an early 90s version of Oregon Trail. Who remembers?!
I do.
I was in elementary school. I talked to my friends on phones with long spirally plastic cords. I played "Oregon Trail" on floppy disc (dot matrix display, yeah baby!) and practiced cursive writing in preparation for all those correspondence letters I'd send as an adult. Hey, wait a second....
And get this: my husband grew up in a community so rural that when he was young his family had a "party line", which is a telephone line that is shared by many households, but everyone has a different ring. So the phone would ring in his house, but it might go "bring-br-bring-bring" and be a call for June and Herb down the road, in which case you wouldn't answer. But if it rang "bring-bring-bring....bring-bring-bring" then GADZOOKS, PICK UP. PICK UP!!
I can only imagine the excitement.
But that is neither here nor there (actually it's there). I was talking about the internet. Which I now carry in the palm of my hand. Everywhere. I. Go.
Except today. Today I forgot my precious iphone at home. I just heard your collective gasp. Compose yourself people! My global connection has been temporarily severed and I have been suffering from phantom limb syndrome all day. My colleague at work jokingly allowed me to hold his for a spell, and another person posed the question: "What would happen if the internet just one day.....disappeared?"
Talk about pandemonium. Talk about Y2K/2012 times a Gigabyte!
And then......
No, but seriously, what would happen? Economically, culturally, socially, educationally?
An ancient building form constructed for the storage of "books". Historians refer to it as a "Library."
(Actually this is Louis Kahn's Exeter Library in New Hampshire)
I invite you to paint me some post-web era apocalyptic scenarios my bloggy friends. Or, if you wish, participate in the poll at the top-right hand side of this page!
6 comments:
It's a very interesting thought. I remember the first time I saw the internet. It was at a friend's house in grade 10 and she had ICQ and we used to chat on it. We also used to "google" stuff but it wasn't google and it sucked. Maybe it was yahoo or AOL or something and we would try and find online quizzes. Got my first email account when I was 17, set-up by my friend who chose my hotmail name for me (since I didn't have a clue how to do it). As for the cell phone deal, I think I may be the last person in North America who DOES NOT have a cell phone. Did you know pay phones are 50 cents now?
oregon trail!!!!!!!! omfg. There should be an app for that.
Jenn (GG): payphones are 50Cents? Say WHAAA?!
Deb: "FIRE IN THE WAGON!"
OMFG
Exactly! I am lost without my Droid. And my iPod. And my laptop (oh, I have anxiety pangs just thinking about it!) And my Kindle. And...
great, now I'm hyperventilating.
I love the interweb. But, I'm a little behind - only discovered this alleged blogging through you I think.
And - I don't have a cell phone. They freak me out. But maybe I should get one.
If the internet dissolved I would shed a few tears. And then I would start working on my cursive.
OMG I am laughing so hard. I loved Oregon Trail! My sisters and I would play it on the computer that was temporarily set up on the dining room table, as it was a special time getting a computer and all!
My husband has a totally different experience than me. He went on the internet right from the start and even used the on line bulletin boards systems via phone lines before it became 'the internet'. Love it!
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