'There was a lot more boredom': People Discuss What Daily Life Was Like Before Smartphones

Author image for Ada Elder
Ada Elder
Mar 30, 2023 12:00 PM EDT

I didn't own a cell phone until 2006. I was late to the smartphone game as well, receiving my first iPhone in 2015 at the ripe old age of 27. Before cell phones, things were different. The only distractions I had on my commute, if I was lucky, were a walkman or my homework. Netflix arrived via DVD. If I made plans, and my friends were late, I'd have to call them on a pay phone. I had all their phone numbers memorized. These days, I'm lucky if I can remember my parents' numbers. 

While I can look back on this era wistfully, there are plenty of Gen Z-ers who will never know the joy of not being able to be reached at all hours by your boss or your crazy ex. One such youngster decided to ask the r/redscarepod subreddit what daily life was like before smartphones. And as a card-carrying elder millennial, I have to say: the responses were right on the money. 

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  • 01
    Font - r/redscarepod u/Swiggly Fingers 3d What was daily life like before smartphones? Yes I am a zoomer. Although I vaguely remember my childhood pre-2008ish when smartphones started coming out, I want to know what daily life, especially for adults, was like in those days. I'm trying to quit using my phone, so I would appreciate some info. What would you do in your free time? How has your behavior changed? etc etc etc ↑ 163 ↓ 216 Join ↑ Share
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  • 02
    Font - Warm-Background1492 • 3d There was a clock on the wall in every room. Reply ... psmb. 3d 293 8 Yeah, I wote a watch until 2016 and haven't since actually. But maybe I was doing more. exams. ↑ 15 +
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  • 03
    Font - famous_pet_owner • 3d Everybody currently alive spent most of their time watching television and changing the channel when a commercial break happened Reply 428
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  • 04
    Font - Century Toad • 3d There was a lot more boredom, and I think it gave people a tolerance for idleness that we've lost. People now see to get fidgety and irritable if they're left unoccupied for even just a few minutes. Reply 139
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  • 05
    Font - Microplastics-Fan • 3d You'd make plans with friends to meet somewhere, and you'd get there and if they were late you'd be like ???? So you'd ride your bike over to a pay phone and dial their home phone number and their mum answers and you're like "hey is Tom coming to meet me at the bike jumps?" and she's like idk he left ages ago so you cycle about with no way of being contactable or contacting him and you're like oh damn so you go to the creek nearby and meet some other boys who were f
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  • 06
    Font - venetianheadboards • 3d looking for your friends in the three or so designated 'places we usually hang out', then the reality of knowing something cool came up and they could be anywhere now, and you won't know until they're all hyping it at school tomorrow so just hang out with someone else today then. 427
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  • 07
    Font - idreamofdasha • 3d People werent online as much. You'd actually watch more TV. You'd read more because sometimes nothing good was on. There's no real way to describe it because everyone was at different life stages. For an elementary school child it was different than an adult breadwinner. Travel was definitely way more difficult without instant GPS maps. Reply 55
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  • 08
    Font - No_Penalty_8102 • 3d Much larger attention span, you could truly live in any moment, private enjoyment was a tangible thing, and contrary to the theory that all these smartphones and social media have made us more interactive, there was never a sense of disconnectedness or isolation. Friends would talk for hours on the phone each night, people got together on more occasions, and in social settings people truly interacted and the parties were better because nobody was taking pictures and n
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  • 09
    Font - Next Chapter 1984AD 3d ● It's a damn shame that privacy and spontaneity have just about gone out the window over the past 20 or so years No Penalty_8102 3d ● ... 120 It's the privacy I miss the most. Privacy used to be a thing that was valued. These days when people ask why I have no social media, I say I like to keep my life private and the look on people's faces you would think I just admitted to lurking outside elementary schools or something. Spontaneity too. It's now seen as a weirdo
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  • 10
    Font - Microplastics-Fan • 3d ● One other thing - there were more "pop ins" as we call them in Australia. "Pop arounds", basically where a friend or neighbour would just arrive at your doorstep for a chat or something. In the 90s it happened ALL THE TIME, my mum used to hate it but it was the normal thing. People would often walk into your house too, because we never locked doors, so a friend or neighbour would yell out "yoohoo? Knock knock!!" As they open the door and walk right into your house
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  • 11
    Font - But another thing - the feeling of peace you had. If you weren't at home, there was no real way for anyone to know where you are. No one was expecting you to take work calls, no annoying text messages from people, you were just alone. Also - people were more wholesome and simple. Obviously there were still narccisstic wankers around, but the lack of social media meant that grifting and bullshitting and comparisons and all that shit was reserved to gossip magazines. There was so much less
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  • 12
    Rectangle - Liquid Body Waste • 3d ● I was always lost (wammin driver) because my printed Mapquest directions could not update when I made a wrong turn Reply 68
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  • 13
    Font - P4rip • 3d i still recall it as a surreal thought that as late as my freshman yr of high school i'd find it completely normal to just leave the house and go to school without taking my cellphone along since i didn't feel i needed it. i do sometimes wonder how having a pre-internet 20s experience would've been like Reply 420
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  • 14
    Font - fiachra9733d You read books, magazines more. When you got home you'd watch TV and call people on the landline. When you visit a friend you wouldn't call them first. You just show up and knock on their door. ... Reply 21 Limp_Difference_5964 • 3d I think the decline of reading isn't blamed enough on smartphones. Before a book was the best way to burn some time on the go.
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  • 15
    Font - bretton-woods • 3d Speaking for that time period after the internet but before smartphones, things felt looser because you consciously knew that not everything you did could end up online, and even if it was filmed or photographed it was usually for someone to show to a smaller group of people later. Even after YouTube began it took a while as you'd have to convert and upload videos. If you wanted to drive somewhere far, you'd either use a GPS if you had the money, or map out the directio
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red scare iPhones smartphones millennials memories interesting elder-millennials gen z Reddit
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