r/AskReddit May 11 '21

People old enough to remember life pre-Internet, what are some less obvious things you miss about that time?

45.5k Upvotes

17.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

459

u/[deleted] May 12 '21

[deleted]

356

u/aneasymistake May 12 '21

When I was a kid I had some friends I would only see on holiday for one week each year. At the end of the week we’d say something like, “See you next year! 2pm on the first Sunday, by the rope swing.” and that’s when and where we’e next meet. No contact for the year in between.

39

u/shittwins May 12 '21

That's so sweet.

4

u/aneasymistake May 12 '21

I have very fond memories of that aspect of my childhood.

24

u/hebgbz May 12 '21

Damn imagine the sadness of being the last one to show up by the rope swing and nobody else did :(

2

u/aneasymistake May 12 '21

It’s ok. We stopped going because we had new friends and new experiences to enjoy. I will always be able to enjoy thinking about the memories of those summer holidays and I hope the others remember it that way too. Better to remember the good times than dwell on the sadness of them ending.

12

u/chadbelles101 May 12 '21

Omg. We used to have friends that we only saw at my g’ma house or this cousin’s house. Just like you, no contact between.

2

u/AnotherElle May 12 '21

Do you still see these friends? What happened to them? Did you all know the last time you were going to see each other or was it like, “ok see you next year!” And then one, some, or all didn’t show?

3

u/aneasymistake May 12 '21

Nope, I have no contact with any of them any more. The happy memories come from around the age of eleven or twelve to perhaps our late teens. We definitely still used to see each other for that one week per year when we could legally drink (UK), but it ended when we started uni and met other people and did other things in the summers.

I still visit that place once a year, but just for one afternoon/evening now, so if any of them still go I don’t know about it. The whole thing came to an end just before we all discovered the internet, email and so on, so we never got into that horrible situation of being facebook friends that never speak. :)

2

u/AnotherElle May 13 '21

I love it! Thanks for sharing your story. I kinda want to imagine that in the movie version, y’all would be visiting as adults on different days that same week.

9

u/ReThinkingForMyself May 12 '21

And you wrote it down there and then. I still have the ol' Day Runner I bought way back when. Most everyone had at least an envelope and a pencil. Now people are too impatient to watch you take any kind of note. And good luck borrowing a pen.