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submitted 2 years ago by Los@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

Seventy-seven percent of middle-age Americans (35-54 years old) say they want to return to a time before society was “plugged in,” meaning a time before there was widespread internet and cell phone usage. As told by a new Harris Poll (via Fast Company), 63% of younger folks (18-34 years old) were also keen on returning to a pre-plugged-in world, despite that being a world they largely never had a chance to occupy.

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[-] Banzai51@midwest.social 4 points 2 years ago

I don't want to get rid of that stuff, but instead I uninstalled all work apps off my phone. They need me, they can page me and I'll login with my work laptop. When I'm out of work, I'm out.

[-] sexy_peach@feddit.de 3 points 2 years ago
[-] mrmanager@lemmy.today 3 points 2 years ago

I'm surprised even the younger people would say so, since they have no experience with how it was.

I guess I'm "old" now, being 47 and all, but I was part of growing up with computers and the web just before most corporations even had a homepage or had any web presence at all.

I was on irc, forums, BBS:es... The web browser was Netscape in the beginning, and later Internet Explorer. Search engine was Altavista, and the irony here was that it was so full of ads that Google got a golden opportunity to launch their Google Search with no ads whatsoever. It completely wrecked Altavista with it's clean fast design and the rest is history.

Now Google is the Altavista and we are waiting for someone to come and give us alternatives. Weather that is Kagi or some other AI based engine, we will see.

The problem is always ads. They destroy products and communities. People must change their ways and start paying a little bit for basic services like search and email and support those companies who want to provide a quality service without ads.

[-] hannes3120@feddit.de 2 points 2 years ago

A majority of people prefer living in the past (because they refuse to chance) - and that's really fucking with out chances to have a decent future...

It's really fucked up

[-] P1r4nha@feddit.de 3 points 2 years ago

A majority of Americans are over 50, so that's no surprise, but so many under 50 and 35 too? That's a surprise. Then why is the public so captivated by it? You don't need to use it for most things.

[-] Repulsa@lemmy.fmhy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

Tbf I think I'd like it more if we had online shopping, cell phones, instant messaging etc but we didn't have social media as we know it today. Like we stuck with phpbb, Usenet and IRC and didn't move much more beyond that into Myspace and Facebook

[-] eu@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago

Sorry in advance for the off-topic rant but I'm still mad that Facebook killed Orkut in my country. It worked the same way, but it also had very active communities not unlike subreddits where you could talk with random strangers about common interests (not sure if Facebook has something like that now but it didn't back then so I never used it). I can't tell you how much I missed this feature after Orkut died. Only managed to fill that void when I found out about Reddit around 5 years ago. Glad I have an actual alternative to go to this time around even though Reddit still exists.

[-] kherge@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

With the way social media companies are imploding, you may get your wish.

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[-] Bishma@readit.buzz 2 points 2 years ago

There are a few very specific things I miss from pre-2007. For instance, I weirdly miss conversations where a whole group of people are trying to remember an answer to a question. I still find my self ask a question to a group and when someone pulls out their phone I'm disappointed because I didn't just want the answer.

But that's not a reason to go back. That's just nostalgia.

[-] cassetti@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

I miss the internet before iphones existed - 2008 seems to be a delineation when suddenly any idiot could easily access the "internet". Before that the net was a different place

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[-] Skyler@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

they couldn’t simply text to flake out when you were already seated.

Yeah, but then they'd get stuck in traffic and you'd be sitting there increasingly uncomfortable, wondering if they stood you up, or worse, got into an accident.

[-] MobBarley@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

anyone who says that forgets how bad tv sucked back then
I mean you'd have to at least bring back video stores or something

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[-] Taxxor@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

Return to it and have my knowledge of all the positive and negative aspects erased would be something I’d consider. But having used all the technology for so long, I couldn’t imagine just don’t having it anymore tomorrow

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this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2023
155 points (100.0% liked)

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