▲Teachers taught cursive writing because it was a necessary requirement for the future of many. Little did we know that most people these days would barely even need to pick up a pen!

▲WhatsApp groups or Google Docs weren't a thing. Students had to meet up in person to engage in discussion and do their school projects.

▲Before Google ever existed, people would go to libraries to read actual books and gather information.

▲People went to stores to get the hottest new albums, as they had buy physical CD or cassette copies.

▲Taking pictures was a whole process. People had to go develop the film at a photography store, wait for it to be processed, and only then would they be able to see the pictures they took and share them with friends—in physical albums, obviously.

▲Although most people already had landline phones by the time the Internet was invented, in many situations you still had to write letters to contact people.

▲With the rise of YouTube, box sets, and streaming services, it's hard for people these days to imagine having to anxiously wait for their fave TV show to air.

▲Every morning, people would get their newspaper delivered, and that would be their principal way of hearing about news. No buzz, no notifications.

▲Before the easy access to GPS, we relied on maps or asked for directions in order to get from A to B.

▲People had to manually turn their clocks back during daylight savings hours.

▲And when they didn't have a watch, they'd have to call payphone operators to get the time!

▲Imagine having to write that 10,000-word essay by hand.

▲Back when you couldn't stalk your crush 24/7 on social media, people would actually make an effort to hang out in person and learn more about each other.

▲Remember calling on your crush only to have their parents answer the phone? The likelihood of someone listening in on your conversation on the upstairs extension was very real.

▲And while on the topic of calling people, there were only three sources for recalling phone numbers: your memory, a contact book, or the Yellow Pages.

▲Way before online shopping, people had to fill out forms from catalogs and mail them along with a check. Sometimes it could be months before an order arrived.

▲It's too easy to shame someone on social media these days for their actions or opinions, but online trolls and keyboard warriors were probably the silent ones during a face-to-face argument back in the day.

▲Before the Internet existed, people had to find something else to fill their free time, as they couldn't binge-watch shows. Instead they filled their time with reading, writing, listening to music, hanging out with friends...

▲Life was made so much easier for rare-item collectors after Amazon came around. Before that, you'd have to look up relevant topics in the Yellow Pages or call up every store to see if they had said rarity.

▲Remember mixtapes? People had to burn (make) custom CDs, which they would gift or sell to their peers (depending on how much they'd want to impress that person).

▲Because you never knew when you had to use a payphone.

▲Way before online banking, bills were paid with checks, which had to be mailed to companies.

▲Remember when there was no need convince kids to drop the iPads and go play outside with their friends?

▲Your popularity was measured by the amount of voice messages you had accumulated by the time you got home.

▲Before the Internet became a global phenomenon, people would use gigantic computers for other important things... like playing Solitaire.

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Many argue that the lack of Internet and social media in people's lives meant they had more freedom to be whoever they wanted—without being constantly judged for their actions and opinions. Do you agree?

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The World Wide Web has indeed brought us many benefits, but there was a time when humans survived without it and its perks. So how did people carry out tasks like research information or paying their bills? How did you view cat videos with just the click of a button?

Click through the gallery to see the things that people did before the World Wide Web existed.

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Back when social media wasn't a thing, the only way to get in touch with your favorite celebrity crush was to send them loads of fan mail and hope they'd bother opening letters.