I prefer the days of BBSes, especially the single phone line ones where you had to wait until it was free to connect and use during the alloted time. Why? With limited time you spent it carefully, discussing just what was most important to you, or downloading the files you really wanted; playing your turn in Tradewars or whatever “door” games were available. Plus since they were connected to over modems that required a phone call to use (and no free long-distance) meant you were almost always talking to people in your own local community who you could meet in real life and form real life friendships with. They really created a sense of community blending digital and real-life interactions that’s very hard to find on the Internet. And if you had a computer (not necessarily a new or expensive one) to dedicate, some computer skills and a phone line, you could create your own for little or no investment and basically have your own “Facebook” or “Twitter” that operated as you wanted it to.
I prefer the days of BBSes, especially the single phone line ones where you had to wait until it was free to connect and use during the alloted time. Why? With limited time you spent it carefully, discussing just what was most important to you, or downloading the files you really wanted; playing your turn in Tradewars or whatever “door” games were available. Plus since they were connected to over modems that required a phone call to use (and no free long-distance) meant you were almost always talking to people in your own local community who you could meet in real life and form real life friendships with. They really created a sense of community blending digital and real-life interactions that’s very hard to find on the Internet. And if you had a computer (not necessarily a new or expensive one) to dedicate, some computer skills and a phone line, you could create your own for little or no investment and basically have your own “Facebook” or “Twitter” that operated as you wanted it to.