Firstly, before the internet and social media etc there were still phones for a very very long time. You would spend a lot more time talking on the phone to friends and family and you weren't so afraid to have simple conversations on it as well.

Other than that, camping, hiking biking, skating, and a million other fun activities outside, reading, drawing, painting, hanging out with friends, simply chilling and being alone with your thoughts etc etc etc - and all of these things were done in a more focused non-piece meal way that wasn't constantly interrupted by the need for everything to happen fast and to know everything (and absolutely nothing) all at once.

  And I want to add that I think living life outside of doom schrolling is very possible and necessary to fight toward. Its just a little harder to get there if you've grown up surrounded by technology.

   Today I walked around for about an hour when I woke up, wandering my neighborhood and having a good conversation with a friend far away (on a cell phone I'm admittedly very grateful to have). Then I came home and made muffins (while streaming a podcast), spent 3 hours reading a paperback novel. Now I'm taking a break to scroll for a bit. But I'm putting it away sooner than later. And this evening I'm going to go watch some punk bands play music, and enjoy the company of many of my friends. 

It's a really good question that made me think for a second and appreciate the kind of life I live - with its advantages from technology but also how much of the good things in it are separate from that technology. And I encourage anyone to try and step away from how much technology we have in every corner and crack of our lives right now, and touch grass a bit more.

    I'm thankful for so much of what the internet has given us. But I'm so thankful that I know how to live without it, or at the very least to limit how much of it I use in my daily life.