Asklemmy

Setting the TV to channel 3 to play a video game.

Having your Internet connection drop because someone picked up the phone.

Walking in to an honest-to-god Toy Store as a small child.

R.I.P. Geoffrey

The French revolution.

Rewinding a VHS tape.

Wait till the perfect second to hit record on the radio to make a mix tape

Not being in constant contact with everyone you know, and not having a neverending stream of notifications assaulting you via your phone.

When you got to see relatives who lived far away, you talked about what had been going on in their life because you probably had no idea.

You read, listened to, or watched the news when you wanted to, unless someone you know told you sooner.

If you had to wait somewhere without a book or magazine, you just sat there with your thoughts. During childhood, you learned how to be bored and practice imagining things.

Not having every aspect of their lives and identities stripped of meaning, repackaged, and sold back to them in ever shittier forms.

I wouldn't use "never get to experience" but i would say it's much harder to have that real sense of community that we easily found in the 90s, early 2000s, etc.

People are more connected to others but still more isolated from others. We were less connected to other people back then so people made a real effort to come up with fun activities and bond together. For kids, it's the lack of just playing outside in the neighbourhood with friends. For adults, it's the lack of third places and community/religious events.

Downloading what you think is a song off a file sharing program only to find out that it's a virus.

June 11th 1894

Guinea Worm. And that's something we should celebrate!

Okay, something simple. Being annoyed that you forgot to rewind the video cassette the last time you watched a movie.

Calling your friends house, and asking if they were home and could talk.

A world where 'literally' was the only adverb people know.

The card catalog at the library.

When bigger tech companies were cool.

2019

how annoying it was calling your friend that had the phone number with lots of zeros in it.

Snow days. Instead it's now "pull out your laptops to get on zoom. I once was off an entire week or so bc of a massive snowstorm. Downside, the sewer line underneath our apartment burst and we couldn't stay home that entire week.

Working in coal mines. Well, actually, nevermind...

Having to wind back a cassette or vcr with a paperclip or spoon if the strip got tangled, or even just having to wait for the player to forward/rewind

Living off the grid. A world where AI and data collection wasn't so massive that even not participating in anything they will have a full profile of you. Data will become compromised until everything leaks out everywhere. When abusive powers will mathematically make future decisions for you, e. g. a. negative personality-health profile which makes a college dropout almost certain and therefore deny you the choice. People think in absolutes and not even partial success is viable. Just like now big corporations have such narrow application profiles that every human not built in a genetic factory is not worth it. I think the world becomes rapidly more hostile to neurodivergence. And all will suffer from it, because thinking diversity is key.

Dial-up internet (and I'm only in my 20s!)

A peaceful childhood.