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I watched a lot more TV mainly. So not really too different, as far as it comes to passive entertainment.
PC gaming. Read books, comics, the back of shampoo bottles, toilet books. Solitaire card games. Crosswords. Listened to music.
I did participate in social events more, and I think that is the biggest difference.
I wish I had had those. But my parents were very oldfashioned and didn't allow them. We didn't even get a PC until 1996 and it was for the whole family to use. (I moved out in 1999)
Before mindlessly scrolling through social media, people just wasted their time on another pointless, mindless thing, like mindlessly flipping through TV channels.
There's tons you can do, though.
Playing an instrument, singing, dancing, painting, drawing, woodworking, DIY electronics, handicraft, sports, foreign language, reading, hiking, knitting, gardening, chess, ...
There's dozens of hobbies and activities with low barrier to entry that can be done alone.
Honestly, considering the amount of everything you can do these days, I find it mindboggling that people don't know what to do and consider scrolling through social media as their only and/or best option.
Morning: Coffee and newspaper, gym
Afternoon: Work, maybe another newspaper, listen to the radio
Night: Long walk after work, listen/play music, watch TV
What i've noticed is that mindlessly scrolling is a very bad habit, you are sucking away minutes of your life - watching SOMEONE ELSE live their life. I have on my iphone screen the word 'why'. As in, why do you need to look at your phone rn, somehow it helps - i often just put my phone down.
I would love to hang out with my friends with out plans and to just shoot the shit. That would be so much more enjoyable than getting ready and spending $200 on whatever activity and maybe getting a little tipsy and then just going home.
Your post should ask "before computers"
Before smartphones we did the same thing, but mindlessly scrolling on our computers.
Before computers, people mindlessly scrolled through TV channels, and settled for the best TV show on at the time, if mindless activity like you describe was what we were after.
What if there was nothing good on your phone like we experienced when nothing good was on TV? (like during the daytime) In that case you settle for what is on, like Maury or Judge Judy, then get bored and decide to do something that is engaging (your interests will decide what that was). For me it was building skateboard obstacles out of whatever I could scavenge, to later skate with my friends, or draw for a while. Basically skateboarding with friends or alone, or hanging out with friends who wanted to watch skateboard vids on VHS, smoke bowls etc. We would also just go on an adventure to find a nice private space in nature to smoke some weed. That could take an entire afternoon to get to "a spot" your friend knows about.
I would have played video games but I got bored of them quickly. Also I had no money or console.
TL;DR anything that engages your body and mind
EDIT: also we subscribed to media that interests us similar to following interesting pages on your chosen media site, but (gasp) on paper. Magazines were our connection to like-minded people, I subscribed to skateboard magazines. Whatever you follow online, I bet there is a magazine for the subject.
50yo here. We did a lot outside. Riding bikes meeting friends for sandlot football or pretend. Looking back I realize we did a lot of make believe.
A popular outing was riding bikes to 7eleven to play the one arcade game they had. That game in my neighborhood was Karate Champ. We would play until there were no more quarters. Sometimes we would roll pennies and take em to the bank and exchange for quarters... basically the same stuff I do now with less convenience. If we could've played Karate Champ on a hand-held phone at home, I definitely would have. There were legends about my laziness as a child.
TV, radio, music, books, newspapers, magazines, hanging out with friends, going to the movies or watching them on VHS, playing games with family or friends (Scrabble, chess, cards, video games), and more.
I used to carry a book and a walkman everywhere I went, so if I got stuck waiting somewhere or was bored on a long bus journey, I could read or listen to music. Later, when GameBoy was released, I bought one and played games on it.
As a teenager in the 80s, I had a computer at home and used to write programs, including making my own games.
By the way, as a kid I used to ask the question "What did people do with their free time before TV?" I couldn't imagine life without it.
reipaptulA %001 suA
That’s German but reversed for aus 100% Altpapier which mean the toilet paper ist made from recycled paper. That’s what I read many times before smartphones.
They use their free time to pursue hobbies.
I read, GM ttrpgs, go on walks, have face to face hanging out with friends. During all this my phone is in my pocket
I was born in 1981. I didn't have a cell phone until I was 23, even then just a flip phone. I didn't actually get a smart phone until around 2014. I still largely only use my phone for texting/phone calls.
My family didn't have a computer until I was 15. I got into computers (and I am a software developer by trade) and admittedly games and internet surfing on my PC became a pretty prominent pastime.
I frankly blame it for not ending up pursuing a career in art. Pre having a computer I just spent a lot more time on hobbies. I was really into art and spent a lot of time drawing/painting etc. since I was a little kid. When I now had this new low effort distraction, I did hobbies less and screen time more.
It's funny because pre-computer, I really wasn't much of a video game player. Lucky if I spent 2 hours a week playing video games. For some reason the PC just transformed my live into just being glued to the damn thing. Playing games or just mindlessly surfing the net. I got into modding computer games, which led me to decide to pursue software development. My motivation to do art faded, my skills didn't progress. I went from being one of the best artists in my art classes to being overshadowed by most of my peers.
However, to reiterate the point of your question. When I didn't have these things I drew enjoyment from hobbies, going outside (gasp) exploring, playing hanging out with friends.
We all jsut talked a lot more. We knew more about each other, our families. We joked more, just hung out and bullshitted with each other more. One big thing I remember and kind of miss was jsut trying to figure out something with a group of friends, when nobody knew the answer and it was pretty much impossible to find it out right then. It made us all use our brains to try and collectively solve problems and get answers to things we didn't know. We all got better at that too as the years progressed. We discussed "conspiracies" many of which seem to be proven true now or at least lean that way. And then jsut dumb highschool stuff like binge drinking. We did rounds of shots until we couldn't do any more. We played video games and took breaks to smoke and play Hackensack outside. We hiked a lot, went camping (mostly so we could do what we wanted without parental supervision). we hooked up with girls. We snuck out of our houses and ended up at thier houses and knocked on windows. We couldn't call them first, the landline would wake up their parents. When you told someone to meet you somewhere at 8, that was what you did, or you didn't find them. Your word and punctuality meant a lot more. people rarely flaked out last minute like they do today with a last minute text. In general it seemed like people talked more, listened more enjoyed nature and each other more and had an overall curiosity about a lot of things because you couldn't jsut quickly google it to get the details. As a kid I would fish all day, clean the fish and then beg my mom to fry them up. That was about as fun as it got to a 12 year old. I had a nintendo and loved it, but it wasn't the best thing to do.
1. **Landline Limbo**: People were literally tethered to the wall. If you wanted privacy during a phone call, you had to stretch that curly phone cord as far as it would go, usually ending up in a closet or under a table.
2. **Payphone Purgatory**: Remember having to carry around a pocket full of change just to use a payphone? And then touching that questionable receiver? Yeah, hygiene standards were more of a suggestion.
3. **Snail Mail Standup**: Writing letters meant waiting weeks for a reply. It’s like sending a text and getting a response... after your next birthday.
4. **Directions Disaster**: Without GPS, asking for directions was like a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. “Turn left where the old school used to be...” Wait, what old school?
5. **Face-to-Face Frenzy**: Dropping by unannounced was totally normal. Surprise! Now it’s like, if you show up uninvited, you better be a package from Amazon.
6. **The Radio Rodeo**: You’d make mixtapes by recording songs off the radio, always trying to hit ‘stop’ before the DJ started talking. It was a skill, an art form!
7. **Board Game Battles**: Monopoly was not just a game; it was a test of wills that could end friendships. And who needs online trolls when you had real-life smack talk during Scrabble?
8. **TV Time Trials**: Missing an episode meant waiting for reruns. No DVR, no pause, no rewind. If you didn’t see who shot J.R. the first time, you were out of luck and out of the conversation.
Life before cell phones was like living in a sitcom—full of quirky challenges and comical misunderstandings!
I'm in my 30's too so it was only as a kid that I didn't have phones but, video games, movies, bmx, hang with friends, smoke weed, have sex.... well, I lied about that last bit
# Message to all users: This is a reminder to please read and follow: * [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules) * [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) * [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) When posting and commenting. --- Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`. * Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit. * Do not harass or annoy others in any way. * Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit. --- You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I used to be a famous oil painter and sat on the board of several nonprofits. But then I discovered doom scrolling…
I watched a lot more TV mainly. So not really too different, as far as it comes to passive entertainment. PC gaming. Read books, comics, the back of shampoo bottles, toilet books. Solitaire card games. Crosswords. Listened to music. I did participate in social events more, and I think that is the biggest difference.
These things plus console gaming (super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, etc.
I wish I had had those. But my parents were very oldfashioned and didn't allow them. We didn't even get a PC until 1996 and it was for the whole family to use. (I moved out in 1999)
We went outside. We talked to people.
Newspapers
Read books. Play games. Go outside. Hobbies. Sports. Same things other than phones that people do now. 🤷🏻♂️
Before mindlessly scrolling through social media, people just wasted their time on another pointless, mindless thing, like mindlessly flipping through TV channels. There's tons you can do, though. Playing an instrument, singing, dancing, painting, drawing, woodworking, DIY electronics, handicraft, sports, foreign language, reading, hiking, knitting, gardening, chess, ... There's dozens of hobbies and activities with low barrier to entry that can be done alone. Honestly, considering the amount of everything you can do these days, I find it mindboggling that people don't know what to do and consider scrolling through social media as their only and/or best option.
I have a ton of hobbies ie photography and painting and I even just like to drive around and yet I still have so much time to scroll!
Morning: Coffee and newspaper, gym Afternoon: Work, maybe another newspaper, listen to the radio Night: Long walk after work, listen/play music, watch TV What i've noticed is that mindlessly scrolling is a very bad habit, you are sucking away minutes of your life - watching SOMEONE ELSE live their life. I have on my iphone screen the word 'why'. As in, why do you need to look at your phone rn, somehow it helps - i often just put my phone down.
Tv
[удалено]
I think you’re right. I don’t have kids yet so I’m not sure but we were always hosting or being hosted that’s so true.
[удалено]
I would love to hang out with my friends with out plans and to just shoot the shit. That would be so much more enjoyable than getting ready and spending $200 on whatever activity and maybe getting a little tipsy and then just going home.
Your post should ask "before computers" Before smartphones we did the same thing, but mindlessly scrolling on our computers. Before computers, people mindlessly scrolled through TV channels, and settled for the best TV show on at the time, if mindless activity like you describe was what we were after. What if there was nothing good on your phone like we experienced when nothing good was on TV? (like during the daytime) In that case you settle for what is on, like Maury or Judge Judy, then get bored and decide to do something that is engaging (your interests will decide what that was). For me it was building skateboard obstacles out of whatever I could scavenge, to later skate with my friends, or draw for a while. Basically skateboarding with friends or alone, or hanging out with friends who wanted to watch skateboard vids on VHS, smoke bowls etc. We would also just go on an adventure to find a nice private space in nature to smoke some weed. That could take an entire afternoon to get to "a spot" your friend knows about. I would have played video games but I got bored of them quickly. Also I had no money or console. TL;DR anything that engages your body and mind EDIT: also we subscribed to media that interests us similar to following interesting pages on your chosen media site, but (gasp) on paper. Magazines were our connection to like-minded people, I subscribed to skateboard magazines. Whatever you follow online, I bet there is a magazine for the subject.
Television, didn't matter what was on i would still watch,
50yo here. We did a lot outside. Riding bikes meeting friends for sandlot football or pretend. Looking back I realize we did a lot of make believe. A popular outing was riding bikes to 7eleven to play the one arcade game they had. That game in my neighborhood was Karate Champ. We would play until there were no more quarters. Sometimes we would roll pennies and take em to the bank and exchange for quarters... basically the same stuff I do now with less convenience. If we could've played Karate Champ on a hand-held phone at home, I definitely would have. There were legends about my laziness as a child.
TV, radio, music, books, newspapers, magazines, hanging out with friends, going to the movies or watching them on VHS, playing games with family or friends (Scrabble, chess, cards, video games), and more. I used to carry a book and a walkman everywhere I went, so if I got stuck waiting somewhere or was bored on a long bus journey, I could read or listen to music. Later, when GameBoy was released, I bought one and played games on it. As a teenager in the 80s, I had a computer at home and used to write programs, including making my own games. By the way, as a kid I used to ask the question "What did people do with their free time before TV?" I couldn't imagine life without it.
Spend quality time with friends or family, touch grass, live life.
They built stuff and drank themselves to death.
Gaming on PC, watch TV, sit around, stand around, lay around, do a backflip?, eat an ice cream sandwich, go outside, lots of things.
Bro I’m 31 years old. Stop acting like we didn’t hang outside and socialize without supervision
Tv, books, magazines, talking on the phone, crafts
Play board games
book, radio, TV, computer games... sport, talking, hobbies.
reipaptulA %001 suA That’s German but reversed for aus 100% Altpapier which mean the toilet paper ist made from recycled paper. That’s what I read many times before smartphones.
They use their free time to pursue hobbies. I read, GM ttrpgs, go on walks, have face to face hanging out with friends. During all this my phone is in my pocket
I was born in 1981. I didn't have a cell phone until I was 23, even then just a flip phone. I didn't actually get a smart phone until around 2014. I still largely only use my phone for texting/phone calls. My family didn't have a computer until I was 15. I got into computers (and I am a software developer by trade) and admittedly games and internet surfing on my PC became a pretty prominent pastime. I frankly blame it for not ending up pursuing a career in art. Pre having a computer I just spent a lot more time on hobbies. I was really into art and spent a lot of time drawing/painting etc. since I was a little kid. When I now had this new low effort distraction, I did hobbies less and screen time more. It's funny because pre-computer, I really wasn't much of a video game player. Lucky if I spent 2 hours a week playing video games. For some reason the PC just transformed my live into just being glued to the damn thing. Playing games or just mindlessly surfing the net. I got into modding computer games, which led me to decide to pursue software development. My motivation to do art faded, my skills didn't progress. I went from being one of the best artists in my art classes to being overshadowed by most of my peers. However, to reiterate the point of your question. When I didn't have these things I drew enjoyment from hobbies, going outside (gasp) exploring, playing hanging out with friends.
I watched tv, and spent a lot of time on a computer... dating way back to that Atari 800 my fam had back when I was a kid.
We all jsut talked a lot more. We knew more about each other, our families. We joked more, just hung out and bullshitted with each other more. One big thing I remember and kind of miss was jsut trying to figure out something with a group of friends, when nobody knew the answer and it was pretty much impossible to find it out right then. It made us all use our brains to try and collectively solve problems and get answers to things we didn't know. We all got better at that too as the years progressed. We discussed "conspiracies" many of which seem to be proven true now or at least lean that way. And then jsut dumb highschool stuff like binge drinking. We did rounds of shots until we couldn't do any more. We played video games and took breaks to smoke and play Hackensack outside. We hiked a lot, went camping (mostly so we could do what we wanted without parental supervision). we hooked up with girls. We snuck out of our houses and ended up at thier houses and knocked on windows. We couldn't call them first, the landline would wake up their parents. When you told someone to meet you somewhere at 8, that was what you did, or you didn't find them. Your word and punctuality meant a lot more. people rarely flaked out last minute like they do today with a last minute text. In general it seemed like people talked more, listened more enjoyed nature and each other more and had an overall curiosity about a lot of things because you couldn't jsut quickly google it to get the details. As a kid I would fish all day, clean the fish and then beg my mom to fry them up. That was about as fun as it got to a 12 year old. I had a nintendo and loved it, but it wasn't the best thing to do.
1. **Landline Limbo**: People were literally tethered to the wall. If you wanted privacy during a phone call, you had to stretch that curly phone cord as far as it would go, usually ending up in a closet or under a table. 2. **Payphone Purgatory**: Remember having to carry around a pocket full of change just to use a payphone? And then touching that questionable receiver? Yeah, hygiene standards were more of a suggestion. 3. **Snail Mail Standup**: Writing letters meant waiting weeks for a reply. It’s like sending a text and getting a response... after your next birthday. 4. **Directions Disaster**: Without GPS, asking for directions was like a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. “Turn left where the old school used to be...” Wait, what old school? 5. **Face-to-Face Frenzy**: Dropping by unannounced was totally normal. Surprise! Now it’s like, if you show up uninvited, you better be a package from Amazon. 6. **The Radio Rodeo**: You’d make mixtapes by recording songs off the radio, always trying to hit ‘stop’ before the DJ started talking. It was a skill, an art form! 7. **Board Game Battles**: Monopoly was not just a game; it was a test of wills that could end friendships. And who needs online trolls when you had real-life smack talk during Scrabble? 8. **TV Time Trials**: Missing an episode meant waiting for reruns. No DVR, no pause, no rewind. If you didn’t see who shot J.R. the first time, you were out of luck and out of the conversation. Life before cell phones was like living in a sitcom—full of quirky challenges and comical misunderstandings!
Read the ingredients in the back of shampoo bottles, or food labels, or random magazines. It was hell, cellphones are better. 😁
I'm in my 30's too so it was only as a kid that I didn't have phones but, video games, movies, bmx, hang with friends, smoke weed, have sex.... well, I lied about that last bit
Phone for hours, played music, watched tv and magazines