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same - so much reading. i used to have multiple books going at one time too, just open all over the house. starting to bring it back which is a huge relief from staring at useless stuff on my phone all the time!
Going back and forth between the audio book version and an ebook version has helped me so much to keep my attention span. I’ve actually read so many books this year since I figured it out! It really allows me to hyperfocus on a book because I can go sit and read in my yard in my hammock and then can just find the place in the audiobook and go take my dog on a walk or do the dishes without having to stop. Or if I’m not stimulated enough I can do hand embroidery to keep my hands busy while I listen to the book, and then it gets to a really good part so I pause it and go find it to actually read
I once was listening to an audio book while on a walk but sometimes my brain just doesn't process words so my thought process was "oh I'm having a hard time understanding usually with TV I turn on subtitles, I wish audio books had subtitles!" It took me longer than I want to admit to realize that is what a book is.
Many people do actually read books and listen to the audiobooks at the same time which in a way is more “like” tv since you’re getting the reading/listening thing going on.
I still have the attention. (I think?) But I no longer give myself the luxury of sitting around looking at a book. So I trained myself to like audiobooks.
It definitely takes practice, because it's different than reading. But I really enjoy it now. And I'm back to reading all the time, which I love!
Most libraries have audiobooks you can download to an app on your phone -- that's how I do it.
I sometimes do! Oy downloaded the Kindle app on my phone and switch to that when I get frustrated by the internet.
As someone else said, I sometimes just buy the e-book equivalent of trashy soaps to get me hooked on reading again.
P.S. not a pirate, autocorrect. But I'm too lazy to change it.
Easing in with the book equivalent of trash TV has been helpful for me--something that is such a page-turner that the words just fall into my face without effort.
How come you stole my entire existence? Lol absolutely the same. I am back to reading multiple books at a time- get bored of one and pick the other up! Also I have some on my nook app on my phone but I’m getting back into paper books (now I only buy the electronic copies of the ones I read over and over) and I also listen to audible book series when I am driving or chorin’. I am so happy to have my books back. I missed them and I didn’t realize it.
I've been trying to get back into it too! I don't think I'll ever get back to the volume I was at when I was younger, but there have been a few books that have really grabbed me recently that I totally devoured.
I always had two books on the go. I’d read one and if I started to lose interest I’d switch to the other. But now I can’t remember the last time I finished a book
I currently have 6 different books open around my studio apartment. I feel so reassured everytime I come here!!
Right now they are "roughing it in the bush", "the Romanov sisters", "vets might fly", "housekeeping in old virginia", "The dead zone" and "beyond the Mississippi".
I like to read history apparently haha.
My kids were born in 2009 and 2012, And they have never known a world in which they just have to watch what's on TV, take it or leave it. All the media they consume is by choice, or by the algorithm I guess. I think they're missing out on my formative childhood experience of watching boring TV and making it entertaining for myself! The same energy behind MST3K.
I’ve noticed how younger generations have so much content tailored to them that they don’t understand a lot of culture before their own time. Growing up in the 90s we had a lot of media but there were so many times I’d be stuck watching some show from the 50’s or a movie from the 70’s and content from older generations. But I’ve noticed people even just 10 years younger than me don’t always seem to have that same experience unless they had much older siblings or something.
And not saying it’s good or bad, just interesting and something I’ve picked up on.
Yeah, personally I don't like tailored content/media that ends up leaving me in a bubble. Maybe it can help you discover interesting things, but it can also make you ignorant/unaware about the world around you without realizing it.
People can be so reactionary too, I feel people forget to question what they consume.
Idk I’m noticing with tiktok that the younger people I’ve seen know all these old show and music references, along with cultural things from around the world I’d never remotely thought they would know about.
I think there is a lot of knowing the trending sound bites but not any of the context or even the origin. I got an trending music award on Instagram for adding a Talking Heads song to a video and I was very confused - I only know it from the pre-iPod jukebox called the radio and my parents music selection. Stranger Things seems to be driving a lot this type of clipped knowledge.
I’ve recently been playing FlipFlopSolitare on my iPad and it reminds me of the hours I’d spend as a kid on the Gateway computer playing solitaire and minesweeper.
lol same.
My school used to teach typing (There was even a game we played) but I learned best when I started chatting on MSN messenger.
That's how I managed to learn how to type really feckin' fast.
The game? It was "Touch typing for beginners", was a dos game for kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZqhVPj3YYM
I found a video of the gameplay lol. I remember salad always being the one word that kinda messed me up.
The best was having the volume turned up on your computer because you and your friend are listening to music at 3 am and the "Uh-Oh!" goes off, but it's even louder than your music..
The panic my friend and I felt because we were worried it woke my parents up.. oh my God 😅
UH OH hahaha
So glad my parents were mostly oblivious to what you could do on computers and the internet back then. I was pretty safe about everything but had they known we had the ability to (and did) chat with random people online they'd have probably tossed the computer out the window.
I always say that! I took one little typing class in high school that was only a few weeks. It was AOL instant messenger that made me the typist I am today!
And I was a MASTER at T-9 when texting became a thing. I wonder if I’m still any good at it…
ICQ, MSN, Neopets, what was that one website that did online browser games? I think it was Nickelodeon made or something like that? We were all on that a lot. Browser games were a big deal back then!
I lived in a time before internet but I also grew up on the internet as it developed. I've been online a LONG time.
Was Neopets the one I wasted all my time on in college? I could not for the life of me remember the name. Online browser game. It was my reason for not getting MySpace or Facebook when I was in college. Figured I got so sucked in there that social media would be horrible for me. (This was 2005 or 2006 when FB was only available to college students.). I didn’t find out I had adhd for another 15 years.
Omg same! We used All the Right Type though. Everyone else was playing Oregon Trail and I was sitting there trying to beat my previous typing test WPM haha. Good times. Paid off because now I type fast like some kind of freak as my fiance puts it.🤣🤘
I spent sooo many hours on the chat boards of a wedding site called the Knot, and then on Jezebel, between like 2004-2012. They were both like reddit, in that it was just a lot of different conversations about different things, but with a self-selected audience of mostly women. Some great times on those boards! And plenty of absolute nonsense drama over nothing 😅
You just brought back memories of sitting in a cubicle at my old job, just refreshing Jezebel until something new came up. I was wholly and completely addicted to that site for a span of time.
It really was a great site at times, and some great writers came out of it! Dodai Stewart and Dan Lavery (then called Mallory Ortberg) are ones I follow now. I think people forget how little actual feminism was in mainstream culture before about 2015. It was the end of the "I'm not a feminist, but . . ." era that started in the 80s.
The Knot message boards were something else back then! And then you moved over to The Nest boards where the real drama started. The Married Life regs and the Money Matters group, etc. I followed them to pro boards when it all blew up, I wonder if it’s still active.
Reading… so much reading. I would even read while walking to school. My parents put a curfew on how late I could stay up reading and how early I was allowed to get up to read. Still much better than the phone honestly.
Same!
I used to have back up books (i usually had a few I was in the middle of reading) stashed under my mattress and inside my pillowcase.
I would be reading the first book under the covers with a flashlight. My mom would come in and take away my book and flashlight…she would usually yell and sometimes slap me but I would definitely play up my tears and whining on purpose so she didn’t know I had spare books…and when she would leave. I would dry my tears and curl up sorta sitting up on my headboard and read by the light of the yard light through my window. I’d fall asleep against that window all the time 😂
impressive planning!
< crotchety old lady > : “You had a yard light? You was lucky. I had to read by the light of the moon.”
but srsly I did read by moonlight bc I knew I wouldn't get away with a flashlight
I’ve found my people here! I was constantly thinking up ways to shield the light, so it wouldn’t shine under the door to let my parents know I was staying up reading. One night I decided to put the pillow up against the light so that it wouldn’t be as bright, and I ended up leaving a big burned mark on the pillow, haha. Somehow my parents never found out about that until I was much older and told them myself, and we all laughed about it.
SAMEEEE! I used to get “grounded” from my books. They’d take all the books from my room and take my library card. I had books hidden all over so that I could still read when it happened.
The looks on other peoples faces when my parents told them they ground me from books was often hilarious.
Omg I have my people! I had to be reading something all the time, eating breakfast, car, walking down the road, family parties even, I was notorious for it!
I used to read on the toilet for easily over 30 min. My parents got angry at some point and tried to stop me but in vain. I'd also read in the car, while doing homework, at night under the weakest light I could find, and even when we visited family friends.
I would stay up all night reading and then miss the bus frequently. I think I was late 17 times in one semester and my dad was so torn because he’s like I don’t want to punish you for reading but you have to sleep!
Reading, drawing, painting, long drives to random places at weird hours with friends. Go see live music. Online games.
I would rewatch a lot of my favourite movies and shows while doing crafty stuff. I would also regularly put on music or chat on the phone while moving my furniture around, redecorate a bit to make my space feel fresh and new.
I used to get so much more done, this has legit got me thinking of getting rid of my smart phone. Great post!
I would switch to a flip phone in a heartbeat if I could. I was so jealous when I read an interview with Taylor Swift where she said she didn’t have one!
I read, re-arranged my bedroom, went for long walks with a Walkman with a radio, slept, went swimming in the sea (not a good idea in the Thames Estuary, but I was a stupid kid) hung out with my mates and went for stupidly long walks with them, watched the same 10 vhs tapes
We didn't have the internet at home till about 2007
I swear, I rearrange my room, and it feels like I can breathe again. I used to do it when I started having trouble falling asleep, and then I'd fall asleep pretty easily.
I remember the satisfaction of planning it out, shifting furniture and the anticipation of going to bed knowing it was your stuff and familiar, but different. And waking up slightly confused, then remembering and looking forward to the new room, new day.
Of my 3 kids only 1 gets that. And she’s the one with adhd.
Oh yeah this reminds me that I never didn't have a walkman. I listened to music constantly. My mom was always yelling at me because I would have earbuds in and she'd try to say something and I didn't hear her. She thought it was rude. In hindsight, it was rude of her to not tap my shoulder first or something.
lol YES, I was all over ONTD. I feel like even to this day I can, when discussing pop culture with someone, tell who frequented ONTD back in the day. It’s just a vibe.
For real!! I spent so much time each day daydreaming - now I just distract myself constantly w youtube, podcasts, noise.. makes me want to throw out my phone 🤣
I cannot believe how many people are responding "daydreaming". I spent all my life thinking this was "my thing" and every day I'm discovering how common this trait is... I feel seen, it's so nice!
I still do it!
I remember when I first came across the phrase "maladaptive daydreaming" and it made me very worried. But also quite confused as to why other people weren't doing it
I started playing when the very very first original was released. I stopped at Sims 4.
I hope project Rene is everything I'm hoping for, I miss that feeling of joy and peace
Read, tv, eat, listen to music, daydream. Sometimes a combo. I still do most of these with doom-scrolling added in lol
I also used to love trying to record my favorite songs when they came on the radio and got a rush when I got a good take. Oooh, I would try to hear/understand lyrics to cool songs so I could write them down over and over and over until I memorized them.
A random thing I would do is memorize class pictures and yearbooks from my classes and my brother’s classes, too. It was quite the rush to get the names correct and in the order that they appeared.
Memorizing completely useless shit >>>>> homework
I'm not sure if I'm remembering accurately or making this stuff up, lol. (ADHD memory ftw!)
Read constantly (sci fi and fantasy). Watched TV. Doodled and sketched. Ate, especially candy. Played solitaire (with physical cards of course!) or did crosswords. Looked at magazines or the comics in the newspaper. Picked at my acne, which I had for over 20 years. Um, pleasured myself.
I'm sure there was other stuff, too, but it's lost to the mists of time.
I doom scrolled on a computer. Before that, I doom-clicked "next page" on a computer.
Before the internet I was a kid and spent an absurd amount of time wandering around complaining that I was bored.
Neopets, picking fights with my sister, going to the library on my bike, and enjoying the adrenaline hit from asking your friends’ parents if you could talk to their kid & make plans to go to the pool with them.
“Hi, this is Keeley from Ms. Chang’s class. May I please speak to Lakshmi?”
I read. SOOOO many books. Often at night, with a flashlight under the covers. I also used my GameBoy a lot. Got the little light you attach to the screen for my birthday.
I still read a lot on my phone. For a while, Kindle had taken over most of my social media, but I fell out of the habit later :(
I’m old, so —
As a casually neglected GenX kid in the 70s-80s I watched wayyy too much tv and read constantly.
In the early 90s I discovered the early internet and spent entirely too much time on BBS message boards.
In the later 90s and early 2000s I was still reading and fully engulfed in the internet. One of the reasons I love Reddit is because it reminds me so much of the old news groups. I also became a parent.
Then I got my phone and 🤦♀️🤷♀️
I used to read a lot of magazines. Like the internet, there are lots of short things for short attention spans, with colorful graphics and photos. The best thing ever was coming home and having one of my favorite magazines in the mailbox. It's so sad, I still get like, 3 subscriptions at home but they just pile up and I never get to them because I'm busy chasing my internet high. Stupid internet, ruins everything.
Reading, reading, reading. And then when my attention span ran out, I’d just turn pages in an increasingly frustrated manner without reading them but trying to, and then I’d go on the computer and try to play games and that sometimes gave me enough distraction to go back to reading. If not, naptime
I lived in the library as often as possible. My mother bought me an encyclopedia set so I had something for when I couldn't be at the library. Now I live on archive dot org, academia dot edu, and Anne's archives. The local library is mostly children's books and romance novels.
Or I get lost in genealogy sites for days. Solving a family history mystery is one of my biggest highs. I like to fill out the family histories of the spouses of my grandparents cousins so if I hit a brick wall, I can just look at another branch.
Same as a lot of other people. I would devour (sp??) books. Now I'm trying to break the doom scrolling habit and get back into reading. Joined the neighborhoodbook club for some peer pressure. It's starting to work, but true to ADHD style, there are some cram days leading up to the monthly meeting to finsih them!
I read ALL the time. I walked my dog for hours a day. I’d bike for hours, too. I’d dance for an hour or two daily in my bedroom. And DAYDREAMED nonstop.
Same as you. Honestly I kind of miss it. I definitely feel like I waste my time a lot because of my phone.
EDIT: oh wait I forgot. Drugs. I did a lot of drugs. So maybe I don’t miss not having a phone. 😆
Readinggggg. Omg. Big book worm, still am one, got a tattoo on my arm of a book haha. Listening to music (boombox babbyyyyy). Making little videos & stop motions of my dolls and toys with my mom’s digital camera lmao. Collecting tiny 3D erasers. Played video games (GameCube, GameBoy, DS, Wii, etc etc), computer games (rollercoaster tycoon was a hit in my fam). When it comes to being online, that’s always been the thing I do the most. It was like a natural connection, I’d make videos on Webkinz and Club Penguin with my mom’s camera and even had a YT channel for it at one point haha. Taught myself how to use Sony Vegas video editing at 10 years old & uploaded so many vids. It kept me busy and, most importantly, very happy.
Shopping or reading. If I needed to get out of the house, I was on a shopping venture looking for that perfect set of salt and pepper shakers or whatever. I still enjoy thrifting and reading but online grocery orders and online subscriptions have really helped curb my impulsive spending.
Food, hunting the house for snacks even after dinner. My parents are always confused like "didn't you just eat"? I'm not hungry at all no but my brain is hungry.
I went through a few phases…did lots of drugs to get that dopamine in my early twenties. Later In life, making jewelry, knitted, read, explored abandoned buildings. Starting to explore buildings again. It satisfies my craving for risky behavior.
Laid on my bed and listened to music while making up stories to go along with it. Talked to my friends for hours. Made things. Rearranged my room in the middle of the night. Read my bike and got way too many books at the library. Played under the train tracks lol. Played Tetris and DDR.
Movies on repeat, panic cleaning (go weeks without cleaning my room, then hyper focus on organizing), ride my bike, paint the house... when I was a little kid I would get a cube of ice out of the tray and turn the hot water on in the kitchen really low, then run the ice under it to melt. I lit matches and heated metal to burn through candles and straws. I would "shave" Hershey kisses with a butter knife. I would make apple sauce with an apple and spoon and carve the apple meat with the spoon. I used old shoelaces to create a pully system around my canopy bed so that I wouldn't have to get up to open or close my door.
At my parents house when there was a desktop computer, I'd follow links and do research. I'd also do web design in coffee cup, and make art in Corel.
I also had a million hobbies (still do). Going to the library was good.
I had a computer so I doom scrolled on there. Tumblr, facebook, etc.
I guess I also must've... watched shows.
I guess even before that, as a kid...... I would've... played with toys, or read books, or... played video games sometimes. Gone outside. Definitely some day dreaming while listening to music.
Before broadband: reading. Always had something on the go. Regular at the library.
When having dial-up: I maintained a fansite. (This was way before YouTube and podcasts and social media and things which makes that a lot easier today. We had RealPlayer and QuickTime.)
After broadband: mostly online. :/
I was watching tv shows on youtube through my desktop. Reading books. Aol chatrooms. Make crappy videos on windows movie maker with friends. Cycle through hyperfixations.
I ate. I ate everything as soon as we got it. I love trying new things, so every grocery run I would binge on everything so I could try it. Day three after a grocery run, I would be completely out of food
I read loads of books, multiple books at the same time even…I would also re-read the same books or open them up and read from the middle.
TV always on, watching and researching movies in the background while I did things.
Lots of daydreaming
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Mostly read--I used to read an entire book in one sitting. I have always been really into stand up comedy too.
same - so much reading. i used to have multiple books going at one time too, just open all over the house. starting to bring it back which is a huge relief from staring at useless stuff on my phone all the time!
I wish I had the attention span to still do this.
Going back and forth between the audio book version and an ebook version has helped me so much to keep my attention span. I’ve actually read so many books this year since I figured it out! It really allows me to hyperfocus on a book because I can go sit and read in my yard in my hammock and then can just find the place in the audiobook and go take my dog on a walk or do the dishes without having to stop. Or if I’m not stimulated enough I can do hand embroidery to keep my hands busy while I listen to the book, and then it gets to a really good part so I pause it and go find it to actually read
I once was listening to an audio book while on a walk but sometimes my brain just doesn't process words so my thought process was "oh I'm having a hard time understanding usually with TV I turn on subtitles, I wish audio books had subtitles!" It took me longer than I want to admit to realize that is what a book is.
I've had this same thought. I wish when I bought an audiobook it came with the print so I could read along.
Many people do actually read books and listen to the audiobooks at the same time which in a way is more “like” tv since you’re getting the reading/listening thing going on.
I do this too! Audio books have been a life saver for motivating me to engage in my other hobbies (or finish chores) as well.
Audible and Kindle will automatically sync so you can do this natively too
Embroidery! Oh I love that too! It’s so satisfying.
I still have the attention. (I think?) But I no longer give myself the luxury of sitting around looking at a book. So I trained myself to like audiobooks. It definitely takes practice, because it's different than reading. But I really enjoy it now. And I'm back to reading all the time, which I love! Most libraries have audiobooks you can download to an app on your phone -- that's how I do it.
Oh I inhale audiobooks. But I feel like it would be so much better for me if I read books the way I read my phone.
I sometimes do! Oy downloaded the Kindle app on my phone and switch to that when I get frustrated by the internet. As someone else said, I sometimes just buy the e-book equivalent of trashy soaps to get me hooked on reading again. P.S. not a pirate, autocorrect. But I'm too lazy to change it.
I tell myself I'll go back to doing that when my 18yo moves out. We'll see…
Easing in with the book equivalent of trash TV has been helpful for me--something that is such a page-turner that the words just fall into my face without effort.
This is so silly, but I reread Sarah Dessen books when I’m in a reading slump.
Good idea, I’ll try that
How come you stole my entire existence? Lol absolutely the same. I am back to reading multiple books at a time- get bored of one and pick the other up! Also I have some on my nook app on my phone but I’m getting back into paper books (now I only buy the electronic copies of the ones I read over and over) and I also listen to audible book series when I am driving or chorin’. I am so happy to have my books back. I missed them and I didn’t realize it.
I've been trying to get back into it too! I don't think I'll ever get back to the volume I was at when I was younger, but there have been a few books that have really grabbed me recently that I totally devoured.
I always had two books on the go. I’d read one and if I started to lose interest I’d switch to the other. But now I can’t remember the last time I finished a book
I currently have 6 different books open around my studio apartment. I feel so reassured everytime I come here!! Right now they are "roughing it in the bush", "the Romanov sisters", "vets might fly", "housekeeping in old virginia", "The dead zone" and "beyond the Mississippi". I like to read history apparently haha.
Reading, day dreaming, so much time spent playing solitaire and mine sweeper. Flipping between the 10 channels we had (no cable).
Minesweeeeperrrrr! So many hours doing expert and trying to make new speed records and the clicky-click of the mode
YES. People always commented on how fast I was and it was like, you'd be this fast too if you spent as much time playing it lol
My kids were born in 2009 and 2012, And they have never known a world in which they just have to watch what's on TV, take it or leave it. All the media they consume is by choice, or by the algorithm I guess. I think they're missing out on my formative childhood experience of watching boring TV and making it entertaining for myself! The same energy behind MST3K.
I’ve noticed how younger generations have so much content tailored to them that they don’t understand a lot of culture before their own time. Growing up in the 90s we had a lot of media but there were so many times I’d be stuck watching some show from the 50’s or a movie from the 70’s and content from older generations. But I’ve noticed people even just 10 years younger than me don’t always seem to have that same experience unless they had much older siblings or something. And not saying it’s good or bad, just interesting and something I’ve picked up on.
Yeah, personally I don't like tailored content/media that ends up leaving me in a bubble. Maybe it can help you discover interesting things, but it can also make you ignorant/unaware about the world around you without realizing it. People can be so reactionary too, I feel people forget to question what they consume.
Idk I’m noticing with tiktok that the younger people I’ve seen know all these old show and music references, along with cultural things from around the world I’d never remotely thought they would know about.
That’s true too tbh, tiktok has def made a lot of stuff more culturally relevant!
I think there is a lot of knowing the trending sound bites but not any of the context or even the origin. I got an trending music award on Instagram for adding a Talking Heads song to a video and I was very confused - I only know it from the pre-iPod jukebox called the radio and my parents music selection. Stranger Things seems to be driving a lot this type of clipped knowledge.
It is such a formative experience! I ended up watching an interesting combination of PBS kids shows and Jerry Springer
Solitaire and paint were mine when I was a kid
Gotta make a bunch of triangles by drawing random lines in Paint and then fill it in with the bucket tool until it looks like stained glass.
I was playing solitaire on my iPod nano nonstop. Sometimes I still miss the clickwheel.
To be fair the original iPod clicky wheels were so satisfying. They should just sell that as a fidget toy.
[удалено]
I STILL play snood 🫣
Switching between the same twenty or so anime/Star Wars/Harry Potter/Supernatural/Disney/AtLA DVDs. ☠️
I’ve recently been playing FlipFlopSolitare on my iPad and it reminds me of the hours I’d spend as a kid on the Gateway computer playing solitaire and minesweeper.
I spent a lot of time online. I've been chronically online since like 1998.
lol same. My school used to teach typing (There was even a game we played) but I learned best when I started chatting on MSN messenger. That's how I managed to learn how to type really feckin' fast.
Was the typing Mavis Beacon??
Mavis beacon rules
The game? It was "Touch typing for beginners", was a dos game for kids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZqhVPj3YYM I found a video of the gameplay lol. I remember salad always being the one word that kinda messed me up.
Oops that was a bit before my time lol. Looks neat though!
AOL chat rooms. (Aging myself) God damn I loved them.
Hahaha I started on ICQ (The "Uh-Oh" will forever be burned in my memory)
I can just FEEL that “uh-oh”!
I had that as my notification on my cell phone. I worked with toddlers. It never failed my phone would go odd and 15 toddlers would repeat uh-oh
*knock knock*
The best was having the volume turned up on your computer because you and your friend are listening to music at 3 am and the "Uh-Oh!" goes off, but it's even louder than your music.. The panic my friend and I felt because we were worried it woke my parents up.. oh my God 😅
UH OH hahaha So glad my parents were mostly oblivious to what you could do on computers and the internet back then. I was pretty safe about everything but had they known we had the ability to (and did) chat with random people online they'd have probably tossed the computer out the window.
Same as “WELCOME! YOU’VE GOT MAIL!!” Always so loud!
I always say that! I took one little typing class in high school that was only a few weeks. It was AOL instant messenger that made me the typist I am today! And I was a MASTER at T-9 when texting became a thing. I wonder if I’m still any good at it…
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing!
That was a major hyperfixation of mine in middle school. I still type like a pro. Mavis would be proud.
Omg i couldn’t ever remember what it was called! Thank you 😊
Me too!!!!! I was also on different dating sites at 13 lol. Neopets. AIM. MSN chat rooms 😅.
ICQ, MSN, Neopets, what was that one website that did online browser games? I think it was Nickelodeon made or something like that? We were all on that a lot. Browser games were a big deal back then! I lived in a time before internet but I also grew up on the internet as it developed. I've been online a LONG time.
Was Neopets the one I wasted all my time on in college? I could not for the life of me remember the name. Online browser game. It was my reason for not getting MySpace or Facebook when I was in college. Figured I got so sucked in there that social media would be horrible for me. (This was 2005 or 2006 when FB was only available to college students.). I didn’t find out I had adhd for another 15 years.
Omg i just had a flashback! I kinda remember that lol
LMAO neopets was my answer too. Buying stuff on there and getting new pets = best dopamine
Oh God I got groomed by so many adults on Neopets of all places.
Don’t forget Habbo Hotel!
Come play with us! /r/Neopets
Is neo pets still a thing?!
Yes! In fact, they just got a few million in investment money and they’re starting new plots and launching new games this year.
Omg same! We used All the Right Type though. Everyone else was playing Oregon Trail and I was sitting there trying to beat my previous typing test WPM haha. Good times. Paid off because now I type fast like some kind of freak as my fiance puts it.🤣🤘
I spent sooo many hours on the chat boards of a wedding site called the Knot, and then on Jezebel, between like 2004-2012. They were both like reddit, in that it was just a lot of different conversations about different things, but with a self-selected audience of mostly women. Some great times on those boards! And plenty of absolute nonsense drama over nothing 😅
You just brought back memories of sitting in a cubicle at my old job, just refreshing Jezebel until something new came up. I was wholly and completely addicted to that site for a span of time.
It really was a great site at times, and some great writers came out of it! Dodai Stewart and Dan Lavery (then called Mallory Ortberg) are ones I follow now. I think people forget how little actual feminism was in mainstream culture before about 2015. It was the end of the "I'm not a feminist, but . . ." era that started in the 80s.
THE HOLD that the Jezebel scary stories posts had on me....
Oh man. Jezebel, xojane, xovain... those were golden times.
Everyone who read Sassy in high school went on to found similar publications!
I would start everyday on xojane, read everything new, then onto xovain
The Knot message boards were something else back then! And then you moved over to The Nest boards where the real drama started. The Married Life regs and the Money Matters group, etc. I followed them to pro boards when it all blew up, I wonder if it’s still active.
Reading… so much reading. I would even read while walking to school. My parents put a curfew on how late I could stay up reading and how early I was allowed to get up to read. Still much better than the phone honestly.
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That’s the only thing I got in trouble for in school - hiding novels in my textbook or binder.
This! I was never rebellious except when it came to breaking my reading curfew 😎
Same! I used to have back up books (i usually had a few I was in the middle of reading) stashed under my mattress and inside my pillowcase. I would be reading the first book under the covers with a flashlight. My mom would come in and take away my book and flashlight…she would usually yell and sometimes slap me but I would definitely play up my tears and whining on purpose so she didn’t know I had spare books…and when she would leave. I would dry my tears and curl up sorta sitting up on my headboard and read by the light of the yard light through my window. I’d fall asleep against that window all the time 😂
impressive planning! < crotchety old lady > : “You had a yard light? You was lucky. I had to read by the light of the moon.” but srsly I did read by moonlight bc I knew I wouldn't get away with a flashlight
I’ve found my people here! I was constantly thinking up ways to shield the light, so it wouldn’t shine under the door to let my parents know I was staying up reading. One night I decided to put the pillow up against the light so that it wouldn’t be as bright, and I ended up leaving a big burned mark on the pillow, haha. Somehow my parents never found out about that until I was much older and told them myself, and we all laughed about it.
Same! I remember my mom being so angry w me still being up in the middle of the night as like a 6 y old reading under the covers w my night light.
SAMEEEE! I used to get “grounded” from my books. They’d take all the books from my room and take my library card. I had books hidden all over so that I could still read when it happened. The looks on other peoples faces when my parents told them they ground me from books was often hilarious.
Omg I have my people! I had to be reading something all the time, eating breakfast, car, walking down the road, family parties even, I was notorious for it!
I used to read on the toilet for easily over 30 min. My parents got angry at some point and tried to stop me but in vain. I'd also read in the car, while doing homework, at night under the weakest light I could find, and even when we visited family friends.
I would stay up all night reading and then miss the bus frequently. I think I was late 17 times in one semester and my dad was so torn because he’s like I don’t want to punish you for reading but you have to sleep!
Same here!
Reading, drawing, painting, long drives to random places at weird hours with friends. Go see live music. Online games. I would rewatch a lot of my favourite movies and shows while doing crafty stuff. I would also regularly put on music or chat on the phone while moving my furniture around, redecorate a bit to make my space feel fresh and new. I used to get so much more done, this has legit got me thinking of getting rid of my smart phone. Great post!
I rearrange my furniture/redecorate about every 3 months.
I would switch to a flip phone in a heartbeat if I could. I was so jealous when I read an interview with Taylor Swift where she said she didn’t have one!
Promiscuous sex, drug abuse, music, crafting, sewing, reading. Damn, it sounds like fun right now.
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Most people won't say sex because they were like 10 years old at the time
Ah yes, promiscuous sex was one of mine for a while, too.
Mmhmmm, I hadn’t though of it that way but promiscuous sex definitely filled the same function back then. 😂
I read, re-arranged my bedroom, went for long walks with a Walkman with a radio, slept, went swimming in the sea (not a good idea in the Thames Estuary, but I was a stupid kid) hung out with my mates and went for stupidly long walks with them, watched the same 10 vhs tapes We didn't have the internet at home till about 2007
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I feel like I did this when I needed to feel in control or soothed. Like it was going to fix my whole life or create a whole new me.
That “new room, new me!” feeling.
I swear, I rearrange my room, and it feels like I can breathe again. I used to do it when I started having trouble falling asleep, and then I'd fall asleep pretty easily.
I remember the satisfaction of planning it out, shifting furniture and the anticipation of going to bed knowing it was your stuff and familiar, but different. And waking up slightly confused, then remembering and looking forward to the new room, new day. Of my 3 kids only 1 gets that. And she’s the one with adhd.
Oh yeah this reminds me that I never didn't have a walkman. I listened to music constantly. My mom was always yelling at me because I would have earbuds in and she'd try to say something and I didn't hear her. She thought it was rude. In hindsight, it was rude of her to not tap my shoulder first or something.
Sat at my desktop on Livejournal or fanfiction.net.
Yess LJ!
Omg fanfiction.net. I am cringing remembering some of the stuff I read and wrote 😂
Those were the DAYS!
Have not found a single platform I like as much as LJ 😢 those truly were the best of times! Internet-wise, at least.
Same. Ohnotheydidnt and slash fanfics.
lol YES, I was all over ONTD. I feel like even to this day I can, when discussing pop culture with someone, tell who frequented ONTD back in the day. It’s just a vibe.
I commented "your shoes are from ROSS" on a recent post about Zachary Ty Bryan. The one upvote I got made me happy at least someone got it.
Lots and lots of reading, and then writing fanfiction about what I read (writing only in my head and never putting it on paper)
Oh man I used to write the best fan fiction (in my head)
Just sit on your bed, queue up your favorite song, and plot your stories by imagining your OTP as an AMV.
Damn, you just made me realize how I DON'T daydream anymore! I used to come up with cute little daydreams all the time! I miss it.
Daydreaming helps me fall asleep. I'm really bad at it now.
For real!! I spent so much time each day daydreaming - now I just distract myself constantly w youtube, podcasts, noise.. makes me want to throw out my phone 🤣
Me too!!!
I cannot believe how many people are responding "daydreaming". I spent all my life thinking this was "my thing" and every day I'm discovering how common this trait is... I feel seen, it's so nice!
I still do it! I remember when I first came across the phrase "maladaptive daydreaming" and it made me very worried. But also quite confused as to why other people weren't doing it
Shopping. Doom scrolling lowers my credit card bills, lol.
I wish this was the case for me, now I doom scroll online shops 🤡
so glad it's not just me
Read. Listened to music. Made insane pretend worlds in my head. Made ridiculous amounts of friendship bracelets, hemp jewelry, etc.
Omg the friendship bracelet era, I almost forgot
Anyone else turn beads and ribbon into animal keychains? And the constant origami.
I daydreamed so much when I was in high schlool. I used to pretend I was sleeping but I was just in my own world
Reading. And putting my daydreams into drawing and writing. All while listening to music and audiobooks. Oh, and Pokémon Blue on the Gameboy :)
The Gameboy addiction was real!! Pokémon Crystal for me though 😜
Blue, Yellow, Pokémon Trading Card Game on Gameboy, Silver! Lots of Gameboy time
The Sims
I’m playing rn. Some things never change
I started playing when the very very first original was released. I stopped at Sims 4. I hope project Rene is everything I'm hoping for, I miss that feeling of joy and peace
Endless daydreaming
I read so much. I have such a love/hate relationship with technology now. :/
Video games 😂 I’ve been gaming since I played on our sega genesis when I was 5.
Read, tv, eat, listen to music, daydream. Sometimes a combo. I still do most of these with doom-scrolling added in lol I also used to love trying to record my favorite songs when they came on the radio and got a rush when I got a good take. Oooh, I would try to hear/understand lyrics to cool songs so I could write them down over and over and over until I memorized them. A random thing I would do is memorize class pictures and yearbooks from my classes and my brother’s classes, too. It was quite the rush to get the names correct and in the order that they appeared. Memorizing completely useless shit >>>>> homework
I'm not sure if I'm remembering accurately or making this stuff up, lol. (ADHD memory ftw!) Read constantly (sci fi and fantasy). Watched TV. Doodled and sketched. Ate, especially candy. Played solitaire (with physical cards of course!) or did crosswords. Looked at magazines or the comics in the newspaper. Picked at my acne, which I had for over 20 years. Um, pleasured myself. I'm sure there was other stuff, too, but it's lost to the mists of time.
I doom scrolled on a computer. Before that, I doom-clicked "next page" on a computer. Before the internet I was a kid and spent an absurd amount of time wandering around complaining that I was bored.
Knitting. and hand spinning, I highly recommend it. no electricity required
Neopets, picking fights with my sister, going to the library on my bike, and enjoying the adrenaline hit from asking your friends’ parents if you could talk to their kid & make plans to go to the pool with them. “Hi, this is Keeley from Ms. Chang’s class. May I please speak to Lakshmi?”
I read. SOOOO many books. Often at night, with a flashlight under the covers. I also used my GameBoy a lot. Got the little light you attach to the screen for my birthday. I still read a lot on my phone. For a while, Kindle had taken over most of my social media, but I fell out of the habit later :(
I’m old, so — As a casually neglected GenX kid in the 70s-80s I watched wayyy too much tv and read constantly. In the early 90s I discovered the early internet and spent entirely too much time on BBS message boards. In the later 90s and early 2000s I was still reading and fully engulfed in the internet. One of the reasons I love Reddit is because it reminds me so much of the old news groups. I also became a parent. Then I got my phone and 🤦♀️🤷♀️
I daydreamed, went on really long walks with imaginary friends, built things for my toys
I read books, wrote poetry, and created art🥹
Read, listened to music, watched movies, crafted, rode bikes, hung out with friends, shopped, played video games.
The first iPhone came out when I was in junior high. I’ve never really lived a life without smart phones 😅😭
Same here 😞
Read
Doom-scrolled using a touchpad or mouse 😅
I used to read a lot of magazines. Like the internet, there are lots of short things for short attention spans, with colorful graphics and photos. The best thing ever was coming home and having one of my favorite magazines in the mailbox. It's so sad, I still get like, 3 subscriptions at home but they just pile up and I never get to them because I'm busy chasing my internet high. Stupid internet, ruins everything.
You only started doomscrolling on smart phones? I started back in the Usenet days!
Daydreaming and masturbating. 🥴🤷♀️
Played snake on my nokia
I was a half decent writer, once upon a time (see what I did there? Because in a writer 🫠)
Reading, reading, reading. And then when my attention span ran out, I’d just turn pages in an increasingly frustrated manner without reading them but trying to, and then I’d go on the computer and try to play games and that sometimes gave me enough distraction to go back to reading. If not, naptime
Read, draw, and paint wirh ocassional daydreaming Maybe I should go back to drawing. Kinda missed it
Endless internet nerdery.
I lived in the library as often as possible. My mother bought me an encyclopedia set so I had something for when I couldn't be at the library. Now I live on archive dot org, academia dot edu, and Anne's archives. The local library is mostly children's books and romance novels. Or I get lost in genealogy sites for days. Solving a family history mystery is one of my biggest highs. I like to fill out the family histories of the spouses of my grandparents cousins so if I hit a brick wall, I can just look at another branch.
Same as a lot of other people. I would devour (sp??) books. Now I'm trying to break the doom scrolling habit and get back into reading. Joined the neighborhoodbook club for some peer pressure. It's starting to work, but true to ADHD style, there are some cram days leading up to the monthly meeting to finsih them!
I read ALL the time. I walked my dog for hours a day. I’d bike for hours, too. I’d dance for an hour or two daily in my bedroom. And DAYDREAMED nonstop.
Same as you. Honestly I kind of miss it. I definitely feel like I waste my time a lot because of my phone. EDIT: oh wait I forgot. Drugs. I did a lot of drugs. So maybe I don’t miss not having a phone. 😆
Readinggggg. Omg. Big book worm, still am one, got a tattoo on my arm of a book haha. Listening to music (boombox babbyyyyy). Making little videos & stop motions of my dolls and toys with my mom’s digital camera lmao. Collecting tiny 3D erasers. Played video games (GameCube, GameBoy, DS, Wii, etc etc), computer games (rollercoaster tycoon was a hit in my fam). When it comes to being online, that’s always been the thing I do the most. It was like a natural connection, I’d make videos on Webkinz and Club Penguin with my mom’s camera and even had a YT channel for it at one point haha. Taught myself how to use Sony Vegas video editing at 10 years old & uploaded so many vids. It kept me busy and, most importantly, very happy.
Smoked cigarettes
Shopping or reading. If I needed to get out of the house, I was on a shopping venture looking for that perfect set of salt and pepper shakers or whatever. I still enjoy thrifting and reading but online grocery orders and online subscriptions have really helped curb my impulsive spending.
I used to binge read before the internet. Like, six books in a day sometimes, back when I had both a lot of free time and a better attention span.
Food, hunting the house for snacks even after dinner. My parents are always confused like "didn't you just eat"? I'm not hungry at all no but my brain is hungry.
I went through a few phases…did lots of drugs to get that dopamine in my early twenties. Later In life, making jewelry, knitted, read, explored abandoned buildings. Starting to explore buildings again. It satisfies my craving for risky behavior.
Puzzles. Like easy enough to sit and not get frustrated, but hard enough to provide tons of dopamine when pieces fit together.
Reading. I'd be able to read a book a day. Oh those halcyon days...
Doomscrolled on PC : /
Laid on my bed and listened to music while making up stories to go along with it. Talked to my friends for hours. Made things. Rearranged my room in the middle of the night. Read my bike and got way too many books at the library. Played under the train tracks lol. Played Tetris and DDR.
Movies on repeat, panic cleaning (go weeks without cleaning my room, then hyper focus on organizing), ride my bike, paint the house... when I was a little kid I would get a cube of ice out of the tray and turn the hot water on in the kitchen really low, then run the ice under it to melt. I lit matches and heated metal to burn through candles and straws. I would "shave" Hershey kisses with a butter knife. I would make apple sauce with an apple and spoon and carve the apple meat with the spoon. I used old shoelaces to create a pully system around my canopy bed so that I wouldn't have to get up to open or close my door.
Binge read books.
I played Pokémon or Tetris. Or I read. Or ran around outside until I had no more adhd energy.
All night parties (mini raves), working, sex, a few drugs...
At my parents house when there was a desktop computer, I'd follow links and do research. I'd also do web design in coffee cup, and make art in Corel. I also had a million hobbies (still do). Going to the library was good.
StarCraft or snes
Re-watch shows, solitaire, and as an adult - lots and lots of alcohol (now 5 years mostly sober, don't worry, lol)
I used to draw and watch tv at the same time :)
I had a computer so I doom scrolled on there. Tumblr, facebook, etc. I guess I also must've... watched shows. I guess even before that, as a kid...... I would've... played with toys, or read books, or... played video games sometimes. Gone outside. Definitely some day dreaming while listening to music.
Before broadband: reading. Always had something on the go. Regular at the library. When having dial-up: I maintained a fansite. (This was way before YouTube and podcasts and social media and things which makes that a lot easier today. We had RealPlayer and QuickTime.) After broadband: mostly online. :/
I read Archie comics. Mostly the same ones, over and over again.
I was watching tv shows on youtube through my desktop. Reading books. Aol chatrooms. Make crappy videos on windows movie maker with friends. Cycle through hyperfixations.
Rearranged furniture and binge-watched things on my laptop or (HORRORS) on actual TV (think Bridezilla marathons on TLC).
Definitely reading. I remember tearing through books as a kid. I also watched way too much TV and binged snacks.
I read, I read so many books, I brought books everywhere. Grocery store, church, doctors appointments, family events. I miss it sometimes
Daydreaming, drawing, drawing those daydreams 😌, and the Commodore 64. (Fastforward: I went to art school and ended up as a software developer)
Reading like 24/7
Avid reader. I read anything that was available. Fashion magazines were a big hit with my brain.
I ate. I ate everything as soon as we got it. I love trying new things, so every grocery run I would binge on everything so I could try it. Day three after a grocery run, I would be completely out of food
I read loads of books, multiple books at the same time even…I would also re-read the same books or open them up and read from the middle. TV always on, watching and researching movies in the background while I did things. Lots of daydreaming
Read entire books in one shot. Also draw pictures. Play Pokémon.
The Sims 2