The weird thing is that I never needed computer assisted navigation until it existed. In my local area I simply remembered where streets were, and when traveling I used a map book.

I also cherished photos and put more effort into taking them. Now I just spam the photo button and wait on Google to select the best one to automatically improve and remind me of later. Even then, I have so many that I never find myself flipping through them like I did with physical photos.

I read encyclopedias. The many volumes were an invitation to knowledge, dillineated by pages and sections. Online knowledge is an endless pit of knowledge of questionable value.

Really, it wasn't bad. I'd say peak value was around 98 or 99. Before XMLHTTPRequest became popular, when the web was still mostly documents and forms. NNTP still mattered, and Encarta was useful.

After that I've just felt like I am swimming upriver against an assault to my humanity.