[	Current Location	|	Harpswell Cove	]
[	mood	|	calm	]
[	music	|	Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin	]

Work meant physical work before the internet came, at least for me. Work produced tangible results: a heavy object was moved from one place to another, a structure was built, a unit repaired, or an area cleared. Things that were dirty were made clean. Things that were clean were made dirty (usually me and my clothes).

I conducted research and reading at library, if I needed to. This took a special trip into town.

I'd call friends on a rotary dial telephone. We had a party line back then: four families on one line. Different rings indicated different homes (we were two quick rings). One never knew who was listening.

We'd write letters to relatives. Replies would take a week or two. One time I even wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper regarding our High School yearbook, and they published it! All my neighbors said it was an excellent letter. No one flamed or trolled me.

Our television only received five channels - one of them French/Canadian. Late at night that last became quite educational: the Quebec station lacked our represive sexual mores. The other stations were ABC (Channel Six), CBS (Channel Eight), NBC (Channel 13), and PBS (Channel Ten). We received only a few radio stations to listen too. WBLM (the Blimp) was our favorite.

We played outside a lot. We played Army in the woods during summer, or we'd swim, or go exploring on our bikes. We went sledding during winter, usually staying closer to home. We'd play board games indoors: chess, Stratego, Battleship, etc. When I was older my friends and I would play Dungeons & Dragons. Nana taught me to play Rummy. More specifically she taught me to cheat at Rummy.

So, to answer your question: work was different, communication was different, recreation was different, and learning was different. I won't say better, necessarily, but certainly much slower.