Fluther: What if there were no such thing as the Internet?

What if there were no such thing as the Internet?

Asked by Fred931 (9434

) April 29th, 2010
45 responses
“Great Question” (4

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This thought often intrigues me, but it’s still hard to wrap my head around it. It’s like trying to imagine what life would be like without food, in a sense. The intarweb has become a seamless organ of daily life for millions and has done so many things for us, so where would we be today if the World Wide Web was never concieved?

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Topics: life, computers, technology, internet, culture, Internet culture, computer virus, internet connectivity

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Answers

Well in my life I’d probably be a high school graduate with nothing to do…. either that or I’d be studying engineering or something. I don’t think that computer science would be as popular as it is without it.

LeotCol (2275

)“Great Answer” (1

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We would still be writing letters and making more telephone calls perhaps

partyparty (9162

)“Great Answer” (1

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A few minor things that I can think of…there are some massive ones, but i thought of these…

- libraries would be a lot busier

- CD / DVD sales would be through the roof

- I’m guessing adult shops would sell a fair bit more porn

- The obesity epidemic wouldn’t be quite so bad

- People would spend more time with there close family and friends and less time on social networking sites.

- University would be a HUGE pain in the ass

j0ey (2429

)“Great Answer” (6

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Ah…. happy days. Can you imagine it, people would have to learn to read again & to qualify information… :)

JeffVader (5426

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What if there were no such thing as cars?

Horses.

mattbrowne (31732

)“Great Answer” (3

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we’d still have texting

anartist (14808

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It would be very much like when I was in high school. People would have to shop at record stores. Send paper mail. Phone calls. They’d still use the dating ads in newspapers, watch TV, and be much harder for the reunion committee to track down. Go to the library for information. Call the theatre to get movie times, watch the news to catch the weather, and buy porn furtively in the bad part of town. Good times.

laureth (27199

)“Great Answer” (3

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Most of my life was spent without the Internet. People went outside more and got more exercise, and certain activities involving information were slower, but those are the only differences of which I am aware.

CaptainHarley (22447

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Ah then I would be ab….. _ _ _ _ __________________________________________!!!!!

ucme (50047

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@ucme ????

CaptainHarley (22447

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This is how the world still was by 1990. The Internet as we know it today, in almost every home in the western world, didn’t exist.

I disagree that the Internet destroyed so much social life, television was the real bad guy. Since you didn’t have video back in the 1950’s and 60’s, people begun plan their life after the television set.

Anonymoususer (455

)“Great Answer” (2

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Well, I wouldn’t be here answering your question, for one. :)

Snorkledorf (146

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@CaptainHarley…solutely cut off in my prime.On here least ways.

ucme (50047

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@ucme Uh… ok. : ))

CaptainHarley (22447

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I’d just go back to doing things the way I did 20 years ago. The internet is still a recent phenomenon to me.

stranger_in_a_strange_land (18360

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I would call my friends and go to the library. It was kind of nice.

LuckyGuy (43695

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@stranger_in_a_strange_land

Me too, but then again, I’m one of the oldest people on here. I got my first computer in 1988 and went online for the first time the following year. As I recall, there were only two of what they now call “social interaction sites:” AOL ( which cost a FORTUNE to use ) and another one run by some accounting firm! : D

CaptainHarley (22447

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I might actually read Playboy!

Cruiser (40449

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LMAO @Cruiser !!

CaptainHarley (22447

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Then you wouldn’t be asking this question.

slick44 (3813

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I wouldn’t have a job!

martyjacobs (491

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I’d probably get a lot more accomplished…

ccrow (8097

)“Great Answer” (2

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Well then Fluther would be a club if there was no Internet.

TogoldorMandar (544

)“Great Answer” (3

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Most of my life has been spent without the internet.
I suppose it would be like it was for me 10 years ago.
I’d get more physical work done, and be on the phone more for business.
Sometimes I think of the internet as a kind of “life sucker”. I spend a lot of time being distracted by it.

wilma (16457

)“Great Answer” (2

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Probably have some kind of tan…

Silence04 (4713

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I lived 40 years without the internet and i survived. people depend on the internet way too much, especially businesses. i agree it has made our lives more productive and convenient. i can remember when i asked for a registration on an automobile and it use to take about 4 to 5 minutes for the dispatcher to locate it in big books. not so today, thanks to computers and the internet. on a police laptop computer, an out of state registrations takes about 20 seconds now. what a difference.

I think the original idea of the internet was for information and communication. i am sorry to say its not entirely turned out that way. porn and criminals are like cancer on todays internet. we can definetely do without this.

john65pennington (29258

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Then people would write more letters and library’s would be more valued

talljasperman (21916

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I’d still be running a BBS. :)

netgrrl (4394

)“Great Answer” (2

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TV and books. And radio.

aprilsimnel (30749

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I’d be the same as I am today.

free_fallin (4429

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I’d be right along with @netgrrl running and calling BBS’. I started doing that back in the early 80s and I kind of miss it.

mrentropy (17213

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@mrentropy BBS’s were great, weren’t they? Good times.

netgrrl (4394

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@netgrrl Yep. And somehow I managed to remember a bunch of phone numbers and login information. Now I’m lucky if I can remember what I had for dinner last night.

I’m thinking about running Renegade BBS using telnet now. Seriously contemplating it.

Check out this site too.

mrentropy (17213

)“Great Answer” (1

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I’d invent it.

Ivan (13489

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@mrentropy ha! I ran RBBS – although I played w Wildcat too. I’m still on the old 601 list – Vic’s Place. The years aren’t correct tho bc they only counted the years after I moved it from Gulfport, MS to Jackson.

Ok, off topic, sorry folks!

netgrrl (4394

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I wouldn’t be typing up this response, of course. XD

ValerieTeacup (129

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We wouldn’t be on Fluther.

Draconess25 (4461

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I was actually alive and living a great life in the 90’s and I had no celly, no computer, no video games, no TV cable. What I did have was a great group of friends and a few lovers. My off work time was spent dancing, road tripping, exploring, visiting, surfing, hiking, entertaining, drawing, reading, cooking, lots of sharing common things with others. I miss those times.

A modern relationship now seems to be partners come home from work and go away from each other in order to unwind instead of coming together and talking or just being together like what I’m used to. I remember the days when a day off together was like a dream! You’d be debating whether to shut in and make love all day with tasty nibbles in between or getting out early to go out of town together.

Friends and I used to get together on weekends or days off to grocery shop together, cook for each other, go window shopping or exploring other towns. We played cards, chess, board games, threw parties, went to zoos, museums, art gallery nights, gardens, lakes, rivers, oceans, mountains, wine country, etc.

Neizvestnaya (22662

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It’s not hard to imagine if you were alive before it.

thriftymaid (6993

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More people would have jobs in the U.S. because there wouldn’t be as much outsourcing, and computers would be taking jobs away from people, like bookkeepers – which is what I once was.

YARNLADY (46384

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Lonely peopl, house-bound people, people in isolated areas would be a lot lonelier.

There would be a lot more regional cultural differences, a lot less homogenization.

anartist (14808

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More sales of skin-mags and blue videos. Porn predates computers, so it’s definitely here to stay.

@john65pennington Actually, I think that the real problem is that they let anybody in. Back in the old days, the only people who used computers were people who went through the time/effort to actually learn how to use them, in much the same way that the only people who owned cars a century ago were people who knew how to repair them.
Nowadays, anybody with a couple of dollars or a public library nearby can get online, and that means that the Internet is now basically filled with the same sorts of people you see walking the streets… and I’m pretty sure you know how scary some of those people are.
Then again, I’m sure people never thought that the telephone or the automobile would have such an effect on society either, and there were probably many people who adamantly refused to adopt either.

jerv (31076

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