The most important invention in your lifetime is…

The internet. It was like that movie title: everything, everywhere, all at once. It really changed everything.

I honestly can’t remember how we did certain things before the internet. Obviously we did them, but how?

Here are some recollections of how we did some things in the before times:

Airline tickets – no idea

Restaurant reservations – called the restaurant

Job opportunities – read the classifieds in the back of the newspaper

Real estate – dealt with human realtors

Banking – went to physical banks, which was always a challenge because of their limited hours; everyone ran to the bank at lunch (or left work early) on payday

Spelling and writing – used a physical dictionary and thesaurus, which came in various sizes. Most homes had at least one huge, heavy dictionary with all the words.

News – watched the nightly network news and read newspapers, which got ink on your fingers

Travel planning – went to the library or bookstore travel section

Shopping – wandered around the mall

Dating – met people at school, work or through friends

Concerts tickets – can’t really remember, but have a vague recollection of calling Ticketmaster – over and over – trying to get through

Learning anything new – got books at the library or took a class

Popular culture (trends, celebrities, fashion) – read magazines; magazines were huge