It felt nice when you had to physically meet a person to exchange the latest meme. The physical vicinity adds so much quality to the social experience. I cannot talk to friends the same way over char or even the phone than in person, it just feels weird.
Said every aging generation ever, I mean, the last part of that sentence could be any of (read a book|sit down and listen to the radio|watch broadcast television) and someone out there reminisces fondly of the better, simpler times.
Characteristically, Brooks in the `Mythical Man Month' has no nostalgia for bringing your program in punch cards to the data center, and sees timesharing as an unalloyed good.
(I think it's because the bad old days were still very fresh in memory when he wrote the essays.)
