If there was no internet, how different would your life be?

I cannot imagine life without the internet.

• If there were no internet, I'd have to get a life.

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• I'd get work done...

• I'd have to rent porn still and buy music. Oh yeah, I wouldn't see photos of meals my friends are eating every day. I guess you take the good with the bad...

• I would probably read actual books and magazines.

• Considering I work for an internet company, I would probably have some miserable job like selling insurance.

• I'm a bit addicted to the internet, but when I think about it, I much preferred life before the internet. People actually interacted with each other on a face-to-face basis. I also think the internet has made people lazy, having everything at your fingertips. Not to mention how mean and rotten so many people seem to be when they think they are anonymous. I never watch movies on my computer. Let me sit back with some popcorn and watch on my 52" TV or go to a theatre. But I would not necessarily like it going away either. Smart phones, however, are another story completely. I would be perfectly happy if I never saw one again. Worst invention in my lifetime, imo.

• I'd go outside and allow myself exposure to that scary orange orb in the sky!

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• I would go here.

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• I remember life without Internet (I'm 44). The biggest differences were that entertainment options were limited to TV, radio (as in local broadcast stations you'd tune in on an antenna set), home video (in the form of VHS cassettes) and movie theaters. Porn was a big difference, too. I had a trunk of old videos and magazines I'd break into when I was horny. Jerking off to magazines was a pain because you'd use one hand to hold the magazine. Videos meant turning the VCR on, loading the tape and cueing it to your favorite scene. Also getting directions meant calling ahead for them or getting out a map. And "looking something up" meant breaking out reference books or a trip to the library. There were no hookup sites, dating sites or Craigslist. If you wanted to meet someone, your options were bars, tearooms or bathhouses. People didn't have tiny video cameras on their phones (which were mostly landlines anyway) and there was no YouTube, so there was no such thing as viral videos. Also cameras back then still used film that had to be developed, so almost no one took nude selfies or "dick pix". If anyone did make a sex tape, it was recorded on VHS and left at home, not posted online for the world to see. If you needed to buy anything, the only option besides physically going to a store was mail order catalogues or ordering from ads on TV ("Operators are standing by!"), and only old people and fools did that. Going to department stores and malls was a regular part of life because where else were you going to buy clothes, housewares and gifts? Also you sent (and in some cases received) much more mail. Every bill was paid by mail. You also went through checks a lot more. I haven't ordered new checks in years and I still have several booklets to go, but back then you'd write 10 or more checks a month and have to order new ones periodically. People wrote letters and sent cards more, too.

• I'd still be ordering over the phone from catalogues. I'd have to wait about 2 weeks for a delivery.

• Oh another thing you'd get in the mail was invitations. If you threw a party, you'd go to the stationary or card store and buy themed, printed invitations. No evite or Facebook and certainly no email. Trying a new recipe meant buying/consulting a cookbook or magazine, or trading them with friends and family. You couldn't just "find one online". No Yelp either. If you wanted to try a new restaurant or service, it was all "buyer beware" and hope for the best. If you were ripped off you could tell your friends, but no slamming a business with online reviews.

  R9

• We weep for you, OP.

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• Not that much. I don't Grindr really - if I meet someone, it's someone I've ACTUALLY met. In real life. The times in my life I've been happiest were the times when I was living by the skin of my teeth - of course, I was much younger then, and getting a sex partner was not a matter of 'any takers?' but a matter of 'no, no, no, maybe, no, no."

• I would be unemployed.

• I might get more exercise and read more books. But I wouldn't be able to watch old music videos on You Tube.

• Most of what R9 mentions has changed for the better - or just changed (not in a bad way). But I miss some of the hookups I had at that time. It's great to be able to talk about wants/likes before a hookup on line. But I also think it's made guys less likely to hook up, or to take a chance, or to experience something new. It's the old truism of advertising/choices that stores that put two or three choices out sell more than a store that puts 8, or 12 choices out. Hookups are different of course, and I'm not saying any of us should hook up just to hook up (ew). But some of the spontaneous nature of my hookups led to amazing sex and long friendships. These days, many of us (of every age) seem to have a real disconnectedness to the process, almost like we're ordering in Chinese.

• I've worked for various internet related companies since the mid 90s. I have no idea what I'd be doing.

• There are two sets of new issues in the 21st Century -- those due to the Internet, and those due to mobile phones.

• [quote]There are two sets of new issues in the 21st Century -- those due to the Internet, and those due to mobile phones. Exactly. Just five or six years ago, a cell phone was a merely convenient way to make calls (or e-mails, if you had a BlackBerry). Now it's a miniature computer you can take with you anywhere.

• I'd be healthier mentally and physically but dumber.

• i'd read a TON more books, probably own a TV, which I don't now. and go on more walks.

• [quote]But I wouldn't be able to watch old music videos on You Tube. That's what I was thinking. The internet really took off for me when YT appeared up until then you/I/one just read stuff. YouTube is what I'd miss the most. I used to be addicted to ebay, but I wouldn't really miss it now. I have what I was looking for. Which brings me to Datalounge and I'd miss communicating with a lot of other gays (something I would never have realised I'd care about, until I found this site).

• It's funny how quickly things change. A few years ago, all the old hags on DL were bitching about people in supermarkets blabbing on their cellphones. Now, everybody texts.

• Pondering this question, I just realized that I spent, at this point, exactly half of my life without the internet (we had GEnie and newsgroups back in the day, when I first got online). Before then, I walked a lot (I used to hike trails) and I read a lot. A Lot. I also used to listen to entire albums, and read the liner notes and lyrics, and had all lyrics memorized. I listened to classical or soundtracks while I read, because it was less confusing that something with lyrics. I miss those simpler times some days, but I do love my computers, my iPod, my Kindle, my smart phone, my tablet, my online games, etc. I just realized: I'd have a lot more space for all those books I'd be reading without all the crap that goes with all of this technology.

• There was this one summer when I didn't have internet in my apartment (many years ago). I remember everything about that summer...it was wonderful. I had never felt so relaxed. I think computers overstimulate our mind and kind of make us crazy, but so hard to give up.

• We wouldn't have this eldergay shit spurting out of the mouths of babygays.

• I'd actually have a life as I once did before the Internet.

• I would have to find another addiction. I would be riding my bike 100-150 miles each weekend like I did a decade ago. My apartment would be semi-presentable.

• I'd be back to meeting interesting new people at midnight in the woods of the rest areas off I-95.

• I live in smallish town/city in the deep south. I moved here from a much larger city. When I first came here, I had to travel all the time to buy clothes, books, records, etc. The internet changed all that.

• You know I think I'd survive. You flyover idiots Ned to get out more.

• And you'd be just as charming as you are now, R31, without the Internet.

• No idea. It boggles the mind....

• [quote] Now, everybody texts. I teach at a school and indeed, ALL the kids text.

• [quote]Exactly. Just five or six years ago, a cell phone was a merely convenient way to make calls (or e-mails, if you had a BlackBerry). Now it's a miniature computer you can take with you anywhere. My brother (who is 28) annoys the fuck out of me with his incessant texting and playing with his phone every other minute. Last weekend, we got together and watched a movie at my place and the entire time he kept texting a couple friends. They weren't quick texts, either. He'd be staring at his phone screen and pushing the buttons for up to a minute. Then he'd put it away and then a minute later, he got another text which he'd immediately have to answer. He might as well have not been watching the movie or been there. I told him later when he was leaving that it was annoying that he texted the entire time he was over. He was very defensive and said, "What are you, a Ludite? Texting is not a bad thing. It's a way I can talk to several friends without having to be on the phone with just one." I told him texting isn't the issue, but there's a time and a place. He could've just told his friends that he was hanging with his brother and that he'd text them later. People think that just because they're not actually speaking to the person on the phone, it doesn't constitute as rude when they're in the presence of another person.

• Earrings. Caftans.

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• I love music with a passion, so I am a big fan of You Tube. And, I am also a novice writer, so easy access to research material is a peach. The internet, therefore, has its benefits. But, it is the bloody be dammed smart phones and the sheer volume of people running around with one stuck in their face that drives me completely fucking nuts. These phones are turning people into total zombies. They eat, drink, work, sit on the toilet, walk, run, study, work out, do chores, raise kids, wash the car, tar the roof, shovel snow, mow the lawn, sleep, and probably have wild animal sex etc. with these cursed phones in their hands. When you are talking to someone these days it is app this and app that. Bad, bad, BAD addiction. I don't mean to offend anyone with my opinion because it is just that...my opinion. But, I do miss the days when people actually conversed with their mouths instead of their fingers. That is all I got. Ole'

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  Anonymous

• I would have record/CD and book stores to shop at. I would like that. I would not have as many dishes as I now have (thanks, eBay). I'd still have porn on VHS; I'd still have a VCR. Or would that be on DVD? My hands wouldn't hurt. My back wouldn't hurt. My neck wouldn't hurt.

• shreeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeK

• Home computers and cell phones didn't exist until I was well into adulthood. It wasn't a problem living without them, it was just life. The way we live now is like something out of a sci-fi novel. All these new gadgets are fun and useful but I also like getting away from them. I go on technology-free vacations every year. I keep one cell phone with me but it's turned off. I check it every few days in case there's an emergency. So far there's never been one. It's so relaxing that I've added tech-free weekends in between. I always dread going back to the tech-tyranny of my life.

• [quote] Annoys the fuck out of me with his incessant texting and playing with his phone every other minute. I cosign this 1000%. Listen, I'm not a Luddite, and I take a look at my cell phone a few times an hour. But I think it's rude when someone does it at your home, or out at dinner. A quick text to a ride/partner/spouse/roommate, sure. With an "excuse me." And I'd walk away to do it. But that's not what these folks do. They have lengthy text conversations. I've had parties where some folks sit and text in silence, not talking to each other. This means they are a guest at your home, or at your dinner table, in physical terms only. That's just rude. I don't need all the attention on me (really, I don't) If I'm that boring, or you think you might get a better offer, then don't bother to come at all. This part is just my own personal preferences, but....it annoys me that people seem to be unable to just SIT THE FUCK STILL for five minutes anymore. When I'm on the train every day I am always around people who HAVE to talk on their phone for EVERY. FUCKING. MINUTE. they are on the train, to pass the time. You can tell when one call ends they start to go through their contact list to look for the next one.

• I would be jerking off to a blank screen!

• Back to the thoroughly embarrassing process of buying my gay porn at newsstands, in sleazy porn shops, or by mail in plain brown wrappers.

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