People Who Remember Life Before Smartphones and Social Media... What Was It Like? — Social Media Is Older Than Some New College Graduates, and That Explains a Strange and Growing Generational Divide

Smartphones

We're all addicted to our phones, and it's not just the kids either; how many of us are guilty of picking up our phone habitually? Even when we've just finished looking at it, and we are literally scraping the bottom of our For You Page on our favorite app, having quite literally read the entire internet for the day. We snap back to reality, close the app, and put the phone down. Only to pick it up and open the same app moments later when boredom strikes us yet again. 

Now fully culture-integrated

I'm going to age myself here, but even when I turned 21 years old and started going to clubs and shows, there wasn't a smartphone to be seen anywhere. Sure, they'd come out every now and again during people's favorite songs for 20 or 30 seconds, and that was seen as absurd enough, but people were, generally, there to enjoy the moment in a room full of strangers there to do the same thing. 

Now the cultural effects of everyone having a computer and a camera in their pocket in the form of a smartphone have fully integrated. That, and the fact that video can be widely shared thanks to social media platforms and algorithms that are more aggressive than ever, make a fearsome, socially restricting duo.  

Everyone is keenly aware of the possibility that an embarrassing video of them getting lost in the moment could be recorded and shared permanently on social media. Go to any concert and no one dances, both out of fear of being recorded (and having never even learned that dancing to the music is part of the culture because of that) and because they're too focused on recording the show themselves. 

The global-events-of-2020-that-shall-not-be-named made this worse too. It broke the continuity of “going out” culture in which newcomers traditionally would have been forced to integrate. When everything returned to “normal," well, a lot of things didn't. A lot of us, who might have been caught on a semi-frequent night out before 2020, completely checked out and decided, now older and weary, that we liked being at home better. There were also more than several years of “newcomers” joining all at once, and without the existing culture being dictated by the older groups, they made a new one for themselves. 

Now, when I occasionally do go out, all of the antisocial behavior, lack of common courtesy, and lack of energy quickly remind me why I'd rather just stay at home.

This is present in the workplace too. Especially as someone who works with social media as a core part of my job, it is astounding to think of social media as something that was always a part of the most junior members of the team's lives. To me, it is something that grew up and developed alongside my life. It's strange, also, to now interview people to whom this very website is a complete unknown, being that it was such a big part, culturally, of my generation's lives. 

A question for the younger readers

But all of this rambling is just more and more of “old man yelling at cloud." So I'll leave it there. 

But I do have a question for those of you in this age group: What is it like to have never really been offline?

Two of the last holdouts for disconnecting, for me at least, were airplane rides and going out into the backcountry. Now, thanks to satellite internet, we are constantly connected where we are, even in the most remote places, and it has provided planes too with in-flight wifi. Sure, you can just not connect to it if you don't want to, but I don't even want the temptation to be an option.

Now, you can never be fully disconnected. But I, at least, remember what it was like. What is it like to have had social media and smartphones dictating your entire life?

The Discussion

This is, of course, an ongoing discussion that is sure to intensify as more and more generations grow up and enter the workforce, giving us Millennials and Gen Zers a run for our money as we continue to become further and further removed from the cultural zeitgeist. (Yes, Gen Z, your time is coming, too, and sooner than you think.)

I have found a couple of threads from around the wider internet (Reddit) on this issue, where people shared their stories about this ongoing and growing cultural divide. Have a read through this selection of the best ones. For those who are old enough: enjoy this trip down memory lane. 

Afterward, share your thoughts with me and your own memories in the comments.

People who remember life before smartphones - what was it like?

Source/TennisSkirt1628

ArmedChair

I was born in 1989, lived 14 or 15 years without one.

The closest thing I played with growing up was my dad's Blackberry. They called them palm pilots back then.

For me it was playing in the streets, riding my bike around and getting into trouble with girls. It was like this until I started attending church, which my parents gave me a Nokia brick phone in 2004-ish. Even then, the most we could do was text and call.

Wanted to talk with friends but didnt have a phone? MSN or AIM messenger.

Have a question and didn't have AI? Fear not, we had ChaCha, a texting service that would awsner your questions.

Times were different even in 2008, where phones didn't quite have the functionality they have now. My Sidekick LX allowed me to message on MySpace with the internet browser, but even then, social media wasn't big on phones yet.

Latter_Lie1351

i think it's was nice. No Constant notification so you just live in your present moment. <3

mistalynn

It was the best! If a boy wanted to ask you out, he had to call your house and ask your parents if he could talk to you. We all hung out more, we were at the mall socializing, having a kegger in the prairies, there was no evidence of anything, except for maybe some s***y pictures you got from your disposable camera. At a party everybody was actually engaging with each other, because nobody had a phone! It was amazing and I miss it.

GladiusNocturno

Most people memorized phone numbers, at least their home number and those of their immediate relatives.

It was a habit to check your answering machine every time you arrived home.

There were these ancient scrolls in the bathroom called "magazines"; some were put in baskets next to the toilet.

Rare_Blueberry1557

The complete and total peace of leaving your house and being unreachable. Nobody expected an immediate reply. If someone wanted you, they left a message on an answering machine at home, and it was entirely acceptable to return it hours later—or even tomorrow.

You didn't realize it back then, but you weren't carrying everyone's anxiety and opinions in your pocket 24/7. When you were hanging out with friends, everyone was actually there.

Tuxedo_Muffin

Sometimes, you just wouldn't know something.

If you had a question, your option was to visit the library and find a book on the topic, or be ignorant. Later, there was the first internet. But it was hit or miss if you could actually find the true answer there. A lot of urban myths were started on the old internet.

In the flip side, people would make stuff up on the spot and you'd never know if it was true or not.

Fit-Presentation-778

Honestly, people doing a lot of things that you probably don't approve of now. People fantasize about what life was like back then. But it was WAY more wild than it is now. Everything that you probably think kids shouldn't be doing, they were.

A lot of us stayed outside even after the street lights went on. It just happened...
We were loud. We ran the creeks. Fished in gated communities. Biked everywhere and anywhere, even where we weren't allowed.

Seemed like EVERYBODY was smoking back then. Now when I smell it, I'm like "W** people still do that?!" People were actually smoking in restaurants right next to you while you ate.

Here's a big one. There was NO labels. They just weren't allowed. The TV and radio had equality ads focused on "Being Human", not your race or s** preference.

There was like ZERO peanut free zones.

And our language was a bit more insensitive.

Go watch "Full Metal Jacket" and see what we used to call "fat" back then... Yeah.

Smart phones ultimately gave us access to everyone's opinions and scary information - all the time. Completely changing our culture.

Lucinnda

In emergencies, it is much better now. In everyday life, it's much worse now. People expect access to you 24/7.

This question has floated around the internet for years; this was another thread where the original user who posted the question posed a more specific one: Just what did we do all day before we doomscrolled and spent most of our time glued to our screens?

How did people live before internet and smartphones? What did they do all day?

Source/aaaa23469

fin425

We watched trashy talk shows, the price is right, movies, and stuff like that. When there was a snowstorm, we went out to play, shoveled for money, and then had a snowball fight. We actually did s**t. It was a lot of fun. Kids would be out playing all day long. During the summer we’d hop on our bikes in the early morning and then come home by dinner which was around 6-7. We were never home.

KimchiAndLemonTree

50 years ago? Lol I'm 40s and even I grew up without internet (until late teens).

Snow day? You went out. You walked around with a shovel and tried to make money. You made snow angels and snow men and played outside. You called, on a landlines, and asked your friends parents if you could talk to them and then asked them to come out. 

If weather was really bad you'd go to a friend's house, play Nintendo or the mall or fast food place and just hang out. Bull ***t. Rent videos at blockbuster. Go to the movies. Come home before sundown.

Nice days you were out. Bicycles skateboards roller skates/blades whatever. You met people and hung out. You got quarter waters and went to the handball courts. Watch tv run to the bathroom and get snacks before commercials were over.

Boredom makes you creative. Lack of screens is the reason why I have a physical photo of me holding a plunger and my bf wearing safety glasses.

Usual-Campaign1724

Read books, went to the library, listened to the radio, played records, made up our own games, and, as everyone else has said, spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and doing stuff outside. Learned how to type, and practiced a lot, because computers didn’t exist. (I typed every paper due during high school, college and then grad school.) And, I remember being thrilled when I got my own corded phone (but not my own telephone number) so that I could talk to friends from my room instead of the kitchen. We also wrote letters to friends and family who weren’t local as long distance was expensive. We went to the movies as a family. Same for watching tv.