Things our kids can't imagine...

[JimmyBean42]

Lining up at the local ticketmaster window at 6 in the morning because concert tickets were going on sale at 10.

This one was always one of my favorites. It was such a thrill to get tickets after waiting that long. And the tension of being the next person in line and praying they didn't sell out just then (and being so bummed when you overslept and ended up costing yourself about a dozen spots in line then just missing getting tickets).

My biggest one is that nowadays these kids can't ride their bikes all over town like we did. Now they are chaperoned at every turn. I remember being told "don't go across the highway and not past this set of railroad tracks". I had like a 10 mile radius I could go to. Just be back by dark. We had a lot more freedom growing up. Sad kids today can't have the same freedom.

 

[AppleDumpling]

How about the punch cards (Hollerith code) in the early days of computer programming? If you dropped the deck and they got out of order, it was a disaster. And the green bar printer paper with the perforated edges (so you could tear off the sprocket holes).
Wow, I feel so old.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

Not sure about Canada, but it was definitely a U.S. thing to have letters at the beginning of a phone number. I'm pretty sure it started even before the 40s & 50s, and lasted well into the 70s in some areas. It may have mostly prevalent in the northeast rather than other areas of the country.

That WO4-997x in the photo stood for the exchange WOodlawn4 and translated into 964. Most people in the same neighborhood had the same exchange.

There are plenty of instances in old movies and TV show where characters state such a number. Lucy Ricardo's number in I Love Lucy was MU5-9975. The exchange name was MUrray Hill and had the numerical equivalent of 685. When Alice Kramden got a phone briefly in the Honeymooners, the number was BE 0-7741. Exchange name BEnsonhurst. People either said the two letters or the whole exchange name when reciting their phone number.

.

During the 1960s our phone (it was a party line for a while) had an exchange name. PL for Plymouth; it changed to 65x-xxxx.

I have my father's high school yearbook. He graduated in 1939. In the back are ads from various local businesses who were sponsors. There were several different types of phone numbers. Some were as short as J335 or 1234R. The standard seemed to be a 6 digit alpha-numeric, such as PL-3657. I'm guessing there were still some old independent phone companies other than Bell in existence.

 

[Disney_traveler]

In response to the phone number with letters, I know that was common with San Antonio, Texas as my mom remembers it (she's 56). I'll have to ask her but I believe the first 3 numbers were letters and had to do with location/street name or something like that.

 

[Wendy31]

I just quoted a million people because I was like "Yesss!" to so many of the posts! LOL!

The excitement of going to pick up a newly-developed roll of film to see how the pictures turned out. I always looked at them as soon as I got back to my car.

Yes! And, when you were taking pictures, you didn't take a million pictures of one thing because you had to save your film. I remember going on vacation & buying rolls of film - 24 exposures & 36 exposures.

We had remote controls... my sister and myself.

Cartoons could only been seen on Saturday morning and only for a couple of hours.

I miss Saturday morning cartoons!!

That's so funny. I was just telling my daughter about this yesterday. Also, I don't know how widespread it was but here, you used to be able to tell where in the city someone lived by what their phone number started with... all the 237s were one area and the 452's in another.

Yes! And there were certain areas in which you didn't want to live.

Parking your car at high school next to trucks with guns mounted on gun racks (because they're going hunting after school).

Having to look through the lingerie section of the catalog; that was as close as I was ever going to get to, uh, "erotica" without having to pay a bum to go into 7-11 and buy me a Penthouse.

Also, I dare any parent of teenagers to watch The Breakfast Club with them. When the kids all reveal why they're in detention, it comes out that Brian (the nerd character) brought a flare gun to school. Bring a gun (even a flare gun) into any public high school in this country and you're not getting Saturday detention; you're going to prison. Similarly, the jock character taped a guy's butt cheeks together; there are very few school administrators in this country who are going to see that as anything short of 2nd-degree assault. These days he'd be facing misdemeanor charges and expulsion, not Saturday detention.

DH & I were watching "Risky Business" of all things the other day, & we started talking about how teen movies in the 80s were different than teen movies of today. If I were still in college, I'd write a paper on how 80s Movies shaped us.

I think this is really the biggest one. The amount of information instantly available to us at any time, no matter where we are, is really astounding.

I was born in '71, so I grew up before the internet, and it's even hard for me to imagine how we used to have to do things. In addition to just getting answers to questions, think about how people did things we take for granted as being quick and easy now, like booking plane tickets or hotel reservations.

Yes, I agree. I think the amount of instant information available to everyone is the biggest thing, & kids today just can't fathom a world w/o access to instant information.

Like has already been mentioned, having to write a research paper always involved a trip to the library. And you had to search through the card catalog w/ a little piece of white paper & a little yellow pencil.

In college, I would photo copy pages out of research books for my papers.

My kids were just amazed by this yesterday. They were asking if I rode in a seat like theirs when I was a kid. I said "You're not going to believe this, but when I was a kid car seats didn't exist" I told them about my mom bringing me home from the hospital in a 'car bed' which was basically the lid to a box. haha I really don't know how parents drove with kids going crazy in the back seat back then!

ETA: I was born in '82. Car seats did in fact exist, but I guess weren't required by law. My Mom says "poor people didn't have car seats." I'm not sure if this is entirely accurate though because she also said "poor people didn't use sunscreen" when I told her that my (now) husband said they always had sunscreen when he was a kid and I thought it hadn't been invented!

One of my earliest memories is when my parents picked me up at my grandparents' house after my little sister was born. We rode home w/ me sitting in the middle of the front seat between my dad & my mom & w/ my mom holding my baby sister in her arms.

Regarding diagramming, I graduated from high school in 1991, & we were still diagramming sentences in high school English. I'm also teaching my kids how to diagram. I think it helps w/ sentence structure.

And the phones! Having to call a friend & first speak to the parent was so scary! And calling someone & getting a busy signal!

And, if you needed a number for something, you either had to call information or look it up in a phone book.

Some others...

* In addition to rolls of film, getting travelers' checks to go on vacation

* Having to rewind VHS tapes & cassette tapes - and sitting by the radio to press record on a cassette player to record your favorite songs

* And recording episodes of your favorite TV show onto VHS tapes to watch later - I love my DVR now & can't imagine life w/o it - just the ability to pause live TV is awesome. I remember once there was some movie on TV that my dad wanted to record, but he didn't want the commercials. So he'd press "stop recording" on the VHS during the commercials & then "record" when the movie came back on.

* And soap operas used to be more of a thing - I arranged my college schedule so I could be home in time to watch "Days of our Lives"

* The double popsicles that came w/ 2 sticks & that broke in half & you never could break them in half evenly

* The huge camcorders that to record live events like your kid's school play

* Road Maps & Atlases - my parents kept a huge atlas in their cars

* Typing Class w/ Wite-Out & Eraser Tape - our Typing Class had a mix of manual & electric typewriters, so we had to switch around so we could all have turns on the electric typewriters

 

[Vijoge]

No direct deposits- had to go to the bank with a paper check to deposit and get cash for the week
Passbook savings accounts
No 24 hour TV- National Anthem then done for the night

Don't forget the test pattern

 

[Vijoge]

Writing a paper, letter, etc without the benefit of spell check

 

[Vijoge]

Writing a paper, letter, etc without the benefit of spell check

Or doing math without a calculator

 

[AppleDumpling]

Besides film, you also had to buy flash cubes.

And speaking of concerts, everyone brought a lighter (even if you didn't smoke), so you could hold it up for the encore. I haven't been to many concerts lately, but I think now they hold up cell phones.

 

[Tattylou]

Besides film, you also had to buy flash cubes.

And speaking of concerts, everyone brought a lighter (even if you didn't smoke), so you could hold it up for the encore. I haven't been to many concerts lately, but I think now they hold up cell phones.

Oh love this!!! And sooooo sad, I miss the days of lighters at concerts. Cell phones don't have the same feel at all of zippos lit at a concert.

 

[Diznygrl]

I remember a good portion of things here, but heck you probably don't even have to go that far to think of things kids can't imagine...they probably can't even imagine non-wireless internet or flip phones. I was born in 1981 and even I have become so spoiled by all of our new tech I can't fathom what it would be like just to go back to the days before DVR and Netflix!! I can't even watch live tv anymore because I get so impatient with all of the commercials and it drives me crazy. Even though I lived 99% of my life having to watch live tv with commercials.

 

[scrhsa]

My microwave broke last week and for 24 hours we didn't have one. Made me appreciate that sucker!!

We've been without one for a couple of years now....we actually don't miss it. I really thought my girls would be screaming to get it back but nope, they're good. We kind of eat a bit healthier because of it.

My middle dd(21) has just become interested in early space travel/trip to the moon etc and she is a bit in awe that. Plus, I grew up not far from Johnson Space Center and went to school with some astronauts kids and kind of took it all for granted and that has her amazed

 

[Tattylou]

We've been without one for a couple of years now....we actually don't miss it. I really thought my girls would be screaming to get it back but nope, they're good. We kind of eat a bit healthier because of it.

My middle dd(21) has just become interested in early space travel/trip to the moon etc and she is a bit in awe that. Plus, I grew up not far from Johnson Space Center and went to school with some astronauts kids and kind of took it all for granted and that has her amazed

I do a lot of food prep and cook healthy foods like crazy one or two days a week when I have time. So, I use the microwave often to reheat. Its just easier/quicker than the oven to reheat.

 

[here757]

Is that a Canadian thing? I've never heard of phone numbers with letters?

Actually I remember!
Musta been 82-84 ish. In Stafford VA. Now you have to dial all 10 digits

 

[CdnCarrie]

My biggest one is that nowadays these kids can't ride their bikes all over town like we did. Now they are chaperoned at every turn. I remember being told "don't go across the highway and not past this set of railroad tracks". I had like a 10 mile radius I could go to. Just be back by dark. We had a lot more freedom growing up. Sad kids today can't have the same freedom.

Sorry but I hate it when people exaggerate like this. My kids and most all that I know can ride their bikes everywhere. Just because people you happen to know don't allow this does not mean it happens everywhere. I don't know anyone who chaperones their kids at every turn.
My kids have very similar freedom as I did.

What is different are more mothers working out of the home and more single parent families. This is resulting in more children being in daycare/before and after care programs. So kids aren't at home to play outside as much.

Are you chaperoning your child at every turn?

 

[scrhsa]

I do a lot of food prep and cook healthy foods like crazy one or two days a week when I have time. So, I use the microwave often to reheat. Its just easier/quicker than the oven to reheat.

I usually don't have left overs My husband gets to them before I can serve them the next night . And for the most part my girls don't like reheated food...which would explain why they are good without the microwave I guess

 

[CdnCarrie]

I usually don't have left overs My husband gets to them before I can serve them the next night . And for the most part my girls don't like reheated food...which would explain why they are good without the microwave I guess

I can only imagine what my mother would have said if I had told her I "didn't like reheated food.". LOL. I didn't get away with that and neither do my kids. They do moan about leftovers and I tell them if they want to start paying the grocery bill they are welcome to throw out perfectly good food. Conversation over.

So basically to add to the thread

Never hearing - Eat what you're served or go hungry.

 

[PollyannaMom]

...
And speaking of concerts, everyone brought a lighter (even if you didn't smoke), so you could hold it up for the encore. I haven't been to many concerts lately, but I think now they hold up cell phones.

I heard there's even a special app!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Paying for their own college

MG

 

[RedAngie]

Remember those 45's that would come on cereal boxes? Those were great.

And Crackerjack prizes were so much better back then.

I got an Archies 45 from the back of a box of Honeycomb cereal. Then my mom got mad because I didn't eat the cereal. That was probably the 4th or 5th time I cajoled my mother into buying a cereal based on the toy that came with it.