Whether you think the internet has been a net positive or negative for the world, there’s no debating that it has changed nearly everything. The change has been so rapid and abrupt that humanity hasn’t really come to grips with this new reality. It’s like we’re constantly playing catch-up.
There was the first wave of the internet that completely wiped out physical media such as record stores and magazines. Then there was a revolution with social media that changed the way people interact and gave everyone a voice online.
Some point to Facebook’s addition of the “like” button in 2010 as the moment when social media became an addiction, with people chasing approval and dopamine hits. While others say that the addition of the “share” button the same year completely changed reality because it allowed bad ideas to take wing.
Now, nearly 30 years after the internet became available to the average person, there is a generation growing up that never knew what life was like before the ’net. But for the rest of us, there are still memories of a time when people went to Blockbuster video to get a movie, dialed people on rotary phones and found an intersection on a Thomas Guide map.
I’m not saying those times were better, just different.
A Reddit user by the name of Jenn was feeling nostalgic for the pre-internet days so they asked the online forum, “Video killed the radio star. What did the internet kill?” The question was a reference to The Buggles’ 1979 hit “Video Killed the Radio Star,” which was the first video ever played on MTV.
The post quickly went viral with more than 7,000 people chiming in with things that the internet relegated to the dustbin of history.
Here are 19 of the best responses to the question, “What did the internet kill?”
1.
“Newspapers. Magazines.” — Cuttlery
2.
“Blockbuster.” — sparkchaser
3.
“Encyclopedias.” — New_Television_9125
4.
“Not being able to remember that guy from that thing.” — Meffrey_Dewlocks
Volcano-ngh added:
“Not having to listen to my mom and my uncle list off names trying to remember the name of some actor in a 100-year-old movie for an hour with no resolution is pretty great.”
5.
“Maps. I have never used a tangible map since internet and phones.” — TheMaskedAdvice
6.
“Realistic expectations of success.” — NelsonsBuddy
Cerker added:
“With your former limited peer group, your were bound to be ‘the expert’ or ‘the best’ in at least something. And could provide valuable contributions due to this. Now? You can always compare yourself to the whole world. You always find tens of people so far above your level that you have no realistic means to come even close to it. It was always that way, but they weren’t that prominent in your life, always pointing out your mediocrity. I still struggle with it and it used to suck up all my motivation. Now I start to stop caring and just doing what provides my joy.”
7.
“The mail order catalogue. This was a huge means of buying goods, especially in rural areas or ordering niche items that normally aren’t stocked in stores.” — TheSeaMonkey
