Woman questions life before the internet and Gen Xers come up with hilarious but true answers

With the internet and everything at our fingertips, we have moments wondering how life was before technology got to such a point. How did people get by without this magic tool that gets everything right from recipes to banking, tickets and more? A 26-year-old TikTok user named Sarah Adelman (@sarah_adelman) enquired about the same and directed her question to older people. The Gen Xers had hilarious answers.

“What would you do before you could look something up?” Adelman asked, referring to what people would do to find answers when Google didn’t exist at the tip of their fingers. She then gave an example saying, “If you saw someone and you were like, ‘Oh they remind me of an actor,’ and you couldn’t get the name and none of your friends knew, would you go to the library?” She then pointed out yet another tool that is impossible to live without today. “Okay, without Google Maps, we know there was MapQuest but before that…Genuinely, what would you do? Would you just accept not knowing?” Adelman asked.

Adelman got more and more curious as she framed her questions. She concluded her video eagerly saying, “Please tell me because I would genuinely not survive.” With Adelman’s questions and videos going viral, the GenX-ers stepped in. Over 15k comments came to the rescue to ensure that Adelman was not left hanging. @noelleswan said, “I went to record stores and sang snippets of songs to record clerks.” @marfinkel suggested another technique, “I love how you referenced MapQuest. We used maps, good ole paper maps.” 

Answering Adelman’s question on not being able to recall an actor’s name, @kiraboozie said, “You would forever be annoyed by it, keep it in a bookmark and years later remember the guy’s name was Ray Liotta or something.” @callmecierra hilariously pointed out the start of myths and said, “Your aunt said something was a fact and you believed it until you found out otherwise.” With hysterical answers coming in, it was amazing to read about how people got by in that era. @origian_dead_r said, “Sometimes you would fight about things for years. Usually, you were both wrong.” 

With similar comments pouring in with a mix of humor and facts, Adelman was sure grateful for the technology that pampers us today. That was not all, another fun event struck when Google replied to Adelman’s video saying, “However it worked, sounds bad.” This added to the already viral video. Replying to this comment, Adelman posted a follow-up video. She said, “Thank you Google, it does sound bad.” She further shared how it would have been impossible and that she couldn’t see herself living in a time where she couldn’t get answers immediately. 

“What would inception have been like in the 90s?” asked Adelman still in disbelief despite the hilarious help from the GenX commenters. She further mentioned that the movie revolved around the idea of a dream which is the crux of the movie itself. “But how would people know it was a dream if they didn’t have Google?” she asked. She shared other instances where she simply relied on the internet like it was everything and couldn’t think of survival without it.

You can follow Sarah Adelman (@sarah_adelman) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on October 5, 2023. It has since been updated.