[momokoko]

I think this is a strange thing to hear from being a bit older. 30-40 years ago, most people did not spend their time reading the paper and watching TV.

There was vastly more time spent interacting directly with friends and family as well as hobbies and interests that were not consuming media. It was much more common for people to stop by, often unannounced and hang out and talk for several hours. Just talking in person was very popular. Also, people spent much more time on errands and house tasks. It was very rare to have landscapers or housekeepers. This was before dishwashers and people rarely ate out. So cooking and cleaning were common. Super cheap goods from China had not yet arrived so maintenance on things around the house was more common than replacement.

This isn’t at all to be taken as things were better, or worse, it is simply to relay that people did a lot more than consume media and communicate electronically.

[username90]

Most people certainly sat the entire evening in front of the TV 30 years ago. Even today old people sit over 7 hours a day in front of the TV since they haven't adapted to newer media yet.

https://www.statista.com/chart/15224/daily-tv-consumption-by...

For history you can see that about 30-40 years ago people watched 7 hours of TV per day, then it went up to 9 and now it goes down again as people start using computers instead. I don't think this is a bad development switching from TV to computers.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/when-...

[yarcob]

When I was a kid we didn't have a TV, but that doesn't mean we spent all day talking.

My dad spent his time reading the newspaper or Dick Francis murder mysteries, my mom spent her time either on the phone talking to people or laying cards. (Like Windows Solitaire but with actual cards).

When I wasn't fighting with my sisters I spent my time reading Donald Duck comics or playing Lego on my own.

Sure, we can pretend that we spent so much quality time with another all the time before screens came along, I'm just not sure it's actually true.