I do lament some old things while at the same time being happy things have changed.
I do miss not being expected to have my phone with me all the time - but I’m also happy that I can contact my teenage daughter wherever she is.
I do miss the era of physical media, especially video stores - but I also like being able to download any media I like (arr!) and have a lot of it streaming too, and fitting all of it into a tiny amount of space.
I do miss my old tiny 1980s manual Toyota Corrola - but I also like only spending a fraction of my paycheck on gas because I drive a Prius now. And I certainly don’t miss leaded gasoline.
I do miss the internet of the 1990s when it was more like the Wild West - but I also like things like adblockers and anti-tracking extensions and not having to clean your cookies regularly.
I’m sure I could think of others, but these are off the top of my head.
One of the things I deeply miss is sleeping under the stars. I grew up in a tiny rural town, and we used to have long power cuts during summer. I am talking like more than 9 hrs every day. During nights, we used to sleep on terrace to stay cool. I don’t miss the power cuts, but I also miss those uncomplicated days.
Now a days, I feel like we are living in a unholy mix of Cyberpunk, Orwellian and Kafkaesque dystopia.
I don’t know where you live, but this is very much still doable now. It all depends on your location. If you’d actually like to live somewhere like that, try looking for towns with 10k or less people. It might take a while, but eventually you’ll find one you like
You misunderstand. Sure, sleeping under the stars was fun. I also distinctly remember being assaulted by mosquitoes. It was not all sunshine and rainbows. I am working on buying a house and small farm land in a village near the city I live in.
What I meant was I just miss those days of not worrying. It is just expressed as missing sleeping under the stars. I am trying to find a better balance between urban and rural living. It is not as easy though.
The time between pop up ads / excessive ads and ad blockers being introduced wasn’t that long. You’d get some annoying banner ads, but the intrusive ones were quickly blocked.
Having a few hours of the day where you went offline because you wanted to because either you couldn’t find anything interesting, your downloads were going to take hours, your PC was down, the internet was down or someone else wanted to use the computer.
So you had no choice but to go spend time going something else … go for a walk, play a sport, hang out with your friends, read a book or just walk downtown for no reason. And in all that time you were out, you had no phone and no connection to the internet which meant your mind was free to not really think of much for a few hours.
I like the internet and I like social media but I dislike the ability of everyone having, wanting, needing a perpetual connection to everyone and everything all the time.
I feel like a junky sometimes … I want to go offline but I’m so addicted to it that I never leave.
I do miss not being expected to have my phone with me all the time
I didn’t have a cell phone for long after they became mainstream. I still remember a friend hitting me up on Facebook with a message saying he had been calling me all day and kept getting VM, asking why I don’t answer my phone. I thoroughly enjoyed saying “I wasn’t home and don’t take my landline with me when I go out”. I do have a cellphone now, and I dislike how people freak out if you don’t respond within 10 minutes. Like, chill the fuck out dude, I’m doing things.
I do miss the era of physical media
I still buy vinyl records, and love listening to them. Thankfully they’re hipster now, so you can get high quality, deep cut records for just about any album. I buy CDs at the thrift store for $0.25-$1.00. I’ve managed to buy every CD I lost throughout my life, plus everything else I always wanted, but couldn’t afford. I even found the Pink Floyd Pulse album in perfect condition for $2.
I figure that’s about what a CD used to cost back in the day, adjusted for inflation. We were paying $16 for a CD back in the early 90’s. Records are probably more expensive to make, and often have really cool artwork as inserts. There’s the thrift store too though. About half of my record collection are original presses that I got from the thrift store for twenty five cents each. They don’t sound as good, but they’re pretty neat. Sometimes I buy a record at the thrift store just because it has cool artwork, like the Chicago album that has pressed engraving artwork, like dollar bills.
Discogs my friend. It’s like a magical bazaar for music.
You can get your music in any format that you like if someone’s selling. And you can even watch an album to be notified if one goes on the market.
There is only one downside: if you want an album but you don’t care about all the minute differences between releases in different regions, you’re going to have to follow all the different versions. It gets… annoying for albums with lots of releases and remasters.
I still buy all my switch games as second hand cartridges. I just like owning the fully. Was the same with my 3DS. Fuck digital Downloads from companies that obviously plan to shut down their online shops…
To your last point, I like that as the internet has become more “civilized,” no matter how risky a click may seem, it’s been over 10 years since I’ve accidentally been exposed to CSAM or videos of something or someone being killed or maimed. I know it’s still out there, but I don’t see it anymore.
I do lament some old things while at the same time being happy things have changed.
I do miss not being expected to have my phone with me all the time - but I’m also happy that I can contact my teenage daughter wherever she is.
I do miss the era of physical media, especially video stores - but I also like being able to download any media I like (arr!) and have a lot of it streaming too, and fitting all of it into a tiny amount of space.
I do miss my old tiny 1980s manual Toyota Corrola - but I also like only spending a fraction of my paycheck on gas because I drive a Prius now. And I certainly don’t miss leaded gasoline.
I do miss the internet of the 1990s when it was more like the Wild West - but I also like things like adblockers and anti-tracking extensions and not having to clean your cookies regularly.
I’m sure I could think of others, but these are off the top of my head.
One of the things I deeply miss is sleeping under the stars. I grew up in a tiny rural town, and we used to have long power cuts during summer. I am talking like more than 9 hrs every day. During nights, we used to sleep on terrace to stay cool. I don’t miss the power cuts, but I also miss those uncomplicated days.
Now a days, I feel like we are living in a unholy mix of Cyberpunk, Orwellian and Kafkaesque dystopia.
I don’t know where you live, but this is very much still doable now. It all depends on your location. If you’d actually like to live somewhere like that, try looking for towns with 10k or less people. It might take a while, but eventually you’ll find one you like
You misunderstand. Sure, sleeping under the stars was fun. I also distinctly remember being assaulted by mosquitoes. It was not all sunshine and rainbows. I am working on buying a house and small farm land in a village near the city I live in.
I took this to mean, that you deeply missed it.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
What I meant was I just miss those days of not worrying. It is just expressed as missing sleeping under the stars. I am trying to find a better balance between urban and rural living. It is not as easy though.
That’s for sure. Especially in places like North America, where the “missing middle” is very prevalent.
I hope you find a place your happy in!
to be fair, there wasn’t much that needed blocking back then either. Mass tracking came about later.
There were a ton of ads though. And you couldn’t block them.
Please install a game from dodgy site you found via link diving on some forum, yes do not bother reading anything, nextnextnext…
What do you mean you have ads in ads?
I miss this wacky roulette ^^’ And I still caught only the last moments of it.
The time between pop up ads / excessive ads and ad blockers being introduced wasn’t that long. You’d get some annoying banner ads, but the intrusive ones were quickly blocked.
Having a few hours of the day where you went offline because you wanted to because either you couldn’t find anything interesting, your downloads were going to take hours, your PC was down, the internet was down or someone else wanted to use the computer.
So you had no choice but to go spend time going something else … go for a walk, play a sport, hang out with your friends, read a book or just walk downtown for no reason. And in all that time you were out, you had no phone and no connection to the internet which meant your mind was free to not really think of much for a few hours.
I like the internet and I like social media but I dislike the ability of everyone having, wanting, needing a perpetual connection to everyone and everything all the time.
I feel like a junky sometimes … I want to go offline but I’m so addicted to it that I never leave.
I’m glad I don’t have to be alone with my thoughts anymore. My thoughts are dangerous.
True to a degree … sometimes the most dangerous thoughts are not your own … but other people’s
I didn’t have a cell phone for long after they became mainstream. I still remember a friend hitting me up on Facebook with a message saying he had been calling me all day and kept getting VM, asking why I don’t answer my phone. I thoroughly enjoyed saying “I wasn’t home and don’t take my landline with me when I go out”. I do have a cellphone now, and I dislike how people freak out if you don’t respond within 10 minutes. Like, chill the fuck out dude, I’m doing things.
I still buy vinyl records, and love listening to them. Thankfully they’re hipster now, so you can get high quality, deep cut records for just about any album. I buy CDs at the thrift store for $0.25-$1.00. I’ve managed to buy every CD I lost throughout my life, plus everything else I always wanted, but couldn’t afford. I even found the Pink Floyd Pulse album in perfect condition for $2.
Yeah, but super expensive. My daughter loves vinyl, but we never buy anything new because you’re going to spend at least $30 for anything decent.
I figure that’s about what a CD used to cost back in the day, adjusted for inflation. We were paying $16 for a CD back in the early 90’s. Records are probably more expensive to make, and often have really cool artwork as inserts. There’s the thrift store too though. About half of my record collection are original presses that I got from the thrift store for twenty five cents each. They don’t sound as good, but they’re pretty neat. Sometimes I buy a record at the thrift store just because it has cool artwork, like the Chicago album that has pressed engraving artwork, like dollar bills.
Edit: wow, CDs actually cost more back then adjusted for inflation. $36.12 in 1992.
Adjusted for inflation, maybe. But records used to be cheaper than CDs.
Discogs my friend. It’s like a magical bazaar for music.
You can get your music in any format that you like if someone’s selling. And you can even watch an album to be notified if one goes on the market.
There is only one downside: if you want an album but you don’t care about all the minute differences between releases in different regions, you’re going to have to follow all the different versions. It gets… annoying for albums with lots of releases and remasters.
That’s a lot less fun than going to a used record store or an antique mall though. That’s what we do.
For sure. They’re not a thing over here unfortunately. Maybe if I’m lucky I find something in a popup car boot sale.
Whatever the case, I’m glad that you find your way of going about vinyl hunting fulfilling :)
It’s fun, although she’s been less interested lately. Maybe in the spring.
I still buy all my switch games as second hand cartridges. I just like owning the fully. Was the same with my 3DS. Fuck digital Downloads from companies that obviously plan to shut down their online shops…
To your last point, I like that as the internet has become more “civilized,” no matter how risky a click may seem, it’s been over 10 years since I’ve accidentally been exposed to CSAM or videos of something or someone being killed or maimed. I know it’s still out there, but I don’t see it anymore.