If you were born before the Internet was a thing, it can be hard to remember exactly what life was like. How did you find out information? How did you stay in touch with people? How did you…do, well, ANYTHING?

It’s weird to think about times so long ago, but it’s even weirder if you never lived them and were born AFTER the internet was born. In fact, these people have lots of questions about how people actually survived.

In a recent Reddit thread titled “People born in the time of the Internet, what don’t you understand about the before times?” these youngins had their questions. Here are some of the best ones (prepare to feel old!).

1. Hanging Up the Phone

   “I had a child a couple years ago ask me why do you say “hang up the phone”?

2. Making Plans

   “Before the time of cellphones, how do you meet/find your friend in a crowded mall without actively communicating in real time?”

3. Discovering New Music

   “Did you like just hang out at record stores and hope you might stumble across something and if so without Wikipedia how did you know about what it was all about? And what if you lived in the country and didn’t have access to record stores? Did you basically just listen to radio ( but they just played the same limited playlist again and again ?) I mean like now, someone can just mention some band I have never heard of on like reddit and within 10 minutes I have listened to several of their songs and read a complete bio of the band…”

4. Learning Current News

   “How did you guys research about current affairs from all over the world?”

5. Moving

   “If you were moving to a new area, how the hell did you find a house? These days you have to filter through so many crap places online to find something you even want to view, did you have to actually view all the crap places back then?”

6. Buying School Textbooks

   “Did you purchase all the books? Sounds costly. As a college student most of the time I depend on pdfs and online material instead of actually purchasing different books. Some say that it is not that effective till you check the selling price of book.”

7. Lack of Instant Communication

   “I don’t understand how people communicated without instantaneous communication. My grandmother was once in a hurricane and had to call her father after it happened saying they were okay and her father’s response was ‘What hurricane?’”

8. Real Photos

   “I have a friend at work. Her daughter is 4, nearly 5. My friend printed out a nice photo of a family member and passed it her daughter to take a look. Her daughter thought it was a tablet and couldn’t understand why the picture wasn’t moving. That scared me a bit I must admit.”

9. Group Outings

   “I’ve asked people in real life and they said they just waited on good faith that ppl would show up. I’m shocked at this as I could give someone the exact GPS coordinates and still get a text of “yo wya” when we pick a spot to meet. Not to mention all the people who cancel last second.”

10. Finding a Job

    “I get that they were in newspapers but what if you were in a high skill role and the only jobs were the other end of the country?”

11. Getting a Date

    “To get a date you had to ask face to face or call a girl on the phone, and sometimes her dad answered the phone.”

12. Entertaining Yourself

    “I would like to know how people entertained themselves. Not because I don’t know how but because everybody I know that’s lived before the internet always seem to have more stories.”

13. Getting Around

    “How did you get anywhere without GPS, and how did parents not freak out when their kids were traveling? I’m 18 and my mom still tracks my phone when I’m driving somewhere because she’s anxious about where I am.”

Were you born before or after the age of the Internet?