So my Kid 2, who is fifteen and VERY good at it, asked me yesterday a question she asks on a fairly regular basis, but with more than usual desire for an answer.
K2: What did you do without the internet? I mean, when you needed to know something.
Me: Read a book.
K2: I’m serious.
Me: Me, too.
K2: What if it’s something not in a book?
Me: For instance?
K2: Who invented the pogo stick?
Me: You’d go to the library and pick up the P encyclopedia. Big book, words and pictures, reference material. You’d look up POGO and find all your answers.
K2: What about who progressed in the bracket for some sports tournament?
Me: Newspaper.
K2, with a perfect blend of pity and contempt: Wow. That would take forever. What a pain.
(Maternal Translation: I love the internet. Thank you for not making me live without it.)
(12) Comments for this blog
So true. Sometimes I wonder how we lived without the internet. I can’t even remember it.
So true. Sometimes I wonder how we lived without the internet. I can’t even remember it.
The sad thing is that I think most teenagers and children wonder the same thing. I was very well-versed in researching stuff when I was a kid…. I feel old. 🙂
The sad thing is that I think most teenagers and children wonder the same thing. I was very well-versed in researching stuff when I was a kid…. I feel old. 🙂
Personally, I’m with kid#2. I don’t know how I lived without the internet before. I love how quickly I can find out things. 🙂 Though, I do miss having a paper encyclopedia in the house. (My parents had one when we were younger.)
Personally, I’m with kid#2. I don’t know how I lived without the internet before. I love how quickly I can find out things. 🙂 Though, I do miss having a paper encyclopedia in the house. (My parents had one when we were younger.)
After hearing said like that, it makes me wonder how we survived at all. I remember one day going in to the library and our youngest asked how we used to find books before computers. I think he had the same response as K2 when I told him about the card catalog.
After hearing said like that, it makes me wonder how we survived at all. I remember one day going in to the library and our youngest asked how we used to find books before computers. I think he had the same response as K2 when I told him about the card catalog.
And now it’s even worse. My new question is, how did I survive without my smartphone? I can’t bear to go even 5 seconds without knowing the answer to whatever inane question pops into my head. We’re talking way sillier stuff than ‘who invented the pogo stick.’ The things I’m googling on my phone would have to mature 10 years to be as legit as the pogo stick question. And yet, I must know right. this. very. second. or. I. will. DIE!
And now it’s even worse. My new question is, how did I survive without my smartphone? I can’t bear to go even 5 seconds without knowing the answer to whatever inane question pops into my head. We’re talking way sillier stuff than ‘who invented the pogo stick.’ The things I’m googling on my phone would have to mature 10 years to be as legit as the pogo stick question. And yet, I must know right. this. very. second. or. I. will. DIE!
I love the Internet, but I miss card catalogs and looking through library books that were on a shelf. There was just something about the physical search that was so satisfying. My younger son hates his computer class and asked me if I hated my computer class when I was in school. I told him that we didn’t have computers when I was in school. My older son then piped in with, “That doesn’t mean they just didn’t have computers in school, they didn’t have computers at all. Or cell phones.” Son #2 was appropriately shocked.
I love the Internet, but I miss card catalogs and looking through library books that were on a shelf. There was just something about the physical search that was so satisfying. My younger son hates his computer class and asked me if I hated my computer class when I was in school. I told him that we didn’t have computers when I was in school. My older son then piped in with, “That doesn’t mean they just didn’t have computers in school, they didn’t have computers at all. Or cell phones.” Son #2 was appropriately shocked.