?".
Myself.
Healthy boredom.
Now everyone is bored alone in the phones, while before we had more time for thoughts and reflection.
I hate that every single moment of the day has to be filled in with something like checking social media.
BTW this is really ruining my relationship, I can stand anymore her passively scrolling the fucking Twitter like a zombie
Nuance
Bastard
In my defense I genuinely love the song but i just saw this as a good opportunity.
Take another upvote you ass
MSN Messenger; still around but nobody wants to use it thanks to F(yourprivacy)Book and texting.
Browsing all the new CD releases and buying a few on a Saturday morning. Although getting older would have killed that if the internet didn’t.
Video stores. I loved going to Blockbuster as a family, picking out movies, and so did my SO. We're both sad that we won't get to have that experience with our kids.
Gotye
Now he's just somebody I used to enjoy listening to
Collecting. It used to take a lot of work to collect stuff. Cards, comic books, toys, whatever. Stuff was valuable because it took work to get. No one ever sold their collections, the work that went into hunting everything down gave you a legitimate sense of pride and accomplishment. Now everything js easy. Collecting is a total joke not just because everything is so cheap and worthless now but because it takes no effort to do. Theres no pride in scoyring ebay or whatever for junk and no one cares about what you have once you get it because literally anyone can get it. Its literally just junk now. Collecting used to be a fun hobby, now its just like cringewortgy.
Also fandom in general. It used to be fun to be into stuff, like anime. Your interest in something was tempered to how you wanted to be into jt. Now fandom is like a rabid psychopath arms race for like who can out insane everyone. Its not like "i like anime and have some VHS tapes come over and we can watch together" now its like omg i dont want to be associated with bat shit crazy weebs. You tell someone you like harry potter and people want to bury you in their horrendous fan fiction. Whatever you thought you were like a 10 on before the internet you feel like 3 and everyone else is like >9000 in a way that makes your interest off putting to be associated with.
VIDEO/MUSIC/BOOK STORES!!!!! I loved physically browsing and looking at the artwork.
Privacy
My attention span... next question please!
The internet was the final blow to people in a culture sharing similar information. Back in the day there wasn' that many options to get radically different information regarding the state of the world. Today, as I assume people are aware (and Reddit is a part of) you can pretty much cherrypick exactly what you want to be told. "Create your own personilized bubble!"
kinda late, but I missed a certain Minecraft hunger games server I played on for a few years when I was younger (call me a nerd). I would play for hours on my grandfather’s iMac and made some friends and really enjoyed playing the game even though I was terrible. the server ran out of money and got shut down and it really makes me sad. even though I’m almost 21, I still miss it as it was one of my favourite parts of middle and high school.
I spent a lot of my time during the age 9-13 playing Minecraft, usually with a friend from a neighboring country. I remember how everyday I was excited to go home, turn on the pc, turn on Skype and call my friend. The pure bliss of hearing the startup sound of Skype and then the call sound was perfect. I don't even remember us doing anything meaningful like a long term project, we just played randomly while hanging out basically. I was truly happy.
Sorry to be so late to reply, but that literally happened to me as a kid. I would go on with the same random people every day and play hunger games and we’d talk via Skype or TeamSpeak. I’m almost 21 and I really miss it. Being an adult isn’t as fun haha
Welcome to a thread with comments from people nostalgic about inconvenience.
San Andreas cheat codes was my first taste of the internet, so we got off to a good start, but to be honest I miss not having to be stuck in my phone all day. Whether it be, for work, or because YouTube and Reddit are far more entertaining than anything on TV or because we are literally addicted to social media it's just lame.
Scarcity or inaccessibility of music. When I was young, if there was a new song I liked, I had to wait with a blank cassette at the ready for it to come on the radio so I could jump up and hit record. There was a real thrill to it.
Then when I started getting into older bands like Pink Floyd and The Doors, I couldn't afford to buy all of their albums. I would have to save for months to buy another of their albums - one that I had never heard before. I remember browsing in music stores and looking longingly at the CD covers, wishing I could afford them and wondering what all of these songs were like. Then when I did buy one, it was like a precious jewel. I treasured them.
Now if you like some band, everything they've ever recorded is right there. It's just so 'meh'.
Journalism that is actually well researched. Journalism now is just whoever can break the news first regardless of truth
Old YouTube. reminds me of my gran :,(
Trips with dad to blockbuster to watch that one movie that you wanted to watch and getting some candy! The instant gratification model of the internet era ruined this!
Ignorance being bliss. Having access to knowledge about everything an anything that is shitty going on in the world really makes you jaded.
Napster
Common sense
Real human connection.
With my friends, with my work colleagues, with dates. I didn't realise it at the time but going from visiting my friends house almost every day after school just to do stupid shit and gaming, to doing so less and less and just gaming together online, had a huge impact on the quality of my friendships and even the quantity that I managed to hold on to.
Five star ratings and not just thumbs up or thumbs down.
The video star.
I’m still young so I can only offer early internet things that were killed by the rapid advancement of technology. For context, I was born in ‘95.
The on that stands out to me was instant messengers. Every single person who was anybody in 5-6th grade was on instant messenger at some point every night, gossiping, talking to your crush, thinking of cool away messages, the list goes on. It was super political. It was the fetal form of the social media of today. My first girlfriend asked me out on an instant messenger. We never talked much in class but talked all night on IM.
Writing letters. There used to be so much emotion and personal touch when you were writing a letter to a beloved one. Now we have emojis 👌
Going to a video store and picking out a bunch of movies and some crappy junk food for a movie night. Seriously miss it.
And taking your time and browsing through all the movies was almost as enjoyable as actually watching the movie.
So true, especially seeing all the new releases
Arguing about trivia. There was a time when all knowledge wasn’t immediately available.
Going to HMV or similar store. The internet has killed actual shopping in real stores. I have to go to a different city if I need a cd or Blu Ray now.
Taking pictures with film, picking the best ones and then putting them in physical photo albums. You never knew how they'd turned out until you picked them up from the drug store. Usually there would be, like, 3 or 4 good ones out of a roll of 36, and it was super satisfying if you got a good pic of yourself. Plus, there was far less flexing on camera. Like, either people were standing in regular poses or everyone looked unscripted. Pictures of people pretty much looked like those people, full stop.
Now, you take 360 slight variations of a single pose to get one pic, which will then be filtered, and no one looks like themselves. Plus, no particular picture is special, since in a few weeks there'll likely be 500 more where that came from.
So true.
Finding pornographic material in the woods.
Calling my father "daddy" and meaning absolutely nothing sexual by it.
Preach. In a way I’m glad my father died before “daddy” became a sexual term. The thought of that concept makes my skin crawl.
Couch/Splitscreen gaming
Looking/Finding that secret VHS tape with porn on it.
Integrity, dignity, respect, honesty, principal, value, privacy, children
The high street and small shops.
The word daddy
My innocence
Release of finished video games. Games that are just complete, no patches, no season pass, no "micro" transactions that are more expensive than the whole game.
The library. It was more than a place to just do research and homework. I used to run into my friends there all the time. Plus there was always several hot girls that would frequent as well.
Video game TV shows. Specifically Games Master in the UK with the legendary, late sir Patrick Moore.
Moore was the Games Master and would be like a all knowing gaming guru. He’d answer a few questions, give tips and cheat codes about a game or two per episode and it was on TV weekly.
So, you would sit in anticipation to see if he’d give tips or cheat codes about the current game you are playing. If not then the only other option was to fork out a fiver at your local corner shop to get a magazine with a guide or cheat book. This could prove quite difficult if you grew up on a council estate where a fiver was quite a bit of cash to 10 year old back then.
Asking people around me for help answering a random question in my head, or for their ideas on my crossword.
People talking to each other
Earning money from releasing music
Games that are finished... I think Games-as-a-service are okay, but every game needs to be riddled with micro transactions nowadays, and while i get it, they really change the games. Even single-player games like tomb raider have micro transactions for outfits nowadays, while before you had missions or cheat codes, etc. It's a shame. God of War really is a good example of what a game should be, in many regards.
Also, websites that actually were customer focused, instead of sponsor focused. I used a website to compare prices (www.kieskeurig.nl) but for the past couple of years that website has become worse and worse in feeding you sponsored data. It only works now if you know the exact model number, and even then it tries to persuade you.
Kick in the teeth when game comes out with dlc. Content is already created on release, but won't add it into game. Different if months after the game out they add an extra mission or something that doesn't really matter once u finished it as bonus content
2018 was a great year for gaming: Detroit Become Human, Spider-Man, God of War, Mario Oddysey and Zelda BotW. Those 5 games could easily keep me entertained until the next MTX-free game comes out.
Anthem, Fallout 76, Division 2, Battlefield V... I've put 2000+ hours in BF3 and BF4, but they really put me off with BFH (which is more a taste thing) and BF1 (which was just MTX over gameplay).
Also, Epic Game Store has a great free game every 2 weeks. The Witness, Subnautica, Edith Finch, Transistor upcoming. All great games without micro transactions.
I've been going through old games on the mini NES and SNES with my kids, and they love it. Enough to do :-)
My innocence
Happiness
Getting paper photos back after they had been printed. It was a rainbow of feelings. Surprise, delight, disappointment and sometimes sadness
Having long debates with friends about facts that you can now quickly look up on your phone.
Nothing. I was extremely bored and depressed before I got internet. The internet is what keeps me going, it has made such a positive impact on my life that there's nothing I look back on and think "hmm that was a thing I miss". It's very hard to go through life being ignorant and the internet changes that for everyone.
The innocence of taking photos
I miss when only intelligent people had access/ desire to use the internet.
Also miss watching a video online without ads.
The need to know
Seeing some awesome new game at Blockbuster that you'd never heard of.
Information flow, it goes by way too fast now that there is no time to process what is going on. Use to be local news from a newspaper and maybe a big nationwide story but now it is worldwide all the time. By the time you hear about what went on yesterday today’s news covers another big story and tomorrow it is almost forgotten by a different story.
My privacy.
On a Friday or Saturday night. Walking down to the local off licence/liquor store with a few mates. getting a few beers then to the local video library and walking around arguing about what to pick. Then back to one of our houses for a night of movies, beers and laughs.
My hobby was searching for obscure books at used bookstores. Now they are all available on amazon.
The head banging pigeon in facebook and p**n ( i am from india)
Basic human interaction.
I see parents and their children out for lunch, their dad is on the phone talking about business, the 11yo is on her phone chatting with her friends, the 3yo is having a tantrum and the mother is showing him cartoons on an iPad.
Filthy Frank show. YouTube demonetization and his passion for music killed it.
Being able to go out and make a fool of yourself without everybody knowing about it...
Discovering new songs from your favorite artists. When I was a kid in the mid 90s and early 2000s you went to a brick and mortar store to buy a CD. If that CD had more than 2 songs you already knew you liked on it, there was a good chance you would like the others. 50% if it had 1 song you knew you liked. This is how I discovered "Dearly Beloved" and "Free" by Faith Hill which are now 2 of my favorite songs by her. Most CDs came with like 12+ songs. Also copyright laws weren't as much of a thing so if you knew how, you could make copys for your freinds pretty easily.
Now many people dont even bother with new songs like that. If they want to listen to "Heathens" by Imagine Dragons or "Renegades" by XAmbassadors they go watch that song on YouTube or get it from sites like spotify or gasp iTunes. While I'm not against downloading hard to find music I think an effort should be made to save up and get the whole album. There is just something about discovering new songs that way that I like.
Blockbuster. I miss walking down the aisles as a kid and looking at all the VHS and DVD's for rent or buy.
Waiting hours to hear that new song on the radio. Music isn't as sacred as it was before. You can just go online and play your favorite album/song on repeat until you're tiredd of it.
Watching MTV / Chart show / TOTP to see new music videos.
Arrange to meet someone at a specific time and specific place.
Calling someone's house phone.
Using the newspaper to look at cinema listings / jobs / TV show times / sport results.
Using real cameras and bringing photos to the pharmacy / chemist for developing.
Using pocket diaries / filofaxes.
Sending faxes.
Using Teletext / Ceefax to check the weather.
Watching the news just once a day.
Waving our arms in the air at gigs.
Be uncontactable for hours at a time.
Made our parents worry because of the last point.
Solving game puzzles without googling. When I was a kid I spent hours trying to get further in The Dig. And when I solved a puzzle it was amazing.
I'm 18 and I genuinely miss going with my parents to video rental stores, it was sooooo much fun picking out what you wanted to watch. I can still do that at some mom and pop shops and book libraries are still very much a thing but I miss how popular it was...
The old YouTube.
Being able to make plans/date with someone and not have to constantly check in and update. Tuesday afternoon - I'll meet you at the theater at 6pm on Saturday. Ok. And you do it without messaging I'm on my way. Be there in 20 etc.
MSN Messenger and nudging people.
Wow forgot about nudging people in MSN lol. Was funny
Arcades
NINTENDO POWER. I looked forward to that shit every single month. I read every single word of every mag I had. I wish it was still in production.
LAN parties
I can’t think about that, I still haven’t got over video killing the radio star.
Having a conversation with my friends, now when we hang out were always checking social media or texting other people. I’m guilty of this but god damn sometimes I snap out of it and then just get depressed because nobody is trying to start a conversation and sometimes I think to myself that I might as well be alone cause it sure as hell feels like it. It just blows my mind that we are the most social generation but the loneliest at the same time.
New Music. Back in the day you would wait for word of a new album/tape/cd coming out from your favorite band and then you would have to travel to the store and stand in line to get the new music. (Of course you’d listen to the radio and hope and pray or call in and request them to play the new song before it was released). Then you had to listen to the whole thing, or fast fed/skip past it all to really hear what it was about.
The anticipation of hearing something new was exciting, and don’t even get me started on bootlegs, and how amazing it was to score something previously un-released.
I feel like the internet has killed the excitement of waiting, the anticipation, like there was more than one Christmas morning throughout the year in terms of waiting and wanting. (Of course not on the scale of Christmas morning)
Practically the only way of meeting new people were at parties or backyard shows. This was around the time Friendster was out but not terribly big and when MySpace might’ve been in its infancy. I used to love going to backyard shows where the way you made friends was through other friends or consistently running into each other and finally talking. You would get their number and have actual long conversations on land lines or cell phones. There weren’t keyboards yet so typing a text message was sometimes more work then just calling or going to someone’s house. I feel like my generation caught the tail end of getting to know someone by consistently hanging out and verbal conversation. Now with how much you find out about a person your either interested as friends or romantically online...idk it definitely takes something out of the getting to know someone stage.
Papa franku ;(
I’m pretty sure that there are more pedophiles now because of the internet. Besides from giving them a way to somewhat anonymously contact children, they can now relativly safely communicate with each other, giving them some sort of community.
Generally the internet allows people to explore their darkest thoughts and I don’t think it’s healthy.
Picnik - Always did my emo rAwR edits on there in my oh so awkward early teens
Making plans and having to stick to them. Not sure if this is an internet specific thing or more of a cellphone availability thing, but I remember calling up a friend/potential date and we’d make plans to go to the movies in a weeks time. Then in a week, you’d both be there. There were no last minute “sorry can’t make it anymore” and there certainly wasn’t the concept of ghosting.
Unedited, imperfect photos. You know the treasured ones where someone's in the middle of talking and 2 or three other people aren't paying attention and the lighting sucks. Those are the real snapshots.
Vine
Vine
Marv
I miss the use of disposable cameras. I love that you can't see what the picture is like when you take it and you have to wait for the pictures to be printed after like a week. Now it's all HD iPhone cameras where you can edit and make everything look perfect. Disposable camera pictures are way more interesting and candid
How did the Internet stop that?
Because now people care too much about social media and making photos seem perfect so they can post them online
Actual conversation with other people
August Ames
A very good game, with good history. No needs for online mode.
People cancel plans far more often now.
Cell phones, texting, WhatsApp, Facebook chat, email, etc. allows us to communicate instantly, with the assumption that the other person(s) always has a device on them. I imagine most people will connect this circumstance with being unable to get away from work, but what I've also found is that people are far likely to cancel at the last minute than before.
You see, you used to make plans to hang out, and then wouldn't talk again until you met up. So if you didn't show, you were a huge asshole, because it lead people to think that either there was an emergency, something terrible happened to you, or your straight up ditched them. But now, you can text five minutes ahead of time, or even five minutes late, and suddenly it's okay! They did technically let you know, so you can't be mad, even though you adjusted to schedule in preparation for plans, but they didn't, and stayed up too late the night before playing a video game or some such, and decided to sleep in. 20 years ago, this would've been a hugely douche move, but now they just text from their pillow, then roll over back to sleep. It's just so damn easy to cancel now.
That's an excellent point. Once you had left that was it, couldn't cancel.
Blockbuster on a Friday night. Browsing the isles. No idea what to pick. Gambling on your choice because IMDb doesn’t exist. Don’t miss late fees though.
The mall.
Net neutrality
Friendships
Yeah sounds cheesy but I used to hangout outside just roaming around for 2+ hours a day everyday. Now it's barely a half hour
Love letters that you save forever.
Talking to real people. Playboy. Remembering the phone number to the pizza place. Feeling completely ok not checking a phone, social media, email, etc for 5+ seconds. Remembering to be kind and rewinding that rented VHS. The existence of "influencers". Being able to be somewhere cool without it being overrun by Instagram whores. An inability for crazy fucking people to not assemble in chat rooms and whatnot and create QAnon and hate groups and whatever other bullshit is going on now. The year beginning with a 19--.
Videogames still having mysteries. Before, there were rumors of unlockables, secrets and other cool stuff me and my friend used to talk about. Most of it was bollocks but some turned out to be true. Today you have the whole game datamined during release week or even earlier and they strip the games completely naked with everything they hid in the game or even things they are going to release in the future. Took away a big part of why I fell in love with video games in the first place. It sucks but it is what it is.
The sound of dial up.
And picking up the phone to have someone lose internet access.
My childhood with all those Arthur and Sponge Bob memes
Multiplayer games, with all players present in the same room. They are getting harder and harder to find nowadays. Remember having all your gamer friends over at your place, just hanging on the couch with snacks? But no, it's all done online, now.
human decency
also being ok with not getting a call back or email response immediately. in my free time/vacation, I either put my phone on silent and only check it like once a day or I leave it at home. sometimes ppl get mad at me bc they assume I specifically ignore them bc I secretly hate them or something while I'm just trying to enjoy my free time.
Club Penguin
People having patience. Because the internet has made everything much more instant people seem to have forgotten that some things just take time.
Going to the pub and arguing/debating the most eclectic assortment of topics. There was no ability to fact check, so the debates went on for hours.
Knowing your friends' phone numbers
The finite things in life, a natural and healthy limit to things that entertain me. I’m not saying the internet makes things infinite but I could stream for hours and days on ends, be on you tube, or do anything I wanted with only my spare time limiting me. I used to be limited by how many books I could check out at the library, how many movies I could afford to rent. I used to feel guilty if I stayed up late reading books cover to cover but now I spend hours on my phone every night. I know it’s all due to lack of self control but it was just simpler back then.
Harambe
Porn in India 😭
Waiting in line at ticketmaster and buying tickets to concerts with fellow metal heads. Now every gig sells out instantly online, and makes it really hard to get tickets
It was much harder for someone to blow up a cool hiking trail, camping spot or hunting spot. Now someone can tweet it out and the whole world knows.
Split screen gaming. Some of the most memorable, enjoyable moments of my childhood... but also, some of the most infuriating.
The free Internet.
I miss when the Internet was a loosely connected series of websites, and tools like StumbleUpon would throw you randomly into someone's art, or school project or life.
People growing up with the Internet today won't remember a time when it wasn't entirely dominated by a dozen big companies. It used to to be so independent and weird. Now the weirdness is carefully curated and shuffled into the Correct Place.
Going to a toy store to get the latest game or toy.
When I was a kid, I remember with excitement going to Toys R Us when the latest pokemon was released, the run from the car straight to the electronics section always filled me with excitement. Holding the game box physically in my hand trying to decide the inevitable 2 games per gen which side would I choose. And then the car ride home that seemed like forever while it was in my hands the game eagerly awaiting to get home and pop it into my Gameboy SP.
Now adays its just a swish and flick on the estore, and its just not the same feeling. the magic of the event has been lost.
I miss live music on tv, music in general is worse off because of the internet
Being able to get a job
The internet made it impossible to find a job, all the ads are fake and thousands of people apply to every job
Fuck the internet
Conversations that don't involve looking something up, causing a delay in conversation for pretty consistently insignificant and/or barely relevant facts
One of my friends. She committed suicide after being cyber bullied for 4 years. This probably wasn't what you meant, but screw it
The mystery of video games. Now you can just solve and problem by searching online.
Yes, I am aware nothing is forcing people to do that.
Same room Multiplayer games, sure I am too old for that now but still I’d think it would make the world a better place to think that somewhere someplace a kid is beating up his best mate , because he just got turtled a metre before the finish line in Mario Kart.
i miss going over to my friends house to play on her playstation, these days its just online
Blockbuster video
Mystery.
Suppose your friend at school told you that there was a type of jellyfish that can light itself up in pitch darkness, or an asteroid that is shaped like a skull, or that a tornado lifted a cow up and set it down unharmed 100 miles away. Is it true? Who knows!
Some "facts" could be checked by a trip to the library, but you probably wouldn't. The most common solution was to ask your parents, but then you never really knew...
Nowadays, most facts can be checked in seconds using Google. That's obviously a really good thing, but I'm still nostalgic for the mystery.
i miss knocking on people’s doors asking their parents if their son was coming out.
Respectful discussion.
The ability to purchase a complete video game at release date. Not a beta that they fix through updates, that just break more stuff. Looking at you, EA/DICE.
I know I am late to the party but, cheat code books.
Block buster, me and my mates had the best times renting a game and trying to finish it before we had to return it like 3 days later.
Yes Theory’s new Youtube video talks about how social media affected human interaction and shows what life could be lime without it. Check it out. Great video. https://youtu.be/TA5Ilzauebo
Club Penguin. Nothing can replace the original
Making mix cds and trading music with friends. Going through someone’s book of cds just naturally led to interesting conversation about music. Talking about and listening to music was a social activity before streaming services. Instant access is nice but it’s more isolating. Friends can’t save each other money on releases anymore so there’s less incentive to try to get into similar things and ask about musical interests. Algorithms are ok at recommending music similar to what you stream but rarely is it surprising and exciting like the odd album a friend would recommend that I’d end up liking. Also when CD trading was a thing it was more of a thing for a group of friends to get into the same random band from a random era. Now people tend to either be into their own things or whatever is being hyped and promoted. I miss the beautiful weirdness of an entire high school lunch table getting really into Devo or whatever because one CD was making the rounds. Another thing that led to interesting musical discoveries was that physical CDs made it harder to lie about what you listen to. If someone asks what music you like now it’s easy to just say whatever you think would sound good, cool, inoffensive, etc. Whereas it used to be that if you had the CD, you clearly listened to that weird death metal album and now had to defend it.
Harambe
Sitting on the shitter, just me and my thoughts, contemplating life. Now that time is occupied playing Angry Birds or face-timing the inlaws!
Club Penguin.
Not knowing everything about video games before they come out
I miss the kids channels I watched as a kid... Now my little sister is just watching weird shit on YouTube.
Not having to have a cell phone.
Peace
Couch coop games
Queuing up in person to buy concert tickets. Much fairer as first come first serve and also you made some great friends in the queue.
Internet trash talk. It used to be a fun part of any internet game to trash talk your opponent(s), now people are just toxic and the banter is replaced by legitimate hatred.
Physical video games. I'm lucky enough to still have my GameCube and Wii from when I was a kid, but twenty years from now when all my digital libraries have been taken offline, how am I going to show my kids games like FTL or A Hat In Time?
This is a hard decision! I'm not sure if I miss the sound of a 2400 baud modem trying to connect (to my local BBS) more than going through the agonizing process of stitching together UUEncoded parts of a text file so that you could uudecode your 16-color 8-bit image of boobies.
Or possibly yelling at the parents to hang up the landline telephone so that I could stay connected to above mentioned BBS long enough to download all the uuencoded parts so that they could be stitched together, decoded, and then I could view the grainy images of boobies. LOL!
4chan
It was never good, but it used to be alright.
Ultimate bug fights
The Joke. Spoken, anyway.
my free time
Playing basketball and football in my yard with friends. I remember once PS1 came out, shit was all down hill from then...
And then I found AOL chat rooms... Oh man the regret...
Some good times though. But much better times lost.
Flash games. I used to play so many of those. Coolmath, Y8 and many others
Music
Going to blockbuster after school. It was a nice time when your parents picked you up from school, drove to block buster, got some movies and candy. If it was a Friday, a friend may have slept over and we would stay up watching movies or playing games. Its a time I miss dearly.
Not knowing the correct song lyrics
Oscar hosts
I use to trust my doctor. Now I know just enough to realize he's probably not that trustworthy, statistically and that all my symptoms are clearly undiagnosed cancer. The illusion of being cared for by a pro is more comforting than the actual treatment.
Newspaper’s comics
The internet.
Privacy
Blockcity (a good roblox knock off that doesn't have a cancerous 9 year old community)
Network news divisions/newspapers doing extensive research and getting two sources for a story before publishing it. Also, I liked it better before any asshole could set up a website and pretend to be a news site.
Limewire
Western Liberal Democracy.
The OK hand sign. I use it for emphasis when I talk (kind of holding an ok sign and pointing it at someone). I have had multiple people "inform" me that it's a white supremacy dog whistle. It's universally recognized as OK! I just want to give whoever changed its meaning the universally recognized meaning for "fuck off"!
When I was kid, we siblings used to have to select only 20 songs(songs that are trending that time) which will be played in our tape recorder. We used to list our songs on a paper and give them to my mom. She then used to go to near market where there's a shop who sells cassettes of trending songs. Somehow he makes a cassette filled with our songs and give it to my mom. We used to pay 3bucks for a song (3 rupees).
I miss all the fun I used to have with my sister over finalizing the songs and the fights I had to win. Now downloading n streaming online, when I remember those days I feel I miss my childhood and my family so much.
I don't think The Internet killed it, but I kinda miss when we all watched the same shows at the same time and BSd about them at school the next day.
The video star...
Multiplayer games, sitting in the same room with all your friends. Now, instead we all have to own the game and play alone. A great example of technology that is meant to bring us closer together but is actually driving us further apart.
Couch multiplayer video games
Nobody asks me to help spell a word anymore.
100% agree on the "off the grid/work" thing (even though I get mad nostalgia reading the AOL chat stuff).
I mean hell, I'm on vacation right now and will be logging into my work laptop once were back from Disney today due to expectations that major work related events will carry on even though I'm on approved vacation time.
Would be nice to actually not be bothered by that shit for vacation week.
It being acceptable to go outside and play, in the rain
TV. freeing up your weeknight to watch that show you like. getting excited to go to school/work to talk to your friend about last night's episode. those things. now you can just forget about a show completely then binge watch it in a day once you remember that show. But now you have to internalize your reactions, or talk to a friend who might be less excited because he has seen it weeks before, or worse, count on reaction videos online just so you'd still feel like you're watching it with someone
Bookshops that had a good selection of books and not just mostly gifts.
listening to a CD and watching a DVD.
The radio star.....oh wait
Independent second-hand bookshops. Just the smell of all those old books......
Going over to your friend's place and playing some split screen multiplayer. Yes you can still do that, but it's more of a novelty/nostalgic thing you have to go out of your way to do. The social aspect just isn't the same over a headset
The one afternoon I spent playing 4-player Quake on the PSX is a highlight in my gaming memories, not to mention the millions of hours spent with my best friend on our Amigas. Man, thoooose were the days!
Record stores.
crude politically incorrecr humor. fuck all u sjw faks.
Ugandan knuckles
I miss not seeing a bunch of fake personas. Maybe people were fake back in the day but we sure didn’t see it everyday at this scale. You literally have to take a break because it fills your head with such trash.
Everyone who’s been accused of sexual assault within the past 19 years.
Hedgerow porn.
Idk if it was the internet or just lack of interest but I miss Toyfair magazine, it had all the new release toys and gadgets as well as a comic in the middle of the zine called The Twisted Toyfair Theater, and a price guide for collectors in the back. Man I miss that shit it was so cool when I was a kid.
Homestarrunner.com
The burninator Teen girl squad The cheat and others.
Common sense and thinking for yourself. Nowadays before you even start thinking or read the manual or call a doctor or look it up somewhere the first thing you do is ask the internet. People are getting so reliant on other people's opinions and experiences that no one is trying to problem solve by themselves anymore.
Split screen multiplayer games with friends after school on fridays, with dominos pizza
Video stores
Browsing video stores was infinitely more enjoyable than browsing Netflix etc. It didn't try to only show you films you'd like, you could just wander the store and see the whole collection and discover other movies etc.
I'm talking not necessarily about Blockbuster but about just your local video store which had an eclectic collection of old and new.
Anonymity.. like total anonymity
The misguided notion that people had a grasp of basic science and passable levels of literacy.
The relationship between me and my younger siblings. My older brother and I communicate and talk on a day to day basis. My younger brother and sister on the other hand, are a different story
The Videostar 😭
Local music scenes.
Used to be the bands in Seattle sounded different from the bands in Chicago sounded different than the bands in Atlanta.
Now, there isn't an incubator anymore...it is so easy to record and upload and access that the "local" music scene no longer exists the way it did in the 70's-90's.
Block buster It was the only place where my brother and I could truly connect
The painting thing that Reddit made
Video
Marv
Minecraft for the last 5 years. It’s back now but I won’t forgive you all making it a child’s game
I miss eating a bowl of sugary cereal and reading Calvin and Hobbes in the Sunday comics of the newspaper while my mom clipped coupons or looked for nearby garage sales to visit.
Blockbuster
Toys R Us
Porn
Bro, Ask Jeeves was the shittest fucking search engine I'd ever used; but now that it's gone, I want it back :'(
Emuparadise. Not a pirate, I just appreciated that I could archive the games I've bought on a hard drive for when they stopped working.
Retail shopping
Taping songs off the radio, original pirate material
Definitely getting buried here but I miss getting Netflix packages in the mail because my mom would never tell me what movies we got that month, but usually she chose movies she knew I would like. Love you mom
Comics on newspapers.
They used to be fun shorts of calvin and hobbes etc. now it’s all political cartoons.
Internet killed the radio star
r/jailbait
the reddit WatchPeopleDie
Porno magazines.
Free enterprise, specifically for smaller (brick and mortar) businesses.
The excitement of making even a modest profit on something you bought as an investment, that would have appreciated over time.
Being entitled to your own opinion
LAN parties
Internet killed the video store. High bandwidth came and broke your heart. Oh, a, a, a, oh.
The old film camera. You only captured the most important and precious moments of your life, to share with just some really close people when they come over to your house irl. Nowadays you can send any picture to anyone seconds after taking it. I also miss the excitement of getting them developed and see how they turn up to be.
Critical Thinking
Knocking at someone’s door to let you know you’re here instead of just messaging them.
Kids today will never realize what it was like to wait for an actual issue of a magazine to come out... or how important it was to be on the cover...or to have a feature story on an artist you like. It used to be the only way an artist got a story out. Twitter literally killed it :/
Leaving my house with no plans, walking to my friends houses, and playing outside all day
I miss road trips planned in advance with my dog-eared, falling-apart atlas. I used to love using maps. It’s much more convenient to use internet/gps obvs but I really liked having to be methodical and figuring out the best or most interesting-looking route to get someplace.
AAA Trip Ticket maps!
Harambe rip my guy ur missed
How special porn was.
Holiday decorations at the mall. I love a good internet shop because of the convenience/my laziness, but I miss the feeling of walking into the mall and being surrounded by Christmas - decorations, music, everything. It was like being in an old movie, or at least that’s what it felt like when I was a kid.
Youtube died when Google took it over
Being racist without the whole world knowing about it. /s
Video-game magazines used to be so awesome for me waiting every week for the next issue to come out, and then they usually had something that came along with it, with demo disks and a book full of cheat codes that was super absorbent for some odd reason.
Wrestling
The do still exist but walkthrough books for games, felt so much more cool flicking through a book than it does typing it in Google
Long pointless conversations about the validity of facts that can be googled in three seconds now.
At work we purposely try to see if anyone knows before googling. It’s nice to realize I actually remember some of the useless things I’ve learned.
Finding Playboy magazines in the forest with my friends
The internet hasn't killed much that it didn't create in the first place. Personal computer and cell phones are the real killers
Innocence
Being ignorant of how many dumbass people there are out there.
I guess I just miss so many moments not being ruined by “let me take a selfie” or something like that. I’m only 22 yet I still remember the years when everyone seemed a lot more thankful for the moment and truly there, now it’s for internet points and attention to a lot.
My social life, I used to have so many friends, but now I only have my classmates and only 2 of them I can truly call friends
The drake meme. I hate the new Winnie the Pooh ones
Authenticity
My innocence.
Christina grimmie
Google fucking plus
Livejournal and AIM...both defined my adolescent experience. Livejournal communities > subreddits, sorry man
Decorum and civility
Darude - Sandstorm. Use to love that song until it became a meme and forever became etched into my mind as a meme and not an actual decent song.
Being able to innocently call my father daddy
Dating.
Discovering strategy in different games, especially trading card games.
Roblox, played it as a 10 year old back when no one knew about it and now it is being beaten into the ground by memes, same kinda story about Minecraft too.
My photo
Not really the Internet, but more technology in general. I miss photographs being a big thing, and people only taking photos of things they definitely wanted photographed because of limited space on photographic film. Nowadays people are snapping everything, and truly good photos are simply being lost among hundreds of meaningless ones on their phones.
going to the library for research.
my essay-writing days are over, but i'll never forget jr. high and HS when my mom would drop me off at the library at 10am and pick me up at 4 or 5pm. no cell phones, just me, my binder, and the motherfucking dewey decimal system.
obviously a google search is superior in dozens of ways, but those library days weren't all bad.
Birthday phonecalls from friends and relatives. God I miss them.
Blockbuster
Basic human civilty
There was none before internet either. Rose colored glasses looking backwards.
I remember the time when my dad came home after office we would all have dinner together and then play either a simple board game or a card game until we were tired and then talk about each other's day until we fell asleep. Now it's each of us in one corner of the room, scrolling through our phones, with my parents hogging the wifi by forwarding spam and watching clickbait videos on YouTube.
I miss not always having new shit to watch or listen to. Im 19, nothing feels unique anymore like it used to.
It feels like there is an over-saturation of music and video shows/movies due to the accessibility of the internet.
My innocence. Ignorance is truly bliss
Sorry to turn it blue. But porn. If you wanted it go to the shop and buy a mag, want something more go get a video. The kids of today have no idea how hard it was to get it.
Memes
People knowing their own phone numbers. I can remember our land line from when I was like 5. Now people are looking up their own number so they can tell it to you.
2013 era memes
Minding your own business. Everyone cares so much about what everyone else is doing that they don't end up doing anything but live vicariously through others. For example, YouTube, Twitch, twitter, Facebook, etc.
Privacy
Block buster
Blockbuster
Snail Mail
My trust.
I ask my friends to hang out with me.
"Oh I'm too sick to hang out"
So I stay home, eating ice cream in my underwear, watching Netflix.
An hour later my phone goes ping. There is a snap chat or Instagram post of them enjoying their life without me.
Going outside
I miss reading the inside jacket of a CD.
Blockbuster. Better movie selection, easier to find something to watch, and much more fun.
Going outside
People actually calling or texting you to keep you up to date on their lives or invite you to parties. I deactivated my Facebook a couple weeks ago. I have really close friends that are like oh yeah I told you about that. No, you didn't. Oh well, I posted it on Facebook. Didn't you see? It's frustrating.
People paying attention to you and not their phone. (Also guilty of the same.)
Not having to deal with intense FOMO (Fear of missing out)
Seeing all the parties and events that you miss out on. The internet truly killed my blissful ignorance
Relationships or my opinions of people. Just seeing some of the nonsense people spout off on social media is rough. It certainly makes you look at them differently.
Blockbusters. As a kid I loved going through the store and looking for movies I would want to watch. I don’t know if it still existed I would use it, but I do miss it
A happy and balanced sleep schedule.
Family conversations at dinner time.
Burning CD's.
I used to love doing it. It was the only way a poor teenager could get all of his favorite songs in one place without buying 20 different discs from Kmart.
It was also a way I used to show affection to my SO. By burning a CD of all of their favorite music. Or by making a message with the song names that they'd have to figure out when they wrote down the track names.
I know I can still do it now, but with all the streaming services, it's just not the same or even practical anymore
My spare time - I'm a PhD in the Semantic Web:)
It's become so easy to find answers that there is less value in asking questions.
Privacy
You ride your bike to a convenience store. You buy a coke. You take the lid off. You look underneath and realize YOU JUST WON ANOTHER FREAKING COKE.
You don’t go home and log on to a website and give them your email address and enter a 20 digit to see if you won. You just look under the cap, hand the cashier the lid and you have your free coke.
The internet ruined everything.
the ability to start a conversation with a simple question
In the world of internet nothing new anymore. Nothing fascinating. Dancers, artists, comedians or illusionists, really...
There is a lot of good one - too much. So there is no more jawdropping action.
The anxiety/exhilaration that came with buying a CD only knowing 1-2 songs and hoping the rest would be great. Now just listen on Spotify...
Intelligent political discourse
The video star.
ICQ. It was great chatting with people all over the world.
Damn I almost forgot about that!
My Great Aunt Gladys
Civility
Privacy
Asking librarians.
The first time I finished a computer game was when I reached the end of Hugo’s House of Horrors. I answered several questions myself, but didn’t know who wrote Dracula! (I know, I know . . . I was a kid)
Just called the library, and they knew off the top of their head.
Thought
My innocence.
The community of the internet in the early 2000s
MSN Messenger as a way to stay in touch with actual friends, instead of vomiting your entire life onto Facebook and having 500+ friends you never even met.
my time with family
Going to a movie without knowing any spoilers.
Getting lost in a city I have never been at
The lunatic fringe being on the fringe.
Go to bed at the same 5 minutes window nightly. Wake up in similar fashion. Game changer
Barguments.
Arcades and LAN Parties.
I was born in 2004 so I used to go to blockbuster with my family when I was little, I loved it we really got to have fun as a family
4 player split screen
The old YouTube. I got into it back when it was all about being able to chat with other users, and back when it had YouTube streams. It was like a social networking site that you could make videos for. I ended up finding some really close online friends that way that I still chat with every now and again, but I feel that youtube should twkrvw step back toward that direction again. YouTube was fun back then. Now it's just kind of meh
Meaningful interactions with people
Being able to just walk into your friends house while he/she was outside instead of on their phone or playing fortnite.
the ability to connect on a social level like people used to be able to do in the 70s
Minecraft. Reason? Fortnite.
Decent sleep schedules
Good discussion where the primary goal wasn't show how wrong the other part was.
Being able to wait. Not having to absorb every movie or TV show like a massive pop culture sponge for either FOMO, or FOSO.
The internet has become synonymous with spoilers. Spoilers for movies, spoilers for TV shows. Spoilers Spoilers Spoilers. Articles about endings, articles about twists, and social media rocket blasting spoilers directly to your pocket.
It used to be, you had that one asshole friend that you had to avoid if you didn't catch something the week it aired, or opening weekend.
Now you've got a million asshole friends, and they all want to talk about what you're missing, right there in the headline. Even though it's Friday morning at 8am, and the movie just had it's "Sneak Preview" run last night at 9pm, but OH HEY LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT TWIST ENDING FROM -insert.movie.here-. TELLING ME THERE'S A TWIST *IS* A FUCKING SPOILER, youfuckingpricksIsweartogod
or, maybe it's Game of Thrones night and the episode ended 5 minutes ago but there were already 6 different articles loaded up, ready to fire because the press got to watch the first 4 episodes a couple months ago and they've been sitting on multiple think pieces about "WHAT BOB FIRECROTCH'S DEATH MEANS FOR WESTEROS".
SOME OF US HAVE SHIT TO DO, UPROXX, WE CAN'T SEE EVERYTHING THE MINUTE IT COMES OUT, GAWDDAMMIT.
Edit: synonymous, not anonymous. Thanks phone
Talking on the phone in one little spot. It made the conversation more special to need to schedule time for it and give the convo your full attention.
That and I miss waiting rooms full of people reading, and having the attention span to read for pleasure, myself.
And NOT seeing ads constantly.
...things used to go a little slower back in Mayberry I guess.
...things used to go a little slower back in Mayberry I guess.
Slower and better IMO too.
Physical media. Looks like games are shifted in that direction too. The home movie experience is dead, and just forget about hanging out with friends over a stack of music sitting on the table. There used to be a ritual around picking a movie, getting snacks ready, watching the trailers, being with loved ones. It was a special thing on Friday or Saturday to walk around the rental store. And we used to swap cassettes and CDs and records amongst each other to all get the chance to hear new shit, we could bond over music in a material way. That's all gone now. It's all instant gratification, whatever you want, all at the tap of a little screen. I think it's a shame.
Toys R us
Uncrowded hiking trails, swim spots, campgrounds, restaurants etc. now everything is on “_____top 10 lists” or “best secret swim holes/trails you’ve never heard of”. Now everything is mobbed by people who don’t have respect for the environment and leave trash everywhere, have boomboxes blaring, get booked in seconds of reservations going on sale. I miss solitude in nature.
Written letters - You can tell so much about somebody through their handwriting alone, the effort to write a letter in ink and send it to somebody is a lost art. E-mails and typed letters feel so impersonal.
At least in my life: Calling people to make plans and/or just showing up at someone's house.
It'd be very weird doing that now, but was standard just a few years back.
My innocence.
Blockbuster for sure. Just DVD movie places in general
runescape classic
Putting on a cassette tape or CD and sitting down and intentionally listening to the whole album and doing nothing else. I never listen to music purely for the sake of listening to the music anymore. It’s an activity to be done at the same time as other things now.
I miss people coming around unannounced. Twas a nice surprise every timeand during the holidays we would make it a thing to go to each others house around the same time every day
Civility
MY LIFE
Playing outside
Encyclopedias. especially that human body diagram that's on a transparent page where every time you turn the page, the body is stripped down skin, then muscles, then organs, then skeletal system.
Actually owning whatever media you consume, such as having VHS, DVD, CD's etc. I'm only 22, but I remember before having Netflix and Spotify, movies and music just felt a lot more valuable since you only had so much money to buy them, especially when I didn't have a job yet. I put a lot of thought into which movie or album I wanted to buy, and I'd watch/listen to it a lot more. It was also great finding a friend with the CD or movie you were interested in to barrow it. I managed to get 700 songs on my phone just from exchanging CD's with friends.
Downtime.
I have none, nobody ever has any. There's always stuff around, things to do or read. By simply existing, the internet ruined downtime.
Blockbuster Video... and other brick and mortar stores.
Encased game systems that you could play. Now most places expect you have your own form of entertainment on your phone. I miss playing with N64s in Blockbuster or McDonald's.
I don't know about anyone here, but sharing music was a social event. Where im from access to the internet used to be a rarity in the 1999 and the kids that had it, were the ones curating the music taste buds for all of those around them. I remember going to middle-school and each week one of my classmates would take an old dusty pendrive jammed with songs and he also took a lil del computer (idk how he got that in, but he was a hero for it), so people with an mp3 and other devices would literally lounge around in the patio area after school just going through playlists of songs. Granted some of them were particularly outdated but it was the thing you listened to fit in, from Aerosmith to 50 cent freestyles, we used to share it all there, these same gatherings made people network with other kids in school (that under normal circumstances never would've met). Time goes by, people have access to information and everyone gets to download/stream whatever they want, people get segregated due to their particular music tastes and they barely talk to others because of it. It's unheard of, having to ask a song from another person, when you can listen to it, simply get the title (or a piece of the lyrics), add some googlefoo and boom, you found it. Those social gatherings tho, were really nice specially after school, nobody was labelled awkward or acted superior, people were just there for being.
Freedom of speech
Privacy.
Also, concerts. Back in the day, I could go to a small local venue, pay some cash at the door, and go in. These days, for that same small venue, I have to go online, buy the tickets through a big name third party (not ticketmaster), pay half the ticket cost in convenience fees, and am forced to download and install that company's app in order to use the tickets. Can't even print them off from my computer! I could get them mailed to me for an extra $15 though. To mail pieces of paper through the USPS.
The arcade
I feel like the internet killed the basic form of human communication. Like now I couldn’t get four or five of my friends to go out and get a drink without nearly all of them being glued to their phone. Makes it feel a little impersonal at times. The worst part is that sometimes when I message them, it can take days for replies when I know good and well they are checking their phones. Makes me wish calling people was okay again. Haha
I generally miss not having everything in life and everyone around me curated by an algorithm.
I miss listening to CDs in my grandma’s car. She had a bunch of tracks from Lion King and Celtic Women, to name a few, and she’d keep them all in a huge case velcroed on one of the car visors. She would play them all the time when she picked me and my brother up from kindergarten/daycare. Now everything’s online. Sure, it’s more convenient to listen to stuff on your phone, but sometimes, I do miss the days when I’d listen to “Be Prepared” over and over again in my grandma’s old car.
The internet killed the isolation of idiots. Thats what i miss. Before the internet, we all had that one crazy guy in our town, that wore a tinfoil hat and thought the earth was flat. When the internet came, that one stupid person found out that there were many other stupid people, one or two in each town. Now the stupid has joined forces.
And it breeds...
actually remembering birthdays without reminders from facebook or some calendar app
When I was a kid in a small town finding your friends meant jumping on a bike and riding around town asking people if they saw them. If it wasn't bad weather the whole town was positivley crawling with groups of children out hunting for thier clique. Today I live in the same town and you only rareley see kids walking home to jump online, and even then they are usually walking alone with earbuds in and hunched over a smartphone.
Snapchat not existing, I really miss that.
Humans interacting with each other when they have a problem, instead of just keeping it to yourself and then just badmouthing that person (or business) online.
Actual mixtapes as gifts to/from friends.
MTV - nothing like just turning on MTV and watching the VJ’s and new videos play. You had to wait to see Thriller, Take On Me, and Sledgehammer which were WAY ahead of their time....
Meeting up with people if you wanted to play games
we sometimes still go to internet cafes even if we could play the same game at home, it's just a lot more fun when you're right next to each other playing
Super late but people were a lot "realer" and more "genuine" pre-internet. Nowadays everyone on social media, including reddit, seems to be obsessed with some sort of arbitrary "score" that gives them a sense of validation. When I was younger I was friends with people who were cool and who I enjoyed hanging out with. Nowadays it seems like most peoples "Friends List" is made up of anyone who will upvote, like friend or repost their content in order to inflate their fake score. And the weird part is that this artificial score is pretty much self sustaining. If I upvote you or give your content a retweet I can expect the same from you. Unless you're famous.
Irl friends
Shopping in physical stores 😂
Learning the lyrics to songs by rewinding each line (cassette tapes) and writing them down in dedicated lyric notebooks.
Downloading music was sitting by the radio, finger at the ready... hoping the dj wouldn't ruin it by talking or cutting it short.
Reading a newspaper and finding out movie times, garage sales, and events.
Minecraft
The ability to not worry about someone just cause they didn't reply to a message. Mobile phones are convenient but you get so used to always being connected no matter where you are that when you aren't, you panic.
I don't know if this has been mentioned yet... but I used to love collecting vinyl (records, lp's) and going to the library... man those were the days
Club penguin
Super smash flash 2 was my childhood but it got overrun by the main smash games. It was probably the best free game of my life
Music. "Kids today" will never experience the pleasure of going to a giant music store, checking out and sampling the latest vinyl albums (they had listening stations with headphones). Then buying one, taking it home, and reading the album cover or sometimes inserts about the album while you listened to it for the first time.
Meh. Most of the music that calms me down was not possible on vinyl. I have autism and ADHD and one of the few things that calms me down is certain kinds of techno music (without lyrics) because it isn’t distracting but takes up whatever of my attention is available so that my mind doesn’t go places I don’t like it going. If I lived in a time before it existed, my depression would be far worse than it is now. To each their own
Club Penguin, I may be 23 but I miss the tip the iceberg parties. I just found out just before they shut down they made it so the iceberg would tip
Every issue not being completely polarizing. My hope for humanity?
Comedy.
Yeah, now everyone just ruins it. Look at the comment section of Piff the Magic Dragon, especially the newest. Whole thing could qualify for r/woosh. No one gets satire these days.
Enjoying existence and living like a human
My 2 cents on the subject is, the nature of the human race is to constantly evolve, so no matter how advanced we get, we’re still living like humans.
Every creature evolves to get along with the circumstances in they’re habitat, we evolve to be compatible with nature not to use computers and to get useless knowledge while we’re looking at blackholes, reading theories, checking new inventions and laughing at videos we have forgotten about reality and problems until we realize it’s too late, sure we discuss problems such as this thread but after 30 mins we’ll probably forget about this too just like other things.
Sorry, a better word for what we humans do would probably be to learn, to adapt. You’re correct, it’s not evolution by any means. But that’s the beauty of it, we’re advancing so much faster and with so many more capabilities than any other species on the planet. Anyways, aside from all that, with the access to the amount of information the internet presents, nearly all of human knowledge, we’re living more like humans if anything. And I’ve actually taken this thread into account, I’ve seen what it has to offer, I’ve used some of this information and the argument that I came up with here. I try not to bother with information I find useless enough that I’ll forget in 30 minutes. Argh, I’m getting philosophical again... Debating what it is to be human. Jeez. Apparently, in around 2050, the technological singularity will happen and being human could mean being ruled by robots. What it is to be human has changed so rapidly and so frequently for a while now.
Dabbing, whip and nae naeing and having to be pg 247 (not that that's necessarily a bad thing
Privacy
Picking up a game from just looking at the box art the name and the few gameplay images at the back having no idea what your in for
I’d have to disagree with you there, wasn’t really good for anyone who didn’t have much money to spare and ended up hating the game they bought. And stores were really fucking touchy about returns, and just outright ignored anyone who appears younger than 18.
Thrift stores!
I loathe going to a thrift store and seeing a printed out eBay listing trying to justify their price...
Either sell it on eBay or sell it in your shop for a modest price. YOU got it free from someone who wanted to help out someone else. Take a modest broker’s fee and keep it all moving.
Internet has made thrift stores greedy.
Thrift used to be for poor people; now it is for... I don’t even know, honestly.
Local talent being regarded the way they ought to be. Everyone now compares the local talent to the top talents of the world due to internet. In the past, people could be the local best and the whole town would regard them as the world’s best their whole life. Sure, internet has made local talent better as they’re comparing themselves to others as well, but it has also made everything just that more competitive. It has killed the societal moré of the virtue of a pleasant and slower-paced life.
Yeah...
Going to a record store like Sam Goody or Musicland and walking up and down the aisles trying to find out if my favorite artists had released any new albums, and getting crazy excited when I found one.
Or really, just going into a record store at all. Who does that anymore?
many large retail and department stores are either closed, closing, or facing problems because of rises in online stores like amazon. while i do use amazon from time to time, there are some things, like clothing, which i buy all the time, that are best bought in a physical store because you can actually try it out. i certainly hope that malls and physical stores don't completely disappear within my lifetime, or the future gen's lifetime for that matter.
I miss “having to go” to blockbuster to rent films and games and it actually being an event, nowadays everything’s at your fingertips and it’s kinda boring how easy it is to obtain movies and games (Am I sounding as much of a twat as I think I am)
Good comedy
You stole my comment!
Haha well now you know it would have been hated. I was the first answer to this post.
Sorting by controversial bring about the clearest minded comments.
In a lot of ways democracy in the US
Before if you wanted to influence people you'd have to pay for ad time on tv and newspapers, or even start one up yourself
A foreign adversary could do the same but it might mean operating hidden radio stations, airdropping pamphlets etc
Basically it meant that influence and propaganda were expensive and somewhat slow to start up
However now everybodies uncle is retweeting and sharing bullshit posts that gain traction via giant botfarms and all of a sudden we've got a largely misinformed and foreign infiltrated populace
There isn't even a very good way out of it unless you go the route of China and restrict the internet and "re educate" people
So now we have to either all become smart enough to see through it or let enough of the dumb old people die off so we can take back control from the morons
I’m an old person who sees to the bullshit. I think it’s a matter of intelligence rather than age. So the die off thing might be less effective than you think.
Pretentious dipshit. Everyone is a moron except you in all your youthful brilliance. We get it.
Tumblr porn
My family
Privacy
MySpace. I always thought it was better than facebook.
Myspace revealed how little taste the average Joe had. Automatic music playing on load? Hell yes. Terrible background image creating unreadable text in between 20 gifs? You betcha. And why is Becky in your top 4 friends???
Harlem Shake
Freedom of expression
Seemingly being the only one who actually knew about intellectual concepts, scientific phenomenon, logical arguments, history and politics. Then Trump came along and now everyone is a pseudo-genius but they won't take the time to read a 200 word article.
I feel like that (regardless of your opinion) trump really just lowered the standards for a lot of stuff and things might not be the same.
Social media and dating sites/apps has destroyed relationships and what is expected. Narcissism amd sheer selfishness is through the roof thanks to the above as well. If youre even remotely good looking, youre on a pedestal and dont get me started on these "challenges" that float around. A simple date is becoming increasingly foreign to people. Heres a great video regarding dating sites/apps https://youtu.be/uQlRF0eEOCc
[removed]
This offends me
They say all injuries aren't the visible kind.
Cheat Code Books.
Everything moved online, and you could just Google the answer.
Then the Cheat Codes themselves went out of style. Developers added secret content, but charged you for it instead of rewarding you with it.
Games used to be fun. When was the last time you utilized the Konami Code?
Pub arguments over utterly unimportant trivia. I've seen grown men passionately argue over whether male ants can fly, whether Hercules and Heracles were the same person, and one particularly dense bloke who insisted Christopher Columbus was Mexican.
The ability to check almost any information within a few seconds has basically killed off the art of chatting absolute shit in public.
Agreed. Slightly inebriated, passionate/humorous bluffing/bullshitting pub arguments were a true pleasure in life. With enough confidence, you could argue the most ridiculous positions... My first experience of this being ruined by a dreary joy-robber was way back in the early 2000s. Round at someone's house drinking, eating, and bullshitting. We were mid almost-coming-to-blows over which order the Narnia books should be read in, when somebody took it upon themselves to look it up on a computer. Found what C S Lewis said the intended order of reading was, and that was that. Conversation killed, laughter and shit-giving over, just a big hole where the fun used to be.
I'd rather not debate shit when it's wrong. Much prefer looking it up and then having a conversation around the findings
On the one hand, you're right - I'd rather just know the answer to questions like that than debate it. On the other hand, I believe discussions about ultimately meaningless things are important practice for humans, for discussing important things that might not have one true/right answer.
This may sound strange but everything feels... TOO convenient now. Specifically, I dislike TV streaming services. No more waiting for weekly episodes, now entire seasons are released at once. Wheres the fun in that?
Before the Internet, as a society we used to shun and laugh at people who didn't recognize the difference between legitimate fact finding journalism and fake news tabloids. Something about shifting information online people forgot to question if what they were reading is factually based info with clear sources or opinion celebrity style emotionally triggering sensationalized bullshit designed to make you gasp and feel a certain way. An emotional way that makes you seek out more of that emotion and return for more again and again. Everyone just runs away with this secret personal knowledge that Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is actually Bat-Boy!
In fact to compete with the money making online tabloid machines (Facebook/Instagram/Reddit), now formerly legitimate news is resorting to tabloid style click bait headlines in order to steer more online engagement flame war comments to increase ad revenue. Sites are promoting argumentative content in order to pump up engagement number for more money.
Everyone is chasing that dopamine infotainment click and not acknowledging most of it is bullshit and the repetitive nature of it is programming you. "It has 20k likes, it has 10k upvotes, i saw it somewhere online, everyone says that person is really Bat Boy! It must be true." Information can be measured by facts and results if that's what we pay attention to and value. At what point will misinformation campaigns be prosecuted and rejected as fraud? How far are we going down this hole?
People are so wrapped up in calling each other Socialist, Facist, Molester, Narcissist that no one calmly considers facts or results. Facts and Results don't win campaigns, don't get ratings, and no longer command respect. Mainly because the customers consuming media prefer junk food. It's not the restaurant's fault if they have to switch the menu from healthy food to junk food to stay in business.
TL:DR: AOC & Paul Ryan aren't Bat Boy.
Kids playing outside. When I was a kid, we spent all summer playing outside. Tossing around a football with the neighborhood kids, riding bikes, going "exploring", fishing, bug catching, etc. It didn't even matter if you had "plans" to meet up with your friends or not, there was always kids playing outside and most would be happy to have you join.
Nowadays, I never see kids playing outside. And if I do, it's usually an organized sport or event, instead of just being a spontaneous thing. They're all inside, glued to their tablets or video games. Then there's the (valid) concern of bad people doing bad things, and everyone feels like they have to helicopter parent. Times have definitely changed. I try to take my kids and get outside as much as possible, and even then, it's usually just a few kids running wild while the parents are staring at their phones.
I feel like my generation was one of the last ones who grew up without the internet, and got to experience the childhood joys of playing outside all the time, back when that's what all the kids in the neighborhood did. Maybe it's just in my area, but I just never see it anymore.
This is mostly not true, within my experience. I was playing football for almost 5 hours yesterday and will play again today. I could have been at home on the internet, but what's the fun in that? If you're a parent, then you can take initiative and organise some games in your neighbourhood (or just tell the kids to go play at place time date). If your kid doesn't want to go outside, then there could be multiple things that make it this way. You can address the lack of people playing outside by calling your child's friends. Also, if your kid is old enough to be left alone, then that would be better, as your child will be more confident doing more fun things. A lot of it would be about how you raise your child. In my view, just taking their electronics away is a bad strategy, as then, your kids will grow up do be not very techsavvy people. In the end, how you parent is completely up to you and I am in no position to tell you what to do and how to do it.
That time when you were not called a member of the Lgbt or label trans only because you enjoy something mostly made for or have as demographic the opposite gender.
The old feminism.
When artist didn't have to follow public desire just because they can't stand the fact that just because they looks like a character doesn't mean that they have the same life or mentality.
That time where movies and shows had a story and weren't looking to make representations of everyone in everything.
Literally nothing. I miss the times i've got nothing to do and was bored af. Hung around at my parents garden just to figure out what stupid thing to do next.
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You don’t deserve the downvoted. It’s so fucking true, but so many people will perk right up to tell you that it’s no big deal...even though they are constantly losing more and more freedoms disguised as protecting people’s feelings...whatever the fuck that means.
He does deserve to be downvoted because memes are exempt from article 13: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47708144
So? That's like getting a sandwich full of shit. Some of the shit has even spilled on the plate. You complain and get a new, clean plate. It's still a shit sandwich.
Yeah but he said specifically memes when memes were exempt
Okay, that's an argument.
I still agree with you that the article is terrible, it's just the part that every focuses on (memes) is kind of misinformed
True. That part feels like a consolidation price, but it is there. Now we just need a proper definition what a "meme" constitutes.
Cat videos
The old YouTube, like 2012-2015 to me those were the golden ages of YouTube, you could post whatever you wanted and get payed still. Like FlithyFrank, Idubbz, etc.
Stupid people not having a voice that everyone can hear.
being able to make a casual racist joke without people flipping the fuck out
Decency
Anthony Weiner.
To be clear, I mean his addiction to cyber sex and sending dick pics more than the uproar online that led to the end of his political career.
In 2008, he was a passionate, well spoken true progressive. His impassioned speeches on the House floor in favor health benefits for 9/11 first responders really pulled me in. I thought he had a decent shot at one day being elected president. Then Carlos Danger threw it all away.
A real shame.
In 2008 he was a slimy fraud.
Interacting with people around you. Now people are either on their cell phones or have earbuds in. At a restaurant, at least one person at a table will be on the phone. At a store, talking on the phone even while checking out. Walking down the street, earbuds everywhere. People don't see each other anymore.
The old, noncorporate YouTube.
unpopular opinion but I actually like what youtube is today, and i like that they’re finally censoring fucking racists on their platform. They are a PRIVATE company that can do whatever they want
Im not saying they cant. But they were less about money and more about content back before Google bought it. Im sure monetization and profits have dramatically increased but as a viewer and not a content creator, I'd rather watch my favorite content creators make videos for the joy of doing so, not so they'll be able to make rent next month.
you make a good point there
LAN parties.
Unless my youth counts, I don’t miss anything before the internet. I no longer have to open some dusty old book to find the spelling or meanings of words, facts in history, etc. I can watch YouTube and get visual instructions on everything from fixing a car to cooking. I can peek in on my family that live far away thru photos they post online. I can learn about other customs and governments, see which products and businesses get the best reviews and read comments real people write about them.
2 Genders
House Parties
Riding Bikes and exploring your city as a child, all summer long.
Club wars: Another summer long thing in towns of less than 100k, with large wooded areas surrounding the neighborhoods. Groups of pals (think Stranger things but normally 8 or more), meet in the woods and build forts, and actually fuck each other up all summer long, until Lil Johnny gets hurt a bit more then he can hide from his parents.
Pepe the frog
Writing letters and waiting to hear back. That's how people dated way back, especially long distance relationships. A long distance phone call used to be SO expensive. It taught people patience, which is so lacking in people of this age.
It's just sad, to have to wait to hear from your GF for a month. If you don't see patience in younger people, then do your part and raise your children well.
Blockbuster and movie rental stores in general. I’ll never forget the early days of my youth, going to Blockbuster to pick up Pokémon movies. Picking the candy in line was tons of fun as well. Miss those days.
Club Penguin... F
People dressing in a unique way
people not being a large uni culture
Meme faces. Like troll face, LOL face, etc. those were the days
How it was ugly
Renting movies
And while I know the company that owned the place I went to when I was younger is not dead I probably wont be going on a hour long journey into the more central parts of the city I live in just to rent a movie
Video stores.
I've always been a big fan of listening to audio commentaries on DVDs, which is fading away thanks to digital steaming
Renting movies and games
Reality
Video stores. Nowadays I could see it done as being a Print-your-own-T-shirt kind of deal, or an equipment rental and repair joint.
Basic social interaction.
Club penguin. :(
CS 1.6. I used to play a lot on some deathrun and jailbreak servers, but now there aren't people left playing it.
Cheat code books I used to buy at the school book sale. Now it's all Google and mods and DLCs.
the old website heyXD. there was nothing better in fifth grade.
My best friends uncles grandparents.
Vine
Sexual harassment
going to school at not having a bunch of my classmates talking about fortnite. i honestly hate that game, why is it so popular when there are other games that are way better?
Ugandan knuckles. They were annoying yeah but they also had some really funny moments that in my opinion outweighed the annoying parts. Now I only have channels like HeyImBee who even now rarely find knuckles.
Vine #ripvine
Flower crowns were seen as something so close to earth and innocent, and now they are “cringe culture”
Memes
I am a music obsessive. I would never trade the ability to listen to almost anything any time I wanted. My tastes have grown in leaps and bounds with services like Spotify.
But I really miss taking entire days to hit all the record stores, scouring the used sections, trying to find specific records and good deals on that album by that band that toured the east coast with that band you like, and maybe it's good too. That sense of exploration, discovery and celebration is gone now.
My favorite was Used Kids in Columbus, OH. They had all their used CDs available for listening, and all the good radio stations sold their stuff there. Every time I'd make the drive, I'd get a stack of about forty to check out, and I'd bring my personal discman (so I wouldn't feel compelled to rush), sit down in a corner and spend an hour seeing which ones grabbed me in the first minute. I'd be there for hours, and I'd leave with 10-20 records.
Now I just keep very long, meticulous and constantly updated playlists.
My life time
Record stores
An attention span longer than 5 seconds.
dat boi. he never ceased to amuse me
I miss the harsh grinding and beeping sounds that answering the phone and discovering it was a fax broadcast gave me.
I miss real journalism done by a well funded organization.
Newspapers
The high street
The word daddy. Although me and my younger brother don’t use it as we’re not in contact with our father (and quite frankly to old to) , however whenever my younger half sister says it to my mothers “fiancé” (her father) I cringe badly. I just really miss the innocence behind that word.
Out side
Book and record stores.
It's great to get whatever you want downloaded in a few minutes. But sometimes it's nice to browse and find something you didn't even know you wanted.
The internet killed the music industry and prominence of all the rock bands and big concerts .. I do miss quality rock albums but by the time the net rolled around music was line dancing .. white rappers .. boy bands and Britney Spears .. small loss good riddance .. having the net is far better out that tradeoff
Drift'n'Burn 365...
Video rental stores. I really miss being able to walk around the store, at all the movies. Picking out a movie or two, grabbing some popcorn, candy, and a soda.
I used to work at Hollywood Video. Loved it there. Best job I ever had.
Legitimate communication. The internet/text messaging has turned communication into a power game. Whoever responds slowest dictates the conversation. There’s also a huge opportunity for miscommunication as tone is usually determined by the receiver rather than the sender.
Genuine human interaction, it's hard to go anywhere and do anything with someone now without having to post a bunch of bullshit to social media and spend the whole time taking pictures that will get likes/upvotes or whatever bullshit internet points instead of just enjoying the moment.
People vaccinating their children.
Newspapers
Videogame arcades, sure they're still around here and there but nowhere near what it used to be. As a kid there was a "putt-putt" golf course and arcade local to me that had a, all the games you want to play plus pizza for $5 on Saturday mornings. It was glorious. When you started to run out of credits you raised your hand and a staff member opened up the coin receptor and added another 50 credits for you
Y o u.
Bullshitting, it used to be an art damn it!!
Vines
G+
Renting movies
One simple thing: 👌
Common sense
Pepe :(
While it is still a thing in korea and china, I miss the gaming internet LAN houses. Here in Brazil it was huuuuge for a couple of years, then broadband came and everyone played from home without having to pay hourly.
Man I miss the enviroment, the smell, the little community.
Fortnite.
Dating.
club penguin
Going to a store and buying a couple of albums, flipping through the liner notes on the subway ride home.
A faithful relationship
newspapers
Club Penguin
My will to live
Thundercats 2011
I blame the furries for it being canceled.
My innocence.
Emulators. The fact I can download any retro game and play in a few minutes really destroys the fun of looking for games.
Doge
Not seeing FORTNITE every fucking where I look, it's at Walmart, McDonalds, I FUCKING SAW IT AT SUBWAY ONCE, I can't even watch TV half the time and not see something semi related to it it's awful im so SO sick of it.
Social interaction
Texting cha-cha to answer random questions before we all had google in our pockets.
The old way relationships. I miss the feeling of asking a girl face to face if would she like to go out on a date with me, actually getting to know the person by interacting with. Not by using facebook or another social network. I'm actually engaged right now but my nephews and youger cousins have shorter relationships because you can't really know a person (school partner, friend's sister, etc) throught a screen.
Making the choice to not subscribe to my local paper
My phone battery
Minecraft.
Meeting women irl.
I miss AIM and chat rooms lmao
Childhood. Kids now have access to all the information, much of it stuff they ought not to be exposed to so young. Not to mention being lost in their screens all the time instead of outside using their imaginations to invent something to do with their friends. You know, like face-to-face?
Not having echo chambers for the sad sacks and the crazies.
N
[deleted]
Move to Spotify. It’s a way better service with online song listening.
Local Game Stores for card and table top games.
I'm having a really hard time finding new friends.
That there is only one truth. Oh, and democracy.
Privacy
Odd Future
Back when cable was the main form of entertainment for people, the odds of you having something in common to talk about with someone were much higher.
Each week had the same pattern of late-night shows, sporting events, cartoons, etc. Now that people can watch nearly anything at any time, the only thing that gets mass attention are big news stories. Talking to someone about a particular set of streamers, youtube channels, netflix videos, hulu videos, seems far less likely to overlap with other people.
That engagement of talking with a group of friends or family members about a show or documentary that they also watched is now almost gone. Gotta go online and talk to u/dickwhisperer and get their tweet-length armchair-expert condescension, and he has a chip on his shoulder for anyone that disagrees with him.
Movie stores
People possessing general knowledge.
Blissfully being able to enjoy Star Wars movies without feeling like you have to step on eggshells to do it.
Vine
I finally have a good answer. I hate that DVD renting shops have disappeared. By the time the digital takeover was happening, I was getting interested in movies and had these film renting places still been going strong, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'd be down there every other day looking for a film to watch.
As it stands, I'm buying all these films I'll probably never watch again.
Boredom
My life
The Silk Road
reading for fun
Big Chungus, RIP
I miss being able to go an entire day without hearing about twitter
A lot of the stuff I miss wasn't ruined by the internet, but rather by me getting old af. That's why I can't do any of the stuff I used to do. 😁
Being able to enjoy shit from my child hood. A lot of them memes now.
I miss my kids...
Undertale.
Physical media
My life
Society before flat earth conspiracies.
The video star
VINES
Kind of old but Leapsters were my life back in the day, haven't seen one in probably a decade ):
My idea of sexy
The video star
Not having ads.
Movie rental stores like Video Vision and Blockbuster. There is now no reason to leave the house look at all the awesome movie cover art. Now you can do it from your smart device. It is just not the same.
being able to enjoy undertale
Not really the internet but EA bought Playfish and killed their facebook games. They took out Pet Society. Pisses me off every time I remember this.
Face to face chats.
Bulletin boards.
I know there's a handful of TCP ones left, but I miss the days of dial-in.
Not being spoiled on everything
Sort of related. But I miss not knowing every single acquaintance’s job promotion, engagement (of course with the ring pic), new baby, new car, new house, what they wore that day etc. The oversharing on Social of everyone’s “highlight reel” has really intensified the “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality.
Obviously not everyone is like that, and obviously I could just stay off social media (which I am certainly tying to do more of).. but I have a perfectly lovely life and I still find myself playing the comparison game way too often.
It used to be that when you believe something stupid like magic crystals or flat earth, you were probably the only person in your circle who believed that, and everyone else would be skeptical and/or show you that you're wrong. Now, you just type whatever you want to believe into a search engine and you'll be validated by thousands of idiots who believe the same crap you do.
Felix killed all of my favorite memes
Mystery, I hate that entitled feeling that washes over me when I can't get info that I want. I liked life better when some things just had no answer.
Minecraft
Minecraft and the original club penguin
My brother
I'm curious. What happened?
blockbuster
Minecraft
Post shops
Having to buy in bulk, my XL condoms at CVS.
Home delivery of a real local newspaper
The early 00’s internet
Now this will show my age but we used to have a network called FIDONET BBS network. everything networked by phone modems that called in once a day to a hub which called into a hub etc etc etc. Online games where you would send your troops out to attack other nodes. it would take 2 or 3 days for your troops to come back. Really old school. Message boards, email that took a couple days to go out around the world. As soon as the internet came out we all jumped on the bandwagon and fido died. It may still be around but basically dead.
Arcades. Online gaming has all but killed them off but there was no better feeling than walking into an arcade and being surrounded by games and kids losing their minds over them. Especially when there was a huge crowd around one game because you knew something new and unexpected had come out and you couldn't wait to take your shot at it.
Talking to people.
I forget the name of it, but there was a music service where you could buy or 'rent music'.
I was able to explore "and own" all kinds of music for 10 cents a song. Log in from anywhere, and listen, commercial free to all the songs I chose.
Apple bought it and squashed it. They gave me a measly credit for their dominion over the site.
Every meme ever
Blockbuster
Freedom
I miss when people (including me) didn't feel like experts because we read something on the internet, and respected "experts."
Being able to play Minecraft without all the cringe and hate around it,
The N word.
Blockbuster
Standing in a porn store uncomfortably looking at the back of huge vhs boxes trying to find just the right video. All the while feeling judged by the employees and fellow perverts.
Good memes
Figuring out new video games.
Good Nat Geo and Discovery Shows.
Getting a good deal on rare shit at a flea market or somewhere similar.
Anonymity
Common decency.
Eating beans. Can't eat beans in public without a "this n**** eating beans!"
Gamer.tv and their flash games; Dinky Bomb Deluxe and Oddballs Bowling were some of my favourite games when I was younger, I never did reach the black star, red star forever.
Myspace
Good memes
Meeting people on Craigslist or Backspace
LAN parties.
The internet was driving drunk and ran head on into him.
Civility.
Fedoras
Hometown “secret gems” grew up in northern Arizona (horseshoe bend and antelope canyon in my back yard) now it’s so inundated with tourists and/or have to pay to visit its frustrating.
Memes
CDs and DVDs - I liked to have a physical copy :)
The Internet both created and killed OLGA: the OnLine Guitar Archive. Ultimate Guitar seems to rule these days, and it's awful. It pesters you to download its app or upgrade your account or whatever constantly, and then there are loads of terribly transcribed songs that are just plain wrong. OLGA could sometimes be a bit of a crap shoot too, but overall it was far less annoying to navigate and much more accurate.
Minecraft
Debating about silly things without resolution. Like who was the lead actor in Seven, What band sang that song etc. We used to go back and forth making cases for our point and now someone will just Google the answer. Whomp whomp
BBS's. We'll never have those communities back.
Memes; REAL memes. Idk how to describe it but like, memes today are so cultivated/commercialized. Like Everybody knows about them and they're overused and that makes them not funny anymore. Like when you see what happened to loss.jpg, when it was first a thing years ago, it was hilarious (to me at least), then it came back and that was fine, but when everybody knows it I feel like it's not special anymore. Also their lifespan seems so much shorter. Like when a new meme 'comes out' (I also dislike the Coming out of new memes, I feel like they should be generated and introduced naturally), it's only a matter of time until some big name or company uses it in a commerical and makes it not funny anymore. Idk where I heard this from, but memes are like inside jokes, and when everyone's in on it it loses its power.
Btw I still like and enjoy memes, I'm just sorta disappointed in how they've changed. Also this isn't my only complaint, or even my main complaint on this subject but I can't seem to formulate the other thing I dislike about it into words rn so hopefully I can add that in later.
Not yet but adobe flash
Vine
My belief that humans are fundamentally decent.
The early 2000's
My patience.
Going into a video game blind.
Movie Rentals.
When I was a kid my mom worked at movie gallery, and we would go in and rent movies... Then me and my two sisters would watch them in order before bed. Cept I would always go last and never see mine (since we would see theirs and then it'd be bed time)
After a while I started to just get Xbox games and it was great. After my mom stopped working there we started getting RedBox. But now we don't even have a DvD Player, I still see Redbox and want to get one. I'll walk in with my mom and instinctivly go to ask her if we can rent a movie lol.
Not to mention how movie gallery near me had a gumball machine that would roll the gumball down this spiral thing and it was awesome as a kid to watch roll down lol. Saw one the other day, and felt like a little kid again when I got one.
Childhood
My attention span.
Free speech
blockbuster
I managed a Hollywood Video for a few years right before netflix/Redbox/Streaming happened(2008ish). It was a great place to work and have a visit! I had many regulars that came in several times a week and would chat about random flicks no one had heard about. I would loan my personal dvds to regulars and They would share theirs. Hollywood had fewer stores than Blockbuster but had a much bigger selection and because of that I think there was a higher percentage of folks that were just really into movies. I literally make 3x the money now but would go back in a heartbeat!
Nintendo Power and soon Gamestop as well. :(
I dunno if it counts, but Rick and Morty
I shouldn't have let it all get to me, but I did. I don't think I watched anything past the first episode of season 3. I rarely hear it referenced at all anymore, in any way, other than the occasional Pickle Rick on a car's bumper sticker (which I swear I saw yesterday, I live in New Jersey)
I really did enjoy it, read a lot of theories, had a lot of fun even if I didn't fully understand what was going on, and then it all died. People freaking out over sauce, internet backlash centered around a copypasta, it was a mess.
The ability to express an honest opinion and not be attacked.
The Somebody Toucha My Spaget meme
What did I tell him? Internet killed the video star. Internet killed the video star.
Wondering about something and not knowing the answer until you find out for real. I don’t trust most of the answers I get from the internet.
Going to blockbuster and renting out some movies for the weekend/ school holidays
Discussion based on wonder and incomplete information.
Retail service
My long term memory
Club penguin🤧
Those little books of random video game cheat codes that came with magazines. I have one somewhere from when Pokémon Platinum was new and it was sick to type in these codes for the Lego DS games then pass the book around like a holy tome. Now I just type "(insert game) cheats" and it's done.
That and going into something spoiler free, you should just not talk online about any big moments in a movie until a week after it's latest release, which means Americans should wait till after the European release or whichever national release is last.
Watching movies or video songs on TV. Specifically when watching movies, we had to eagerly wait till all sorts of interruptions like commercials, hourly news, time sponsor ads and stupid songs (Indian cinema viewers know) etc.. are over to continue with the main storyline. Even though it was a bit of headache, I miss it.
memes
Making a meme but before I can post it is already dead
Being oblivious to how xenophobic and blindly conservative your parents and older relations really are.
Real social interaction... screw social media haha
Technically this counts. Early internet dating. Chat forums. Sending actual messages. Holy fuck, blind Craigslist dates.
Now it's all swipe right or swipe left. I'm over here not evening owning a phone. The internet giveth and then taketh away.
Malls. Having to talk to your neighbors to get recommendations. The “unknown”
My social life
LAN parties. There was always a special kind of excitement lugging your desktop equipment to a friends house and setting up 5 or 6 people on the LAN to play classics multiplayer games. No need for VoIP, no latency, just straight gaming excitement. Coupled with junk food and soda.
Those were the good ol’ days.
Being able to enjoy Rick and Morty.
The fucking peace sign apparently
Couch Co Op/ LAN parties. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a hundred times easier and I can play with friends who have moved halfway across the country. But playing co op used to be an event, get snacks stay up wayyy to late and try to finish a game in a single sitting, because you knew you had to go home the next morning.
As a gamer I don't like how games don't really organically develop. Almost any game has a full wiki page within days of release.
I hardly ever figure stuff out like I used to, now I get stumped and I Google it. I know it's something I could stop, I just don't.
Magazines
Borders. I loved going to that bookstore so much
Being the source among my peer group for history/politics/social studies. Growing up I was nerdy and picked on but I knew I had that going for me so it did make me feel important and needed.
It surprises me that even though now people have access to so much knowledge at a their fingertips, but really aren’t any smarter.
Closer communities
The value of knowledge and being knowledgeable, and the sacredness of books. Once upon a time to find things out you needed to know the right person, or find the right book to figure something out. Now you can just Google it. The specialness of knowing things or having access to information or a special book is disappearing. In one way that is very democratizing, but in another way there’s something kind of sad about it. This probably doesn’t make any sense to anyone.
Taking photos and getting them printed. Being able to pull out a photo book to show friends and family is a good time that will slowly stop happening as we bury our photos on the cloud.
There was this game on facebook (8ish years ago) called Backyard Monsters. It was fun, I had fun with a lot of my friends at the time. It even had an app for a year until it shut down. I’ve always wanted to play it again to no avail. Also... LEGO universe!
Dating. I guess as a gay person I should be grateful because dating would have been pretty much nonexistent for me prior to the internet, but online dating has warped people's expectations when it comes to dating and it's made the entire thing so much more difficult.
Everyone needs the perfect person so if you have even the slightest flaw or do the smallest thing wrong, they end it. And because of the anonymity and distance of the internet, that ending is often being ghosted.
Carl
Vine.
Going to a bar and people aren’t on their phones.
Nicktropolis 😢
Trivia/little known facts/that sort of thing. Now everyone can look up anything they want within seconds, so it makes it far less impressive when someone knows a lot of trivia/random facts.
Privacy.
My sense of direction. If I visited a new city, I would learn my way around in a day or two. Would take a read on the sun or a visible landmark and keep myself in the right direction.
Now I can't hardly find my way up the driveway to the mailbox without phone navigation.
Minecraft
The internet killed writing letters. Call it old fashioned, but nothing quite beats pen and paper
Video rental stores. Not Blockbuster, but the small mom & pop places where I could browse for obscure direct-to-video titles I'd never heard of before. I guess I can still go on imdb, but it's not the same.
Minecraft
My humor. I now dont find a lot of memes funny.
Almost all the ones I see are ones that I would have laughed at if I was still in 2016 (16 years old).
Does that mean that memes have become more predictable and unfunny or did I grow up?
Being with your friends and forgetting what time it is.
Privacy.
The video star.
Being able to buy a movie ticket the day of and not have a terrible seat.
Mr. Moviephone.
The video rental place (Blockbuster, etc.).
Limewire
My self confidence
Going out with your family to pick out a movie for the night
Hi
My sense of empathy.
Sunday night movie with all of my family.
My attention span.
Book stores
I know they aren't really dead yet but they probably will be soon.
One of my favorite fantasies about my future is that i want to own a 24hr secondhand book store in some city with my apartment right above it but yeah that will never happen :/
The tv, no smartphones conversations,readin paper books..
Christmas and Birthday cards that came in the mail. Now people just post greetings through social media and think that's sufficient. A 5 second effort instead of actually going to the store and picking out something thoughtful. Same with invitations to special events like baby showers.
Hikes
Music albums
The concept still exists but they are rarely ever appreciated as a whole. With iTunes and streaming services putting the focus solidly on individual songs means that albums as an overall integrated thing are basically ignored.
The idea of sitting down and listening to a whole album start to finish is almost gone. CDs made it easy to skip tracks you didn't like but at least you were still getting the whole experience.
To be fair, it's not inherently always worse the way it is now, but I still miss the way it was, and if I'm being honest I'm willing to make the trade off for easy access to music these days.
The video store. Going there, looking at the movies they had, talking to the video guy. I was really young when Blockbuster started failing because of Netflix, but when I was a kid, I kinda dreamed of working at a video store.
Rage Comics. Goddamn I miss them I wasn't familiar with memes getting old when I first started on the Internet and to this day I long for rage comics to make a comeback.
RENTING MOVIES. I know it’s more expensive in the long run but there’s something special about picking out your movie in person
The Sears catalog....
Blockbuster, and other movie stores.
There was something special about finishing work, jumping into the car, and heading to the movie store where you could spend up to an hour just browsing movies. you also got a real chance to check out something you've never seen it before - and possibly enjoy it.
But netflix ruined that with their 'we think you may like this movie because it's like that other movie you watched' algorithm.
Losing the ability to watch a random movie that you've never heard of before is something I can't put into words. It's like losing a best friend. I'd give up convenience for the mystery of exploration any day of the week.
Milsbury and that website where stick figures kill each other
Meeting friends, lovers, etc. in person. I’m much more fond of the idea of meeting someone in person along your path than facilitating something online. I’m the only one in my friend group who doesn’t think it’s silly to want to meet people in person.
arcades. I’m tryna play some third strike or mvc2 yo...
the old website hell.com
Usenet.
face to face communication.
Club Penguin
Me
Evanescence. That meme made everything absolutely intolerable. I know it was edgy, but I miss being an edgy kid and listening to it. If you so much as sing it now you get labeled badly.
Thinking I am good at anything.
The $1000 brick.
Record stores
My mother is a Democrat. My father is a Republican. Their marriage is strong, but nowadays, I think that Republicans and Democrats have a hard time being friends. Women list, "No Trump supporters" on their dating profiles, and I feel like if my co-workers knew that I wasn't a hard-line leftist that I'd be out of a job.
Job applications. Used to simply customize my cover letters, then fax directly from my computer. Sometimes I'd print the out and hand them in first thing Monday morning, after perusing the Sunday NY Times classifieds (seemed to have the best-quality ads.)
I could go to the office, ask the secretary to ensure that it gets into the right hands. I could add a nice-looking signature (font) and include writing samples if needed.
Now, I have to poke around the company's application site, watch as it attempts to extract information from my resume, doesn't always give the option of including a cover letter, can't use a creative signature font, etc.
Also took down my LinkedIn profile because I keep getting spammed from them, so weird. Couldn't figure out how to edit it so I gave up altogether.
Now, I'll be looked at sideways because I don't have a "social media presence" (no FB, instagram, twitter or anything, just my anonymous reddit.)
the OG club penguin
Vine 😔
arcade games and cartoon good ones like Scooby Doo or Tom and Jerry
google plus
haha just kidding, I'm actually not sure.
Blockbuster movie nights. With the Blockbuster combo popcorn bin.
Club penguin. I miss that game.
I know there's a new version! Shut up!
Pinging friends halfway across the globe with zeostimulizers instead of just randomly sending then an IM. I remember back in 2064 when you actuay had to hover over to your friends gravity defying domicile and ask them to play with you
Conversations with random people. Getting to know your neighbors. All of these things are dead thanks to social media. People get their social interaction from their phone, no longer in person.
If I try to make small talk with someone on an elevator (that isn't obviously preoccupied or otherwise clearly not interested in talking) I get a look like I'm a standing there with my dick in my hand.
Blockbuster
Happiness
Woody Harrelson
i miss "be cool Scooby doo"! that show was amazing and a great re-make of Scooby doo! but y'all 90's kids had to kill it because it didn't meet you're expectations!
Civility
Minecraft, everyone gave it shit
Snapchat not existing
My life... sometimes
I miss stumbling on a show or movie while flipping through channels. There is an amazing amount of shows today, more then ever, and the algorithms are great at finding me stuff it knows I'll like.
But that's the problem, it's too good at feeding me what it knows I already like. I miss stumbling on something I never would have picked myself and is way different then what I usually watch but becomes a new favorite.
Good memes, and good fandoms.
Club penguin.it did not deserve to die
Moth memes
Normal conversation.
The thrill of finding porn with the least amount of pop up ads and quickest download for a 24.4k and 56.6k modem
Mystery
Human interaction.
Those homevideo shows.
Club penguin :(
Northernlion's Tumbleseed playthrough. I never even found out why the videos got so many dislikes, people just latched on and said "it bad" :(
Meeting someone for the first time.
does club penguin count
Minecraft tbh that game used to be a blast
My innocence when it comes to witnessing the most heinous things you can imagine.
When I was a kid I remember wishing I could see a car crash. Not because I wanted to see a person make the transition from living person to corpse, but because it was something you hear about all the time yet never see. Or, later in my adolescence wanting to see the Faces of Death VHS tapes (which, when the scenes were even real wound up being pretty tame by today's internet standards) . They were the stuff of legend then. Elephantitus of the nuts, women with two vaginas, grotesque suicide survivors, women blowing donkeys and so forth.
Morbid curiosity is normal. Sometimes I wish it had stayed just a curiosity.
The internet is shutting down many malls across America, but luckily in my state New Jersey, we are lucky to have enough population to keep most of our malls alive. I love brick-and-mortar shopping besides just shopping online.
Personal privacy and the ability to make mistakes (like any normal human being) without them being used as blackmail for the rest of your life.
August Ames
Speciality stores. Now if you want to buy a CAT5 cable you almost need to go to Amazon. It's not just filter stuff. They liked all specialty nitch stores.
My day runner. It not only kept my schedule, reservations, journal and projects but I maintained the address book with names, numbers, spouses, kids, addresses, birthdays. I spent a lot of time keeping it up to date. It held a permanent spot on my roll top desk. Now all that info is in my phone, I do all business, bill paying online and my desk is mostly just a big pen, tape and stapler holder.
REAL MODELS. NOT THESE INSTAHOES
Caturday.
The radio star.
My gullibility, I wish I could stop having to verify everything.
Civil discourse
Internet killed itself unfortunately
Video games. They used to be so much better before mainstream internet.
Minecraft
Brick and mortar stores.
finding porn mags in bushes
Those little cheat code books you got at the scholastic fair
Physical Media, it's becoming harder and harder to find stores that sell A wide variety of physical media, nowadays they only tend to sell the popular stuff and no hidden gems and more niche releases and when they do the releases are half-assed, look at DVDs and CD's back in the day they used to come with pictures on the disc, a pamphlet and sometimes more but now you're lucky to get a UV code and just a plain disc with the film title on/album artist and title on, same with games part of the fun used to be reading through the manual on your way home or whatever but now they're all digital.
Club Penguin
Club Penguin.
Porn magazines.
Not for the porn. But because they used to have really good articles and some super interesting interviews. So when you were done rubbing one out, you had some good reading material afterwards.
Blockbuster.
Social interactions
Vine.
BBSs
Going to the Library
whispers shane dawson videos
boy i cant wait for the downvotes !
Blockbuster
I miss Blockbuster. Going to Blockbuster on Friday night to rent movies was always fun. I would run into people, might end up hanging out with them afterwords. And browsing a blockbuster for a movie to rent was a lot easier than browsing through online stores. Websites still haven't mastered the art of browsing and discoverability.
Dat Boi
My religion.
Vine...it was part of my after-school ritual
Newspapers
rage comics :(
Blockbuster. Took the excitement out of starting a movie.
Shrek
Steak and cheese dot com
Sears.
The irony is I almost never shopped there, but it was sad to walk through the closing down Sears. It was mostly empty, and it just a metaphor for so many things.
Club Penguin
I remember back in 2012 you could rant about anything and no one would argue now everything is so censored and bland
Everything. couch multiplayer video games....video rental stores....shopping malls
Filthy frank
EVERYTHING
I kinda liked yolo. It killed off some of the idiots
A singer that I really looked up to. It wasn't entirely the internet's fault but he already has seasonal depression to begin with and the keyboard warriors are not helping him cure.
Also, it's his birthday today.
wholesome pepe memes
Sane political discourse.
Being able to have your own opinion without being downvoted or argued with to hell
Minecraft. Honestly, after the internet deemed it cringy I just never found it fun anymore, which is a shame because when I did find it fun I felt there was no better feeling than getting MineForge (think thats the name) and shoving in as much mods as you can without making it A. Crash or B. Look like a windows PowerPoint presentation.
Reading. Books.
Vine
Club penguin, I used to play that game all the time. I would face time my friend and we would just play for hours. I miss the good old days.
split sceen
Local drive-in theater
Reading the Sunday New York Times from the first page to the last
My innocence
Random Forrest porn.
Tbh fidget spinners are pretty good but I can't use one without being seen as "cringy"
Blockbuster
There used to be these two days where you didn't have to work and you had uninterrupted time with your family. Now we have to work everyday... But somehow we don't get paid for that. I don't know how to explain it. Anybody can jump in here.
My attention span.
Privacy
Movies and tv shows not being instantly spoiled the same day of release for click bait.
Critical thinking skills.
blissful naivete
Memes that last longer than 3 hours.
Blockbuster. My childhood revolves around LEGO’s and movies😢
Political discourse has been harmed by the internet.
Hear me out:
People curate an internet experience that only reinforces their own views. Take reddit for example; you have the option only subscribe to subreddits that validate your thoughts. On those subreddits, anything that doesn't agree with consensus gets downvoted literally hidden. Happens on facebook too, as people proudly defriend those that disagree with them filling their feed with people that already agree with them. This happens both on the left and the right. I believe this makes people more extreme.
Political disagreements have of course existed forever, but having to have these discussions in person I think made people more understanding of each other overall. Creating an internet experience that only validates your already existing thoughts makes people more extreme and less understanding.
Neighborhood book stores. I used to love going, browsing, and getting recommendations from the staff. There are still of a few such stores around - I try to shop at them as much as I can - but the bookstore culture is nowhere near as strong as it used to be.
A Dictionary
Club Penguin
Silvagunner
My sanity
Video stores. Loved the local shop that had a lot of odd old titles that aren't on any of the streaming services or on demand.
Humor
Club Penguin
People getting offended so easily
Face to face conversation but in exchange, I can talk to people around the world.
Animation. I religiously surfed newgrounds and that shaped a lot of who I am today. Online animation changed a lot from 2012-2019. I miss waiting for the next Badger song to come out.
Toy stores
Thinking I was good at video games.
I really liked browsing video stores and movie stores. Talking to employees and picking their brains.
Pornos mags in the woods.
LimeWire
My sanity
Zune
Shopping malls.
-having a "haunt", i.e. everyone you know has one particular place they go when they go out, and if you want to find them you just go there. people didn't have great communication and wanted to be found.
Playing outside
Club penguin
Encyclopedia
Being able to make a joke without someone becoming offended
Beyblades.
I'd play with those fuckers for HOURS and now it's just used to describe cringey 2000s kids
Mr. Showbiz
Blockbuster!
A social life
Anticipation of TV shows.
Having to read to know something.
Socialization?
Blockbuster. Being able to walk up the street with my family or friends and look at shelves full of movies and games would make a great weekend. It’s kind of boring to browse online and rent it. Don’t know why but there was just something about Blockbuster I loved but it couldn’t compete with the digital rentals and subscriptions.
Fave to face conversation.
Club Penguin. Simple as that
My innocence
Asking strangers for directions (or getting asked). It always feels good to help someone or to have a short chat with a random stranger.
Luckily it still happens sometimes because sometimes it's impossible to google something, especially in foreign countries.
Video game strategy guides. I used to love reading though them when I bought a new game.
Then the internet literally killed them with the Final Fantsy IX guide. Visit PlayOnline to learn more!
I legitimately miss video rental stores like Blockbuster a fucking ton.
For over 10 years I lived outside the US in areas where it wasn't really a thing in the same way in either being in the wrong language or just not available, so the only time I got to go to Blockbuster or something similar was when visiting my grandmother stateside.
Blockbuster was nothing but super happy positive memories. Netflix and other services are basically a digital version of the video rental store, but without all the charm and ability to find something that catches your eye by just wondering around.
Having to actually physically go find your friends.
AOL chatrooms
Shopping malls/major historic brands, drive in theaters, small town book stores, being able to have an opinion or simply exist without people wishing harm upon you, humor, being okay with taking a simple photo of yourself and sharing it without trying to "fix" it, people not being able to spread misinformation and hate so easily, cards and letters.
Anticipation.
I loved that drive home after buying a new video game, reading the booklet several times.
Same with going to the video rental place every week to pick out a mivie to watch. We could spend a long time trying to make sure we didnt regret our choice when it was our turn to choose.
Video rental stores. There was something exciting about going to rent a movie on Friday for the weekend.
Mixed tapes.
AOL chatrooms. The innocence of them, all types of people going online for the first time, together. Like pioneers setting out westward into uncharted territory. I made some great e-friends then, people I never saw or heard from again once we all started going broadband, but while it lasted the bonds we created were something serious.
Newspapers
I still hang on and avoid internet news sources
Having deep and meaningful conversations with people who can maintain concentration.
Yahoo pool
Trading rare VHS tapes. Now you can find anything on YouTube, etc. However back in the day, the rare video market was so much fun. You’d find other collectors and trade the weirdest and rarest videos. Now it’s too easy to find a specific show that never aired or a block of 80’s Saturday morning cartoons. The hunt is gone and I miss that.
Cheat code books.
The Harlem shake
Renting a movie from the video store
I'm looking for a "Ugandan Knuckes" comment
The seriousness of depression and suicide. In the early 2000s, if you said you wanted to kill yourself, you would probably get a response like “you shouldn’t say that. Maybe you should get a therapist.”
Now, if you said you wanted to kill yourself, the response would likely be a “same bro,” or “we all do lol.”
It can be really hurtful to some people when their feelings aren’t taken seriously.
offline co-op and vs with friends
Walking into a brick and mortar store to make a purchase. I wouldn't go so far as to say the internet 'killed' it, but it's definitely on life support.
Nyan cat
Society.
Everything! Like when you like a Game Of Thrones character and you just know some useless dick out there who shouldn't exist will eventually come and kill it/them 😢
Idk why I am so nostalgic for movie rentals. It in every logical sense is completely inconvenient. But I loved walking through the store with my mom and siblings picking movies to rent and then sometimes getting the big bucket of popcorn, those stores had such a distinct smell
That and scarcity in general
Not being traumatized by things you were 99.9% unlikely to see at any point in your life
Youtube
Decorum
Pepe the frog.
The video star.
[deleted]
https://www.lanreg.org/lanwar/mml3
Thinking I was good at something. It used to be that i could be excited about being the best at something (like, an instrument) in my small circle of friends. But now I compare myself to thousands of strangers online, and i'm (comparatively) not any good. And my baking never looks as good as professional bloggers', sapping some of the excitement
MSN
BTS blowing up while my butt was at school wishing i was dead,i have depression
Interpersonal interaction
Not entirely the same vein but I miss early youtube. I understand that copyrighted material is protected but you used to be able to find hella old tv shows on there, some that don't have home releases. Now they're all gone and the ones that ARE there had to edit the pitch slightly or slightly speed it up to avoid the algorithm.
The hunt for comic book collecting. Hunting down old used shops and strip mall comic conventions just to try to find issues that you needed to fill in your collection.
Now it's usually a quick eBay search and some negotiation. which still gets you the books but isn't quite as special.
BLOCKBUUUUSTERRRRR
Club Penguin
Video rental places. Used to love going as a kid and renting video games only by what the case looked like. Usually disappointed, but still fun.
Political correctness
Renaming the share button to spreaddit
Decent political conversations
Video game magazines
EGM, GamePro, and GameFan were my jam
Being able to see any new big movie and not know what happens.
Wrestling and surprises
Blockbuster
Must see TV
This is partially the doing of DVR and TiVo, but it was streaming services that ultimately finished it off.
Video rental stores.
People telling stories about things they did. Now everyone must posts pictures and then when you ask them about it they have nothing to say
Bookstores and magazines of my interests. Nothing like picking up a SLAM basketball magazine or Nintendo Power or Car Audio magazine at the store and being excited to get home, sit on my bed and read it.
Channel surfing. I know it's supposed to be easier now (and cost efficient) but I miss flipping through 150 channels on a Saturday afternoon and coming up on random movie. Critters! Oh cool!
I have an example that the internet both created and killed.
Preface: for fans who are super into gymnastics, it’s cool to be able to go back and watch old performances. So much that fans used to collect as much footage of the sport as they could possibly get their hands on.
In the mid to late 1990s, there was an online club called The Gymnastics Tape Trading Club. GTTC was a website where you would register, and post a link to your own site where you’ve compiled a list of which competitions you had on VHS. You would then reach out to each other with requests of copies of certain competitions. If you didn’t have a way to make copies or perhaps didn’t have any competitions that the other person had, you could work out “trade for cost” with them. Anyway, I ended up obtaining over 200 VHS cassettes full of hundreds of gymnastics meets. I spent a lot of my teenage years doing this.
Once the internet sped up, we would exchange files we had converted to PC instead of copying VHS. Eventually, YouTube really made this all unnecessary - there are tons of meets on YouTube uploaded by many people I got to know over the years in GTTC. And if there’s not a meet there chances are I can find someone online who has it available for uploading. It’s how I met some of my first internet friends!
TL;DR gymnastics fans used to have to trade VHS tapes (or eventually, DVDs) to share footage.
The radio star.
Hiking
Club Penguin
I missed the collecting aspect before Ebay. you could the only person you knew with a cool item. now anyone can click a button and have it
Vine
Looking information up in the encyclopedia.
Blockbuster. Going to blockbuster every weekend to pick out a couple of movies was a highlight of my childhood. It was always so exciting and so much fun.
Dabbing
Encyclopedias. I used to thumb through them as a kid and learn random stuff.
Spoilers. You can't use the internet today without a show or movie being spoiled.
Fanzines like Amazing Heroes.
Every dead meme
Moth memes
My dick
Vine. Ik it's not because of the internet but gotta miss vine
Shooting the shit for an hour about something. Now we just look it up. It’s not the actual subject that matters, it’s just the activity of the friendly debate. No more
Blockbuster
Making stupid, embarrassing home videos that were just for your family and friends to see
My attention span.
Video gaming. It was the best thing to get your friends over and try to beat that boss together (and the excitement and celebration when you finally did after 30 attempts), or take turns playing through a game or play competitive games where it you could talk shit face to face. But since you were face to face you had to watch how far you went with the shit talking. Too far and you end up with a fist in your face or no friends to play with. Now any 8 year old jumps online and says whatever without consequences. It just isn't the same without sitting in the same couch going through it together.
My innocence
Going to the movies and being surprised at the trailers
Privacy.
Long “I bet you” dinners discussing who’s right about a fact.
The true meaning of 👌🏻.
Well, it's still internet but.. modern internet killed chats. Like, I just turned 30 yesterday... I remember AOL, AIM, IRC, Yahoo Messenger ect and it seems like that aspect just isnt around anymore. Yahoo voice chat was so much fun cause the anonymity still existed yet there was "regulars" who knew eachother like good friends and there was always tons of random ass people who'd pop up for the day and you'd never see again
People were willing to listen to somebody DJ music through this shitty quality stream cause there WAS no youtube or spotify or ect ect
Internet killed the video star
VHS it was kinda shit but something about it was nice just can't explain
Intelligence
Not really the internet but the satisfaction of getting a new hard copy game from GameStop on release. The feeling of suspense and excitement as your fingers gloss through the plastic wrap on that car ride home. But now you can just buy a downloadable Game, and why wouldn’t you? It’s evidently more efficient, it stays with you forever, you can download it prior to it’s official release and play it the second it unlocks. But it’s just not the same.
porn in print haha
One day people will miss all the things we are all complaining about.
Yall ever heard of Club Penguin?
Wonderment
Wizard 101
playing outside with my friends
My dignity.
Hanging out at parties with people talking and not looking at their phones
I miss club penguin
Civil discussion
My attention span
Seeing movie trailers for the first time in the theaters. I used to get so excited and actually get to the theater on time/early to see them.
cheat code paper sheet
Pokémon go
Phone numbers
In the best way possible - being able to bullshit your way through a conversation without someone being able to instantly verify every single fact in an instant.
My dad was the best at half-remembering facts and telling you all about them, it was endearing in a way... I feel bad now how easily he is deflated now by the fact that the person on the other side of the conversation can just Google whatever he is bullshitting about.
My father. Well... It hurt him badly. Hurt his feelings really.
Nintendo Power and other video game magazines. I know it's so much more convenient to be able to just look up any cheat code or demo or preview, or play a beta now than it was back then, yes.
However, having those articles, strategy guides, walkthroughs, cheats, previews, interviews, and even the demo discs that came with Playstation Magazine and the like were so good. There's something that's just nice about having something in your hands when you read it, and going back and looking at my old ones now, it's still pretty nice.
My social life.
Good memes
MySpace. I really liked how your music playlist played automatically when you viewed a profile. Music gives people lots of personality IMO
Not me. It used to piss me off when your bored and wanted to sneak on the net when BAM blast of music blaring everywhere, exposing everyone around you that you are sneaking on MySpace. I hated that so bad. When this new site started, Facebook ,(I believe it's called) I quickly signed up because of that. I feel old.
The radio star... Oh wait. Wrong killer.
Planking. Don't know why. Also good anime. Oh, and pepe. I miss pepe.
Being able to surprise people or just legitimatly missing a call
Sleeping at the right time. memes are great, but too distracting
It makes all art(music, video games ect.) fast food. Nothing feels timeless anymore.
Sense of direction. Hands down... I am naturally good at this, but being on vacation the last week in a city I haven’t been in years, I realize the internet made me stupid.
Purchasing tickets for concerts. It used to be you had to take the day off and stand in line at a music store or box office and buy tickets. Ticketmaster couldn't put them all up for secondary sale, and scalpers didn't have the access to poach tickets.
We would stand outside and throw the frisbee around waiting for the box office to pick open, then hang out and talk about other shows and such. Most people in line would get tickets, and everyone would be happy.
The internet has made it so impersonal. Scalpers and Ticketmaster have made it impossible to get face value tickets on the open market. People don't hangout waiting for box offices to open. Now it's $25 service charges for buying already overpriced tickets, and a charge to print your own tickets.
Going to a show is now a hassle. Tickets are sold out before they go on sale. It sucks.
Local computer swap meets for me
Calling my father “daddy.” I am physically unable to anymore, even though it felt sweet. Sickos.
Kevin the spaced penguin
As a Magic: The Gathering player, I miss having to wait for the next issue of a paper magazine to see the top decks and tournament reports. I miss the reporters being professionals, not anyone who played in a tournament who also has an internet connection. I miss coming up with a deck that totally surprised everyone, instead of finding out that 4 Pros had already schemed it up and posted it on speculation on a handful of websites.
The internet has added a lot to my hobby, but it eliminated the joy of being a rogue deckbuilder.
I miss not being inundated with advertising constantly. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even process it anymore. My brain just sort of identifies it and ignores it.
Wondering about something for more than a minute
Offensive humor. It’s not really killed but it’s suppressed.
LAN parties
Split screen gaming.
The ability to disagree with someone and not hate them or get overly emotional.
The Radio Star.
Playing video games splitscreen with the boys
Ordering toys from catalogues with my parents!
Mac Miller
I think the internet killed the way humans socialize, in a sense. There’s less reasons to leave the house because at a brick and mortar store, you’re restricted to whatever the store has stocked on the shelves. Your options are limitless on the internet. And shit they’ll deliver it to you - food, clothes, furniture, whatever.
And when people do leave the house oftentimes they’re still in their internet bubble. Listening to music, or watching a movie, or scrolling through Twitter, or texting someone else not currently in the same space as them. Even when circumstances do necessitate leaving their house, there’s nothing stopping them from isolating themselves anyway.
I don’t have evidence or numbers to back it up, but in general I think people where I live are a little more standoffish these days.. there isn’t a strong neighborly community really. People generally don’t converse or hold much small talk with strangers. Shit honestly sometimes it just seems like people don’t even really like looking at one another in public. Maybe it’s just me but I feel like so many people are in their own little world a lot of the time. Can’t say I’m innocent in that myself
Minecraft let’s plays
Reddit.
Newspapers! God I miss curated journalism. I'm not even that old, (x-ennial, I guess?) but I loved the finite and crinkly nature of a paper. I have online subscriptions now and scrolling is not nearly as satisfying while I drink my coffee.
...the video star?
One of the things i miss that the Internet killed was memes, for example i miss Ugandan Knuckles, R.I.P :((((((
Idiots not having a voice.
I miss the old days where everyone just read Dr Seuss and watched Ace Ventura and enjoyed them for what they were, without telling the whole world how the fuck they were offensive to my pussy self.
Local newspapers. I read one every morning!
My innocence
Being able to buy something in-store.
My career.
I was a Computer Store Manager for large Computer Superstores working my way up when the Internet hit.
Who do you suppose was the first group of people to order stuff online?
Couch co-op. Something amazing about sitting down with friends and playing co-op games.
Catalogs
Intimacy.
My privacy.
Multi player on one screen. Having my brother and two cousins come over to play video games followed by a sleep over was a always blast.
Basshunter
Bullshitting. Being able to Google anything on your phone killed bullshitting.
Internet killed the video store.
I see what you did... smooth
I miss big bookstores. Some time between about 1995 and 2008 Borders and Barnes & Noble seemed to be expanding and opening up everywhere. For someone who grew up with crappy mall bookstores in the 1970s and 80s, they were a delight. Lots of books, easy to special order things, armchairs, a play area in the kids section, book signings, musical gigs, a cafe...
Amazon killed most of them, of course. Now, Amazon is amazing in its own way, but I used to only order from them books that weren’t in stock in my local stores. Even when I got my ereader, my first device was a B&N nook.
Now I have to drive 20 minutes to one of the two big bookstores left in the county and it is half toys. We don’t even have the mall bookstores anymore. You can pick up very popular mass market paperbacks at grocery, drug, and airport convenience stores still but it’s not the same at all.
a cafe...
Having a coffee, while reading, as you sat on one of their comfortable chairs was like a mini vacation. I loved B&N.
I lived on a relatively busy corner in the suburbs. On a saturday morning when I'd do yardwork, multiple cars would pull over to ask for directions to various locations; a little league field, the downtown area, the nearest gas station, etc.
I miss those short interactions. It was a time where if you felt a little vulnerable you were more inclined to ask a stranger for help. I know there were downsides too, but it was a period when everyone felt more approachable and candid.
Flash games
Civil conversation.
It created and ended online dating. About 10 years ago, or about 8, you could meet a girl online and start talking. Now a days, it seems like nobody wants to meet new people online. Too many fake profiles and stories of crazy strangers have ruined all that. At least that's how it seems to me.
Edit: I'm talking about places like Facebook. Not Tinder or all that. Though there are a ton of fakes on those places too.
Harambe
Geocities...
'Kay, so I know that's not the point of this question, but the internet (Yahoo, essentially) did basically kill the web hosting service, and I miss both it and all the websites that went down with it. ;__;
This was before everything became a template like with Tumblr, Instagram, etc. Back then, people worked hard to create unique website layouts practically from scratch. There was a lot of great creativity out there.
Porn in magazines, not on a screen at a computer or a phone.
This... The crap I see online is deplorable. It rarely happens in real life
Smash Mouth
my self-esteem
My whole family
Not something I miss at all, but mobile phones killed the awkward conversations I used to have with my girlfriend's parents.
Chat rooms on shitty dial up. A/s/l were the days, then the pedos and creeps ruined it for us.
Going outside
Going outside
Playing a video game and figuring out problems.
real music
Blockbusters
technically internet killed Flappy Bird
Drawer of nudie mags obviously.
Civility.
Ebaumsworld type animated shorts 😂
Semi ambiguous sarcasm. Used to be you never needed to put /s at the end of a joke. Now people are just too damn stupid.
Innocence.
My confidence.
Cheap second-had/pawn ships and having lots of used books stores around with decent prices.
Not that you do it that often but I feel like Facebook ("the Internet") has killed the high school reunion. When you see what everyone is doing online you don't necessarily feel the need to see them in person.
The 'party line' used to be a thing, kids just seemed to get a phone number and everyone knew about it and you'd call the p-line and talk to random weirdos, it was always something my friends and I would do when there was nothing else going on - three way calling into the p-line lol
Privacy
Not having something spoiled before you see it.
Rental Stores. Specifically the games section.
I only played as many Wii games as I did because I could rent them for $7.99 a week. I got to the great maze in subspace emissary in a week because I had to return Brawl. I got to the end of the first dungeon in Skyward sword (and if I buy it again I'm finishing that game)
Club Penguin. When I had no friends, I had Club Penguin. When I had no pets, I had Club Penguin. When I had nothing, I had Club Penguin.
Masturbating without pornography.
Music videos. As a Canadian growing up with muchmusic in its heyday, man this generation doesn’t know what it lost.
vine
The freedom to be weird in public
Wherehouse music let you listen to the CDs before you bought them. You could spend hours looking around.
Anonymity.
Craftsman tools made in the USA with we don't care what happened warranty replacements.
Civility..... rest in peace yo 🙏⚰️💯
The pub debate. Now there's always someone who whips out their phone to check the validity of a claim.
Strong diverse Communities. No you can sit and only talk and interact with people just like you.
My own ignorance. Like, I really wish that I had never learned that anti-vaxers, flat earthers, Alex Jones and other stupid shit like that existed.
Accountability for truth
Browsing for movies at the dvd store, there was no blockbuster in my country
I miss stumbling across something new in a store. I still remember going into Toys R Us as a kid and discovering new Gi Joes had come out.
Channel surfing. I found so many movies (albeit edited for TV with commercial breaks) that way. I love the convenience of streaming and all, but I miss the feeling of chilling at home on a rainy weekend and flipping through channels until something caught my eye.
Hooking up with chicks at the library.
Of course, it could just be high school that I miss.
Still, internet killed this.
Anonymity
Hotel Directories. I collected them. My mom advised me to de clutter my play area and said “Why do you have so many hotel directories?”. So one day we’re all around and I put my hotel directories in the trash since I believe that everything digital will do the same. I want to cry my eyes out in regret about it and everything. I’ve tried contacting hotel chains for directories and they don’t have any leftover copies anymore. . If anyone PLEASE has hotel directories please send them to me.
Cartoons.. the good ones that would come on during the morning
Rental chains, mail order catalogs... Knowing my son will never have the joy of tearing into the Sears Wish Book at Christmas and packing it around for two months just hoping is sad to me.
Week old memes that you just started finding funny.
Daily newspapers worth reading. The internet obliterated the newspaper industry. I remember the Sunday paper when I was a kid - the thing was a fucking behemoth.
Going outside.
Gamestop. I still go to places like gamestop because I like having something physical. Also these places have really cool figures and stuff. Now most people just put their credit card information and stay on the couch. But places like gamestop you can get really cool stuff. Did your digital pre-order of My Hero Ones Justice cone with a poster? My physical gamestop pre-order did. Also physical games are actually surperior if you want more games since some data is on the disk and such. Also physical games have price drops sooner and what if you decide you don't like a game. Most digital stores don't have a return policy. You go somewhere and physical games for moneys.
DLC game announcements. People datamine before that shit comes out. My excitement wouldn't have been the same if I knew Sonic was going to be in Smash in 2007(?). Trailer still gives me chills sometimes
Meeting your friends on the playground at school and checking out their new bakugan
Rick and Morty
Social interaction
The radio star. Shit, wait...
New grounds.
I know this is relatively new, and it's still possible but I miss getting together with my friends when I was a kid to play 4 way split screen games like halo. That just barely exists anymore.
Bullshitting your kind into thinking you're some king of library of knowledge.
Urban myths and the possibility they were true.
Tales of Eternia online :(
Textsheet.com/litanswers.org
Common decency?
[deleted]
I miss not knowing things. Working hours or days and asking everyone I knew who sang a song, or who co-starred in a movie.
It was a fun and frustrating journey with no real stakes, yet when you finally figured it out, you felt like you’d just won the lottery.
Now, every question I have, my phone or google home answers instantly and is always correct.
I think it's bad that the internet killed a lot of the print media and the journalism profession and the ability of many people to do good investigative journalism and be paid for it. We need those people to keep our society fair and balanced and hold the politicians etc accountable. I think that buying a newspaper or paying for one that keeps that going is worth it to you in the long term.
I also think it's good to pay for basic TV as well like they do in Denmark and get good shows reflecting good/better values and not have to watch advertising not to mention not be subjected to the whims and desires of advertisers in your TV shows/movies/sitcoms.
I miss not knowing things. Working hours or days and asking everyone I knew who sang a song, or who co-starred in a movie.
It was a fun and frustrating journey with no real stakes, yet when you finally figured it out, you felt like you’d just won the lottery.
Now, every question I have, my phone or google home answers instantly and is always correct. There’s no joy in it.
Steamed Hams.
Peppa Pig...
The Harlam Shake was really funny to me. I miss it
Nickelback
Basic manners and common courtesy
That theres no mystery you cant find on the internet, for generations there were circuses and TV specials on the oddities, obscurities, miracles, and "jaw-droppers" in life and now it's all in your facebook feed or a google search away from knowing more. I'm no scientist but this overstimulation and inability to ever see something "new" might have a direct correlation with my generations (millenial) discontent,boredom, and just in general pickyness. Too much entertainment and access has become a bad thing.
Doge
(Not modern doge)
Toys R Us
Being overly excited to take a crap and read the hell out of the newest edition of EGM, Gamepro & Nintendo Power that just came in the mail. Damn i miss those craps.
Minecraft.
Rock album masterpieces ... People aren't going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars creating an awesome album just to have it shared for free.
I miss Liner Notes from albums. I can't even find them anymore, but I loved when Jann Arden described meeting Leonard Cohen on her "Greatest Hurts" CD - something like "my heart sank to my shoes, and I just knew it was him. He shook my hand and said how nice it was to meet me, and I just nodded, and wept inside myself." And a greatest hits album by Tom Cochrane, talking about "Boy Inside the Man", where he said that they had to make the song the encore, or the crowd would nearly riot.
I love being able to buy just one song, instead of the whole album; but damn I miss the liner notes.
Edit:end quotation mark
privacy?
Videogame strategy guides. I used to buy one with every game I had.
Club penguin
Local dial in Bulletin Boards with door games. That was the fuckin best.
Toys R Us
Gravity Falls
The random arguments you would have over some trivally concept that you would never know the answer too because you couldn't just Google it
The biggest one for me is something that the internet also created: AIM. I get that there’s texting and all that, but there was really something special about getting inside it got dark and getting on to aim and basically having everyone you know online. It was basically the middle school equivalent of going to the club. I remember if I had a friend over we’d just goad each other into IMing a girl or something, and it’d be im the equivalent of trying to pick her up. Get her to put you in her away message, or if you’re really good, her profile; oooohhh boy you nailed it
Midnight Video Game Releases
I miss not being able to get hold of someone unless you phoned their landline or physically went to their house. I hate work emailing/calling me at midnight
Going to a class reunion and not recognizing anyone because you haven't seen them since graduation.
Club penguin man. I spent hours there, used item adders, bought memberships, had over 1000 clocked days... for what? For it all to be deleted and gone to waste in exchange for the better, fancier club penguin island which got taken down and removed a year later #RIPClubPenguin
YouTube: Broadcast Yourself.
The U.S. presidency.
My short term memory.
Listening to all star by smash mouth
CLUB PENGUIN BITCH
Boredom
The musty smell of old books. I know they are still around and everything, but books on my phone are so darn convenient that I just don't use paper anymore.
My attention span.
I no longer enjoy TV shows because they take to frigging long to get to the point and here in Australia they're mostly just bottom of the barrel reality game shows. I got into vlogs a bit back (a little before Casey Neistat took it 'mainstream') and started to adjust my liking to a much shorter format from independents with seemingly less fabricated bullshit.
These days I'll still prefer to hit up YouTube and go watch some videos from a bunch of mountain biking vloggers (Seths Bike Hacks, Loam Ranger, Single Track Sampler etc), or car guys like Mighty Car Mods, Skid Factory, ChrisFix etc.
Newspapers, some still around but, not the same. Video stores, enjoyed finding those odd and rare movies that no one heard of but, were good.
The music industry. The market is so oversaturated with garbage now.
Racists and bigots being too afraid to outwardly express their views
Seeing movie trailers for the first time in the theater.
I remember the first time I saw a trailer for Fellowship of the Ring as a kid. Didn't know a LOTR movie was being made at all and as soon as Gandalf grabs Frodo's shoulder and says "is it secret? Is it safe?" I completely lost my mind.
Seeing them on YouTube isn't terrible, but there's no surprise anymore. The title of the movie is very plainly in site so you k ow what you're getting into before it even starts.
I have a great idea for a movie teaser that would blow people's socks off, but only in the context that they didn't know what it was before hand. Can't do it anymore.
i try my best, but i still give myself 5 min here and there on my phone. Im watching my kids right now. I stopped playing with them to make this comment to an internet stranger. Kinda messed up.
Eliminated driving all around town to different stores trying to find a certain item. Amazon and eBay are one click away.
Candystand Pool
Finding a red Netflix envelope in your mail 😭
CDs.
Most of my teens and twenties were spent obsessing over CDs. The hunt for music was such a different beast then. Sure... Limewire and napster existed and all their children... But there was still something to wandering through aisles of CD boxes... Finding odd music stores... And Truly discovering a band...
Seeing anyone in real life
Absolutely 0^((2)) Kirby Porn
Having the phone ring, or better still a knock on the door.
OLD FORSEN PepeHands
Yik Yak.
Zthing
I’m a postal worker. The internet killed first class letter volume. It’s really noticeable around holidays with the lack of cards being mailed. Coworkers who have been here 10 years or less have no idea what it was like to see tray after tray of red and green Christmas cards. Now Christmas mail is mostly bulk mail with a couple cards thrown in. Valentines and Mother’s Day too. All those red cards, just not there anymore.
Going to the awesome “neighborhood hidden gem restaurant or bar.”
Hipsterdom hasn’t been the same since.
The video star.
Local multiplayer games.
The lack of ignorant racists.
Lol, I’m like 2. I’m not old enough to miss something the internet killed
Getting random symptoms and just being like "huh, that's weird". Now many ppl (including myself) are too curious/anxious not to Google it and get told they have cancer or something like that when it's just a cold
Actually walking through the aisles for a video game to buy. I remember all the times my dad would take me into a store and we would just walk through the aisles at random looking for a new game that might peak my interest. Some of my favorite games, I found randomly walking through the store. I honestly enjoyed just browsing the aisles for games they had as much as actually finding a game that I wanted to buy.
You may be too young to remember, but a long time ago. A long long ime ago. Something was taken from us. More importantly, from me.
Back in the day, there was a video on the internet that came out. It was the perfect video, it fit my niche comepletely. I loved it. I cherished it. I embraced it.
Two beautiful women held up a glistening red solo cup, the contents of which held the excretement of another human being. Two Girls One Cup. That. Is what gets. Me off. Do you understand?
They took it from us. They made it impossible to find. What I enjoyed was deemed as unworthy and unclean. The free market should decide what the people can consume.
Stolen from https://youtu.be/q7PWXFoPra8 at around the 6:50 mark.
Club Penguin
My childhood
Toys. R. Us.
Video killed the radio star.
cheat codes and book walkthroughs.
The days when Instagram posts and YouTube videos and every social media star actually made original posts and didn’t just rip eachother off and get easy money off of it
Leafyishere
Kids making their own websites complete with those gaudy glitter texts / glitter cursors, widgets, and flash games. Music playing in the background and we had no idea where it was coming from so we spent like 3 minutes trying to look for the stop button. Nothing in those websites really matched anything design-wise but they were a lot of fun to make and you were proud of the outcome no matter what. Things had tons of personality back then but now everybody's obsessed with having a well-curated personal brand on instagram, which is fine. Tbh I also love how neat and beautiful everything looks, but it gets old really fast.
Blockbuster video
Regular TV, bruh.
Record stores.
Talk to kids in general.
Going to your friends house to see if they want to hang out instead of texting them
Probably going to get buried on this thread since I'm late to it, but I used to like buying gaming magazines. The PC gaming magazines used to include demo discs and I loved that. It was usually a fun variety of games to try out, and they did this for the playstation as well. The first time I ever played FF7 was on a demo disc that also showed off Bushido Blade and a few other games. In the past, it was common to be able to try out a game first before you bought it, and some developers would release shareware versions with the first couple of levels on the disc to encourage people to share it with their friends and get the word out about the game. It worked great for Doom and I wish that we could still do that kind of thing.
Privacy
Not being spoiled on shows I haven't watched yet.
Liking things that aren't generally considered popular.
Penthouse magazine
Minecraft
Wonder.
Going outside when you're bored. That may also be a function of being a kid back then, but today when we're bored we just sit in silence and look at our phones.
Tobygames, Cosmo speedruns, lots of people were ruined by the internet. The internet didn't ruin them.
Mkay, I know that the question is asking what did the internet kill, but in my opinion internet is dope. Remember that episode of friends where Joey and Chancellor were super excited about getting free porn on their television? That's everyone now.
"FREE PORN, WE HAVE FREE PORN!!!"
Uganda knuckles
Memory and attention span.
Magic the Gathering and many other TCGs. I hate the fact almost literally everyone now just looks up popular deck lists and builds that exact deck. I really miss the days where you didnt see everyone at a tournament running the same three decks. Actually sitting down and going through your newly bough collection of cards and actually finding all the different combos and interesting deck ideas yourself.
Bookstores. Yes, there are a few, but not nearly enough.
That feeling of walking into a movie store on a Friday night. Anything in the movie store now is just a click away. Even if it is more to rent it online, factor in gas it is probably cheaper.
Calling my father Daddy
Sex.
Sex has never been the same since the internet turned it into porn. The excitement of sneaking kisses after school has turned into hundreds of thousands of Instagram accounts, webcam girls and Karma whores posting nudes because every other girl at their school is doing it.
Seeing Elle MacPherson naked in Playboy was the greatest experience of my life as a teenager. Now every Disney or Nickelodeon girl gets their tits out as soon as they realise that the network is about to dump them because they're not cute any more.
Human interaction
[deleted]
I feel you. Laying at home on the couch. 😁
Minecraft :(
Offensive jokes.
Teachers being able to just grade kids lmao. And kids being responsible for their own grades.
(And to be clear, I don’t mean “that kid is a dick, F for him,” I mean not having to have so many grades in a digital gradebook that is then scrutinized by parents and administration and opened in meetings so staff can “unpack grading practices.” It used to be you had your gradebook, graded what you deemed necessary for passing the course, and entered grades at the marking period. Now it’s become these esoteric conversations about grading practices but in the same breath being told pass them all.)
Being able to buy a $12 concert ticket without a $4 fee (real numbers from my last purchase). I was able to find a physical place to buy it but there's a growing number of concerts whose tickets you can only get online just to wring the extra fee out of you.
Positive society and sense of community.
Having a barroom-type argument. Now, almost all disagreements or differences of believed facts can be settled in a few seconds.
Even having to open an encyclopaedia or old sports almanac was more fulfilling than just opening one’s iPhone.
IPX match-making.
Imagine 0-lag crystal-clear voice chat with friends against your favourite soundtrack of choice, where your could immediately have pizza afterwards.
IPX enabled that.
Calling my dad "Daddy". I mean I don't really miss it now but the internet really messed up my innocence and self esteem at a very young age. I miss being a child.
2 girls 1 cup
Jokes... you can’t say anything because many people take it too seriously. You have a choice, you can laugh at the joke or ignore it. Simple.
Magazines.
Blue waffles.
I mean waffles. With blueberries jam. You know ...
Minecraft and Roblox
Minecraft is a genuinely good game that people have beaten into the ground as being "childish". You're not gonna make me feel bad for liking a game about mining and building things
Roblox has been labeled as nothing but cringey like Fortnite when in reality, it's a platform where you can make an entire game in and of itself and let others play it. There are survival games, pirates, cops and robbers, building, basically CS:GO, and a ton of tycoon games that are just making money so you can get more stuff to make more money. It's a good service overall, but I still get shit from friends (I'm in high school) when I tell them I played it until just a couple of years ago.
Dont make fun of people if they enjoy a game that you view as "childish". Unless its fortnite, and even that is still a good game in and of itself but is just filled with cringey 8 year olds that idolize that whole game and all the characters and dances.
The barguement. I miss getting drunk with my friends and everyone bullshitting about this or that topic. Now some jackass always just googles it and that is that.
Record stores.
Music.
Just being able to watch a movie with friends or family without someone going on their goddamn phone. Whether it's to look up who the cast is, what other movie someone has been in, whether the story line is true, or just browsing because you're a dick.
The “Sunday Parade Of Homes” shows. It was typically a infomercial for real estate. Awful production values and cheesy music beds.
But my mom and I never missed a week. It was interesting to see inside people’s homes before the internet and HGTV.
My faith in humanity!
These good shitty gifs and these pages of data and chats.
Also xat.com
Specialness and even some exclusivity. You used to have to work at finding cool things, or hearing about cool movies. You had to work to be a fan of something or have a piece of a movie, band, author, or painter. Now you go to teeshirts.com and buy a shirt, go to imdb to read about a movie, go to comicbook.com to order some back issues and go to eBay to get some memorabilia. It takes all the fun out of it and anyone can half assedly do it.
The video star
Columbus Day.
It used to be a celebration of the discovery of the Americas. Now it’s a realization of how sick and psychotic the history of the Americas truly is
Navigation and Driving Skills
The internet killed the personal body of knowledge about where things are, how to get there by car, the general layout of major highways, how to give directions and how all of the important roads connect together, and it lowered the quality of drivers.
There use to be an art to giving directions. There was always "that guy/gal" who know where everything was, and was able to give great verbal directions. That is a bit more rare these days.
I think everything else is self explanatory.
Games like Pogs or Crazy Bones having a chance at any real comeback.
Pub arguments - you could sit in the pub for hours and hours arguing over who played a role in a film or which team won a certain match or whether the earth is indeed round like some are saying nowadays. Now these conversations are killed by google and it’s kind of sad!
My life lol😶
5 to 9
I think the obvious answer here is Toys R Us. Even as an adult I enjoyed going in there just to see what was on the market.
Randomly showing up at a friend's house to see if they want to go biking.
This entire comment section can be summed up in one answer.
We miss not having immediate access or immediate knowledge to everything. The act of waiting, or doing hands on research to find out if something is true (as in testing something in a video game) has always been a rewarding process. Overall, the internet took away the fun by making everything too easy.
Further to the jokes comment: going to see a comedian live and not knowing all their material already.
I can't eat jolly ranchers no matter how old the post may be. I'll never think of them the same again
Even though I was born post-internet I’d say that public hangouts were something I feel people are probably missing out on. Sure, it’s really nice to talk to people in the comfort of your own home and it’s very easy to find friends if you’re in a group of people with cpmmon interests but it feels like we’re missing out on people’s diversity
Reality
The intimacy of Internet Forums was destroyed by the internet being everywhere, so somewhere around 2008.
I spent my early twenties heavily involved in a general interest forum with people who became friends for life. I still keep in contact with most of them in various different platforms, but I can't imagine joining any sort of forum these days given that so much of the internet is dominated by scammers, shitposters, and trolls.
Stick death
Kayfabe.
leafy is here
My privacy
Nothing. There's a vinyl record shop next to one of my spas. The internet adds, and idiots and luddites lament others moving on.
My innocence. That is a fact.
I personally place a great deal of blame on the internet for killing WCW and professional wrestling in general.
The slow loading porn page. Internet version of foreplay.
Cheap concert tickets And flipping through the same 9 different tv channels hoping a show you liked was on, then being faced with a tense moral dilema as you had to choose between them. Finding out the last button exists and then watching two shows at once, between the breaks of the other show.
Herd community for vaccines
Club penguin
privacy
Going to a concert or seeing something cool without a million people taking their phones out to record it
I feel like radio isn't like what it used to be. Radio used to be how to find new music, get news from traffic to celebrity gossip and breaking news, learn about concerts, artist interviews, random call-in shows. Plus there were so many stations and such diversity. Now it seems there are 10 stations, no local call-in shows, no radio sponsorship of events. It's just one big ad for websites
Old memes.
Gone, but not forgotten. :(
Going to a restaurant without everyone taking pics of their food. Even my mom spends 5 minutes taking pictures of everything we ordered it's insane. I don't remember the last date I've went to in which the girl didn't take a single picture of what we're eating.
Basic civility and kindness. Although internet, more specifically social media, just played a part. The anonymity of the web I feel has made people more callous, judge mental, and obstinate. It’s rare that you can have a CIVIL debate with others these days. It’s so sad how brutal so many people are to others on the internet.
Also, the development of the smartphone has bothered me a lot because of the addictive nature of the internet and social media. I miss being around others and having attentive conversations. Even I find myself paying more attention to my phone than my spouse from time to time and vice versa. Personally working on that.
Honesty
Having nothing better to do than trying to play a game like MYST. Nowadays it’s too hard to commit the time to figuring out puzzles like that when you can just google the solutions.
Random social interaction.
Most people give me an awkward look or feeling when I say what's up in a manner that I mean to spark a convo.
I miss when people didn't use messaging and Instagram to exchange their lives. I still enjoy a good ol conversation.
My faith in people. Social media has shown me the absolute worst of people and I can’t stand it.
Getting lost.
The secret menu at In ‘N’ Out . . . . .
Not knowing the lyrics to songs and making up your own.
Having a good argument with someone but not knowing which of you were correct.
The Sears catalog. Much simpler times.
Split screen and LAN parties
I think the internet has killed almost everything great in life. People are addicted to the net now so they'll defend it to the death but life seemed better back when we weren't assimilated like the Borg.
My soul...
Western cowboy films?
Music. Bands like Zeppelin, the Stones, Van Halen, AC/DC, Rush, Nirvana, Linkin Park were huge! There are no huge bands anymore.
Going antiquing. eBay ruined it. Now, having specialized knowledge about your particular collectible does no good. You can't wander in and out of antique shops to search for undiscovered treasure.
I hate saying something you know is a lie then some asshat fact checks you and makes you look like a pansy
Hidden Nature Spots. Used to be, if you knew about a spring or waterfall in the mountains of your hometown or something, it would stay relatively untouched since only the locals knew about it. Nowadays, every little small waterfall, beach, etc has been put on some vacation list and there's people around to trash it up.
I know that's not what I'm supposed to write but, Rick and Morty
Being able to avoid socialising
My will to live
RadioShack!
I miss the Soviet Union, the internet killed that pretty quickly.
Finding a great deal. Buying something at a rummage/yard/garage sale, auction, or classified ad then selling it for double or triple (or more). Everyone knows what everything is worth now or if they don’t they will in a matter of seconds.
Couldn't afford blockbuster but we did the same thing vhs tapes at the local library, ah good times.
Discovering music as a kid/teenager was awesome. Digging through record bins, and cd bins, and cassette bins. Buying something solely because the cover or because it was sitting in the area labeled punk, or metal, or gangster rap or whatever. Taking it home and listening to it in its entirety. And then when you found something you liked that you could play over and over and show it to friends. And then you meet someone who’s heard of this band you feel like you’ve basically discovered was so cool. And then a friend might burn you a cd or hand you something to listen to cause they thought it was cool. And sometimes your brother, or friends dad or someone would hand you a cassette tape to some band you’d never heard of and just the whole thing was so much fun as a kid. Kids these days have it easy with YouTube and Spotify but also I feel like in some ways part of the magic is gone.
This one is more humorous, but dead memes. I still like to drop a Ugandan knuckles every now and then, and then I have no friends for a bit. I wish some memes never died just so I could make references and not get weird looks.
Waiting in linea for Dead tickets in the back of Sears..
Shopping at the mall.
A lot of meme videos. Article 13 sucks
Shared pop culture experiences.
Everything from popular music on the radio, to TV, movies, etc... It's nice having lots of choices, and being able to find things that you really like, but with this fracturing, we've lost some of the glue that used to bind our society together. You can live a completely different cultural life than your neighbor. It's like we're all living in the same place, but not together.
I miss imitating a commercial and asking, dont you remember that commercial? Nobody remembers commercials anymore. Here's my favorite because I did all the time when I was a kid when I needed a ride home from a summer day at the local pool. https://youtu.be/9JxhTnWrKYs
Cringy/offensive jokes made by celebrities
Now it’s immediate outcry and anything that funny gets deleted immediately
gopher surfing . It was like hunting for buried treasure.
People that aren’t offended over everything
My attention span & patience. As a kid I could sit through commercials, wait for shows to start at specific dates/times, wait for the evening news to hear stories or see sports highlights, etc., all because that's just how entertainment worked. Now I whine about shows having a 30 second ad when streaming or
Useful results from a search. Useful information period. No Karen. I don't want to read your blog in the hope of finding the recipe that came up in my search. Just post the goddam recipe!
They've started implementing a button labeled 'go to recipe' but still a PIA. Most recently came across one that while delicious was a massive ad story. Every other sentence was what she was trying to get sold sooo annoying. Made it sound like the product somehow saved her life with how she went on. -_-
Bar conversations. There no debates anymore, someone just Googles the answer.
Lord Inglip comics
Being able to have a real social interaction without having to worry about looking good for pictures or checking constant phone updates. I’ve tried the “phone bowl” idea, but it never works for long
YouTube streaming music videos killed MTV. They had to switch to the content they have now in order to try to keep an audience in a world where people can play whatever video they want to see whenever they want to.
My innocence
I really miss the old 2006-2009 YouTube. I know this has been said many times before, but there was something magical about watching actual trending videos based on views, not the highest bidder. Wish we could get random YouTube uploaded content back, not these companies pumping out 12 videos a week with 5 different channels.
My happiness.
The internet has ruined some of the fun of tabletop gaming and deck-building card games. When you can simply look up what has been winning tournaments recently and take that to your local store, it turns into an arms race in which the biggest losers are the people who just want a fun, casual game. There's a WH40K net-lister at my favorite local shop that has single-handedly ruined the local meta by bringing competition lists in, pushing everyone with any modicum of ego to do the same.
BBS’s
Going to the record store to buy a CD.
Civic debate...
I miss rage comics
Newspapers. Though the print press is admittedly not dead yet, the quality of most major urban newspapers has gone to shit (though there are notable exceptions).
It was pleasant getting my daily update in discrete evening doses, rather than trying to sip from the fire hose that modern news services have become.
Youtube Streams. Where you'd be able to join a chatroom and que up videos with other people. I was in a few, mainly a DBZ/Pokémon one. I didn't even watch DBZ but the people were cool.
Middle class jobs in the music industry. It’s either rich or poor now.
time.
Nickleback
This is so fucking stupid, I freely admit that. It really is.
I remember when getting a new PC or, shit, even just reformatting one bogged down with viruses from ~~too much porn~~ somewhere, was super exciting for the set up. You'd immediately go to Firefox and install that, then you'd get MSN Messenger and maybe AIM, then you'd install Limewire and download some of the music you lost, then you'd go find a cool picture of a dragon to set as a background... It was practically a full evening spent changing stuff like your mouse cursor and user pic.
Now, everything is so automated and all your music is backed up and Google catalogues every photo and Windows remembers all your programs... Even your cell phone will become a carbon copy of what your last one was. It feels dumb feeling nostalgia for an inconvenience but damnit it was my inconvenience.
The video star
Kids playing outside
Local BBS communities. I know it is kind of what fed into the internet, but there was something about calling up a board, chatting with the sysop, replying to messages from friends, etc. that was made special by knowing that all of these people were local. Add in actual meet-ups, and it hits golden nostalgia era for me.
Sure, there were usenet portals around but the local discussion boards were so much more personal.
And then the internet kicked in and it all died.
Newspapers. Now I don't really ever see any obituaries anymore unless it's for a famous person who died.
Talking to friends on MSN messenger with all the random shit that was on there. Man those were the days, i feel so sad that i can barely remember what it looked like
mp3.com - I still have songs from unknown artists from a time when mp3 were FREE.
Pet Society. Fuck you Facebook.
I feel bad, your always asking me questions. How about I ask you, how was your day?
No one asks HOW is Waldo.
Creativity, especially when playing games, it's so easy to see what other people are doing rather than make your own strategies.
The RedditArmie on Youtube. Like Bertha Lovejoy and the gang.
Disconnecting without FOMO. Patience Shopping Malls
Offensive Music and Comedy.
Shit has to be so bland and safe anymore. Can't have anything offensive in our rock music, no dirty jokes that go too far. The aristocrat joke made up today would incite boycotts and blogposts. Wish the ghost of G.G. Allen would come and take a huge shit on the porch of this sparkly clean entertainment industry.
Finding porn in the woods.
Cobblestone on cs:go... I like warowl but he went too far D: 😂
Split screen multiplayer video games. I hate playing online.
r/OffensiveMemes
Porn stash... Now all those boxes full of CDs and DVDs underneath bed and secret corners are useless!
This is a specific one about internet and smartphones. I miss when people didn't appeal to internet (wikipedia mostly) in the middle of a nice discussion. My feeling is that nowadays people are more superficial because they don't retain deep information about general knowledge (useless or not).
travel. I've found a lot of places through IG but I feel like because people feel like they're in a competition, there's not too many places off the beaten path anymore.
I just get off social media a bit more than I used to and try to use google maps to spot new things I havent experienced
Being able to buy a new outfit and wear it more than once in a week! Back in the day if I got a new outfit that I really liked and was going to be hanging out with two separate groups of people I could wear it two weekends in a row. Now with everyone wanting to document every event on their phones for Instagram and Snapchat it would be quite obvious if I wore the same outfit multiple times. I know this sounds shallow and stupid but it’s a real issue.
Bullshitting.
I used to be a master bullshitter, spinning yarns and conjuring trivia, finding the perfect balance of truth and lies to keep your audience on the edge. It was a game, all very sporting, you ramp up the absurdity until someone calls you out, the savvy people in the group chiming in until the gullible people int he group finally call bullshit. It was an exercise in storytelling and skepticism.
Now they just google your trivia faster then you can tell it, and regard you as a liar. The sport is dead.
Actual mix tapes. Hand written labels. Covers collaged with magazine cutouts. If you were super sexy, you had a mixer and overlapped segues.
Mix tapes were a serious form a foreplay and courtship in my day.
Going to the toy store to pick out a toy. Granted, the internet killed this long after I was a child, but still. Going to Toys R Us and looking through all the different toy aisles was so exciting. Now, kids just say they want a specific toy and with a few clicks it’s on their doorstep the next day.
I think the internet killed shopping for me in general, if I go to the mall it’s with a specific sale/coupon/purchase in mind. I miss shopping organically, if that makes sense. I’m always stressing about sales and online vs. in-store promos, reviews, cash back etc. I kinda miss just wandering the mall looking for things I liked.
video game secrets and how most of use had to rely on word of mouth around schools and friends
Playing Runescape with no idea what i was doing.
My happiness.
Digging for used cd’s
In my school the entire school would go into the auditorium and there was a round of jeopardy with each class getting one question and if they got it wrong the other classes could steal. The president of each class would run around looking for someone to answer the question. When the internet found it's way to phones it stopped. I think about it and think about how the younger generations didnt get to work as a team with their whole grade. Kinda sad.
When I was in 1st grade my teacher would shout out words and my friends and I would race through a dictionary and the first to read the definition would win. But now everyone can just search up the definition on their phones
Being able to play a multiplayer game without being expected to know everything about it already.
"You mean you didn't study the raid videos?"
"Check the wiki, noob."
Browsing through the stacks at a record store
rick and morty :(
Some people’s careers
Talking to people at work the next day about TV Shows
old lego games online. they were awesome, until they were removed.
Physical copies of video games
Build threads on forums.
Now it’s all on YouTube.
My will to live
Couch co-op in games. I remmeber i used to go to a friends house and we'd play several things like Melee, or R6:Lockdown on the GC and some of the most fun was doing split-screen and getting throughbstuff together. However, slowly he just started playing CoD4 and WoW online alone while i just sat there and watched. It really killed our friendship because he wouldn't want to do anything but that...
Nowadays, its frustrating that many co-op games forego the simple splitscreen option, so now i can't play these games in the same console when people are over, we have to be miles away to actually enjoy a game together...
Awesome pockets of weirdness to discover.
Full albums from my favorite bands available all at once on release day.
Having an answer "on the tip of your tongue."
Silence.
My social life :D
Privacy. People act like somethings wrong with YOU when you dont want to post about the intimate details of your life.
Neopets, strangely enough. My friends and I would get home from school and play neopets together. We had a shop/club/guild And it was one of the first places that we could really interact together online. I don't think we got anything that was worth a lot of had like zillions of neopoints but it was a good hobby that we all loved at the time.
My social life
Going to the library on Saturday afternoons. Sitting in the stacks and reading until mum called to say we had to choose then trying to decide which if the hundred books you wanted to take home and finally settling in 16. I mean that's a bit of kid nostalgia too but how often do I scroll through Reddit instead of grabbing a book...
Toys R Us
Arguments were more fun. Now pretty much every argument ends with a google search and it’s over.
Video rental places
Myspace songs
I used to work at a video store i actually liked that job.
Not feeling guilty when I didn’t know an answer to something. Now there’s always a little computer in my pocket.
movie rentals places on Friday nights, record stores on a Saturday afternoon, and bookstores on Sunday evenings. :(
LAN parties
Attention spans
Casual conversation. I'm sitting in the staff room with a co-worker, but instead of talking about anything (even the weather) she's on Facebook and I'm here.
Life
Privacy
The art of bullshiting. Now whenever their is a disagreement on a particular fact, someone just pulls out their phone and settles it in a matter of seconds. Bullshitting is quickly becoming a lost art form.
The satisfaction of finally hearing a song on the radio that's been stuck in your head for the longest.
Blockbuster, going there was the highlight of my childhood.
LAN parties
CD players in cars... I have made so many CDs with my favorite songs back in 2007 and it kills me that I cant play them in the car with the windows down. It was so satisfying putting in the disc and your favorite songs would start playing. Nowadays, I use spotify and have to wade through adverts before listening to my playlists because I'm too cheap to pay for premium.
Human connection
My faith in humanity.
RadioShack. I have to what days now for LEDs, resistors, capacitors...
The family update letter that went with the Christmas card.
My innocence. I don't totally miss it though...
I immediately assumed that this was referring to people’s favorite dead memes
Can only speak for Sydney but I kinda miss the days of physically digging for CDs and vinyl.
Two things. The first one is Saturday morning cartoons. Having to wait all week to see new episodes of your favorite show as a kid... I kind of miss that. The second thing is how easy it is to check for cheats and easy way out in video games! I can remember being stuck playing Prince of Persia sands of time trying to kill my father and not really knowing what to do, That I miss the most. Today the second there's something a little hard they pause the game and go on YouTube to see the way out
Filthy Frank. Now he’s being rebooted by some other guy, but it’s trash.
Twitch Plays Pokemon. Yes I know the internet gave birth to it, but it seems to have killed it too. It was such a huge thing for a while and everyone thought it would be the next big thing - video games being played via Twitch comment inputs. But other things came along and Twitch Plays Video Games isn't really a thing anymore (or at least, not that I know of).
Before the internet I used to listen to the song “missing” by everything but the girl and think wistfully of my first real crush on an actual boy when I was 14.
He moved away, we lost touch, oh that delicious heartbreak of what might have been... but never was... “and I miss you, like the desert missed the rain”
Then the internet came along and we are now friends on Facebook where I get to see that he got middle aged, his lovely BNP support posts and his misogyny towards his wife. I’d rather have had my memories and the mystery and yearning!
The internet meant that we never have to lose touch with anyone, you can look them up on linkedin or whatever. Those “lost touch forever” songs won’t make sense to younger generations. Everyone is just a search engine away.
Going to the video store.
Music stores. I used to love going every week and looking through cd racks. I feel like I was way more in touch with what was new by being able to see it in front of me. Now there’s so much new content out there I feel overwhelmed and it’s stopped me from being able to find stuff I really love.
Common sense and human interaction!!!
Harambee... RIP NEVER FORGET
Circuit City
The brick & mortar locations
r/watchingpeopledie
The people/gouvernements killed the internet. You will be missed Internet :(
Tourettes karaoke . Never gonna give you up
Other people
Video games, especially online games, not being spoiled by the internet guides for everything.
Sometimes I just wanna play through a game and not worry about my character stats/equip but when everyone else is min/maxxing the the hell out of their toons and demand you watch the HOWTO guide for a raid before trying it...I mean why bother playing anymore?
My sleep schedule sad horn starts playing
Accountability in discourse
Spoilers...whether it be movies, TV, or video games. There's always some twat that wants to ruin it for everyone else.
Yahoo messenger
The rugrats go wild animal rescue game Or the sandwich stacker from from lilo and stitch
Capitalism
Dead memes, most definitely.
Harambe
Club Penguin
As
Other than my innocence?
Blockbuster, hands down.
Pixie hollow and club penguin
I miss family outings the most. We use to have to go to a place and discover if it was good or not and actually talk to people to find things out. Whenever we watched a movie it was together and wholesome. Now it's stay in a room all day and stream a movie while no one talks.
Secret hiking spots and driving shortcuts. You had to earn those
My social life. Or maybe the opposite.
Comedy
Privacy
Neopets
The video star
My innocence.
50/50 is some dark shit sometimes.
omgpop:((
Common sense
Bigfoot, snowman, and UFO sightings.
Using a Polaroid to take a dick pic, then walking it over to the girls house, and getting to see the surprise on her face.
Human interaction
Sending letters.
Second hand bookstores. They are few and far between. Nothing beats searching for treasure on those old shelves!
Games that were finished at launch.
Blockbuster
Hanging out with friends. Luckily i have finally started finding people who like hanging out.
Long phone calls via landline.
Local music scenes. Music per-genre is much more homogeneous than it was before the internet - people had different influences depending on where they were. That's not so much the case any more.
Good depression memes
Walk-in job applications and job interviews. Online job applications are hell.
favorite episodes of my favorite childhood tv shows. being able to access them any old time took a lot of the joy out of why they were my favorites in the first place.
Privacy.
👌
The radio star
Phone books. Oh wait. I still get them even though they are completely useless.
Career Mode
Even though I kind of was annoyed it back then in the 70's and 80's and I guess I could still do it, I miss going to the public library for all of my studying and research.
My attention span.
"The Internet" didn't kill it (it was part of the 'Net, after all) ... but I blame the Web for the death of USENET.
Republicans and Christians.
Seeing as I'm watching WrestleMania right now, I'd say not knowing every single thing that goes on backstage. There are literally zero suprises in wrestling anymore.
Handwritten letters
Lan parties
The popularity of the Internet ruined the Internet.
In the early days of the net it was primarily populated with quite intellectual people^^[1] and it was a much nicer place.
^^[1] I am not including myself in that categorisation.
Abondant face to face interaction.
Don’t get me wrong I love the internet I just wish people were more friendly and out going with people they have never met out in the world.
America’s funniest home videos. I think it’s still on, but a lot of the clips are just some of the viral videos floating around.
Not masturbating to porn.
Family Board Game/Movie Night. I've noticed that that seems to have disappeared from homes. Most games played now are internet games and stuff which is disappointing. Board games were the bomb.
Saturday afternoon Kids TV shows in the 90’s.
Saturday morning cartoons were great. But if I had to spend an entire Saturday at my grandparents house, (which consisted of my parents sitting in my grandparents’ living room, and talking about super boring adult things while they made my brother and I clean their house), I was overjoyed to sneak into my grandma’s bedroom and watch Power Rangers or the Super Friends.
Human interaction and conversation.
interacting with strangers in general.
Blockbuster
A game called Paragon by Epic games
Saturday nights watching Creature Features with Bob Wilkins and then later with John Stanley. https://youtu.be/WWtLdrevDW4
AFV and other funny clips. Laughing with the family was the best.
The encyclopedia.
To everyone saying rental stores, they didn't disappear just condensed. Red Box.
You cant snicker at people trying to sneak into the squeaky door room (porn) at the red box
I mean if you're so compelled to snicker I guess the modern solution would be to leave comments in porn subs or pornhub.
But I genuinely don't think what people mean by that is the actual ability to rent a physical disc it's about the nostalgia of actually going to the store. It was fun to go pick out a movie or game with your family then guilt trip your parents into buying super expensive candy. One year my mom rented a N64 for my birthday (I was a big PlayStation fan but really wanted to play StarCraft) and that was one of the best I had. A whole weekend of Starcraft and Perfect Dark with my cousins.
My brother, SIL, and I go to the grocery get snacks and popcorn, the popcorn gives a free night rental for Redbox. I get the same feeling choosing snacks and movies as I did back then. It makes me happy it didn't disappear but instead became more convenient and affordable.
Nvm you don't understand what I'm saying, move a long.
Magazines. Giant EGM with Streetfighter 2 was amazing back in the day. Although I appreciate fast articles and YouTube playthroughs.
Journalism. It’s really bad now that no one pays for it. We just end up paying for it in much worse ways.
The Radio Star.
Oh wait.....that was video.
Small Radio with AM/FM bands
youtube
Liking things with an ignorant bliss.
Going out and buying stuff in general. I've bought like maybe 10 things from Amazon, but go out and buy most things. All the stores I grew up with and loved are fading fast and I can't stop from happening :(
Addless pirates tv
Slenderman.
Specifically, when the game Slender made a splash. Before that, the figure was legit scary because it was unseen and a mystery thanks to creepypastas and ARGs like Marble Hornets that respected the work.
But now? He's been reduced to a physical boogeyman created by some edgelords and for what, to sell a horror game genre that is now overused and saturated. Then the irl murder incident happened. Then the shitty movie. Nobody took Slenderman seriously ever again.
Trying to get past the curtains in the movie rental place like Block Buster
Being in the moment
most memes. like, they're funny for a while but then it becomes shit. sbeve for one. that was funny but then it got stomped into the fucking ground
Maps and encyclopaedias. Don’t get me wrong, the internet is way better, but there was something special about loading up Encarta ‘95 to do homework or helping to read maps on long road trips.
Rick and Morty
Remembering that actor's name the old fashioned way...
Does it start with an A? B? C? .... 14 hours later when you are no longer trying to recall it, boom, there it is.
That was soo satisfying.
The less amount of information on things we had back in the day, often relying on books, magazines, and television to get our news and facts. Now everything is just a Google search away, takes away the mystery and excitement.
Amanda Todd
Sneaking that porno mag under the mattress.
Tix in Roblox
Ugandan knuckles
Maintaining your own music library!
Back in those days everyone used to have their own music collection. The fun of sharing the music is now completely lost.
And not to forget we all had some lovely ways to dedicate our music to the special someone. Now what do we share... A stupid URL!
Cd and video stores. It is much more difficult for me to happen upon something that I will end up loving when I shop online for specific things. Like, these days, I would never happen to stumble upon Primus the way I did back then. There is no telling how many movies/shows/bands I’m missing out on because I don’t browse like I used to with physical media.
Getting lost
Radio Shack
Borders. Amazon took enough of their business, and apparently they were growing mostly through loans, so instead of closing shops, they ended up going bankrupt from it.
Toys R Us
The sun.
My sense of orientation.
Vine
Going to blockbuster to rent games we couldn’t afford. My dad would let me choose a game and he would choose a game. Blockbuster holds a special place in my heart
The mystery of discovering things in video games, and being excited going to school the next day to tell friends about it.
Friday nights going to the video rental store. I always knew when Fridays rolled around mom and dad didn't feel like cooking so they'd usually let us loose in Blockbusters (there's 3 of us so we all got to pick a movie) and then take us to get either Pizza or some other form of takeout. Of course that also meant building a giant fort in our room and camping out in the floor while we ate and marathoned all three rental movies (or N64 games which ever we rented that weekend) hahahaha.
Hell of falling sand. One of those falling sand physics games but the twist on this one was that there were little zombie stick men that you could throw around with a hand tool or burn or bury and watch them dig their way out, I played the shit out of that as a kid but java updated making it impossible to play and now the site no longer exists im pretty sure. Sad no one archived it because I long to play it again.
Vine
Blockbuster, it was nice and we where friends with the cashier I miss that
My mother’s approval ;)
Arcades! There was nothing like meeting friends at an arcade, putting the quarter on the machine to keep your place in line. That was the best feeling.
itt: ppl who get off on nostalgic inconvenience
BBSs - bulletin board system. I miss chatting with fellow sysops on our 14.4 modems lol
Minecraft
Being excited about going to the grocery store and buying your weekly T. V. Guide for that week. Reading all about Hollywood for 75cents a week! I remember reading aloud to my Mother the article about this new show coming on TV that was part Reality TV and part "Survivor show." That show was called Survivor and she was aghast that such brutal behavior would be on CBS. We of course watched it each episode. It was amazing.
Without looking it up I think this was in 1992ish? Something like that.
The illogical nostalgia of trying to find a video game walkthrough that wasn’t BS. I was always cheap so buying the strategy guide wasn’t an option, so I had to slum it on mini DV camcorder footage of a tube tv on the infancy of YouTube or an unregistered hypercam video with loud-ass music and a text box with 99 point font saying “hey gamers! This is how to beat the Toy Factory boss of donkey Kong 64.” In the SLOWEST typing known to modern man.
Childish Gambino
My attention span.
I actually miss not having porn. It's to easy to access and get addicted to.
Privacy.
My dads friend always hates how he can’t give fake sports records, he says “being a bullshitter is done”
that was literally the reason the Guinness Book of World Records was created...settling bar bets.
Not totally killed, but the internet has taken over a large chunk of time spent with family.
Maybe this is not the internet but technology.
But I really miss taking the night bus, taking the window seat, Putting on your headphones, and gazing at the stars for 8 hours straight. Instant philosophy degree.
Now there's so many screens inside that you can't see anything through the window just the reflection of Thor playing on someone else's screen.
That pronstar that got crucified on Twitter cuz she wouldn't have sex with a gay dude. I think her name starts with an A can't remember.
Privacy
Trading in used porn mags.
No one really killed it, it’s just barely anyone ever talks about it. Anyone who ever played Nights as a kid’ll know that it sucks no one ever talks about getting them any representation. It was my favorite game when growing up, I remember coming home to play the game and relating to Will just because he didn’t have a prominent father figure. I just find it sad that no one gives it a lot of love.
Probably the pop music industry and the charts. Once pop music was based on what people were actually spending their money on to listen to and now it’s just wasting 30 seconds of your life and deciding you don’t like it.
Plus one play of a song on Spotify is 1/100th of a real purchase at a store (haha as if) or iTunes, which means it takes 100 people to add a song to a playlist and keep it running lazily in the background to add up to a full purchase!
I think Spotify is a great thing, having the entire music database at your hands is fantastic, but it shouldn’t go towards the charts. Would that make the charts irrelevant? Not quite so if it’s what people are spending their money on to actively support the artist and enjoy their music.
It literally takes one guy on Soundcloud who can’t sing or play an instrument, to mumble over a pre-made rap beat who, 6 months later, will have a number one hit and a record label deal! If anything the charts are more pointless than ever!
If people can’t see the obvious decrease in quality of pop music and the destruction of the album and b-sides, then they’re numbing themselves with bad pop music. I, being from the UK, always go by the Physical Singles chart when listening to pop music as it shows what people are going out of their way to purchase at a store.
I feel sorry for music artists now. Streaming services give the artists next to no money, hence the increase in concert ticket prices, and if it isn’t what everyone else is already listening to, they aren’t going to succeed. What I mentioned earlier about the Soundcloud rappers is what the vast majority of teenagers want. And notice how I said teenagers, the biggest users of music streaming services are teenagers and 20-somethings, meaning that they choose who gets to number one. What about maybe 20 years ago when anyone of any age could buy a single and it goes towards the chart, what about the over-50s? Are they just meant to wallow in their irrelevance to whatever music they like?
If it isn’t evident yet, it’s late and I’m very tired, I’m going to stop here cause my eyes are dropping.
I miss going to the music store and digging through the CDs and spending most of my meager high school paychecks on them
Ugandan knuckles
Spontaneity. My whole online life is a tailored user experience.
The absence of netdecking and or min maxing a game. People came up with their own innovative ways to play and beat games. Dont see it much anymore.
Time
The music business
The Ok symbol we use to make with our hands.
DVD stores (Not dvds though). Promised myself when I turned 18 I’d prance around the 18+ section for a while for the novelty. Now I can’t
[deleted]
Yo! Just saying, in those days before Google we used players guides. Which also doubled as bathroom material.
You couldn't access weird shit on video instantly like you can now. Instead, you had friends who had their stash of weird shit on tape. Nobody had all of it. There was a social aspect to it. To see the weird shit, you had to invite that one guy to the party so that everyone could see it.
Vine
My attention span. Too much content and too many ways to obtain it. Very little separation. And now everything is immediate gratification.
Collecting hot wheels.
the fucked up humor & just messing with everyone. everyone is wayyy too sensitive now. any small “offensive” joke & everyone goes apeshit.
Honestly the chance to meet new people in line for a movie. All the good theaters now have assigned seating and ordering is almost exclusively done online. Just the breathing room of an hour or two, in line for tickets and for good seats, to enjoy the day and talk to new people about the movie we both are about to see. Some of my most cherished friendships are movie-going folks. Now people show up just as the trailers start in their assigned seat leaving no time to even have a brief conversation. :(
Old fashioned dating culture. I (20M) wish it was still the norm to ask people out in person and not feeling so much pressure to keep text conversations going because I’d much rather sit face to face and talk to you instead (I suck at texting).
Letters
The word “daddy.”
Blockbuster game rentals
My memory. And the ability to confidently give information without being immediately fact-checked for accuracy.
There was a game or two that I can't find anymore, one was with moles in a Terraria style map where you were able to buy worlds like everybody edits or make a public world. I don't know if it was deleted, but I certainly can't find it as I don't remember the name. It had the multiplayer aspect of EE though.
Another one is one that had a range of games, rather small, but one with biology that you could customize what the cells did or something... I was young ok? The details are fuzzy as of now.
Anyways that's my two.
Free 1 dollar hamburgers at mcdonalds
There was less of chance of having the rand = funny kid around when having conversations now they’re everywhere
Suncoast / Media Play / Borders.
Having to return some videotapes.
MSN Messenger
The Goth scene and Goth culture as a whole.
Myspace. Technically it's something on the internet, but I really miss it. Fight me.
Youtube
I miss browsing music stores and taking a gamble on an album by a band you never heard of solely because of the album cover.
Civil conversation and willingness to compromise.
Bargains on the second hand market. Everyone knows what they have and what it’s worth for the most part.
Silly arguments about stupid facts. I loved arguing about what year such and such came out or who was the 22nd president. I could sit with some friends and some beers and argue about stupid shit for hours. Now someone whips out a phone and googles the right answer in 30 seconds. That's no fun. If I wanted the answer I'd have pulled out my phone. I want to see what crazy paths we go down as we try to remeber where we were when we first heard chumbawumba or why there should or should not be spaces or hyphens in that.
Face to face meet up over food or drinks and a conversation.
Present day there is just too much facetime and WhatsApp texting/audio msgs!
Newspapers. So much more relaxing than on a screen.
Going to a friends place to play video games.
Laughing when you died in a funny way, trying to figure out how to pass a stage, taking turns to play and doing other things apart from playing.
Playing alone at your PC over the net with some random strangers is not the same.
Human interaction
Video/ Game rental shops. I genuinely miss my old Blockbuster, especially under its 2nd to last store manager. They had this wall with the top 5 movies for the month with all the employees suggestions. Can't count the number movies I picked up thanks to thier suggestions, or the countless discussions me, the employees and other random people had with one another about movies or games.
I think that's what I miss most, just the discussions with random strangers face to face, whereas now it's just a bunch of randoms all shouting into the void.
Privacy.
Minecraft.
Being able to see a movie three days after release without spoilers.
One that comes up during the (extremely good) documentary on Oasis - 'Supersonic'
Music festivals, but in general, just large great gatherings of people.
Go over to your friends place for coop
As a woman especially, not having to worry about deepfakes and other demented things some men like to put on the internet for everyone to see.
Back in the late 90's, trading magic the gathering cards was more about what we need than what they're worth. Sometimes you ended up getting hosed, and sometimes you were the hoser, but it was fun to trade for cards that improved your deck, even if the cards were worth a buck.
Club Penguin.
Trying to figure something out on your own without using the internet.
Personal homepages. Mostly fan sites.
Wiki’s and social media sorta killed this. I miss seeing the search results page and finding the unique domains and page layouts of hundreds of different people with different takes on something I like. Today you do a search result and it’s all wiki links, major domains, and for some reason 80% Pinterest search results.
Pinterest is the Borg of the internet
Blockbuster Movie Night.
Forums.
Privacy
The lack of spoilers and reviews so you had to either buy a magazine or word of mouth.
The Video game Merlin's Revenge, and many other beautiful flash powered games
Video games without any type of guide. There is something very satisfying about having to figure everything out for yourself.
Secret outdoor spots in the mountains. We found a broken down cabin in SoCal, cleaned it up, did some maintenance, put a small fireplace in there. It was OURS for years, no well marked trail to get there.
All it took was for one internet "influencer" to post the coordinates and do a write up on how to get there. Bam boom, now we run into so many people trying to get there for a photo op. Feels bad man.
...the radio star
Newspapers. Everyone was reading the same, usually unbiased/honest news instead of some random article on some random site.
I’m also a journalist and I hate when I’ve written a story, then I have to adapt it for the web.
Chivalry
Romance too
Borders book stores.
I can no longer find great magazines from Europe or Japan and movie magazines and super expensive artbooks to read and spend leisure hours. Donwloading gigabytes of books is not as satisfactory. I no longer have an excuse to go to the Mall.
just being able to bullshit people.
https://medium.com/slackjaw/the-fine-art-of-bullshit-c09f7bbb391e
Knowledge.
Before internet, you had to know things now you can just Google it. This has killed the necessity of acquiring knowledge.
Flipping through radio stations in my car on a long trip. Getting excited when my favorite song of the moment played.
These days it's just not worth it.
r/enoughinternet
My productivity
Crowd-free visits to my favorite National Parks.
The E meme
Not being a dick to people you don’t even know
Chat rooms. They were a staple for me growing up in the late 90s-early 2000s going into rooms to meet random people. Times were so much simpler back then.
Harlem shake
Post cards
Phone books used to be a very important thing. My parents even made notes with the most important numbers. Now everyone can just google it
My soul...
Relationships
Blockbuster
That would be privacy.
You can thank the governments for that
It's a team effort.
my innocence
Something that will probably never happen but I wish it did come back. Good Minecraft gameplay. Not 12 year olds screaming because they got diamonds. Actually good Minecraft gameplay.
👌👌
I’m a millennial, or the end of them? I don’t know (22). But, quite frankly what makes me happy is that all of the answers are nostalgia-based. Internet is fucking great.
Lack of distractions. Now that most services have adopted free to use models, they make money off your attention, and as such push notifications galore. You can get around this by turning them off, but many services don't give enough granularity to shut off spam and let useful updates through.
Competitive video gaming.
Even if you absolutely wrecked someone at Street Fighter at the arcades, you never talked too much smack, because the other player was inches away from you. This held true even when you played console games on the couch. There was an etiquette, a sportsmanship.
If you play a competitive game online with voice chat on, it's only a matter of time before you hear a small child call you the N word and tell you how much they had sex with your mother.
Kevin Spacey.
For me, pike place market. every year we would go to Seattle to see my moms sister and go to the market. It was always busy and lively, but I don’t ever remember the swarm of people crowded around trying to get photos and videos of the fish market workers.
The Johnson Smith Company and Edge Company catalogs. So many great knives and gadgets to drool over. There's websites that have the same sort of collections now, but i was always excited when they came in the mail, and after i read through them a few times, it was a few week of anticipation waiting for the next one.
A hard earned hookup
I think the internet created a world full of narcissists
The internet just went ham on how retarded feminism was and I agree with that but the feminism rekt vids just kinda stoped and I miss that so much
Movie Phone... 777-FILM
plausible deniability. you can't claim to not have heard something or missed a message anymore. unless you were hiking out in the middle of nowhere with no connectivity, but you can't just up and do that. you have to have a reputation for doing that for it to be believable, which means you actually have to go hiking out in the middle of nowhere with no connectivity, fuck all that noise.
Subculture.
I missed logging in to bbs from cmd through telnet protocol. Told kids at my school i was hacking into the schools servers lol.
Talking to strangers in public.
Memes that don’t have “Me: something generic” Memes used to make me laugh. Internet created and internet killed imo
Microsoft Zune
non animated memes
Vine. Vine was arguably the best thing I’ve seen the internet do.
Nickelback
Sissyfights.com
Wouldn't be PC these days anyway but damn was it fun being a teenage boy and stealing a random girls lollipop
Minecraft and Pokemon go
Freedom of playing outside during childhood before the internet really bloomed everyone was almost always outside till the sunset nowadays parents get so paranoid about thier kids running around everyone has strict curfews which means you're friends are rarely outside anymore
I experienced this shift myself growing up around 2010s you started seeing less youngsters playing outside now indoors on thier xbox 360's its sad
dignity
^harambe memes
Radio Shack
People not expecting everything immediately. People used to have patience. People used to have attention spans. I work in a store that prints shirts and we have people coming in thinking it's perfectly reasonable to get something done in an hour. And yes, we can do that. We pride ourselves on it, in fact. But when we're behind on orders and tell them it'll have to be tomorrow you get to see some of the most self-important attitudes.
Minecraft
Homestarrunner.com was technically killed by Steve Jobs, but I miss it on my mobile device...
renting video games isn't really a thing anymore:(
Easy. Video stores.
split screen
My attention span.
Having real life friends .
Couch Co-OP in video games.
A common, somewhat unified, experience of pop culture.
The Sears Christmas Catalog.
BIG CHUNGUS
Encyclopedias.
Kind of a different one but my patience with things. Now that high speed internet is everywhere im so impatient when something doesnt load immediatley. When i was little id hop on the computer wait at least 2 minutes to even start the computer up. Then getting on aol through dialup was another 5. I was always so patient and excited for when it finally loaded. Now if a video has an unskippable 30 second ad i dont even bother watching it.
Innocence
The E meme I loved it so much becouse it made absolutely no sense
Retail music stores anywhere but big city's
The good ol memes, some people who "loves" memes nowadays are bandwagons.
I don't know if it killed it, but I'm a pretty visual guy and I like to collect cool images and so on. So I love Tumblr and so on, and I have folders and folders of JPGs, PDFs and so on. But I feel like back in the day, I would have kept more scrapbooks. It sounds like a dumb thing, I know, but "here are the coolest things I've ever seen" in an easily readable form is kinda great.
I have a couple now since I save a lot of artwork, but in terms of interesting magazine clippings or weird postcards or anything like that, it's threadbare.
The smell of the paper inside the Nirvana Unplugged CD. Now I only listen to that on Spotify.
Looking up questions from encyclopedias
Music videos on tv.
Video Stores. It's more fun to walk around and find something. Luckily there are still some good ones where I live.
Thanos car
Marvel Heroes
Blockbuster
the absence of the internet
Brain cells #183520-#473619. Poor guys.
Local music scenes with local flavor. At first it was a blessing for DIY, but it slowly became a curse.
My social life.
Perspective.
Let's say that on any given topic, one in every five hundred people is a stupid person with a stupid opinion... lets call them dickheads. Dickheads didn't used to matter. Whether they were anti-vaxxers or white supremacists or sexists/incels, etc... they had no power. They'd show up to the party and everyone would say "oh for fucks sake who invited Chad/Karen? Let's just avoid them."
But the internet brings dickheads together. Algorithms force them together. With 3.2 billion people connected to the internet worldwide, on any given issue that one in five hundred dickhead is now 6.4 million dickheads, and if we know anything about dickheads it's that they're disproportionately loud. 6.4 million people no longer seems insignificant; it's a fucking demographic. Corporations, governments, news outlets all pay attention to, and modify their behaviour, to account for demographics.
We've lost the luxury of having the perspective to say, "sure, they're a dickhead, but at least they're insignificant".
Calling my dad Daddy.
Arguing points that no one knew the right answer to.
And discussing things without constant demands to "look that up."
The joy of discovering secret magical places by chance.
Early fortnite
Limitations.
I remember doing reports in school. Like "do a report on Uganda". You go to the school library and pull out the encyclopedia and grab that one book on Uganda. Read those, write it up, done. You're not able to or expected to do more than that.
But now along comes the internet. More information on any topic than you could hope to ingest in a lifetime. Lots of it fake. No matter how much you do you could have done more.
Meeting new people in person. It seems like people are much less outgoing toward real people than on social media or dating apps.
Indie music - anything "underground" becomes over-hyped and ridiculed before it has a chance to evolve.
Minecraft. I mean it’s gaining popularity and respect again, which is nice, but damn. I stopped playing it for a long ass time because people were real dicks to you if you played it back when it was a “niño rata” thing. It’s a good game and it sucks that he internet made people feel bad for liking it for so long.
Having to go to your bros house to play games and remembering who had to bring GoldenEye+ the extra controller
Sunday newspaper
The amount of time between not knowing and knowing something /peteholmes.
Memes(Good ones that is)
I enjoyed original Runescape. You could barely google to find any kind of guide, the drop parties in Falador and just exploring this huge at the time world.
Navigating with road maps.
The steamed ham joke. Used to be my favourite Simpson's bit. They massacred my boy.
Content that everyone watched and you could talk about. Back in the day, you could say "hey did you see Johnny Carson last night?" and people would probably say yes. (This is an example, I'm not that old)
Now you say 'have you seen this show on Netflix?' "no" "This show?" "No." "Oh well you gotta check it out"
The social aspect of entertainment is lost. I'm glad that there is more content, let me be clear, but I miss that we all watched the same shit (generally speaking)
Snug harbor. It was a winter wonderland during Christmas time in the middle of palm beach gardens, florida. Every house in that neighborhood had a special set of lights and even a radio station tuned in to go with the lights. Once social media got wind of it the little area couldn't keep up with traffic so they had to end it.
I miss trying to watch porn on the scrambled channels. Trying to distinguish between a boob and an elbow was a great time. Lol
Blockbuster
making mixed tapes/CD's for myself, friends and family. Obviously you can still do this now but having Spotify has made the joy of making those in consequential.
Also having to wait for a week to watch your favourite cartoon and if for some reason you missed the episode it. You couldn't just go and find a stream of it online. You pretty much had to wait till you could get your hands on the DVD box set when it came out
Video Game Secrets.
Big video rental stores. My internet is too slow to really stream well, and Redbox is limited.
As a person with a 6mb down connection,i wonder. How fast is your internet?
1.2Mbps on a good day.
I am so sorry.
Computer Shopper (... the big one...) ... actually just magazines in general.
Blockbuster
Not knowing how dumb and willfully ignorant so many of my fellow citizens are (I’m American, clearly). That and basic human decency.
journalism
Knowing people's birthdays, it was always something I prided myself on and everyone wants to feel great on their special day. But now facebook has made me admittedly lazy and also reduced birthday wishes to "hbd" from that one guy from history freshman year.
Writing a physical letter
Having an actual attention span.
The privacy to make bad decisions and mistakes.
Privacy.
Missing people that moved away and reconnecting when they're back. Instead you just learn everything and then through Facebook and have no reason reason to catch up.
Talking to your friends
/r/fatpeoplehate
The video star
The radio star
Meebo.
That's probably the nicest way I've ever heard someone say they want a death certificate for their child
Blind dates
My boner
Having to jerk off to magazines
I also miss watching shows with relatives. Now the internet has us all watching our own things individually.
i really missed minecraft but i guess that's cool to the internet again.
Actual Social Interaction.
It's all social media posing now.
YouTube.
Vine
Vine
Post mail letters
Catalogues from sears and radio shack. Circling things to get one day... That day never came.
My life
The porn magazine industry.
Ameba pico :(
My patience
My sanity
My faith in our species
Casual connection with a stranger in the same situation as yourself
Club. Fuckin. Penguin.
Club Penguin
Local hobby stores. Since the internet came along, only the large mail order places seem to be doing well. Brick and mortar shops are disappearing and I'm now at the mercy of ebay and insane cross-border shipping costs. Not fun. I liked going into a store and seeing what was available.
Webkinz
90% of the stuff in this thread was terrible and inconvenient, or stuff you could still do and just choose not to, you guys just have blind nostalgia
Nothing is stopping you from reading a book or arguing with your loved ones (which is a common thing in this thread for some reason)
Happiness
The radio star?
Getting Netflix in the mail. Having to wait for the movie just added to the level of satisfaction. Unless it was scratched, then it was the worst.
Not knowing spoilers to movies
A person's or group's knowledge base. I can remember sitting around arguing/debating with friends. Now any question can be answered almost immediately.
I just miss the old internet, around the mid-90s era
Loss.
Undertale, fnaf, ddlc, games like that. Fucking rule 34.
The word thirsty (and lots of other words)
Small town book shops.
Radio used to be king because that's where you had to hear music without buying an album. Pandora and YouTube are way better of course but I still miss the radio for some reason...
Posting a joke and then everyone is getting offended.
Blockbuster
Renting video games. We had more patience with those games instead of playing for 5 min and saying this sucks.
Music.
I'm not shocked that the internet killed the CD, and it's cool to see vinyl slowly step up as the important physical media format. And yes, some music technology like Shazam are wonderful tools.
There was even a time when the internet was supplementing the traditional sources for discovering music (radio, magazines, alt-weeklies, etc) - the blogosphere in the 00's was an amazing resource, as each one competed to find newer and increasingly obscure artists to champion. Many of those blogs still exist in one form or another, but they rarely expose me to any new music - they just heap praise on the handful of artists deemed acceptable by the more mainstream music press.
I miss the ebb and flow of different musical sub-genres, as bands evolved over time. Now the successful ones just keep releasing the same album over and over again. I miss there being "next big things" that occasionally actually were, even if some of them flamed out. I miss combing through the import bin and buying singles because you knew the b-sides were going to be great as well.
Had it not been for the internet, what kind of music I like would be SO much more limited. I do NOT miss the days of actually having to pay money to listen to music on a CD, and I do NOT miss having fewer choices in music to choose from.
As someone who bought a lot of CD's in the 90's with only one good song on them, I agree with you here. But I still feel like there was a time in the late 90s through late 00's that the internet supplemented music fandom, rather than redefining it.
Encyclopedia sets....
Video game guides. They had great art and design, and are sort of time capsule of that moment. Nothing beats the feel of physical media. Except the extreme convenience of the Internet.
phone book
I liked playing video games before the internet, and exchanging rumors of secret characters or how to beat levels or random things like that. It made playing games more exciting when you feel like you discovered something brand new you got to tell your friends and trying to figure out stuff as a group.
Now as soon as you come across any hiccup in a game you just instantly tab out and google a walkthrough and bam - it's done and all fun sucked out. At least for me, anyway.
politics
I watched the secular movement crash and burn
What country are you in, if you don't mind me asking? Because, here in America, I see the secular movement thriving online!
Indirectly Blockbuster. Netflix wouldn't be where it is today without the internet.
TV ads. I haven’t watched live TV since shows started streaming years ago and news started popping up instantly on your phone.
Why on earth would you miss TV ads??
Minecraft. I'm still kinda sad it died
Modern internet killed the joy of pirating games. Having said that, I much prefer accessibility to games without risking a virus.
Bookstores. They aren't dead, but few and far between.
Accurate information.
Exploration.
What I loved about book stores was that they were a quiet place I could seek refuge in. Same thing with video stores. There was a good 5 year period, where book stores and video rental stores were a place to go for some peace and quiet.
Library catalogs.
MXC
Typewriters
Dating.
Bongo Cat
Reddit: Circa 2010. Felt a lot more free back then.
Actually the Internet as a whole had a lot more freedoms.
Privacy.
MySpace XD
My innocence
Playing table games
Stephen Hawking.
Ad free videos
Debating something useless among friends. Now someone will inevitably google the answer to burning questions such as “What is J in the NATO phonetic language?”
Learning about new music/musicians from VH1, MTV, or Fuse.
Dictionaries and thesauruses. My uncle had a full reference library and my children would call him with homework questions. They loved calling and he loved hearing from them. My uncle has passed and my children just look up anything they need on the internet.
It makes me a little sad and it must make old uncles and librarians sad too.
Reddit. Back in 2007 or so it was a really cool place with interesting links and stuff.....now it's just asinine and purile.
The video star.
Blockbuster. Lot of nostalgic memories from Friday nights picking out a movie or a game.
Traveling and coming across some awesome spot, party, restaurant and being blown away with how lucky you are you found it. Made life so much more spontaneous and fun
Fun
BBS’
MySpace
Vine, I miss it so much.
Blockbuster video stores
Being able to have a conversation where none of the participants actually know what the correct answer is. There was a whole level of negotiation to it and there was nothing more satisfying than finding out later that you were effing right and Brad was a goddamn moron like usual. Now Brad has Google. Fuck Brad.
Having friends?
Library!
Normal familial relationships
Pete Holmes does a great bit about just the overall process of acquiring information before the internet. I believe the example he uses is one day he was wondering where Tom Petty was born.
It was an afternoon event just to find that info out. He had to go to a library, try to find a book about him, read through it to find out, and FINALLY you learn that he was born in Gainesville, FL.
After spending all that time trying to find that info out, that’s not something you’re going to forget. Now that we have phones, it’s so easy to look it up and then forget within a day or two.
Writing a letter to the dear ones. Reading those with them after twenty years. Or the next generation reading them after a few more years.
Going to a concert and not having everyone hold there phones up to record stories to Their IG
I feel like it's killed most things for me honestly. Especially just being about to talk without people trying to make everything an argument; Reddit especially is really bad about this.
It really desensitizes you to things like sex I think, and I'm not just talking about porn. Eg the other day I posted something on unpopular opinions about how I feel like I'm crazy/weird for not being into pegging, though I haven't even seen it in porn, (there's that scene in Deadpool which I don't think I realized was meant as a joke until the sequel) because maybe a year ago I'd see way, way too many people just casually talking about how it's not weird, it's not gay, it could be fun, your girlfriend will like it, etc. So because I post this in unpopular opinion recently but it probably seems like it's not with the "current" times, though I didn't even check the responses due to embarrassment yet, I just know there are going to be people saying things just to argue against me, like "you know it's consensual right? No girl is going to force you to do that" when really they don't know that.
That's just one example but there's a lot more where that follows. I think sometimes these forums really bring out the negative judgmental qualities in people, myself included sometimes. Even though I like having these social forums, I find it strange that we compartmentalize nearly everything into different communities, everybody has to label themselves as being this or that, etc. It's really, really fucking exhausting.
But, some could say that's my fault for not trying harder to get over my anxiety, go outside, and get to know people better like a "normal" person.
Memes staying funny. Everyone overuses memes to the point where they die in a few days and then everyone gets mad at anyone who still thinks it’s funny.
ugandan knuckles
Blockbuster Video.
I can’t listen to All Star without one of my friends saying “that’s not funny anymore” like it’s a good song come on man
Blockbuster was pretty cool. I'm 14 and kinda grew up while blockbuster was dying, but being in alaska, we had a blockbuster for a while longer than a lot of other places
Privacy
The Numa Numa dance
Personality
Having party tricks that no one could figure out.
My entire family used to have this trick called, "The Wizard". You have someone pick a card, and then you call a phone number. When the person on the other end of the line answers, you ask, "Hello. I'd like to speak to the Wizard." Then the person on the phone starts listing suits, "clubs, spades, hearts..." and when they get to your suit, you say, "yes, I'll hold". Then the person starts listing cards from low to high, "ace, two, three...". When they get to your card, you say, "Hi, yes, I'm still here." The person confirms the card and you say, "yep, hang on, one sec" and hand the phone over to the victim. The person on the other end makes a creepy, old wizard voice and says, "THIS IS THE WIZARD. YOUR CARD IS THE ACE OF SPADES" and hangs up the phone.
Every single time, I mean EVERY single time, people would be blown away. But it doesn't work with cell phones.
I miss the CD ordering through the mail. It was $1 a CD but you paid some absurd amount for shipping and handling. It was still cheaper than buying CDs individually. You had to pick 12 or some crap, and if it was some other amount it cost more. My brother and I would sit down and come up with a list of all the CDs we wanted then waited for the mail to arrive. I think you also had to subscribe to it monthly and there was always a catch like first 12 CDs only $1 then price went up.
Used to love looking for movie times in the news paper
Vine
Flash cartoons and Flash Games.
Sending letters through the mailbox as you are main way to communicate with somebody far away
Common sense
ZWINKY!!! MILLSBERRY )':
The anonymity of my acquaintances’ prejudices. Life is probably much better when you’re blissfully unaware that your fifth grade best friend is now racist
BBS Systems
Yes, I'm old
Having a conversation about something with people without someone saying "just Google it."
I miss my naive belief that the media was honest, hardworking, and cared about the welfare of its readers.
Reddit.
The trip to the video store
People not looking at their phones all the time.
Having TV shows only on certain days and times. There was something pretty cool about group experiencing that kind of thing and talking about it at school or work the next day.
It's very rare for anyone to watch anything at the same time any more. It's more just suggestions to go watch things and then talking a little about it later.
Justin Bieber. Look man, his old songs were not that bad, and if the internet hadn't shit on him, he might be a lot better off today.
Ignorance of all the cool media i will never consume. I spend an unhealthy amount of time thinking about the fact that i will die one day and ther will ne so many games i have not played, books i have not read, movies and shows i have not seen, and music i have not listened to. Technically i might still have the problem without the internet but the internet has made it so much easier to find things that interest you that i have an ever growing list that i will straight up not be able to fit into one lifetime
Harambe
Tumblr porn
Uganda Knuckles :(
Not knowing what anyone has been up to.
Bar fights about sports
Complete lack of accountability
Privacy.
When there was no internet many people used to fly kites. But nowadays only a few people do it. Miss those days.
The video star.
The video star
Battlefield having like 100+ servers in all gamemodes
The radio star
love.
Magazines, when they were filled with interesting articles with substance. Not sound bites.
Going and renting video games, specifically from Cobourns in MN. $2 for a week was awesome, and I discovered some of my favorite video games there (Tales of, Fatal Frame, Haunting Ground, Okami, etc) I LOVED going and seeing the new releases. Saved my mom so much money, too.
Bush
Safely searching up stuff for oc material
Fnaf before deviant art destroyed it
Hollywood video, toys r us
Probably been said but damn I miss blockbuster
Killed the video star... This cycle has to end!
A new artist that i really like. Fetty Wap was the hottest star in 2014-2015 for example, then he decided to take a sharp turn to falling off.
Encyclopedias
Mostly face to face communication.
My innocence.
Rickrolling. It's dead.
Figuring things out in video games. Playing games like Super Mario 64 you knew of what you discovered and what your mates told you on the playground. It made everything so much more fun and magical.
Piece and quiet, notifications have ruined just relaxing.
Being where you are.
Most everyone is more concerned with photo- or video-documenting whatever they're doing that they don't appear to notice that they're actually doing it. In their attempt to share/enhance/promote/aggrandize their experience, they miss it.
I'll be out back yelling at clouds if anyone needs me.
I don’t remember really ever NOT having internet (I’m 27) but I remember and miss hearing the dial up, followed by “you got mail” hearing the door open or close whenever someone logged onto to AIM or MSN messenger. Downloading songs (and porn.....and viruses). And fuckin Jeeves. You could ask him anything. I miss that fucker. And not everyone had internet so the bragging rights were cool too.
Essentially anything that made my youth what it was has been replace by internet. That kinda sucks.
My hobbies.
not knowing.
Vine
Not necessarily killed but saying brb. Now we always connected
Videogame secrets
Playing any song on my mind on YouTube.
Getting deals on used vehicles
I dont know...
Being able to do a magic trick without people immediately googling how I did it. Totally ruined magic
Those movie rental stores. I remember when I was a kid we'd always rent Pokémon movies and buy those Mario candies. My older brother always hated the Banana coin candies.
When youtube didn't have adds and wasn't a money whore.
Talking to someone over a cup of joe without them checking their phone.
Blockbuster video, media play, mix tapes, perpetually good music, satanism, unedited skill-full photography, having to actually remember something.
originality.
Where’s Waldo. Now you just have to google it.
Souvenirs, so amazing to go somewhere new and bring back some unique gift for someone you love or have someone bring you back something incredible. Now I forget to buy someone a gift just order that shit online.
Finding a newspaper someone left behind or calling a number before going to the movies with my grandma.
Pawn shops and garage sales. Internet pricing killed the hidden gems.
The days when taking a photo meant having something to look back at what you did as an individual or couple etc. nowadays photos are just for “look at what I am doing that you’re not doing” and all the humble brag related bullshit.
The shooting star meme
Mad Magazine and Ranger Rick. I loved getting home from school, finding one of those magazines sitting on the counter, and running to the bathroom to read them.
Going into movies with no spoilers or expectations. Sometimes it's just so hard to avoid clickbait article titles or some kind of review, and it kinda sucks. It's like an era of total mystery for films is over unless you actively avoid the internet
Face to face interactions being mostly necessary
Memories of people that lived in the mind, instead of oodles of stupid selfies and attempts at making intentional memories, which ironically rob you of making genuine ones that happen without all the concern for capturing them
Renting movies from a store.
Instead of calling ahead, you have to go to a restaurant’s to order take out, because it’s a new spot, and you don’t know the menu.
Then, getting lost on the way there and have to stop to ask someone for directions.
When you arrive and place your order, you realize that you left your wallet at home, and they don’t take Apple Pay/Wallet.
Damn, those were the days.
Local newspapers. Local politics is dying because of the lack of engagement. It’s because no one is going to a four hour city council meeting. But with local newspapers you have a reporter who is paid do just that. I feel this is why people look to the feds to solve all our problems. It simplifies things to have one thing to pay attention to, and you can watch it on cnn or Fox News
Local rock show posters on light poles. I have lived in two cities at the moment that the beautification committees decided that we could all just advertise our shows on Facebook now... I was so much more clued into what was happening when I could read about shows while I was walking around town.
Record companies that could afford to curate and groom artists for a few years before they even put out a record. Currently the industry runs on singles and volume with no time or money to develop artists.
I know that the internet has shattered the gate-keeping element of the old record business but now the whole thing is a mess of homemade crap with no consistency of content or quality. If the same thing happened to food or water everyone would hate it.
The ability to entertain myself.
Reading magazines. I used to get so excited buying a new magazine but now you read it all on the internet.
minecraft
People being able to watch fireworks without feeling the urge to record it.
Blockbuster, family owned video shops, Borders...oh and my time. I waste a lot glued to my phone and I’ve tried to stop
it killed my blissful ignorance of youtubers and their ubiquitous senseless unnecessary jingles and animated logos.
we need to end this now before it's too late...
Encarta
Minecraft.
Record stores.
Borders. Loved spending two hours browse their dvd section looking for a cool foreign film to buy.
People stepping in and helping when they see someone getting attacked by multiple people instead of recording.
Letters.
BOOOOOOOKS
Well, it’s not the internet that killed it but Club Penguin.
Vine
Music stores, i loved stores like the warehouse, sam goody, and so on. There was nothing like going to one on a Tuesday to pick up a cd that you've been waiting for months on
My will to live.
Sears home catalogue being delivered to my house. I use to love flipping through that thing. The online just doesn’t do it for me lol.
My innocence. I was too young to be able to look at porn like that
Geocities
Ugandan knuckles
In person discussion with other humans
Except it hasn't.
Video stores. Me and my friends would all go down and pick a movie or games or whatever was part of the experience.
Porn. It used to be this mysterious thing someone’s uncle or dad had stashed away. Someone would get an 8mm video or a VHS tape and we would all gather around and drink beers and make colorful comments and jokes while the movie played. Sometimes the girls would join in and also make comments and get drunk with us. I remember a night in college with my first amorous evening happening after some of the guys and gals in our dorm spent an evening getting tipsy and watching Debbie Does Dallas.
Now it’s just something perverts and loners do in private.
And my kid needs to be outside more. For fucks sake we have a hot tub and trampoline with a birds eye view of the bay. I mean wow I was allllways outside at her age. So there’s that too.
Card catalogs at the library, and the little check out card in each book. I enjoyed seeing how often the book was borrowed, and how many people had read it.
Also, browsing the aisles looking for interesting titles and discovering a new author. Now I use the online search, reserve the copy I want, then pick it up from the hold rack the next day.
Roblox
Monetization
Harambe
Letter writing
Not knowing the answer to every question that comes up during a conversation. I tell people "don't look it up! Let's just think about it for a while" they rarely listen.
Maybe the internet didn’t kill it, but The send off before the TV went to static. Used be an F16 flying around and over Mt. Rushmore while the national anthem played, then the TV would go to static. Now, with the constant barrage of TV/internet/whatever, I miss the days when stuff would just “stop” for a while.
I assume if I want this experience anymore, I would have to go to Best Korea.
Privacy.
My innocence
Porn on tumblr...
Privacy
So many drugs that you could order before they got the attention of the whole internet haha
Hentai
Buying clothes on my travels and knowing no one else at home would be wearing the same thing
The excitement of finding a stash of porno magazines in my parents basement.
Privacy... Dint know I had it till it was gone. 😂😂😂
Video stores
Tower Records.
Boredom. Being bored forced us to come up with creative, fulfilling and sometimes badass ways to keep ourselves entertained. Now you never have to be bored, you’ll never run out of things to read or watch, and I think it’s made us all more boring, docile and antisocial.
I know it sounds dumb to many of you, but I almost long for the days of Jackass. A lot of the stuff they did was cringeworthy, but the stuff that wasn’t was great (reminiscent of my teen years too. We didn’t do what they did, we came up with our own stunts) and at least they had spirit and knew how to have fun. There’s something to that.
Google+
!haha jk!<
The isolation of right wing extremists.
Innocence.
Privacy.
Good life, happiness, simpler times, the ability to make mistakes, privacy, want more?
The fun of doing research into obscure things.
Usenet.
Toys-R-Us and K-Mart.
Being able to learn and grow from mistakes.
Not everyone is born one hundred percent morally perfect. Shit, I don't think anyone is. But now it's become commonplace to call people out for increasingly more petty shit that they did years and years ago.
Now I am not talking about rape, assault, serious crime, et cetera. I am talking about making a tasteless edgy joke. Using a racial slur. Making an ignorant comment about gender. Not patterns of behavior - small, one-time events.
The fact of the matter is that people change their minds and grow as people over time. It's entirely likely that the person deeply regrets their actions and has changed their mindset. Collective humor itself has deeply changed - "edgy" humor was extremely popular a decade or so ago, but nowadays things are more about surrealism or Dadaist humor.
I think it's incredibly unfair to trawl through people's entire presences online and hold up any vaguely incriminating item to the giant magnifying glass of social media. The James Gunn thing is a good example of this.
If we define people by past mistakes, past bigotry, and past ignorance, we give people no motivation to try and better themselves or be less narrow-minded.
Free speech
Sal bundry
Neopets. I remember having 2 of the premium pets for free in some events. The site died before i can even learn to play the game due to me having to spent most of time with classes. I sign up for the account and just left it there for quite some time thinking that i could come back to it later. I never did. I could never did.
Clippy
my happiness.
It would be beautiful, in a way, to not have everything accessible at all times.
I miss having to go through a little bit of trouble to know the answers.
My free time. Now with WhatsApp, Facebook and stuff your bosses and clients can reach you anywhere, anytime. What's worst is when the clients forgot a detail and WhatsApp you in the middle of the night to fix it for tomorrow. Back before the Internet, you need to send letter or phone call to the office to contact them, so outside office hours clients can't bother you.
Not knowing what kind of slime I'm surrounded by...
Snail mail
Video rental stores
Society.
The Fappening
MYSPACE.
Geocities
Live concerts.
Minecraft
Blockbuster
My un-rotted brain. I should’ve listened to my parents
Living and productivity. Every time I’m in a room with someone or with my family I wonder what we would be doing if we weren’t on our phones. And wonder what people did in the olden days without it.
High end audio shops. They are pretty much gone these days due to online sales of gear and streaming.
2012 memes
Not that I really miss it but I can't recall the last time I read a shampoo bottle.
Club Penguin.
Asking people questions. Now the answer to everything is just “Google it.”
definitely pepe. sucks that such a good character from one of my favorite comics had to be ruined by white supremacists and trolls.
Gamefaqs and well-made text/picture video game walkthroughs and tips. You used to be able to google up something and get a fast, easy, direct answer.
No more.
Now everyone is only interested in making youtube videos because they want monetization, so this completely killed convenience. Video is a terrible format 99% of the time for this information.
Despacito
Fanzines and mix tapes
every good meme since 2017 within a day
Google's inbox
[deleted]
Being able to bullshit people. Go to the bar and tell a girl you were the back-up field goal kicker at some college? Who's going to know. Now....thanks a lot rivals247
YouTube
Being able to fill people up with bullshit. Hard to bullshit people now with google.
I know the internet didn’t kill this but I seriously miss club penguin
Dialup BBS
Celebrating someones cakeday
When the news had wholesome stories, like a lost dog was found or something like that. Big news outlets nowadays display the most negative things about the world. I try to read mostly local newspapers.
Video rental stores.
Privacy
Good couch co-op games :( never been more excited for a game when they announced borderlands 3.
Millsberry
I miss renting movies. We'd get take-out and snacks then go pick movies. It was an awesome date night! We'd always make a nest of blankets on the floor and play video games in between movies. I loved those times.
Being able to use a toilet without a cell phone.
Using maps/atlases to get around while driving. It gave you a real sense of the land as opposed to a simple sequence of directions. Every road trip used to be an adventure in learning.
Signaling taxis in china
We cant signal them now even if they are empty because the apps give them bonus or whatever
Being able to enjoy something you like without total criticism and negativity
My chance at life
Bulletin Board Systems
Blockbuster video.
I worked afternoons as a young adult. I'd get off work at 11, I had the unlimited Blockbuster membership, and didn't even have cable at my house, and I'd grab 2 or 3 movies on my way home, watch them the next day or two and repeat.
Greatest stuff ever. I knew the people that worked there, they made recommendations to me that usually we're right on, and it was fun.
Now I scroll thru Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and pay more money for shit I've already seen, and frankly I kinda miss renting stuff on my way home.
Urban legends. It's pretty amazing that all of the information in the world is right at our fingertips, but in a weird way I miss wondering if all the myths and crazy stories we shared as kids were true.
omgpop
Getting vaccinated.
Greeting cards. I still send them, but the only ones I ever get are from my mom, haha. Saying happy birthday or get well soon on Facebook just didn't cut it in the sincerity department imo.
ijji games
Sleep
Privacy
Children's childhood.
You mean not being photographed daily for the world to see.
and not feeling like you have to impress thousands of strangers, or coming back six month later and realising you said something really stupid the 14 september of 2003 at 4:16 pm.
Porn, I mean for real, I loved 80s raunchy comedies, and 90s softcore TV series with eye candy, I loved fashion mags and Sears catalogues, and getting a Playboy or a porn was hitting a jackpot.
I have a game in mind that was killed off. Monkey Quest. I know a lot of y'all remember it. That game was slick nostalgic, but nah, the game got shut down in 2014. I can't even find a good picture of the game on Google Images, lol.
The world was a bigger place.
My innocence
Waiting for the game console’s cheat code on magazine, or try your luck finding it themself
Bar trivia. It seems that every time I go, I play it with my friends, and we feel like we're doing well, but there's 4 teams ahead of us with perfect scores. I still go, because it's a fun little game, and a good excuse to hang out, but I wish people wouldn't cheat. It just takes the fun out of it.
Being good at "googling". Algorithms fuck everything up
Having things to do, before I knew about the internet I had things that could entertain me, now I just have nothing to do other than wander aimlessly around town because there's not much around me
When the football was on after school and you had to face your mates wrath if your team lost the next day! even tho we were kids, the playground at morning break and lunch (and afternoon break) was essentially the time to talk about football, play football and pretend it was the UCL final when the teacher rang the bell. nowadays im getting bombarded with snapchat stories and messages.
Local dial up BBS with text based adventure games.
Record stores. I know they still seemingly exist but not like they did. Sam Goody, FYE, Tower Records. I miss going in there and just checking shit out and acquiring a collection.
Cool thread!
I kinda miss buying CDs
Music
Video Stores. I loved going to Blockbuster or the little independents weekly and checking out a handful of movies, some popcorn, maybe some candy... The only good part about the downfall of Blockbuster was buying dozens of DVDs for like, a dollar when they closed. Of course my husband now mocks me and my DVD collection like I’m a dinosaur or something... Until he wants to show a friend a particular movie and it’s not streaming. Then he has to come to me and answer three riddles to gain access to my precious, precious binders....
Yahoo messenger 😪
Ugandan knucles
Knowing about a cool place or event and not having it blow up and become overrun almost immediately.
The video store - going and picking movies was part of the fun. Browsing the aisles added to the anticipation.
Ugandan Knuckles
Playing street hockey in a Canadian culdesac...
People socializing.
I miss the Friday night stroll through the aisles of Blockbuster and the Sunday morning paper.
World of Warcraft, WOTLK era. Those were fun times.
I have had the internet since i was about 8 so i cant recall too much before then, but one thing that was ON the internet that got killed was Epic Meal Time. At least to an extent. I still watch their show, but its not as good as the old days with Muscles Glasses...
Leafyishere
Secret cheats and codes that YOU only knew. It was fun to see your friends beg and pay you to learn the new hack in GTA or some other game.
Also, actual funny memes that are know presumed dead. (dont mean i still cant use them tho hehehehehehe ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )
My attention span (and probly yours too).
stopping to ask for directions - you could met some really interesting people that way
(we once had a lady tell us to turn at "suzy smith's house" - which we thought was weird because how do we know where suzy smith lives. Except it was a restaurant called "suzy smith's house" so the lady knew what she was talking about)
Harmless speculative conversation. Every question that starts with, “What do you think...” is now replied to with “I don’t know, Google it.”
MY INNOCENCE
My attention span.
Undertale, fucking goat and furry porn ruined the game, you can't talk about it with people who doesn't know the game itself because of all the weird porn flood.
Having to actively go to a library to find the answer to something.
Mix tapes
Google reader. Oh wait. What?
Writing letters and receiving letters. Also getting catalogs in the mail.
Not talking to people.
My productivity.
Blockbuster
Google Reader :(
Privacy.
The satisfaction of being able to remember an actor’s name when you’re watching a movie.
“Hey! Look, it’s the guy from Mighty Ducks. Oh what’s his name? Oh god I totally now this! Why can I not think of his name? It’s Charlie Sheen’s brother.........EMILIO ESTEVEZ! GOT IT!”
Now you just google it.
Minecraft.
The internet shamed it beyond redemption, I will never forgive it for this.
Civil discourse
Fidget spinners. They helped me cope and readjust to society when I was discharged from a psychiatric hospital. Then they blew up and I became self conscious.
My social life. But then again, that never existed in the first place.
Video rental stores, I remember going with my uncle to rent out a movie on weekends. Sad my kids wont get to experience that kind of joy.
Drone photography (or really, most drone activities period).
Invariably, someone shows up to screech about how the photo must have been taken from above 400 feet, or you must be in a national park and are therefore breaking the law, or you're just some kind of asshole for taking a drone out into nature (where there is apparently 100% undisturbed silence except for that made by evil humans).
And all that is before you even get to the subsection of drone hobbyists themselves who screech "Why do you even need to go higher than your house?" because they are so desperate to be a part of a group that they will actively work against their own self interest to do so.
Video stores, malls, and magazines. Pretty much it.
Not blaming everything on the internet.
Going to blockbuster.
kinda wack going through these comments as someone whos always lived in the time of the information highway known as the internet :/
Newspapers
Riddles
Having to call your subject matter expert friend to settle a bar bet.
Still remember one of the San Andreas coed... up down down up down up
The old videogames experience, I can't describe it, but they were unique and I refuse to agree that is just nostalgia because Undertale drove me back to that sensation. I miss that a lot.
My attention span
Haven't been to a movie theatre in years. It seems super silly to go nowadays but I do miss it.
I go to them often for big movies . Still a good experience
Ebaumsworld / flash movies
Critical thinking.
Fnaf
Haha, stalking your crush in real life not from a screen.
Record stores.
DVD rental places There was nothing like stores like blockbuster and the sort I love Netflix but, going to blockbuster and seeing all the movies just felt very comforting
my time management
Handwritten letters. The last one I got was from my great-grandma in middle school. I miss her. RIP GG!
CDs and cassettes.
Reason.
Florida Man.
By the time I learned about the "Florida Man" challenge every single local news & click bait website was all over it with "Why people are doing the Florida Man challenge" "You won't believe what Florida Man did on your birthday" shit like that. Can't read any FM material anymore
Myspace
Being able to read news and information without worrying about some idiot posting a TV or movie spoiler
As a kid, my favourite game by far was Star Control 2. The thing is, I never realised it came with a physical, paper star map that included points of interest.
So in a wonderful, terrible twist if fate, I had to go out and explore those literally hundreds of star systems and thousands of planets, and pay careful attention to every rumour or clue dropped in discussions, to get anywhere in the plot.
It was a ridiculously difficult, mysterious endeavour and I loved every minute of it.
Collectibles shows at the local mall; back when hunting down a specific back issue of a comic book series or certain cards to finish a set meant something.
Not having easy access to virtually every answer.
You were able to test someone’s knowledge. Trivia, or just someone claiming they are an expert in something.
In the early(ish) days of the internet you could have online trivia games, just quiz people, stuff like that. I had fun with that sort of thing. The information either wasn’t available online, or wasn’t easy to find.
This also works for jokes. I can’t even remember where I saw this, an ad for a tv show? But these guys were pretending not to know Frank from Sunny was the guy from Taxi. It was a funny skit. The friend is trying to explain that it’s the same actor. Today’s world of googling just wrecks that. Four seconds and you got an answer.
Old reddit
I remember as a kid I spent a lot of time at community centers, or rec centers, because they had all the gaming consoles, pc's and stuff for sports/karaoke/etc...
It was a fun place to just chill because everyone was there, and unlike the mall you didn't need to have any money or feel the pressure to buy things.
Now most rec or community centers are basically just gyms and pools.
My privacy
For me, it’s reading quality, published novels. When I had no choice, I devoured them. Now I’m addicted to scrolling on my phone... I go for the low hanging fruit 🤷♀️
Real human connections.
As a big WWE fan growing up, I miss the element of surprise when a wrestler came back or showed up unexpectedly. The surprise entrance in the Royal Rumble made it more entertaining and fun. Now there’s always “guess who was spotted backstage” posts whenever something like this is going to happen. We can try to avoid spoilers as much as possible but I’ll still stumble upon one here or there and ruin what should’ve been a big surprise moment.
Sending postcards
Hope
There's a bookstore near me that I go to regularly. They get book donations and then price them for half the retail price
Actual talking to a person and seeing facial expressions and the tone of voice .
Saturday morning newspapers. I miss going through the travel section, looking at homes for sale and comics, of course.
Viral videos
Rick and Morty
Boxxy our Queen
Louis C.K.
Blockbuster
My social life
Talking to my coworkers at lunch.
Toys 'r' Us. Damn you, Bezos, you killed my childhood!
Russian collusion
Showing up randomly at people’s doors to see if they could hang.
The kpop fandom
Being able to make easy money as a porn producer. Those days are over.
Privacy, and people prioritising each other and relationships.
Boredom. Some of the most creative (and mischievous) moments from my youth were born of boredom. Sometimes we just did stupid stuff, but it always ended up creating a story!
Boy, there's nothing to do. What say we put that 2x10 on a vertex, I'll stand on one end and you jump on the other? When you land, I'll jump too and see how high I can go.
Answer, my feet were about 6-7 ft off the ground and I came down on a fence.
Worth it.
Civility.
Arguing about pointless stuff but then "googling it" ruined everything
I miss radio shack. Not that the internet killed it. Being able to drive down the road if I needed some electronic part or cable. Now I have to wait a day or three ordering from newegg or parts express for anything best buy dosen't carry. Radio shack had the "nerdy parts."
Search. Search is all ads now.
AIM!
MLG montage parodies.
Actually wanting to read a magazine. My wife and I loved to grab a coffee and browse the magazines at the book store. (Books too, but we can still do this at a great local bookstore. Magazine sections barely even exist like they used to.) The other day at a local coffee shop they had a magazine on a table and the cover showed a feature with coffee shops. Naturally our shop must be featured, surely that's why they left it out on the table. I picked it up with intent to find the article and read it. That doesn't sound extraordinary, but it was clear in that moment that it had been a long time that I read a magazine with any real intent. After a few minutes my wife turns to me and jokes, "Look at you, reading a magazine." 🙂 I told her people coming in were probably thinking, look at that poser, acting like he's really reading that magazine. My patience for reading the magazine didn't last either. Done and put down. I didn't pick up my phone immediately as you might assume, but no doubt the phone, internet and other devices killed magazines for me. Sadly. At least book browsing and buying still live on (for us)!
Vine
The current set list of your favourite band on tour.
Me
Decent single player FPS games.
The likes of Quake, Medal of Honor etc. Most games now are just a series of 10 minute small map online games, with a small campaign bolted on, rather than a decent immersive single player experience.
There was a secret boss in Mortal Kombat 3 called Shekamu. He only appeared in the "temple" stage. He had six arms and four legs and nobody knew exactly how to make him appear.
Well, thanks for ruining that for me, Internet.
Couch gaming. Sitting next to your friends shit talking each other on cod. Good times even to this day I feel nostalgic and boot up some of the old games
People being decent to each other. The internet has given way to many people a platform to voice themselves when they have absolutely nothing to offer other than vitriol and unproductive, uneducated comments. I miss the days when people used to talk to each other and not talk at each other. It's amazing how something that connects us so much, can drive us so far apart.
Wrestling. It stopped being fun when people would start spoiling the shows and trying to learn the inner workings and who was getting belts/promotions, demoted, etc. The element of surprise was gone. It's as if fans forgot that they were fans. They want to be in charge of the show instead of just enjoying it.
The fact that we didnt need to know what unknown people is doing at the moment. Now everybody is sharing whatever the hell they are doing
Really fucking good anonymous sex
Gathering around for board games, Jenga, Uno, Monopoly, Hotwheels...
CDs. The smell of a CD booklet is amazing! I loved going to CD Warehouse after a shift at KFC when I was 15/16 and spending $50 or more (I could always get great metal CDs from the $5 bin, too) and opening the cases, reading through the lyrics, who produced it, mixed it, where it was recorded, the "thanks to" portion which got me giddy when I saw they thanked an obscure artist I loved.........ahhh, Morrisound Studios, Fredrik Nordstrom, Travis Smith, Dan Seagrave, Sunlight Studio.......ugh, such a great time. Back in the day (lol, but seriously) you could walk through ailes of metal CDs and pick up an album just based off of the artwork and record label alone; no need for a google search. If you saw it was produced by Scott Burns and it was on Earache just fork over the money then and there. It will be a killer record. Great times, indeed.
Kinda different, but I hate how Minecraft became a part of cringe culture. Like, I just want to look at the square cow and be fucking happy, okay?
Privacy.
A time before mobile device proliferation. I miss when people would watch a concert or hold a conversation without resorting to a phone to record or distract.
I know we likely won't go back ever but it was a time I enjoyed more in some ways. Of course being able to photograph things on the fly at any time and share it with people immediately is its own awesomeness.
Surprisingly enough, stumbleupon. It was my goto whenever I would get tired of Reddit.
Movie soundtrack albums
The hidden gems you would find in a movie soundtrack were so awesome. Friends could have a shared experience of the movie and then relive it with an amazing soundtrack.
Pulp fiction is the main album that comes to mind.
Interactions with peers and associates
2 girls 1 cup
Going to Blockbuster Video on date night.
Club penguin
Undertale :(
Renting dvds
Having rational discussions with strangers.
As a Gen Z I don't remember a world without internet much but definitely Jokes. back before it I'm sure there were plenty of them that not everyone knew, now everyone knows pretty much every single one in existence
Vine and decent memes
As others have said - Dial UP BBS's like Metropolis BBS in Lawrence. You could go online and interact with other local nerds via trivia, Tele-Arena, etc and meet up with others a the local dive bar in Lawrence.
Face to face communication
Free speech, debate, agree to disagree
Idubbbz
LAN parties
r/sequence While not a complete failure, when it was about to reach it's height with it being silly and having a sort of kinda almost connected storyline, it was ruined by the sequence narrators and... well it turned into a powerpoint presentation with gifs.
I miss casually asking someone about trivia or what a word means. "Hey are there 2 L's in parallel?" "What time zone is Michigan in?"
A lot of times you still get an answer, but you also get a lot of, "I don't know, Google it."
And that's an interesting point that may not be internet related.
In a pre-internet world, only your parents would tell you to look it up. Your friends would always be willing to give an answer - whether it was wrong or right. But today, even your friends will tell you to Google it. No one's interested in trying to remember or figure it out.
Problem-solving.
The old impact memes. Rage comics. Machinima. SkyDoesMinecraft.
The internet is its own enemy and meme.
Having Friends
Remember Friendster? I liked Friendster.
Having lots of friends IRL, now it seems people more and more commonly have only a small handful.
Not knowing that a movie was coming out 3 years in advance was pretty great. Expectations can be the devil.
Blockbuster.
Probably already mentioned somewhere down there but : Dating. The excitement and uncertainty and feeling of Adventure, and yes, FEAR, of having someone you've never seen before approach you in a bar or a mall and hit on you with a witty line....then actually Ask for your Number. Sure it was probably more dangerous, but that was the freaking Fun of it! The adrenaline rush. You couldn't google them or check their FB Account to find out who they were. You had to wing it. Or at least, someone from your school, work or friend group do the same, so you had to call around and ask about them and make a point to find out. You had to actually hope they Called you (a real phone call, not a text or DM). Then they usually picked you up at the door, sometimes with flowers. Yeah, yeah, I'm old-fashioned but there was something so exciting about it all. It was like jumping out of a plane or going whitewater kayaking. Absolutely no one now knows the rush of that uncertainty. No one bothers to try and it's equated to absolute laziness in the dating world beyond the courage, creativity and adrenaline rush of asking someone out then making a real effort to impress them, the suspense of the waiting and the wondering. It's all "swipe right" and "wanna hook up" and theres no more excitement to any of it, and very little effort expended.
Privacy ranks pretty high.
Everyone has something to hide, and there's nothing wrong with that. I feel like everyone has collectively forgotten that--myself included.
Needing to remember directions. I remember learning to drive and having to actually learn street names and turns to get where I needed to go. Between google maps and my phone. That is almost completely pointless now. I still memorize directions so I don’t have to use data/watch the screen, but by and large it’s unnecessary now.
Being able to discuss just about anything without being crucified for it. Granted, some stuff is worth being mad over, but I’d like to be able to admit I liked that one movie or game that everyone hates.
Socializing. IRL.
Good record stores. When I was a teenager, I used to love going to the record store just to look through all the record albums. And most of the employees were really knowledgeable about artist and music genres, so if I was looking for a particular artist or style, I could always get a good recommendation from one of them. Yes, I know that regular brick and mortar record stores do still exist, but it's just not the same.
Saturday morning cartoons. I grew up during the 60s and 70s. I would wait all week to watch them. Only a few were any good but you watched them anyway because no choice. Many were live-action show during the 70's. (Land of the lost, Ark II) The special effects were horrid but that's what was available at the time. I would sit in front of the TV, no remote, and change to 1 of 4 channels to watch something. Don't forget to turn the antenna controller around to tune into the station that you wanted to watch. Then there were the seasonal specials. Rudolph, charlie brown, etc. You had to wait for the appropriate season to watch them and you only had the one chance. If you missed it you had to wait until next year. The weekly TV lineup wasn't any better. A few good shows and a lot of fluff. If you wanted to read anything about your shows you to to read the TV Guide.
Buying a new CD when it came out. Opening the packaging and not having any idea really of what I was in for and playing it on the way home.
walking around a book store (and a record store) with no clear idea what you want.. just hoping something jumps out at you.
Not really doable on Amazon :(
Friendship.
If you wanted to play your mate on the computer you had to walk round to their house.
When my 8 year old tells me he's playing with his friends I just feel a bit sorry for his generation.
Carefree autism.
👌🏾
Little instruction booklets with video games
Another would be how peaceful everything seemed to be. Being on the internet now for any amount of time, you would think we all hated each other, but go outside and you can say hello to your neighbors and you wouldn't even know that these internet feuds even exist.
socialism
Civility
Everyone ITT: nothing but some nostalgia
Conversation. Any time my kid (teenager) gets in the car with his friends, they all stare at their phones. It's really sad.
My innocence
my arms
Getting lost. Before the Internet, you had to know where you were going or have a map. Even with the map, getting lost and finding your way around was essential. I feel that people have no idea where anything is anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I use apps from time to time, but for most things, I just look at Google maps or something before I go, plan on an extra 10-15 minutes in case I get a little lost, and figure it out when I get there. Because of this, I know a lot of back ways and interesting neighborhoods and businesses I never would have found if not for taking a couple of wrong turns.
One thing I missed the most was going to blockbusters on a Friday night with my brother. The movie didn’t even need to be good.
My attention span.
The original, unbridled, ad free YouTube.
The ubiquity of people storytelling in person.
StumbleUpon
Mixtapes
Buying something that was rare or hard to get. Didn't have to be anything too social just something that wasn't available locally and you'd feel pretty cool being the only one to have it for a while. Or you could give a really cool present that was hard to get.
Now just Amazon it and it will be there in a couple days. Almost everything you can get now is easy for anyone to get
Newgrounds and flash animations
My Happiness.
Going out to rent a movie on VHS.
The hunt.
Planking
My privacy...
Videogame magazines
Videogame magazines
My privacy...
Shrek
In depth investigative reports of local scandals by the local town newspaper. At one point the majority of the people running my county were under indictment and/or convicted while in office. Media in the area was mostly crickets: too small of a deal to be noticed by the nearest city paper, too expensive cover by a newspaper that was dying on the vine. Yes, they report when someone was charged, convicted, or acquitted, but that was it. There was a much, much bigger story going on that a few local bloggers tried to talk about but they did not have money or skills to investigate either. I realize this was a problem before the internet, but the internet really, really made it a much worse problem.
My privacy...
Porno mags.
Free and open youtube
Shrek
In depth investigative reports of local scandals by the local town newspaper. At one point the majority of the people running my county were under indictment and/or convicted while in office. Media in the area was mostly crickets: too small of a deal to be noticed by the nearest city paper, too expensive cover by a newspaper that was dying on the vine. Yes, they report when someone was charged, convicted, or acquitted, but that was it. There was a much, much bigger story going on that a few local bloggers tried to talk about but they did not have money or skills to investigate either. I realize this was a problem before the internet, but the internet really, really made it a much worse problem.
Nature trails. Secret waterfalls. Other cool nature spots. Back then you would buy books and guide and put in the effort to find and visit these places. Nowadays every nice spot is over visited and ridden with garbage because way too many people who don't care and respect the place visit them, because they're on hiking blogs or, God forbid, some fucking instagrammer posted about it. Ugh.
RIP Vine😢❤️
Blockbuster
The excitement of getting pictures after they got "developed." We could show all of our friends and family. We'd laugh and reminisce. Now you "go live" and "share" but, it's not the same.
Candy Train :(
DOOM CREW
Gay bars
How
Minecraft
The music industry ... the way it used to be.
Going over to a friend's house to play Madden football video game.
I miss a less splintered media landscape. It seems the internet has accelerated the advance of the million channel universe, and it seems like people are becoming less connected to each other.
The promise of the internet was that it would bring us closer together, but in many ways it seems the opposite has occurred. Just my two cents.
We were busy talking about this, the mystique of wrestling.
Go to Blockbuster to rent a videogame for the weekend. And convince my dad to buy me some candy on the way.
Couch co-op
I miss the old YouTube
Vaporwave
Club penguin
Socializing, most people would rather stare at a screen than interact with others
Getting Rick Rolled
Getting fame because you're actually good at something.
Guess it's both a blessing and a curse but I kinda miss pondering the answer to some far out question without just pulling up the answer immediately. Wikipedia kinda kills the flow and imagination of a lot of barroom conversations.
Come to think of it, the internet kills a lot of imagination. Nothing is interesting and nothing is shocking any more.
Howard Dean
Seriously, the scream made me like him more
Happiness
Games before micro transactions The peace of a cell-less age
Reading a book.
minecraft
Actually funny things
a lot of my favorite songs :(
Alex Jones :/
This doesnt really count since its had a revolution and came out after the internet was created but....
Minecraft. It was such a gem in the late 2000s/ early 2010s. Around 2012 every single YouTuber was playing it and it became a screaming match and the community kind of got toxic. I'm glad its had a resurgence this year. People are coming back to the game they loved. Although a lot of weird stuff has been added
Face to face interactions
BBS's. Local people, planning a coffee meet with 18 other people you only know by 'handles'. Great times too.
The children
Fascist being isolated and lonely with no means to organize.
Blockbuster and hastings. Also the excitement of one of your friends finding a hustler magazine
The internet didn’t use to be so toxic and vitriolic
my attention span.
I miss videogame cheatcodes. Like o,x,o,x,y,<-, ■,o
Now its like you can cheat if you pay. What type of moral is that teaching kids? If you have money you can cheat your way through life. :p
Personal privacy.
Pen pals
I miss being amazed by people who do stunts. I’ve become so desensitized by seeing so many videos of people doing crazy flips that when I see someone do something like climb up a stack of balanced chairs and do a handstand in person it doesn’t thrill me anymore.
Pub trivia nights. They still happen, but there's always that team who decides to cheat by looking up every answer on their phones.
If I was reading a really good mystery novel, I would read through until I got to the end. Now I can just look up who the killer is on wikipedia
High school reunions
I miss not knowing what a movie, book, or TV show was about unless I put the effort into it. Trailers are insane these days and I'm not strong enough to not dive deep into the internet to see what is going on. The Blair Witch Project to this day it still in my to top 5 because I was straight up convinced it was really a true story and real found footage because of how they promoted it and I didn't know how to search things on the internet yet.
Having reasonable discussions.
Any good meme
Newspapers. I know some still exist, but their heyday and prominent role in society is gone. I loved my career in newspapers. We’re losing a public service.
Handwritten letters
Rage comics
AOL/MySpace/Article 13 killed everything
I have played magic the gathering since about '97 decks used to be whatever cards you thought were good together then we would painstakingly practice playing games against these most common archetypes, changing the list incrementally over time. Lots of time and care went into lists. Now with some money and a signal you can easily not only have a top teir deck but specific instructions for how to play it in every situation even what cards should be sideboarded in against the other top teir decks.
Dating
Written repair instructions. They're still out there, if you search harder (or go to the library), but a lot of times it's easier to find a video. OK, I'll watch the stupid thing, but I really would prefer just reading instructions.
I love when a person makes a video and puts instructions in the description
My social life
Going outside.
Hobby shops that sold books, magazines, comics, and sports cards (nudy magazines in the back room behind a door). God damn I miss Shinders!
Privacy
Spongegar memes
Face to face conversations. Even if it's like discord it's a lot easier to curse somebody out without feeling bad. It's honestly really shitty.
Reading porn mags for the articles. (No joke).
Renting VHSs
Renting movies from blockbuster. Those Friday afternoons were so exciting
Sunshine.
Blockbuster. Something about walking around and picking out the perfect movie added to ‘the date night in’
Magazines in the bathroom.
Nintendo Power. I only got in near the end but it was great.
human interaction
Undertale not being cringy,I’m still obsessed but I got into the fandom pretty dang late and by the time I did it was made fun of by loads of people and the Internet was flooded with five year olds shipping their Mary Sue ocs with sans,r.i.p lol,the community is (luckily) still thriving but sometimes even I genuinely cringe at some shit that fans pump out and toss onto the Internet (tbh I’m kinda one of those cringeworthy fan girls who writes fanfics and loves the skelebros but meh,at least I don’t have a skeleton oc that somehow has boobs and hair despite being a fucking skeleton,confused? Google it...actually please don’t)
The 90’s
Humour.
Auctions and collecting.
Dabbing
This sounds ridiculous, but I really miss just having whatever records/CDs you bought, and not every fucking album in the world at your fingertips. A lot of my favorite records of all time are ones that I didn’t love at first, but grew on me because I only had 20-30 CDs, so if I got a new one I was gonna keep listening.
In this thread - stuff that's still around but people need to just develop more discipline to get back to that place of nostalgia. The internet don't kill anything.
Before my time, but I know tape trading was a big thing in the 80s-90s. People with rare movies, TV shows, concert recordings, etc. would trade tapes.
Being a collector, it's a great feeling to come across something super rare to add to my collection, but those times are far & few between since everything is at our fingertips now. But back in the day, you would trade tapes & it wasn't just about getting something that wasn't in your collection, but also trying to get something with higher quality than what you had, since there was a quality loss with each copy made. If you had a duplicate of a duplicate of a duplicate, the quality was quite poor, but that was often all you'd have for a while. The original Star Wars Holiday Special circulated like that for a while, since it was so rare (only airing once in the late 70s before VCRs were common), but now you can do a 2 second Google search & watch an original studio master right away.
Don't get me wrong. This is a positive change. I love having access to way more stuff in way better quality, & I wouldn't want to go back, but you've mostly lost the thrill of the hunt.
Sticky magazines. It’s just not the same cumming on your computer screen
youtube 2013
Video stores. Browsing the aisle, finding a movie you wanted to watch, and taking it home to watch it. Sure we have Netflix but
1) Their selection is kinda crap
2) The experience and atmosphere of those stores can never be recap tired by constantly pressing the direction buttons on the remote
3) Rental movies don't load or buffer
I miss them :(
Hotmail and MSN chat and Yahoo Chat.
People not staring at screens all the time and watching where they walk instead of their phones
Dating
Catching something on tv. I don't have cable anymore because I just don't use it... everything is VOD or it's on Youtube with no comercial breaks and all that annoying stuff... but still... a lazy saturday afternoon could become a great thing if you catched a Jurassic Park rerun, another Simpsons episodes you saw a hundred times over but you still laugh like the first time or your new favourite movie you never learn the name of until years later... such a great feeling.
Aw man I’m getting sad reading this thread. Didn’t realize how much we lost from the internet, not to downplay what we’ve gained from it but still
Old school dating..you go someplace try to initiate conversation...and try to woo the girl. Now you just swipe left right.
Searching for something to watch on cable TV.
Just trying a restaurant, Yelp made finding a place to eat infuriating. Similarly finding a movie to watch, used to be you'd see the trailer and then if you liked what you saw, you'd watch the movie.
I miss being able to get paid for knowing things. I never got to do it but it sounded nice.
Journalism.
Porn magazines
They still exist.
being able to talk to friends on the phone for hours. I'm in the generation that stopped calling friends directly after the age of 14, but I still miss it.
Instant communication killed a lot of social graces. Like keeping appointments/dates/catch ups because now they can see what everyone else is doing instantly and constantly. A “better” comes up and they ghost
Bonsai kittens.
Music Television
Cartoons
Buying dvds for movies and music
Old memes
Purplemoon
Service.
In middle school I use to draw the funniest little comic strips and things involving different styles of penises.
Then super bad came out then it became a trend online, and I was always told “you stole that from SuperBad” when in reality it was more than likely linear thinking. I never drew a cock again.....
My faith in humanity
Believe it or not, encyclopedias. My parents had a set of World Book when I was a kid, and I whenever I didn't have anything better to do, I would grab a volume at random and start flipping through it, stopping at interesting looking articles to read them. Looking up something on the internet or wikipedia feels like something you only do when you have a specific thing you want to accomplish.
[nods]
At this point, I would like a WikiReader with an updated data card.
Bitch please memes
HJ’s
Giving and receiving mixtapes/CDs from friends. Music seemed to mean more when you got it from a friend.
Pretty cool thing in highschool
being able to scroll down a webpage without triggering some drop down box that wants to change the size of clothing you were looking at, or try to redirect you to some other subcategory. You could just click the page and hit the down arrow and it would work.
The whip
The highstreet shops.
Amazon has singlehandedly wiped out the small store owners. It won't be long until we're all buying our groceries online, delivered daily by van.
Family meal with staff before work. Used to be fun and chat it up, now everyone is on their phones the whole time
isanyoneup
The video star.
Magical moments like this -- I had told my dad I enjoyed a series of books by an author and my dad heard on the radio that the author was doing a book signing at a bookstore near my dad's home. So my dad wanted to surprise me with a signed copy of this guy's latest book.
My dad showed up at the bookstore, got in line, and when his turn came to get his book signed, he found himself staring into the face of an old friend he'd known decades ago in high school.
Each instantly recognized the other and it was just a great moment for everyone -- for them and everyone else around them. The author leaped out of his seat, he and my dad embraced, my dad was calling the author by his real name, and everyone around them shared in the joy of that moment.
That wouldn't happen nowadays. All the surprise would be gone, on my dad's side, at least. He would have googled the author's name, seen his face, seen that he used a nom de plume, seen his real name, maybe emailed him -- that wonderful moment of my dad and his old friend recognizing each other in shock and delight, embracing, my dad calling him by his real name and saying, "Omg, you're the writer my kid is such a big fan of! I should have known! I remember your stories in school!" -- none of that would happen today in front of a crowd who shared in that happiness.
Lots of special moments like that just don't happen anymore.
The adventure of figuring out a game. Newer generations will never know what it's like to get bear over and over by a boss and have to figure it out, or lost in a cave or wandering around trying to figure out what the game wants, now they just go Google it.
Arcades and offline fighting game communities
Used the love playing arcade at fish and chip shop where waiting for order. Play against other people there etc
Blockbuster video. Was the greatest experience. Going in a realizing movies came out on video etc.
Hand written letter
I was born in 2001 so basically grew up with the Internet but my family and I used to go buy DVD’s every sunday and we had a big collection, now we never watch movies together
Both solitude and real human connection.
Mystery
LAN parties.
Memes
Print media
Uganda Knuckles
Moth memes
Rage comics. The internet didn't kill and it lived long enough but I want it back 😭
r/teenagers
I miss those personalized AAA TripTiks, on which we could record our trip expenses and notes. “Pretty! Go back someday!”
I used to really look forward to Thursday afternoons, when my city's free weekly papers would hit the shelves. In college back in the early 00s I had a weekly ritual of going out for coffee after class and picking up Columbus Alive and The Other Paper. I'd read the articles, check out Savage Love, and scan the personals section. I was even more into the free weeklies when I first moved to Boston in the mid aughts - the Phoenix (RIP) and the Digg were both awe-inspiring, and really helped me find my way around my new city. I really miss having something to look forward to every week like that.
MySpace.
Not being able to WebMD everytime my eye twitches and be convinced it's a brain tumor.
Mobility Mary. Idiots on Reddit couldn’t resist tapping on the glass of the exhibit so she deleted her videos.
Ugandan knuckles
My self esteem. Ruined by social media.
Blockbuster
Club penguin
R Kelly and Michael Jackson
My baby Blockbuster
Minecraft.
Renting movies.
Growing up it was the most exciting thing for me. Getting to go to the video rental store and look through all the sections of hundreds of movies. Having to make that ultimate decision of which one to take.
The fappening ruined looking up celebrity nudes for me. Cant fap knowing that their privacy was violated and the she didnt want people seeing her naked (outside of lover of course)
Anticipation. I finally understand what Wonka was talking about.
Being bored and hanging with friends doing fuck all rather than sitting on the internet looking at bullshit. I'd rather be out getting snack food and drinks and talking about whatever than at home sitting and staring at my phone or monitor.
They other day I went to a restaurant near a good friend on a Friday night and had a thought that if I drank too much i could call and stay with him for the night. It would be silly and inconvenient but probably good fun and I'd wake up and make us hungover pancakes and coffee or something. But in the age of Uber it feels weird/unnecessary to ask and I wouldn't do it anymore and I realized I missed it.
Card Catalogs at the library. I would find so many other books to read while searching for the one I was looking for. Now with the online catalogs - it's just not the same.
Secrets
Good porn
Porn. Nothing really gets me off anymore.
Stumble upon! I had so many good sites and it cured my boredom 100%. Now it’s some shitty thing called Mix.
Edit: just realized op meant a real life the thing the internet ruined.
Human evolutionary development
Going into a movie/ playing a game and knowing nothing about it. Now there are spoilers and leaks everywhere for every move and video game under the sun.
A free press. Small, local stores.
Multi-player gaming. Yea being able to play online is great and all, but compares to couch co-op. I've many fond memories of hanging with friends staying up all night consuming garbage food while competing in whatever game we got.
Toolbars.
Friends
Shaggy memes ;(
Newspapers.
Blockbuster
Memes. :(
Blockbuster
Tubgirl
Debating about pointless shit with friends in restaurants. When I was younger we would have pointless arguments about dumb shit like who came out first mushroomhead or slipknot, what sold more Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis, or what year Gundam came out. Now we can just look that stuff up
Blockbuster
Ugandan Knuckles, Dat Boi, and Big Chungus. All good memes until they weren't :(
Ricardo...
Reading paper back books
Cool local spots that you could only find through word of mouth.
Comedy
I was born in 1993 so I wasn't really around for the full experience...
But being part of local music scenes today, it must have been much more bonding and organic to have to go down to local record stores, keep tabs with friends in the scene, or walk around looking for posters to find out what shows were going on. Not knowing what to expect from local or touring bands you'd never heard of - unless you could get ahold of a demo or LP that likewise required you to have organic interaction with that band or a local music shop.
I've heard stories from old heads of writing letters to bands, bands sending their demos by mail with personal letters written back.
And of course record and apparel stores were thriving, sustainable businesses because the internet hadn't stolen their market from them yet.
Nowadays you have websites like bandcamp, Soundcloud so you can automatically judge a band and decide whether you want to see them or not. You have Facebook events for shows so you can automatically know who is going to be there and decide whether you are going or not far in advanced.
I find the whole modernization of this scene has really hampered my motivation to attend shows and keep up with the local Punk, alternative, and Metal scenes I was really into as a teenager and in my early 20s. My city had more catered punk/metal venues, almost all of the locally-run record stores have shut down in my city, and I feel so much more artificial distance from the scene because all the intel I get now is fed through Facebook posts and events rather than through my old friend circle.
Growing up isn't always fun.
Physical copies of games so that epic won't bribe Devs to put it on their launchers
Been reading this thread for like an hour and I just came up with another!
I miss those "urban legends" you knew in your neighborhood that you just took for granted, like a neighborhood friend that was always experimenting and burned 4 playstations trying to connect the link cable between 4 PSXs instead of two to play Red Alert. Lmao those were the days.
Road maps. I miss pulling them out of the glove box and navigating without real time positioning. It was less efficient, but there was an art to it that made driving different and fun.
Movie Theaters.
I’ll always get Nostalgia about the Hype and energy of a theater on a Friday or Saturday night the week of a new release.
There was so much excitement and enjoyment you could feel it in the air.
It still happens but with the rise of streaming services movie theaters have taken a big hit. Crazy to think in a couple decades they might be a thing of the past. Kind of like Blockbuster.
Back in my day we jerked of to the JC Penney’s catalogue.
computer bulletin boards and phone phreaking/ hacking.
The OK sign
Can I make Reddit just only be composed of the people in this thread? You're all awesome and I feel like I know you all.
Those old memes like troll face/ deep ect
There was this really cool block game, where you were a block with legs, and you were climbing up a tower through different levels. There where block enemies too. (No it’s not Minecraft, legit there was a large round tower, and everything that could move was a 1x1 cube. It was the same tower that is in Helix Jump, but the blocks had different faces, and each area of the tower has different textures.) Anyway, it was a super awesome game and I loved it for the entirety of my childhood. I recently remembered the game, and tried to find it; I searched all the names I could find and I’ve never been able to find it again, even after spending hours on free games websites I played it on to try and find it. In fact, I haven’t found any records of it at all. I wish I could find it though.
renegade bbs.
My freetime
My space
Dane Cook
Waiting for the next episode...
Being bad at fashion and makeup. There’s no excuse for it now, with all these tutorials, but fuck I hate it almost as much as I am bad at it.
Usenet.
Vanilla WoW
Blizzard says that they are going to rerelease it some time in the near future.
Now you're always available, without opportunity of downtime. We're always on the rush, without even opportunity to rest even outside of the office.
Musical knowledge used to be much less widespread and it was fascinating to dig it out of older/cooler people. You had to actually have a collection of media to know about bands, and even for a band you knew really well you might find out someday about an EP they made that you never heard or an amazing g live recording or something. Sometimes songs would have inside jokes or references you'd find out about from a friend and then you'd laugh your ass off about it. It was something you could really construct a community around, because you needed to get to know people and talk to them to find music you'd like to hear.
Companies not copyrighting everything online
attack!, the facebook online risk game. I played the shit out of that until hasbro copyrighted it and got it taken down :(
Me
Civility. Anonymity breeds cruelty, it would seem.
civility
Payphones
Reading the comics in the newspaper. I don’t want to read them on a screen, I want to read them sitting down at the table and eating or just sitting there to relax. Same with the sports section.
Also I miss the time before Facebook became all open to everyone and full of garbage. Back when it was just for schools it was great to find people you knew and see who was in your classes. Now it’s parents and people sharing incorrect political garbage and stupid minion stuff.
Buying video games at a game store. It is still a thing but the online shops killed it for me. I browse online now. I used to enjoy asking in the shop and getting excited for seeing new games
The Ugandan knuckles meme.
Club Penguin
Minecraft
BBS’s
They were basically just chat rooms, but everyone is local and they would have meet ups frequently.
Blockbuster every Friday :(
The word "daddy"
Gangnam Style
Not sure if it was mentioned, but getting lost. Used to need physical maps and directions from people in the area to find things. Then Mapquest happened. And now it’s all phone gps which is even easier.
Actually, I really don’t miss any of that, praise Waze. And Yelp is nice too. Screw all that exploring, I just want authentic tacos.
GameStop, Blockbuster, ToysRUs
Memes
For video games its how everything is data mined these days. Really miss going into something and not knowing what the hell is going on. Nowadays you just look online for a guide from some data miner or video giving tips.
Blockbuster was the shit. Now I just stream everything or netflix. Was pretty fun to go rent a game, get some junk food and have a weekend of movies.
Card packs. I feel like card packs aren't sold anymore. I used to see them in targets, walmarts, and even blockbuster. Feels like the only place you can find them are dedicated card shops or something.
Going to Blockbuster to pick out movies, candy, and popcorn. :(
Minecraft. You cant play it without being called a child, and you cant upload it on YouTube without being labeled a sellout.
Seeing bikes outside a house and knowing that's where your friends all were. Nowadays it's all cars and ubers and meeting in Starbucks to take ridiculous selfies and drink coffee Ironically. Gone are the days of having to ride your bike around until you saw 4-6 bikes in someone's front garden and then you knocked and asked "Is Freddy, Micheal, George Paul and Dave all here? Can I come in as well or is it a housefull?" and on alot of occasions that was the case and the parents kicked everyone out and we would all ride our bikes to the river and skim stones or go wadding.
Not knowing what movies came out so you have to go to Blockbuster and go to the “new releases” section and read the back of the box to see what’s about.
And renting video games.
Naked ladies
Video / game rental stores.
My town had a small family owned video rental place my family used to frequent. My family become regulars and the owners would often hold copies of movies they thought my parents might like. The feeling of being a kid and staring at walls of n64 and ps1 games was awesome. I remember spending so much time looking at all the cover art for different games and reading the back. It was at this video store that I discovered metal gear solid, resident evil, and ocarina of time.
Eventually this store was lost to Blockbuster. Blockbuster was great and my now wife and I used to rent countless movies there but nothing well come close to that small video store. There is just something about a small town video store that the internet will never replace.
Edit:
Another fond memory:
My brothers and I used to rent ocarina of time like every weekend. My brother had a save game with the story almost completed. Everytime we would rent it the 2nd and 3rd save slots would always be different. My brothers save slot was never touched to my knowledge the entire time we rented the game. It was such a neat feeling to see my brothers save game persist every time I rented the game.
not being afraid to open youtube in public
Ugandan Knuckles memes
Its easy minecraft
my innocence
Better news quality as news papers made money. I miss being able to take an article at face value (not that there weren’t biases).
Listening to a whole album again and again. Really learning the nuances and depth of music due to its scarcity.
I don’t want to go back, But I miss that.
August Ames
Privacy !
Tower Records
Pub debates with your mates.
Just being out at a bar with friends discussing stuff and having to cast your mind back to which actor was in what movie, or what number president was so and so, or who is the greatest X of all time. Now things can just be googled.
discovering music
I really miss video and record stores being everywhere. I love how convenient it is to watch or listen to anything I want instantly, but there was something special about taking my time to browse through the different choices, usually knowing nothing about them except what was on the box. And more specifically about record stores, it kind of meant more when I could only buy one or two albums, because even if they ended up not being my cup of tea, I would still listen to every song and see if it clicked eventually, because I couldn't just listen to something new if I didn't immediately like the first track. I found a lot of favorites through the "fuck it, maybe I'll like it this time" method of listening.
Tom from MySpace
My life lol
Craigslist
Having unique ideology. Now you can look up anything about your chosen ideology, party or group, and make sure you align your thoughts with the groups thoughts to make sure you don’t upset your group.
People taking a picture of everything rather than savoring the moment.
Blockbusters. Going to the store with your friends, renting the whole Toby Spider-Man trilogy and watching it with your friends in the living room until 3 am.
Nothing. I honestly miss nothing about pre-Internet days. I may have nostalgia around things I liked as a child, but I think they would all have improved with high speed Internet access.
Undertale
Blockbuster.
Even the trip to the video store was part of the fun!
Computer games that came in CDs. Now it's all this Steam nonsense. Back in my day (I'm only 22 lol), I had the whole Freddy Fish and Putt-Putt and Pajama Sam collection, and I layed them all out sideways on my mom's bookshelf, and man that whole set-up looked cool. In the morning I would eat breakfast (that was made for me, bless), then go sit down at the computer, and pluck out whichever game I felt like playing, and then just game until I was called for lunch or dinner. Those are the true games that made me a gamer today.
When procrastinating writing that essay meant going the night before to the library (before 8pm) and looking up the materials you needed in the main index encyclopedia, finding the corresponding encyclopedia book you needed, photocopying it (because they didn't let you check it out) and then taking it home to read/highlight and use to write your essay.
Compared to these days now where you can just look it up from the comfort of home
Pre social media internet. The internet used to be divided into little fiefdoms with its own culture and rules. Somethingawful felt a lot different than Fark despite both being comedy sites. It was like the charm of small town life but digital.
Facebook came along a homogenized and monetized online interaction. Now everything is judged through the lens of social media and we're all worse off for it.
Limewire! Although my family computer doesn’t miss it
Dating and the mystique of meeting new people. I've done the whole online dating thing and I just don't have the spirit for it anymore. From not reading my specifics in a profile, to cat-fishing, bots, scammers, paying for whatever features because I'm male, added to all the normal dating BS, I'm just done with it.
dabbing. lol
Individualized, distictive cultures across different regions/countries. Social media has encouraged people around the world to become so homogenous. It feels like everyone is trying to be a part of some meta-culture and it’s such a tragedy.
LAN parties, nothing will beat playing Halo with my friends in my cousins basement.
Vines
I miss when the word meme actually had meaning, cuz of social media and the explosion of the net in the last ~8 or so years it has basically become the new way to say "joke". Literally everyone says meme instead of joke now, and that's really not what it means.
Shopping IRL.
I grew up poor, never really had the means to go to the shopping mall, much less actually buy something. By the time I was old enough to do so and had any kind of real money, internet shopping had its stranglehold upon brick and mortar stores
Blockbuster. Ill never forget going in Friday night and getting my movies and games for the weekend. RIP :(
The video star.
Real searches. You search for something, they now redirect you, no matter how you word the search!
Fucking Newgrounds, man
Club Penguin.
Glass beaches.
Going to blockbuster to pick out some movies.
Piracy was more exciting before computers
Blockbuster...families couples gathering at the same place..looking for a movie that everyone agrees on
[deleted]
They should have a YouTube roulette that takes you on a wild ride like that,but it would end up full of corporate or sponsored crap instead of creative videos.
Google Inbox
Civility
The way it's going now here in the Netherlands: physical shops. Like, at all. There's a ton of them going bankrupt and it makes the shopping street less and less of an interesting place to be. Plus computer shops. There's something about buying your stuff and being able to get to work as soon as you get home. Returning something that didn't work and directly getting your replacement? Fucking gold...
Insults without repercussions.
Newspapers
Dignity.
my sanity
Minecraft
Fidget Spinners
Ticketmaster ruined itself. How great was it to stand in line for tickets? Or campout? It started out ok online but now the resellers who scoop up all the good seats and inflate the prices... It's so aggravating. Then they charge ridiculous fees for electronic tickets. It's maddening. We don't have much of a choice in the matter either.
Letters
SpongeBob
This entire post makes me sad 😔
Letters
My dignity.
Low resolution online game...!
My brother and I used to spend hours (and I mean hours) being stupid on Club Penguin. By stupid I mean purposely trying to get kicked off. I have no idea why we did this but it remains one of my favorite memories.
Discussion boards. We used to have all these cool and kookie Communities, now they are pasteurised. It's sad when reddit feels the most like the days of old in this.
Pepe the frog
The mall
Having conversations with your friends where you try to remember things.
What were the names of all 7 dwarves? What song comes after "Polly" on Nevermind?
Just sitting around talking about stuff, without anyone looking at their phone.
Having one place all your friends chilled and you didn't need to be invited and there was always people there. Part is growing up and having kids and responsibilities but at the same time its harder than ever to get your best bros over for a bbq when it's all over txt and Facebook.
Free Realms
As expected this thread is full of nostalgia distorting everything. Lots of "it was simpler back than (or rather, feels that way in retrospect) and therefore automatically better"
My.opinion.
Minecraft, Reddit is the only place that still likes it
Club Penguin
Club Penguin
Flash games
Blockbuster
Dating is totally different with the Internet. We may be more outgoing thinking every opportunity was the only way to meet someone rather than dating apps.
Also, you used to have to call someone to ask them out. Not texting or email.
Silk road Lmao
Local Play/ Lan play.
This ones big for me. I love getting on discord and being able to talk and play whenever I want, but theirs just something special about being able to hit your friend in the shoulder for screen peeking.
Car forums.
Local newspapers
Going to the video store! So many of us are saying this, but sharing memories that are only tied together by the goal of making a transaction.
Our locations, processes for renting, the stores we frequented, and the movies we watched are similar, but different. It’s pretty indicative of how ubiquitous (but rarely cited) the video store was in our journey to adulthood.
It’s also pretty interesting to contrast those small differences with how people have evolved to access their content in near-identical ways this decade.
Content is curated for you in a similar manner to the small town or independent video store (where the owner chose what you’d have available)... but in today’s reality we (I’m going to say North Americans for this because that’s my experience) end up with the same “variety” of choices, which isn’t true variety at all. Or maybe that’s an illusion and our video stores all had the same exact stuff but we didn’t know it because of the offline nature.
I used to love standing in front of the wire racks of empty cases, judging based on covers before inevitably reading the back of every new release in the 1-day area, then moving on to the 3 day section, which was in a different room. I would inevitably rent Meet the Deedles from the 10-day section of flattened covers without a case, shrouded in hard plastic that would cut you if you flipped through them too quickly. It was always great to ride our bikes to the video store (which had the most 1980’s name you could imagine and was owned by my geography teacher who was also my neighbour), then spend an hour picking out whatever PG-13 or lower video could meet the needs of a bunch of teens, before we all rode to the 7-11 to get Slurpees.
Pen pals.
Ironically I met mine online (dial up days) and we exchanged email addresses and we would write each other via email. We also sent hand written letters and would swap currency. We would try and keep up a couple times a year.
Now we are friends on Facebook and haven’t connected in over 10 years. No need to 🤷♂️
Okay so this is a little different, current internet killed early internet.
I miss the non-centralized form of information; i.e. geocities fan sites. Lots of cool geocities sites, mostly.
I also miss things like ICQ and AIM. It use to be "yeah sure, here is my aim, u can chat with me" now its "here is my snap, i have 1501983409238 followers, here is my insta, i have 1032984309 followers" i feel like it use to be more personal
Self esteem
The BATIM chapter five ending.
I was so excited to know what it was, but people were just spreading it everywhere and that pisses me off so much
MOVIEPHONE - 777-film to see what movies are playing!
Genuine get together with friends, speaking one's heart out.
Now we meet somewhere and browse our respective phones .
Like i am doing right now.
Working a VCR, going out to Blockbuster late at night for a last minute pizza party movie.
Humans being semi decent to each other
reading the classifieds
Social interaction
Undertale
conversation.
what used to be ‘what was that movie with George Clooney in it?’ ‘Oceans 11?’ ‘No, it was before that.. and it had that other guy in it who was in Batman’ ‘Oh yeah, I remember we went to see it at the movies, and the girl spilled an entire drinks tray in Sandra’s lap and she was trying so hard to pretend she wasn’t furious..’ ‘Ha ha, but you could tell she was just stewing because she was doing that thing with her jaw..’
Is now ‘what was that movie with George Clooney in it?’ ‘Hang on, I’ll google it’
I mean you could like.. Not just instantly Google everything. You have that capability.
will I just tell everybody I’m talking to ‘I know you could easily google the answer to my question, but instead I think we should exercise our brains trying to work it out freestyle’?
or should I go for a more aggressive ‘what was that movie called... HEY NO GOOGLE, I ASKED YOU, NOT THE INTERNET!’
Or maybe try to have a real/natural conversation, and if all the people you know are just constantly on their phones... try to meet less dipshit people?
hahaha.. a real, natural conversation. met many introverts?
Introverts are allowed to have real conversations. Source: am an introvert and have had real conversations.
well I’m an introvert and I find it very difficult to make casual conversation. Wow! Different people have different experiences!
It's almost like you making a blanket statement about all introverts was incorrect and now you are trying to save face by pushing the blame onto me instead of realizing your own mistakes and trying to grow as a person.
FFS I just answered a light askreddit question. I really didn’t think it required this level of dissection.
I stand by my response to the question and I’m really not sure why it’s bothered you this much.
I'm not at all bothered. You seem very bothered though? You said you hate how everything is instantly googled these days, simple fix is to stop googling. Then instead of moving on you try to make up some bullshit about how you are an introvert that hates casual conversation... Which btw makes no fucking sense because your op is about how you hate how Google has ruined casual conversations.
they asked for people’s personal opinions on what the internet has killed and I answered.
are you having this much trouble understanding every response to the question?
You said you hate how everything is instantly googled these days, simple fix is to stop googling. Then instead of moving on you try to make up some bullshit about how you are an introvert that hates casual conversation... Which btw makes no fucking sense because your op is about how you hate how Google has ruined casual conversations.
do you think I was saying ‘the internet has ruined me because now I google shit instead of talking to people’?
Multiply. All those damn pictures. :(
My relationships
Not necessarily the internet, but Yahoo. I wish they would bring back their Java game rooms. I formed friendships with many people in the euchre, gin, and cribbage lounges when they were up and running and now I'm relegated to the euchre app for Android and nothing else. There used to be tournaments orchestrated by the mods and leagues too! I miss that weekly if not daily ritual.
Finding cars at good deals. Before it would almost be a hunt or just something to kill the time to ask around if anyone knows anyone selling a car. Now it’s like dropping steak to a lion.
Human Contact- social media has destroyed our ability to be human..
social interaction.
The video star
Things like collectable card games. When MTG first came out you learned a lot about deck building from your friends/group you played with. Building decks to counter their ideas. You could build fun interesting decks and still be competitive.
Now everyone knows what the best deck will be before the next set is released. It's been almost 10 years since I last played but EVERYONE ran near identical decks. If we're just playing luck of the draw might as well play Texas hold em or dice.
Video stores
My childhood innocence
Game magazines with demo discs.
Renting Movies every week with the family.
The internet didn’t kill it but it definitely contributed to its death. Renting movies at Blockbuster or the local video rental (and video games later on) once a week. The thrill of getting there right away on new rental day, trying to get a copy of THAT MOVIE at the time. The disappointment when it was out of stock and you had to find a option B, but the later cherished joy from watching your B choice. There was so much joy doing that as a family, I miss that time and I’m sad I won’t be able to have that with my family as it grows.
I think I will do my own version, like compile a list of my favorite movies and pick one at random every week to watch with as a family or something.
The guy mistaken for the boston bomber.
Mix tapes. It used to take so much time, and effort. Now you can put together whatever in seconds.
Yahoo chat rooms(groups?)
My life
Renting games at blockbuster
Blockbuster. I loved walking slowly through the new releases.
Video star
I miss old people being worthwhile. They no longer seem to have any real LPT to share.
LOLcats and LOLspeak.. it was a fad and came/went so quickly without leaving anything that great in it's place.
Encyclopedias
Civility
My attention span.
Movie rentals. It used to be exhilarating as a kid to go to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video.
Shipping. I grew up in a valley and I had a view of the road coming in from my bedroom window. When I ordered something I would look expectantly for the UPS or FedEx truck.
Porn. Porn used to be elusive and valuable. You used to have to strike it rich with some pervy uncle's stash or nudge your 12' satellite dish into a better location to view broken and grainy sex scenes on the naughty channels.
News. While I dreaded it as a kid, looking back on an era where folks got their news from a source that at least attempted to feign neutrality was really nice.
open discussion about the topics of today. now the left is too polarized.
Going to blockbuster
VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR
World of Warcraft. I remember when I first played WoW. There was virtually no guides and it was up to the player and their friends to get to max level and find everything for themselves along the way. Quest text used to be important in finding where to go, now you just go to the blue area on your map and collect x things. You used to have to plan on how to get to a raid and have 4+ hours to clear a raid. Now you can fly/port right to the entrance and clear it with a pug in an hour.
It actually felt rewarding to get rare/epic gear. Thee was no optimal build for any class, and most classes could be played pretty freely (of course there were right and wrong ways to play but it was a much wider choice of playstyles). Now it's only meta build, anything other than that is just bad, not that it's necessarily the players fault. There's a meta because there's a certain build that outperforms the others and it's heavily reported and analyzed.
The grind in vanilla (and BC and WotLk) was so rewarding. You got great items after a long quest chain, and it would carry you for 10+ levels before replacing it. Grinding a profession yielded upgrades early on; now it's just farming mats to get to max level ASAP because that's the only good stuff. I remember in vanilla grinding mats to make a blue chest piece that carried me for 8 levels. Heirlooms were a good idea, but were implemented in the worst way possible. A static buff would have been preferable over scaling items. It completely ruined upgrading gear.
The general player base is also worse. It's so hard to find actual nice people. I remember talking with people for hours in vent about classes and specs. They were complete strangers and we're taking their time to explain some really basic stuff to a newbie. They volunteered to help me in areas that they had already completed just to help. They talked for hours about the raid mechanics and got a group of max level players together to help me learn Blackrock depths and Blackrock spire. Now, if you make a mistake in a raid or are running a non-meta spec, you get kicked. If you don't have the achievement, you can't go and have to wait for the raid to come to raid finder.
Blizzard has really catered to the "casual" players in recent years. It's so easy to earn gear and skill is no longer crucial. Most classes really just boil down to 3 or 4 spells that you use, with a few of the others being tossed in during a few niche fights. Addons have also made using rotations super easy.
I grew up playing wc3 and wow. I loved immersing myself in the lore of Azeroth. The Forsaken and the Blood Elves and the Dwarven clans were so rich in history. I look at WoW now and see a totally different game in a totally different world. I loved exploring new zones on my own or with the people I met in game. Now, it just feels dead. New zones are boring to explore because the only thing that matters is endgame and not the journey to it.
I have high hope for the release of vanilla, but I'm so scared of blizzard somehow fucking it up.
Wow this turned into a long rant. Sorry bout that.
Polls Boutique was one of my faves!
Almost everything.
Humans
I miss going into stores and buying video games just based on their cases. Nowadays everybody is so damn picky about frame rates, graphic specifics, features ect. We have too much information to the point where I think people let it ruin their genuine fun and enjoyment of the game.
I would love it if a site for a technical company gave any actual information about the service they provide instead of 5 pages of buzzwords and a link to setup a demo with their sales team.
I miss the days of being able to look up a technology company and be able to have at least some idea of exactly what they do.
YouTube. It’s only the trending vids I can find these days.
Reality...
Walking around Blockbuster Video on a Friday night.
Blockbuster
My happiness... 👍
My innocence
Even though it wasn't too long ago, I miss watching AMV's (anime music videos) on YouTube before copyright strikes were introduced.
Most AMV creators would give credit to the music and anime creators and didn't have monetize on. AMV's were how I discovered music and new animes to watch for most of high school. I miss the creativity that went into them.
Courtesy. Flipping someone the finger while agressively driving your car was less anonymous. But on the internet it has become commonplace to spread every stupid thought one might have.
Blockbuster video. Hollywood video. Walking around and physically shopping for rental entertainment. Heart strings man.
Friendship and life without stupid social media.
The globlogalgallob
Loli hentai
TheLegend27
Record stores
Game site called OMGPOP
Had that draw my thing ? That was fun. Used to play that on teamspeak with RuneScape clan mates years ago
Playing brick breaker on my mum's blackberry. No better way to procrastinate
Custard
Not having to think about porn of anything I see
Bookstores
The Fappening.
YouTube channel, "Black 20"
I defy someone to influence this comment in any way.
Reading (people still read, it's just that the internet killed it for me personally)
Also see: my attention span / motivation to do anything that doesn't involve instant gratification
Dating irl
Cable TV, my productivity exc
Minecraft
MTV
I remember when Blockbuster was IT. Before my town got a Blockbuster it was a small place, they had 2 copies of the best movies,almost no video games. They had to be back by 1pm. Then Blockbuster moved in gave us 5 days , 60 copies on the shelf. Tons of games, free deals. Like rent 1 old movie get 2 free. Only the backroom brought business to the old place and they became a porn shop. That is all we did back then on weekend nights, except Sundays that was Simpson's and xfiles
Freedom...
CD stores (Sam Goody, On-Cue,Hastings, etc...)
:(
Film photography. Though not technically dead, I miss the medium
Civility
My self control :(
Browsing a Blockbuster on a Friday or Saturday night trying to find a good movie to watch with family or friends. Those were the good days.
Being able to say daddy to your dad
Malls. I enjoyed going to them as a kid and we would always go to Waldenbooks or B Dalton and go to KB Toys. Plus we would always eat in the food court. This was always our outing with our mother when she would run errands for my dad and take us kids with or she did it as an outing. Now they are not the same and they started to change in the 2000's when those places went bankrupt. My junior and senior year of high school was when I started to notice a change in malls.
Now my only reason for going to a mall is if there is a specific store I am going to or if I take my kids to see Santa or if they are having any sales.
Movie and game rentals. Now it's rare to find a video store. Why even use your car if you can rent on your cable box or rent on youtube or on Microsoft, or Amazon video? Plus we have Gamefly now and you can keep the game as long as you want and you can sometimes be allowed to keep the game by buying it and they will send you the game case.
Shrek
Paper maps. Used to have to plan your trip with a map and a piece of paper for directions. Now people (myself included) use Google maps to get where they need to go with the fastest route available. Also can't use the excuse of getting lost when you're late to a new place.
My mom
r/politics
The radio star
Club Penguin
Oddly, the old public forums and fanpages of yore are what I miss. Going to actual websites to learn, and not just twitter. Everything has become so concentrated and samey. The modern internet has killed off the diverse internet, and it's now populated by a few social media juggernauts and online shopping. I miss finding forums of people with similar interests and making friends by seeing them around a lot. It's still possible but really not at all the same.
Beastiality porn
Honestly, phone books (not the yellow pages). Used to you could reverse lookup a local phone number by the number's last 4 digits and it was free.
Now if I try to Google a number I get nothing but 1) sites trying to sell me background checks or 2) scammer report sites with old people yelling "STOP CALLING ME" in the comments.
Friendster
Vine
I feel like kids don’t play anymore. I always used to create beautiful worlds with my friends using only some plastic lightsabers and our backyards, and now whenever I go home from college my little brother spends the majority of his time watching YouTube or playing video games. I really worry about the developmental implications that not using one’s imagination will have on kids my brother’s age in the future.
Navigational maps in the glove box.
Now anybody can go anywhere with a GPS and no navigational skills what so ever.
Ok I don't miss those maps at ALL. Because I was the only sibling who could read maps it was my job to be the GPS. But the maps were always huge, and too big for 12 year old me. When we first got a satnav it was one of the best days of my life (but that's mainly because you could program it to be Donald duck)
Vine RIP
Arcades
Privacy
CP
Yahoo pool
For me it's just how consuming the internet has become in our daily lives.
E-mails, messaging, and texts have all pretty much replaced physical relationships- and I miss that.
There's no such thing as popping over to your friends house to say hi and see if they're home. You have to text and nail down a specific point and time, all the while 90% of your communication is electronic.
Whenever I go out with friends I leave my phone in the car. However it leads me to another binding factor of electric communication: now we can reach people instantaneously, many people's time to work or other obligations have become increasingly more binding.
I can't count how many times my friends have had to postpone an outing or leave in the middle of something because work called and needed them to come in an hour early. It's maddening.
Letters
Waking up at 3 am with the answer to a question that's been bugging you all day.
I miss walking into a Gamestop or EB Games and just seeing what was on the shelf. It used to be intoxicating.
At this point I've been gaming on PC for years. I'm not their target demographic anymore. Sometimes I get the urge to go browse like I used to, but there's no point. Anything I'd want to play is on GOG, Steam, or some other internet distribution analogue.
I think the point where physical retailers were selling game boxes with no disc inside, but a code to download the game online was the point where it really hit home for me. Physical game distribution is entirely obsolete. They are clinging on by their fingernails.
My dad :(
My will to live
Ricardo Milos thia man was truly great and the Internet is slowly killing him
Lime wire and the way runescape used to be.
Waiting for various game lit companies to release a book with cheat codes to your favorite games. Now if I want to know how mega jump in gta I just Google it but I remember going to the bookstore every few months after a few good games were released to see if they had the cheat code book for them yet.
Club Penguin
My innocence
Being exposed to new tv programming because I’m flipping through the channels or because my usual shows are not on.
I just keep getting “featured” shows and an echo chamber of recommended shows. And they work, that’s what I keep gravitating towards.
My breadth of viewing experiences have become homogenized.
The relevance of wrestling magazines. As a kid/wrestling fan, I'd buy them all the time! I recall many nights being up late with the flashlight in the bed, voraciously reading all the latest gossip... Back in the day when the magazines were still pretending it wasn't staged. I knew it was fake even then, but it was fun to pretend as a 9 year old.
Old chat clients.
Discord is fine. Even Facebook Messenger is perfectly serviceable. But in this age of the internet, where there are only a dozen or so massive web giants all campaigning for our eyeballs and money, I miss the feeling of using a service without the expectation that that service is part of an aggressive funnel to separate me from my personal data and/or money.
And I kinda miss the way that communities felt smaller (they were smaller) and how each community's culture was separate. Memes had to gain significant critical mass to permeate. It was a more fun, more free time. I guess I just associate the weird little IRC channels I frequented with that.
Magic tricks.
Manners
dish network
Ugandan Knuckles
I miss the Harlem shake. Don’t hate me. The videos were pretty cool, back in 2014.
Being able to find things at a brick and mortar store. Sure, the stores still stock food, beer, toilet paper, and things like that. But it's not at all unusual for me to go to three different stores looking for a particular pet food, shampoo, or whatever, only to end up going home and ordering it online.
In one way, this is great. Amazon Prime will have it to my door in 24-48 hours. No more driving all over town for that particular gadget or favorite brand of socks. But that only means that store managers stop stocking all but the most commonly sold goods.
It's a vicious circle: Customer can't find it at the store, so they order online. Store loses sales and decides not to restock. Customer buys even more things online, not willing to drive to multiple stores anymore just to get that particular herbal supplement or whatever. Consequently, the stores become even less willing to stray from sure-sell items like meat, produce, soap and paper towels.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Who knows where it will all end.
No fortnite
Flash games.
Big Chungus.
Letter writing.
Sex with another person.
Nothing really. The things the internet truly killed were mostly because it's simply better with the internet. Yeah, some of you may be like oh I miss going to the library to research a subject, now you can just look it up. But that is just nostalgia. Having to go out and get a book, look through it to find the info you need is just a huge waste of time, if you enjoy the journey and the experience, then do it, you still can the internet hasn't killed that you just don't actually want to do it. The reason you miss it is because you were younger and everything was new and interesting.
If something is simply better without the internet, then it still exists sans internet. The only good things I have seen listed here still exist.
I miss not reading a news story every week about how some vast, publicly traded company accidentally gave millions of people's data away, oops. Or some tech giant was accidentally facilitating pedophiles, with no plans to stop because automation is hard at scale.
I get what you mean and kind of agree, but I think there are practises which the internet allows for that are not better than their pre/early internet counterparts. Now we live in this venture capital heavy new market where every new startup wants to "disrupt the [blank] industry", and usually that means ignoring labor laws and flaunting regulation. Do I like that Amazon has everything I could ever want? Sure, but I'd really love it if it'd pay tax and treat its workers less like slaves.
Ignorance.
The absolute joy of your parents taking you to blockbuster
How would I know I missed it
My innocence. The time before the internet was a much simpler time
Uganda Knuckles
Buying a complete game and not having all this preorder and beta BS
Going to the library and just browsing through some fun facts in the encyclopedia. That shit was fun. Now there are fact websites and instagram/twitter/facebook accounts dedicated to just sharing facts, and it's just not the same as the old days.
Not having to worry about movie spoilers😰
Only being online at home on a PC.
Limewire
Dont know if anyone will notice this but
Charlie Puth’s Country Song + his old videos
Freedom of speech.
My innocence
Efficient communication. I miss thoroughly talking with people about stuff without everyone getting distracted easily or being a know it all. I miss calling and talking for hours. That in person connection, it's not the same. It's devalued human interaction.
I also miss when art wasn't as accessible to steal, duplicate and claim as your own.
Everything. The internet ruins everything.
LAN Parties
The fact that everyone (all kids) went out to play in the evening and on weekends. How summers were like.
Video stores. I used to go with my dad all the time and we would spend 20 minutes just browsing. I really miss the tradition of going to the video store.
Having Secrets and Easter Eggs in video games. Back in the day, you just hear these things via word of mouth and you always had the explorer kid that knew the ins and outs of a game and the speaker kid that ether lied about the secrets or just gained them from the explorer kid. That's when you begin to play the game just trying to find stuff and either find out or better yet find something that no one had found before.
This gave you fond memories that you had with game along with an actual sense of achievement that is lacking in game today. Now you can just turn to articles like this: https://gamerant.com/bloodborne-secret-enemy-719/ and then you try to go find the damn thing only to realize that the majority of gamers have found it or trying to find it ergo killing the mystery and the adventure in one fell swoop.
TLDR; I wish secrets and Easter eggs weren't exposed so it won't kill my experience for the game without being bombarded with spoilers when I have to do something mundane and necessary on the internet.
Vine
Also, when life wasn't broadcasted daily online to plaster the illusion of perfection and endless happiness. Everyone is so self important now.
having friends that we used to randomly call and chat with. We had a huge list of phone numbers that we would dial on the landline and make friends , chat, etc
Renting games at Blockbuster.
My country's libraries started to have newest console games. So i have enjoyed to go check new game for the weekend from library next my work place
Harambe
Battlefield 2
Anything secret, one picture and a tag and you’re small get together becomes a block party
Rick And Morty.
Doctors/Dentists/Psychologists.
Now all you have to do is look up your symptoms on WebMD, or click on a random medication ad and inform your doctor of what you have and demand a prescription to deal with it. 🤷🏻♂️
Newspapers
At one time, Minecraft. Though the player base is now increasing, which makes me happy.
Dating.
My innocence
People used have genuine moments without worrying about recording them or what was going on elsewhere.
Meals where people just paid attention to eachother
Harambe
Memes, they used to last. now it's lucky if it lives past a day.
Going outside and playing
RandyTaylor69
One thing is, not needing it for every task
Pop up video
The word “euphoric”
Getting lost. I used to love going on random driving adventures with friends and getting lost and having to figure out how to get back. The world just felt different and more mysterious.
Sounds like a lot of people here needed a subscription to Nintendo Power
Magazines and comics..
Reading the news paper, especially on Sunday. I know I still can. But if I’ve already read about it online, what’s the point?
Song lyrics. Sorry if someone else already mentioned it, but even though it was super frustrating not knowing those lyrics to that song, it was like a secret that would never be unlocked at that time.
Bookstores. Yes, I know there are still SOME... but they're a dying breed.
Going into an FYE or Walmart back when you could scan a CD to listen to the track previews.
Going over to your friends house to play a multiplayer video game split screen.
The current experience doesnt quite come close. Feels sort of like everyone is wasting each other's time a bit. Each game can end with a, "well that does it for me, peace out."
Back in the day that would just be, "let's make some totinos pizza rolls and start another round after."
Coachella. Well, IG killed Coachella.
Human interaction
ROBLOX tix
Big Chungus
Civility. Face to face human contact.
Everything
Harambe memes😪
MySpace and MSN messenger, they alot better then Facebook
Shrek
The radio star
anything
Film clips for your favourite bands. Used to have to stay up late and hope they'd come on tv with a vhs ready to record. These days they're all on youtube and have lost their magic
The Whole Earth Catalogue
Getting actual invitations in the mail to parties. Now everyone just get invited to things on Facebook events
The ability to reinvent yourself and recede into obscurity. For example: 2 of my grandparents each did something dumb (one 18-yr old had an affair with the CEO and the other did SOMETHING which the family doesn’t speak about - I think a nasty divorce,but just a guess) so moved to a distant land and became hugely successful, personally and financially. There was no reputation which followed them.
Happiness.
Blockbuster.
My parents relationship
Friends randomly knocking on my door to come chill 'cuz they're bored and want company.
Gaming Magazines
My childhood
Something that the Internet killed?
There are DARK places on the interntet, really dark places.
Apart from everything already mentioned in the thread (Boy it bought back memories). The one thing that I really miss is sending hand written letters.
Today, as emails and instant messages have taken over the means of communication, people have lost the subtle enjoyment and art of writing letters. The feeling of pouring your heart out on a piece of paper, adding some PS to express more things that didn't click earlier, calculation of correct stamps, sending the letter and then the anticipation of a reply, a chain of feelings the next generation will never know.
All the letters we get today are bills and some notices, which are often paid before hand on internet.
Honestly though, e-mails are so much more convenient. Imagine being in a different country from your GF and having to wait days or even weeks before it actually gets to her.
Big chungus
real friends
No, that still very much exists.
immediate local community
DE wae
The internet Completely shifted the game industry into multi-player focused development. Games with great stories that are coop are far and few in between, it's all about free to play with self sustaining monetary models and cosmetics. While I don't hate this and actively play them myself, I really miss the days of coop games with a great narrative.
You can try Human: Fall Flat. That can be splitscreened or played over LAN. The game itself is very good as well.
My soul
Catching up with people. Now I know a lot of what people have been up to already because of social media and it seems to take away some of the conversation. Finding out exciting news in person helps me give a more genuine reaction, personally.
Free time. Now if I have some down time, it's wasted scrolling through pages & pages of IG or FB. I always wonder why it seems like the days are shorter, but I think I just manage my time so poorly and waste it on Social media, that it feels like I haven't any time to do anything.
Nyan cat
Free Time
Not quite there yet, but well on it's way; Physical media. There's just something special about having a shelf full of DVDs, games or music.
Something more expensive though. With physical media, you pay for the XD as well as the actual product.
Mystery in video games.
being able to be called "Daddy" by a son/daughter without wanting to vomit.
Books
Blockbuster
Pro wrestling, both the product and fanbase.
Eighteen years ago, we had WrestleMania X-Seven pitting Stone Cold vs The Rock. Tonight, we saw the likes of Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley lose to a couple of soyboys and nu"males" because the IWC demanded it.
Oh, and the spoilers too, I guess.
I hate wrestling now.
Surprise of going to a new place.
Towns, cities, restaurants, colleges. You already have a preview before you go and likely the culture is far more like your own than pre internet.
Playing different sorts of games in the street. Picking up cricket ball from the dump.My Imagination.
In America, the only way to see weird "postworthy" shit before the internet was to just drive through the country.
Yahoo! Games
I miss playing Canasta there and oh boy Yahoo Towers.
Privacy
Book stores
minecraft
Vine
Split screen coop
Standing in line to get first row concert tickets.
Peace of mind
I'm 16, so I always had internet.
I hate the ideology if ordering things online that you can easily get at a store. For me it's videogames. I get that nerds are anti-social but going to a gamestore is part of the experience when buying a game. Looking at the selection with your brother or friend. Showing each what you found, talking to the staff about video games. The whole atmosphere. Now everyone just order it off of Amazon. What's the point of waiting 2 days when you can get it NOW?
Rage comics, good old Memes
The video star.
Blockbuster
AOL Instant Messenger
Edit: Misread Title
Toys R Us
Dating.
Nowadays, “online dating” is seen as “normal”. I wish it could just disappear. It makes dating the way it was before ridiculously difficult. Online dating feels fake, not genuine and not exciting.
Yup. I remember the days when online dating was seen as the place only the outcasts “undatables” went to
So true, and this is all recent.
The correct feeling that nobody gives a shit about your pathetic existence nor do they want to hear about the stupid shit you do.
Pepe the frog
To me its remembering phone numbers. I still know my buddies home phone, I call it when hes being an asshat, end up talking to his moms for 30 minutes catching up. Sometimes home phones have their purpose.
Nothing. The internet has made my life better in every single way
the down vote button
Limewire lol
[deleted]
Hahahahah and frostwire
The internet.
Seriously, though. The 'free internet' is dead. Sunde was right.
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkjpbd/pirate-bay-founder-peter-sunde-i-have-given-up
I miss when stores had all games on display, and there would be lines of kids trying out the console demos. I remember when DKC3 and Yoshi Island were all the rage, and walking down the isles you would see all the Nintendo and Sega consoles with lines of kids who play. Now everyone just gets their preorder from Amazon and direct demo downloads.
My family.
Face to face friend ship.
Grooveshark. i miss being able to stream music I didn't have to buy.
Unix command line Internet.
Rage comics
The radio star!
the mystery and niche of things.
I liked creepy, aliens, mystery stories.
X-files, Unsolved mysteries, and some books provided that with the internet.
Nowadays, a mystery is spread very quickly or turned into a shitty meme or something.
MEMES
I miss all the original funny content
My musical royalty stream.
Not knowing anything about any celebrities I like and what characters they play. I avoid that stuff like the plague so something doesn't get ruined for me.
Also just being excited about games, movies, coming out. Internet seems to be a shit show of hatred.
Agree! But I do love that IMDB.
Roiworld
Halo 3
Real conversations
Shooting star memes
Iconator.com
Picking the perfect AIM icon was so important to me. Trying to make AIM icons through MS paint was next. Then going through every category on the site for hours the next day so I wouldn’t miss anything.
YouTube back when it was just making fun videos shares and not a full time job for some people. Content was way more genuine then.
Going outside
The radio star
My brother... He was killed last year by some hitman on the dark web :(
Watching porn with friends, and you never know, it could get interesting
VHS tapes. I hate streaming. My Mom doesn't like to buy DVD's because of all the streaming options, but if you ask me, there are a lot of places Worldwide with really shitty internet service, so having a tape or a disc is better. Besides, tapes and discs come with a selection of bonus features that the streaming services lack. I still have a VHS player and it still works like a charm. I have several VHS tapes. I also have some discs, and I much prefer VHS tapes even to discs, because in my experience, I have had discs get scratched so easily, whereas I have tapes older than me that still work like charms. Fucking damn streaming services.
I miss when people weren’t on the hating Fortnite for no real reason bandwagon
Also, Microsoft Paint. I remember being in elementary school and literally having a class where we just painted in Microsoft Paint. I always used the spray can. Queue weird clouds of cyan, magenta and lime green.
Common sense
Reason.
Commerce
August Ames
Invader Zim. I really loved that show. It was so unique and the humor was really funny. But then the internet (and Hot Topic culture) took it over and it turned from edgy to eEeDdDgGgYyY. I still watch it every now and again, but I get this feeling like I'm participating in a subculture that I have no part being in, even though I grew up with it when I was 7 or 8 and was a fan from the beginning.
My social life.
Vaping.
Conversation. People don’t talk like they used to.
Using the OK symbol at restaurants.
I miss getting lost. (Wandering as JRR Tolkien might have said)
I could pick up a gas station map, or my dad’s Thomas Guide, hop in the car and drive. I didn’t know where I’d end up. I’d just drive, and I’d just walk.
If figure out where I was once I was there. I absolutely loved it.
Casual gaming For every game there are now those tutorials „how to beat everybody in...“ Just play the fucking game and shut up
The current internet killed the early internet. Lots of stuff is centealized on a few very useful websites so hunting for information on many websites has become less prevalent. Also, early 2000s web design makes me nostalgic
Good games
My innocence.
Constantly going to libraries to look up simple words. The whole package. Hurrying there, unfriendly librarians, the silence, the huge leather bound encyclopedias, the joy at actually finding what you're looking for at a reasonable pace...
Short anecdote about this: I'm a huge philosophy nerd and was reading a pretty old text (abt 150yrs old at this point) under the table in a completely unrelated class back in highschool. There were some words that were essential to the author's points that I had never heard before (like, depending on the meaning of those words some of the sentences could mean one thing or almost the exact opposite). So what did stupid 1800s- language- infused me do at the end of class? That's right. Put a pen and piece of paper in the same jeans pocket my phone was in (omg me) and sprinted to the library in the 10 min break that was intended for the students to change classrooms. When I reached my next class after managing to look up all 3 or so words I was missing, I told my best friend about it, beaming and, of course, totally out of breath. I showed her my hastily scribbled notes and she looked at me like I had completely lost my mind and said, "You do know Google is a thing, right?". The realisation made me feel so stupid and sad. (Yes, my school had a 'no phones at any time' policy, but I was of age at that time, so no teacher would've bothered to take my phone, since I could've gotten it back myself immediately.)
Old internet
i just had a stroke reading this
Music, I guess? Giving everyone and their goldfish the chance to become a music star despite whether they have actual talent, and put their work out there is a double-edged sword.
A good example (of bad exposure) is "Mia Khalifa" by iLOVEFRiDAY, a mega-popular diss track aimed at the porn star that shares the same name. The artists saw a tweet from a fake Twitter account posing as Mia Khalifa that offended them and took it upon themselves to hit "her" back with a shit mix. Who makes a diss track...to porn stars...for being porn stars? I'd rather listen to "Mooo!" by Doja Cat, a song she made feeling that music artists took themselves too seriously. Plus she just looks like she's having fun with the dumb but damn catchy lyrics and video because it's not boosted by unnecessary anger.
So maybe I'm more annoyed with how the internet makes it a LOT easier to start drama, and in turn also easier for many people to catch wind of it whether they care or not and rant about it on reddit...because it's everywhere.
/not gonna link to the first song bc I don't think ya'll deserve cancer
Privacy
Writing letters.
Minecraft, Mc was the fucking shit before everyone called it ‘cringy’
Dating
Struggling at video games. Now if i don't know something i can Google it and have the answer in 2 seconds. There's no feeling of accomplishment for solving a difficult puzzle.
Camping out for tickets
I remember as a kid going to Blockbuster and a little later on Movie Trading Company. I can still faintly remember the smell walking into a Blockbuster and walking down the small isles of movies but my favorite was the video games. Renting games for the PS and movies. We weren’t very well off so when we went to Blockbuster or MTC it was special. Now movies can be streamed close to when they come out in theaters which is awesome but is not the same feeling.
Going to the movies
Person to person interaction
I wouldn’t say the internet killed it, I just miss club penguin
My free time , my love of reading, my enjoyment of going outside. Sigh.
Blockbuster
My social life.
Arcades
Social interactions
21 Jump Street
Adult entertainment that wasn't porn, or was at least softcore porn. Movies that were definitely not for children, but not inappropriate among adults. Books that had grown up themes, but weren't so explicit that you couldn't buy them in a corner store or an airport.
Freespeech, having opinions. If you have different opinion you will get shit for it. Also internet anonymity.. M
Games being completed on release, not relying on updates,
Privacy
my feelings.
Blockbuster Video.
not knowing the answer to something
Events that could only be witnessed in person. I’m a wheelchair user now, but back in my early teens (pre YouTube) I used a wheeled walker and loved skateboarding. My friends and I used to sneak into construction sites, requisition scrap wood from the dumpsters, and build small ramps. I would actually hit the smaller ones on my board and walker. It felt like we were doing something pretty special, something that you had to be present to witness. To this day, some 15 years later, we still reminisce about it. Nowadays, a quick YouTube search pulls up piles of that sort of thing. It’s a double edged sword really, as now any kid out there can pull up something as a baseline, and have aspirational goals to work toward, which is awesome, but in some ways much of that pioneering thrill is gone.
The honor of agreeing to meet up.
Video Stores...
Definitely LAN parties. I mean maybe I would not enjoy them now that I am twice the age I was when I went to them, but man, I loved going to those back in the day.
I miss being able to make plans with someone and picking a specific date, time, and place and having that be set in stone. You can’t get people to commit to anything more than a day in advance anymore. And I hate how when I do go meet up with people, we all have to confirm the plan like 8 million times the day of and tell them when you’re on your way, when you’re parking, when you step inside the location, etc. I miss just having a plan, like we’re going to the movies this Friday at 8, and just knowing that everyone will show up when they said they would.
I can’t arrive at a restaurant before my friend and get a table without giving the latitude and longitude of where it is because we’re all so anxious of looking stupid and walking into a restaurant and just using our eyes to find our friends.
People also don’t use doorbells anymore. Now you just text that you’re outside. Which I do too, but that’s only because I feel weird using someone’s doorbell now.
Free speech
Worldstar fight videos...
I stumbled upon the hidden rupee room whilst playing Zelda 3 on the SNES and I had no idea what I'd done to achieve this. I mentioned it to my friends but they had never heard of it and subsequently didn't believe me. I ended up writing to Games Master magazine to find out what happened. I think that was my first Easter egg discovery.
OMGPOP/Drawmything
My self respect lol
I may be late and a little young to be saying this but the mall. When I was ten I rarely ever got to go and when I did I always loved it, I couldn't wait till I was old enough to go with friends and go shopping and eat food in the court and have fun! But now that I'm 18, the mall nearby has had four diffrent shops close and leave because they weren't doing well enough. H*ck the Dairy Queen left because the mall isn't doing well anymore. Last time I was there there were five empty stores and the Payless Shoes store was closing down. All that's left is a small clothing shop, a pretzel thing, a Clair's, and a small seasonal boba shop. I wish there was more there but it's all gone. And this all has happened in the last four years since I moved to this valley. It sucks.
Being right. It used to be that you could say something that was completely factual and you were just right. Now no matter what you say, some stink nugget with nothing better to do is going to chime in with their version of the facts. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have a debate ever, but fuck, can’t somebody just be right sometimes?
Directors commentary and extra material for movies :(
Well my doctors note said I was a -0.5 -0.5 so idk lol
Face to face conversation
Anonymous gas station trucker sex
Oh wait...
Going to a doctor rather than Googling symptoms (I am guilty, too).
The people who had actual good ideas, could decipher right from wrong, and that y'know some things should not be posted on the internet and will be seen by the people on the internet.
Steam trading
Find out what happens until you watch the episode.
The game
Being truly present in the moment.
Holiday cards.
LAN party couch gaming. “Oh you want to play this new A-list game with a few friends? Sure! Each of you buy a copy, and a console, a tv, a premium online subscription, and all of you get the DLC and you can all play together! Remember latency is a feature not a bug!”
God how I miss four players on one tv playing halo against another four players on their tv. Pizza, soda, and fond memories.
I miss not knowing what’s going on, having to actually ask someone what they are doing or how their weekend was. Now it’s just Instagram story’s and story’s and constant updates. It’s like you could meet up with someone after a year of not seeing each other and have NOTHING to talk about because you already know her day by day life. You know she got a cold and has to stay home from work and watched the office. You know she got dinner with her step aunt from Kansas a month ago. YOU KNOW TOO MUCH.
About half of the small businesses in my local mall
RAGE COMICSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Any 2011 meme like ever
super long chess games
Blockbuster Video.
Interest driven communities instead of content aggregation websites like Reddit.
In the 00's if you had an interest there was a community of people who also liked it you could find online and talk shop with. 4chan was a novelty, and the normies hadn't sharted up the internet with Facebook and Instagram and all that bullshit.
Video stores like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster. Perfect place for a couple to go, spend a bunch of time looking through movies, leaving with snacks and drinks for a movie marathon
Waiting, and then that moment when you finally got whatever it was. Like if a band had a new song out, you had to wait and hope that maybe they'd play it on Top of the Pops, or the Saturday Morning Chart Show, or randomly on the radio, and when it came on it was like EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP THIS IS DEEPLY IMPORTANT. Or coming into school the day after Scott Tenorman Must Die aired and being told I'd missed the best South Park episode that had ever been created and having no clue how I'd ever get to watch it, until finally a couple of years later I caught a repeat on MTV. No-one waits anymore.
Album notes in a CD.
I miss when everything wasn't so aggressively tested in front of focus groups to be as marketble as possible. Commercials used to be weird, and TV showed used to be weird, and now everything is expected to be built for maximizing consumerism.
Real face to face conversation and interaction.
I really miss old school vBulletin forums. You would join, post a bit, get to know people all over the world and develop a culture and community. The epic threads that would get posted, the drama, the flame wars and someone posting about their life or some new sort of development. People posting tutorials on how to do things. I feel like the internet used to be a place to learn, meet people, and discover new things. Now it’s about content consumption and monetization. It’s also all consolidated into a few websites which used to be several individually owned domains, which was cool, as each place had their own rules & culture. I miss those days. Shoutout to rAGEZONE for some of the best days as a teenager.
Playing outside with bikes and sticks and coming up with random games to play with the neighbourhood kids.
Then being called home with an airhorn.
That simplicity, that is what I miss.
Masculinity actually being reconsidered a positive and commonly desired traits among most men
The justice system and peoples ability to think for themselves.
All it takes is and INSINUATION or an accusation, and it's instantly guilty until proven innocent.... All these poor souls who suffer tirades from trolls or tongue lashings from SHEEPLE who believe everything they read on the internet instead of finding reputable sources or thinking for themselves
Mystery. And the unknown
Not knowing everything about the people your friends with. It was rare to get together with friends and the topics be politics, religion, or shit like that. When people would get together before the internet, it was a time to catch up with one another and there wasn't a lot of time to talk politics.
Now with the internet, I can't get past the anti vax shit people post or how misinformed they are. No Sheila, eating pineapple isn't going to cure cancer nor is your stupid scented baby oil. It just makes me wonder what the fuck has happened to people that they don't bother to think about things before just regurgitating this bullshit.
Seeing kids play outside
Telnet based MUDs.
PostSecret App.
The ability to make a stupid mistake and it not follow digitally forever with the potential to go viral at any point, years or decades later
Not really the internet, but streamlining if matchmaking in games. An example is TF2 quickplay could tale you to community hosted servers which could be anything, and you could easily join a favorited server and see familiar faces. This is the only reason I play console TF2, it's just nice seeing the same people and knowimg how to fight every handful of players. Also people suck at Spy and spychecking so he's pretty fun.
Video stores
i miss calling my dad “daddy.” i just can’t do it anymore.
The internet.
Friendship
Eye contact
Magic the Gathering.
Shorter and more effective bathroom breaks. These days everybody brings their phone to the toilet. Back when comic books and newspapers ruled, taking a shit had somewhat of a timelimit.
Minecraft.
Minecraft is still great. IMO even better than back in 2009-2010. I used to let my nostalgia get the best of me and think simple Minecraft was the best Minecraft, but now I love all the new features after trying them and getting to know them.
I think it’s still great about the gameplay but the YouTubers have made it so cringe by saying “FNAF Came to my house at 3 AM In Minecraft” or “Noob vs Pro vs Hacker” tittles. I just want it to be before where even my siblings played it, but we had to grow up.
There’s good YouTubers out there. For example, all the YouTubers who do HermitCraft videos are good. I haven’t seen one of the cringey Minecraft videos in a while, all those content creators moved on to Fortnite because there’s more money available.
Yeah that’s actually true for ex: bajancandian was a Minecraft youtuber but he moved to fortnite which made him lose subs and likes...
My right hand
ITT people hate that life is easier.
yik yak. sooooo many good memorys
Actual journalism. Newspapers have crumbled so news sources do articles that will get simply get clicks and views without actual research and sources.
The video star.
The video star.
Mlg
Encyclopedias. I enjoyed searching for answers. Now everything's right here at my finger tips.
I just dont miss any of it. Nothing compares to the ease and accessibility of the internet. We feel nostalgic because we were kids back then not because it was easier.
Being able to talk to average people and have a civilized conversation. On the internet there are many idiotic people who are allowed on the internet, hurting people, spreading misinformation, etc. As someone who has grown up with the internet, I feel very concerned about how many idiotic people are allowed online. I have met many good people online but some people out there are idiots, we all make dumb mistakes and sometimes believe too much misinformation on the internet or put something on and it is there forever, however I really wish that we could talk more like a one on one conversation or have a discussion on a topic without dealing with people spreading misinformation or hating on eachother. I do love going on the internet to distract me from reality but seeing many idiotic and a lot of misinformation doesn't help at all.
My one wish is for people to use more common sense, make memes, and talk to people like a discussion more often. I really want that right now.
I miss book stores, I know Barnes and nobles is around but all the local stores I used to go to closed down a few years ago. Some are popping back up though :)
Privacy
How one used to go out to hang with friends. First, everything was arranged over the phone, including where and when, who's coming, who's gonna hitch a ride with who, etc. And while we were there, we were fully and directly engaged with each other and our surroundings, without any layer of technology in between. No one's nose was constantly in their screen, sitting there being only passively present, and definitely no one was busy trying to take the perfect shot of the dessert they just ordered. I remember us talking for hours on end about everything under the sun. I've lost count of how many times we were asked to leave because it was closing time. Even if debates got sometimes heated, everyone left appreciating the value of the time spent. Everyone left a slightly better informed person.
Blockbuster visits on Friday night
The hunt for a song you heard. I rmemeber the time when you knew maybe the tune or a few words and you would ask around. And some friend would be like maybe ive heard it on this mixed tape my brother has. Or like try to hum it to friends and them trying to guess it to help you find it. Googling and things like shazaam just killed the fun in the hunt. The satisfaction you got at the end of the hunt was really something else.
Sensibilities.
10 years ago, you could say what you want and you'd be fine.
Nowadays, everything's offensive.
If you have a dark, or offcolour humour, you're called just about every name under the sun for it.
I miss being able to tell a joke, or make an off handed one-liner, without SJW's and Keyboard warriors jumping down my throat.
Authentic and more meaningful dating.
A lot of online dating is superficial, meant to boost ego, or just find easy sex. Some of us want marriage and a family.
Blockbuster. Video stores
r/enoughinternet
Valuing and constantly working on a good general knowledge. It's easier now but less important to have a good framework in ur mind.
Not being bombarded with too much information from social media. I am 41 and can remember the analog age well. While I do appreciate so much about the internet, I also find social media to be grating. So many people want attention and now they have audience, and a lot of stuff that gets posted is TMI.
Because of social media, I value my privacy even more and don’t want to participate by either consuming stuff other people post or posting myself.
I feel like there is a war to gain our attention...and most people post drivel that is not worthy of our attention.
Club penguin.
Pepe the Frog
Blockbuster :( remember going there Saturday nights and getting the latest kids movie and watching it on a very bad, very usef but very loved box tv
Bongo Cat
Pepe 😢
Letters! Now you just write a mail and you loose all those beautiful colorful stamps for black and white QR codes... but back in the day you would come back from school and be super happy if a letter from your pen pal arrived. And he/she was so far in an other country! The world seemed so much bigger back then!
The Video Star
Club penguin
MSN messenger
RIP
Club Penguin. Why am i the only Person who say's this?
The High Street.
Civility.
My childlike innocence.
Haha! Outside 😂
Purble palace 😔
Smash Bros, Pizza and Vodka nights with the bros.
Discussion.
Dialup bulletin board services.
Human contact...
Home videos. They used to be around in the earlier days of YouTube, but now there are vlogs and children acting like commercials. It isn't the same, no.
Privacy
Terf as a word. When people say "turf" as soil I reflexively cringe even if it has nothing to do with being trans.
LIFE
Lan parties. The internet worsened the plight of the neckbeard, now they never have to leave their moms basements
Time with real people. Real phone calls and dates. The internet killed life.
i feel like the internet caused more people to be generally edgy and jaded, or snowflakey and soft. there's plenty of people who fall exception to this, people that live normal and good lives. but, it's not hard to find the people that make content set to offend others, and the people that get offended by a seemingly unsuspecting thing.
i guess that what i'm trying to say is that the internet kind of killed part of itself in a way.
My piece of mind.
Thinking wrestling was real.
Internet gave a lot of good people a platform but as time go by a log of fucking idiots are taking over that platform.
Toontown. That piece of shit gave me nightmares.
Meeting someone for lunch or coffee or to play outside if you are a kid. Before internet and mobile phones you arranged it in person or via phone and stuck to it.
Constant availability. Work or private.
The magic of getting to know someone without googling and jumping to conclusions.
Blockbuster.
There's a part of me that still misses it. Although, one can argue Blockbuster killed Blockbuster.
Privacy
Pay Phones and Phone Books..
Blockbuster
Personal contact. /s
Getting actual user manuals with products.
Socializing with human beings face to face.
-NAPSTER -Winamp -ICQ
Love for reading.
I still remember I'd finish books (fiction and nonfiction alike) by the hours. I'd sneak them into the washroom with me, and even on sleepovers because I just never wanted to stop reading.
Then came the Internet where I could just watch videos, stream unlimited music, or read shorter compositions which more or less gave me the same air of pseudo-intellect.
I miss reading books. I miss my hunger for more and more books.
BLOCKBUSTER. VIDEO.
Hentai Haven
There was a fan video for the show Buffy set to the theme of Space Jam. It’s been over a decade since I’ve seen it & I think of it often and miss it very much
Too many to check if this was said but I’ll say it all the same. Movie night. Taking the family to rent a movie from Blockbuster or another place. Walking around with your parents and making dark deals with siblings to rent what you want even though you already picked your movie or game. Everyone actually sat around together and not all watching shows and movies whenever most convenient. No cell phones to surf the Net. Everyone focused and sitting around together.
Now it’s just “stream it when you want and maybe we will talk about some good moments later in text.”
Uganda knuckles! I noe dey wae!
The Radio Star. R.I.P.
Club penguin
Being excited for a CD release, and finally being able to walk into the store and buy it.
One of my fondest memories with a good friend of mine who I have sadly lost touch with is waking up and going to the mall at 10 in the morning to get the new Metallica CD as soon as possible, getting back to my car and just sitting in the parking lot for an hour jamming out to every song.
Now with how easy it is to get music out to the masses with all the streaming services, there's no going to the mall, there's no rushing to the nearest CD player, or having your discman ready to go. When the new Eminem album was dropped a few months back, I was just laying in bed playing on my phone and remembered "oh yeah it's out now". Open up Google Play and in a few screen clicks, it's downloaded on my phone.
And it's seemingly becoming the norm to not even tell your loyal fans when the album is coming out, so instead of having a date to look forward to, everyone just moans and groans in chatrooms, agonizing about when we finally might get the new material they've been teasing at concerts. Looking at you, Childish Gambino!
My social life
Being able to be social. I feel like how much bad news gets spread all over that causes people to assume that we are all terrible human beings. We, I feel as a society, have let the internet dictate how we feel about people we don't even know, people that we might simply go out for a drink with or partake in events, bar crawls, concerts, something.
I went on a Disney Cruise recently, partook in 18+/21+ taste testings, Adult lunches. No one wanted to do anything! I felt so damn lonely hanging at the bar by myself or going to see the live performances and only getting along with the performers.
I feel like the more social we are online has made us less social in person.
The days of going over to a friend's house to play video games. Split-screen FPS? Mario Party? It's not the same online.
Common decency and the ability to argue a topic without someone advocating violence against their ideological opponents.
Pepe the frog
Music videos. Every search on YouTube pulls fan made stuff and covers.
Life.
Renting videos, sure Netflix is great but you can watch 15minutes then change your mind. At least once you were home with a movie you would sir and watch it.
Making out on the couch in the basement....in private!
Radio's... People just use smartphones to listen to music on yt,spotify, itune etc but let's not forget how cool it was to catch a radio signal and listen to music the hard way.
Different websites.
Sharing and giving stuff for free. Now websites just want your money or your personal data and that's sad.
Runescape😢
I miss blockbuster. Netflix killed it
Deathmatch Doom sessions via null modem cable. Noone would ever consider hauling your bigtower PC plus CRT screen over to s friend's place just to play multiplayer Doom anymore.
Toontown
and then Club Penguin.
Dictionary book.
Blockbuster and Hollywood Video! Even the little rental sections at the grocery store
New game release nights in my small town where "EVERYONE" would start lining up outside of gamestop and just bullshitting for like 3 hours in the freezing ass cold till midnight to grab that new release and get home. Now physical release game sales have maybe like 10 people instead of the 150 that used to show up :/
Meeting people to check on their lives - how they are doing, what’s happening in their life and all the other stuff. There were reasons to meet other people. Social media has ‘disconnected’ people.
Watching the football scores on Teletext or Ceefax. Patiently waiting for your team's page to come around, hoping that they'd scored a goal in the few minutes it had taken to go through all the pages and come back to you
My porn collection.
Only seeing full movie trailers in the theater. I get that I could do that myself by avoiding them (and I often do), but the culture around movie hype etc is irreversibly different. Movie trailers debuting on YouTube has completely changed the wow factor of being surprised by them before a movie.
Club penguin RIP
Every year on my friend Jeff's birthday I would call him. We'd chat for an hour, he felt special because I made an effort to call him each year and it was our little thing.
Since the Facebook "today is Jeff's Bday" he gets lots of messages, it somehow felt less and less special. This last Oct was the first time I didn't call him :(
FUCK YOU INTERNET
My back
If you wanted to get to know someone, you had to go to parties, find out where they worked and drop by, or hang out where they’d hang out and hope for an excuse to talk to them. Malls, video stores, swimming pools, book stores, McDonald’s.... they were all important social meet-up destinations. It was actually better than now in some ways. Say your crush was a lifeguard... well, you’d have a reason to break out your nicest bathing suit or show off what a strong swimmer you are. That stuff doesn’t happen organically with online networking.
Having a movie night was an event. You’d go to Blockbuster and pick something out, get your chips and popcorn, have friends over, etc.
When you went home after school, you didn’t know what everyone else was up to unless you called friends or had plans. Less FOMO because there weren’t photos being uploaded at all hours.
You took photos of things that we’re actually memorable because you wouldn’t have enough film otherwise.
People would change over summer break and come back completely different. If you were a nerd, you had 2 months to glow up for the next school year, and it was always a big surprise to see who changed the most. Your yearbook photo was the only chance you had to impress your crush.
You kept a journal because twitter didn’t exist and you’d seem psycho to just state anything that was on your mind at any time.
To do research, you’d go to the library and spend hours upon hours there, looking up articles on microfiche. Now a lot of universities let you access entire catalogues online.
When work ended, it ended for the day. People knew not to call too early or too late because it was rude.
You’d watch prime time TV and wait for the next episode of your favourite show each week. If you missed it, you hoped for a re-run. It’s what everyone would be talking about the next day.
When you took a shit, you’d read the shampoo bottle. Or bring a book.
I feel like there’s no space for people to not be knowledgeable on certain subjects. Of course the internet is a very useful tool for when you need quick answers but just because most information is out there doesn’t mean that everyone is knowledgeable on absolutely everything
Making my own mind up about a movie. The hype or the hate train as well as constant spoilers is a pain in the arse.
Playing old games! No one plays Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (2012 game). I enjoyed it so much but no one plays online and what the hell are you supposed to do killing bots?
Actually exploring. Now I have friends who look up every place I wanna explore up front to see if it’s worth exploring. THAT’S NOT EXPLORING!
Learning the lyrics to a song by listening to it repeatedly instead of just googling it.
[deleted]
I don't get that, I still mostly listen to whole albums at a time
Wondering what other movie that actor was in, until finally realising 4 days later out of the blue whilst sitting on the toilet.
Prior to the internet you could find spare car parts in my country dirt cheap. Salvage yards rarely knew what the real value of a piece of equipment was. With the advent of internet and eBay it has become practically impossible to find something you lookfor, in the old price bracket. All sellers now not only know the real prices due to eBay, but also sell on it. It has actually become cheaper to import something as brand new than buy it used.
Movie hire stores.
Spending time at the library looking through aisles and books and pages for answers to your questions. I know it was harder that just googling stuff today but I miss that feeling.
Intimacy.
Engaging debates about core politics, not this right, left nonsense. IF You take anarchy as a example it encompasses both right and left, but can still vary greatly about both the way forward (anarcho capitalists dont advocate revolutions while anarcho socialists more often do) and vary in how such thought society might function.
This is crucial because the liberalism ideal is more right, its not leftism. But in todays standard the concept liberals implies left somehow, without delving into the definitions of said isms.
Every friendship I've ever had.
Doesn't seem like something Internet would impact, elaborate?
Gained friends online, ghosted by them, lost friends online.
Woolworths
Meaningful human interaction.
Newgrounds :(
I'll always be salty about YouTube taking over the market. If Tom Fulp had just opened a seperate portal for live action and not held onto flash for as long as he did I'm convinced, while most likely still wouldn't be as big as YouTube, they'd at least be a hell of a lot more active now and at the very least be a viable income source for animators/high quality content creators. The YouTube algorithm really fucked over anyone that can't make daily ten minute videos.
R.I.P NG
Video rental stores.
Just hanging and talking without being consumed by phones.
Memes
Renting a movie at Blockbusters or similar. Ah, the smell! The excitement! That feeling you got when walking around the aisles. Definitively something I'll always miss.
Don't they still exist? People rent blurays still
Some still exist but most are extinct. While back in my childhood there would be say 1 per 10 blocks now you have 1 per 100+ blocks. At least in the town I live, the only one we had is long gone. And even if some still exist, I unconsciously was referring to VHS rentals, which were far something else. Blurays are not as magical 😊
There is literally one Blockbuster left.
Still counts lol
The good ol' Memes
Quake as an esport
Buying audio cassettes. I remember saving my pocket money to buy them. That's what happened back then, you buy an album and you listen to all the songs on it. Nowadays we only manage to listen to singles. Seldom albums.
Outside.. And being right.
Being unreachable whenever I want to be. It's kinda a fault of mobile phones as well, but even if you turn your mobile phone off, IMs and Emails get delivered ready to attack once you open your computing device next time. There's also a thing about the surrounding society, so if you are anywhere in any developed area, you'll leave a track of electronic traces behind you. In the past, if you had authentic-looking documents, they were practically authentic since there were no means to verify their serial or other code against a computer system. In some cases, you could call some registry, but that'd not be worth the trouble most of the time and couldn't deliver things like a photo verification of a personal ID card and such.
Not quite but almost. Strategy guides. I like to have a physical copy for reference. They still exist but in nowhere near the same quantities.
Also movie rental places. Other than redbox they are mostly gone
Dial up jams.
Civility.
I miss people. By people I mean seeing people outside, out and about, walking, reading on their porch, sitting outside drinking beer. Also, this generation of kids don’t know what it’s like to go outside and stay out all day. I see these young kids with Iphones, tablets, etc. Instead of playing outside they sit with their phone in their hand 24/7. It’s not their fault though. Even older adults can’t put their phone down for an hour.
Going to a gig and not having everyone stood holding up a mobile phone recording it for putting online via social media.
Never thought I’d say it, but I miss being bored. I did a lot more interesting stuff when being bored was the alternative...
Bookstores. Specifically Borders. Barnes and Noble has clung to life- which is cool- but growing up in the San Fernando Valley meant going to Calabasas or The Grove- neither of which was ever a super viable trip unless we had another reason to go either way.
Video shops
funny jokes that aren't always "offensive" but some sjw finds it offensive so everyone starts hating on the comedian
Tower Records
Couch multiplayer, LAN parties, and everything cooperative. There was a boom of MMORPG and everybody wanted game that would be played by masses. And if you have no interest in that, you'll have your singleplayer. But finding a good multiplayer coop game is nearly impossible.
Fidget spinners
European content
Pro Wrestling kayfabe. Now that we know everything every minute of the day, it ruins it. No more surprises and now we know they're all friends and nerds.
Now everyone can fact check random statements I make and more often than not I'm wrong. I miss being the "smartest" guy at the table.
How about the internet itself?
Remember when it was a make-your-own-adventure and you'd have like 30 tabs open of shit you wanted to look at? Not we spend hours on one site just being advertised to and watching our freinds argue about some shit. I even miss when Facebook was just people's food and quizes. Now it's all vaccine debates radical-media driven quarreling.
The "OK" sign...
CB Radios
Minecraft
Waiting for the SEARS or Kmart catalogue to come so you could secretly steal it and masturbate to the Kathy Ireland bra and pantie models... trying to make out any hint of nipple or camel toe.
Quality 90's fappage material for 6th grade me who, otherwise, had no other access to pornography. Jerking off in my day took pure determination and imagination.
Going to Blockbuster and renting 3 or 4 movies for the night
The Ugandan Knuckles meme.
Civil discussion/debate
Hand-written letters.
DVD + VHS renting.
Not so much the internet, as tech, but I miss pushing people into swimming pools…
People who suicide because of cyberbullying
Yeah I miss those people
My life
Games... Well particularly single player rpg's. Got stuck, you hat to think creative. Didn't do enough damage, maybe your build was wrong. Couldn't kill a boss, grind some more or try a different tactic.
I can't help myself looking up the slightest problem there is. Heck, I even look up builds as the game is installing. And it's honestly making completing them more of a chore than something enjoyable.
Blockbuster.
Moth memes
Libraries. I remember going to the library for hours with my dad and sister when we were young. I don’t think I’ve stepped foot in a library in years, even though I read all the time. I just ship the book straight to my apartment for ten bucks.
I miss rushing down to the video store to search for the latest movies and games, it was always exciting to get a new release movie as often the store only has a couple copies.
Finding out Samus was a girl
Civility. A healthy and reasonably responsible fourth estate. Truth.
Having less freedom tp chose who you want to talk to and when
Ex. Without the internet, my childhood friend wouldn’t have been chatting with her boyfriend instead of at least looking at me during our meetup
Pub conversations/debate over inane subjects. Now everyone just googles the answer to prove they're right.
The answer was never the point, it was the fun of talking shit with your mates
There was nothing better than spending 45 minutes looking through every movie at the movie rental place before settling on Uncle Buck every time
MySpace.
Online poker
My innocence... 😂
Society?
Hearfelt, handwritten, sentimental letters.
Peace of mind.
My will to live
Eye contact during conversation
I missed YouTube before Google turned it into a cable television with commenting website. Now, half YouTube is fake viral content followed by misleading news and information.
Pepe... I miss pepe...
Every Easter egg for every game has pretty much been found and posted online.
When you found something special in a video game it was a hell of an achievement.
Gay cruising
In a few decades, this question can be rightfully answered with 'life'.
My faith in humanity
youtube being simple
Personal mail
Split screen gaming
I miss being able to make up completely random bullshit to fuck with people without them being able to find out if I'm bullshiting
Dvd rentals, people that collect a bunch of dvds are considered well off in my country bc most people rented dvds. Nowadays we got netflix, torrent, etc
TikTok users started to use a remix of Chief Keef's Love Sosa in one of their video trends. Was a lit song (yOu CaN mEeT mY lLaMa)) 'til that happened.
Being able to enjoy professional wrestling without a hundred sites for spoilers, rumours, terrible opinions and general circle jerks
Complete video games, dlc is cancer
Undertale, i actually really liked the game, but when something gets popular on the internet it gets ruined forever
Clothes and shoe shopping. I live in a small area and a lot of the stores have their employees urge customers to shop at their online store no matter what you’re buying. Call me crazy, but when I shop for clothing or shoes, I prefer to do it in an actual store. I like to feel the materials of the clothing and shoes,, I like to try them on, and I like that I don’t have to spend a set amount of money in order to qualify for free shipping. If I just need one pair of shoes or one clothing item, I can pay for it and the tax with no other charges needed. I can also quickly change a size if something doesn’t fit right without having to ship an item back and wait however many days for a different size to come. A lot of stores that I loved getting clothes and shoes from are closing up, or going out of business, or moving to an online store only, because foot traffic and in store purchases aren’t like they used to be. The internet offers a lot more variety and deals, which is nice, but it also really kills the brick and mortar businesses, from the big chains to the small businesses. I hate it. Even the cities are seeing a lot of store closures. The city I’m originally from used to have a pretty good sized mall filled with oodles of stores. That mall is now empty. It’s sad and frustrating.
My motivation
Malls. So many of them near me are dying, and fast, and it’s so sad to see many of them you recognize from your childhood dying off and being demo’d
It's something that I like tto call "mind's virginity". When I began to use internet on my own, I didn't understand many things and jokes about sex and drugs. And one day I used one of jokes like that, that I met on the internet without understanding of this joke's meaning in publicity. My parents were mad at me, blocked me from the internet for many days and my mind was filthy from this, how my parents explained meaning of these memes and jokes.
That's how my mind lost its virginity and wasn't innocent mind of child anymore.
Physical invitations.
Now everyone just makes a Facebook page or send out a text. Hell, my dad missed a joint birthday party for him and two of his classmates from high school for 3 years in a row because the invitation was being emailed to him - he doesn't know how to use email.
The rise of the armchair expert. I'm sure it applies to plenty of industries but anytime there's an aviation incident, everyone suddenly knows more than the pilot and the engineers.
If video killed the radio star, then internet definitely killed the video store. Evidently through the popularity of podcasts the internet kinda revived the radio star though.
video stars
god old youtube when there was no moneywhores attentionwhores involved, real homemade random videos, funny
Liner notes on CDs. Lyrics didn't matter so much, but the performance credits, engineering credits, and occasional write ups about the album (especially for historic re releases) were a source of knowledge and understanding that really helped me enjoy the music. They were also a source of new artists to check out, especially with jazz albums.
Yes, I know there are alternatives to this online, but there's very little consistency, and there really aren't very many performance credits easily available.
I try not to make value judgements about things like this, and of course access to music is far better today than it was when I was younger, but it's still part of the listening experience I miss.
Making plans with someone and knowing you have to keep them because you wont have a way to talk to them before the time you are supposed to meet up.
Nowadays, I will make plans with someone and they will text me an hour before to make sure we are "still on", it's like of course we are still on, we made these plans this morning!
Toys-R-Us :(
Imperfection, variation, localism
I feel like with social media everything is spread at a rapid pace and it cause a greater degree of uniformity. Things are able to be curated and presented with a high degree of refinement and so the benchmark becomes very high for a lot of lifestyle things (Reddit notwithstanding lol) and very homogenous.
People are also way less familiar with their own backyards because they’re attention is constantly spread across the entire globe
Asking for / giving directions: It was kind of fun (and I believe I was pretty good at it) to explain how to go to a certain place: "Go out from XYZ subway, you will see a grocery store, go in that direction and so on and so forth"
Google maps killed that :-/
True sportmanship in games and actual comradery. Back in the day when you were online you were most likely a dedicated nerd who lived for his hobby, pc in general and ofcourse games. Now these days too many people treat these games as some throw away entertainment like the disposable hollywood crap. Sadly too many developers follow that direction. And I'm not even talking about the normalisation of cheating these days and the often ultra cringey smug attitude it comes with like they are Neo himself, for installing a retard proof third party app.
When it wasn't frowned upon to like nickelback.
myself
BBSes.
The internet killed 976 numbers. Bummer that all these people will never get to experience a 976 number and the advertisements of them. #sadly
Bitnet. So many great hours playing Eternal Chaos on a green text monitor in the computer lab. Plus, Gopher was a kickass tool.
Chungus and ugandan knuckles
Minecraft
People being able to have a laugh and take a joke and not take themselves too seriously without getting offended by EVERYTHING! I know youngsters today won’t understand this but people used to actually socialise before the internet and smart phones etc. It was pretty cool!
Calling people out of the blue or showing up at their house without notice
Woolworths!
Club penguin
Old school memes
Christmas cards
I miss playing an mmo and talking about the game together. Now any little question people just go bleh google it why u asking :/
Going to a movie renting service with my father every weekend
Actually being able to tell that I play Minecraft without anyone laughing lol
Club Penguin. Press F to pay respects.
Not the internet per se, more like china...
DIY. With the internet, you can find what you wanted to do already made or almost made (aka just need a bit of 'glue' in between the modules), cheaper by far than what it would cost you to do it yourself. This killed all the fun of the DIY stuff.
Ugandan knuckles
I miss the natural ebb and flow of people coming and going from my life as friends or associates. Now people wanna find you on Facebook and lock you down and it feels gross.
Video rental shops and relying on the recommendations of their workers...
Never formally accessed the "internet" until 2004.
I enjoyed Kite-flying :P
Michael jackson.
I used to hear his music every day on the radio but now he's been cancelled I feel guilty for even listening to him in private.
I know he did some horrible things (allegedly) and that we shouldn't support people like him... But my god that man made good music, and that music made me feel good.
It's a shame.
Miss hanging out with people in person, also that made people less inclinded to think theres drama. High school drama has just become so full on since the internet its terrible
I was going to say Blockbuster...but I have late fees.
Calling my father daddy
Magazines
Call of Duty Xbox Live voice chat. God it was toxic.
No proper privacy.
The Space of My
This might seem silly but, the effort behind getting gifts (Christmas, birthday). Back in the day my parents got me a copy of Secret of Mana for Christmas (I think it was Christmas?), and it was awesome! I knew they had gone around to a bunch of game stores looking for one that wasn't sold out. They knew I really wanted it, the put in the effort to find it. You could show your friends your toy or whatever you got and they could be like "whoa! Someone found (whatever) to give to you??"
Now it's like "honey what would you like for your birthday?" "Something super obscure." "Cool, Amazon has ten, and it's free shipping. Don't open the package that comes tomorrow."
People used to have the chance to think about stuff they didn't know before they looked for the answer.
Nowadays, with Google at the tip of your fingers, it feels like people don't even know how to use their brains anymore, they just get information instead of reaching conclusions.
My life
Library reading groups.
Blockbuster
Being total asshats to each other without someone getting offended.
The joy of picking out and pasting all the BMG stamps onto the return mail form, each with record album art - after you convinced your parents to buy the 1 album required to get 11 "free" albums. The day they arrived though, that was like 2nd Christmas.
My will to live...
Arguments in a pub about 'stuff' no longer is there a heated debate if chimps eat meat.... "hold on I'll just google it pops up'.
The video star
Like somebody said, Blockbuster. But I have my own reasons - it wasn't always about the movie we got, it was often going there and picking one out. It was where my dad and I hung out most. And so now I don't know him as well, we're less close and that slowly happened as we went there less and less because we got Netflix. :(
Buying music in a brick & mortar record store.
My reality
Social media ruined the internet being its own thing and not really connect with real life.
Apparently now the 'Okay' symbol with your hand is now racist, so that is something I'd definitely count.
Having physical music discs and vinyls, I'm a millennial so I never actually experienced this first hand but when I visit my aunt I always look through her old stuff. She has some cool stuff, like the velvet underground album with the pealable banana by Andy Warhol on the cover.
Today there's no reason to own vinyl besides collecting.
Social interactions
Being a travel agent. I really did enjoy that career.
Memes
Kayfabe.
Club penguin, fantage, petpet park, and some other virtual games. (My life depended on them as a kid lol)
Community.
Getting into detail about the fun thing you did over the weekend without hearing, "oh yeah I saw that on instagram." YES, my fault for posting a photo of the thing, but bummer nonetheless.
The old memes, like the pure ones with large bold text inside them.
[deleted]
Do this with big movies. I like watching the big movies at the movie theatre, comic book ones , Disney ones and others. Normally go with a friend or 2. Have a ritual before hand we do of junk food and stuff only do when going to movies. Some movies r lot better on big screen too.
I find it quite distracting watching movies on Netflix and stuff at home, and I'm looking at other stuff at the same time. when you watched a movie at the movie theatre you just in there watching it nothing else to distract you like your phone or opening up other tabs etc
I miss the time when Googlw will take 2Million hours to load
Most of The memes that got clapped
Minecraft. All mine friends stopped playing because they kept saying it was uncool.
The “okay” symbol/gesture, apparently it’s a symbol of white supremacy.
The way my family vacationed in the 90’s terrifies me. We used to set out and drive a pre-determined route with only an atlas as our guide. We would drive until we were tired and then we’d pull into the nearest town and my dad would drive around to all the hotels, shop for the best value, and pick one to stay at. Now, you carefully search months in advance to book the best value and get that all set up before you hit the road. Our phones’ gps can calculate the fastest route on the fly and our hands are basically held the entire trip. We check Yelp for the best restaurants in the area. We search for “best things to do in __.”
There’s not that sense of adventure that there was before we had easy access to all of this information. My dad used to hit me with that old cliché, “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the ride.”
Games being 100% complete prior to the reamesa and not having to update everything g the moment you want to play it.
Seriously everytime I get a new game the updates and installs take forever. It's like having a commodore 64 again
Ad Free YouTube android app.
I enjoy turning physical book pages when I read novels. I can’t tell you the number of times my friend would tell me about a great new book they read and offer to let me borrow it only for a damn PDF file to turn up in my email a few minutes later. I can’t stand reading ebooks if it isn’t for work, and even that’s just so I can control+f.
I miss ringing doorbells! I would always bike to my friends house, ring for him and get to chat with his mom for a bit!
Nowadays, it’s just a text message saying “here” when they’re still 5 minutes out.
Social skills
Playboy
Music
Edgy content on YouTube
Or being able to swear
Going outside.
mlg
Cartoon network...
Shopping for CD's in music stores.
Okay symbol
FM radio
O L D M E M E S
Video game walk throughs.
If you got stuck in a quest game you could buy a guide or write to the TV guide equivalent which had a video game section and someone would answer it... took 2 weeks
Saturday morning cartoons. (yes I know they are still a thing but all the good ones are on Stan now and it ain't the same)
My will to live
I really miss the times you would head for a friends house in childhood without texting them if they had time and just knock the door. Today it feels like a lot less spontaneously when you meet people
Wearing Timbs. There nice work shows why do I gotta be fkn roasted.
The internet didn’t immediately kill this, it initially made it possible I guess, but now nobody makes mix CDs or anything similar for each other. I remember my friends in elementary school would make each other mix cds and play them on those giant portable CD players. I guess you could send someone a playlist? Not the same.
Yeah similar to current top post, if you didn’t answer the damn phone then the other person was SOL. There was no expectation to reply so soon.
You could show up to a place and talk to someone for a job. Now you have to upload your CV. And it gets lost in the system.
IRC
CLUB PENGUIN
You used to have to work to get tracked. Now you have to work to live a private life.
Renting movies from a video rental place, you’d rent two on a Friday night and watch it as many times as you could before you took it back on a Saturday afternoon, you had to wait ages for releases to come out on video. Pirated copies were available from your mates dodgy uncle but you had to choose from a photo copied list and you’d get a vhs copy with a wonky badly colour photocopied cover and there was always a chance it would just cut off near the end.
Not getting raped buying tickets to sporting events.
You could wait in line at the box office instead of paying a premium to people online who never had any intention of attending the event.
Human interaction. But maybe that's more of a mobile phone issue.
My old self.
Reddit.
Offline single player video games
Integrity
When I was a kid, Blockbuster used to send out a "rent one, get one free" coupon in the mail for video games. It only really "showed up" I guess when our report cards came in and we did well.
Me and my brother were so excited to go to the store and pick out a game each, and to take turns playing them for the week we had them, knowing full well if we didn't beat them, they still had to go back to the store on the return date.
It's pretty cool being able to buy video games online now, but there's something that almost feels sacred about that one week rental period.
The future is pretty cool and everything, but damn was that special when it was around.
Talking to people /s
Vine
Newspapers
A more happening life!
Porn
Rick and Morty. Fucking neckbeards ruined it...well technically Redditors ruined it by attributing it to neckbeards. Either way the internet shattered my ignorant bliss.
https://myvisionstereoscopic.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-lesson-of-life-from-river.html
My relationship with my dad
Ghost Recon Phantoms, the best game I've every played.
Renting a movie. It was a great system. Now when I want to watch a movie, I will go to iTunes, find out there is a problem with the billing acc., go to Netflix, they don’t have it because I’m not in the right part of the world, try to stream it, ads and malware, torrent, my internet is too slow. I just want to walk down to blockbuster and rent some weeklies.
Finding my way with a paper map 🙂 (shoot, wrong exit!)
Vine
Society
About to be Game of Thrones probably.
Five Nights At Freddy's. Decent games, amazing story, absolute dogsh*t fanbase.
The internet was a cool thing at first early to late 2000 but then it turned so bad and kinda ruined my life.
Newspapers.
Dating
Galaxy life, crying every night, that it doesn't exist anymore.
the "OK" sign we do when diving is supposedly racist now...
Blockbuster. My favorite childhood memories are going there every weekend to pick out a game to rent for a few days, and then all weekend put to the task of completing every nook and cranny of it. It made every game, and every weekend unique in a way games just don’t do anymore. Now with access to any game all the time with steam and online stores, it takes away that aspect for me.
The 'ok' sign
Blockbuster. I used to hang out there like it was a library. Sure the selection was limited, but the hunt was so much better. Now I feel like I'm never watching anything fast enough. It's such a chore.
Figuring out a video game's secrets all on my own. Now I just google to make sure I didn't miss anything.
Well, it was part of the internet but items basically dead now: PBEM games. I remember being so disappointed when one called New Narshe that was hosted on a geocities website stopped updating. I was going to be a town simulation set in the universe of Final Fantasy 6 where you were all moogles. I remember picking stats, a job, and a name but it never really started up.
I also played a boxing one, a basketball one, and a gladiator combat one that was a lot like professional wrestling. I stuck with those for years. You'd set up your tactics each week and then the GM would simulate the results, generate the play-by-play, and repeat. In some of them there was aRP element as well. I met a bunch of people playing those that I haven't heard from our about in years. I wonder if they still Google the game names to see if there are similar sites now, or get nostalgic and "go back" to the cached versions of the old sites using the wayback machines.
All of that stuff was under an old hotmail email address that is long dead now.
Gaming magazines (Ex. Nintendo Power). I guess they were no longer necessary due to reviews and such, but I always thought they were neat.
Five nights at Freddy's
Blockbuster. They had every movie that actually mattered seemed like. Now unless I want to pay money to stream a movie one time I need to goto thrift stores to buy one if I can even find it or buy a copy online. Kinda crazy haha I have access to Hulu, hbo, Netflix and amazon as well as the free stuff on Roku. But there’s still somehow movies that I can’t get
I had fun going to video rental shops, hanging out there a bit with friends or family while choosing a couple of movies, and maybe get some snacks for the night!
Internet makes it easy to access all the movies you want, but it killed that part of the experience, which made watching a movie at home a bit more of an event
Bullying
My relationship.
The surprise of finding a new video game and not knowing what it's about or if it's going to be good or not.
These days, information flows so freely that you can get a gist of what every game will be like just from articles/videos/reviews. Kinda takes the fun out of it, but at the same time I don't like getting ripped off or disappointed.
Book stores
My social life
I use to have phone numbers memorized if you had to call someone away from home. Addresses also had to be written down and memorized. Remeber street names to get to locations. All this has been replaced by my phone and emails.
Being able to call someone even if I know they are not home as they have a cellphone.
Memes
TWIB This Week In Baseball It was on in the mornings on Sat or Sun and showed highlights of the week, with slow motion, great music and fun facts. Having every highlight now accessible all the time ruins the excitement of time and being rewarded for waiting.
Privacy
Having heated arguments with your friends about pointless trivial facts.
Having the whole group split into teams over when ice cream was invented or some pointless shit was hilarious.
Now someone just googles it.
Those 'Post Malone' memes... I miss seing the rapper's face replaced with a watermelon with the caption reading: 'Water-Malone'.
Fucking hilarious!
TURNTABLE.FM
The surprise of an ending to any movie
Record shops.
The video star
Minecraft
My cool. Every girlfriend I had was a direct result of my hours of digging through record stores and assembling a perfect mix tape to casually give them.
Club Penguin
The original plan for Xbox One. It sounded amazing! Being able to loan games to friends sounded like an awesome deal that a lot of people would have benefitted from. The only thing was asking people to connect to the internet once every 60 days. The internet lost their shit and Microsoft changed the entire thing around.
I'm still bitter about that one...
Visiting a Blockbuster on a Friday night.
B L O C K B U S T E R
Giving dumb people a stage. As an example, Antivaxxers are this ‘big’ because of the internet.
physical catalogues
I was watching a video of a music festival in the 90's. It hit me that all those people were just out in the middle of nowhere with no phones or GPS. They had to use a paper map to find this random field and once they were there they had no communication with home, no phones. They were just there, at the festival.
It made me cry because I find festivals with GPS, it takes me straight to where I want to go and I'm connected the whole time with my phone. I feel like I missed out on so many crazy adventures being born when I was
My sanity.
Sleep
I was gonna say Vine but now I feel dumb
Face to face human connections that aren't interrupted by constant phone checking. Seems worse in North America especially
This is a weird one but...
The Title Drop.
The trope where the title of a movie or whatever is used in context of the story, especially if it gives the title a double meaning.
But nowadays thanks to cinemasins it's just... "Ding! Roll credits!"
Miss those moments where internet was still not a thing, where I can wake up and don't give a shit without my laptop, phones etc. It's different now, like people are so relying with internet like they're losing their leg when the internet is off :(
YouTube top comments
Anticipation
When relationships don't need to be defined on social media, and when not being "Facebook friends" didn't mean you were a snob to your relatives.
Harambe
Employment. The labor market used to have major advantages over the employment market. Employers used to have to put a lot of resources into looking for the best they could find and in they emd they got what they got. Now a days they can get the best of the best from around the world in an instant effortlessly so now only the best get good jobs. Employers never have to settle on anything and tons of people who normally would of been fine get left behind. Besides that, businesses are so much mkre efficient that they now need less people. Like american labor efficiency has increased like 350% for about the same cost since the 90s. Only the best are needed and only the best get jobs. Theres tons of wualified engineers and business people working at coffee shops struggling to stay afloat because they simply arent needed because they happened to be in the top 5000 instead of the top 100 and the top 100 are good enough to do the work of 5000. Its not even good for the fortunate ones who get the jobs because they just get normal jobs with the expectation that they achieve 350% efficiency and if they ever waver they are massively replacible. The labor market is just absolute hell now for everyone because businesses just have such an overwhelming advantage over workers.
Fedoras and Ushankas/Shapkas. They were odd and unique (and comfortable), and now they’re the brunt of jokes.
I think I miss feeling comfortable in my ushankas the most. FUCK NEW YORK WINTERS.
God I miss going out to dinner with people and having REAL conversations! Instead of staring at our phones while waiting for a table/food. It’s the worst
X having respect
My social life...
Club penguin
My job as a cinema projectionist. I spent the better part of a decade doing to the best job in the world, being paid to show people movies (and watch them myself). Whilst digital killing off 35mm was the main blow, being able to send films 'through the tubes' stopped there being any need for anyone to even program the digital projectors. I still talk to ex-colleagues who work in cinema, and apparently there are days at a time when not a single person even enters the projection booth.
Blockbuster
Google+
common sense
individuality
herd immunity
localized culture may be on the list soon, stay tuned
quality video games since now it's just fanboyism echochambers that drive the market
Google+.......... jk!
The times where youtubers casually chopped down blocky trees and talked ina. 20 minute long video. I miss the good old days of minecraft. Now minecraft became a nut for PVP fights..
Club Penguin
local and domestic economies that didn’t have to compete with lowest prices offered off a transoceanic barge
Originality.
After a new meme gets posted, the next ten months are filled with the same meme being used over and over with slight changes. It was funny the first time. Maybe the second. Now you're not even trying. It's like what happened to "that's what she said"
Admittedly there is some left. I get tired of seeing the same recycled memes on imgur constantly.
My feelings.
Demo Disks
Civility.
The joyful days of torenting all the music I loved and having a huge harddrive full of all my favourite shit.
Now music is so easily accessible that even if I love an album, the chances of it getting listened to again are far more slim because of a ridiculous abundance of choice/frequent new content.
Same goes for movies! Sigh, damn you double-edged convenience.
Newgrounds. Man, I miss the good ol' days...
The ability to look at memes whenever I want to...
In the early beginning when social media was relatively harmless. Now I've deleted my FB account and not feeling good about privacy or dumb internet sensations. Now I'm avoiding those sites like my parents did when social media just came out. Luckily my parents are not the type that post private stuff on the Internet.
Newspapers. Moreover, the act of getting your news from the newspaper. (Cutting out tv news as that’s a sham and if you do any sort of research on television “news” it’ll prove my point). Newspapers go back into the 1800s, anything happening was learned of from paper presses. That’s a big problem nowadays with every piece of information at our fingertips. I don’t even know how to use an encyclopedia anymore. It’s making us lazier in a “cutting corners” kind of way.
The time to do 'nothing'.
The internet killed Club Penguin so....
Club Penguin.
Being able to say "Its hit or miss."
good music !
Any fandom
Cinema.
My username is inspired from one of the best cinema experiences of my life. I had just turned 18, and I was keen to see an 18 cert film with all the other adults. The internet was around, but still very much a novelty. As such I chose a film based solely on the cool-looking poster in the cinema lobby. It looked sci-fi so and was an 18 certificate so that ticked both boxes! I figured it had some bad language and maybe some space-titties or something to justify the rating.
Event Horizon.
Jesus suffering fuck! I’ve never been so fucking terrified! I was with a friend who was also not great with this genre, but our egos would not permit either of us to nope out. So we stuck it out. I came out of their shaking slightly but buzzing like no other time at the cinema. I miss this so much.
It is very difficult to have this now. Film rumours, updates on castings, shooting dates, and trailers. OMG the trailer situation! The big budget Marvel stuff is just stupid. There will be no less than six versions of a trailer on the run-up to release. Six! You’ll have seen the whole bastard film by the time it comes out if you watch all of them! I have stopped watching all trailers, but now I have to push to see films quickly before some goomba slips a spoiler my way.
But never again will I have another Event Horizon.
I miss the days when u could play minecraft now if u play minecraft everyones gonna be like Oh UrE PlAyInG MiNeCrAfT ArE YoU BaD At EvErY OtHeR GaMe LoL
This isnt necesarily with everyone but if you have atleast one toxic kid on ur friendslist u know hes gonn talk about till the day u get a new console/pc
Reddit memes that lasted less than a week
sex with my sister :/
Alex Jones Papa :'(
My attention span.
LAN gaming centers
Since broadband became widely used, there hasn't been a great need for them, but I do miss the community around a local gaming centers.
Memes I loved.
Yahoo messenger
Phone calls
Don't get me wrong, I like the convenience of texting, WhatsApp etc. But so many people straight up dislike getting phone calls now. It's so sad that we use social media as an excuse to be less social.
Club penguin!
Blockbuster
Online games on websites like Postopia.com. Everything is on mobile app now, which sucks. Does that count?
Ultraviolet darling
Going to the library to look up
Greetings card every new year.
my dignity
academic honesty, to an extent. nowadays if i dont understand something right away, i feel like i HAVE to google it, and if i dont, ill be behind in class because i know that my classmates will have done so.
Seeing children play outside on their own ( we still used to do) instead of chilling in a group with everyone on their cellphone.
Don’t know if internet killed it, but there was a game called ”wild ones”. I loved that game
My will to livexD
Club Penguin
Free speech and human decency.
Haramebe
Pokémon crater
Stick Figures. Man I miss them.
Wild gossip. I remember being on a festival camping a little over a decade ago, when not everyone had an iphone yet. Someone started a rumor a local celebrity had died and we spent all night singing his songs. He didn’t die at all, but no one was able to check.
My mum
Rick and Morty
CLUB PENGUIN
Pepe memes.
The Radio Star... Oh wait, that was Video!
The Internet.
The Internet killed:
Project Rockstar,
Real time game where you would manage bands as a label, you would choose from a pool of scouted talent and then train them, write & record songs, then release them. It had an awesome community. I believe this came under a legal dispute with Take 2 Games 😭😭😭
8bc.org,
If you like Chiptune music, you’d love 8BC. A live online forum and repository for people to upload their Chiptune music. There was a daily/weekly/monthly chart system on the front page so you could dive right in. 8BC disappeared one day and never returned
Vine,
I’m still salty over Vine’s demise
The music industry.
Wrestling
Being able to have an intelligent and productive discussion with someone whose ideas differ from yours without descending into mouth-frothing vitriole. The sheer amount of ignorance and hatred on the internet (and increasingly on all other media platforms) is disheartening, sickening, and frightening. And don't get me started on the spread of stupidity. It boggles the mind, the sheer idiocy of some of the things large groups of people believe in nowadays.
The outrage culture...the entitlement culture. Nothing's worth your attention unless it makes you depressed or pissed off.
Proper use of the english language. I feel like spelling mistakes, poor punctuation and misuse of common phrases/terms are hardly noticed at all anymore.
Rant over, back to being happy again. I'm 34 btw not some 90yr old curmudgeon
This a little bit pretentious
Artist collectives, poets sitting in cafés at nights & getting drunk, these groups and this lifestyle disappeared only due to technology, especially internet.
Club penguin
Memes...what happened to them on Reddit? The entire front page usd to be full of them.
early days of the internet we had a local music forum that died after facebook took off. best part of it was that it was anonymous so people could slate each others bands and you’d get honest opinions on the music and performances etc...
now the local music facebook groups are all mostly just people spamming their next gig instead of actual conversation because people are to polite to have actual conversations about the music.
Video rental stores.
As much as I love Netflix, I used to have a blockbuster and a ma and pa video rental store in walking distance. It was more of an event when my friends and I got together and looked through all of the rentals (with no licensing restrictions) to pick out 2-3 movies to watch over the weekend. Movies that were brand new, movies that were 20+ years old, really obscure, indy movies. They had it all. It made picking movies more of an adventure, instead of sitting on the couch arguing between The Office or Parks and Recs.
People's ability to think for themselves.
Myspace
Minecraft tbh
Does Vine count? I miss that shit >.<
Block Bluster. I miss making movie night an event. You would go out, spend time searching all the movies in the store and picking out candy /snack. Now, you just binge watch anything from your couch, and have door dash bring you tacos. Not going to lie, not leaving the house is awesome. But I do miss it sometimes.
Old random bad looking sites and chatrooms
Less crazy copyright enforcement?
I remember when users on YouTube uploaded copyrighted content (entire series and movies) and it would stay up for months and sometimes years without being noticed or taken down. And when they did get taken down, the users would just create a new channel and re-upload the whole series again, and it would take another year to be noticed again.
The quality wasn't exactly great, people had to split episodes into 10 minute parts, and I most definitely preferred to watch them from anywhere other than YouTube - it was the worst option. But in hindsight, the mere fact that all of this was possible feels pretty good.
These days, people would feel lucky if they do not get a copy-strike for uploading a song cover, heck even singing the lyrics, or including footage in a review, critique or playthrough video. And that's when they're not being copy-striked for their own frigging content.
Seriously, all those crazy copyright crusades in the last few years have really gradually fucked up YouTube, and the internet in general.
I would have songs from anime, movies, games etc would listen to on YouTube when on computer. So many get removed now it's annoying
the radio star
putting my pants on one leg at a time. dam internet puts two pant legs at a time. faster is not better.
Renting movies. When I was younger, I was always so excited to walk into Hollywood Videos, a store very similar to Blockbuster, and browse all the movie sections and even gae sections when I was addicted to my Wii. But after Netflix got more and more powerful, all the those stores went bankrupt as the world of streaming took over.
My will to live
Battle royale
war bears still waiting on mission four and for bedtime city
Pub table quiz, can't do em anymore always somebody with a phone
I remember entering a trivia competition with my family for a fundraiser. It was kinda not long before smart phones where a thing. We ended up winning, got some prizes. Was good fun. Winning with just knowledge u know was good.
Really need cellphone ban for stuff like that now or ruins it
As someone born in the 90’s now majoring in History I love this whole post. It’s a real gold mine into the period of time when I was much too young to know what was going on while I was alive.
The internet killed the video store. I miss walking into a store browsing all the aisle for the right movie or game it used to be a Friday tradition I can't remember the last time I even bought a film now other then paying for Netflix.
Respect for other people.
Just take a quick look at Facebook. Just read a few comments on public post.
Takes the fun out of collecting for me. And now theres the its-cheaper-on-amazon that makes shopping in general less fun. Theres no suspense for finding a rare card because you can just go online and find it for 10c somehow.
Vine
The split screen...
When i was younger i used the PS2 and played many game in split screen with my brother, that was really fun ! But now we don't have split screen anymore...
I dislike playing online with too much distance between me and my treammate...
Loved doing that with PS1 and 2 as a kid. When visit cousin play golden eye split screen too .
That was a beautiful time !
my innocent mind
Good memes
I know people are going to hate me but I miss Nyan cat. I'm sorry.
There were less ways to communicate wth friends and family, and all of those ways seemed to be used more and valued. Maybe it is just my circle of people I know, but now people dont really have or put the quality into communications and interactions with one another like I remembered. I remember having three way calls with friends or instant messenger type services being cool thing, but now things are, I dont know, lessened and dont feel that connecting. Could be that I am just older, but it seems there are also other factors involved in relation to todays tech, apps, and how far the internet has gotten.
Also, I see less of all the neat gems of the internet, all those cool websites somewhat niche and/or creative sites. Specifix forum sites or sites like Honestar Runner. I am glad that Newgrounds stil does its thing with a seemingly large and active community. It just seems like most people usually just gravitate towards the big websites, but that also could just be my limited perspective.
Oh, but my main answer, now that I have thought more about it, is that secrets tend to be revealed and easily spoiled for you. Spoilers for a movie that hasn't even come out yet, or leaked info on a game. I am all for the growth of the ability of movement of information and knowledge, but for somethings, I just miss that everything wasnt just splayed out. It depends on the subject of course, but, I guess the less you are able to access something, the more valuable it or the experience of it will feel.
Ehh, whatever, there is a larger more freely accessible access to all kinds of porn now. And pro tip, if you are in a country that bans porn, reddit isnt included and therefore all the naughty subreddits bypass the loop. Uhh, but yea, I miss childhood stuff, but now, all the porn though...
My social life.
One word Undertale
Being able to care about the environment because you've actually been outside and seen it.
Tape players and relying on the radio for music
Hope
there is lot of things which internet had killed people have become more fake and haterat has increased.
August Ames
F
So skinemax?
This thread is a good nostalgia trip. Can read for ages.
Probably some of the chuck norris memes
One time in year 6 one of my friends and i were in a class and we had to decide a random topic to do a presentation on. I chose ww2 because well why not. My friend on the other hand did chuck memes. CHUCK NORRIS. They were really cringey and stuff, but we were young and didn’t understand anything
I miss society respecting people’s privacy or private time.
Phoning at appropriate times.
Not feeling hurt because their isn’t a ‘timely’ reply.
I kind of miss 2013 fandom! People were so obsessed with whatever particular thing that you could just drop a message to someone and start chatting, I really liked that. Also when GIF wars / parties were a thing haha
Knocking on your friends house in the morning to see if they were coming out to play.... granted I grew up and am now an adult but my kids just send a message and that’s it....
Friends to play outside without looking at mobile
LAN parties.
That 10 min indian video
Itself
Being part of the EU
Split screen / lan
Chat rooms
My attention span.
MSN. I know we have other chat things now but when was the last time you said BRB in whatsapp? The idea that instant chat (not text) was only available at the computer
Club Penguin
To, too, two Their, they're, there Shit like that.
Then, than
Split screen video games. These days a lot of shooters have gotten rid of split screen because people just play online. Playing with my bros on the couch next to me was like 70% of the reason I enjoyed first person shooters.
Being social in person to a larger degree, it got it us so much more connected and helped us to get in contact with people we would otherwise never have meet, but whenever something gets easier there is always the drawback where people put in less effort, and relations/social contact is a bad place to spend little effort.
4 players split screens...It still around for some games (thanks nintendo) but It mostly died for FPS games. I miss these gatherings with friends around Goldeneye, Perfect Dark or Timesplitters 2.
One of my fav times as a kid in holiday me and family travel few hours stay at cousins. One of the things we would do is get up early in morning a d play 4 player golden eye. We had PS1, we would bring that as well. And was the only time could play GoldenEye. having four people play while the other cover watched and fighting over who would play next etc. was good times
Everything.life was way more enjoyable then on every front
club penguin. although i did hear there are servers that run it, i don’t think they’d be as popular.
Innocence
Msn messenger. Man they were good times...
Privacy. Thanks, NSA!
Hmm let’s see pulls out scroll labeled memes
Alex off Love Island
The idea of contributing without some sort of moral pain or glory...:)
Club Penguin
Boneless pizza. Was my favorite meme
Card catalogs at the library. I felt like Indiana Jones when I cracked open that wall of drawers.
civility
Conversation/any communication with my now ex S/O.
Block Buster - it wasn’t just a video store, it was almost like a social hub in our small town.
Honestly? The good old innocent memes. Dark but not toxic.
Don't get me wrong. I love laughing at the 9/11 memes and shit. But ultimately I miss the old shit. Back when Retarded Running horse made me laugh, or back with the duck that gave murderous advice or bad advice depending on color.
The old YouTube. Like, the 2007 - 2011 era. Was some good times, man.
Used to watch of YouTube back then . Lot of people making good stuff and getting no money from it
Buying PC games in a box from a huge store with loads of awesome games.
There are places like CEX, but they mostly cater towards the console market.
Also: shareware disks and/or CDs from magazines.
My self esteem
Merching coal at falador park
Still remember getting scammed by that noted iron ore scam when buying coal years ago. Lost like 200k
the internet
Split screen gaming.
Undertale and Minecraft.......
board games
They are making a comeback. Lot of good ones now. Especially from kick startedr. Joined a gaming group this year that does boardgames and MTG once a week. Quite cool
hell yeah, I hope they don't play Chess though 😆I am always a looser in that particular one
Ugandan Knuckles
The term daddy
Club Penguin :/
Civility
Social media killed society.
Ask jeeves. Like with jeeves standing on the screen
Taping a song from the radio and playing it over and over to write down the lyrics.
According to every twelve year old, my family.
Lan gaming
We could still have all these things if people would only change their behavoir. It's us that's the problem.
Being able to rub one out with my right hand.
Dead memes
MSN messenger custom emoticons.
vine!! some of them are actually funny
The internet didn’t kill vine, vine killed vine.
oh yea. how did they do it, i never got the full story?
it could have taken a slightly different road. liked the times when there where internet cafes where you could surf and meet folks at the same time.
The art of explaining someone the way to your house.
Being called Daddy by my kids without knowing it's now used in a weird sexual way...
When I was younger, as soon as I came home from school I would go straight on club penguin I don’t know about you but I absolutely loved that game and when I found that it was shutting down I was devastated! Rip club penguin.. another game I personally liked was flappy bird but do t have as much memory’s with it as club penguin 😂🤦🏻♀️
I enjoyed browsing the weird Craigslist personals.
Doubt anyone will see this but, going and seeing a movie and going "that was such a shitty movie" or "I liked that, not great, but good" or even "I loved it." Seriously, I dunno about everyone else, but now I hear about how the movie is before seeing it and it sucks. Back when Iron Man came out, I had no idea how it was gonna go, I barely had any idea who Tony Stark was outside of "he is Iron Man." And in general I just didn't know much about it going into it, loved it in the end, truly enjoyed it. My access to the internet was limited as I didn't have unlimited internet access and I still only had a flip phone. Fast forward a few years, and I now know how Captain Marvel is and simply because I can't escape it, I don't know the full plot, but I could probably give a B-grade movie review with minimal effort simply from the xrap I've come across by accident.
Playing outdoors with your friends.
The gnome
I kinda miss talking on the phone. You knew how much attention you were getting, and at worst the first hand accounts of the conversation was a room of friends. With texting and other forms of social media, you might only get a tiny fraction of attention and it'd be hard to tell, and conversations can be shared widely as a social cluster bomb.
Gathering with friends for some couch competetive gaming. Whether its Halo, Gran Turismo, Mario Kart, Goldeneye, Smash Bros Melee, getting together at a friends house on a saturday after watching cartoons and playing games until sunset was the fucking shit.
Blockbuster
Memes every day a meme dies in the new
My attention span
Maps
Being able to enjoy a Star Wars film with no one judging you
Magazines, especially video game Magazines
Video magazines were awesome to read as a kid. Have a demo disc as well. The whole having so much content etc you overloaded with choice now sometimes makes it hard to chose.
That's my main reason for regretting Magazines. I don't really care about having the magazine in my hands, TBH. It's the part where nowaday, you are overloaded with hundreads of games every seconds, it's sometime overwhelming.
And even if you avoid going to website with such video game news, you're still bound to be harassed thanks to ads (Youtube, etc)
The tape trading scene
Life in general without prejudgment from massive amounts of misinformation.
Louis C.K.
Privacy
Freedom
Habplus. There was the biggest community on there and I made so many friends on it, everyone was so nice and had great banter. Then vanish :( (the website got taken down because it's a copy of a game called Habbo).
The ok hand symbol
Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/bagktl/report_blizzard_forbids_okay_symbol_in_overwatch/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app
Common sense
MIDI music
crocs
Common sense.
For me, it was going out into the fields or farm with my dad. There was fuck all else to do back those years. Then we got smart devices and due to heath technicalities I can't just wander the fields anymore. I also got a hobby. :(
Hanging out physicly, novadays everyone seems to be so occupied by themself in their free-time. Most people seem to occupy themself in games and other activities which makes it difficult for us to meetup.. Which never happens it seems.. Growing steadily apart from friends.. Is very hard.
It does suck
Social Lives
My imagination
Playing outside until the street lights came on.
Blockbuster video 😔
Local, split-screen, multiplayer games!
Blockbuster, hanging out with the neighborhood kids old school dating
Blockbuster
Advertisements :D
The hunt for collectibles. When I was younger I went from store to store leaving printed wish lists with my phone number on. I went to conventions, to antique shows, etc. The thrill of finding a missing piece of my collection was amazing. Now all you need is a credit card and going to eBay (or increasingly Facebook groups) and you can find almost everything.
the social institution the press represented
Splitscreen/local multiplayer. Most developers nowadays just use lazy excuses like “the system wouldn’t be able to handle rendering the scene X amount of times” or “It’s more convenient to play online”. And yes, while online multiplayer is convenient, it’s just not the same as sitting side by side, eating snacks and drinking soda (with the occasional spill), talking shit about each other and the ability to literally flex on the competition in their presence. Also, with splitscreen, you only need to pay for one system and one copy of the game as opposed to online-only multiplayer.
Privacy
Blockbuster. Every movie in one place.
Targeted adds
I will tell you something that I don't miss: the EU. All gamers will rise in EU infested countries and beat the government officuals down with memes of all types... And news articles linking to other news articles...
When i used to live in michigan as a kid, my family would literally say "lets all go for a drive!" and we would all get in the car and just drive around the neighborhood a couple times and talk to each other or the neighbors about random stuff...good times
Dating
Ugandan Knuckles. I really liked that meme for that first week of its life, but it got ruined just so damn quick. I still kinda enjoy Ugandan Knuckles in VR chat to some extent but it’s not the same anymore
Phone calls!
My old social life.
The globgogabglab I loved that meme
my life ;(
Privacy
blockbuster
I’m not sure if the internet killed it per se, but I really miss the cartoons in the Sunday paper. Nowadays a lot of newspapers have stopped publishing them because artists are moving their content online. It’s nice to be able to see more cartoons online and have more access to them, but I loved waiting to see what the cartoons would be that week.
Encarta
If I were a lifelong criminal, I'd say the ability to commit crimes in different cities and states with low risk of those crimes being connected. Reading the I-5 Killer by Ann Rule drove that home. It's amazing that you could commit serial murders along a stretch of road and be almost uncatchable just because the crimes were committed in different jurisdictions.
As a noncriminal, I don't miss that at all.
My sense that people would use this amazing new technology for something more good than bad, or even more good than just stupid.
/r/soccerstreams
Blockbuster
Keeping opinions to yourself?
Getting handwritten letters in the mail.
Many adventure games because I cannot help looking up if I went the "right" route to get the coolest things.
Ye just playing the game and not reading up which outcomes etc best all the time.
Who remembers MPlayer and gamespy?
Everyone having a bunch of newspapers that you could just take when you needed to move. Now you have to go and buy paper because no one gets print newspapers anymore.
All them memes
kickass torrent
LAN parties.
Yeah, they can still rarely be found ... but it's just not the same.
Shockwave.com in 98
I forgot used that as a kid til now
Meaningful Communication and Connections.
Airmail and letters in general I had a pen friend in Hungary when I was a kid and we haven't spoke in years now.
Fapping to music videos ...
• MSN Messenger • Needing an excuse for not being available & responsive 24/7
Basically Not wanting to interact with people, not responding to people. Sometimes you’re just not in the mood! Why do I have to say I was busy with XYZ? I wish it was okay to let a text/DM/email marinate for a day and not have the person wonder why you hate them if you CLEARLY have looked at your inbox since then.
The original Angry Birds. You can’t download it from the (iOS) App Store. They deleted it.
Video game display boxes and long single player campaigns.
Nuance.
Progress in a video game meaning something. Back when there were no walkthroughs of games, you could 1-up your friend by telling them that you passed the level they got stuck at. Things could go different from there, depending on how much of an asshole you were.
Now, with all the guides, walkthroughs and so on it is nearly impossible to get stuck on a single level/boss in a game. Sure, you can ignore all the info Internet has, but that just makes you stupid if you get stuck. That 1-up part is gone.
Free speech
Going to the library and looking for information on projects given to us by our teachers. Right now u just have to google it.
LAN parties. Physically rigging up a network of old 10 MBit hubs for some Unreal Tournament fragging - then bitching at the one dude who causes a whole bunch of network collisions by deciding to download half a porn archive from someone who left a share open... Good times.
Privacy
Ad free viewing. The internet killed that hard. I miss the good ol days when YouTube didn't ads. Now aday literally every content creation site has ads that you have to pay to remove. (Twitch , YouTube etc)
A little off topic, but video killed the radio star in my mind and in my heart. We can't rewind, we've gone too far.
LAN parties in every town, internet killed it, everyone can play together from home
Being truly excited for a video game release because I haven’t seen a single preview except for the TV ad
Bar arguments over facts that couldn't be easily verified.
Big box computer games. Before the days of online-only distribution, they used to pack computer games in large boxes with hefty manuals and perhaps some props like a novel or a cloth map and a metal coin and a poster.
Band flyers as the source of information
The free press
Me not having to look at self obsessed c###s taking photos of their arse 50 times a day
Printed newspapers.
Dating.
phpBB Internet forums. Reddit killed them basically.
The feeling of being at the mercy of your television and not being able to choose what you want to see and when.
I know, I'm sadistic.
My innocence
Masturbating to the underwear section of a "Target" or "K-Mart" catalogue that your parents discarded as junk mail. My boner sincerely misses the days that these kind of things aroused me.
My self respect
Home movies
The old tumblr
Not knowing what a brand new tune was called, having to hum it to the guy in the record shop. Or do I miss that...🤨
Coach multiplayer. I wanted to challenge friends I know live, not strangers.
Books. If nobody is buying books then places that made space for them won't continue to make space for them. In downtown Denver Barnes and Noble closed because people weren't buying books. I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of children never learn how to write or draw pictures. Part of being human is engaging in activity that works with out senses. Paper has a texture, a smell, is filled with information that was important enough to be published. Everyone staring at their phones like they are priests bowing their heads in prayer to their gods....
Books
In my dorm all morning roommates will sit on the couch with their laptops or phones. The only activity we ever seen to do is watch TV since it only requires turning the head 30° to see the TV. I wish we could all play cards or do something. Anything other than watch more TV.
Nazi acceptance.
My life.
Having to discover everything in video games for yourself, like the good ole pokemon days where if you wanted to find a pokemon you had to fucking search, nowadays you can just google everything and it kinda defeats the challenge.
Blockbuster Video
Thriving malls, every one with a B. Dalton and/or Waldenbooks, an ideal place to while away a Saturday and watch the pretty girls.
My dad
Actually physically going outside and playing
GameStop release night
Going to the library and digging through the non-fiction for school assignments. I felt like a literary explorer and could/did spend hours doing so - just for the sake of one or two facts to quote.
The Unknown...
My will to live.
Blockbuster. Streaming killed it.
The internet
Reading all these comments makes me wanna live in a world without Internet
Too late for this but fidget spinners. I got one about six months before they started becoming the face of cringe. They're so satisfying and I used to just subtly play with it under my desk but it has been sitting at home for years now.
dAbBiNg
Having to actually explore video game mechanics and areas for the content, or beg off your friend's strategy guide, which used to be considered a treasured (and rare) cheat sheet.
Wikipedia cheapens the wonder and discovery that came with a brand new title.
I used to love to listen to Denzel Curry - Ultimate during a workout. But since it became a meme, I just cringe every time I here it now.
Pork chops
They killed kids. I asked a kid (4 years old btw) the other day "what would you buy if you had 1000$" and he responded, "I would buy an iPad and an Xbox and Minecraft." Like dude seriously what the fuck when I was your age I wanted hot wheel cars and glow in the dark shit.
Nothing has longevity anymore. I remember back in the day, something would come out and become a pop culture phenomenon that lasted years, sometimes even decades. Trends move too damn fast, now. Lots of stuff from the '80s and '90s has maintained pop culture relevance due to nostalgia, but are things from nowadays gonna be the same (with the exception of really outstanding series like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad)? How are people in twenty years, gonna be nostalgic for pop culture that had such short shelf life?
What made me think about this was reading a comment on a Youtube video of the Slenderman movie where someone (really young, I can tell) said "This movie is coming out too late. Slenderman is old now!" Even though Slenderman came out like only 6 years prior as a pop culture icon. 6 years is old??? Holy crap how many years between the Halloween movies or Friday the 13th? There's literally one called "Halloween H20" that the title gimmick is basically referencing twenty years since the first one... but now people think that 6 years only after a pop culture phenomenon is created, is too late? Things just flash too quickly and fade out. It has to be really outstanding to have staying power and I think is cuz there's too much fish in the sea. Back when the primary exposure was movies, TV shows, books and printed media in general, things stayed relevant longer in the public sphere. It was like "Oh, wanna find out more about Freddie Kruger? Wait til the next movie comes out in 5 years!" now its like "Oh, you wanna find out more about XYZ? Here's a fucking wiki page dedicated to everything about it. Read as much as you care then forget about it because its no longer interesting when its all spelled out at once."
Being happy with my body
Having to figure out something without resorting to Google and YouTube
Being able to play video games without feeling inferior because some kid on the internet is 9000x better.
Knocking on your friends door to ask em if they are free to play outside rn
My attention span.
Everything.
Knocking about in the woods on my bmx and finding some random bongo mags stashed in a bush.
HH ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
the days when you went to a cinema to watch a movie, now torrent has ended that completely
No it hasn't. Just need to find people to go with. My friends have a messenger group chat solely for cinema. Mostly MCU
Everyone who has taken their life because of cyberbullying
Hentai Haven
2013 pewds
movie/game rental stores.
I loved going to those, every weekend some friends and I would sleep over and go out and rent some scary movies and some games to play over the weekend, was so damn fun. We didn't have the internet, had no way to look up "reviews" and just went by the box art and shit on the back, found some truly great memorable ones and also some really bad ones.
Internet came along and destroyed all video stores, even juggernauts like Blockbuster couldn't stand up to the moving tide of netflix.
My will to live
Libraries. If you wanted to know anything, you always went to the library. Now it's just Google it, or ask Siri. No one reads anymore and it definitely shows.
Okay Amigo was a fun little dating site that was spun off from Liquid generation.
I remember having my best friends number memorized and we’d call each other the minute we’d get home from school. And then having to say goodbye when it got too late or my dad wanted to use dial up.
This is very specific, but sending letters via fax to my grandma.
Grandma went completely deaf in her 40s, so she couldn't phone any more. Years later her husband passed away and she had to live alone, even though my dad and the rest of the family lived close and visited her often. Point is, since calling wasn't an option she made relatives and friends get a Fax, including her 90yo mother and some friends of her. We used to write by hand, which already was old-fashioned (we're talking about 20-15 years ago). My sister and I were little children, so every time we wrote she could see us making progress with handwriting, including our very first messy scribbles. I wish my parents kept some of those letters.
Anyways, when she was in her late 70s grandma upgraded to email and WhatsApp and moved closer, so it isn't necessary any more, but some of her less tech-friendly friends still use the good old fax machine.
computer games!!!!!!
Not knowing what Karen had for lunch
WATERMELOOOONE 🍉
Internet killed the video stars :/
I guess its kinda killed cds in terms of listening to music. I really enjoy the artwork and just little things inside the album cd cases that you wouldn't find online.
Rick and Morty
The radio star. It was a 2-man job, I just know it.
Record stores like Tower Records. I used to love going around and picking out CDs or going afterschool on Tuesdays to get a band's new album.
Viable careers in publishing.
Will to live
Kayfabe in wrestling
The radio star
Sorry if anyone else has mentioned it but we used to play card games and lot of other outdoor games which I do not see kids playing these day which is just sad
Couch co-op.
People’s ability to spell correctly.
Book shops
Starting new friendships meeting new people even meeting random people to go on dates with. Everyone is too comfortable with online and their own clicks that it’s hard to get to know just anyone in general because you’re considered an outsider
the power of shaggy memes. RIP, gone too soon 😢
Club penguin.
[deleted]
Disney killed ir, not the internet
Grabbing a gold bar and giving it to someone I really agreed with. Now all I need to do is send someone some reddit gold :/
Rational arguments
Video rental stores. Don't get wrong, the method of renting or buying movies is superior today, but hunting for a movie used to be part of the fun.
mtv
Writing letters to communicate. I use to have a penpal from a camp I went to and I really enjoyed it.
Analogue sentiment filled up with boring but sober mood.
Basically anything that used to be something you sat and did with other people in attention and interest that has just been shorthanded to a feature of our social media accounts that nobody really pays any attention to. Pictures, philosophical or humorous discussions, post-vacation discussion or any form of catching up after not seeing eachother for a while, life milestones, personal revelations, etc.
Going to the movies used to be a cool experience. You had to locate or buy a newspaper, flick to the classifieds section and see what movies were on, where they were and what times they showed. Usually you hadn't seen a trailer and had to hope the paper had a review or something. If not, you had to go off the name of the movie or word of mouth. Now you look it all up on your phone and IMDb or rotten tomatoes will tell you if it's worth bothering and trailers are all available on YouTube. Just not the same.
Blockbuster or similar video hire places, I used to love going to choose a movie on a Friday night
I miss going to buy cds (not the price) but just the experience of it.
Record Stores.
Quality time.... It has ruined it and we are happy with this
Meaningful human contact.
August Ames
Being lost.
Splitscreen games
Split screen as the way to play multiplayer on computer games. Got the play the games but had face to face enjoyment. Kids don’t know the joys of seeing ur friend wallow in self pity as u shoot in from across a map!
I’m surprised vinyl / cassette players isn’t there for people. The artwork, the physical song in your hand, the effort and the collections... gone.
Books. With actual pages.
People didn't used to be obsessed with filming and taking photographs of everything they do.
Car crash? Film on phones
Heart attack? Film on phones but try to look like you aren't
Airplane hijacked? Selfie with the terrorist
Just bought a pizza? Take a photo of it and upload it on the internet
Having sex? Upload a short video to snapchat
Go to the gym? Make sure you provide everyone you know with weekly photo journal updates and don't forget to write a facebook status about how "your dreams are the only ones you see"
Want to date? Look at 3 photos of someone and decide based on that if they are an axe murderer or future spouse. Then take a photo of your bits and send to them (if anybody else sees it doesn't really matter)
Want people to think you are cool? Drive to various locations you never go to in real life, wait for the sunset and take photographs of yourself leaning on someone else's supercar.
I think the internet has made people more narcissistic than they have ever been and I have a real problem with the amount of credence given to things that are totally superficial and pointless because of the advertising revenue they can generate. When I was younger, if there were two people fighting in a bar or somewhere you would try and break it up, now everyone just pulls out their phones and starts laughing. Literally there are videos on youtube of people throwing punches and pulling each other's clothes off in the middle of the street with cars going by while their "friends" just stand there filming it so they can upload to facebook and get dem likes.
People make fake instagram accounts to spy on boys/girls they like who have a private profile. (I read this yesterday on reddit and the post had something like 10,000 karma. Do people not think this is weird?
Front page of reddit a couple of weeks ago - some girl in a fast food restaurant in the US drops a whole box of mayonnaise and it goes all over her. Of course let's upload that on to the internet. Now over 50,000 people around the world have had the opportunity to laugh at you making a mistake at work and write their thoughts about you in the comments box. People say it's "all in good fun" or something dismissive like that but there is a much more sinister aspect of human nature underneath. Insecurity is out of control for young people and superficial appearance has become the more important aspect of your life.
Local stores. The ones we still have around here survive mainly due to the older generations not using amazon. When they're long gone and millenials are pensioners I doubt the high Street will have much on it.
I was born a few years too late to experience lan party’s, but they looked like a blast. But I did get to experience my generations version: split screen/couch co-op, I remember doing 4-player halo custom games with a group of about ~8 and all switching off on death, we could play that for hours and never get bored
Long phone calls and snail mail pen pal letters
Finding porn hidden in bushes
Privacy...
Youtube
speaking without the comment being around forever
No real secrets or hidden gems anymore.
I remember as a kid watching whatever that Friday evening program was on Nickelodeon and the movie Harriet the Spy was coming out soon. They were giving away 500 or so spy kits to the first 500 kids who called in. I was so pumped, took a few minutes to work up the courage to call and I actually won a spy kit. No strings attached. It was an awesome Fanny pack with a bunch of little notepads and pen and silly spy stuff. Now, something like that would get shared in some mom group on Facebook before any kid had a chance to call and it wouldn’t be the same.
Nazi jokes. springtime for Hitler would be too much trouble to make today
I miss Uganda knuckles I mean it was a good meme I dont know why everyone hates it but a month later the golgabgolgab appears out of nowhere and no one has a problem about it
I miss cd’s. The artwork and linear notes. And just th physical object.
time to play outdoors
Dead memes
Tits or GTFO
Video stores
LAN gaming with friends!
My will to live.
Old people bitching about new technology or whatever in newspaper columns/opinion pieces.
Whenever I was sick and home from school as a kid, my dad would usually come home from work to look after me. On his way home he would always check out a few movies on VHS from the library. It was always a thing I would look forward to whenever I was sick. I imagine kids today would just watch youtube videos on their iPads all day.
Working hard
Minecraft
Not being able to check every symptom of your body and finding out you are as good as dead.
Maps, human interaction, libraries, blockbuster, cds..
Myspace profiles
The slow pace
Going camping on a whim with no reservations and pulling into whatever campground looked nice, no problem.
Undertale, Hello Neighbor. God, i miss em.
When you faced a difficult level in a video game and had to call up your friend (who's finished the game) and ask him how to clear it. If you still couldn't clear it, you'd have to call him over to your place and watch him clear the level for you.
Eye contact that last more than a nanosecond.
I miss the discussions I used to have with people before Wikipedia. Nowadays all the answers are seconds away.
Phone book's and having to memorize phone numbers.
My dick
Randomly stumbling onto movies/games/music/information in general and enjoying it from the beginning to the end without thinking "how many stars does it deserve?".
letters i know, some people still write but mostly everyone writes email... and it's so much more beautiful to actually have something to remember and to keep and hold in your hands
Club Penguin
Be Kind. Rewind.
Vine
My innocence.
Writing Letters. More specific those high school love letters you wrote to your crush lol
The red lightsaber like to dislike ratio on old yt
I miss when it was harder to get your hands on a skate video. it felt so good when you finally got to see something new, now there is always something new online and no feeling of accompilshment.
Having the luxury of sometimes just... not knowing things.
Going to the gamestore and buying used cd's :(
On Saturdays we had cartoons on the main channels from 6:30am till about 11am. I miss waking up, turning the TV on and watching Garfield and Friends, Pokémon and Zoboomafoo.
Cereal with my morning tea. Life was just great.
getting intoxicated and letting loose. Everyone carries a video camera today and can have spread it to the world before you sober up and attempt to remember what you did last night
Me social life outside the internet
The English Language.
Being able to kill a few hours at the mall, and genuinely enjoying it.
Blockbuster and Video Ezy.. every weekend. Would spend an hour or so wandering around and renting the same movies Ive watched a zillion times
Memes because i live in the EU
Ugandan Knuckles, god damn it was good. Too bad it died pretty much overnight.
Civility
Most of the things I miss have already been said, so I'll go with that i miss the old YouTube. 5* subscribe and actually see the video content, not what it is now.
I miss being able to get a rare find. You used to be able to find stuff at flea markets or thrift stores that might be of a niche value to you and be able to get it for a steal. Now everybody, no matter how uninvolved in whatever hobby or collectable prospect an item may pertain to, is constantly aware of how much that target audience will pay for something and can actively seek out that audience to market it to.
Blockbusters
turk dance
Gaming with my brother and cousins at thanks giving in 007.
The importance of seeing and interacting with each other irl
Being able to be civil
I miss the variety of music stores. The Warehouse, Tower Records, local shops, Virgin Music, Sam Goody, and even Blockbuster Music. Between the music and related merch you could buy, you could easily get lost in conversations about artists and recommendations. You don’t really get that at lets say the CD rack of Target.
Memes
Borders book store
My innocence.
In 1991 I left home in London to work in a Peruvian rainforest for a year as a naturalist. I then and backpacked around Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Columbia. No mobile phone, no internet just the Rough Guide To South America. I'd write letters home every two weeks to let the fols know I was OK and they would write letters post restante which I managed to collect usually.
I phoned home once, on Mum's birthday which involved booking an international call at a post office and sitting in a cubicle while they connected me. That feeling of exploring, of being somewhere very foreign by yourself nd disconnected was scary, exhilarating and something that I miss, and I wish young people travelling today could get a feel for
I misunderstood the question until I looked at the comments. I would’ve commented club penguin lol. The internet “murdered” it and it shall be greatly missed forever.
Music stores.
Sneak into my father's bedroom and steal his porn magazine to jerk off while hiding in the bathroom. Back in the days, tension used to turn me on. That's was an easy one BTW and I know that I have mental issues but I'm Brazilian so it's all right. :)
Club Penguin, Goodgame Disco and every game that shut down. You'll be forever missed ❤️
I loved computer magazines but the internet makes them near pointless these days unless the mag bags an exclusive look at a game.
Genocide and incest porn
Humanity
Arguments with no proof. If more people agreed then you were declared correct, now a couple clicks can expose me for the bullshitting fraud I am.
The video star.
Feeling of content
My identity
Arguments, could argue for days about the most mundane thing until someone could provide proof either way , now just a quick Google search to prove a point and it's over , it's just not fun anymore
Hen tai ha ven
Duolingo memes
My innocence
The video star
Internet Clubs.
So weird internet made and killed interned clubs. It was the best thing in my highschool days :/
The outside world
This may sound silly, but I miss Minecraft. We were just a group of about 8 friends, most of us never met in real life, using good old Skype and playing Minecraft together with mods in our survival servers. The internet killed many things, just as it brought them to life.
It's still huge but I miss that first feeling of playing cs 1.5 online. Young me was blown away that these were actual other people. Now we just take it for granted.
Actually talking to people. Neighbors, friends, even family... people just don't do "live and in person" enough now.
My innocence
I miss being able to go into town, and go to specific stores, for specific things. I miss the second hand stores that used to cater to the metal/alternative scene, which have been replaced by Gumtree and the Faceache market place. I miss there being a store for every kind of niche interest, whether it be in terms of clothing preferences, music, merchandise of all kinds, I miss there being a really good comic book store in my town. I miss the high street, and having a reasonable expectation that some shop or other down the road would have what I wanted on the rack, rather than having to order it.
I miss being able to pick up an object that I intended to purchase, and examine its qualities up close, rather than relying on a blurry image, zoomed to high heaven on some shitty website that I barely give enough of a shit about to understand correctly. I miss being able to pay cash for every single thing and never having to carry a card or remember the number for it.
I miss basically living real life, not some automated, piss poor excuse for one.
Patience: not having to worry about losing my sense of gratification. Internet is like prescription medication: great for fixing, but addicting and will warp your brain chemistry if left unchecked.
I didn't delve further into what would be called sprituality until I found myself in the hollowness of so many fun things that feel good without any substance or fulfillment. People are sliding further into accomplishments and activities that they themselves cannot justify and be satiated with, and it's showing as widespread depression.
I feel like people are far too trend-centric, spending hours upon hours doing exactly what others their age do (maybe it's because I think the Office and Parks and Rec are really not that great, yet everyone my age watches them on repeat and has to announce it).
Not many people feel genuine, it seems like so many people just mimic the people they want to be accepted by. I don't doubt it's always been this way, but it used to not be so obvious.
With all this clarity the internet brought, we need to respond with rising in intellect, and I'm not seeing that happen. We still spout misinformation that is now a 5 second web search away from correcting, we still act dumb such that even memes can show our follies, and we still are just as prone to lying to ourselves that we are progressing in a personal sense when we are really moving in a circle: the same core issues but in a differrent appearance.
TL:DR; I don't believe the internet made the human condition worse, it simply made the general philosophical inadequacies far more apparent. There don't exist words that can show the way, but words can show how important it is for one to start looking for it. That's what the internet has done.
avoiding football scores & watching MOTD - it's still possible, but I invariably fail. .
The art of telling a good long joke.
My social life
Split screen gaming.
The time where you discovered secrets in video games just by playing them, or hearing about them through your friends that played them. Games just seemed so much bigger and more mysterious back then.
Just bullshitting about stuff with your friends that you didn't know 100% for sure. Smartphones and Wikipedia have killed this experience.
Still sort of around but waiting to see stuff on TV and talking about it with everyone you knew the next day. It's not as common now with streaming whole seasons and piracy.
WWE Kayfabe
Fireflies
My sanity.
Le minitel
Being able to just turn on the TV and watch something random instead of spending an hour looking through all of Netflix and giving up being I can't find anything that is exactly perfect.
ugandan knuckles iam read for the downvotes
Mystery. Everyone just looks stuff up now.
My innocence.
(also the whole just going out on the streets or to a local hangout area and seeing if anybody is around you might know. With the internet came the planning and I hate planning)
When i was little, the children i hung out with have to go to each others houses and fight over on which friend will play with the console. I had the ps2 with 4 custom controllers
I used to play an online game called “Fantage”, but they took it down in June or July last year. I was disappointed but I guess it can’t be helped
Getting lost...
Blissful ignorance!
Video rental stores. I miss consulting the workers and getting reccomendations.
If you missed a sporting event you had to find out who won the next day or actually ask a real person. And on a similar note the sports highlights actually meant something beyond visually seeing things you already know happened. Broadcasters don’t even bother building up suspense anymore, they even show the final score at the beginning of the highlights sometimes. 20 years ago they would have been laughed off the air for doing that.
Yahoo chat was cool...And bearshare and Napster...I remember how hard I worked for 3 songs downloading all night or download a song before work and get home and it was almost finished😂...Good ole dialup
Free speech.
Texting, as in with cost. I miss that feeling when you went just a few characters over one message and had to try slangs and ridiculous abbreviations to shorten it down and everyone could still understand cuz we were all on the same boat.
the Radio stah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Not being expected to answer messages at once. It is bullshit. If I take hours to answer a message my friends almost rips my head off
Getting to run around and play unsupervised, not worrying about getting kidnapped, etc. Getting dropped off to trick-or-treat with my siblings and friends in the ‘rich’ neighborhoods, meeting up with parents hours later.
Drive in movies- $5 a carload on Wednesday nights! Saw ET, The Terminator, some great movies at the drive in!!!
Going to the river, hanging out all day or even camping with my parents best friends and their kids- roasting hot dogs and marshmallows!
Going with their dad and ours as they harvested their pot in the middle of the woods 😆
Picking blackberries, blueberries, huckleberries that we’d eat while out for the day playing.
Also, when we were little, our parents best friends and their kids were our best friends. Their dad was the coolest! He drilled holes in quarters, attacking string, so we could get pops, go to the arcade... those quarters kept us busy for many hours when we’d go to town!!! He taught us so many tricks we shouldn’t know... we’d go to pay phones and dial a code that would make them ring until someone answered them (they would just get dead air). Gave us a phone # from the Ghostbusters movies you could call. We had bottle rocket and Roman candle wars... it’s amazing we’re all still alive and have all our limbs 😂. Those were the days!!! I’d have a heart attack if my kids did 1/4 of the things we did back then lmao
Arguments in pubs over who is correct about some pointless trivia. Now it all gets spoiled when someone just Googles whether the Rocko’s Modern Life theme tune changed after the first season.
My perception of dolphins.
Internet killed the video store
Imagination masturbation 😂😅
Being able to be completely alone and think about stuff...
My will to live
Myspace
LAN parties.
Going outside and playing with my friends
Paper magazines; Game Pro, Wizards, and good old fashioned paper pornography. I've seen so much hardcore rauchiness that my mind is probably broken.
My life
Privacy.
Mixtapes.
I so miss finding kittens uninteresting.
Truth be told, if I think back to my youth, I can't remember a single kitten.
I'm sure they must have existed ... or else there would have been no cats.
So where were all the kittens?
And who cared about them?
Instant messenger. I would spend hours typing to friends, if you had an away msg up you could message and wait for them to come back or wait for them to sign on and just chat away
Blockbuster
Freedom
MSN messenger
The Dewey Decimal System and looking up books in the library using cards.
I watched "The Sandlot" with my kid yesterday. She was so surprised to see that none of the people had mobile devices. Under it every day at work.. during break time the staff sits together at one table, but instead of talking everyone just stared in their device.
Patience.
Journalism.
Hey Hey It’s Saturday /s
Having a good general knowledge is no longer so highly valued and if you have one, people often think you just googled whatever you are saying.
Other than that, jazz mags!
One word: Privacy
Was playing video games with my friends last night. Took it in turns on an old COD game, except instead of watching each other play, everyone was just on their phones when it wasn't their turn
Phone book's and having to memorize phone numbers.
Friendship. The ability for people, even strangers, to sit next to each other and hold a conversation that is about more than the weather.
Pepe
The ability not to be a hypochondriac.
face to face communication.
Couch co-op games
When video games had to be played with a friend and didn't involve dedicating your whole life to lingo and being teased and bothered by gatekeepers.
My innocence..
The dumbasses in my life having any reason to be wrong about something you can easily Google.
Now I know it's willful ignorance.
Common sense
Early gaming communities. It was really a more wholesome place 99-05 or so. I couldn't count the amount of awesome people I've met through gaming. SWG/ planetside/ CS 1.6 all brought us together to experience great moments...weddings, vacations, deaths, births... and just good social interaction. The era of 12 year olds screaming racial slurs into their mics came soon after when the net became mainstream.
Not being disturbed all the time because you ve got to be reachable all of the time. With internet apps like messenger, watsapp and .... it has gotten much worse. Constantly receiving messages and you need to answer them.
Buying tickets to an event. The anticipation and excitement of lining up and camping out the front the night before just added to the exhilaration!
Renting a video every Saturday. I miss the smell of the shops.
Writing letters. I have great penmanship and I genuinely enjoy writing but you’re considered to be insane if you write a letter over texting or emailing someone these days.
Productivity.
MDE
Playing video games just for fun. Trying to figure stuff out. Now there are build guides, optimal solutions, walkthroughs etc Doesn't seem to be about the fun of it anymore....
Toys-r-Us. My kids loved that friggin place.
memes.... old memes
Moid
All the classic songs. Country roads to start. Loved that 🙄
Employment.
Jobs have always been competitive but now I’m up against 200 other people who applied online as opposed the few dozen or so that bothered to show up and hand their resume in person.
Sending postcards while on vacation. We would have no contact with anyone back home for the length of our stay. (This was before cell phones), and using the phone in the room cost like $175 per minute. Many times we would beat the postcard home.
Borders book stores
Blockbuster.
The internet.
Forest porn, exploring the woods as a kid to find some random persons porn stash of dirty magazines hidden underneath a fallen tree.
Blockbuster.
Bring back bullying please
People not being assholes all the time. People are a lot braver now that they can say whatever on social media with no consequences. Before if you wanted to fight with someone you had to do it in person and run the risk of getting knocked out. Now you just jump on social media and become a social media comment warrior. People get into arguments with someone across country just to get into argument and be a dick.
Relationships
Record/Cd/Tape collections. Knowing which of your friends had which album. Borrowing music from people. You really had to be judicious when you were at the record store. Nothing worse than blowing money on an album and finding out your friend had it also.
I miss people matching their picture. I miss cameras with no filters and using editing skills to have fun, not making yourself look perfect. I was never the one to have talent for posing, maybe that's why
The video star.
ugandan knuckles memes
The happiness of buying music CD and listen to it
Minecraft
Ugandan Knuckles
People not knowing something
Toys in the cereals’ box or whatnot. Now they just give you a link where to play a silly game online.
MySpace
Mí familia
(Duo)
The Marilyn Manson rumour
Yahoo chat
going outside
Being surprised by new video game releases.
Australia, florida
The internet killed my free time and now all I do is terrorize forums with my killer sense of humor.
Going to a concert with nobody filming
Spending time reading/with people. I'm in my early to mid twenties, but old enough to know what the other feels like.
Newspapers. I can’t use newspapers to mask me observing people anymore like a spy.
Going to a movie with only seeing its trailer once, maybe twice. And it was always the same trailer. No teaser, no expanded, just the one.
websides i used to sepdn time on.
like the kids sides for Barbie and Polly Pocket. and gosupermodel
My will to live
masturbating in private.
Life!?
Finding your porno in the form of magazines stuffed into bushes at your local park when you were pre-teen/teen
Having to invent new games to play with friends. Now you just stay at home playing video games instead
RuneScape 😂
Blockbuster videos
LAN-Partys. Meeting with friends over a weekend or holidays. Bringing our PCs together, playing games all day long and eating unhealthy food ... what a time!
I miss going into game feeling all giddy that I’m gonna get a new game - was this when internet was around, yes but it was the Xbox 360 times where most people didn’t download the games onto the 4gb hard drive
Google Plus
August Ames
Andrew Finch?
Club penguin
People
My dignity
Libraries as a mean of research
My parents
Public crawls, because you had to looking for your friends. And also long conversations about whatever trivia subject, any arguement is solved by Google in 30 secs.
Innocent till proven guilty
Stamps. They were killed before the internet by the printed stuff done in post offices. But the internet gave the final blow to mail and stamps.
Anime on TV in the UK
Being able to "chip" your Playstation 1 so you could make copies of your mates games.
PLAYING AND ENJOYING GAMES is what i miss... nowadays you can look everything up, and mostly you will do when u cant complete a quest...when i was in school, we always talked about a game we couldnt finish and brainstormed together
A really old chat/voip application called Freetel
Reading long things
Sbemail.exe
Funny quality animated videos (thanks YouTube)
Shipping a video game that was complete (patch culture has fucked a lot of games that could have been good if they released in better conditions)
Reading long things
Human decency
Spoilers. Now: “Yo did you watch yesterday’s episode?” “No, don’t tell me, I’ll watch on my phone in the bus”
Before: “Yo did you watch yesterday’s episode?” “No, tell me all about it” ... “NO WAY, THEY CANNOT DO THAT” (then later they discover it was a lame episode and you were just inventing)
Physical Newspapers (I know they are still available but I miss them because they are almost dead), Photo albums, and walking over to a friends house/local park without any prior text to decide a meetup, just to hangout or play with them.
Purity
The excitement and wonder of seeing someone you find attractive.
Dating apps killed that since you can see 100 hot people in 10 minutes. I used to imagine the possibilities with every single one. Now I don't even remember their faces unless we meet in person, maybe not even then. And it is so easy to just forget about their existence. I don't even get any dates or relationships out of it, just lower standards and less magic to love life.
Remember when someone you found attractive saying hi would make your week?
The option to opt out of participating in social media for work related purposes.
The excitement of when a movie you wanted to see FINALLY appears on television and looking forward to that evening.
Streaming is great, but it has made entertainment an omnipresent throwaway thing. It’s just not as valuable anymore.
WhatsApp killed BBM.
MSN chatrooms
I miss the Sunday newspaper, my father would always buy the Sunday newspaper and we would read it in the morning while having breakfast
Completing a video game
Ugandan Knuckles😢
The ability to talk face to face and patience.
telegraph and fax
FilthyFrank for sure.
Bookstores honestly. I miss going to them and browsing the rows and rows of books looking for something good to read. Sitting at a table and reading a few pages before either buying or putting it away. I literally haven’t bought a book since they bookstores have faded away because I just cannot commit to buying something online that I might not like then having to go through the hassle to return it.
Watching cartoons at night. You remember the holiday specials like the Charlie brown Thanksgiving or the stop animation Rudolf the red nose reindeer. For some reason watching them with the whole family after dinner was special.
Privacy.
Offensive jokes.
Old YouTube comment section.
New york faze house
Classified ads in local papers
basic human connection. What has united us digitally has been our undoing socially. I'm seriously concerned what societal structure will be when my kids are grown and onward.
Loss memes
I don't care how much people hate it, I will forever love getting Rick Rolled
being able to call my father daddy.
My son
Candy stand.com
going to your friends house and ask their parents if they can hang out
Showing up randomly at someone's house when you're in the neighborhood. I guess maybe texting killed this more, but the internet kind of killed texting too, right?
LANs
Going to blockbuster on a Friday night picking out a horrible movie and then doing it all again next weekend
My innocence
Watching something without a hundred personalised adds everywhere
I don't think the internet really killed anything. To me, Smartphones is the bigger problem
My life lmao
The MTV star
Couch co-ops...
I miss having little connectivity. I think that growing up and only being able to use the internet to occasionally chat or play terrible flash games was better than having everything you need. I’d rather turn up at my friends house and randomly do something rather than making all these plans, having them cancelled and being able to see exactly what that person is doing on things like Instagram (especially when they’re with another friend) which honestly just creates fomo and anxiety
My social life.
Reddit.
Humor
My sleep
Being able to tell the most bs story or facts to win a argument and not get fact checked. In other words i liked bending the truth when i saw fit
Vaccinations
Blockbuster video!
Using the card catalog at the library. I used to pull out a drawer and randomly pick a card, and go read (or at least skim) the book. I found all sorts of random topics to learn about that I wouldn’t think to google now.
Privacy
Game and PC magazines.
screening calls and resolving an issue with one 5 min call instead of a dozen emails over a months time
Old memes
Privacy
Mmm watcha say.. it was just the best meme
Club Penguin
Myspace
Those 100 messages a day pack which made you realize the ones who actually mattered.
File sharing via Bluetooth
My innocence
Minecraft
Not knowing a thing
It was something we all used to talk on back before text messages. AIM.
Blockbuster
Going to the pub to watch the football. Everyone just illegally streams it now.
This is something the internet created and then later on killed.
MSN messenger back in 2006-2010. I used to love jumping on it after school and talking to friends and finding new people to talk to. But then instant messaging apps like WhatsApp came along and now it's solely that.
Then again I maybe look at this through rose tinted glasses.
Nothing
People have less time to talk and hangout with friends and family. Everything just a click away but but true relation are beyond the reach.
This isnt the same as the others but, Old minecraft The minecraft everyone on youtube played, the minecraft the so many people sunk so many hours into, the minecraft that everyone would talk about their new builds or their favourite youtubers.
Finished Single Player games without microtransactons, live services, roadmaps(!) and all that garbage.
Shopping. Before the internet, people would hang out at malls, video stores, record stores... these were places booming with jobs and activity. There was a sense of discovery, and excitement at finding something you had either been looking for, or didnt even know existed. Now Amazon has pretty much gutted all of that. The jobs are going, businesses have closed, malls have shut down completely. Everything was decimated by the internet. I miss going to the mall and running into friends, the crowds of people. It's just not the same now.
my childhood
My innocent childhood
duolingo killed my family :(
Phone books, but only when I'm visiting different towns. I have a really unusual last name, and whenever I traveled, I'd always look and see if it or one of its variations appeared in the phone book. Yes, I can search other ways, but there was something about seeing the name in print that made the person seem more real to me somehow
Uganda knuckles
Being unavailable.
club penguin
Mass Effect.
rEaL CoNveRsAtIoNs /S
I know it’s not directly the internets fault, but the joy of going into a blockbuster and hiring 5 movies over a weekend and staying up till 5am every night to make sure we don’t miss a film
I miss seeing my friends ....
I mess dvd rentals, I'd go with my gf, Blockbuster had a deal where you got ice cream and popcorn with a couple of films, good times
MSN messanger
Playing games like minecraft and fortnite, the internet literally killed it all, I mean it’s cringe with kids yeah but fun when u have a group of friends to fuck around with in it
Split screen. And here in the next decade, physical media.
Club Penguin
Um...privacy?
video rental places
Vine :(
Meinungsfreiheit #artikel13
Decency
CDs
Impact memes :(
Wonder
Yahoo Avatars. I loved dressing them up.❤️
Time with my kids
Talking face to face
Shopping malls. They’re mostly a dying race now instead of the big place to hang out, and it’s actually kinda sad.
Google inbox
Instant winners under soda caps.
Asking questions as a form of conversation.
Things like "hey, do you know who sings that song?" or "I wonder what other show that actor was in", or "where is a good mechanic around here?".
Those aren't really good examples, but I often feel like there used to be questions that could start or facilitate conversations and now when the questions come up in my mind I immediately then think to myself 'that's a stupid question, just check online'.
My happiness.
Gaming developers completing a game without dlc add ons.
Teletext in the mornings before school.
Music that turned into memes.
Smoke signals. We used them extensively in Nebraska. I meet my wife when I answered her signal.
A proper version of Oregon Trail.
Minecraft.
Definitely vine! Am I right?
Kickball
My social skills
The excuse of not being able to work on something. Now if you leave it at home JUST EMAIL IT TO YOURSELF
Club Penguin
a lot of memes :/
Trips to the library.
Dearly love finding information at my fingertips, but ... used to go every week, now 3x a year. I go to my favorite book store more often though. Always will read ....
I kinda miss my life but I think I can live without it
Fortnite
club penguin
MSN nudges
Dating
My assassination target.
r/place . I wasn't in it, but as I watched it grow and change I felt how communities could grow together and find ways to share space in such an incredible way, it made me feel happy.
3 way calling
The Loli tag... ;(
Sounds weird but... getting lost. It was always fun to try to figure out where the hell you landed with your car by asking the people around if you can find any, by looking through the map like a degenerate to try to find your location ect. It was a fun game.
Unironically liking Minecraft.
Playing outside with friends now I'm just a introvert that browses Reddit for six hours a day.
Wild Ones. sad
I miss old ICQ. It was a nice messenger where you could start a chat with a random person from different countries but now it's gone. Only russian version of ICQ exists now. Not a good one. It doesn't have privacy like it had it years ago.
Kayfabe in wrestling
Society
My hope for humanity.
My sleep
Having real friends
My friend
fortnite killed gta roblox minecraft
and others
Google+
Buying movies at a store for a decent price.
Disconnecting my PS2 and putting it in a grocery bag to walk it or bike it to my friends house.
One thing that comes to mind is undertale, it was mostly the fandoms fault though. So I never told anyone how secretly life-changing that game was.
video game magazines
Postcards
Yeah so, played golden eye last night. Didnt age well at all, in fact it sucks. Chances are, I've played as much or more Goldeneye than most people as a kid back in the 90s. I have the fond memories as much as you probably do. But it is really harsh to play today.
Heres the important thing about golden eye. It raised the bar for FPS in its day. It innovated. We wouldnt be where we are without it. But there is a reason people only talk nostalgically about it.
My self esteem 😂
Being bored out of your mind that you start doing new/other/creative/productive stuff I don’t do anymore, because I’ll just mindlessly scroll through reddit, other social media or whatever. Lost my phone and went a week without. Read 2 books for the first time in 3 years, started drawing again for the first time in 2 years and went out for a walk, started conversations with random people on the bus and started daydreaming.
Net neutrality
Memes
Girl sausage gif meme on 9gag
My free time
My will to live
Feeling like you're the best / most talented at something.
club penguin
Pub bullshit. The ability to make any nonsense fact true by simply being the loudest and most confident in a conversation
My good grades
Couch gaming.
Couch coop. Being able to play even Ratchet and Clank with my friends and little brother were days I'll forever cherish.
Not killed but decreased, the relation between people after the development of social networks (and I am talking on it right now..).
I have 22 yers old but I sometimes envy how our grandparents had their relations set up.
Now you can control very easily what/where/when a person was doing X task.
I think right now there are too many ways to don't trust someone simply on his words because we have tools to verify by ourselves if they are honest or not..
Playing out doors
Pro Wrestling, before the internet you only saw what was on TV, now you have all these news sites telling you about how its scripted and the 'backstage news'
Going to the video store to rent movies. It was like a whole event! We’d go rent some movies grab some chips and stuff then grab pizza or something and enjoy the evening. It’s all just become very lazy.
Bookstores. Especially, the huge bookstores. I basically lived in Borders bookstore during my high school and college years.
Good stories that might be bullshit.
Those old video game cheat books that you’d buy at the scholastic book fair. Now if you can’t cheat codes for games (if the game even uses them) a quick google search will tell you everything you’d possibly want to know.
A meaningful, content filled Sunday newspaper. I love the internet, but really miss the Sunday mornings of "catching up" on news. And then the pleasure of precisely folding the paper, grabbing a fresh cup of coffee and working the crossword puzzle.
...Wait, that was video...
Single console gaming. The internet killed the gaming community. Nothing better as a kid than a 4 way split screen timesplitters marathon. I don't want want to fucking talk to strangers. (Unless it's Reddit if course. :D )
Happiness
The Caramelldansen.
Comixology is killing comicbook stores. Nobody talks about it, but digital comicbook sales are the nail in the coffin of comic shops. If you didn't know, you can use that code inside physical copies of Marvel comics to get access to the digital copy- and even better, you can now link your Marvel account to your Comixology account and access the comic on Comixology! So buy the physical copy and get the best of both worlds!
I'm not sure if DC has something similar. They need to make changes or comics will become entirely online only. Maybe that's just the way it has to be.
Blockbuster videos. I remember every time I used to go to the shops I always ran to blockbuster and begged my dad to hire a movie or game. I would then spend half an hour staring at all the choices I had. Now all you do is open one browser and that’s it. It’s just not the same feeling
Being able to get an insane deal on vintage things.
Nowadays everyone can look up [thing] and get some ebay listing. And add to that that a lot of ebay listings are so incredibly high that the items go unsold. Well guess what, now Joe Schmoe set his price like *that*, too.
Back then it was the one way a broke - say, musician - could get started with some non-shit items. Not possible anymore, now you have to dig really deep in yard sales, second-hand stores and such.
Playboy magazine... I miss the articals.
How obscure it was. I liked how you stumbled upon stuff, and that every website was its own thing. Like stepping into a mall and finding hundreds of different stores. That store was Yahoo and Geocities.
Definitely going to see a movie, it has just gotten so easy but i love going to the theater, is was my favorite.
Experiencing games without spoilers or the urge to google for a walkthrough if you are stuck at some part. I really miss playing games 'on my way' and not 'the right way' but I cannot withstand either.
Memes lasting a month
i really miss the shaggy memes
thanks pewd
my hopes and dreams
Adventure
My innocence
Porn magazines.
Good memes.
Not caring about how I look. Social media really ruined my (and a lot of other people's) self confidence.
Health
My memory
Having gifts to give to people that aren’t already covered by their smartphones/internet... cameras, music players, cds, movies, gps, etc. The list goes on...
Personal interaction
Making friends in online games. Back when people where more focused on having fun rather than "proving themselves" i would fill up a friends list in no time. Now they are sick and tired of toxic people, cheaters, assholes that ruin games "for fun" that even the nice persons are tilted and don t want to give others a chance.
Don’t know if this counts but I miss iggy azealia
The word of mouth gaming secrets when we were little. No guides, nothing. Just knowledge or bullshit passed along. Something magical about hearing something for the first time that you can’t verify unless you do it yourself.
Use strength on THAT truck for Mew, anyone?
Having a conversation and people not going on Wikipedia just to fact check and question what I say. On the other hand if you don't talk to an asshole this is insanely useful.
I miss MSN a lot
The pleasure to walk, going somewhere, without looking at your smartphone to know the direction. Find it by yourself
DOGE MEMES
Norm Augistinus all the old videos, the tampon away... the old make your own iphone... metal detector in the nude.... miss all those videos. :(
Randomly showing up at (close) friends houses, just to see what's happening.
a.Actual news
b.Surprised Pikachu meme
The joy of discovery when you found that one weird shop that sold that one weird record or book that blew your head open.
Patience
When your parents come home after they said they would buy you something. The possibilities were endless now everyone just searches what they want and tell they're parents. No mystery
Life, the fact that everyone used to go out and knock for there friends or men gaining courage to go ask woman if they would wanna go out on a date.
Every one knew everyone and getting jobs where easier because of the people you knew from going out experiencing life and staying fit.
And dates had more conversation there was none if this silence when being with someone or looking at phones because you find social media more interesting tgen the person trying to make an effort with you.
Video games w/o micro transactions and DLC. With the exception of EA’s The Sims, we used to get completed fleshed our games that were challenging and unique.
Car Radio. I feel streaming is convenient, but the joy of driving down the road with great music coming out of nowhere can't be replaced, even with internet radio. I still play FM radio here in India whenever in the car as opposed to Aux/BT music.
gabe the dog and doge
My spirit of adventure, going out to see what the world is all about and find it out by myself, everything feels so boring now because my own sense of curiosity was bloated with information I find on the internet and there's few things that impress me now.
DAAMN BARRELS!!!
Legitimate letter writing.
Fuckin FithyFrank's legacy man
Playing a split screen game together
Memes
Wrestling. Watching isn't as enjoyable as it was now that rumors and surprises are leaked all the time
The internet destroyed my favorit childhood movie Shrek
I don’t know how related these things are but going to a shopping centre or town you’d never been to and not knowing what kind of shops would be there. Alternatively, the surprise you’d get in a shop when something new was out that you had no prior knowledge of, like a new album from your favourite band or some new toy.
If it hasn't already been said, movie trailers. It was the most exciting part of going to the Cinema as a kid, now I've usually seen any and all that I'm interested in.
Used to rush to make sure I was in my seat for them.
Thinking that I’m the first to think of something
vomit.com from the early 2000s i think. It would basically just display a bunch of weird colors that would flash and move in patterns with the effect to try to make you vomit.
Club Penguin :(
The video star
Fapping to polaroids and magazines
Going outside
Calling someone’s house and talking to everyone in the house before you get to your friend. Odd but I miss that.
Published, third party (sometimes), game guides. I know that they still make them. But they're redundant now-a-days.
People connection
Dabbing
Back when it was a nerds hang out but now everyone is on the internet. But most of all. Actually owning something. We are so tied up with services like Steam, iTunes, Spotify... etc. That once those services goes down so does everything we ever bought from them.
My social life
This is a weird realisation but I've been watching Initial D recently which is set in the 90s and onwards and one thing it made me remember is just how much harder it was to get in contact with people. Like when I was a kid the only person I knew with a mobile was my dad because he got one from work.
I mean realistically this isn't a good thing and having it possible to find things and people quicker is great, but I miss the challenge of having to physically go somewhere to talk to someone or having to phone around to find certain things.
If you want to know anything now it's just instant gratification, there's no real reason to put in a huge amount of effort to do anything. You just Google it or message a person. I mean it's great in most ways because it makes it easy to learn, but it feels overwhelming at times.
Some days I’d answer this question with the entire internet
Pokemon bronze
Bulbul
I miss facts... The internet got filled up with lies, most of which used to just be called "old wives tales"
My browsing history last night.....
Reading novels mostly .
It’s about to be Old Town Road. :(
Playing split screen with my friends...
Hentai Haven
Even tho I never played it, I miss Club Penguin
That pornstar that refused to do gay porn
Number one for me has always been concert/show tickets, especially when I used to live back in NYC. I’ve missed so many shows once they started selling tickets online, ones where I’d roll up to the door, pay the small fee and get in.
This also applies to sneakers. The excitement of rolling up to somewhere new and seeing if there was a mom and pop sneaker store, not knowing WHAT you’d find. Or just being able to go to your normal store and getting it without it selling out first. So corny.
Birthday cards. It was cool knowing someone actually remembered my birthday and took the time to send a card. These days you get a Facebook notification to say something on a wall. So stale.
I miss the possibility of turning my phone off or not responding immediately without someone getting worried.
Spending so much time browsing media that I don't actually commit to watching or reading anything. The isolation of people from each other started with cars displacing public transit and was finalised with the net displacing the need for human interaction for so many things.
Video game magazines like EGM and Gamepro.
Nothing felt better to me than getting the latest issue and reading every page and getting excited about upcoming games.
The old 'top text-bottom text' and poster-type memes from the late 2000's. There is a certain charm to them that most newer formats just don't have. Pair that with pretty wholesome jokes and it would usually brighten up my day if I was going through some stuff. Nowadays, most (not all) memes are just a race to rock bottom in quality.
My soul
Minecraft
Games without politic things like all races combo and lgbt.
Mine craft
My enthusiasm for anything
Letters
Doew Rick and Morty count? I miss that show...
Compassion.
Zines
Optimism, open-mindedness and a willingness to give the benefit of the doubt.
Bar bets.
Club penguin
Meeting people and dating. Everyone is using tinder now, and tinder is terrible for getting dates as a male (I get them, but it's way harder because at the same time she's talking to 20 other males).
Having to go to rummage through bins at flea markets to find old star wars gems. I have the best memories of my dad and I digging through boxes at huge flea markets in hopes of finding a decent condition figure. eBay kinda ruined it...if I really need a princess Leia, I just search, bid, buy. lame. Takes the fun out of the hunt.
The gaming industry.
Back in the day we left the developers alone and they created great games for us. When we wanted to learn about the games, they put out articles in magazines like Nintendo Power, OXM, or PSM. Now, you have to go through a talking head who may or may not have even played the game, or knows anything about it. Then the people constantly arguing what should or should not be in a game. Just shut up and let the developers make it. If you don't like it, don't buy it.
My self esteem My will to live
Calling your father “daddy”
Having movie night and driving to blockbuster to pick it out and it ends up being this big event
Love and romance
Agreeing to meet up somewhere at the end of the day and everyone actually showing up. Not having to worry about flaking.
Battle things from castlegames.
Mix tapes
Music
Blockbuster. Going to rent something. The exciting feeling of getting the last copy of a new release. Calling people to let them know you have it and when you have to bring it back.
Going to dinner with family/friends and everyone not being on their phones. Or taking pics of their plates of food. Even family parties or holidays, when everyone is on their phones, or showing people memes or videos, I walk away from the party/dinner knowing about all the latest cat videos, but not how anyone is actually doing.....
Sanity...
club penguin
I remember the time were when I did a web search, there would be hundreds of personal web pages with information about the related topic.
For example, if I search something about electronics, there would be results from amateur people that would try to teach you something, showing personal projects, achievements and failures. These pages were located mostly on the same domain servers which I can't remember (yahoo and something fire?).
Once, I searched for a specific problem I had on my car, found a webpage from a japanese guy who had the same problem and how he solved it. Sent him an email thanking for his web page and we ended up changing periodic emails about cars. Years later, he came to Europe in work, had some vacations in between, did a road trip around some countries and ended up visiting me in Portugal with his wife for two days. That was magical.
I think that this is lost. True that, if we dig deep enough, we can find things in forums but I think this information is in a scattered way We no longer have that movement of wanting to have our own web page in order to improve the world.
Faxing people with a mate the other side of the world for a laugh when I was a kid.
Club penguin... don’t even come at me.
Just been out with friends kicking a ball around or just going for walks. Hanging out around the park and just having a group of bout 10 to 15 people out to laugh.. now it's all nah man to tired want to go play games online and shit. I can definitely see in last couple years I have gotten alot lazier and put on some wieght I had gotten rid of as a kid haha
Macromedia Flash... made my living back in 2003 all the way to 2010 designing and coding flash movie websites. Now all we have is shit html 5 with keynote style animations... I miss preloaders.
Old school arena games like quake.
20 years ago streets were full of kids playing football, riding bikes, running, yelling, playing on playgrounds and slides etc. Today streets are empty, football fields have 2 feet high grass, playgrounds are old and rusty like if they were imported from Chernobyl. Every kid is at home on PC or phone doing nothing.
Also I liked the times when there was hardly any internet, basic mobil phones (Nokia 3310), everything was more social and less dependent on technology. If electricity had shut down for several hours the only fear was for frozen food, we still had tons of stuff to do. Today if electricity shuts down, everybody panics and thinks its a total apocalyps.
Split screen gaming
I miss natural photographs. Not the airbrushed selfie crap you get now.
🎵 video killed the radio star 🎵
My attention span.
Split screen video games.
The internet hasn't killed them but they're way rarer than they used to be.
Almost every shooter, racing game etc I had as a kid let you get some friends together on the couch and play together. Nowadays a lot of games only have online multiplayer.
A real life
Club penguin
I miss actual decent nice human beings. Internet killed that.
Patience. Social media has turned everything into an instant gratification type environment, and with that said I'll go ahead and toss self respect in there too.
My youth
Pretty much everything.
A social life
Good people
The radio star!!
Oh.... Sozza!! That was video!
The Radio Star
Kids outside playing, running around, riding bikes and just having fun. No one's face was glued to a handheld device, mobile phones didn't exist.
I miss being surprised by unlockables in video games. It’s a bummer that nowadays I pretty much know about all the content of a game before I play it.
Overwatch • - •
Mining diamonds
Harambe meme
Minecraft.
The internet started making it sound like, “Hey this is a kids game, pedophiles go on it now, we don’t play that shit anymore.” Gladly the internet has turned around it’s ways and now Minecraft continues to grow more than ever.
Goddamn the Sweden theme makes me cry every time I hear it, and what’s funny is that I played Minecraft on my tablet so I never heard the Sweden theme unless I go on YouTube.
Minecraft is just a fucking perfect game, dude. You can do the main objective which is slay the dragon, you can build whatever you want, meaning you can make your own games, you can join maps and games made by other people, or you could join servers, same idea as the last one but you meet people online. This shit right here, this was peak 3D gaming.
And it’s kind of sad to see the creator of Minecraft get anything that mentioned him removed from the game for some anti trans replies or something. Idk what really happened, I need more info on it.
Free Speech.
Sending a letter to a game company when you were stumped on a level. Now the full guides are just online.
Blockbuster
Sigh
Wow. I was born into a world with internet. I didn't even think of the major influence it has had on us.
Fandom specific websites. Like Lord Of The Rings ? Star Wars ? X-Files ? You have to bookmark a specific site run by 4 nerds and manually check it periodically to stay caught up.
Obviously large scale social media is more convenient but it lacks that small non-profit communal feel that fandom is based around.
A literal representation of the monotonization of subculture.
Shame and Civility
Being social
Playboy magazines. I guess ph is better anyway
Being able to meet new people safely and do a bunch of really cool things. :/ You can’t ever trust people on the internet at all these days.
Dalnet. # 30Something.
Life.
The idea that the earth was round.
A normal life, the one that I don't have. The internet and video games have ruined many many lives, including mine.
This happened literally yesterday, my favorite DVD rental I've been going to since I was born got rid of all their DVDs
Life
Keyboard cat
Music.
VINE
Walking to my friend's house that lives right around the corner and play black ops 2 with splitscreen. It was a hastle and not a great way to play together but nothing was more fun than knifing your friend and setting him back in gungame and warch hime rage over it.
Blockbuster
being anonymous and not forced to always be "on" during your free time. Now i am always my job.
Scrambled porn.
Going to visit soneone and actually having something to tqlk about
Mama's recipe cards
The world, or life has lost a sense of it’s mystery. You quickly discover every thought or question you’ve ever had has probably been thought or asked before, and you get the answer real quick that it’s emotional prize value is degraded.
You may be the smartest person in your town, but you’re still dumb AF on a global scale... how you feel about that stoopie.
Being one of the first to see fire. Those were the days..
Club penguin
I feel that the internet inflated a lot of people's egos, everyone thinks he's beautiful and interesting because he got a 1000 hearts on instagram. Which seems stupid to me, in my experience people who stay off the social media always have something interesting to say that i can't look up in 30 seconds.
The articles in playboy......😎
Newspapers
Recipes... I look back at the older generations who travelled the world and brought back beers, spirits, foods and all kinds of unique flavours. Villages used to have their own special dish you had to travel there for. I love cooking and appreciate internet recipes but it feels that when everyone can have everything at anytime... Some things lose the character that made them so special.
Paper checks and their accompanying paper bills. Very satisfying.
Serendipity. The internet, in its early days was "fuzzy" in terms of finding content. It was better for serendipity.
Fucking just walking up to a friend and telling (not asking) them to do something
The TVStar
Cool math games
I love having my phone but when I'm with my so I kinda just wish we didn't have anything so we could just enjoy each other's company. But phones are nice because we can look up where to go when were bored.
Trying a new exercise in the gym without fear of being posted to a gym fail Instagram.
Borders (music and book store)
People keep talking about Blockbuster in terms of renting film, but it was video games that I used to go to BB for. Me and a lot of other kids didn't have the massive collections you see retro fans with now. We'd have a few games we played all the time and rent everything else.
I remember I actually got given a copy of Mr Nutz when they were clearing out stock because the guys saw us come in every week and I rented that one so often.
Sounds like a silly one, but I miss physical photo albums. They aren't quite dead yet but are certainly less common now. My parents have a massive binder full of old pictures of me and my sister. It makes a very satisfying slap as you turn through each page.
Jokes/funny references. Populations and groups of people being different. Now a trend can go across the world and be dead in a week, but years ago a trend would last months and might have been only in your town or region.
For me specifically, it killed hanging out with my friends: I prefer IM chat to in-person speaking any time. Maybe it's also because it's harder to hang out as an adult.
Physical copies of music. Of course you can still buy them now, but those days where that was the only way to actually have the disc in your hand was pretty cool.
Printing off directions. I know this sounds like something that was improved but how fun was it to have the fear of missing one turn and never recovering?! I remember following printed directions for a blind date, whom I also had no ability to see before the date, and missing a turn that resulted in me driving around her local area for 30 minutes. This was the most memorable part of the date, which I would have entirely forgotten, because.....well checking her Instagram would have resulted in me playing some basketball with the guys.
Social interaction.
Plain text.
Using a computer without notifications, updates, viruses. Especially notifications.
u/The-Paranoid-Android
Real Player porn
Family
A normal life.😣
Local sports games. Almost no pickup games near me.
Not that I truly experienced this but when you wanted to know about a movie you asked a friend and didn't go onto IGN.com or whatever site you use.
Remember that time when everyone sent those chain emails, and it was like "send this or you will have 40 years bad luck."
My dad still seems to think this is a thing. He's 86 though, so.
Michael Jackson
Thriving small newspapers. I studied illustration and planned on working in print media. I did freelance for a few years in the late nineties before the real dramatic shift happened that killed staff illustrator jobs.
For me it is mostly the mystery of meeting someone interesting for the first time and keep guessing how that person really is out of that social setting. Now most people have social media where you can easily see their family and close friends photos, the places they go and all their fucked up opinions about things you would never expect.
Minecraft i actually love the game but almost anyone who plays it and is over the age of seven is frowned apon
Going to a new place and people not sitting with their phones. You made friends easier when you were forced to some basic conversation instead of staring at your phone to kill time.
Time. I had a lot of time until the internet came and killed it
streetpass
The Video Star
Print catalogs. California Cheap Skates, Musicians Friend, AMS, Elderly Musical Instruments....... Especially Carvin guitars. I actually took good care of my catalogs and would peruse then often. I'd daydream of the skateboards I could build from parts or the new guitars and effects I'd someday have. Wish I'd keep a few of them.
I'm aLrEaDy TrAcEr..
Blockbuster
Knowing/not knowing where you're going. Now you just plug an address 17 cities over and follow a line having no idea where you are, what's around...
At the same time. I was doing field calls with a map and mapquest printed out as my best navigation methods. Many streets weren't up to date hence the map, but that even didnt always help finding some houses, so you'd call and hope the person could give somewhat understandable directions if they even picked up. Many hours were lost and many hours of stress and frustration. So no I dont miss that all.
The excitement and magic of the texting era. And the happiness of a friend landing at your place to meet. Internet does not give those feelings.
Pvz adventures
<3
Mystery and arguing about it.
Kids these days flee beneath the safe skirt of wikipedia at the first sign of ambiguity.
The funny part is that no one is convinced by other peoples' fone phacts.
Blockbuster 😭
The video star
Music stores. liner notes on Cd's and cassettes.
Net Neutrality
Blockbuster, I really miss going to them and spending an entire hour searching for movies for the weekend, while also having people around to ask for opinions and being able to buy popcorn, all at the same place.
My dignity.
Real life friends.
The video star
uncle ben
ITT: Things on the internet that are now less popular than they used to be.
Good Journalism
Watching TV with family together now it's common to stream it later on the internet.
People being able to hold a conversation got more than 5 mins without relying or checking on their phone . It’s the pits
Music stores
Making friends the old way
"Hey (Potato Pixie) my friend Rachel is coming to mine today, wanna hang?"
Ok let's hang with a stranger.
Boom. Friend for life.
Also dating was more fun. You had to actually get to know the person as opposed to getting their name and Snapchat/Instagram, and then lurking on their FB gathering info on them.
I miss the thrill of someone just walking up and saying Can I give you my number?
I always know what movies are going to come out, im never surprised any more.
The Lego magazine
Hardcopy homework. I dislike that now all my assignments are online, and me not being a tech-savvy person, this makes it really difficult for me.
Geocities. I miss the days when everyone had their own personal web page, the internet was new and searching those pages for information was actually fun. You had to know some HTML but back then many people knew enough to make a webpage.
You also had sites full of animated gifs you could download (not directly link!) and put on your page, as well as be part of a web ring, or have a guest book and page counter.
Those were the fun days.
Privacy.
When "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley was just a bomb tune by a little man with a big voice.
I wanted it as my wedding song when I was older....thanks Internet!
Not having to get pissed off when I show someone a video and theyre on their phone, albeit it's usually a YouTube video which is the internet but fuck off that's so annoying
Grooveshark
Relationships in the real sense. Sure, you can connect to somebody far away but it has also ruined the relationship with others who are nearby. It saddens me to see groups of people ‘having lunch’ but all bowed down looking at their phones. Or kids doing homework pulling off info from the net. Gone were the days when you had to look up a book using the card catalogue to locate it. Or babies being babysat by the computer or tv by watching videos. Basic so near and yet so far examples.
Our lord and savior Pepe
Opening up a newspaper in the morning to read, next to a steaming mug of coffee.
Now I do online news (NYT or, ugh, Reddit). It's just not the same.
You feel "less good" after reading stuff on a screen (as opposed to paper). Not sure why.
Blockbuster
Minecraft 😔😔😔
Minecraft...
Going outside lol
Forums.
Privacy
Wii Sports with the family.
Talking. strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hands.
u/darkslayer981
My friends always put off dates to hangout, because talking to people is so easy now. But when we text, it's almost always superficial and not worthwhile.
My time
Parks and recreation
Going to records stores and talk with the owner about music
being able to shit without holding my phone. my ass is like pavlovs dog now
The good-old memes.
This thread is the death of my childhood. It’s making me feel the cold rattle of death down my neck. I’m going to go cry over it now.
PC games like pinball and that spa r one
Hentaihaven
Truth
The exoticism of travel.
Before the internet, when you travelled overseas, you really felt like you were breaking new ground. You’d see things you’ve never seen before and there were surprises around every corner. If you didn’t think about it too hard, you might think you were the first traveller who ever set foot there.
If you wanted to contact home, it was a postcard or an expensive, scratchy, echoey phone call that had to go through two operators and cost a fortune.
Now, everyone’s been there and they’ll let you know through their bullshit Instagram and, if not, there’s 10,000 photos of anywhere instantly accessible on Google.
And if that’s not enough, you can walk the relevant streets 5,000 miles away from the comfort of your own home using Google Earth. You weren’t the first and you won’t be the last.
And you can FaceTime the same old people you had meant to flee. It’s all too easy and familiar.
Something’s been lost.
VHS
Kids having fun running around outside throwing dirt at each other
Innocence.
Africa by Toto
Thick skin
The Carl memes
I don know
Going into a store and buying or renting a physical copy of some movie, TV show or video game. Also, remote control cars: this car has a built in battery app that you can monitor on your phone. I'd rather just play with it until the battery died.
The World Wide Web standard ruined the internet itself. Back in the day, USENET, gopher, IRC etc had a sense of community. Once the web came around it wasn’t immediately apparent, but it began the inevitable slide into corporate consolidation and control.
The internet used to be a wild new frontier filled with other interesting explorers. Now it is like a street lined with bland big box stores as far as the eye can see, and every damn one of them sells you as their primary product.
I feel bad for those who didn’t get to experience the internet before it became the abomination it is today.
Videogame magazines. I used to buy them on a monthly basis till they went bankrupt.
You can now find the info they offered on the internet, but it was a great feeling reading it on paper. They also had funny captions on screenshots, and they offered a free game every month+some demos and wallpapers.
They now have a small website, but it's not the same thing...
Complete videogames.
Sometimes I wish streaming and professional gaming were never mainstream either. I miss the days where video games were played by the nerdy kids in school, and tournaments had gift card prizes, a fun social atmosphere, and were completely offline.
Now we have immature adults recording their faces everyday online, making careers out of playing video games, have stadiums of people watching tournaments, and never ending clickbait garbage on YouTube. It feels stupid now.
Braincells.
Vine
My innocence.
Not letting stupid people have a platform to speak to millions
Vines
The song never gonna give you up
Genuine meme pages, a full page of memes and GIFs that you could scroll down for hours (Cheezburger/OMGfacts I was an innocent teenager with internet filters). Now those same pages are one-meme/one-word a page, "OMG you wont believe what this thing did!" And 20 pages for 20 line of words
Blockbuster Video... driving to Blockbuster to see what movies are available and that were in stock at the time-). Good ol’ days.
Singing the wrong song lyrics
Bar stool arguments. Now you can just google it.
Concept cars and auto shows used to be exciting, but the internet and cell phones have ruined that. There are no surprises anymore! It’s very rare that new car doesn’t leak. Ford had to design and build the new Ford GT in the basement with a small limited access team!
OG text memes. They’re still around, but not as prevalent.
(Some) Brick and Mortar stores, especially Camera stores
ITT: A ton of nostalgia for stuff you can still literally do and see.
Most of these things aren’t gone. You just don’t like them anymore. You’re not nostalgic for them, you’re nostalgic for the age you were when you liked them.
Calling fathers "Daddy"
old YouTube layout
Mia Khalifa
My innocence.
Everything from meeting with friends to having close to family. Every fucking thing
Actually being able to make a phone call from a landline. Half the time I can't even get it to dial right We took the most reliable thing in history and made it a crap shoot. VOIP sucks.
My innocence.
Arcade gamerooms
Blockbuster
Antonio brown...
Dialing popcorn to check the time
Youtube videos like Gay Powerthirst.
Irl conversation
Sensible Humor
Good jokes, anonymity, freedom of speech. I'm more worried about losing my job for shit posts than anything. I dont even want to talk on dating apps. Too many cat fish, too many creeps, and too many bots.
With the internet, many small kids give strangers their private information (birth date, location, face, etc.)
Cats videos a.k.a 2008
Card catalog at the public library.
Well, only slightly. Library websites have made it so easy to find, reserve, and check out items, and I love that.
But there was something about the mystery of finding the section of the card catalog, skimming through the cards, and finding that one book, tape, record, etc. Then, having written down using that nub of a pencil onto that scratch piece of paper, I was ready to search the stacks.
Trying to find your friends on a Saturday night pub crawl.
Sleep
I was born after the internet was commonplace in peoples lives, although I can remember the days of DOS and crappy html websites just vaguely.
I would've liked to see a world where I could do something with my friends, not have a picture posted, and not have the school know. But at any party, at any moment, someone has you on camera. Maybe not for what you're doing, maybe you're only background, but hangouts are public, an invitation is just seeing it live.
My attention span.
As a teacher, it has taken away a lot of wonder and exploration from kids. When a teacher tries to do something cool, many of the students just yell out "I'VE SEEN THIS ON YOUTUBE ALREADY!"
Porn mags buried in the woods.
In a nutshell Numa Numa
A social life
Good porn?
Blockbuster
Msn, man those were good times, being with friends at school one moment, then rushing home to get online to speak to those same people and a whole bunch of other people you've never met
Good memed that weren't just loud and random.
Don't get me wrong, some memes are still good. But I remember the simpler times.
Empty space. Just time doing nothing.
Local newspapers
The atari
Shopping
Civility
Being able to do shit in person. It in general has killed a lot of social interaction that you can only do in person, it’s not the same
Roblox before it was filled with very bizarre children.
Demonoid. The absolute resource for all obscure media ever.
Job searching.
Well, sort of. We've become better at looking up information about jobs and companies, and being able to connect and build an online network.
But it seems that many companies have designed their applicant tracking systems as a way to help filter out candidates by salary requirements, education, experience, and the like.
I miss the days if the Hidden Job Market.
I also recognize that everything I'm sharing here may be factually inaccurate or not universally applicable.
Everything
Talking face to face
The mall. Man, when I was a kid I used to have to beg my mom to drive me to the mall just to hang out there for hours and do nothing! Hell, cell phones weren't even really a thing yet so my mom would designate a place I would meet her outside at a certain time so she could pick me up.
Now our local mall is barren and nearly all the good shops are gone. GameStop isn't even there anymore and that's saying something. Those were the good days. :(
Anyone remember when memes were only things like bad luck Brian and stuff. Now anything relatively funny on social media is a meme. What happened
Fanzines
Vaccinated kids
Louis C.K
When talking to friends felt meaningful. It being more of an effort I think made it feel more special. Now with the ability to send a million texts or post things wherever, it often feels cheap.
Being able to share something you think is cool with your friends without them already knowing. Everything is on the internet now, so it's hard to surprise people with a new joke/song/game ect.
Family time.
Sharing printed photo albums with friends and family when we visit.
Reading news stories. Sometimes I'm at work or waiting somewhere and just want to see the news and read it. They post a headline on the news site and when you click it there is a video. This is lazy as hell. If I wanted videos, I would go to a video site or stream news.
NBC News, I'm looking at you. Stop it. Transcribe a story you lazy asses.
Fun
Civil discourse.
My happiness.
Fandoms
Before the internet we just talked about what we enjoyed about different things but now people are ruining games movies tv shows and even inanimate objects. Take my little pony (super cliche I know) people everywhere and everyday are ruining my little pony and the fact that with the internet being more and more accessible to younger people the fact that little girls can’t safely search my little pony is horrible
Celebrity Slugfest
Going shopping with your family
ITT: Stuff that hasn't been killed.
Internet killed the video star.
A sense of humor...
Google+
The dial up tone.
Vine
I feel like photos have become devalued. They used to be a really big deal but now you can take a photo of anything, anywhere, for nothing.
I just miss the times before it went mainstream, there was so much more mindless banter and such.
facts & expert opinion
Google Reader.
My social life
Blockbuster
Humanity
The internet is the prime source of entertainment. I miss my only options of reading a book and making things with my hands.
Baby batter doesn’t count
Rickrolling. All hail the great Rick Astley.
Nickelodeon Magazine
YouTube
Alphabay
My street in the 2000s was very active now its empty and ded
Hand written letters
The 5 thousand years of proof of a spherical Earth.
I know it's only a handful of morons that can only be saying it to get attention, but the fact that it is even on my radar drives me nuts.
I realised that i read more useless posts than actual books. And I got an award for being an 'avid reader' while I was in school.
Sorta related, not having the first thought being, "I'm gonna pull out my camera phone to record this." People going to concerts or seeing someone in distress is now let's record it for the internet instead of enjoying and helping
SportsCenter.
Before smart phones and high speed internet were ubiquitous, it was literally every game from the night before crammed into a minute or two long highlight. They reported stats, showed a couple of notable plays, then moved on to the next game. It was the perfect morning show: a curated series of highlights and you could usually step away from the a few minutes if the highlights you cared about weren't coming up.
After smart phones and high speed internet spread, it morphed into morning drive sports radio on TV. Highlights of more obscure games were bumped in favor of "analysis" which was really TV equivalent of shock jocks spouting hot takes about whatever story they just ran.
Before I'd see a few highlights of a good player on a small market team in consecutive days and become a fan. Now it's basically a recap of the the 3 most popular games/stories with people arguing about them. If I wanted shitty hot takes I'd just talk sports with my friends FFS.
Video killed the radio star👌🏻
Blockbuster video rentals
Kids just knocking on friends'/neighbors' doors asking if they want to play.
The warez bbs scene. It was more of a social thing than about getting free software. Lots of drama and silly stuff but sooo fun.
Minecraft parodies
I feel like people are having more hardcore drunken stupidness and way less harnless fun stupidness. Cruise ships are good for silly fun and i just think it's because almost nobody has their phones on them so no ones worried about being recorded.
A lot of people are afraid to be online doing something dumb so they just keep to themselves more. A lot less of people just goofing off and being silly or even kind of comically stupid acting but plently of people ready to whip out their phone when someone else lets their guard down. It feels like, now, most pekple have to be under some sort of influence to let loose, whether they dont like the way they look and now they won't dance or they have a million jokes that they'll never tell. Even some of the most famous musicians turn to substance abuse over performing. A camera phone isn't exactly the same but to some people it makes them feel like they have to turn to substances just to live a care free life.
The local record store. I miss reading the liner notes and seeing the cover art and pictures of the band. It used to be that you knew every band member by name. Now it seems to not matter who's playing what. That's just sad.
The communal porn mags found in bushes in every park, ever!
Blockbuster, gave me so many good memories
Video game secrets, it would have been so cool for me to experience that where my friends, at lunch or on the bus, say "woah! If you do , than you get !" And I'd do something that I never thought was possible. Nowadays you can find out that a character's dialogue is Morse code leading to hash string leading to a link with a picture within days of release.
The real sonic the hedgehog and we all know which is the real one.
Films and tv shows where the use of answering machines makes sense. Or where the use of technology isnt jarring as it is atm with DM-ing in films.
The answering machine scene in When Harry met Sally is a classic
Aol free trial cds
Deep nuts
That moment in the morning when you first wake up and you’re too lazy to get out of bed yet...so you’d just stare at the rays of sunshine coming in the window and ponder about life. Nowadays I i immediately check my phone at use that time to scroll reddit.
My dad
How much you had to interact with the world, I miss that if I wanted to watch a film I had to go on a walk and pick up a physical copy of it from blockbuster. If I wanted to meet my friends I had to go to their house and if they weren’t there then I had to go the park and look for them or piece it all together. I also miss that if I wanted to see some art I had to go to the gallery, or if I wanted some new music I had to get a vinyl. When I wanted to figure out where to go I’d just walk around and look at signs and maps, I just miss how much you had to engage and really interact with the world.
Tommy Robinson...free speech is dead!
We were just walking to the friends flat, ringing the bell and asking that our friend is free to come out to play with us. (It they were writing homework, we just waited half an hour for them)
Sleep
Music stores with a decent range in stock. Now it's just current-chart-toppers and greatest hits compilations.
Vine
Honestly can't think of anything.
The saddest thing about this thread is that everything can still be done like this. Turn off your phone for a few hours.
Good fucking memes
Long letters or the joy to talk to people face to face after a very long time.
Conversation about something you saw that noone else did and the sharing moments therein.
The idea that because it democratizes information, people would become more open minded and receptive to new ideas, cultures, perspectives, etc.
Also, I miss the charm of watching a picture download one pixel row at a time.
reading the newspaper. now when everything is available online no one bothers to buy the paper. but reading it with fresh cup of coffee is my absolute favourite. the smell of it is something internet just can not replace.
30yo's still read papers, this is the reason with Brits are dealing with Brexit - very few under 30yo's read the papers but many over that age do, and when all but one of the national newspapers in the UK are owned by a group of six white billionaires, four which live outside the UK and pay no tax here, then you get a situation where they can just lie every day and nobody calls them out for it. This is why the voting split between 'leave' and 'remain' between age groups and education levels is so clear.
well of course older people (I wouldnt say that 30 is the age limit thou, would think much MUCH higher) do not use Internet as a source of information. I do enjoy internet news (especially the comments which are not available via newspaper/tv) and on most days its my primal source of info. Im talking about a feeling of newspaper reading, when phone is nowhere near you, so you get to rest and enjoy. there is just something nice about it. for example, rn I was reading news online and reddit sent me notification about your comment so I just went here to respond... with newspaper I do not check my phone until Im finished and thats what I like about it.
Physical movie rentals. I like Netflix and all that, but there's something about picking a case off a shelf that I miss.
Video games having actual surprises at launch. It seems like thewe days the entire roster of a fighting game must be known at launch. Every mode of any game must be shown off before launch. Every feature must be teased.
I can barely imagine my surprise if I had gone into SSB Ultimate only knowing that it was a bee SSB like I did with Melee. Or even if there were characters I didn't already know about, like Brawl.
Getting to be innocent a little bit longer and having to wait to learn things, the way life should be.
Netflix/Amazon-Prime etc. are all great but when you used to go the video store you never knew if they had in the film you wanted and if they didn't you sometime looked at what they did have and found a quiet little gem of a film - I'm not sure if they're really an equivalent these days?
Browsing paper catalogs
Being unavailable
Handwritten letters
Reading Encyclopedias because now you can google everything
Probably just feeling safe on websites and zero chance of hackers. Also webcams being fine and no ‘they are always watching’ bs
The mall.
It used to be that when there was something on TV you had to watch it there and then. Then everyone would see it at the same time and nobody knew more about it than anyone else. Nobody could go online for theories about the next series or whatever. Obviously it is better overall to watch what you like when you like, but there was something to be said for the shared experience.
DVD porn
They way people engaged was different. Everyone was stuck in a much smaller commmunity so tolerance and general curiosity of others was way different than today’s. Now we surround ourselves with more of our own choices and that reduces the general interest in others and things in our vicinity.
Old memes. I miss them because there's always old ones that I go back to because they are good.
Dunno if this counts but.. LAN parties, bring them back
The crowds at concerts actually "being there". Nowadays its just a sea of slack jawed twats squinting at the the screens of their phones taking shit videos to post on facebook to show all their "friends" how much fun theyre having
my innocence
Secret concerts. In NYC at least, you would be going about your day when someone would go up to you and give you a ticket or wristband and then tell you that so and so was playing at some place and this was your invite. Now, it would be all over the internet in a minute if a band tried to do that.
I used to play with Legos at 14 until I got kind of "bullied" (I say kind of) and stopped playing with them and start with something more "mature" like xbox or something.
Edit: I forgot to mention I got bullied on Facebook
Jokes.
Blockbuster, it was such a thrill going out and getting a bunch of movies and snacks
When split screen multiplayer was the ONLY option for playing with you pals....
Livejournal died when Facebook came on the scene. I miss the socially anonymous forum where people had the ability to speak a little more freely.
Nudie magazine day
👌 - thanks 4chan
Being able to just talk to someone - start a conversation in a store now and you are a weirdo - send a random add on FB and its like hey all cool
Napster
Just hanging out with your mates and finding a porn mag in a bush
Getting invitations to parties in the mail. Ahh... the suspense after someone calls to ask for your address.
Rick rolling.
Everything
While not dead, record stores. Nearest is now about an hour or so away. They use to be everywhere, with good indie stores having their own tribe of music nerds and social culture.
Rock music
Believing in anything.
Hard-copy music albums.
They used to come with artist notes, sketches, lyrics, posters or stickers. It really felt like the entire album, design and everything was a piece of art.
Streaming services have killed that.
The fact that i do something with my life...
Lego Shockwave games
Killed by the internet moving forward from the 90s/00s.
My social life all together.🙃
Being unavailable. Now the fact that anyone can answer chats and emails from the mobile, everyone expects people to just answer immediately. Doesn't mind if it's friends or work, if you don't answer within minutes they start chasing you. I remember before if someone didn't answer a phone call people would just call back after an hour or so. Now if I leave my phone charging for ten minutes I'll find whatsapp notifications, three messages from messanger, notifications on Facebook and my boss and colleagues asking me stuff on my day off via email. Apparently it's no longer socially acceptable to not check your mobile every five minutes.
I’ve been a vintage watch collector. Believe it or not, being “into watches” is pretty common now, but wasn’t 20 years ago. The problem, for me, is that the thrill of the hunt (Pennysaver ads, housecalls, etc) is no more.
Even though I was always the most knowledgeable about values, I paid very fairly. Often more than the price asked, if I knew it was a good deal.
Going to gamestop to find a game you could get with your birthday/holiday money
Pen pals.
I had one a few years back, we met on a camping trip. She was really cool, and I'm still sad we lost contact. Sure, you meet people over the internet, but it's just not the same.
Being able to wear just normal makeup.
Contour, brows, liner, perfect lips.....
Toys R Us
I miss playing board games cause no one seems to like them anymore its sad
Me mum
My son
For me or has to be encyclopedias, when you opened one up to look for something you always found some extra tidbits of knowledge. Doesn't really happen like that with Wikipedia.
Fixing stuff around the house instead of just buying a new one. It's mostly down to Planned Obsolescence in a lot of cases but, even with the internet at your fingertips, people will much rather buy something new than learn how to fix their broken thing.
Life
Membership of the EU. I'm English.
Playing a sport in the street with family and neighbours kids until after the sun sets and we'd all stop until the cars went by and then resumed playing
The shoplifting subreddit
Privacy, writing letters, not feeling like i'm constantly missing something by not having a phone in my face...
Loving humanity.
Vine
Boardgames. I used to love playing RISK with the boys. Now it’s just WoW, Rust and TF2, which I all love as much as RISK... I just miss RISK.
Have you heard of Risk Legacy?
Video games. Streamers and youtubers ruined games. Developers listen to them as if they’re the majority. Games are not meant to be played 12+ hours a day and that’s why people get bored of them. Plus if a big streamer says something their little kid cult following goes with it.
Mixed tapes/CDs. There was nothing more special than a crush giving you a personalized mixed tape. I still have a bunch & can remember the order of all the songs.
My virginity..
Privacy ???
It's not dead yet, but the internet is killing video game stores, sure EBgames or GameStop have some time left, but anything local struggles.
The walmart yodeler
Going to a party and doesn’t know who’s there. I use Facebook mainly for events. Doesn’t matter if I wanna go there or if I organize it. Now you expect people who pressed accept at the invitation to arrive. Some time ago it was a real surprise to meet some people at a party.. Now you get to hear: why didn’t you come to club “XX”, you accepted the invitation on Facebook!
Also when your planing parties or work there. Nearly no evening is a surprise. You just look and Facebook and know, what kind of a night it will be.
Privacy. Get into an argument with one person and the world knows about it. I don’t post drama but the amount of stuff I see on girls snapchats about drama is annoying. Shit like “NR // Stupid whore” makes me wanna just shut off all social media and break my phone. No one cares Janice. Quit. It.
Proper human speech.
Vaccines
Being wrong. There's so much less conversation, because I know people Google things before talking about them, out of fear of looking ignorant or being wrong.
Can someone e tell me how to erase account on this piece of shit website or whatever this Plebbit shit is? Thank you
Blockbuster
Watching TV, reading magazines and books, having my beta friends not getting laid like warlords on Tinder, talking with people,....
My self esteem
The “okay” sign
The swipe right to stop watching the video on the YouTube app
Offline games
Nudie mags.
And finding your dad's secret stash of them
Lack of Social Media.
BBS Systems. They were so fun, hanging out with local people playing games with them like Legend Of the Red Dragon, and then all of a sudden the internet took over, and it all disappeared.
Completely free tv
Behaving with culture towards strangers.
Good youtube videos
Going to blockbuster wondering if you’d get the new release or not.
No-ad YouTube
Getting home from school and playing some Minecraft on Xbox 360 online with friends. Nostalgia man
The entire act of going to a video store on Friday nights, wandering around and looking at boxes, and finally having to decide on something that you would take home and watch.
Movie nights were so much more deliberate when you had to rent the physical movie.
Being able to make a point and have people think about it rather than dishing out pre-loaded canned responses they say on Twitter that are only really tangentially related to the actual issue.
Respecting others opinions.
Actual conversations.
Vine
Malls. I wasn't around when Malls were the hot thing, but all the empty Malls that are around my home just make me sad.
Real girlfriend
Conversations with friends about how you are and what has been going on in your life. Everything is too out there and if people don’t see it people assume nothing is going on that’s eventful.
VINE.
Chivalry and decency.
Funnily enough this answer involves the internet from both sides.
I miss organising a time to meet my friends on Runescape after school. Before instant messaging was even a thing, we had to arrange a time to be online gaming together.
Idk why, but there was a sort of “magic” in meeting your friends in this alternate reality. The internet was such a crazy concept. As social media kicked off it was then almost as if everyone is always online now so it’s just a common thing.
A friend of mine who got bullied with the help of the internet.
Human interaction in general. I honestly think it's why most of us are now depressed.
I want to say LAN parties but that's not true, internet killed it for me because I'm too lazy to arganize these anymore now that it's way more simple to play online (and I have less friend to play with than when I was young).
I think the internet didn't killed a lot of stuff, it gave easier , lazier way to do stuff and we let them dies.
The problem is us growing up, not the internet killing things.
Civility.
I'm torn on this one, but comic book collecting. On the one hand, the Internet has made it incredibly easy to find a particular back issue you're looking for. On the other hand, it has increased the number of buyers purely into it for speculation and profit, and made it incredibly easy for them to scoop up as many copies as they can and then flip them for ridiculous sums.
As soon as any movie/comic site posts a rumor or hint of a potential character appearing in a movie or TV show, the price of a book skyrockets almost within the hour. I've been trying to complete a run of Amazing Spider-man that I started as a kid. My next purchase was meant to be ASM 10-13. The first appearance of Mysterio is issue 13, which was around $400-600 about a year and a half ago. The day they announced him as a potential villain for the next Spidey movie, that number shot up to $800-1300. My LCS had copies that they too marked up to match ebay pricing. Sooo there goes my chance to scoop that up in the near future. And once the pricing is up, it doesn't seem to come down--Adam Warlock was a rumored movie character and his first appearance increased and never came back down once he didn't show up in Infinity War or likely Endgame. Fortunately, it's not an issue I want or need, but it's interesting to see how fast information and speculation spreads thanks to the Internet.
I somewhat get the Silver Age price increases....there are much smaller print runs and finding them in good condition is tricky given their age. However, modern books are experiencing the same price hikes. Books that were/are printed in the 100,000s or more are too high. Everyone seems to have multiple copies of Venom, Spawn, Deadpool books in nearly perfect condition, yet their prices best some Silver Age key books.
YouTube. I know it’s still there but it’s not the same as it was.
My social life
Civil conversations.
Thanks concerned Tom meme format. It litteraly lasted 1 day from over usage in r/dankmemes
Communication in general
Privacy. Solitude. Wonder.
Lies and Propaganda spread so much slower back then.
Playing Adventure Games or any Games really with no Solution manual or youtube Tutorial available
Ugandan knuckles.
Discover new bands when you go to a show. Now you just look everyone ahead of time(I know you don't have to).
I miss spending an hour in blockbuster on a Friday night looking for the perfect movie with my mom and dad
I miss Blockbuster and Netflix DVDs. Of course I still love renting and buying movies through the computer.
Going to blockbuster with your friends and renting a game and staying up all night trying to beat it, eating junk food, talking shit to each other, and the inevitable “deep” conversations a 14 year olds would collectively have as you all laid on someone’s parents basement floor before someone would say they are actually trying to sleep now and everyone else would periodically burst into laughter as they tried to stay silent.
Concerts. Thousands of Facebook live streams instead of actually watching the show.
Blockbuster can’t flirt with ladies in the romance section Hahhaha
http://chng.it/Yc8pFPJ4Hf
Blockbuster/Hollywood video. Not feeling the societal obligation of being "connected" 24/7.
The Mall, and being a Mall rat, and then when I got older, cruising...
The subtle art and pleasures of being bored.
Going to rent videos/games at Blockbuster/Video Stores.
Comic book conventions. It was so great to go explore, and buy stuff you would never find anywhere else. But now every single thing there you could get online any day of the year, and probably cheaper.
Going to video rental store and arguing for 30 minutes with girlfriend before picking a movie.
Moviefone
Pen and paper fantasy football and all the arguments over sources with correct stats.
not much for me as i drastically reduce usage of both phone and pc forcefully. my phone is flight mode 90% of the time, permanent availability is a thing of the past.
the way i see it, you re all the time available people, so i can just call you when i want to. i gave myself the priviledge back to not be available and not be in immediate reach.
i dont why but it feels very good just driving your car with your phone left at home. very liberating.
social media is also reduced. deleted fb entirely, deleted whatsapp, occasionally i reddit a comment thats it. my phone is strict utility.
the things i noticed after weird. turns out people can no longer process the concept of someone not being available, people legit get angry and start to worry too, just because i havent responded the same day.
everything i gained it feels great so ill likely expand on it and try and remove my phone and computet entirely.
i think these things took a lot social abilities, i think society today is focused to mold comfortable consumers. ive recently considered visiting church again, simply to once again aquire a moral compass i think got lost in all this hyperfast capitalism.
Neopets ): God dammit Flash.
Taking a chance on a movie from the write up on the box.
Funny a lot of things people are complaining about still exist but they just spend their time elsewhere.
Not really internet, but what technology it spawned, but remembering phone numbers. I can remember my parents and my girlfriend but once when I was without my phone and I needed to call my dad (who wasn't home) it turned into a rediculous game of phone tag between me and my girlfriend and my girlfriend and him.
Freedom of speech and innocent until proven guilty
Human decency.
Once the keyboard cowboy became enabled....
Walking up to a movie theater to buy tickets.
Multiple times now my husband and I think hey let's go see a movie, and we walk up to buy tickets and the majority of the seats have already been purchased online forcing us to either sit with our face pressed into the screen, or leave. It's a nice convenience sure but damn do I miss traditional ticket purchasing.
My social life
Reading:( :(
Harambe
Original memes
LAN Parties Who would want to lift and take around a 20Kg PC when we can all meet online?
I tell you, obliterating one of your friends or being able to insult them face to face is not the same thing, if made over Discord
At least no one is going to mess with my mouse sensitivity...
YouTube
Aim
It was much easier to avoid things.
Spoilers for movies and shows.
Politics, religion, opinions and most of the who gives a shit drama on social media.
Not to be edgy but I miss when YouTube was offensive
Humanity will be subjugated not by guns and prisons, but with electronic screens and entertainment.
Just imagine if trees gave off wifi signals, we would be planting so many trees and we’d probably save the planet too.
Beginning of artificial intelligence or artificial relationships.
Narcissistic personality disorder has become a lot more prominent with the inception of selfies.
Who knew 15 years ago, that Dr. Batra would care about your hair more than anyone on this planet and some strange people will be more than eager to transfer millions of dollars in your bank account. Technology introduced us to a compassionate world..!!
Newsgroups. The Scary Devil Monastery was wonderful.
Split screen & Couch co-op games
old Miniclip games
One thing that I missed before I had internet on hand every minute was watching a TV show my parents and trying to figure out together where we knew the actor from where is now he looks familiar then look them up IMDb
steven sharers' old vlogs when he dropped a watermelon from 3 inches off the ground.
Kisscartoon.
Well, technically the Internet didn't kill it. LAWS did. Atleast we have Kimcartoon and many, MANY more sites to watch The Simpsons at.
PS: That typo in the title must really annoy you, OP.
The magical place called Athletic Scooter ing outdoors
Steamed Hams.
MinecraftUniverse will always be in my heart
Pepe and Yeet...
The fact that we could do literally anything and find it interesting and now without we are getting bored without an internet connection
Saying ‘Daddy’
especially with iPhones, free time. There’s no “relaxation” for the body anymore since it’s been proven that the brain is still stimulated like work while going through I.e. Instagram before bed. I’m concerned on how this is effecting our bodies in the long run, but do I still use my phone before bed? Yes lol
YouTube
Not sure if it's the correct name, but Yahoo 360 pages. They were like personal blog pages, and we had friends. One of my online friend's name was 'Off My Meds'. I miss those days, those pages.
Inbox by Google.
Saturday Morning Cartoons/Cartoons in general
Now I understand that Cartoons in general were declining after 2006, however the advent of the internet only accelerated the death of this great past-time. Cable networks like Boomerang have all died out, while Cartoon Network has lost much of its viewership, as YouTube has grown in popularity. And now these networks rely on cheap slap-stick jokes and money-making franchises like Titans Go to keep viewership up, while declining in quality. Hopefully one day Cartoons will make a return, and be as great as before.
Please take some time to pay respects to some of the greats:
If you got stuck in a game you had to figure it out yourself or ask a friend in school. It took me a week to figure out what to do with The Sorrow in MGS3.
Mystery. Musicians, actors, hell anybody could have a bit of mystery to them and it seemed to make them a little more interesting. Now, you can know everything about everyone at all times.
Going outside
When I was younger I had video games, and I played them often, but ever since I got on social media I havent wanted to go outside. Sometimes I just force myself to walk around the backyard or sit on the porch just to get out of the house though.
Papa’s pizzeria/freezeria/burgeria etc games - they were fucking bomb
Harambe memes 😪
Blockbuster
LAN events, playing online with 200ms on dialup and only 5ms at a LAN. Downloading games, movies, music and just playing good old-school games
Human interaction.
Edit: Wait, no.
Pictochat
Roblox but I still play it anyway thats wat type of man i am
My concentration
Just knowing things. Now people just go „oh that sounds fake, let me check this... oh yeah seems legit.“ Nobody thinks a human being can just retain trivia or said trivia has to be double checked immediately.
Also dating. I don‘t want them to google me. I don‘t want to google them. I want a real, first conversation with someone I met online.
How many of you think it is ok to water when the temperature gets up to 90 and 100 degrees?
Working at the cinema
Not particularly killed by the internet, but is dead now. Cassette tapes. I really miss creating my own mixtapes. :(
Gaming magazines.
Nintendo power, GamePro, PC Gamer. They were all great back in the day. I miss getting good things in the mail. Now it's just bills and junk. Stupid adulthood...
They still are around, I sometimes get the retro gamer magazine
Blockbuster
Fun.
My productivity and engagement with the outside world.
watching MTV
Chat rooms online
Common sense.
Mystery.
With the advent of the internet, and then cell phones, we know everything at all times. Where is that hamburger joint? What movies are out? Does that tire place have good reviews, before I go there?
Don't get me wrong, I love using all of those things. But I kinda miss the part where you would just head to the movie theater, see something that might be good, and take a chance on it. 50% of the time, that kid you played on the playground with was lying when they said that he heard that there was a game called Robocop Final Fantasy coming out soon, but I still enjoyed hearing the story and/or stuff these jokers would come up with.
I have to make a conscious decision to have a media blackout on games I suspect are coming, and then later find out are coming, just to avoid spoilers. It's pretty sad that the default setting is Spoil Everything, instead of Click here if you want Spoilers.
Getting those lingering questions answered unexpectedly instead of answering every question immediately with Google
Vine
Good to know for if and when I do go to Disney World. Thank you.
Itself... Article 13 is AIDS
Minecraft in general. Play that game alot.
Ah, I’ve only ever seen one around here. Maybe I could organize one. Sounds fun.
Couch co-op games.
Really miss those nights of me and my friends all bunched up in my room with a backpack full of snacks and just playing RB6 Vegas 2, Call of Duty Black ops Nuketown and Minecraft on the xbox 360
Encyclopedias
My innocence
Music. I miss the good ol' music, it was good because it wasn't focused on money, drugs, hookers, cars, fame all that , I miss it. Everythy music on youtube now is with twerking , cars, money, and the lyrics are kinda sounding like a direct hate video to the fans because they are saying that they have cars, money and that we don't (I know it's not supposed to be for the fans but that's just how it sounds like). I have nothing wrong with the people that like this type of music, I just don't like it.
If netflix counts as part of internet, then blockbuster
I am not saying that I miss it, but travelling to other countries is way different now when we have GPS and can google any information right on the spot instead of having to use a folding map and trying to ask for directions.
It really makes the whole experience less immersive, as there is absolutely no reason to perhaps have a little chat with the locals, even if they didn't speak any of the languages that I do.
I miss the garish graphics on old dial-up computer bulletin boards.
Going outside
Privacy.
That’s an interesting idea.
the sentence 'Like a boss!'
Knocking on my friends door to play football or something. I miss those days.
going to a DVD rental place and seeing a load of movies and thinking it was like Christmas being able to choose any of them, obviously netflix is better but it doesn't bring that same happiness
Club Penguin. RIP my puffles.
YouTube killed itself
Playing multiplayer games with people in your lounge. There are still a few games around, co-op too, that let you do this, but the local multiplayer world has almost completely gone now.
Goldeneye,pistols,no odd job anyone?
One thing they killed is Pornhub.
Going outside... That was fun.
Still love the internet though.
My sister, hitman business
The your mom gay meme.
Encarta encyclopedia. It was on the computer but before my area had internet. It was on CDs and it was freaking great. It had videos with sound and everything. There's definitely a lot more information available now(and probably is a lot more accurate too) but it was just so fun to load that and spend the afternoon learning about cheetahs or whatever.
Actual printed encyclopedias were cool too.
Nickleback :')
Privacy
Blockbuster
Nothing at all🙂
Professional journalism.
I'll be halfway through what I thought was an article and then realize I'm reading someone's blog or some opinionated fluff piece.
What happened to just reporting the facts?
To be fair, just "reporting the facts" is something that still happens, although it seems to be more reserved for the more notable papers.
BBS's
Civility
The old Youtube
Google Reader?
Memes
Club Penguin
Videogames.
Before the internet got big, if a company shipped a game, it had to be a full game. There was no way to add on the ULTIMATE ENDING DLC, or the EXPANDED WORLD EXPANSION. What they released was it, and if it wasn't good enough, then you failed. The same applies to bug testing. You couldn't release a buggy game and then slowly patch it over the next few months. If that shit doesn't work out of the box, your company was screwed.
Now it's all DLC packs and microtransactions and games as a service. Games come out broken, with day 1 DLC (or, worse IMO, a day 1 "season 1 pass", which is just game dev speak for "bend over and spread em"). Mobile games are basically designed to frustrate you into spending money constantly instead of just buying the game outright.
Plus there was the friendship aspect. If you wanted to play Mario Kart on the SNES, you better damn well have a friend that could sit down on the couch next to you. Or you would have to go find one. None of this "randomly play with a person you'll never see again" crap. You had to play fair, and if you didn't, word got around and you didn't have anyone to play with.
I could go on, but my lunch break is over.
That is true.
Early access I still proclaim to be a bane for videogames. We've seen how that went with PUBG, a game that was (and might still be) listed as early access for a ridiculously long amount of time.
But they got people's money. So why work on making a finished product?
Gaming Magazines
Micro-Transactions!
When video games had no micro-transactions/downloadable content and you just paid for the full game! Without the internet we'd have no micro-transactions and that they ruin all video games when those things are added in.
To be fair, I still remember the stupid amount of versions made of Street Fighter 2. They were the expansion packs of their time, which were whole games, but only with a few things added from previous versions.
In theory, I don't mind having DLC that adds bits of content here and there, like a new character. But it's gotten ridiculous.
I agree. At first I liked expansion packs. Like when COD first did them, they'd be like 12 bucks for 3 new maps. Now it's 30$ for new maps. Or in other games paying for characters that where in the original game, not in the sequel or should be made free to play anyway. It's all bs now by greedy companies. I also miss paying 45$ for a Nintendo 64 game and having awesome time playing it.
The problem is that expansion packs/DLC is that some content is really not worth it.
I enjoy cosmetic changes, but I won't pay that much for a single skin swap.
Lies about video games. Every video game used to have all sorts of legendary creatures, gods, and curses within, but all locked behind a bush, and no one would tell me how to get through them. Those were magical times
Video killed the radio star
Having my own privacy and some people’s behaviour gradually becoming worse.
The internet is pretty awesome as you can freely access most information world wide and socialise with anyone. The problem is there is always a catch.
For some odd reason, I keep occasionally coming across people that expect me to answer things in less than 10 minutes or treat other strangers horribly for no reason.
The fact almost anyone can find out who you are even if you live under a rock is annoying. It does not matter what privacy application you use or if you have really good IT skills in general to create an impenetrable barrier. They will just keep finding loopholes.
Plus future social connections and/or potential job placement will always judge your profile with a narrow-minded bias regardless if parts of your information is true or false. That one-off phase you had in the past is gonna stick with you forever.
The lack of physically meeting an someone can be a bit of a problem for individuals that don’t have the best social skills or are living in a remote area. Certain aspects might not translate well when communicating with others.
Memes
Making a stupid mistake. Social media has made it so that instead of a few people knowing about something stupid you did or said, everyone with the most tenuous link to you knows about it or can find out about it with very little effort.
I always think of the most embarrassing thing I did. When I was 13 or 14 I was at a park and I kissed a boy I knew my friend liked. My friends caught me. I was shunned from my friend group and for extra fun they came to my house and told my mom. It was a shitty thing to do and I was very alone for a little while (and grounded). Eventually I made new friends and that was that.
Kids today do something shitty and the next day EVERYONE IN THEIR SCHOOL knows about it. Instead of a couple girls calling me a slut Stacy from biology is on my Facebook calling me a whore and so is her cousin from another school.
Two things:
Going to the Library. Actually physically going there to look up information and study. Just no need anymore.
Lunch room bets on stupid things. In the '90s, people would make random bets on the stupidest random facts. Just doesn't happen anymore, because you always assume the other guy just looked it up on his phone before coming in to the room.
the vine app. RIP
Minecraft let's plays
Fuck I'm old
actually having friends come over and play mortal kombat or halo or tony hawk. Taking turns after each death and trying to discover ways out of the maps. Stuff like that. I still play games with my friends at night but the hang out factor is gone. I people get tired and leave the party, or just don't join to begin with.
The Ugandan Knuckles meme. Shit was hilarious in January and then swiftly executed by the cruel blade of 12 year olds.
Opinions
Couch co-op
Hentai Haven
I didn't have an answer until I went online and had a scroll through twitter.
The ability to grow as a person.
The Internet will take something you've said like 5 years ago and make you out into the same ignorant person you were, effectively wiping out any kind of progress you've had in that span of time from then till now lol. People are always looking for ways to label you as problematic smh.
Video rental stores.
Surprised pikachu meme
Tbh, Fortnite. Shit was kind of fun for a while when me and my friends pissed around.
I miss when socializing in a group platform (ie. IRC or MSN messenger) wasn't full of rabid leftwingers trying to force their bullshit down your throat or snapping at everyone for saying "offensive" things. The early internet was like 4chan.
Minecraft
Gunbound
ALL OF LIFE. Outside, stores, people interacting with each other.
Social life
Privacy
Lan parties! Halo 4 evr
Playing video games with your friends right next to you... (Note: Yes, you still can but the game selection is much more limited as developers aren't developing couch co-op nearly as much as they used to.)
Rick and Morty. I've never seen anything so overdone and mainstream in my life. Used to love the show but a lot of the jokes are cringy now
Saying lit and loom bands
Grooveshark
Street Football. Everybody's in the house playing Battle Royale on PC or console nowadays. They even got 'em on mobile now.
Ugandan knuckles
Y E E
To be honest i liked that meme,i miss it.
Do you remember back when teachers didn't check all of your homework, or you were able to quickly finish it in the class itself? Some teachers demand their students upload all of their homework the day before it is due at 8pm. You can guess how those kids yell out in joy when they hear they get this kind of teacher. So many kids who would usually do their homework had either problems uploading, couldn't get the site to work etc and got bad grades for it. Way to ruin a child's motivation for a subject.
Being unknowing of the internet, when I was little. Just spending all my time with my family and reading books and drawing all day. Now I spend way to much time on screen and so does my family, which makes the time we spend together much shorter.
Cash
LAN parties. I know people still do them but there was a time that's really how to play video games with friends at the same time, you'd have to like physically install computers next to each other.
I miss Minecraft
My social skills
google glass
Video games, plain and simple were so much better to play with a friend. And not millions of try hard children
Video games that included the whole game and you could play it straight away without downloading it first. Also video game manuals. Those things were great to read
Internet messengers ironically.
AIM, Yahoo, MSN, all used to be awesome and now long gone. I still use them to chat with my BFF and do our worldbuilding but it's gotten harder and harder as they've been shutting down. Just this last week ICQ stopped supporting third party clients like Trillian (which I used). Now there is basically just FB messenger and google chat and who knows how long those will be around. End of an era really.
Concert ticket stubs. I have a few stubs from when I was younger and I remember I couldn't wait to build my collection. Now, I just have pieces of paper printed from a website with a barcode on them. Kinda ruins the novelty of the concert experience
Yik Yak
Sleeping out for concert tickets. Now I just pick where I want to sit and hit pay.
Minecraft
Making a mix-tape for a girl you like.
My will to live
Book stores.
I enjoy being able to see movie trailers when they're first available, in theory, but seeing one for the first time before a movie in a theater always felt a bit different.
and the fact that movie trailers give away the whole movie is also a bummer
Harambe
How much fun it was going to an electronic store.
Plastic Cassettes.
LAN parties. For those who don't know, a bunch of grown men (or teens) get together to game with their computers all connected together with ancient cables. Excessive snacking and energy drinks are a given. First hour is dedicated to getting all the equipment connected.
not to be forgotten: setting the correct IP, for at least another full hour.
You bet. And helping the one kid that brings his dad's computer that has norton antivirus on it.
I miss when some fandoms like Rick and Morty and FNAF where just small things you can casually talk about online. Now its nearly impossible to have a generally constructive discussion about such topics without someone loosing their shit.
megalovania, I AM LOOKING AT YOU, MEME COMMUNITY , no hate to memers but i really hate that megalovania is ruined
Privacy in general. For example when I post something on Facebook to keep my family updated and get targeted advertisements on every website I'm at now talking about, 'you did this the other day, wanna do it again?'
Single player games having depth, replayability and easily installable without a 10GB day one patch.
The entire Printing industry comes to mind.
Talking to someone and having their complete and undivided attention.
my life
Lots and lots of quality memes
Chuck Norris
Jacking off to old porno magazines.
School systems. Old chalkboards and paper mostly
Toys R us hands down. I remember being so excited to go there when I was younger. Now that all of them in America are closed it just doesn't feel right. I guess that's just another reason to move to Canada... that and free health insurance...
The video star.
Being able to make mistakes as a kid, the stupid shit we did as a part of learning our way to adulthood. I wouldn't have made it without narrow escapes and second chances. Now every mistake is permanent, everything is filmed and uploaded and ironclad fucked-up-forever amen.
Social media especially is like nuclear energy this way - it's a tool that is either very useful or very destructive, and many of the kids who use it have no idea how powerful it is.
privacy.
Blind dates
Club Penguin
Simply sitting around and talking with people.
Video stores. Going to the video store and browsing the sheves of new releases and feeling happy they still had copies left.
The official 'software download' section on AOL. Have something? Upload it. Want something? Just download it. No problems, mostly no viruses. Just free games and other neat stuff to try out.
Late on this thread... but going to a concert and not watching it through someone else's shitty shaky phone.
Ahem, decent porn mags
Love letters.
Postcards from people when they were traveling used to be cool to receive.
Now I have not gotten one in years, and more people travel, lol.
I am guilty as well since now I mainly post to IG or FB -- or YouTube.
Chat Roulette
Having just 2 genders
Make plans with friends with places, times and dates set at least 24h in advance, and not the group chat bullshit we have to have now
Reaching school and then finding out that its shut for the day for some reason.
Memes
Information.
I remember walking in to my local grocery store, simply named 'The Store', and Chav-squatting in front of the row of Super Nintendo games. The Lion King, Earthworm Jim, Mother, Battle Toads, The Phantom, Donkey Kong 2 sat before me and I spent all the time in the world reading the game summaries on the back of the cases. It was so much fun wondering what I'd get and imagining the awesome times those few sentences painted in my child mind. I had no idea, it was all so fresh and new to me, I took a chance and was rewarded,
Now, I end up reading game reviews and getting swamped down by people complaining about little features. I never experienced any game breaking bugs in any Elder Scrolls game that wasn't fixed with a reload. Pathfinder Kingmaker is my most recent buy and I'm loving it, it's also helping me understand Pathfinder a little more. I just watched Avengers: Infinity because of all the vocal complaining of minutae has just died down enough for me to consider it. Hearing everyone's take on things turned me off so many things before I started them, yet I love understanding and hearing others opinions because I understand that it's information I could use.
I loved the mystery and I miss that beginners ignorance. I miss WoW before guides telling me exactly what skills or weapons I should use else I was a nub. I know this is a lot of my responsibility too. I love the mystery because it draws me to uncover it, but often when I do I'm expecting something more from the reveal than the understanding, and I'm left feeling hollow after and the internet has made the reveal so much quicker.
I just want to go back to making uninformed decisions on my own and learning from it. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, indeed.
Browsing DVD shelves. Deciding what to watch only by looking at the title and cover and just hoping it was good had an oddly nice quality to it.
Blockbuster video rental stores
Smash Mouth - All Star
Travel agents.
Nowadays you gotta spend many hours of your time to organize a simple vacation. It's almost more hassle and stress than the vacation trip is worth.
Used to be you could just call a travel agent, give them the dates and a few other pieces of information, and they'd do it for you at no extra cost.
Human decency
Flappy Bird
sex
Ignorance.
Playing outside
Red box
good video games
Vine
A large large majority of the things I'm reading about still exist (chat rooms and IRC especially) but people have chosen to shift away from them. Trust me, I still use plenty of older obscure stuff because I'm an old man
it's a shame really because chat rooms used to be the primary social platform in the internets infant days where people with similar interests could get together. Now if you mention chat room you get a weird look because they're associated with weird fetishes and pedos.
I miss my fedora. I really liked the look but it's socially unacceptable to wear one. I have a wool pub cap I got from Ireland that I wear sometimes but I feel like everything I like becomes a social or fashion 'don't .'
Civil discourse.
Ringing doorbells
Anonymity
Quick Poops
Pop songs on casettes
Antivaxxers not being a movement and them diying quietly of polio.
Not my experience, saw a meme of it but one girl called her father "daddy", and only when she was upset, she wouldn't call him that. She found out on the internet that daddy meant... well... you know. She never calles him that again. A year or so later, idk, her father asked "Are you on bad terms with me?" The girl didn't know what he meant, until he told her about the daddy thing.
The park
A Radio Star
my will to live
The radiostar.
Music on the radio.Now if I like a song I download it right away and listen to it throughout till the artiste asks for water.
Video game strategy guides. I used to love flipping through them to learn secrets about the game or how to 100% a game.
Decent animators on Newgrounds, the internet didn't kill it, it's that they were not paid. But still kinda miss the old animators, there are still animators, but not the quality I expected.
man I remember getting super excited when a new stick animation or bitey of brackenwood would came out I knew they would be amazing and they always were.
Lively Malls
My ability to spell correctly
When MSN was gone it left a hole in my heart that never disappeared.
My innocence
Magic the Gathering. It used to be about being creative with what you had. Then going ti the card shop and thought through boxes of cards or trading with your buddy to get what you wanted. And it wasn't easy getting a play set of a specific card.
Now you can guy singles online and everyone at tournaments just net decks the top decks. I feel mtg lost a lot of its creativity.
Everything the whites have done (so all the dance moves)
Simpler life. Where computer was an aiding tool and not our whole life.
MiNeCrAft
Privacy
Watching Thunderbirds on VHS with my old friends :(
Society
My will to live
Good memes
Every single good meme
Not being able to know everything about a video game. Even though I'm too young to know what that felt like
By internet do to mean -tiktok-
April Fools Day. It start a day early because of different time zones, all posted online. By the time its really April 1st Im so swarmed by it from online stuff that I know everything's a joke at work.
Amiga 500.
Good memes and jokes to say to freinds. Oh wait I don't have any
DVD’s I know they are not dead yet but, in a few years, I am not sure if I will be able to show my kids The Iron Giant as I have not seen it recently.
Have you heard of video streaming/Pirate Bay? Or even just eBay?
My mental health
Gopher
During the summer I would be chatting on AIM until 4 in the morning and saying a/s/l and asking "do you have a pic?" Fun times
My ability to concentrate
My name jeff :(
I miss dat boi shit waddup
Sleep.
club penguin
Ugandan Knuckles. I miss that guy.
Toys R Us
Wizard 101
i miss the old roblox, before you needed to code to make a good game.
The OG Minecraft. Just dogs, creepers, zombies,etc. I remember one time getting jumpscared by a zombie. The good ol’ days
A
Staying up late to see if I can catch some nipple on HBO or Showtime.
Minecraft
Local multiplayer games
Actual human contact.
Youtube
The kid with the power of god and anime,I really miss that meme.😢
Inbox by google
Fnaf
Does blockbuster count? If so, blockbuster.
Meeting people in real
My chance at getting a girlfriend , they started using online dating instead of me
Lan parties being the best way to play halo
My life... Actually I don’t miss it nvm
Acceptance.
toys-r-us :(
Was born in 2000, never been inside a Blockbuster. Always wanted to for some reason.
Original content
My name is Jeff meme.
mIRC. it's still around, but I miss the servers from the late 90s/early 2000s
My normal sense of humor
Block Buster. I miss that shit man.
No joke: Blockbuster and Toys R Us
So many fond memories.
Flossing. such an elegant dance that anyone can learn. died bcuz the creator of it went on genius.
In all honesty I miss when people actually remembered things. It would always be an excuse for me to start a conversation. Now everyone just has everything on their phone no matter what
My imagination.
Budweiser wazzup ads.
Article 13
Actually getting surprised by secret content in games. I remember the only way to find out about content was word of mouth. GameFAQS heavily relied on said word of mouth so chances are there were countless guides about "How to unlock Sonic in Melee". Even when it did spoil something, it was only text-based, so it still had a huge surprise factor at the end of the day.
Personal Opinions
Not having spoilers
Privacy
Blockbuster, man. I miss being able to go wander around a small store for the latest releases and some of them old cool movies friends or family would talk about. Plus the hype of Friday night and the ‘new’ releases coming out- I was all hype to go. It was cool. It was a very unique experience.
Pepe. Definitely Pepe memes. I hate that they’re dead
PG-13 / R rated movies that were terribly edited for broadcast TV.
I can remember watching a lot of "more adult" comedies or horror movies as a kid, but with ridiculous dubbing for the swear words, or whole scenes cut to fill a time slot.
A favorite of mine was Dumb & Dumber: Harry says to Lloyd, "Where do I sign?" and the reply goes "Right on my ~~ass~~ sandwich, right after you kiss it!". Found it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_wBtVN6bXE
Another movie (don't remember which) subbed "Jesus Christ" for "Cheese and Rice". Just awesome nonsense that would have been cultural staples for a Monday morning back at school.
Club penguin
Music videos and Pamela Anderson
Life
Conversation at a bar. Used to be you would belly-up and could chat with someone you had not met. Now everyone is in their phones.
Also, you used to be able to look out the windows on a plane.
Not seeing 40-60% of a new game being spoiled with a shit tone of teaser trailers. Like at some point it's just an out of order montage let's play it's ludicrous.
There used to be voice chats that you can dial in
Taping every “Friday Night Videos” or “Soultrain” to try and catch the 10 second clip of breakdancing in hopes of seeing the “newest” move to practice for the next dance. Mark the time on the video, rewind, play, stop, practice, repeat.
The "Things You Never Knew Existed" catalogue.
Runescape
Mix tape
Robust journalism.
Secrets/rumors for video games. Who doesn't forget unlocking Sonic in Melee
Record tokens for my birthday.
Computer hardware stores :/
Before online gaming If we wanted to play a game it normally involved meeting your friends and playing a physical game .
Club Penguin. God damn Disney bought it, couldn’t work it, and shut it down like old people yelling at teenagers on their iPhones. “You god damn whippersnappers and your newfangled phones!”.
Funny things, article 13 im looking at you...
Letters in the mail from friends. I remember exchanging long hand written letters from friends when you tell them how life is going. It’s so different now because with social media you know what people had for breakfast so it takes away from the wonder of reading a letter. Especially when that person is a good story teller. It’s inspiring and a tangible artifact of friendship. Letter writing used to be an art form. I remember my buddy sending me letters with concert ticket stubs, polaroids, comics he drew- it was like a scrapbook of his life- just for me. Social media is interesting but not very personal. I miss the one on one interactions.
Vine :( Used to have great bits and 6 second skits but now were stuck with 14 year old Tik Tok girls that look 18 and act 21. RIP Vine
Vine.
Human contact.
Back when T posing was a bit of programmer humour that only intellectuals would understand
Now all the kids in my school just know it as the thing from Fortnite and it makes me wanna cry
Open job interviews, everywhere seems to be online-only. Everywhere.
As a horny pre internet teen. Using your imagination and pure desperation to source a porn magazine because the home mailbox Target Catalogue bra section from 8 weeks ago is not cutting it anymore.
It was hard times back then and the thought of having a device that you could fit in your pocket and could give you a unlimited source of wank fuel was so far fetched that it wasn't even something I thought about. Gone are the days of the analog porn like magazine and VHS now we have entered the golden era of smut.
Club penguin
Genuine humor
The internet has turned a lot of peoples humor, including my own, into post-post ironic self deprecation and sarcasm.
I know self deprecation was a thing before the internet, but I feel as though the wide spread of "I want to die" and phrases like it have resulted in more cynicism regarding humor to the point where literally even the most niche thing isn't safe from getting dunked on with ironic and condescending memes.
Think of it like this, boomers (while terrible) find humor in things like minions with cringy ass captions and chuck norris pictures with impact font, and while cringe inducing are objectively sometimes witty and clever. Whereas by the time gen z have grand kids, "bruh I just dropped my Dudios Bluetooth 5.0 Wireless Earbuds, Zeus Air True Wireless Headphone in da bass pro shops" will be the humor of the old retards.
I suppose I just miss being able to find humor in simple shit
Surprised Pikachu Face. I just really liked the meme
Ok one of the biggest things I miss. And I cannot stress this enough. Is waking up laying on the couch or bed and watching your favorite cartoons. And as a kid that was the only thing that drove me to wake up early on the weekdays and weekends.
myspace, that shit was fire
Pewdiepie ending the sub 2 pewds movement
intelligence.
USA.
Going to the mall to see Leonardo from TNMT, or the yellow Power Ranger etc... deep down you knew it was just a person in a costume, but you never got to see these characters in any other form except their TV show or movie so it still felt special and privileged somehow. I can remember practically every kid in my town showing up to see Mr Blobby FFS.
whenever something in my childhood became a meme and i cant find it anymore because its overflowed with meme compilations. tbh i don't think this has ever happened to me before but it might in the future
Imagination
I don't like that you can ruin the mystique of anything now by just googling it. Whether this is the ending to a movie, a game cheat, an urban legend of your city, etc. I liked when those things were shared only by word of mouth, and not kept in online databases that everyone knows how to access. I wanna be able to just take people's word on things more often instead of having an online reference of answers for everything that used to be fun to wonder on my own.
The internet taught me how much I value secrets and not knowing. It's the greatest feeling in the world sometimes and the immediacy of content nowadays has stolen that to a degree.
encyclopedias and libraries
Not knowing how much of a racist goober my president is.
All of those bro posts.
Vine
Student athlete memes
Being able to rent video games. Okay, so the internet didn't really kill this but it killed video rental stores, which is where you got them from. I had the idea to get Mario Party to play with some friends... not a single rental place in my city.
Louis ck
The Mormon church. Along came the internet and easily searchable (Google) history and the Mormon narrative fell like a house of cards.
Porn, too many choices now
Bookstores, mom & pop video rental.
Vine. It ended up being killed by its self. I mourn it once a week, sad to not be able to ever see my favorites ever again.
Everyone's saying Blockbuster. But I think y'all are forgetting a few annoying things. Like when the new releases were all checked out...and then your 2nd choice, and sometimes your 3rd choice. Not to mention, how quickly you must return them, remember how they made the new releases 2 day rentals?! If you don't, cha ching!! I miss the excitement of going there, too--but renting a movie at home in my PJs is pretty Damn awesome..and I'm glad to not have the return trip to make.
Normie content. Internet looks down upon normies but lowkey I liked the normei memes
Toys r us
the video star
People keeping their opinions to themselves.
As a Gen Z kid, I can’t really relate with any of these. Life without tthe internet would be hell for me. Everything is better with the internet.
Common sense and civility.
Civility.
People who would research something others wanted them to believe is true.
Genuine human interaction. The music industry.
pokemon rumors! the beating the elite 4 with just a charmander thing, the release gossip from the proverbial uncle who works at nintendo, whatever your local homebrew was. a friend had me convinced that a feature in pokemon yellow let you go back in time and catch fossil pokemon that could learn more than 4 moves each
and the thrill of finding used pokemon games at garage sales. found a copy of red at an otherwise dusty old antique shop in 2011 and that's the last time that ever happened
Yes, this was the absolute best about early gaming, not knowing exactly what is true or false about a game, and the rumours, in a video game anything was possible, those were the days...
Borders bookstore
Old style games, now it seems most games require you to use an online wiki or forum or something or else you'll struggle at best
I think the world changed in 08. I just graduated high school and facebook wasn’t big yet. If anyone has any ideas let me know wtf happened. It’s hard to know if it all changed because I graduated or it all changed because of Facebook. Weird fucking time man.
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No, Redbox and Netflix killed those
The internet. It is killing itself with the article 13 or something stuff
The Australian government killed a lot of hard right-wing websites after the Christchurch shooting. I miss just seeing what the other side was thinking, and realising why I don't believe it. That's the problem with censorship - now they get to fester and grow in the dark without their stupidity being exposed.
There being only two genders, I miss being a female and not a cis female
My poor dog. We had to put him down when we found out how much cuter other dogs on the internet were...
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r/notlikeothergirls
It’s sad that you can’t accept people for who they are you are equally as judgemental just the other way around
The internet killed my will to live.
Disucssion on any sibject, today people bring out their phone If there is any disagreement
Club penguin
Casual racism
Memes. I remember when memes were limited to Reddit, 4Chan and YouTube, and the memes were never overused. But nowadays, memes are so terrible, and that really saddens me. YouTube before was really good, and is now just normies thinking themselves cool
Osama bin laden
Forcing kids to be creative and fill their boredom with activity rather than be dependent on screens.
Being able to speak without offending everyone and their brother
Being able to have a conversation with/meet random people throughout the day because everyone’s head is stuck on their phone with AirPods in.
Being able to open a recipe on a website and not have to scroll through 12 pages of bullshit about how you tried making this three different ways. I just want to get to the damn ingredients list and directions.
My sanity.
Single player games man, single player games. I swear that over half the games I play these days I have to "solo"
Also, LAN parties
My life.
Does anybody remember the early 00s internet, maybe 01-03ish, when people used to make those really detailed animated gifs just for fun? It was usually like DBZ, Gundam, Pokémon, etc.
I miss content that was created just for the fun of it and not profit
Old Pokemon game videos. Hypercam 2 and all
Face to face socialising.
Gta 5. I loved that game but it got kind of boring for me. Every car that would come out would be at least 2mil or more and not affordable.
the radio star
I see that you are a man of culture as well.
The internet killed the radio star
The Radio Star
The word daddy
Internet killed the video star
Free speech by the left. Everything is hate speech.
I have the same argument but about the right. Everything is dismissed as "feminist" or "special snowflake syndrome" when I'm simply trying to stick up for myself and others.
You don’t lose your job over it
free speech never protected your job. you're free to shout the most bigoted things you want, your employer is free to fire your ass
Yeah, but when we call something out for being feminist hipocricy, or call somebody a snowflake, we're not trying to erase their speech or prevent them from speaking. Can't say the same for the motives of the left.
The left has always been the party of rules for thee and not for me.
Exactly. Villifying others for doing the exact thing they are doing.
They are the masters of race-baiting.
Lyndon B. Johnson once said, "I'll have these niggers voting democrat for the next two hundred years.".
I would use the N-word for that, but it is a quote, and I want people to let it set in. LBJ was a hack, he perpetuated the Vietnam War, his wife had a major share in the helicopters used in 'Nam, and LBJ had a hand in killing Kennedy.
LBJ was no great civil rights leader.
That's what power by any means necessary means. They will lie to even themselves if they can have power. Thus us why they are always taking about "power dynamics". They are obsessed with it. It is also why many organizations on the left use "by any means necessary" in their name or their rhetoric. The ends justify the means, no matter how horrific those means are. "There's no bad tactics, only bad targets."
Not having to deal with every fucking bully having a free pulpit to spew inanities at those with whom they disagree on minor issues. Not to speak of the major issues, where everybody online seems to be a fucking pinko commie. Oh, wait, I thought you asked, "What's something the the front page of the internet killed that you ('I') miss?"
Honestly, Big Chungus
I literally changed my gametag to chungus when I first saw the meme, and then it died faster than literally any meme I’ve ever seen.
I'm late to the thread, but I think the question means the internet killing something people did pre-internet, not about memes created on the internet.
I miss him too ❤️
Free speech, typically that of political views on the right.
Homophobia
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Nah, news media has always been a steaming pile of garbage, thanks to the Internet it's just easier to gain information of this.
CNN won very high praise, at least at the time, for their coverage of the first Gulf War. Apparently though, there are videos out now that some things were staged, but nonetheless, overall, they did do mostly a good job. For a while they were the only American news channel there, and this was the first war to have live coverage and embedded correspondents.
A few blips of some staged events notwithstanding, the CNN coverage of that war did mostly hold to high journalistic standards. The CNN of 1991 is absolutely not the CNN of 2019
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Yeah, the media was literally responsible for the Spanish American war and helped spread resentment towards Japanese people after Pearl harbor. In many ways it's improving
Yep, including Fox news and the rest of the Cable TV News channels right. I assume you and I both read multiple neutral news sources like BBC, NPR, Reuters, and Associated Press.
BBC are not neutral even though they're supposed to be
That's an easy claim to make without providing any evidence.
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You can't prove a negative.
No. The onus is on the person who makes the claim. You're just fucking around because you're lying through your teeth. Begone, thot.
Asking for evidence is proof of your ignorance
Then please, by all means, show me some evidence so I can be less ignorant.
Harambe
I agree. I worked at the St. Louis zoo and used to come by him everyday. It’s very frustrating to see memes about him. He was a living thing.
My dad surprising me with a new CD of my favorite artists such as Daft Punk and deadmau5
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I don’t remember this can I barrow your mom?
Does human decency count?
I guess that's a no.
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Classic MySpace and classic AIM and Yahoo Messenger (and more recently classic SnapChat)
the radio star
Memes.
I wish we could go back to when people's politics didn't define their personality.
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I'm sorry, but that still very much exists.
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That's still there
F
Advertisement in general - just because I use the internet one should not assume that I want to buy something. I've always hated it. Like an annoying vendor that doesn't leave me alone except if I use Adblocker
*advertisement
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Are you talking about YouTube recommend videos? Looks like u were supposed to reply to a comment. But yes they used to recommend good stuff with lower views or now. Now do big things
My erection
TV used to be social. If somebody in the family had something interesting on you sat down and joined him. Good shows were few and far between and you could only watch at the scheduled hour, so people watched together. Now we are each on our own device. We are watching better shows and only things we like. Yet something has been lost.
I miss when you didn’t have to emotionally and mentally coexist with kids born ten years ago who occupy essentially the same media space as people ten times their age. The mere fact that kids on this thread are remembering the 2008 internet as nostalgic and who feel its their god given right to assert the little they know because they’ve never known a single day of existence without a search engine, and they dont have fully formed self-identities yet so they supplant ideas of adulthood onto their fleeting minds obsolescing even ppl born in the 80s - IS ASININE and dangerous for all the generations.
People born in the 70s-90s, you realize all the respect we had for older folks will be the biggest thing we miss when these kids have to put the feeding tubes in our mouths. I miss peers, not this all inclusive even children get to play BS.
And all you Gen-Zrs imagine when you’re older and kids are sharing the same space with you. Its annoying on so many levels.
ok boomer
see, we’re dealing with twelve year olds that think they’ve achieved some great height of sociological analysis by asserting, in this case “boomer” towards someone calling for them to be locked in cages. Go on - what else you got kiddo?
mate youre trying to take a high ground while gatekeeping literally the entire internet. if you seem to think that being X years old is some kind of achievement, go do something with your life instead of wasting it moaning about "m-muh young people"
Let me be clear. I don’t know how old you are and I don’t care. Boomers/X/Y/Z Everyone is angry. All i’m saying is there’s a war among generations that wasn’t there before.
Maybe its best to imagine a playground. And in this playground theres a section for children under a certain age and another section for pre-teens and then a larger section for teenagers, etc. If you observe each section there are always troublemakers, kids who need guidance.
That doesnt happen on a website. Course correction for certain attitudes is gone because of anonymity and sadistic trolling.
The “bad actors” in the sandbox, lets call them bullies, need to be separated from the ones playing. If they’re not marginalized they grow up enjoying seeing others suffer and generally become abusers of others and themselves- and and as they travel to other areas of the playground this sadism, desire to inflict pain, goes with them.
These types were dealt with by the real community before social media, now the real community has shame, lack and generally a powerlessness against the little ways society is decaying.
There used to be checks and balances on these types of children. Now look at any comments section and 70 year olds are getting heart attacks thinking a 12 year olds opinion matters. Not saying 70 year olds arent also masking identities to create mass propaganda - its a general problem across all areas of the net.
Is it so “old” of me to expect some kind of checks and balances on sadistic lying scoundrels of the net?
Talking to the people that you're with. I live by a general rule of not using my phone when I'm around people, but I'm constantly surrounded by individuals who are a slave to their screens. It's frustrating because I want real connections driven by conversations made in person.
ok boomer
Yes! I never take out my phone when I'm with someone, unless it's to check something very specific like the time of a movie, etc
The Internet.
Books. Kindles and the like are all well and good, but I think book reading is being slowly lost.
Music trivia night at the pub. It’s how I met my wife and was just before everybody could simply google a lyric.
Hearing someone sing along to english songs at their full voice, and you realise, holy shit, they speak english at a 3rd grade level, and they got ALL of the meanings wrong, and heard all the wrong words.
Back in my days, I got so much praise for being able to improvise, and come up with new lyrics to songs that I just heard once.
All due to my mother
My mother used to do this. I still have fond memories of her sitting in the car, driving me and my friends to a concert, the radio on full blast, war pigs by black sabbath comes on, and my mom gets into it, and everybody is like, "wow, his mom is pretty rad, if she can sing along to black sabbath", untill they listened to what she actually sang, and realised "Holy shit, how can one person be so wrong, and still have such self confidence? "
just to give you an idea, from a recollection:
"Generals sitting on their asses.... just like snitches getting glasses.... Beaver minds that plot abduction..... so said he to the reduction.... "
I mean, she used to not get it not a single bit, and she did not care. She did not speak a lick of english beyond third grade english, and she was okay with that. At the time, I was embarrassed like hell by it, and it was a topic of constant ridicule by my friends, but the older I get, the same I wish for those simpler moments back.
Cinema, photography, music, democracy, privacy, what the fuck hasn't the internet killed that I loved.
Minecraft :(
Back in the day, if you wanted to stalk your ex-boyfriend, you had to drive by his place and see if her car was out front. Now, you just check the gram and see the pretty pictures they took hiking. What’s the fun in that? What about social media makes people think it’s a good idea to stay friends with all your ex’s and watch them date new people?
Life pro tip: kids, if your mom and her sisters were taking the long way to the grocery store to get a glimpse of the ex’s house and now they have the internet, just imagine the shit they’ll pull up on that shady dude you just started seeing.
MOOs.
Yeah LambdaMOO still exists afaik but it's just not the same. Graphical UIs came out and MOOs slowly died.
Shout out to anyone from RiverMoo!
ITT: BACK IN THE GOOD OL DAYS WE DIDNT NEED A PHONE TO HAVE FUN. WE JUST THREW MUD AT EACHOTHER ALL DAY LONG AND MADE OUR OWN FUN
I'm so pissed that video killed the radio star
cartoons like Swat Cats, Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo
Kony. RIP 2012
Minecraft and u mad bro
Minecraft
Minecraft
Redline Rumble
Record shops.
I went to view a car last week, a 2 hour train journey later and I found myself in a UK Midlands town needing to buy an audio CD in case I purchased the car and wanted to listen to what I wanted to hear and not a radio DJ on the 2.5 hours drive home. I'm still baffled why the '05 Gen2 Lexus RX series head units do not play MP3 CDs but my '05 Gen2 Lexus IS250's head unit does. Bloody daft.
Anyway, I found myself standing outside a closed HMV in a strange town. I checked three supermarkets of varying sizes as there were zero other record shops there. My findings were that when a member of staff says "Yeah we have a few CDs" they either mean that they sell just blank CD-Rs, have a shelf with literally two CDs on it or that they have a tiny stand with four CDs on it. As someone who never enjoyed high street shopping, I used to love the rare occasion that I'd pop into my local HMV and talk to my friends who worked there and be impressed by their musical knowledge when they helped customers. Now that online shopping has effectively killed the musical market in the high street, spontaneously finding things on CD is surprisingly impossible. I was expecting a small indy store to be open at least, but nope, nothing.
On the flipside the car was too tatty for me to bring home to the wife and survive so I didn't need a CD anyway. But still, sad times.
Dabbing
Instant -20k karma
My childhood 😂😂 I kid I kid
I remember when video killed the radio star.
club penguin or dial-up...
couch co-op, I used to hang out at a friends house and just play tony hawk's underground in split screen mode, now all people do is play online, but I feel like the nintendo switch is bringing it back, so maybe, just maybe it comes back...
Not knowing that no matter how good you are at something and how many years you practice it, that tere will be always an Asian kid much much better than you.
With apparition of internet people started using the word "remove" and "delete" more often than the word "erase". So yeah, the internet pretty much killed it.
My personality
fuckin yo mama
The internet really deformed some of the OG memes, as far as I know
Casual neighborly relationships.
Eg, intro on so many old movies from the 80's where a guy in a robe goes out to get the paper and a kid rides by and throws one on his lawn... "Hi Mr.Smith!" As he rides to the next house.
Only for mr. Smith to stand there after picking up the paper and have a 5 minute conversation with the neighbor over a short picket fence.
Yeah, those scenes make no sense now. Wtf is a newspaper anyways?
Me
My mom
Zines
The kids pc games like club penguin and webkinz, i miss those
Five Nights at Freddy's, before it became a total fucking cash grab.
Club penguin
Rebecca Black
Split screen gaming, I love playing games online with friends who live ages away but there are less and less games you can play locally anymore, and I'd love to be able to invite a bunch of friends round and play split screen like I used to with halo CE, timesplitters etc
My global perception. When the world was small it was easy.
Club Penguin
Is Hastings a good answer? I know part of it was amazon, but also part was the stupid Funko Pop thing
Man I miss going there
Playing Halo 2 on Xbox live
Club Penguin
Minecraft
Hentai Haven
Club Penguin...
"Video killed the radio star." - The Buggles
I miss when, if you really wanted to hear a song, you had to call the radio station and ask them to play it. And then waiting for your song to come on so you could tell your friends “look they are playing my song!” And if you were lucky, they would say “And now here is First Date by Blink182, or wha ever you asked for, for rj1512 in Escondido.” Or if you were super lucky, they would answer and ask you to turn your radio off and put you on live requesting your song. Those were the days.
All the memes.
The video star...
This might be a small market but going to my buddies house with my suitcase pc and hooking into a lan network so we can all play game together. That and co op couch games. Now to play against/with each other you just gotta logon. I miss the fun of hanging with my buds physically.
Typing gg isn't as nice as high fives all around.
A videostar.
Fax machines... ... ... ... ... Nah just kidding Really, I miss movie rental stores. Noe you have Netflix and whatnot. But no movie rental stores. I miss those
The Uganda Knuckles meme
I live in constant fear of waking up one morning and becoming the new internet meme.
Club Penguin
It seems like all the things people listed were things the internet had nothing to do with...lol don’t blame the google, you had a choice to bring it into your home and you did...
The radio star?
Club penguin
Talking to people around us.
I am typing this sitting in my office cafeteria. If I didn't had internet I would probably try finding at least one person I know and chat with him
Club Penguin
This is going to get buried to hell, but KiSS dolls.
They were basically virtual paper dolls, and OtakuWorld was the hub for them. I remember they had an adult section you had to pay to see, and I couldn’t wait to be an adult so I could unlock all those mysterious and bizarre fetishes.
Unfortunately due to parent interference, OtakuWorld was forced to remove the adult dolls before I turned 18. You could often still find adult dolls on creator’s websites, but it wasn’t nearly the convenient selection of OtakuWorld.
Thankfully I had the foresight to burn the program and all of my KiSS dolls to a CD, and I ported it all to my current computer (and backed them up to a different hard drive!) so I still have them and it’s still playable, which is wild.
Still, I miss the days of browsing OtakuWorld for the newest dolls, and poking around the creator’s individual sites for dolls I couldn’t download from OW without a subscription. Also I enjoyed looking at their pixel dolls and art.
Harambe
Uganda Knuckles.
Minecraft.
Blockbuster
Minecraft.
Neopets ): God dammit Flash.
I used to play a lot of pokemon with my friends and I'll never forget the times we would help each other finish main quests to get to the next city/gym, and the time my friend told me you could put a ditto and any pokemon into a daycare and get an egg changed my life. It made me play the game more than I ever had before and we started trading together and sharing rumors we heard about, like that if you use the train to go from Kanto to Johto it would speed up egg hatching times... good memories. Now you just Google everything and it kinda kills the fun just a little bit.
Minecraft
Memes (im two years)
Hedge porn.
The internet created and killed MSN and ClubPenguin. Man these two things were my source of joy for many years 😭
da wae
Deal with it
Club Penguin :(
Man, anyone remember Pokémon Crater? That was awesome
Club penguin 😭😭
Club penguin
Club Penguin
Big chungus
Nothing my internet kills everything, lol 200kps
Club penguin
Having productive conversations with decent human beings who have differences of opinion without them immediately resorting to ad hominem attacks when they disagree with your point of view.
Cod ww2
I unironically wish the soviet’s lunched nukes at the US in the 80’s, the internet and everything else has became so boring and the saddest part is that this would have inevitability happened anyway, humanity should have just ended before it was too late
Being able to say offensive things without ending your career
ITT: A lot of privileged people celebrating how great it was to live with restricted access to information that kept billions from accessing life saving information
People being able to spell
Stan Lee
u/word_clouds__
Friendship
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bottom text
Joker face
Fortnite, when it first started it was a great game but 9 year olds killed it.
Why are you being downvoted? Not only is this YOUR opinion, but it is a fairly agreeable one at that.
Idk man
Music.
Ugandan Knuckles
I would say Vines.
Civility
Calm political dialog. Granted it always had its flaws, but today. God no, people will hate someone without needing to know anything about them except they political affinity.
A lot of really good actors. They are 100 percent scum that deserve to be gone, but still sucks.
Harambe
Go to estatesales.net It has all the estate sales in the area and most of them are with pretty reputable companies. They’re just like yard sales and can be just as cheap. Also every once in a while I run into local yard sales while cruising around the area of the estate sale
Commonsense
Still exists
Seems like its becoming a super power its become that rare
I doubt it's something that the Internet killed
Ugandan Knuckels memes They were so stupid and funny but normies destroyed them unepic
Porn. The abundance of it.
It sounds silly, I know, but I remember back in highschool how when somebody would manage to get a hold of a really hardcore magazine (not that sissy softcore Playboy's or Penthouse's), but good stuff with full frontal nudity, sex scenes etc., how the info would spread like wildfire through the grapevine and, during breaks, we would rush to take peeks of absolute wonderment from those forbidden fountains of awesome!
Just a single image would carry us for weeks, or more! (plus you got to use your imagination) There was a certain magic to it all.
Young people nowadays just can't have that...
Nice that you miss jerking off with teenage boys
Well, no one did that, as far as I know. In my school at least.
Not that there is anything wrong with that mind you, if that has been your experience. I'm not one to judge
Hentai Haven.
I'm just kidding, I don't watch that.
My innocence!!!
The radio star
Furrys. People make fun of it, I cant just draw animals and make costumes without being made fun of
Now because of internet everybody knows everybody the other day I showed nudes of this girl I know to a friend who lives on the other side of the city from her and he dose not only know her he saw the nudes before and I don't feel spiecel any more
Harambe
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[deleted]
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The internet made it a legend
The furry war on tik tok plz don't kill me(no I'm not a furry)
Fortnite obviously...
Being able to talk on forums or play multiplayer games without getting censored/muted/banned because "it's offensive".
People have become so goddamn fucking overly sensitive it's retarded. Admins/mods used to tell you to stop being an ass or to not say certain things IF it became a real problem, now it's just BAN/MUTE "talk to the hand we're mods and we're right".
It's even worse in online games because so many games have moved away from dedicated servers (aka players hosted servers) to centralized servers hosted by the games creators. You used to be able to decide speech and game policies on your servers and you visited the communities that had rules you liked. Now it's "AWW LORD you trashtalked someone, let us ban you from playing our game" which is fucking retarded.
Sure I'm okay with huge sites having certain policies, but now you can't even have heated discussions where you call people a fucking moron or tell them to go fuck themselves.
I literally got a 3 day suspension on reddit for replying to a person in PM after I got banned from a sub and couldn't reply to them there. Sending that PM telling them they were wrong (and calling them a fuckwit) got me a _3 day suspension_ which is stupid as fuck. How ONE message to someone as a reply to a comment they made to you is "harassment" is beyond me. And do you think I got a reply when contacting reddit due to being erroneously suspended? Nah.
Just let me circumvent this ban to tell someone they’re a fuckwit! That’s totally okay and people are retarded not to let me do that!!! Oh also it’s harassment because even after being banned, you kept at it.
Also if the limit of your arguing skills is telling people they’re a “fucking moron” or telling people to “go fuck themselves” then you must be pretty damn bad at arguing. Like come on, worst debate skills ever. Also, being called a moron can be really damaging to some people’s mental health. Don’t do that, k?
And whether or not Reddit sends a reply is largely up to if you seem reasonable. If you’re swearing at them and calling them fuckwits/retards which from this post really seems like the kind of thing you would do, well duh of course they’re not gonna reply to you.
Edit: Not even being able to contribute decent/creative insults makes the contributing nothing other than insults even worse.
Ugandan Knuckles
Having actual relationships with your neighbours
A time before memes.
Fortnite
Being able to chat to another random human on the train/tube instead of everyone staring at their phones
Has anybody said tumblr porn yet?
Pepe
[deleted]
Hipster of you
I miss the edgy YouTube content. It was funny as hell. Then people had to genuinely believe that Pewdiepie was a Nazi.
Child porn (Satire)
Being able to avoid spoilers for big movies
[deleted]
I know , I’ve booked in maybe 4 days after it comes out and I’m so scared lmao
[deleted]
Big oof
Managed to avoid spoilers for The Force Awakens for 4 months after it came out so I could watch it in an easier language. God damn it was a titanic effort
Managed 2 months but just the week before I was going to see it, some kid put as his clan emblem on black ops ‘Kylo kills Han’. Ruined the whole movie as I was just anticipating that :(
WHAT THE FUCK DUDE SPOILER TAG
How did you do it?
Basically avoiding r/starwars and any sort of fan theory or star wars related video. Considering I'm a huge fan, it was really fucking difficult
You mean trailers that didn't show you 90% of the plot that you are forced to watch before your feature film for 25 minutes after the scheduled time of the movie?
I’d say it’s more people posting that last 10% on social media for a giggle
16 hour old comment but here in the UK we have to watch GoT season 8 a day after the US does unless we want to see it at 2am. Gotta fight every week
I'm not mad at you specifically, dear Blobs, but I'm gonna swear a bit and do some ranting because this is relevant to the OP.
In a lot of ways, the Internet has ruined the Internet. The Internet nowadays is defined by a different user set than it used to be, so at least to my Grizzly Glued brain [5/10] it makes for a valid answer. This sense of urgency on social media is a part of it. Forums and messageboards themselves are an Internet thing, but the progression of the Internet has definitely made online conversation worse when we think a comment made 16 hours ago is too old to respond to. Social media privatr messages are often presented as a live chat. Hell, you can't even "necropost" anymore because there's really no "bumping" that isn't controlled by a complicated algorithm. People used to get mad that a year-old post was on the front page of their forum because someone posted in it recently. Now I see people actually making fun of others for responding to someone a week after, like that makes them super lame and desperate. Even though they're also there if they noticed it.
Fuck that noise. How many times have we all ended up reading and thoroughly enjoying a thread from years ago? Do we care, or even find it relevant, when it turns out the responses are weeks or months apart? It's all the same to someone reading it for the first time. And I don't know about you all, but I'm not going to get my jimmies rustled when I get a response to a comment made months ago. Boohoo, no one else is gonna see what I respond with. Piss off with all that.
This isn't gonna be one of those interesting comments that makes people link back to it in the future, but people will come across at least this AskReddit post long after we've forgotten about it. Why not respond to someone if you have something to say about their post - as long as it's not locked, and you aren't stressing over about karma/likes or soapboxing?
... It's not like anyone ever leaves Reddit once they join... Also now [7/10], so apologies for any wording issues.
what
You can avoid the internet
In today’s day and age that’s a toughie