Most significant change in your lifetime?

[tvguy]

I'd have to say rules about were you can smoke. I grew up with smoke wafting from the Teacher's Lounge at school. Flying in planes where smoking was allowed anywhere, and then the joke of "smoking sections".
I graduated from College in 1979, into a job in an office surrounded by co-workers smoking at their desks. Working in the confined space of a TV Control Room between 2 chain smokers.
My son was born in 1987, and I don't think he remembers smoking being allowed. He had asthma as a child, and I remember when we visited family in very rural Illinois when he was a toddler getting strange looks at restaurants when we asked for the "non-smoking" area. They didn't exist there yet in the late 1980's.

 

[sk!mom]

Without a doubt the biggest change in my lifetime...the internet.

 

[Mizzoufan]

I agree internet hands downs

 

[Marchand63]

Cell phones. I also think internet, especially on your cell phone

 

[Kitty 34]

internet and cellphones and all the social media that goes with those two

 

[tvguy]

Internet for sure.
I did think about cell phones, but I was watching a rerun of Perry Mason from 1964 and Paul Drake had a "mobile" (radio) phone in his car, just not very many people had them until the 1990's.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I was born in 1986 and vaguely remember people smoking in places like the mall and restaurants.

The biggest change for me would be the way kids play. When I was a kid there was group of neighborhood kids that always played together. We would be at one another's houses swimming or we would walk to the beach. We would only be home for meals or money LOL. It's not like that anymore. Everything is scheduled and I can't even imagine anyone letting their kid go to he beach alone. Even though I did it, I wouldn't be comfortable with that.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Computer processing power and technology, in general. Going from computer with console output, 5 1/4 inch floppy disks and no hard drives to laptops and tablets and phones and watches with more processing power and memory than 1980's desktops. This has become the driving force of the Internet and a lot of the economy.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

My 1st thought is internet and cell phones. But to be different, I'm going to say the differences in how we raise children, now that I'm a mom. I'm 43 with a 2.5-year-old, and WOW, has it ever changed from when I was a kid. People get CPS called on them just for letting their kids walk to school or even play outside alone? When I was a child, kids who lived within a mile of the school walked. Now, it's 1/2 mile, and the schools require a "responsible adult" to accompany the child. More kids get driven to school instead of taking the bus.

My son is actually really well-behaved in public, but he sometimes gets whiny, as toddlers do (not screaming, not a tantrum, but whiny). I have learned that if I ignore it, he'll stop. But I've gotten glares and the stinkeye because I'm not "shutting him up." When I was a kid, if I had a tantrum in public - which I did, I vividly remember - EVERYONE ignored me, and my mom would get a sympathetic smile or pat on the shoulder.

Should I even go into the offerings at the baby store? When I went to do our registry, I couldn't figure out what half the stuff was and wondered if I really truly needed most of it. I didn't even have a car seat - EVER. (Note that I of course got a car seat for my son )

 

[DisneyHardin]

I would definitely say internet and computers. I started 1st grade in 1984 and we had one Apple computer that we could type on and play Oregon Trail. The first time I experience Internet was when I started college in 1996.

 

[wenrob]

Internet/Cellphones-iPod/iPad/Digital Media

Experiencing the evolution of media and the way we consume it still blows me away sometimes. My younger kids don’t think twice about being able to carry entire music/movie/tv/book libraries in their pockets.

 

[LSUmiss]

My 1st thought is internet and cell phones. But to be different, I'm going to say the differences in how we raise children, now that I'm a mom. I'm 43 with a 2.5-year-old, and WOW, has it ever changed from when I was a kid. People get CPS called on them just for letting their kids walk to school or even play outside alone? When I was a child, kids who lived within a mile of the school walked. Now, it's 1/2 mile, and the schools require a "responsible adult" to accompany the child. More kids get driven to school instead of taking the bus.

My son is actually really well-behaved in public, but he sometimes gets whiny, as toddlers do (not screaming, not a tantrum, but whiny). I have learned that if I ignore it, he'll stop. But I've gotten glares and the stinkeye because I'm not "shutting him up." When I was a kid, if I had a tantrum in public - which I did, I vividly remember - EVERYONE ignored me, and my mom would get a sympathetic smile or pat on the shoulder.

Should I even go into the offerings at the baby store? When I went to do our registry, I couldn't figure out what half the stuff was and wondered if I really truly needed most of it. I didn't even have a car seat - EVER. (Note that I of course got a car seat for my son )

Think maybe some of what you’re describing is b/c more ppl had kids then so maybe your mom got sympathy b/c most ppl understood b/c they had been there. Think more ppl don’t have kids now or wait til later. Before I had a child, I might have been one of those ppl. My thought was I don’t have kids for a reason & don’t want to hear all that in a public place (not somewhere that you’d expect tons of kids). Now I can see both sides. I get it when ppl seem annoyed by my child, but also don’t care b/c I know if they had kids they’d get it & I’m doing the best I can like all of us usually are. I try to take him outside or leave if I can but that’s not always practical depending on where we are.

 

[scrhsa]

Along with the internet...I'm gonna go with the way we listen to music. I remember it being a big deal when we got a stereo..two speakers!!! For one of my birthdays I got a transistor radio, only had AM radio, no FM. Buying 45's and being cool if you had a record player that could stack several at a time. Man, did that save some much needed time 8-tracks, then on to cassettes and then to cds. Wow, when itunes came out...jeeze jouise...we can buy it and then download it to a cd...way cool!! Now we just stream it and don't even need an aux cable anymore, its all wireless

 

[tvguy]

I would definitely say internet and computers. I started 1st grade in 1984 and we had one Apple computer that we could type on and play Oregon Trail. The first time I experience Internet was when I started college in 1996.

LOL. My son was 7 in 1994 when we got our first computer and Internet. A Packard Bell computer with a 2400 baud dial up modem. Content was mostly on the sites run by your provider (Prodigy, AOL, Compuserve), and if you dared, you ventured out onto the Internet. And you AVOIDED sites with graphics or pictures, because they took too long to download.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Most significant change

I'd have to say rules about were you can smoke.

Internet for sure.

So most doesn't mean one single thing? It's not a superlative any longer?

The most significant change in my lifetime is lax grammar.

 

[tvguy]

So most doesn't mean one single thing? It's not a superlative any longer?

The most significant change in my lifetime is lax grammar.

Well, grammar is an interesting subject. Some argue language is a living thing and thus, grammar evolves.
Regardless versus irregardless. Both are now acceptable today. As someone who writes for a living, I have lost more than one grammar argument when I was 100% correct.....because "it just didn't sound right" Or errors I make when I type too fast.


But grammar won't make someone sick or kill them like second hand smoke.

 

[tvguy]

duplicate post

 

[cluvsdisney]

Without a doubt, technology.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My 1st thought is internet and cell phones. But to be different, I'm going to say the differences in how we raise children, now that I'm a mom. I'm 43 with a 2.5-year-old, and WOW, has it ever changed from when I was a kid. People get CPS called on them just for letting their kids walk to school or even play outside alone? When I was a child, kids who lived within a mile of the school walked. Now, it's 1/2 mile, and the schools require a "responsible adult" to accompany the child. More kids get driven to school instead of taking the bus.

I was born in 1986 and vaguely remember people smoking in places like the mall and restaurants.

The biggest change for me would be the way kids play. When I was a kid there was group of neighborhood kids that always played together. We would be at one another's houses swimming or we would walk to the beach. We would only be home for meals or money LOL. It's not like that anymore. Everything is scheduled and I can't even imagine anyone letting their kid go to he beach alone. Even though I did it, I wouldn't be comfortable with that.

I agree. I'll add in helicopter parenting. After I hit 7 or 8 I don't remember my parents ever accompanying us to a park. We went with friends.

I was always the youngest mom in my kids class. I never did play dates. I remember hearing about them for the first time on a baby message board when DS was about 4 or 5. Before that I had no idea what they were. I would get notes sent home from parents asking to schedule a play date with one of my kids. No thanks. My kids go outside and play with neighborhood kids. They're allowed to walk to the park, the basketball courts or just play kick ball/four square or whatever the new games are outside on the block. We have an empty field type area that they use. I've also always saw play dates as a free babysitting service. You drop your kid off at my house, they play for a few hours and I get to watch your kid.

 

[BrianL]

Computer processing power and technology, in general. Going from computer with console output, 5 1/4 inch floppy disks and no hard drives to laptops and tablets and phones and watches with more processing power and memory than 1980's desktops. This has become the driving force of the Internet and a lot of the economy.

Yes, I mean, for all the talk of the Internet, it wouldn't really work, at least not in the way it does now, without the processing power. Moore's Law is at the root of everything (even if the pace has slowed a little bit).