30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community

The internet in its classical sense is only thirty years old, yet now we have no idea how to live without it. But life was also pretty good in the days before the internet! And in this life, there were a lot of really cool things that we now miss so much.

Actually, the word "we" refers mostly to people who remember those times well. When Facebook was just a collection of photos of your classmates and Amazon was just a kind of parrot. When Pacman was the big game of the year and Michael Jordan was just a budding rookie.

There is an incredibly popular thread on Reddit with 45.5K upvotes and over 17.2K different comments answering just one simple question: "People old enough to remember life pre-internet, what are some less obvious things you miss about that time?"

Bored Panda made a selection of the most nostalgic and warm memories of those wonderful times of cassette recorders, Bird - Magic rivalry and the Back to the Future movie. We guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your parents are going to love it.

More info: Reddit

This post may include affiliate links.

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Leaving home and just being gone for the day. No cell phones. If there were cameras, it was really different. You used them to take pictures of things or had people take pictures of you. But there was no social media to preoccupy your mind. It was just doing something. And whoever you were with, was who you were with.

NakedKittyAlucard , Taavi Randmaa Report

Final score:

313points

POST

View more comments

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Before the internet, facts were "curated" in the sense that information came from people with expert knowledge and was distributed by journalists or teachers who were held accountable for accuracy of information. The internet has allowed crazy people to spout rubbish with hardly any filter.

Mark_Zajac , Marco Verch Report

Final score:

300points

POST

View more comments

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community When you used to play outside and the only curfew you had was when it started getting dark outside.

SnooDoughnuts231 , Donnie Ray Jones Report

Final score:

280points

POST

View more comments

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Simplicity. I don't even know how to describe it. Like my days were filled with playing outside or swimming or reading in tree out front.

eschuylerhamilton , oandu. Report

Final score:

273points

POST

View more comments

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community The Saturday morning cartoons and sitcoms I watched.

LilacEtoile , Mike Mozart Report

Final score:

257points

POST

View more comments

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community For me it would be less negativity. Back then I was less aware of what was going on around the world outside of where I lived but now it’s almost instant coverage of the bad things happening everywhere.

BiffChildFromBangor , John Brighenti Report

Final score:

233points

POST

View more comments

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community I miss having an attention span of more than three seconds

twomorelambbhunas , Romain Toornier Report

Final score:

231points

POST

View more comments

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Not being accessible to my boss 14 hours a day.

AUSavage77 , Sascha Kohlmann Report

Final score:

223points

POST

View more comments

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Privacy. When you left work or school it was over for the day. There were no further interactions unless they were close friends. Hanging out. Teens and young adults spent a lot of time away from home with friends, at malls, movie theaters, parks, arcades, etc. Dating. You met someone at school, work, at a party, at a bar, or through friend. Money. Cash was king, debit cards didn’t exist, and many businesses didn’t accept credit cards (fast food, for example.) Planners and Address books. Write it down! Appointments, birthdays, addresses, phone numbers, reminders, etc. Photo Albums. Taking the time to buy film for a party or special occasion or just because and having 24 photos you could take (with no way to see the final photo until you took it to be developed.) Road maps. Going anywhere you haven’t been before? Better stop at a gas station and buy a map. Shopping. Go to the store and see what they have. Do the local stores not have what you need? Try looking in a catalog, maybe you can mail order it. Music. On the radio and on MTV. Buy records, cassette, or CDs. Make mix tapes to create your own playlists. If you don’t record it off the radio or buy it there is no way of finding it again. There was so much “not knowing” which made the world seem so much bigger and exotic. Now everything feels noisy and petty.

Jane_doel , Metro Centric Report

Final score:

222points

POST

View more comments

#10

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community My formative years were the 1980s. I remember like yesterday going to study in Paris my junior year of college. I got off the plane with no cell phone, no internet, a Let's Go Paris book, and just a hostel address written on a piece of paper I'd stuck in a French dictionary. I did not know a single person in all of France.

I had $500 of cash stuck in a money belt. The belt was tight and sweaty but that money had to last me for at least a month until I could find a part-time job with my lousy French. My "credit card" was my father's credit card numbers written down on a piece of paper. He told me I could only use it to buy a plane ticket home in an emergency.

I remember standing in the airport and having this powerful emotion of being 21 years old, scared shitless, but in absolutely completely control of my own destiny. There was absolutely nobody who could come rushing to my aid if I needed it. I was 100% on my own.

I'm actually very thankful for that experience. I found the hostel. I found a job. I made friends. I learned French. I made it all on my own which was just a big boost in life confidence.

I have no doubt if I'd had a cell phone I would've called my parents on Day 2, told them it was too hard, and been on the next plane home. But I had no other choice but to succeed.

gold_and_diamond , Rusty Clark ~ 100K Photos Report

Final score:

213points

POST

View more comments

#11

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Going to the library to research things. I loved getting a big pile of books on a table, taking notes, getting photocopies. It was an experience in itself.

Also, not being available to everyone all the time. I hate that almost all apps show people when you read their messages or are online. No one needs to know that I read a message and didn't reply for two hours!

InelegantSnort , Stewart Butterfield Report

Final score:

203points

POST

View more comments

#12

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Living in the moment. Memorizing peoples phone numbers. People were less flaky. No manufactured drama over likes and dislikes.

StomachAche121 , Rawpixel Ltd Report

Final score:

188points

POST

View more comments

#13

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Being at a party and folks not checking their phones. In the good old days you had to interact.

Jiltedjohn , I G Report

Final score:

186points

POST

View more comments

#14

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community The Sears catalog. That was how I found out about all the cool new toys.

CatapultemHabeo , Claudette Gallant Report

Final score:

177points

POST

View more comments

#15

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community video rental stores. i have such good memories of going to our local Mr. Movie with my dad, renting a sci-fi flick and getting candy at the checkout. streaming is cool and all, but i do miss video rental stores, mainly for nostalgic reasons.

good-witch- , Grant Baldwin Report

Final score:

169points

POST

View more comments

#16

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Being in the moment. There was little temptation to be stuck in front of a screen or a phone all of the time.

TV had a schedule and wasn’t in demand, so if something you didn’t like came on you usually went to do something else, like go outside, read a book, or whatever. Life didn’t revolve around screens, and everyone was better off for it.

It sadly seems to take far too much self control to do those things these days.

anewhand , Stephen Bowler Report

Final score:

154points

POST

View more comments

#17

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Reading the newspaper and magazines used to be just about one of my favorite things.

Now it seems pointless to clutter the house with so much paper when I can access all of it online - but of course I don't. I pick and choose just a few articles, I don't really browse the way I would before and I encounter a lot fewer new or enlightening things.

Getting the Sunday New York Times and then going out for brunch and reading it with your friends/dates was such a treat.

I used to get so excited when my favorite magazines came in the mail, I'd immediately sit down and leaf through them and see what was worth reading right away and what could wait.

zazzlekdazzle , Magnus Karlsson Report

Final score:

152points

POST

View more comments

See Also on Bored Panda

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

Thrill-Seeking Diver Jumps Down Extreme Waterslide, Ignoring The Strict Ban For Women

#18

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community This is gonna sound dumb but... getting lost. Like, it was bad a lot of the time too but sometimes not knowing exactly where you were going led to unexpected and awesome consequences.

KickpuncherJ , liquidcrash Report

Final score:

143points

POST

View more comments

#19

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community When you bought new music you just had to hope it was good. The single might be popular but otherwise unless someone had it you just bought it and hoped for the best.

LewisEFurr , yomayoma Report

Final score:

142points

POST

View more comments

#20

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community The instant win bottle caps / candy / chocolate bar wrappers where you could turn them back into the store and immediately get a free one. Now it's just codes you have to register on their website so they can get your info, i don't even bother anymore.

SuperNobody-MWO , Daniel Spiess Report

Final score:

140points

POST

View more comments

#21

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community The smell of Encyclopedia Britannicas

theWildBore , Ponenski Report

Final score:

140points

POST

View more comments

See Also on Bored Panda

Woman Put A Water Fountain With A Camera In Her Yard, Here Are 24 Photos Of Regular Visitors (New Pics)

“Ma’am I Live Here”: Woman Refuses To Back Out Of Driveway, Learns A Lesson The Hard Way

#22

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community Sitting down in the evening to read a book because there was nothing on tv. With today’s streaming services, there is so much more media being produced - and it’s all available at the click of a button whenever you damn well please. It can easily become an endless loop of what to watch next. I remember when there used to be 8 channels. You either had to watch “General Hospital” or find something better to do.

jsoliloquy , Pedro Ribeiro Simões Report

Final score:

137points

POST

View more comments

#23

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community You had to call someone's home phone number and talk to their parents first before you could talk to your friend

Video game cheat codes either spread by gaming magazines or by word of mouth. Sometimes that word of mouth was b******t. I'm looking at you Tomb Raider nude cheat code

TheRealOcsiban , Niels van Reijmersdal Report

Final score:

132points

POST

View more comments

#24

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community RSVPing mattered. If you said you were going to be there, you made sure to be there. None of this facebook invites that everyone blows off without any form of social repercussions. If you said you were going to go and didn't go, you were the a*****e and everyone knew it.

APotatoPancake , Garry Knight Report

Final score:

132points

POST

View more comments

See Also on Bored Panda

50 Of The Most Incredible Shots That Were Submitted To The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

French Diver’s “Jewels” In Tight Swimming Trunks Become Talk Of The Town At Olympics

#25

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community People would forget things you did that where maybe not the smartest..

AioliApprehensive433 , Bradford Fults Report

Final score:

131points

POST

View more comments

#26

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community The effort that people made to stay in touch. Now, it is effortless, but people don't bother with anything but social media.

rjm167 , Marco Verch Professional P Report

Final score:

128points

POST

View more comments

#27

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community News only being on at 6pm. That was it. Now we have 6 hours of local news and 24 hours of cable news. Not being bombarded all day with "news." And when you saw "Breaking News" on the screen you knew some serious s**t went down.

Edit: My old brain interpreted "pre internet" as "when you were a kid". So yeah cable news was a thing ore internet. But you all know what I mean. When I was a kid local news was noon for 30 minutes and 6pm for 30 minutes, then Network news was 6:39 for 39 minutes. I think local might have had an 11pm too but I don't remember for sure.

Drumwife91 , frankieleonFollow Report

Final score:

125points

POST

View more comments

See Also on Bored Panda

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

Mom Leaves $250k Inheritance To Son, Throws A Fit When Daughter Stops Looking After Her

#28

Innocence.

The ease at which even a kid can gain access to the scariest of content (or super serious content) is such a drastic change from the 90s early 2000s.

TGS_Holdings Report

Final score:

123points

POST

View more comments

#29

Mix tapes.

happyjappypappy Report

Final score:

114points

POST

View more comments

#30

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community The absolute absence of push notifications.

Life just waited for you like a good person.

MacarioTala , KylaBorg Report

Final score:

106points

POST

View more comments

Note: this post originally had 48 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

What do you think ?

Stacey Rae 2 years ago

It was nice that every mistake I've made was not recorded for ever

28points

Roman Hans 2 years ago (edited)

As a kid I was poor and frequently bored, and I discovered you could call airlines, ask them for travel posters, and they would mail them to you free of charge. Big, beautiful, full-color posters of exotic destinations. My room was completely covered with these free posters, and this is probably part of the reason I love to travel today.

25points

Bill Evs 2 years ago

I used to do something similar. I loved cars as a kid (still do) and my Dad would buy me car magazines that often had adverts for prestige motor dealers. I would write letters to them telling them how much I loved Ferraris, Lambos, Astons, etc and a few weeks later I would get a poster tube in the mail with all these cool, huge posters and keyrings.

11points

Load More Replies...

Tami 2 years ago

Wow, that's so cool, what a great idea. Not sure how long ago that was, but maybe those posters are worth some bucks now!

3points

Cheyanne Pavan 2 years ago

We used to write letters to companies (such as Lays, Proctor & Gamble, or really any product that had an address on the container) either asking questions or pretending to need information for a school project. We loved getting actual letters back in the mail, usually with coupons for free samples!

1point

madbakes 2 years ago

That's so cool!

Zophra 2 years ago

It would be nice to see a list about ways the access to internet/cell phone has made lives better. So many articles wax nostalgic for the older days. Personally. I love the access to instant information, fact-checking, ease of communication.checking on family members, appointments, online ordering... I think moderation is key.

I finally got a smartphone a couple months ago, and yes it is nice to be able to look things up on the go, check on the cat via a webcam, or send a quick text with a photo to an out-of-state relative. Moderation is indeed the key. As my awareness of what the new phone can do grows, I'm noticing the potential to lose a certain feel of engagement with life. I don't want to let that happen!

8points

Julie C Rose 2 years ago

Same. Who are these people who all had perfect lives 20+ years ago? My life sure as hell wasn’t perfect.

5points

Seabeast 2 years ago

One good thing to come from the internet is that people who are abused get verification that yes, it is abuse. That they aren't crazy or "too sensitive".

2points

Sergio Bicerra Descalzi 2 years ago

Cell phones alowed to watch my bed-bound mom in her last years, search for a free ambulance service to take her to the hospital, search about how to take her of her, and text my family to tell them she passed away cause I couldn't talk. So yeah, i'm very thankful to them.

Deanna Crichley 2 years ago

So, start one. I tell everyone I know, it's a phone. I'm not always nearby, I'm not always available. It's fine for people to say "well nobody's MAKING you be online!". But yes. yes they are.

Claudia Schmid 2 years ago

I was thinking the same. I love technology and especially for introverts like me who to like to call, Whatsapp and e-mail are a blessing. Of course, some things were nice back then, e.g. not being controlled so much by your parents. But for me, the advantages of technology outweigh the disadvantages

Load More Comments

30 Of The Most Wonderful Things From The Pre-Internet Era, As Told By Members Of This Online Community

Oleg Tarasenko

Oleg Tarasenko

Monika Pašukonytė

Monika Pašukonytė

Word Search

WordroW

Jigsaw

Crossword

Sudoku

Picdoku

Killer Sudoku

Kriss Kross

Word Flower