Just what if internet was not invented?

[prettyimpress]

No online business, no social networks, no access to movies/videos, nothing.

What would you be doing then????

I'd probably..... (thinking)
(and thinking)
(still thinking..)
(really thinking hard...)

Oh gosh, no idea what I'd be doing probably..

How about you guys?

[Harold Mansfield]

No Internet? I'd probably still be in Hospitality..tending bar probably..and miserable.

[cbscreative]

I'd be doing more of what I used to do. Serving only the local market, maybe hand drawing graphics, reading more printed books, using the library, encyclopedias, and other publications to get information, trying to find what I'm looking for without a search engine, renting movies from Blockbuster, watching TV on cable, running to the bank for every transaction, waiting for the statement in the mail before seeing account detail, ordering from catalogs, using 800 numbers and waiting on hold to get simple questions answered, writing checks to pay bills, relying on Fed-Ex to have a piece of art delivered before 10:30 Guaranteed, paying more for long distance calls, trying to plan vacations by ordering a bunch of literature from tourist associations or Chamber of Commerce from the area I plan to visit, making a lot of phone calls for reservations, and I could go on...

Ah, the good ol' days.

[Harold Mansfield]

I'd be doing more of what I used to do. Serving only the local market, maybe hand drawing graphics, reading more printed books, using the library, encyclopedias, and other publications to get information, trying to find what I'm looking for without a search engine, renting movies from Blockbuster, watching TV on cable, running to the bank for every transaction, waiting for the statement in the mail before seeing account detail, ordering from catalogs, using 800 numbers and waiting on hold to get simple questions answered, writing checks to pay bills, relying on Fed-Ex to have a piece of art delivered before 10:30 Guaranteed, paying more for long distance calls, trying to plan vacations by ordering a bunch of literature from tourist associations or Chamber of Commerce from the area I plan to visit, making a lot of phone calls for reservations, and I could go on...

Ah, the good ol' days.

Wow, reading that made me realize that I do everything online...right down to ordering pizza. I haven't shopped for anything at a physical store other than clothes and food in the last 3 years. Even scarier is how much I take it all for granted.

[dynocat]

I'd be writing personal letters by hand--yes, in cursive. Remember that? :)

I'd also be typing each business letter, quote, price list and sales sheet. Where's that correction tape when you need it? :)

Remember carbon paper? Another oldie. Of course, I'd be up to date and have a copier. :)

As far as keeping the books, I still have some of those 40+ column ledger sheets gathering dust somewhere around here. :)

I have to say, Word and Excel have been miraculous gifts to me--even though I paid dearly for them.

ETA: I just realized the OP was about the internet, not computers. IGNORE ME PLEASE.

[greenoak]

i would be wandering around blockbuster wondering what to watch.... i wouldnt have a 4000 person mailing list!!! id be out in the garden more.... i sure wouldnt be getting women in big trucks coming to my door to buy furniture from out west....
and i remember when we got our apple 2 ,,,wondering what we would ever do on it....

[dizzle]

i'd still be teaching dance, and i'd probably weight 100 pounds less.

at least i wouldn't have to worry so much about my paper trail on the internet :p

[billbenson]

I'd be a field salesman selling something.

[KristineS]

I wouldn't be blogging, that's for sure. I did do a printed newsletter at one company I worked for that was basically cut and paste, using actual paper, scissors and paste. I wouldn't go back to that for anything.

[Patrysha]

I would likely still be snail mailing query letters to traditional magazines. I would likely be on the edges of publicity and promotion, but in a different way...a slower and less thrilling way I think...glad I don't have to test that theory out.

[huggytree]

my life wouldnt be too much different....everything over all would still be the same

id just have 1 extra hour a day to watch tv

[paneli]

I am pretty sure that if the internet would not have been invented, it would be another way to do similar things which are now made online.

[ParaTed2k]

We'd be stuck doing what we were doing in the 80s, just doing it older. ;~D

[vangogh]

I'd be doing whatever it was I was doing before the Internet came along. Naturally I wouldn't be designing websites for a living, but I would be able to use most of the same skills for something related, maybe print design.

On the personal side I'd be watching more tv and reading more for entertainment.

[brata]

i think i'd be trying to figure out a way to connect my 186 with my friends 186 across the street using my telephone line. I would then call this "the internet"

[vangogh]

Wouldn't that bring us into some kind of infinite loop where someone in your internet then asks what everyone would do if your internet didn't exist? Then someone else would reply similarly to you just have and we'd be inside another loop. :)

[cbscreative]

I love time loop episodes. If we were in that loop, how would we know it? It keeps repeating but no one except the hero knows it.

[vangogh]

Hmm? Maybe we're currently in one of the loops. Is anyone experience deja vu? Have we had this conversation before?

[cbscreative]

I had deja vu while writing that post.

[Harold Mansfield]

I love time loop episodes. If we were in that loop, how would we know it? It keeps repeating but no one except the hero knows it.

We would need Lieutenant Commander Data. His internal chronometer isn't affected by rips in the space time continuum, unless he's manually reprogrammed to skip, or erase certain segments of time.

[vangogh]

Hmm? Maybe we're currently in one of the loops. Is anyone experience deja vu? Have we had this conversation before?

[cbscreative]

We would need Lieutenant Commander Data. His internal chronometer isn't affected by rips in the space time continuum, unless he's manually reprogrammed to skip, or erase certain segments of time.

Actually, one of my favorite episodes of Next Generation had the Enterprise in a time loop and Data was affected like everyone else. The Enterprise kept blowing up as it collided with another starship in an anomaly only to reset to the beginning of the loop where some of the crew, including Data, were playing poker.

I can't recall the name of the episode but it really threw me the first time I watched it. The beginning starts out with the crash scene, Picard is ordering an "abandon ship" command just as the Enterprise explodes. Then it goes into the intro with commercial break and when the show comes back on, they're playing cards. What?! It only begins to make sense as you watch it.


Hmm? Maybe we're currently in one of the loops. Is anyone experience deja vu? Have we had this conversation before?

LOL

[Harold Mansfield]

Actually, one of my favorite episodes of Next Generation had the Enterprise in a time loop and Data was affected like everyone else. The Enterprise kept blowing up as it collided with another starship in an anomaly only to reset to the beginning of the loop where some of the crew, including Data, were playing poker.

I can't recall the name of the episode but it really threw me the first time I watched it. The beginning starts out with the crash scene, Picard is ordering an "abandon ship" command just as the Enterprise explodes. Then it goes into the intro with commercial break and when the show comes back on, they're playing cards. What?! It only begins to make sense as you watch it.


Yes, I know that one. It's called "Cause and Effect":
YouTube - Cause And Effect Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxxTUXVblAA&feature=related)

[vangogh]

Hmm? Maybe we're currently in one of the loops. Is anyone experience deja vu? Have we had this conversation before?