Back to the ‘80s, but I’m Old

Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

I know it’s quite unthinkable now because it’s rather difficult to function without a computer these days, but I really welcome the idea.

I’m probably mostly being nostalgic because life without a computer looks like the ‘80s, and I tend to look at the decades of my youth with rose-colored glasses.

Nonetheless, I do hanker for that different time mainly for my children. I think Internet access had been largely toxic for them. For all of us, for that matter.

Of course I cannot completely discount all the good that the Internet age has brought. Everything is more efficient. More work opportunities are available. Better security can be managed. Crime-fighting and mystery-solving are more effective. The world has become smaller and distance between loved ones isn’t the same agony that it used to be…

Still, I think our character was better honed for the exercise of patience, harder work, delayed gratification, etc.

In any case, to romanticize my life without computers, here’s what I think it looks like:

• I’d be pounding away at the typewriter to write my articles and manuscripts (I’d be in a Greenwich Village apartment and my neighbor would be playing the saxophone… This is how I used to envision my life as a writer when I was a kid.😂). I’d have shelves of reference books and magazines for fact-checking as well as grammar and spell check.
• I’d spend hours on the landline, gabbing with my friends. We had to call each other to keep up with each other’s lives. And other peoples’ lives, hee hee.
• I’d be writing and receiving letters. I love snail mail, so this has me sighing in wistfulness.
• I’d be going to the mall for shopping or ordering through catalog.
• My kids and I would be playing more cards and board games, and messing around with physical toys. They’d be more active, excited to spend time outdoors.
• We’d be going to the library more, and they’d be mastering the use of the card catalog.
• Car rides would be noisier and the kids would be more observant of their surroundings. We’d all be listening to the car radio.
• We’d be using film cameras. The crew at the developing kiosk would see all our ugly shots.
• I’d be reading magazines again. Once upon a time, I had a huge collection of Country Living and Southern Living, and looked forward to getting the latest issues. Little thrills. 😄

I can keep going, but I’ll put a rein on my thoughts now. That’s the thing about me. I love the past. I actually almost majored in History, but my great-uncle was a prominent history professor at the university I attended, and I felt like that was his turf (I also kind of didn’t want the association 😂), and, anyway, I had other interests.

Going back to the question, I imagine blogging wouldn’t be a thing, so I’d have to be more prolific as a writer to vie for a columnist gig in a magazine. Or I’d be sending really long Christmas newsletters.😁