been thinking about all the little moments tucked away in my memories that are a world unknowable to those younger than me, so consider this an opportunity to reminisce over old times, but also to ask those about the times you did not live through.
I guess my question for those older than me is: before computers, how did you learn to do something?
Did access to knowledge change your life, was a constraint lifted when you no longer depended on having found the right books or people to learn tips on how to cook a new dish, or how to fix a plumbing problem, or how to plant a garden?
Was life more simple, did you have fewer problems to solve without technology in your life, or did technology make life easier?
You over estimate the importance of computers. Computers primarily resulted in editable documents, and provides for faster less error prone and more precise computation. It meant these thing now take less manpower and are less costly. Not so much else.
Internet and telecom. This is separate. Communiction has gotten faster and cheaper. The mail service less used and less reliable though express services like Fedex faster. Frankly these changes are a mixed bag.
Do not forget too that compuserve, bullitin boards, usenet, and forums go much further back then most people think. Think 80s and some sruff before that. Computers go further back. I used them in the 70s and my dad in the 60s though the costs were a lot higher. Electronic computers go back to the 40s and before that there were mechanical computers and relay logic too.