What was life like before the Internet and cable television?
My parents told me that back before cable television, they thought no one would ever pay for television.
I find that kind of interesting. Did people during the 1970’s and 1980’s actually thought, "who in the hell would pay for television?" ??
What was life like before the Internet and cable television?
people told stories, read books, and listened to the radio. they learned to make things from their parents, too. girls learned to cook and sew, and boys learned car mechanics and woodworking, etc. people knew how to entertain themselves then. movies were big on the weekends. there were serial stories on the radio in the evenings. children also ran and played outside. i remember, because i was 7 before we got a tv set. with 3 channels.
quality of life was much better. People actually had to have conversations with others and interact daily. These days technology has turned most into zombies..
References :
Comment by Slick — April 21, 2010 @ 12:53 am
In the early 90’s, I remember thinking that a computer was an enormous waste of money. I can’t say what life was like before TV, as I wasn’t there. However, I know that news spread slower, and the radio wasn’t just used for music.
References :
Comment by Patriot Yankee — April 21, 2010 @ 1:05 am
When I was a kid we had 3 channels on tv and 2 were kinda fuzzy & in black & white. I lived in a big city too. TV stations would stop broadcasting around midnight too.
References :
Comment by John — April 21, 2010 @ 1:54 am
I grew up in the ’60’s - no cable, no internet, no computers, no cell phones, only the wealthy had credit cards, nothing open on Sundays and sometimes I miss the simplicity of those years.
References :
Comment by Mush — April 21, 2010 @ 2:34 am
A lot better, children did better in school without all those gadgets to occupy their time. They entertained themselfs by playing games outside and we didn’t have cellphone and cable bills that kept everyone broke.
References :
Comment by Gladys — April 21, 2010 @ 3:13 am
Blissfully ignorant.
And yes we thought that, of course when cable first came out they promised that we would pay for programming and not have to sit through commercial after, commercial after,commercial after,commercial after,commercial after,commercial after,commercial after.
See how far we’ve come? we just accept having to pay to watch advertisements.
References :
Comment by ou812 the hate returns pt 5 — April 21, 2010 @ 3:42 am
people told stories, read books, and listened to the radio. they learned to make things from their parents, too. girls learned to cook and sew, and boys learned car mechanics and woodworking, etc. people knew how to entertain themselves then. movies were big on the weekends. there were serial stories on the radio in the evenings. children also ran and played outside. i remember, because i was 7 before we got a tv set. with 3 channels.
References :
Comment by pushyoldbroad — April 21, 2010 @ 4:32 am
I read more.
References :
Comment by Big Lib -ertarian — April 21, 2010 @ 4:38 am
I’m not old enough to remember life before cable TV, but I definitely remember life before the Internet….and even life before most people had a computer. And of course, before it existed we never thought "Man I wish there was a way to get all my news on a computer whenever I want it." But I definitely do appreciate the fact that now , almost anything I need to know, I can find instantly. Before the internet, you waited for the news to come on TV and you went and bought a daily newspaper….and if you needed any quick fact or research, you either had an encyclopedia and looked it up or you went to the library to use the encyclopedia
References :
Comment by GOD'S Reporter — April 21, 2010 @ 5:16 am
you knew who your neighbors were and treated them as such,A/C played a big role to in this as well!
References :
Comment by tom the plumber — April 21, 2010 @ 6:06 am
You know what we did in the 70s as kids? Did drugs, smoked pot, vandalized arcade games, played LOTS of outdoor games (of the onery sort like ding-dong-ditch and kill-the-guy.) I remember when HBO first came out and it was awesome, finally clear tv without commercials! Sure beats being out in the streets causing trouble
References :
Comment by rosc — April 21, 2010 @ 6:11 am
I had cable in the 70s and 80s but to answer your question, we played outside until the streetlights came on. We knew our neighbors. We had family dinners in the dining room. We walked to the movies on Saturday and enjoyed a 50 cent matinee. We went to church and visited our grandparents on Sundays. We took family drives in the family car. We did our homework at a desk or table instead of in front of the TV or computer. We read books.
References :
Comment by SugarBear — April 21, 2010 @ 6:26 am
There were 13 channels on my TV. I don’t mean there were 13 channels of stuff to watch; there were only 13 buttons to choose from. Only 5 of those 13 channels actually had programming.
Saturday mornings were the only time we had cartoons as kids. From 7-10am every kid in America was watching one of the big three networks for their favorite show.
We read a lot of books, listened to a lot of radio, and spent a majority of time outside with friends.
We would always looking for empty Coke bottles just to get the .10 cent return fee. On a good day we’d find enough bottles to buy a coke for .25 cents, a pack of gum for another .15 cents, and a tube of Daisy BB’s for another .50 cents. That’s all we needed for a good time. We’d dig up our own worms to go fishing and bring home our catch for the parents to cook up.
References :
Comment by Western European Mutt - WEM — April 21, 2010 @ 6:43 am
Yes that is true. At that time, no one dreamed there could be 500 stations because we did not yet have satellite transmissions for home use. That is why no one could imagine paying for what they thought would be a handful of channels.
The only cable station was HBO in 1980 and CNN in 1985. You had to pay separately for HBO. No one had any 24-hour news broadcasts continuously. It seemed like a good idea but it has turned into trash news and entertainment with talking heads and opinionated celebrities. it is not even news.
People did not depend on electronics to live. In the ’70s not only was there no cable TV, no satellite radio, no internet, no cell phones, IPODs, CDs, no PCs, no laptops, etc. and no digital voicemail and many other products. People used the phone to communicate and it took longer. We had cassette or 8-track tapes and records. There were a lot of electronics we did not have but it was a better world.
References :
Comment by Flower — April 21, 2010 @ 7:07 am