Seventy-seven percent of middle-age Americans (35-54 years old) say they want to return to a time before society was “plugged in,” meaning a time before there was widespread internet and cell phone usage. As told by a new Harris Poll (via Fast Company), 63% of younger folks (18-34 years old) were also keen on returning to a pre-plugged-in world, despite that being a world they largely never had a chance to occupy.
As someone who is Gen X or millennial depending upon the day and the years they pick, I don’t want this. It’s very easy to look back through rose-tinted glasses, but there are a lot of things, which many commenters already touched on, that were much harder or worse then. One that I didn’t see early was maps and navigation. I had to lug around a giant atlas and plan out my routes to get somewhere. If there were a new street or development or something, I was SOL. Even in the early days, printing out MapQuest maps was far better, but still had its own issues. Aside from that, many other commenters mention many of the things that were decidedly worse or more inconvenient back then.
Oof yeah even that awkward period where online maps were a thing but mobile internet wasn’t quite there yet (at least here in NZ) sucked, got a lot of “fond” memories of printing out gmaps screenshots in order to give my parents directions! Wasn’t quite as bad as traditional fold-out paper maps but still nowhere near as easy and convenient as it is nowadays.
If they are heart-shaped rose-tinted glasses then I’m in.