Life Before Google
I went to school at a time when you needed encyclopedias to do research projects. You had to trust that the information hadn’t changed since the textbook was published. My social studies textbooks were more apt for modern history.
If I didn’t know how to spell a word, I had to look it up in a dictionary. This was certainly no easy task with words like pneumatic and gnawing. When my third grade teacher asked me to find out how to spell the word ‘sushi’ for our upcoming lesson, I claimed it was ‘suchi’. Apologies to anyone from that class who still spells it incorrectly.
When you heard a contest on the radio, you had to actually know the answer to win. Nowadays it feels like the contest is more about who can Google the answer the quickest. With Facebook contests you don’t even have to consult Google. You see the same answer repeated over and over again. And of course the one person who was silly enough to write something else.
Life before Google was simpler no doubt, but also a lot less idiot-friendly.
hahahaahaha… I love that term idiot-friendly. 😀
oh, so true! but I do pride myself on my personal (antiquated) stores of knowledge, which are now probably all wrong! 🙂
Oh, the pre-google life was indeed more about learning, knowing, and doing some real research in the library, I’ll give you that. On the other hand, I was talking to some of my friends the other day that if by some chance a time machine transported you back in time and you’d find yourself back in the 90s, how different it would be from today. Yes, we’ve lived through the 90s and all, but since internet and this overload of on-line information changed us in so many ways, to some degrees going back to the 90s would be like learning to walk all over again 😀
That’s an interesting thought. I can’t begin to imagine how one would go about looking for jobs or selecting an overseas university. And trusting a travel agent to book your vacation? I can just picture the cockroach-infested room that is actually 12km from the beach.
How did we settle bets before Google? I also used encyclopedias (sometimes microphish) to write reports in highschool, but I can’t remember what we did when debating such hot topics as which actress played Cherry Valence in The Outsiders, Leah Thompson of Diane Lane. Enjoyed your post
I for one am glad that the internet was not around to help me lose bets in my early years.
very very true….For me, google is everything..I call it as my doctor!!
Reblogged this on My emo dustbin.
i am usually the one that writes something else…just for fun…
I thought it was really cool to pick up my typing speed on a Commodore 64 by popping clouds by typing the words dragged by the little airplane. That was going to enable me to retype the reports straight out of the encyclopedia for speedy work between partying.