A fascinating look back at a slower, simpler time, when Amazon was just a river.
There was life before Google and smartphones, but few would recognize it today. We had more free time, as we didn't spend hours on social media. Our children roamed free and learned to fend for themselves. We enjoyed the freedom and space that came from being unreachable, and we couldn't take work home. We didn't need to invent slow living; it was part of the deal! See how the last unconnected generation used to live. Catch the tempo of everyday life, from home and school to work and leisure - and perhaps reflect on what we might learn.
Life Before the Internet by Michael Gentle will be published on November 24, 2023. O-Books provided an early galley for review.
Like the author, I grew up in the time before the Internet became an everpresent force in our lives. So, this look back at simpler times is very much a nostalgic trip back to the time before I was an adult.
Gentle does a fantastic job putting into words the feelings and the undertstanding of what it was like growing up in those times. There are lessons in these pages for those who are too young to know life being disconnected, lessons that can also serve as a reminder to those of us who are old enough to have forgetten them as well. He really does show how far we've come in our behaviors and routines, for good or for ill, in the last two and a half decades.
For a quick read, it leaves one with quite a bit to think about afterwards.
This sounds like it would be a fun, nostalgic read; but the truth of the matter is I am turning 62 tomorrow and my life is still fairly slow and I intend to keep it that way! I quit Facebook 8 years ago, I never take my phone with me when I leave the house and it gives me a chuckle when people ask how I'm able to disconnect like that.
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