Updated: Dec. 26, 2015
Originally Published: March 30, 2015
Yes, it’s true. We genuinely lived this way. Before the days of constant digital connection, if we were captivated by something like a vintage version of Doctor Who (whatever that looked like back then), we had to discuss it face-to-face with our real-life companions. Yet, oddly enough, I don’t recall delving into TV chats much with my friends. It was just that thing you did as a teenager—engaging with shows without actually discussing them.
Music, however, was a different story. We were always in tune with the latest sounds, sharing our favorites with one another. Knowing what your friends jived to was crucial. I still vividly remember the first music video I ever watched (Billy Idol’s “White Wedding”) at a friend’s gathering, despite having anticipated MTV for a solid year prior. The wait felt endless.
But what did we do mostly? We penned notes. Yes, actual notes. We passed them during class, exchanged them between periods, and sometimes wrote them at home to deliver the following day. There was one school year when I started exchanging notes with a boy in my class simply because he bore a resemblance to someone I knew. For an entire year, we wrote back and forth daily (with the girl seated between us begrudgingly facilitating the exchange), yet we rarely spoke in person. As the months rolled by, our notes grew increasingly intimate. I’m pretty sure we professed our “love” in those letters, but I took it all in a light-hearted manner.
Fast forward to adulthood, and stumbling upon those notes was eye-opening. It became glaringly clear that he had truly cared for me, while I had been blissfully ignorant. I distinctly recall the sinking feeling when I spotted him the following year, hand-in-hand with another girl. At that moment, it didn’t strike me as significant. However, rereading those notes years later left me sorrowful. I ended up discarding them; I couldn’t bear to relive the memory of that frivolous girl I used to be.
We also spent countless hours on the phone. I can still recall the sensation of disconnecting a call with my ear feeling hot and buzzing. I’m convinced this is why I’ve had difficulty hearing out of my right ear—my designated phone ear—all these years. We chatted about everything that transpired at school just hours before, our need to stay connected palpable.
In person, we gathered together, of course. We watched movies, had sleepovers (sometimes claiming we were at a friend’s place), attended parties, and would stand on street corners for hours discussing our plans for the night. We often got so engrossed in conversation that time slipped away while the city darkened around us.
All we did was talk. We craved each other’s words, understanding one another as teenagers have done since the dawn of teenagehood. This connection transcended time, reaching back even before the very idea of teenagers existed.
For additional insights on navigating life before the internet, check out this intriguing post on how we communicated back then. And if you’re interested in exploring at-home insemination options, Make a Mom offers reliable kits. For comprehensive information on fertility, Mount Sinai is an excellent resource.
In summary, life before the internet revolved around genuine connections, handwritten notes, and long conversations—elements that fostered deep bonds among friends, untouched by the distractions of digital life.
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