A world without Internet.

[MontyVeda]

Our daughter was without Internet for 24 hours yesterday and her son ( 11 years old ) drove them crazy cos he didn't know what to do with himself which raises the question: "Are youngsters so hooked on it now that their world collapses when the Internet is down?"
We live in a very sad world indeed.

I wouldn't say it's a sad world, it's just different. I spent all my time as a kid listening to records and watching TV (as well as somehow managing to play out all the time too!). When my dad was 10 years old, the 7" single barely existed and barely anyone had seen a TV.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I think you just look at the rise in mental health issues and wonder how much of that is to do with the always on connected world.

I do wonder about that. Is it a real rise or is it just because behavior that was once just classed as a normal deviation in personality is now reclassified?

I know we've had paperboys in the shop who reel off a list of their ADHDs and various other acronyms like a proud vet listing his war medals. They never seem to be other than normal teenagers, ok most of the time but often a pain in the arse.

 

[numbnuts]

I’m just back from a walk with only my house keys. How on earth did I cope?

I've done that, but it was at 02:30 and have the photo to prove it

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I've done that, but it was at 02:30 and have the photo to prove it

Was the photo from when you streaked past a speed camera?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Here’s one for Cyclechat folk to play


View: https://youtu.be/9-9Hfl3ReLo

 

[fossyant]

10 months of loo rolls, about 200 ti s of various foods (that I rotate through), and no AKs that I'll adnit to although I do have a shotgun.

10 months of loo roll won't go far if you get the lables mixed up/fall off beans !

 

[fossyant]

I must say as a kid, I was a regular visitor to A&E - I was definately out hours and hours playing in the fields behind our houses, building dens etc etc. Had something fall on my head (OK an old top loader washer) that was dumped over the neighbours fence, and it rolled and hit me on my head. Thought nothing about it until called 'home' some time later. My head felt itchy.... loads of blood, argh, raced home, A&E visit, lots of stitches. I was primary age.

I'm still quite, oh well, bit of WD40 etc attitude to injuries. I've some nice scars from stuff in recent years. Nah, no hospital visits, just get some bandages and tape, and it will do. Plenty of folk in A&E that shouldn't be there these days. Takes a broken spine to get me there now. Grew up with the school of hard knocks, and cycling was part of it. Doing sport makes you more robust generally.

 

[classic33]

Wouldn't being able to do the simple stuff, without having to turn to a computer to tell a person how much change from £10 to give. Or be able to look through a printed price list, possibly on the shelf itself to get a price and not rely on your website to give you the price.

 

[screenman]

I do not think the children are to blame, not many kids cand drive a 4x4 to school or have pooped into the shops to buy a 65 inch tv for their bedroom.

 

[ColinJ]

... or have pooped into the shops

How weird is the human mind...?

That typo just gave me a flashback to 55 years ago... Not so much pooping into the shops as pooping into the school!

I had arrived to find a bunch of boys standing around the entrance to the main school building. Lots of muttering and laughing going on. I found my way to the front and found what was being referred to as "Baxter's turd" steaming proudly on the step. I never found out whether it had been an 'accident' or whether it was Baxter's adolescent 'dirty protest'!

I'll put that memory aside for another 55 years now...

 

[tyred]

I don't think my parents engaged with me much. I was told to read a book or play with whatever toys were available. My Dad used to take out in the car if he was going somewhere and then leave me sitting in the car on my own for hours if he called to visit someone.

Growing up on a farm, I was expected to work once I was big enough to be useful and I never had anyone to play with as my brother and sister were much older and being a rural area, not many people were around.

I don't think it was much different for my peers at school.

 

[lazybloke]

I couldn't do my job without internet!

We rely on it so much nowadays. When I was in Carlisle a few days ago, the hotel wi-fi was terrible and my mobile data connection kept dropping in and out. I was trying to sort out my ferry booking and a few other things so ended up buying a pint and sitting in a corner of Whetherspoons as I needed internet. I could have got a big bag of coins, found a working payphone and spent 3 hours on hold to the P&O booking line, or wrote to them, enclosing a cheque or postal order, but internet makes it much easier.

Yesterday in Ayr, when I was weighing up my options for getting back to Stranraer, I just got my phone out and looked up possible cycle routes, bus and train time tables.

The internet makes so many things so much easier. Some people probably do over-use it but I wouldn't like to be without it either.

How weird is the human mind...?

That typo just gave me a flashback to 55 years ago... Not so much pooping into the shops as pooping into the school!

I had arrived to find a bunch of boys standing around the entrance to the main school building. Lots of muttering and laughing going on. I found my way to the front and found what was being referred to as "Baxter's turd" steaming proudly on the step. I never found out whether it had been an 'accident' or whether it was Baxter's adolescent 'dirty protest'!

I'll put that memory aside for another 55 years now...

Omg, on the step??!?

We had 'the chunky submarine' at my school; an unflushable stool which caused endless embarrassment to the poor lad who had deposited it. How he was identified, i never knew.

 

[Reynard]

The internet is a very useful tool - you've a whole world's worth of libraries, articles, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, thesauruses, documentaries, podcasts and image archives at your fingertips.

Earlier this year, I spent several weeks delving into the material in the IMechE archive to cross-check stuff whilst identifying and cataloguing a collection of engineering drawings. I could do it from the comfort of my own armchair and at my own pace, which beats having to trot down to IMechE HQ in Albemarle Street.

OTOH, if the internet goes off (as it often does here in the boonies when it's blowing a hoolie), then I've still got plenty of books, art and craft stuff and as a writer, there's always something that wants writing LOL!

If the electric goes down, then I've a good old-fashioned typewriter. And failing that, pens and paper.

 

[raleighnut]

We did as youngsters. I well remember the many power cuts and candles in the house.

Yep me too but we were lucky in that we had a gas fire in the living/dining room and a Coal fire in the front room. A gas cooker so tea/coffee/meals weren't affected and a big old Roberts radio that used a gigantic 9v battery that lasted for months whereas friends/family with central heating and electric ovens/kettles were really stuffed. I remember Dad lending my Uncle (his BiL) the old parafin camping stove he'd had since his scout days so they could have a cuppa and us having so many visitors to our 'relatively' un-modernised house.

 

[raleighnut]

Games consoles were available when we were kids. You were not allowed to be on them for long periods.

Possibly because early games (like 'pong') 'burned' certain areas of CRT screens, ditto 'space invaders'. I remember my uncle going ballistic at my cousin for doing this to the family telly