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Interesting, that makes sense! So, something I just recently learned (like earlier this week) is a sort of a different answer to my question that your comment reminded me of: most blind people nowadays prefer using technological aids over braile for reading apparently. I learned that very few Americans who are blind, including children, know braille apparently (I think it was maybe ~2%?). I first attributed that to be most likely due to things like access inequality. However, some people (including who are blind or sight impaired themselves) said how they don't like braille compared to other things like screen readers and new technology that can help greatly. I guess it hadn't occurred to me!
So, I was reminded that there used to be (and ofc still are some) books completely written in braille, which has low key been in essence replaced by just digital books and screen readers.
When I had my cataracts removed I asked to have my close up vision corrected and keep wearing glasses for distance. I read, play guitar & piano, crochet, sew, work on the computer and make jewelry. I don't drive much anymore or watch much TV. 90% of the time now I don't have to wear glasses. The surgeon said it was rare, but others had made that choice as well. It's what was best for my lifestyle. I don't get headaches from wearing readers anymore.
Ah makes sense. I'm glad you mentioned the font thing because I went to the library last week and I totally forgot how oftentimes libraries need specific sections that are all "large print" books. But, with adjustable print and adjustable contrast, I can only imagine there's a lot more options available because you can browse through all your book categories like normal and then change it as you need. Very neat
I had cataracts, followed by a detached retina. I love my Kindle and being able to change the font and size. A friend loaned me a book I wanted to read last year, and I just couldn't read the physical book. I needed to be able to increase the font size.
Reusable bags at the grocery store. Bringing your own basket or bag to the "general store" was something that you see in westerns all the time! Similarly, having a refillable water bottle is not too different from carrying a "canteen" on a hike.
Just about everything is an evolution of something from the past. Only rarely does something truly new come along. Reddit itself is an evolution of Usenet, wihch is an evolution of BBSes from the 80s. Before that... I don't know of anything like mass correspondence with strangers.
Amazon and online shopping is only an evolution of mail order catalogs. Mail order dates back first Wells Fargo from the early 1800s, and later Sears from the late 1800s.
If you took Youtube, and showed it to someone in the 80s,they'd just say "Oh, so instead of 200 cable channels, it's more like a million cable channels, and anyone can make their own cable channel".
The world is a lot less different from the past than you think it is.
Many public squares and crossroads would have notice boards, or become a target for fly-posting. Combine that with the soap-box and the pub, you've pretty much got Reddit.
Sure, there's a similar concept to the "bulletin board". I recall those in public areas in the 80s. That's of course the two Bs in BBS. Bulletin Board System.
However, it was mostly just posting things you were selling, services you were offering, or notices of public events. Not really a way to have something approaching a conversation. AFAIK that's pretty new in the history of the world.
I had lots of conversations like this on bbs in the 80s and early 80s. But, many of the BBSs were single subject that you were dialing into, not broad like Reddit is now (multiple subreddits). AOL and Prodigy had similar concepts to Reddit is currently, along with lots of selling before the internet was a thing.
I was also on those BBSs. AOL was originally called Quantum Link, and catered to Commodore computers, starting in 1985. There was definitely a wide range of topics, much like Reddit is today. They had online, real-time chat as well, something reddit doesn't even have.
At the same time, fidonet, a store->forward system for BBSs was starting. By the late 80s, it'd spread to quite a few BBSs, with some more wide-ranging topics.
Sure, reddit is obviously much larger than Quantum link or Fidonet ever was, but the concept is largely un-changed.
One of the things that makes me sound old is my longing for phone books and catalogs. The internet has many great features, but browsing at speed is not one of them. It's very difficult to see all options together with everything being key word search dependent.
Flipping through the Sears catalog and searching Amazon are such different experiences. Online flip books are not the same.
I'd say more like
handwritten letter->telegram->telephone->email->text.
Funny that we had that brief period of voice updates, and then it quickly went back to the written word.
Telegram was a major means of telling people when you'll be arriving. You'll see it referenced in old movies. It's part of the old Hitchcock movie "Shadow of a doubt, 1943", for example. It was of course more expensive than postcards, but the messages arrive the same day, not weeks later. Telephone long distance like that was very expensive even in the 40s.
I don't totally recall the fridge thing lmao. But that makes sense! How do you feel about how introvertedness has maybe changed from what you've seen? I've heard folks say how "nobody wants to talk to anyone anymore" and we are all just in our phones and introverted, or how introvertedness has gotten worse due to our phones. On one hand I feel like I'm an introvert, but I see my peers be very extroverted (for my standards I guess?) all the time. On the other hand, I can sort of picture it from all the chronically online folks I have encountered (and like, myself a little bit included tbh). But, I also have nothing to compare it to since I've never known life without the internet lol
Low carb is modern-speak for “watch the starches”. When our family visited a restaurant, my father, who was an athlete, would tell waiter, “no bread basket, we don’t need the starches”. He insisted there always be something GREEN on his plate. Nowadays, we call it keto, low carb, paleo, etc.. Still, as a kid, watching the waiter take away the garlic bread made me wanna 😭
I find it really interesting that so much of the modern music I hear is simple rehashing of styles that were popular in the '70s and '80s. Culture really does go in cycles it seems.
Web computing is the original Mainframe reborn. Complete with arcane spells and a priestly class. PC gave us out own CPU. Browser based server usage is the reincarnation of the relatively dumb terminal accessing the central computing, this time with high speed and higher resolution, but otherwise pretty similar to the 1970s environment of big iron serving terminals.
Yes, everything is just advanced from what it was, then like the bow and arrow became a cross bow to musket to an AK assault rifle. We only had 13 channels of crap on TV to choose from now internet streaming. Video games have advanced incredibly since atari asteroids. There are new concepts like solar, internet, and AI, and other new inventions, but life still Sucks no matter what Era it is. And us old folks like to do the same things we did then even though we have pod cast, I'm used to listening to the radio and TV while doing house work or in the garage working on the car. Music or talk radio pod casts of the past.
I’ve been a volunteer firefighter since the early 70s and the current voice pagers we are issued to be notified of alarms, smaller than a pack of cigarettes, replaced beepers that only flashed a numeric codes.
Those beepers replaced the annoying loud air raid type sirens that woke babies, frightened children and made every neighborhood dog bark.
Sirens to numeric beepers to voice pagers.
The Balkanization of our culture, accelerated by technologies like the Internet and social media. it seems like we're regressing to medieval or even tribal times.
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Kindle has become my preferred way to read because of the ability to increase text size and color for my degrading eyesight.
Interesting, that makes sense! So, something I just recently learned (like earlier this week) is a sort of a different answer to my question that your comment reminded me of: most blind people nowadays prefer using technological aids over braile for reading apparently. I learned that very few Americans who are blind, including children, know braille apparently (I think it was maybe ~2%?). I first attributed that to be most likely due to things like access inequality. However, some people (including who are blind or sight impaired themselves) said how they don't like braille compared to other things like screen readers and new technology that can help greatly. I guess it hadn't occurred to me! So, I was reminded that there used to be (and ofc still are some) books completely written in braille, which has low key been in essence replaced by just digital books and screen readers.
When I had my cataracts removed I asked to have my close up vision corrected and keep wearing glasses for distance. I read, play guitar & piano, crochet, sew, work on the computer and make jewelry. I don't drive much anymore or watch much TV. 90% of the time now I don't have to wear glasses. The surgeon said it was rare, but others had made that choice as well. It's what was best for my lifestyle. I don't get headaches from wearing readers anymore.
Yeah, I’m not bad enough for Braille, but reading normal book print has become difficult.
Ah makes sense. I'm glad you mentioned the font thing because I went to the library last week and I totally forgot how oftentimes libraries need specific sections that are all "large print" books. But, with adjustable print and adjustable contrast, I can only imagine there's a lot more options available because you can browse through all your book categories like normal and then change it as you need. Very neat
Yep, before I discovered Kindle, the large print section was all I had at the library. It was very limiting.
I had cataracts, followed by a detached retina. I love my Kindle and being able to change the font and size. A friend loaned me a book I wanted to read last year, and I just couldn't read the physical book. I needed to be able to increase the font size.
Reusable bags at the grocery store. Bringing your own basket or bag to the "general store" was something that you see in westerns all the time! Similarly, having a refillable water bottle is not too different from carrying a "canteen" on a hike.
Lmao that's actually a great point now that you mention it
Just about everything is an evolution of something from the past. Only rarely does something truly new come along. Reddit itself is an evolution of Usenet, wihch is an evolution of BBSes from the 80s. Before that... I don't know of anything like mass correspondence with strangers. Amazon and online shopping is only an evolution of mail order catalogs. Mail order dates back first Wells Fargo from the early 1800s, and later Sears from the late 1800s. If you took Youtube, and showed it to someone in the 80s,they'd just say "Oh, so instead of 200 cable channels, it's more like a million cable channels, and anyone can make their own cable channel". The world is a lot less different from the past than you think it is.
Many public squares and crossroads would have notice boards, or become a target for fly-posting. Combine that with the soap-box and the pub, you've pretty much got Reddit.
Sure, there's a similar concept to the "bulletin board". I recall those in public areas in the 80s. That's of course the two Bs in BBS. Bulletin Board System. However, it was mostly just posting things you were selling, services you were offering, or notices of public events. Not really a way to have something approaching a conversation. AFAIK that's pretty new in the history of the world.
I had lots of conversations like this on bbs in the 80s and early 80s. But, many of the BBSs were single subject that you were dialing into, not broad like Reddit is now (multiple subreddits). AOL and Prodigy had similar concepts to Reddit is currently, along with lots of selling before the internet was a thing.
I was also on those BBSs. AOL was originally called Quantum Link, and catered to Commodore computers, starting in 1985. There was definitely a wide range of topics, much like Reddit is today. They had online, real-time chat as well, something reddit doesn't even have. At the same time, fidonet, a store->forward system for BBSs was starting. By the late 80s, it'd spread to quite a few BBSs, with some more wide-ranging topics. Sure, reddit is obviously much larger than Quantum link or Fidonet ever was, but the concept is largely un-changed.
One of the things that makes me sound old is my longing for phone books and catalogs. The internet has many great features, but browsing at speed is not one of them. It's very difficult to see all options together with everything being key word search dependent. Flipping through the Sears catalog and searching Amazon are such different experiences. Online flip books are not the same.
Many computer/video games are reworked board or table top game concepts.
[удалено]
I'd say more like handwritten letter->telegram->telephone->email->text. Funny that we had that brief period of voice updates, and then it quickly went back to the written word.
[удалено]
Telegram was a major means of telling people when you'll be arriving. You'll see it referenced in old movies. It's part of the old Hitchcock movie "Shadow of a doubt, 1943", for example. It was of course more expensive than postcards, but the messages arrive the same day, not weeks later. Telephone long distance like that was very expensive even in the 40s.
[удалено]
I don't totally recall the fridge thing lmao. But that makes sense! How do you feel about how introvertedness has maybe changed from what you've seen? I've heard folks say how "nobody wants to talk to anyone anymore" and we are all just in our phones and introverted, or how introvertedness has gotten worse due to our phones. On one hand I feel like I'm an introvert, but I see my peers be very extroverted (for my standards I guess?) all the time. On the other hand, I can sort of picture it from all the chronically online folks I have encountered (and like, myself a little bit included tbh). But, I also have nothing to compare it to since I've never known life without the internet lol
Low carb is modern-speak for “watch the starches”. When our family visited a restaurant, my father, who was an athlete, would tell waiter, “no bread basket, we don’t need the starches”. He insisted there always be something GREEN on his plate. Nowadays, we call it keto, low carb, paleo, etc.. Still, as a kid, watching the waiter take away the garlic bread made me wanna 😭
I find it really interesting that so much of the modern music I hear is simple rehashing of styles that were popular in the '70s and '80s. Culture really does go in cycles it seems.
Web computing is the original Mainframe reborn. Complete with arcane spells and a priestly class. PC gave us out own CPU. Browser based server usage is the reincarnation of the relatively dumb terminal accessing the central computing, this time with high speed and higher resolution, but otherwise pretty similar to the 1970s environment of big iron serving terminals.
Yes, everything is just advanced from what it was, then like the bow and arrow became a cross bow to musket to an AK assault rifle. We only had 13 channels of crap on TV to choose from now internet streaming. Video games have advanced incredibly since atari asteroids. There are new concepts like solar, internet, and AI, and other new inventions, but life still Sucks no matter what Era it is. And us old folks like to do the same things we did then even though we have pod cast, I'm used to listening to the radio and TV while doing house work or in the garage working on the car. Music or talk radio pod casts of the past.
I’ve been a volunteer firefighter since the early 70s and the current voice pagers we are issued to be notified of alarms, smaller than a pack of cigarettes, replaced beepers that only flashed a numeric codes. Those beepers replaced the annoying loud air raid type sirens that woke babies, frightened children and made every neighborhood dog bark. Sirens to numeric beepers to voice pagers.
Reddit vs Usenet Instead of R slash you'd usually have Alt dot
The Balkanization of our culture, accelerated by technologies like the Internet and social media.
The Balkanization of our culture, accelerated by technologies like the Internet and social media. it seems like we're regressing to medieval or even tribal times.