Pre-Internet we were information-bound, now we are attention-bound.
From that observation you can deduce a number of consequences.
Information (software, encyclopaedias) was expensive. Your intellectual life depended much more than now on where you grew up (as opposed to, say, your character), see for example Lisp in US vs Prolog in Europe. It was harder to be distracted but also easier to find yourself reinventing the wheel.
Instead of reading blog posts about time management and the seven most important traits of whatever, you had mildly interesting newsletters, documentation to photocopy, and complaints about the choice of books in the local library. Back then you were more concerned about gathering resources, now you are more preoccupied by where to put your attention and efforts. So, in that sense, we have all followed the same trajectory as Bill Gates.
Well, it depends a bit on what pre-internet era you're talking about. When I think back to the 1960s and 1970s in the US, the first difference that strikes me is that we were resource-bound.
* Hardware was expensive, so back in the age of minicoputers _you_ went to the computer. And perhaps first to the card punch room to make changes to your deck. (Painful memories.)
* Connectivity was both expensive and slow. Anyone remember acoustic couplers? Don Lancaster's revolutionary TV typewriter? Their financial heart attack when the first BBS phone bill came in?
* Information was obvious scarcer, but it could be found if you networked in meatspace. Lots of interesting conversations to be had at the local electronics shop or campus computer center.
From that observation you can deduce a number of consequences.
Information (software, encyclopaedias) was expensive. Your intellectual life depended much more than now on where you grew up (as opposed to, say, your character), see for example Lisp in US vs Prolog in Europe. It was harder to be distracted but also easier to find yourself reinventing the wheel.
Instead of reading blog posts about time management and the seven most important traits of whatever, you had mildly interesting newsletters, documentation to photocopy, and complaints about the choice of books in the local library. Back then you were more concerned about gathering resources, now you are more preoccupied by where to put your attention and efforts. So, in that sense, we have all followed the same trajectory as Bill Gates.