What was it like before the smartphone era? Iphones and social media have existed for nearly as long as I can remember...

social media was fine when you could only use it at home. smartphones are what destroyed our society as much as i love using mine. technology like that should have a mandatory IQ minimum. but of course, that wouldn't be good for business.

this

mass smartphone adoption by normies and social media in combination is/was civilisation ending tier. yes it was better.

Comfy as fuck. I remember my first girlfriend I got when I was 15 and kinda fat. She was 16 and cute as fuck. We were both in AV Club together and both got assigned to work the spotlights for the school play.

We were locked together in that room for hours a day for weeks. We spent so much time chatting and playing card games and shit. I remember a dress rehearsal a few days before the first show that she kept "accidentally" touching my hand as we played rummy. A few days later she insisted I add my number to her Tracphone in case there was an emergency. I asked her out after we struck the stage and she said yes. We dated for about a year and it gave me the confidence to fix myself

I think about it a lot, because if we both had current year cellphones there is a very very real possibility we would have never spoken more than a few words to each other

A lot less normies on the internet, that's for sure. I think the best way to describe is that you could joke around in the same type of humor as South Park could without getting banned anywhere. You could drop a Hitler joke in a game server or on a forum and people would laugh. As long as you weren't literally preaching about how great Hitler was, you wouldn't be censored.

retarded people didn't have their opinions so easily validated

Things were much better. People talked face to face. This is a sad and degenerate era.

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i'm a boomer but fuck nostalgia fags... nintendo and blockbuster didn't make life paradise. It's just nostalgia.

Sort of?

Social interaction is essential mandatory as there were no alternatives. Okay, that’s a lie. You could read and ignore everyone, or attempt to do your homework early. Both options point to you, the unsocialable user at the time, become an introvert and eventually an ill-equipped social outcast. You’re also subject to the vagaries of tracking the latest in social happenings from music to sports and television shows. Not anything different that today, but there’s far less margin of error to lie as people are more tuned-in. By this metric, you’re also more likely to miss things which cannot be looked up.

figure it out for your self

Nintendo and Blockbuster's golden days were still 15 years before the big social media boom.

I'm 31 I vaguely remember this...Basically things where more...real ...you did not have stupid conspiracy theories, tv was ALOT better, people talked in the real world not on their phones forever...

Do you know what? people trusted government back then more - not sure if that was a good thing though...

There is one good thing about this age - more people are sceptical

This. This.
The world was a paradise before smartphones. My heart gets sore watching old movies and tv shows where faggots aren't on their phones every 3 seconds.

social media and cell phones really destroyed it all. it was so nice to be able to just not be able to be gotten ahold of 24/7 and bombarded with notifications, texts, calls and your employer knowing everything about you and your habits outside of work

women were alot easier to talk to and less opinionated, there were no SJWs or trannies and if there were they were closeted and weren't making trans kids wear drag while dancing with them in parades.

No tinder, no white women fucking black dudes

if you were at least a 5 or 6 and have all your toes and fingers you could find a girlfriend that was decent

If you really needed mobile aterts there was pagers. In my high school only the drug dealers had them because they were very expensive.

If this is not some sort of larp you might be the dumbest fuck to ever make a post on this website, please kys

Tfw you were able to go out and do dumb thinks (not even criminal but like a bet with your mates) and not have to worry about going viral cause some sperg filmed it for twitter

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Things were much better before the smartphone era. These days you have to be very fucking careful of what you do or say. There is always one sneaky fucker recording shit. Getting really drunk or riding the fat bird back then you never had the fear that you would plastered all over Facebook etc.

Also concerts were way better back then. Looking at a sea of screens is just depressing.

people were able to respect each other a lot more, all social media has done is make everyone fall in line with like minded groups of people that hate other groups that are different from one another. there was more equality before the libruls kept trying to force their version of "equality" where you find your subgroup in society and become a npc

just how its now with the not being able to go outside with the corona virus
Back then, everyone had the urge to go outside, meet friends
There were no smartphones, no whatsapp or social media, people were bored, and they had no constant dopamine trigger
Everyone went outside, you spent your whole day outside, because there was nothing to do inside
And when you were a teen, it was mixed, boys and girls
You were part of some group of guys who played sports, drank, etc
And the girls were pretty based too and often joined in
Lots of sex, romance, and just living life
There were also different ways of living, one for everyone, you had the emo kids, the hip hoppers, the sporty guys, it was just great
Because those were groups, and you had a group feeling
And the activities were so different for every group
You dont have that really today, because most people dont want to do shit, are on their phone all the time, and everything feels boring because everyone is addicted to quick dopamine triggers

...watch the movie "kids".

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>Social media existed before smartphones
Not really, facebook and iphones came out pretty much at the same time (mid 00s)
If you don't remember what pre-smartphones life was like you're either a zoomer or a turboneet

> true 90s kid here.

Well, you had to rely on someone's word to meet you somewhere. You had to name a time and place and go there. Sometimes people ditched you and sometimes they didn't and It was a great insult to be ditched. You had to go into a business and ask or use a phone booth to use a telephone. Most business owners didn't care back then. For directions, you used maps and if you were lost you would ask someone on the street for help (because back then you had to memorize the streets in your town and routes to get there) so most people knew how to get to most streets in their own town.

Pictures were only taken during outings or for events, and were held in photo albums or wallets if they were smaller and you wanted to show others. Thot duckfaces didn't happen because most people just took casual photos of themselves doing things or being at the beach and what not and it seemed genuine. You had to wait some time to get the photos back or get one of those cool instant photo cameras.

For music you needed a Walkman, which only had about an hour of music on a tape or CD, so you carried multiple ones on you. There was no video on the go, and you had to use VCRs to put in pre-recorded tapes if you wanted to watch something. Cameras for recording you put on your shoulder, news cameras are the same today when a field journalist is reporting. If you wanted to watch something on tv, you needed the guide, and you had to physically watch it. You'd fight with relatives over TV, and if you couldn't catch something you recorded it with a blank tape on the VCR or catch it later on re-run.

All phones in a house were connected to one line. Eavedropping would start a fight and you had to take turns on the phone. Texting wasn't a thing except your dad had a beeper for work or something that sent out a sentence.

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Back in my day only the rich Chads could afford one of those razor flip phones. You'd have to type out your messages on a standard number pad. None of this touch screen hogwash. Times were simpler back in those.days.
*sip*

Magazines, payphones, long distance charges, physical nedia for most everything, lots of television watching, eventually aol, then Aol instant messenger, and ICQ, then MMORPGs Ultima inline, EverQuest, asheri s call

just like the boomers, millennials, zoomer bullshit... all libruls do is try to make differing groups of people hate one another

Well you had to wait for stuff, which was a good thing in my opinion. after 2005 society became centered around instant gratification and that takes all the fun out of certain things. Just as hunger is the best relish, anticipation heightens enjoyment

There were just as many shallow annoying people around, but they weren't able to shove it in your face everywhere like now. I miss the days when technology was sad and geeky.

you'll soon find out

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If you left the house for the evening you were gone. This is huge. So if you were with bros you were with them. You had to have a level of trust and a level of planning. Because if you were to pick people up and meet up it had to be preplanned. If you were with a women, you were with her, so awkward pauses gave way conversation and bonding. Now she just checks her social media and talks with the friends she already has instead of making new ones.
It sounds small but its a huge deal

The effects on the real world are kinda obvious. Personally I miss the internet before the magical gateway opened up to normalfags, the sheer volume of people makes everything worse because theres no time for quality, otherwise you'll get drowned out by the quality, more so with the number of people connected to it by smartphone that dont create or say anything original, its just pure regurgitation.

I remember my parents kept a little notebook in the car so that when we would think of something to look up online we would remember to when we got home.
I remember looking forward to get on the computer when I could, but now that everything is so commercial the fun is gone. Now everything is trying to sell shit to you. I miss stumbling on tight knit forums and fun webpages, people took it a lot less seriously and there was a particular kind of humor online.

You have to be over 18 to post here sweetie

>were things better without it
Yes.

I meant to say
>theres no time for quality, otherwise you'll get drowned out by the quantity

Some things were better. I remember going outside and playing with friends, building tree forts with materials we'd steal from construction sites, doing stupid shit like smoking cat nip, and trying to do stuff from the anarchist cookbook. I personally like phreaking (fucking w/ payphones) although I never built a blue box I did figure out the local lineman's coding system so I could do weird tests on payphones.

Ah but I digress some things are better. I'd never wanna give up GPS because I fucking hate going places I don't know so using it brings me a great comfort (beats having to print out directions from mapquest and shit like that).

I think you found the cutest woman on the plaent senpai

There was a lot more optimism.

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this
I forgot about this point. everyone having cameras is retarded. You cant do stupid fun shit out and about any more. and no thats not a good thing because most if it was very innocent

Zoomers can't even comprehend the difference in life caused by only being able to be contacted at your home. It was amazing.

>a turboneet
smartphones are only needed for social interaction, and you don't need a smartphone if you have no social interaction in your life

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2006 was 30 years ago

personal face to face social interaction was still largely preferred, texting and internet communication wasnt as popular to socially interact. I never thought there would be something like Facebook, I never would of guessed how efficient it was in essentially building a medium to track, monitor, profit from, and research, how people socially interact, everything before then was also relatively anonymous in terms of self-identity, everyone just communicated on message boards, chat, and instant messenger, in the pre-smart phone era

It sucked. You couldn't call anyone without a cellphone. You had to use a real map or print out ur mapquest and hope it was right. It fuckin sucked. Everyone wants to blame facebook and shit but you dont have to use it if you dont want to. The biggest problem was electing a nigger.

>altercation were somewhat civil, bystanders actually broke up fights instead of filming and escalating the situation
>mobbing was shyte in any era, but I can't imagine the hell victims goin through in internet times.

Time 4 bed

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You could do shit and not get caught by some random asshole with their cell phone out. Oh wait, there was that Rodney King incident...

31yo boomer here, I was one of the very last to experience childhood before internet and iphones. Life was better. More real. It honestly seems like a completely different world now. I can't imagine how different it must feel for boomers.

As much as I hate millennial nostalgia fag feelings, it genuinely was better. Seemed like after ww2 to AROUND 2008 it was genuine and much more fulfilling. The smart phone, 9/11, and social media in my opinion changed it all.

Prior to social media, women hated computers and video games in general. They watched a shit load of tv and listened to whatever popular music there was at a time. The only difference between girls back then and girls now outside of dating, was that instead of attention seeking IRL, women attention seek online.

Dating was a bit different as I was relatively young (in my teen years) when smart phones just came out. Teenage girls had lower standards but were still somewhat attracted to the same things (social guys who stand out, good looking guys, strong guys, cool guys, etc.) but saw having a boy interested in them as a status thing and so were less likely to reject guys asking them out. Sex was something that was earned and women were more interested in romance.

As dating apps became a thing and as I got older, women become less interested in romance, more specific in choice and way more interested in sex. Even in 2010 you still found women who would want to show you they cared about you. Ever since like 2013 or so, women have been treating guys like you're lucky she's even giving you the time of day and her time alone is what she is bringing to the relationship.

I blame that more on dating apps though and less on social media. Social media has just made it so women take a billion pictures all the time for likes and then tell each other they're beautiful which is meaningless and vapid but didn't turn them into such cunts towards men.

Also, women were shit mothers even in the before times. They just put kids in front of the tv instead of giving them a smart phone. Fathers were always the coolest because Boomer dads would at least be the ones taking you to the zoo, amusement park, camping, or the arcade. When I was a child I was happy when my dad was home because I knew at the very least he'd play Mario bros with me or ride a bike with me. Boomers only became shit as they got older in regards to being parents.

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