Before the internet people were more physical oriented. Hands on with everything needed to be done. The spare time was spent on hobbies or recreation.
Online is seductive and too easy. Compared to before its unproductive. Grateful my formative years I didn’t have video games or computers to weasel in my play time.

In spite of always on internet access my kids still do play with their friends, go to the pool, go camping, play card games etc. But I definitely had it better when I was a kid. This has nothing to do with the internet but I lived on a block with a bunch of other guys my age. We used to play for endless hours outside. The neighborhood with it’s three alley ways and nearby park were our play land.

Instead of shopping the internet we used to go to the neighborhood shopping district to window shop and see all the latest toys, clothes, gadgets etc. We would spend an entire Saturday walking down one side of the street and up the other occasionally stopping into a store here and there to check something out up close before heading home. Yup, this was before malls took over but the shopping district I frequented as kid is still around and vibrant.

Like you my family was lucky enough to own an Encyclopedia Britannica for information. We even had the yearly update. When the old Britannica wasn’t adequate we took a trip to the library. I loved making things and spent a lot of time in the How to section.

You can’t beat the internet for quick up to the minute access of information but I miss the down time of yesterday. Those of us that are wired can’t relax the way we used to. We no longer know how to just quiet our minds, relax and meditate. I think we’ve lost something very important, basic and fundamental to our being. I also feel that the speed of everything today and the need to keep pace may have opened the door for quite a bit of shabbiness. But that’s another topic.

I must confess, although I make my living as a hands on Technology Manager, I’m a Luddite at heart.