# Where would you be right now if the internet was never thought up?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 18, 2001, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864 "2001-08-18T04:07:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/1 "2001-08-18T04:07:56Z")
I can’t even contemplate it.
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/2 "2001-08-18T04:09:31Z")
I probably wouldn’t be in Mississippi State University right now. I definitely wouldn’t be in love with **Gunslinger**. I don’t know where I _would_ be, though.
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### Author:  [@Lady\_Juliet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Juliet)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/3 "2001-08-18T04:13:17Z")
I’d be off in my corner hugging my legs and rocking back and forth wimpering every once in a while.
Nah, I’d probably see the sun a lot more often…😃
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### Author:  [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/4 "2001-08-18T04:16:33Z")
every part of my everyday routine revolves around the net. I don’t even know if I’d have the same personality.
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### Author:  [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/5 "2001-08-18T04:22:26Z")
I would probably be asleep.
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### Author:  [@VitrolicBump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VitrolicBump)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/6 "2001-08-18T04:28:32Z")
[deafening scream]AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!![/deafening scream] Don’t _even_\* kid about this subject. I need the internet like I need a bathroom. It is an essential part of my life.
[sub]You may take me to the hospital now, Mom.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@VitrolicBump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VitrolicBump)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/7 "2001-08-18T04:30:06Z")
Damn, it must be too late for my brain to function. I can’t get the codes right. Oh, well. It does look kinda pwetty.
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### Author:  [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/8 "2001-08-18T04:31:22Z")
Sleeping.
Writing to pen pals in prison. (I like a captive audience.)
And I probably would have set foot in my school library rather than doing all of my research online.
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/9 "2001-08-18T04:32:27Z")
Well, lessee, there’s TV, Sega, Playstation, the choices are wide open.
But without the internet, it sure isn’t as much fun pretending I’m a 16 year old bisexual cheerleader.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/10 "2001-08-18T04:33:06Z")
I’d read more books and watch a whole lot more T.V.
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### Author:  [@theendisnear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theendisnear)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/11 "2001-08-18T04:38:42Z")
Probably out having fun like i used too ☹
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/12 "2001-08-18T05:13:10Z")
Poorer by some very good friends, and maybe some self-discovery too.
And they say it’s a waste of time…
(Well, it is. But I did get a lot of good out of it too.)
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### Author:  [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/13 "2001-08-18T05:18:38Z")
Reading and I’d have one less very good friend.
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### Author:  [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/14 "2001-08-18T05:31:35Z")
our running around in fields of waist high grass and forests vageuly reminiscent of “A Walk in Wolf Woods” and I’d also be about 50 pounds lighter.
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### Author:  [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/15 "2001-08-18T05:37:32Z")
(1)Not quite as far in my fight to fend off ignorance. It would have certainly taken longer than we thought if not for the net.
(2)Living a life SDMB-less. [sub]perish the thought[/sub]
(3)Not even knowing who the hell Opal was 😃
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### Author:  [@Wicked\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wicked_Blue)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/16 "2001-08-18T13:25:58Z")
Wow…good question!
Since I met my husband online, I guess I wouln’t be married right now…well, at least not to him.
If I never met my husband, I’d still be living in NYC too. I’d probably still be living with my old roommie, and if I was still living with her, we’d probably still be doing all the things we used to do, like watch movies and smoke pot, watch TV and smoke pot, and cook huge, elaborate dinners (and smoke pot). 😉
Maybe I’d still be with my ex the cop. I left him when I met my husband. If I had stayed with him, I’m sure we’d have been married by now. I’d be the wife of a NYPD cop, maybe living in Staten Island. If I lived in Staten Island, I’m sure my hair would be much bigger and blonder. I’d probably have some kids by now, too. There isn’t much to do on Staten Island, except go the mall. I’d be a suburban housewife, pushing screaming kids in a stroller around the mall. Yikes!
If there was no internet, there’d be no SDMB! I’d be ignorant! I’d have never met any of my online friends. For example, if I’d never met **Odieman** , I’d still think Canada was a frozen wasteland populated only by moose, geese and Eskimos that live in igloos. 😉
::hugs the internet:: I love you, internet. 🙂
Rose
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### Author:  [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/17 "2001-08-18T13:43:27Z")
I would probably still be on FidoNet\*, arguing politics and UFOs and the paranormal and creation/evolution and… hmmm. So it wouldn’t be a whole lot different. 😃
\*FidoNet was the largest hobby computer bulletin board system network before the Web really took off. It didn’t rely on the internet, but involved individual BBSes that subscribed to given discussion forums. At least once/day, the BBSes would exchange mail with local coordinators, who would in turn exchange with regional coordinators, etc. up the line. It took several days for messages to get from fully circulated, so it was obviously more difficult to keep track of discussions as they went along. And it was a killer for long-distance costs for those of us who were local coordinators.
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### Author:  [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/18 "2001-08-18T13:46:14Z")
Physically, at this very moment since it is Saturday, I would be lying on the sofa reading a book while drinking my coffee and getting toast crumbs all over myself.
Career-wise I would have started working for an actual library when I got out of grad school, instead of working for an automation vendor. On the other hand, the Internet is not necessary for our customers - though it certainly helps if you’re a consortium running a shared system. So I’d be a librarian.
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### Author:  [@Spider\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider_Woman)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2001, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/19 "2001-08-18T14:48:51Z")
I would be reading a book and listening to classical music, or cleaning my house, or out walking with a friend. I love the Internet, but I spend way too much time on it, time which is now more limited because I am working full-time again.
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### Author:  [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-be-right-now-if-the-internet-was-never-thought-up/76864/20 "2001-08-19T03:44:22Z")
Books…I seem to recall I used to read books…these paper things that you flip over…
Also I used to rent more movies. And at work, I spent a lot more time being bored out of my mind.
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