https://www.axios.com/2024/01/05/pre-internet-pay-phones-digital-online-cellphones-vintage-nostalgia

  • Aryuproudomenowdaddy [comrade/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    Before smart phones I carried a book everywhere I went and would pull it out at any point I'd generally reach for my phone now. I also got lost driving a lot.

    • drinkinglakewater [he/him]
      ·
      11 months ago

      I'd always have a portable CD player or radio and would get to be the navigator during family roadtrips and read from the map book

      • optissima@lemmy.ml
        ·
        11 months ago

        Hearing people as old as my boomer parents be confused by the amount of physical maps in my car currently is always jarring.

        • CrushKillDestroySwag
          ·
          11 months ago

          I've got a big ol atlas because I read somewhere that over-relying on google maps messes up your ability to function without it. It was super inconvenient at first but now I know offhand the direction and distance to just about every city in my county - and this after an entire lifetime of thinking that I had a terrible sense of direction, the truth was I had just never developed it.

          • ppb [none/use name]
            ·
            11 months ago

            I've got a big ol atlas because I read somewhere that over-relying on google maps messes up your ability to function without it.

            I think there's no way that's actually true. Google maps helps me arrive somewhere for the first time, but after a small number of times I can drive most places without looking at it. I'll still use it, because "go another route because there is a huge traffic jam following an unannounced pothole filling or car accident" isn't a possible skill to learn. Also Google maps is fucking glitchy, you still need to read signs and know where you are anyways, otherwise you're missing turns 25% of the time.

    • SuperZutsuki [they/them]
      ·
      11 months ago

      I would have a CD player, book, and GBA/DS on me at all times in high school. Never had an issue with boredom until I got a smartphone. Now it's constantly fighting for my attention and preventing me from do things I want to do