This post from Roberta X brought back memories, and like a good shower, got me to thinking.
The joys of running a two line BBS that was also a Fidonet node. Running up a MASSIVE Compuserve bill with only a little bitty Hayes 2400 baud modem. Prodigy, MCI Mail, Dialing BBSes long distance. Before that dialing into a mainframe with a 300 baud acoustical modem.
The pre-Internet days are a distant memory even though I lived over half my life (so far) prior to having Internet access. Life, Pre-Internet (PI) was like a period history piece, all quaint customs and funny clothes. I remember the 60’s and 70’s but it’s with a feeling of dread and “I can’t believe we lived like that.”
I’ve always had meatspace issues too. I’ve never liked people. Persons, singular are fine, I can relate to individuals at all points on the bell curve on a case by case basis. But in groups… Forget it. More than two or three people in a room and I start getting nervous. I have to use some pretty severe mental judo to operate in large groups. I don’t collapse into a quivering mass of jelly or anything, but it’s more than a little unpleasant. Concerts and sporting events are particularly painful, not to mention shopping malls. Thank goodness for Amazon.com.
That’s why I love the Internet so much. It’s huge masses of people one step removed and channeled into individuals communicating with other individuals. The network of networks is a part of me now. I like being connected to everything, all the time. I like being able to look up anything I want any time I want. I like being able to communicate with any person any time, anywhere in the world. It’s not Internet addiction, it’s assimilation. I work on the Internet, I live on the Internet. It’s augmented reality and it’s only getting better.
That’s why times without Internet are painful. It’s like going back to the bad old days Before Internet (BI).
Remember using a phone to order pizza?
How about back when no one delivered pizza at all?
How about having to use a twenty year old encyclopedia at the library to look something up?
Remember shopping at the local mall, and it was the ONLY CHOICE?
Remember paper maps?
How about getting lost?
(Think about that for a minute. Kids today will never know what it’s like to not know where they are or not know how to get from HERE to THERE.)
How about writing a letter and mailing it, then waiting days or weeks for a response?
What about only knowing the people that live near you AND NO ONE ELSE!
Now I’m scaring myself.
