The internet permeates every aspect of our lives. Millennials and Gen Z don’t remember when we didn’t have a world of knowledge at our feet, begging us to get lost inside. But Boomers and Gen Xers do!
The Best Time Waster
The internet is far more than a knowledge repository. It’s the best way to waste time. Whether mindless scrolling through endless TikTok videos or getting lost in a Wikipedia rabbit hole, the internet abounds with time sucks.
Bored Without the Internet
The easy accessibility of content at our fingertips is a blessing and a curse. Young people struggle to entertain themselves without the internet.
We’re realizing it’s a problem and sought advice from our elders to learn what they did to kill time before they could bury their noses in a smartphone.
Here’s how Boomers and Gen X killed time.
Television
We were glued to our television sets long before we were glued to our phones. The most significant limitation of television is it’s not portable. Before that, people listened to the radio.
Books
Before the internet, books served as the primary information repository. People who wanted to burn time while learning something new dove into the treasure trove of human knowledge and experience held by books.
Gaming
Arcades and home consols arrived long before home internet networks, offering young folks a fantastic way to spend those long summer days and cold winter nights.
Early Internet Pioneers
Many Gen Xers and Young Boomers showed offense at the idea that they couldn’t waste time on the internet.
They were its earliest pioneers; some even helped build the internet we know and love.
Talking on the Phone
Millennials collectively recoil in terror at the thought of talking on the phone and can’t believe earlier generations did it for fun.
Memorization
Boomers and Gen Xers had to wait for their favorite songs to come on the radio, record them, then play them repeatedly while feverishly writing out the lyrics so they could memorize them.
They also wasted time memorizing their favorite movie quotes and poems.
They Didn’t
A boomer on the thread insisted life was so dull that they had no reason to procrastinate. They had no procrastination tools and nothing to avoid.
Journaling
When we couldn’t enjoy other people’s drama from the safety of a screen, we made our own in our journal pages.
We still procrastinate with journals today, but now it’s bullet journals where we spend all our time planning and not enough time doing.
Going Outside
Before the internet, people actually went outside and did things. What a strange world that must have been.
Playing Outside
I’m an older millennial, so I grew up before the internet. My parents forced my to “play outside” whether I wanted to or not. Before the internet, kids roamed neighborhoods entertaining themselves. We’d bike to parks, play Ghosts in the Graveyard, and climb trees.
Visiting People
Nowadays, people plan their visits. Drop-ins are nearly unheard of. However, before we had access to mobile phones, we’d just swing by our friends’ places to see what they were up to when we were in the area.
Sports
People went outside and played pick-up basketball, swam at community pools, skated, and rollerbladed.
These fun sports were great time-wasters that kept us moving.
Drawing
Drawing is a great way to pass some time. You don’t have to be good at it either! Here are 101 fun things to draw when you’re bored.
Hobbies
The internet sucks a lot of joy out of life. Before we had a world of entertainment at our fingerprints, we engaged in productive hobbies like knitting, tinkering, painting, or jewelry making.
Source: Reddit