Thursday, January 5, 2012

Thursday Thinking – Life Before Google


This morning I was away from home and couldn't remember where to find a specific quote.  My fingers itched for a computer.  

What did we do before Google? 

Hmmmmm.  Well,  if I remember right, I think we . . .

. . . called on the phone to see if someone could remember ever reading or hearing the quote we were looking for, and consequently had much higher phone bills.

. . . walked to our neighbors and knocked on the door to get a recipe if the phone line was busy.

. . . went to Relief Society homemaking day to find the new and latest craft idea.

. . . bought cute things at Christmas bazaars so that we could go home and copy the pattern and teach it at the next Relief Society homemaking day.

. . . couldn’t wait for the daily mail because there was often a personal letter.

. . . we used encyclopedias that were twenty years old for current research papers.

. . . mentally saved up all our malady questions and asked the doctor the next time one of the kids got sick (or we asked a sister to ask the doctor the next time one of her kids got sick).

. . . traced lots of pictures from books and coloring books. 

. . . bought cookbooks.


What else did we do before Google?

7 comments:

Nicole said...

I can't imagine life without google. I do remember doing a research paper on humpback whales from a really old encyclopedia. I don't remember what I said about whales in my peper but I do remember that the encyclopedia did smell funny.

Nikki said...

This made me smile. Sometimes I miss life before Google. But I'm not sure how long I'd survive without it nowadays.

Haley Krumblis said...

The best line in here was using the old encyclopedia for current information!!! So in Alaska we were at a Garage Sale and this guy was selling an entire set of Encyclopedia Britannica for like $40. I jumped on it and bought immediately!!! Did I use it in the 4 years I had it? No, but oh the thought that I could....I should have kept it I love the way thy look in book shelves but the thought of hauling that down just to store? Nope, re-sold in my own garage sale for $30:)

michelle said...

Used card catalogs! Went to the library a lot more often.

Deidra said...

My sister and I were discussing life pre-internet a few weeks ago. Not google specific, but the internet at large. We talked about our first memories of the internet and dialing up. And how we downloaded music over dial-up (it took DAYS)!

Since it was on my mind, it also came up at the extended family Christmas party. We reminisced about encyclopedias and how expensive they were & Child Craft (because the two go together). My parents still have a set of encyclopedias that get touched only to be dusted.

Pre-internet/google you'd call information for someone's phone number or address. Have to make a concerted effort to keep in touch instead of passively reading blogs. Take classes instead of reading tutorials. You'd have to watch TV to see the funny commercial or clip of news. You would listen carefully to songs to figure out the lyrics (and perhaps just sing along, wrong!). And go throughout life without knowing words that end with J, missing out on those points in Scrabble.

Tyler - Danielle - Emree said...

Lived closer to our families!

Becky said...

I miss card catalogs -- and we have a set of Child Craft encyclopedias that my kids love! :)

Before the Internet/Google:

--my husband would have overpaid a mechanic to change our brakes instead of learning how to do it himself and saving us lots of money last year

--my husband would be gone a lot more often because the administrative side of his stake president calling would have to happen at the church instead of at home via e-mail and other church internet sources

--I wouldn't be able to easily put library books on hold so I would have fewer books to read since my time at the library is spent with the kids

--no Amazon! Yikes--my Christmas shopping would have been a lot more difficult :)

So grateful for the Internet which, when wisely used, makes it easier to spend time with my family and focus on other things.