this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
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[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Teletext! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext

I think it was more of a thing outside of the US. It looks cool though.

[–] gerryflap@feddit.nl 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's still a thing here in the Netherlands. You can even download the Teletext app and browse the news that way on your phone. Some people like it because it drops all the bullshit and just gives you the news. No ads, no long essays, just short summaries of the most important information.

It looks like this: Screenshot of Teletext on a phone

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I still remember some of the channels used. Vaguely, but still. News, which time a program is on, and when you're alone in the room, checking out the naughty adverts, as there might even be rudimentary boob graphics in the style of old Nokia logos.

[–] weariedfae@sh.itjust.works 70 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Insert picture of a modern newspaper page with 3 visible sentences of text and the rest is begging for subscriptions, sponsored content, straight up ads, and other bullshit.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Old newspapers were filled with ads too. The only thing that makes current ads obnoxious are the pop up's, video, and JavaScript tricks.

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago

Well that’s not the only thing that makes them obnoxious, but it’s a huge contributor.

[–] grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Old newspapers also didn't have ads breaking up the articles. None of this "ad between every paragraph" bullshit for the ancestors!

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The did it with "continued on page 10". This forced you to flip through several pages of ads to get to the rest of the story. It wasn't just on the front page. They did it inside as well.

[–] grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 days ago

Yes, but that was generally because stories don't always fit nicely on a page. I've seen plenty of old-timey newspapers and laid out a few modern ones. It's all about what fits on the page.

[–] CitizenKong@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

Also, newspaper writers were paid like shit. E.A. Poe was the editor of a fairly big newspaper and a published author (though not very sucessful except for The Raven) and was still constantly on the verge of financial collapse.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

That is an impressively accurate-looking future TV for something drawn in 1934. TVs of the time looked something like this:

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

This looks a LOT like a 1930s radio, combined with a microfilm viewer, which was very much available at libraries everywhere in the 1930s (and can still be found in archives today).

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

A microfilm viewer is definitely the inspiration, but is this 1930s? It looks more like 1950s to me. Even then, notice that the thing holding the screen is huge. I can't find an image of a definitively 1930s one, but I did find this proof of concept for a home one from 1935. Pretty different form factor.

[–] MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't think they had passenger dirigibles in the 1950s, they were phased out earlier. They crashed and burned too much.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What does a passenger dirigible have to do with anything?

[–] MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Headline: "Dirigible downed at sea".

Onlooker: "Hm, 20 dead and 15 missing."

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Ohh, now I get what you're talking about. I was referring to this picture looking 50s rather than 30s:

The OP image is established to have been drawn in 1934.

[–] IndiBrony@lemmy.world 33 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ah yes, I also remember Teletext!

[–] accideath@feddit.org 10 points 2 days ago (4 children)

It’s still a thing. I gotta listen to my granddad regularly that he wishes the internet was more like the teletext.

[–] slampisko@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

He has a point

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 2 points 2 days ago

My mother sent me a screenshot from teletext the other day.

[–] johnlukepeckard@lemmy.wtf 4 points 2 days ago

Show him w3m in the terminal lol

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 2 days ago

Remember tuning to the right page number and then having the screen flick over right when you arrived so you'd have to sit there for 5 minutes waiting for it to scroll round again? If the internet work like that we'd all have a lot more patience with each other.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Microfiche was a thing when I was in elementary school in the 80s. They taught us to use that and to use the Dewey Decimal System. Cue the meme of the guy holding the “I learned cursive for no reason,” sign.

I’ve been typing for so long that I have the handwriting of a child. It was never terribly legible. Now it’s like I’ve had a stroke.

Anyway, cool throwback.

[–] bluewing@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

If a throw down on cool and even more old and useless skills learned in schools is what you want, I'm for today. Not only did I need to learn learn about the Dewey Decimal System and cursive hand writing, (as a lefty I was nearly forced to learn to write right handed in school), but I had to learn how to use a slide rule. Calculators weren't around until I was about 17. Now everyone carries one and can't do any math.

Television as a working concept was solidly in place by the 1920s. They just needed to agree on a standard, make the tech cheap enough, and get broadcast stations built. Had WW2 not interrupted things, we might have had television as a bigger commercial thing sooner than the 1950s/1960s. The clipping does look like the style of Popular Science or Popular Mechanics of the 1930's era though.

[–] silasmariner@programming.dev 3 points 2 days ago

Handwriting of a child; broke. Handwriting of a doctor; bespoke

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

I feel this so hard. “Library Science” was like, “if you don’t know the Dewey system, you wont be able to use libraries and then you’re DOOMED”.

I sometimes forget how to write by hand now.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 2 days ago

Welcome to the Internet by Bo Burnam starts playing

[–] SatyrSack@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Wow, I misread "HM" as "HAHA" and had a different expectation of what the bottom text was going to be

[–] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Even without that, it's quite a strange headline to use in an ad.

[–] breecher@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

Especially compared with his facial expression. He very much look like he is savouring the news.

[–] sthetic@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

It really is. You'd think they'd choose a positive news story.

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We did it!

But what did it cost?

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT

Disable your adblocker

continue without supporting journalism

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

See the problem is the dirigible should be up in air, not down in sea.

[–] WanakaTree@lemm.ee 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's not very typical, I'd like to make that point

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago

History says otherwise:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Akron -- Sank off the coast of New Jersey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Macon_(ZRS-5) -- Sank off the coast of Monterey, California.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 days ago

.... and instead of reputable journalists and independent organizations printing our news for us on the television .... ANYONE with a pulse and a grade ten level of writing skill can publish anything for anyone to read .... and the evolution after that will be that ANYONE with access to a computer can use Artificial Intelligence to publish an entire feature news story out of thin air promoting whatever idea, theory, belief or information they want regardless if it is true or not and no one will be able to tell the difference.

[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Kind of, now our telinewspaper mostly has made up bullshit

[–] scathliath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago

My God, they predicted Drudge Report