>>8123439Nah, it was definitely "less lonely" before the internet. We didnt have "social media" we had "socializing". This is something you did as groups of friends, often as you walked, rode bikes or drove to a physical store to buy something.
Another thing ive noticed with the internet is younger people tend to exist in chosen bubbles or isolated groups, never (or worse, intentionally silencing) socalizing with people of other ideas or beliefs and absolutely never being friends with them. When we didnt have the internet, a lot of the times relationships just happened how they happened. You couldn't ignore people because they didnt fit your perfect idea of a friend. Hell, for a lot of American's who lived in small towns, they didnt even have a choice of friends, it was just going to be whoever was in their small peer group.
There where shut-in's but not anywhere close to as many as now. Again, if anything consider it a limitation of the times. You HAD to go out, you HAD to socialize.
Most people kept a local and national map in their glovebox, they used to be really cheap at every gas station, fire departments and police stations gave them away for free if needed.
And if all else failed, you just asked someone...... i feel the need to highlight how you think these times would be full of shut in's and lonely people who cant manage the simplest of tasks, meanwhile it never dawned on you that a simple solution to being lost would be to ask another human being for directions....... just sayin.
I also have to point out that our minds are no longer programmed to retain phone numbers and addresses but when i was in HS, i had a rolodex in my head. You remembered numbers easier because you had to. I had probably five times as many numbers memorized in HS than i have contacts in my cell phone right now (we even had to remember pager numbers).
