I think your all being far too grim about the past. I mean, sand has existed on earth for billions of years right? and human kind discovered fire the first time someone's network connection overheated, and since we all know networking has been around forever, logically even primitive humans mustt've had the tools to make glass.
And what comes after glass? Jars of course!
So their poor brains weren't left out all naked anyway, they must've always had propper jars to keep them in. That is what those horse animals were for, you see back before they had antigravity, they needed something to move the jars around, and of course the jars were much bulkier then what with all the eyes and ears and things that needed to be bolted to the sides of them.
virtual reality was also very primitive as well. they used to use things called "screens!" these were flat sheets onto which a virtual image could be projected. They also had things called "key boards" which were used to operate those screens. Most of their virtual travel was done in a device called the car, which apparently moved at a very slow speed and even needed what were called speed cameras to make their visual apparatuses run correctly.
#these cars also were equipped directly with key boards via the things called car keyes, which were both easily lost and also easy for others to steal, and things called wind screens (also called wind shields in some places), which projected the virtual images in front of the person involved.
these projections were also very inefficient, and often these cars would crash, causing a blockage in the data flow and slowing up the experiences of thousands of users.
This So, whilst there were many problems, I don't think life in the past was so bad after all.
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)