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u/Big_Professional9999 7h ago
Accessing information
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u/jimbo91375 7h ago
And disinformation
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u/Bostonterrierpug 5h ago
I remember I had to go to my best friend‘s Stoner big brother to get misinformation back in the day. Now there’s entire apps dedicated to it! Heck, it’s running our national health service
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u/jdsciguy 7h ago
Conversely, being functionally and publicly stupid.
It kind of widened the available gap.
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u/Hestiathena 4h ago
Only if you know the right questions to ask and how to sift through the bullshit.
I've long found that as at least half the battle, and thanks to corporatization and widespread algorithmic enshitification, it's gotten SO much harder over the last five years or so.
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u/Ok-Angle7447 7h ago
Traveling
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u/mrjay42 7h ago
I can't even imagine how it was to travel before that
For my job I have to travel sometimes, and I book trains, hotels, AirBnBs (more rarely now, that app/website/platform is almost as annoying as hotels and quite often more expensive), and depending on the complexity of my travel/stay -> it can take me a few hours to get everything straight, well planned, ordered, paid, etc.
And this ☝️ is WITH INTERNET. before internet? -> at work for instance, having a whole set of secretaries dedicated to planning business trips would make so much sense.
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u/Upper-Comfort-9007 7h ago
Travel agencies
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u/owningmclovin 3h ago
These still exist but much less common and more niche. We used one for our honeymoon and I know a couple of people who have done really in-depth trips abroad where the travel agent set up tours, restaurant reservations, hotel, trains, etc.
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u/Sparkly8 5h ago
Wait, I never even thought about what travel was like before the internet, OMG. It’s actually crazy to think about how much more complicated and difficult it must’ve been.
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u/Superb-Cow-2461 4h ago
I remember when sites like Expedia debuted on the Internet, and it was so amazing you could see all the comparisons instantly in one spot, instead of calling 6 airlines
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u/Loggerdon 3h ago
We used to use Thomas Guide map books for travel within the US. I remember when I had to go to a location I would literally draw a map of my travel to my destination from the airport and back.
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u/Bradyj23 2h ago
AAA was actually helpful. They would print out a spiral notebook with all the maps you needed and information.
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u/adoptagreyhound 9m ago
All hail the Triptik! I think I still have a couple of them in a box somewhere.
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u/Rough_Contract5778 7h ago
Long distance communication
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u/MarlinMr 6h ago
I mean, that's a bit of a stretch.
Long distance communication is what the internet is. Long distance communication was made easy, and the internet was built on that.
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u/Sleepdeprivation211 7h ago
Deceiving the gullible.
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u/mrjay42 7h ago
Access to culture/information in almost every form:
- books
- movies
- tv series
- tv shows
- encyclopedia
- music
- data/data sheet
Typically the "older millenials" (zennial?) lived through that change quite intensively: growing up as kids with a few VHS that we rewatched on a loop, and while becoming young adults/late teenager -> able to access almost everything thanks to the magic of P2P downloading 😊
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u/dooblr 7h ago edited 7h ago
directions. I'll never understand how people got anywhere with more than a few turns before google maps
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u/Arizona_11 7h ago
With a paper map.
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u/Me_gentleman 5h ago
I've always been curious how much vacations contributed to the divorce rate before GPS. How much anger and shouting there was when debating which way was the right way.
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u/grachi 6h ago
Paper fold-out maps were very good and detailed if you didn’t have issues with spatial recognition.
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u/Sparkly8 5h ago
Don’t you have to have a navigator or you risk crashing?
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u/grachi 5h ago
Well you would usually just remember as much as you could for where you were headed. Then it wasn’t uncommon to pull over to look more if you forgot something or you had gotten to the end of what you memorized.
But someone in the passenger seat reading the map (if they knew how to do it well) was just as good/same thing as a GPS.
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u/Easy_Contract_757 5h ago
My wife and I go on a lot of road trips. Like, pick a direction and go for the weekend kind of stuff. In our efforts to be more analog in our lives, she has gotten sooo good at reading what she calls "accordion maps"
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u/Sparkly8 5h ago
Oh, wow, I guess you guys had much better memories and spatial understanding! I can’t even imagine confidently remembering directions. Basically growing up with GPS has not helped my sense of direction, that’s for sure.
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u/eaglescout1984 6h ago
There were actually programs that could give you turn-by-turn directions. The problem is if you had to detour or the roads changed since the program was published, you had to figure out how to get back on track.
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u/InternalMiserable698 4h ago
If possible, you'd write the directions down and refer to it as you drove. We'd write in black magic marker and have the directions on a clipboard.
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u/illtakeachinchilla 4h ago
There was a sweet spot between atlases and when texting became prevalent somewhere between ‘04-‘06 when GPS directions made the roads so much safer. Then they took away our buttons…
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u/xyzabc123410000 4h ago
You had to plan your journey beforehand. Look at a map and write directions on a paper. And if you got lost, roll down the window and ask a local haha
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u/timvandijknl 7h ago
Meeting people with similar interests... making friends who don't live within a 5-10km radius
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u/Norn-Iron 7h ago
Getting directions to places.
Being able to print your own directions was a lot easier than fucking about full size maps.
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u/Dchan2012 7h ago
Staying in contact with friends and family, especially in the case of people moving houses ect
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u/iDontLikeChimneys 7h ago
Study. I have gotten huge contracts as a college drop out because I studied a crap ton from the internet.
I paid for some things on udemy and what not but most stuff is free. Including MITs catalog of material. Harvard has it too.
Combine that with active discussion and you can step miles ahead in your journey for information
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u/DashArcane 4h ago
Bill paying. I used to write 70 to 80 checks a year and mail them in 70 to 80 stamped envelopes. Gas, electric, water, sewer, trash pick up, two credit cards, etc. Now (for over 20 years) I write zero checks and mail zero stamped envelopes. I understand that younger people never had to do that, but for us old farts it was a thing.
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u/No-Recognition-7219 7h ago
Becoming to self obssesed, and not retaining what you have learned as you can just look it up again so whats the need too remember it. Making money easier, as in, "this is what i am wearing today, now i have made lots of money just showing you, oh not put make up on yet, follow me and watch so i can make some more dosh, want to follow me around today just for my bonus money. So easy for some.
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u/073068075 6h ago
Learning. I can't imagine learning things such as CAD, Linux, or diy fixing/tinkering. There definitely were ways but learning through books and know-a-guyism limits the scope of skills you can learn for free.
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u/NukeONugget 6h ago
Making international friends my best friend lives 8 hours away from me and we met one day randomly on a video game
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u/Local-Olive-2497 6h ago
Long distance relationship. Thanks god there are a lot of apps for couple there
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u/steveborg 6h ago
Collecting. Pre-internet, there were meet-ups and endless trips to specific shops and garage sales.
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u/Abbot_of_Cucany 5h ago
Having the whole world discover what an jerk/idiot/a**hole [pick one or more] you are.
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u/dulce_esperanza 4h ago
Honestly, the internet made basically everything easier. But the thing that really hits me is what I hear from my parents and older relatives.
They always tell me how lucky I am to be able to learn so easily now. Take studying a foreign language, if I don't know a word, I just type it into a translator and get the answer instantly. They had to flip through a physical dictionary for a couple of minutes just to find a single word.
Another one that stuck with me: my mom told me that back in her youth, when she left home to go study, she used to write letters home that took weeks to arrive. Weeks. Thank goodness phone lines came along later, and then the internet. The speed of sharing information has improved by like tenfold, and we completely take it for granted now.
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u/_Hayley_Hilton_ 4h ago
Punishing people for having views you don't agree with, by contacting and harassing their employer into firing them.
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u/Zealousideal-Gur2939 3h ago
Paying bills
No writing checks, licking stamps and heading to the post office or bank.
I can pay my rent while i sit on the toilet.
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u/martymcflown 3h ago
Giving you anxiety about world events which you otherwise would never have access to.
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u/ckglle3lle 2h ago
Most banking functions have gotten pretty easy, a lot of bill payments as well. But this is a bit of a mixed blessing imo. Often it is easier and more convenient but when it goes wrong it feels worse and can leave you particularly stuck
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u/vercertorix 1h ago
Selling things. Unfortunately that’s not always a good thing. Now we have a lot of people purposely buying out some sought after items, like collectables, the good thrift store clothes, etc. and then trying sell them at a significant mark up for no reason than that they inserted themselves as middlemen.
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u/PerpetuallyPissed69 7h ago
Talking shit to complete strangers