this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
122 points (97.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

37424 readers
1403 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I suppose it would be mostly practical skills, cooking, fixing things. Usually had to be done by people themselves.

Maybe also mental things like navigating (with or without paper map) and remembering their daily and weekly agendas.

What other things would be a big difference with the people today?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 99 points 5 days ago (30 children)

Navigating a paper map.

You want to drive to a suburb of a big city. You have an address. The internet doesn't exist.

How do you get there? Well. You use a map. Almost every glove box would have a local and state map, if not a full map book like a Thomas brothers.

[–] SolarBoy@slrpnk.net 5 points 5 days ago (6 children)

I wonder if it took quite a bit longer for people to reach their destination. Because not everyone would be as good at reading maps (compared to simply following gps instructions) Maybe that made it more common for people to arrive at different times. or plan longer trips because the driving would take up a bigger part of it.

Also, when driving alone, I can't imagine holding your map. So you would still have to stop from time to time for long trips. And actually memorize the big lines of how to get to your destination.

[–] JordanZ@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

Going along with reading a map most people don’t know how roads and exits are numbered. It’s not a random jumble. This makes reading a map and just knowing what direction you’re traveling in general much easier. This is for the US.

Interstates

1 or 2 Digits: Main routes. North-South routes have odd numbers, increasing from west to east (e.g., I-5 to I-95). East-West routes have even numbers, increasing from south to north (e.g., I-10 to I-90).

3 Digits (Even First Number): A loop or beltway that connects to the main interstate at both ends.

3 Digits (Odd First Number): A spur route that connects to the main interstate at only one end.

Exit numbers

They mirror the mile markers which show up on maps. Numbers increase from south to north or west to east. So you could basically make a ‘cheat sheet’ of your exit numbers. Then while driving you know how far till your next exit.

I’ve seen this not be true on occasion but it should be mostly true. If the exit sign is on the right of the road sign then the exit is to the right. If it’s on the left then it exits to the left.

All knowledge that I feel got lost to time for the most part. They should teach it in drivers ed but I don’t think they do.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (28 replies)