Thanks!

In my humble opinion life before the internet was so much better!

Nostalgia is a weird sensation. It's like happiness and sorrow all rolled into one feeling.

We didn't appreciate it because we didn't know it would all end: Giving stationery sets as gifts, anticipating getting those photos back or wondering what was going to happen on that show for which we had to wait a week, the album cover art.... We didn't even realize we were learning patience. Now it's all instant gratification and bingeing shows we hardly remember.

One thing I miss most as an 80's teen is sitting on the porch in the eves, waving or chatting with folks who walked or drove past. It was a wonderful time.

I love how my childhood is basically just a KZfaq history lesson now.

My friends and I would spend hours in the Record Store. I miss how respectful and kind we were to each other. I miss good manners. We have become a country where we use profanity too much. We had self-respect, we took pride in how we dressed.

So glad I grew up in the 70s and 80s, no spoilers especially on movies, waiting for that favorite song to come out on the radio to start recording it, talking to friends in person, great memories ❤

I know this makes me sound old, but I miss the days when things took effort. I think it made people appreciate things a bit more. I also liked how it got people together like game nights, arcades, and movie rentals.

I would go back to the 70's-80's in a heartbeat if I had the choice.

1980'S: "The 21st century is going to be so awesome!" 2020's: "Bloody Hell, take me back to the 1980's!!"

People had longer ( or normal ) attention spans back then, and conversations were much more engaging. Nowadays people have shorter attention spans and will either interrupt you during conversations or will fidget with their cell phones. So many distractions now thanks to all the technology that we're surrounded by.

I've heard many people say that we have it so much better now because everything is much more convenient and safer. I'd go back to those times in a heartbeat. If the internet went away tomorrow, I think that our world would be a happier place.

I wish I had a time machine. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Being 69 years young I wouldn't change things a bit. I enjoyed all the old times and when times were simple.😊

Perhaps my biggest takeaway from this is what it once took to research something. While I remember all the ways we once did things, there was something about going to the library to find the information needed to complete a project. I still remember most of the information I spent hours researching some 45 years ago. It stays in your mind because of the time invested to learn what you needed to know. Today when I do a Google search on something I need to know, I am likely to forget that information a week later. I don't have to invest much time learning something specific, its easy to forget.

At first he way he explains how we did things sound so tragic, difficult and sad. Yes, we actually got off our butts and went to the grocery, video or hardware store. We interacted directly with people in person. We walked with our heads looking ahead or even around us, not down at a screen watching other people live their lives. We got together and talked in person either one on one or in a group and laughed and had fun that lead to great memories. I'm so glad I was born when I was. To me it seemed like a lot more fun.

So happy I got to experience so much of life before the internet.

The public library was a good way to spend time studying or just for reading. They were good times and life was good, especially the music. I admit, the internet changed the world, but I'm glad I got to go out to play when I was a kid.

As a teen, I loved being out of contact with my parents once I went out with my friends for the evening. There was something very liberating about knowing I was on my own; my mom and dad had having no way to contact me nor, did they have a clue as to wherei I was until I came home early in the a.m. - Freedom!

The internet was created in 1969 to link together the computers at various universities in order to save money by not duplicating research resources. What changed in the 1990s was the introduction of the worldwide web which was a graphical interface that operated on the internet allowing ordinary people to connect their home computers to each other.

Man, I have no idea how many hours I spent randomly skimming through our encyclopedia set reading random articles as a youngster.

I miss those days. People were so much closer forming lifelong friendships because we got together and spent time making memories with friends and family

I actually miss the anticipation of a new album dropping, cracking the plastic, and reading the credits while listening for the first time.

This video almost brought me to tears. I'm 57, and I miss those days so much. Sure, the internet has made life easier in a lot of ways, but I long for the simpler days. No smart phones, no texting, no lockdowns at school, people weren't getting offended at every little thing. We could have never known how good it was till now.

I remember it all and frankly want to go back. We are living in a country that I do not recognize! Yes the bell bottoms and giant hair were horrible but we were still human and not like the robots of this new world consumed by sticking faces into screens none stop …we waited for everything! Even popcorn! We ate together and actually talked. Oh yes and I remember so very well going to a place called Liberty Travel at the mall to make airline reservations and I was just fine with that. Movies were the best experience you can have in that time. Thank you for this great channel that is our Time Machine!

This is where we are. My childhood is now a history documentary on KZfaq.

What sticks out to me is the sense of community, pride in creating something with your own two hands, and the closeness of family and friends. Neighborhood barbecue's. Children outside playing and riding bikes, without being hovered over. Packing people in the trunk of the biggest car in the group and going to the drive-in. Exploring the woods and forests around where you lived. And no pressure to pack every minute of everyday so you could actually spend time just being in the moment. So glad I grew up when I did.

I genuinely feel bad for the kids today. They'll never know the absolute horror of not having enough quarters to finish a game. Good times

How blessed I was to have lived growing up in that era!!!

The internet is an amazing tool but a terrible addiction

I miss looking through the giant Sears catalog at all the toys my parents couldn't afford to buy me but imagining playing with them. Then we'd go out to the field near our house where people dumped old appliances and we'd strip them of their parts to try and build our own toys or weapons. It actually taught us early handyman skills that helped as adults.

The way you narrated the first part of this made it sound like these things were a hassle. I'm SO glad I grew up through the 70's and 80's.

I remember and miss those days. I’d happily go back.

This brings back so many fond memories. I'd go back in a heart beat to spend one more day with my parents and grandparents. I miss them and these old days very much.

I was 34, when the internet started. I agree life was better back then. People were more social and life was less negative and people took joy in simple things. I am glad I grew up without the internet.

The only way to survive during miserable times is to remember the days when you had a good life.

I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s where we played outside until the street lights came on. We rode our bikes everywhere, roller skated, swam every day in our pool, ( I grew up in Woodland Hills, California), and just had a blast being a kid. Now I have four grandsons who were raised with computers, laptops, iPhones and IPads. I wouldn’t change my childhood for anything.

Being born in 1979 I’m starting to think it was the last generation to have this kind of childhood. I didn’t know how good we had it. Now I wish my kids could experience what we had.

If EVERY bit of this video hit you “home”…. Then you’re Golden… ❤

Born in 1980. Our street was full of kids. I grew up building forts, catching gupies or crawdads in the canal, riding bikes, and playing home run derby, and all kinds of other sports, trading baseball cards. My sisters used to talk on the phone to friends, and we had this phone on the wall with a really long cord that would go under their door. :) When I was old enough to drive, I got the old family station wagon to drive to school. It wasn't all easy, but we did have some good times, and I think we felt blessed for what we had.

He’s talking about this like it was a bummer, but it was a blast. Hanging out with friends and doing stuff together.

As a child of the 70's and a teenager of the 80's, it certainly felt like a different planet then. It seemed easier to hook up and meet friends because you had to physically make it happen by going to places, being in the same rooms with folks who had similar interests. You made connections with people face to face. While I do appreciate the leaps and massive bounds that technology has provided, I always think it's taken away much of what's listed above. And if any technology of any kind now glitches or crashes for any amount of time, people's lack of patience and ability to simply wait has vanished. Hence the short tempered, quick reactionary behavior we witness in stores, waiting lines and worst of all, traffic. Just the anger on the road let alone everything else is almost incomprehensible. I'm only 50 now but I'm still trying to find the balance of the past and the galloping pace of today. I'm thankful where I'm at now and I'm fortunate to be "plugging along" with what comes my way but I got a little emotional watching this because again, it seemed we lived in a time where humans bonded a little more and it felt more constructed then say destructive.

When I was a kid an encyclopedia salesman sold those World Book encyclopedias to us. I remember when they arrived with their gold pages. They were just beautiful. What a good memory

I was in university and grad school in the 70’s. Loved doing research with the card catalogue, reference materials, roaming the stacks in search of an elusive title. To me it was pure joy.

I was a teen in the seventies. Two things I miss: 1) having lots of still fairly young adults around who had lived through the Great Depression and WW2-without antibiotics- (and grandparents’ generation who remembered very well WW1 and the Spanish flu epidemic); 2) learning that a good letter contained hardly any references to “I, me, my”. Those older generations understood things we would do well to know today. And man, could they dance! I miss them dearly and thought they’d be here forever.

Being born in the 1950’s was without any personal computers. It was always wonderful when you telephone a business and you actually got to talk to someone every single time to help you right then and there without having to go through a maze first.

Crates full of albums to look through, watching movies in your pajamas at the drive-in, roaming the isles at Blockbuster, meeting your friends at the food court in the mall. It was WONDERFUL 😊

the 90s was an amazing time for me. I was never home unless it was to study or eat. Other than that, I was always outside skateboarding, playing baseball, riding bikes around dirt roads with friends. every year on the 4th of july, the whole family would play flag football in my grandma's yard lol. good times.

I grew up in the 70's - The 70's and 80's were the absolute best decades America has ever had! Everyone was civilized and safety was no big concern. I used to ride my bike 22 miles round trip to K-mart and my parents didn't care! It was a fantastic time in America! I sure miss those days.

Life was fun. And it was a lot less negative. Less boring. Less depressing. There was genuine human connections and shared experiences. Music and movies were better because you’d wait so long for the experience that you cherished every second. For as easy as technology made everything it sure sucked the soul out of it too.

This video has me nostalgic for a time before the internet. We have gained a lot with technology but I think we lost so much more.

Life was much better before the internet.😊👍

I was born in the 70’s and raised in the 80’s. I miss all of this. Family game nights, Friday nights at the video rental store, Saturdays at the mall, and writing letters to your pen pals!

Living before the internet meant when we got bored we used our imagination. It only took once for me to tell my mom I was bored. She found something for me to do and it was usually extra chores😂

I'm a 60's baby girl and today's technology may be useful for some things. But it pales in comparison to the days. When life was simple, safe, fun and people actually talked to each other. And not having their faces stuck to a cell phone or a stupid computer. 4:35 OMG! I have that recipe box too! 😊 It came with flowers in it at the time. I bought it for my Sweet Mamma and I have it. 🥰 I miss those good ole days and would definitely go back there if I could! Especially for the drive in movies, miniature golf, arcades, and theme parks. Where it didn't cost an arm and a leg to go on rides or having to buy a stupid membership to have fun, buying our favorite summertime treat from an ice cream truck. And who can ever forget watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Those were the best of times and I'm so grateful to have experienced it all. ❤❤❤❤

Born in 61. When I was a young person there was nothing better than sitting at the country store in a little town in Texas, drinking Coke, eating a fresh apple crispito with soft serve ice cream, and talking to friends for hours into the night. The local cop would come by and join us and tell the best cop stories and burn through those cigarettes. The ceiling in the country store was yellow with cigarette smoke, painted with thousands of hours of good story telling. Today the cops don’t even talk to people, like just gossiping and telling stories, they don’t do that anymore.

Who here wishes we can go back to that simpler time.✋

If there's one thing that is a lost art: it's letter writing, writing a letter to a loved one!

Born in 86 and man I can believe how we grew up. I used to leave the house as a 10 year old on my bike for hours (no mobile phones) and my parents just assumed I would be home at some point before dark. People were less anxious and we knew all our neighbours. Things really started to take a turn for the worst around 2012 when smart phones and social media became the norm. No longer did you have to see your friends face to face you could just stalk them on Facebook. And when you did manage to see you’re friends they would be on their iPhone checking Facebook. 😅

Back in those days we didn't have this, and we didn't have that. Yet less was more, and life was better.

It's important to note that pre-internet life was generally slower, we understood things took time and were not nearly so much as in a rush as we are nowadays. It is also why we treasured finally reaching the arcade and meeting up with our friends, or the excitement of receiving a letter from family, friends our a love letter from a girlfriend/boyfriend in the mail or the joy of entering into a movie theatre and finding seats after waiting in line for an hour, etc.

Thank you so much for your channel. You bring back so many pleasant memories. And a little bit of sadness for our loved ones who have passed on. Life was certainly simpler, but also so much more fun. The narrator has the perfect calming voice that adds tremendously to the subjects. Makes me wish for a machine that could take me back in time. Running home from school so as not to miss a second of the gothic soap " Dark Shadows." Those were the days!!!

Born in the 60’s (1967). Raised in the 70’s. Grew up in the 80’s. I wish I could flip the album and do it all over again. It was a wonderful time.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's, whenever we could we were outside with our friends. The last place you wanted to be was indoors. There was also the dreaded back to school shopping. When your mom took you to get school clothes you knew summer was over. There were always that last week when we tried to do all the things that we told ourselves we were going to do at the start of summer break.

Some may think this was annoying times but I think it's the best times ever.

Life before the internet was awesome! Jobs were easier to get (although receiving and handing in paper applications was the hard part, on the positive side we didn't have to worry about false sites and computer hackers though) and when people received those jobs they were less likely to quit. Going to movie stores, video game stores and music stores was fun and discovering new items was exciting ( even if some were classics, even in their day). Going to the movies was definitely a fun family outing and the movie theater smells (buttered popcorn) enhanced those experiences. Waiting for your shows to come on t.v. was exciting and created a bit of anxiety while waiting (sometimes impatiently). Planning for vacations was fun especially when planning was in the reading process (reading books on different travel destinations). Taking pictures via cameras (later disposable cameras) was fun and waiting for them to be processed via a photolab was half of the excitement. Yes, life may have seemed more difficult to our latest generation (having grown up with technology) but life before the internet seems, now when I look back, to have been more enjoyable. Friends and family was talked to face to face (not via text) and neighbors knew each other (were also friends) and looked out for each other. Kids actually used to play outside (climbing trees and playing games) or read a book (not Facebook or internet stories and games). Learning channels was actually learning channels (history Channel was about history, discovery Channel was about science and travel Channel was about learning about different travel destinations around the world) not reality t.v. about stores, bumping around in the dark scaring each other, and auto dealerships. The news was actually the news (not the gossip column). Man, I miss the good old days😢

I am 54. And let me tell you i enjoyed that part of my life. It was fun, interesting, expecting something down the road, reading maps to move around in Mexico City when going there, those letters to my cousins, etc. It was good

I was a teenager during the 1980’s, so I appreciated this trip down memory lane.

One of my best friends died in an accident at age 16. Before that happened, I’d moved away to another state for a few years. She and I exchanged letters during those years. I still have them, and cherish them. To this day, I’m so glad I grew up during this era, because of those letters.

I would love to go back to the 60s and live the rest of my life from then. Things are getting too dystopian now.

I was born 1981 and literally the last generation that grew up playing outside,bike rides, knowing we were safe, phone calls on land lines. Climbing trees, falling and hurting myself and my parents would only react if I actually hurt myself other wise just pick ya self up. Hanging out in town with friends. Be home by 6pm with out our parents actually knowing where we are just the trust that we would be safe and come home when expected and we would because we as kids got taught respect at a young age and disciplined appropriately to the mistake made. It was great times and sadly there will be no other generation like us with the full sense of being a human without technology

I miss the 80's. Best decade ever

Those were better days, and it's sad that we'll never see them again. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

I loved my childhood in the 60's and 70's. I'd spend many hours playing with friends, hanging out with the family, watching tv, going to movies, window shopping and doing what kids did back then. I miss those days so much. Of course many things now are better than what we had then, but many are not, and people have gotten far worse overall.

As a 43-year-old, I had to smile at your title "...You had to do WHAT!" It was perfectly possible to live a full, rich, interesting, and reasonably convenient life before the Internet (I'm thinking of the 1980s and early 1990s). I was almost 18 before I first accessed the Internet (I browsed it for the first time at a free computer in a shopping mall; I would likely have done my first search on Yahoo) and I didn't start to use the Internet regularly until over a year later (when I got to university where there were Internet commons at the network of libraries there; prior to that, I periodically used it at the city library). While I think the Internet has brought more good things than bad and would not go back, life definitely wasn't bad before it and I'm glad I experienced what it was like not to have the Internet. Yes, research was harder, but as someone who's always been curious and interested in factual knowledge, I was a regular at various libraries. Two minor corrections: while it is true that there was nothing like Amazon, there were shops that would do home delivery within a limited range, not just pizza parlors. As I recall, as a miniumum some drugstores did, and I think some grocery stores / supermarkets did too. Also, something like 24-hour news reporting did exist, as far as I can recall, some time before the Internet became common. Circa 1991 (at the time of the Gulf War), I remember watching a Canadian news channel that had an hourly news report.

I look at all people in the still shots of the video! Including myself! We had no clue of what complicated times were ahead of us! Back to 1985!!!!!🤘

I feel sorry for the young of today who will never know how much less stressful those days were. It is so sad nowadays to see most people, earbuds, smartphones addicted, oblivious of their surroundings and the passage of real life until it is too late.

I grew up in the 60's and remember to this day when I got my first library card. I think for many of us in that time the library card was our first exposure to having an official document! I treasured that little card with it's little metal piece with my account number embossed on it... it was like a drivers license or a credit card and made me feel so grown up LOL! I showed it to everyone with pride. I had a wallet that I kept it in and would walk into that library and select a couple of books and then headed to checkout and so proudly whipped out my wallet to remove it's only content, the library card. If I was lucky there might be a dollar bill I'd be sure that everyone saw. Great memory :)

The cameras with film is making a comeback, as my 20 something Adult kids told me about a year before the Pandemic. Even the Vinyl records have started to make a comeback as I got surprised by my siblings who have started collecting them and bought a player for them. My guess is that some items come back from the past because, they always had value and people realize they are still very useful not to be allowed to be obsolete. My Professional musician friends have also told me that vinyl sounds better when played. Who knows, maybe the old phone booths can be repurposed as Emergency phones to call 911, since they don’ need to be charged all the time.

I'm nearly 60 and treat my cellphone as a landline. When I call a friend, I'm sitting on the couch and fully present. I get annoyed when the other person (often my age or older) is driving, washing dishes, walking, or doing anything else but just sitting and participating soley in the conversation. Before cellphones and answering machines, I don't remember calling someone and no one answered. No one lived alone; the family/roommates shared a landline. Someone answered the phone and usually had a conversation with whoever called. I think we all more isolated now.

Life before the internet, was a real life!

I was raised on the cusp of the web and gaming consoles while simultaneously still doing out door stuff and other activities with friends. Strange times now. Even stranger how things change so quickly.

😂 greetings from coastal Mississippi. Wonderful research. I had rotary phone until the 90's. Didn't get colour tv until the 80's . Didn't get Internet until 2019. What a time to live....🎉

As a 55 year old, I am LOVING this channel that I just recently found. I'd love to have a time machine and go back to the late 70s and live it all over again. But, since that isn't going to happen, I at least can watch channels like this that sort of take me back to a much better time. Thank you for all the great vids...and please keep them coming. :)

As a 90's kid/teen I was apart of the last era to remember what it was like to NOT have the internet. So I can relate to these things.

Listen to the radio, tape, and watching tv are my only entertainment in the 80s. We had more friends to hang put or just did some chit chat. What a beautiful days they were!! ❤

Does anyone remember the drive-in cinema? They were all the rage until the mid eighties. As a kid and teen we used to go frequently with my family and friends. I'm in my fifties and really miss the 70's and 80's. Life was so much simpler, we had more human interaction. I remembered everyday there were always kids running around outside, today you walk outside and the neighborhood streets are eerily quiet. It's funny how we used to always say that technology would make our lives easier. To be honesty the opposite is true now. Our lives have become so much more complicated and run by technology.

I was born in 53, watching this makes me want to cry. I try not to think too much about how everything has changed.

I remember planning local ski trips or golf trips for the weekend, when people would actually tell you they were going or not instead of reading a text and never replying... 🙄

Life as it takes place today sucks so much in my opinion. Having smartphones and instant internet 24/ 7 is really exhausting, which is also why I decided to break down all my social media access to the least possible. I returned to phone calls, deactivated all my notifications on my mobile device, which I use as jukebox only now besides the telephone. The problem is, you risk to fall into oblivion, but I'm willing to bear this risk only to see who I can ACTUALLY rely on within my friends. Back from convenience to LIFE..

I am so freaking lucky I can barely believe it. I was born in 1958 and got to grow up without all the societal pressures kids have on them these days. I could venture away from my house and have experiences that todays kids can barely conceive of. Now, at 65 and medically homebound, I can bring the world to me What a fortunate generation to be part of.

This video really made me feel old yet happy that I grew up before the internet.

I grew up in the 70's and loved it. Oh yeah no mass murdered at elementary or high schools, I used to walk everywhere without fear. Life was an adventure, in the summer you'd leave home in the morning and not be back till dinner, playing outside with friends all the while. Where I live din northeast PA it was just such a fun time. A simpler time and a great time to be a kid 😄😄

wish some things were still like these. much more family togetherness. today everyone is on there phones and devices. such a different time.

Having been a kid and young adult in the 70's and 80's I can happily say I wouldn't trade my pre-internet days for anything, even with some of technological drawbacks at the time. I think anyone who grew up in that period knows exactly what I mean.

One thing that the internet destroyed is having a close community.

One additional thing about movies is when you would call to find out the showtimes and you had to wait through all of them on the recorded message before finally getting to the one you wanted.

The thing I miss most about those times was there were times when you simply could not be contacted by anyone. Yes you can turn your phone off but who would dare to miss a emergency call from your spouse , children or parents.

Before the internet there was also large catalogs that came out every three months from stores like Sears and Macy’s. You could order over the phone or use the enclosed order form. Rural places received these a lot as they were not close to stores. The Sears Christmas Wishbook was my favorite. All the new clothes, toys, were there, tools for dad, appliances, perfume for mom, jewelry, furniture, and everything else you might need. After the season was over you could use the catalog pages and books to make other things.