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What questions do you have for folks older than you? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 5 days ago by dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

54 comments fedilink hide all child comments

been thinking about all the little moments tucked away in my memories that are a world unknowable to those younger than me, so consider this an opportunity to reminisce over old times, but also to ask those about the times you did not live through.

I guess my question for those older than me is: before computers, how did you learn to do something?

Did access to knowledge change your life, was a constraint lifted when you no longer depended on having found the right books or people to learn tips on how to cook a new dish, or how to fix a plumbing problem, or how to plant a garden?

Was life more simple, did you have fewer problems to solve without technology in your life, or did technology make life easier?

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[–] folaht@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Is mid-forties old enough?
I had a computer, just no internet.

how did you learn to do something?

You didn't.
It was trial and error, ending up with a half-baked solution
and then thinking this was the best solution
or just giving up and no longer bothering.
I can see in older people's other answers
some romanticized version of their past,
but this was the reality.

Sure, there were books in libraries,
but how many books would cover the exact thing that you were looking for of your particular situation?
Very little.

Did access to knowledge change your life, was a constraint lifted when you no longer depended on having found the right books or people to learn tips on how to cook a new dish, or how to fix a plumbing problem, or how to plant a garden?

The big constraint that has been lifted is when you asked a semi-stranger for help,
who were the only ones with that knowledge, you had a 5% chance that
they either thought it was hilarious to just lie to you and keep feeding you with new lies
when you came back and asked why it wasn't working,
and a 50% chance they would just flat out refuse to tell you,
because "not caring is not sharing".

Was life more simple, did you have fewer problems to solve without technology in your life, or did technology make life easier?

Yes. And it has forced people to be more honest to me and everyone else.
I never want to go back to that time.

[–] KingGordon@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Or you did find a book on a subject and it was 10 years old with pages ripped out.