Growing up without a cell phone

Al.Fisherman · Jun 1, 2012

Received this and just had to pass it along.

If you are 36, or older, you might think this is hilarious! I'm 65 and I think it's sick.

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning....Uphill.... Barefoot...BOTH ways...yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in **** I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, (actually 65) I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it! You really do.

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!! I was lucky I had a set of encyclopedias. How archaic.

2) There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street (I had a mailbox on the porch) and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

3) Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat our butts. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to spank us. Nowhere was it safe.

4) There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car, first 4 tracks then 8 tracks. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

6) We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it! Some had party lines..lucky me we didn't.

7) There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one . You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH!!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

8) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, the collection agent.... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

9) We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'... Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?! First remotes came out in the mid 50's

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-****ards!

12) And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1970 or any time before!

Regards,
Ron

The Over 40 Crowd

Really...wish I could go back to the 60's and 70's., We were free back then without all the government intrusion. OH well!

Ilikeabikea · Jun 1, 2012

Ah, well said. (From another old fart).....

2door · Jun 1, 2012

This probably should have been in 'For Old Guys Only' thread but I'm not moving it. Maybe some 'young guy/girl will read it and maybe, just maybe, they'll have some idea of what their parents and grandparents went through to grow up. It wasn't easy, but we had fun and we had it without what's available (necessary) today.

I think the one thing that aggravates me the most is when I hear someone today say, "Children today are under such stress". Stress? What kind of stress? Give me a break. They have no idea. Maybe they should stop watching 'reality shows' (That's a laugh) where they give people some impossible task to be completed in an unreasonable time frame. "here's a ball peen hammer and a roll of duct tape. You have to build a shopping mall before noon" Stupid shows. And who of you watches 'Survivor'? People "Trapped on a Desert Island"...Trapped huh? Who do you think is filming them? They're surrounded by camera and sound crews, all of who at the end of the day get in an air conditioned SUV and go back to the local resort hotel for margaritas and steak dinners. Reality, yeah, right.

Tom

Mike B · Jun 1, 2012

I think kids today do have it rough. A lot rougher than I had. I'm 57.

I see them walking down the street all hunched over with the weight of their backpacks bearing on them. I left most of my books in my locker. They don't have lockers in schools anymore, 'cause people might put bombs in them.

I knew when I got out of school, my future was bright. Get a good job, move far away from home, and begin my own life. Now there ain't no jobs and kids stay at home.

My 8th grade science teacher asked me what I was doing once and I told him I was making gunpowder. He asked how it was working and I told him not so good, it just sorta fizzles. He asked me what I made it with and I told him sodium nitrate, sulfer and charcoal. He explained that the sodium nitrate was the problem, and potassium nitrate worked muck better. When I told him that potassium nitrate was not available at the hobby shop he opened up the chem supply room and gave me a jar. He further explained that I should dissolve the mixture in water and let it crystallize and then give it a try.

That stuff had real punch!

I don't think anything like that will be happening in junior high schools today.

Kids today do have it tough.

Greg58 · Jun 1, 2012

Great read Ron! I agree with the cell phone, and the inside games. We had to play out side, it was cooler. No ac no problem, raise the window.

Harold_B · Jun 1, 2012

Eh, not so sure about that lack of stress thing. My wife is a teacher so I get to see a lot of wigged out overachievers and the stress is very real. Way back in my day (I'm 52, gray and often called "Sir") I could go to high school and work a few hours and afford a car. With full time hours over the summer I could pay my own college tuition in full or go part time and work, whatever I chose. In order to compete for the openings in State or private schools kids now not only need a reasonable GPA they need a stellar one, and an exceptional SAT, etc., plus extra curricula's, letters of recommendation, and on and on. Kids are taking college level classes (AP) as early as 10h grade. A kid taking a college level class in the 70's when I was in high school would have been an anomaly, now it is expected. Then those kids need to be in sports, community activities, and have a part time job. No wonder they need technology to keep up! I suppose if the sample population is a group of slackers then I suppose some of what you're saying can apply but generalizations on both our parts are not accurate. Kids have got it good, no doubt but not easy. It's not like we had it so bad (other than long lines at the pump, bias ply tires, smog pump choked engines, double knit pants, choker chains, mustaches and sideburns together, need I go on?).

GearNut · Jun 2, 2012

My kid started algebra in the 4th grade!
When I went to school, algebra did not start until 7th grade.
Her backpack weighs around 40 pounds. The shoulder straps have double thick padding and are double stitched at all points. That is what is commonly available in the stores nowadays.
All my backpacks just had simple woven straps with minimal "padding" if that's what you'd call it, more like double thick fabric. They also came with a waist strap, which I always cut off.

It is true that I walked two miles one way to junior high school, both up hill and downhill were involved each way though.
Around here there are pedophile sighting, reports, warnings, ect. sent out from school about once a month. Around here, kids are not really safe to walk to school alone anymore.
A few years ago the High School on the other side of my town had a student loose his mind and he went on a shooting spree. He supposedly cracked under the pressure and stresses of modern High School life.

Yes, technology has made life...different for modern kids. Easier in some ways, harder in others.
If I did not have a computer at home my kid is required by the school to go to the public library and use one of theirs, for everyday homework!
Hand written reports are not acceptable! Bar graphs, pie charts and the like must be printed out in color, no colored pens or pencils allowed.
That last part I personally find ridiculous! If I run out of ink, the computer crashes or whatever, it has a direct impact on my kid's grade! That is just asinine!

Yeah, the better things get, the harder they become.

Goat Herder · Jun 2, 2012

You were talking about kids not being safe anymore Gearnut.

I was one one of my motor bikes one time and saw something that just did not look right. In the summer part of our school months here the track and field team would run through different parts of the city. There was this young girl running and she was alone. I saw what looked like a guy in a ford pickup truck casing her?

From his point of driving speed and me just behind him it became clear to me. I was witnessing something very wrong..

He saw me on the bike and went around the block. I thought about it for a second and I went around the block the other way for the right timing to take a peak at was was happening.. This guy circled back towards her a second time and I was sure of it at this point that he was up to no good!

Somethings you just know in your spirit. I took a good hard look at him too and wanted this fellow to know it on his second turn around the block.. Then he sped up and disappeared. To this day I am convinced I prevented this guy from doing something.

Made me real mad and I felt very confrontational too. The thought of some helpless innocent out of breath to properly fight young woman getting kidnapped really pissed me off in a bad way! I was pretty wired about it and it gets me wound up to think of it again.

Stormsorter · Jun 2, 2012

I'm only 31 and I can still relate to all points except 10 and 12, and honestly microwaves are only good for stuff that's made for them, like hotpockets.

No 2 mile walks to school but 2 hour bus rides home suck. Getting home from school the same times it starts to get dark or just after is no fun. We did have the SuperNintendo but all I had was an Atari and a regular Nintendo with 2 games, Superpitfall and RCPROAM!!!!!!

Small towns almost always seem to be several years behind the cities. I had hardly even heard of the internet until my last year of highschool when they hooked 56k up on 2 new computers with Win98 in the school library. This was in 99, all the other comps the school had before that had Win3.1 or the old one piece apples and you only got use those if you took dos or its prereq typing. And of coarse you had to put in a series of floppy disks and code to boot them up since none of them had harddrives. At the time, to most people around here computers were considered glorified typewrites with pictures, solitaire and a calculator built in. We didn't even get anything better than 56k until we got DSL in 06. We finally got 10mb cable a few months ago.

As for there stress, things are just changing way to fast. Its not just effecting the kids its effecting most of us adults to. Change is good but when things are changing so fast its hard to keep up and things get overlooked way to often to the point its making things worse instead of better. The world need to slow down and think about the important things like simple, safe, reversible birth control and the environment, instead of how can I get richer and/or prettier faster.

bigbutterbean · Jun 2, 2012

im 28. I appreciate the technology we have today, but we didnt have all that when I was younger. every generation has it better than the last, but looking back you realize what you didnt have growing up. my mother was an alcoholic, and we went to food and clothing banks so she could spend her paycheck and our child support money at the bar. Technology would not have made up for things like that.

Bikeguy Joe · Jun 2, 2012

I liked it back "then". You didn't have to be in touch with everybody all the time.
You got up and did stuff, not just sat there gaining weight and staring into a t.v. all day.

Think about it, a t.v. takes the whole world and puts it into a little screen in front of you, so you sit there all day and do nothing but watch it and get force fed commercials.

No more real world, just 156 channels of **** on the t.v. to chose from...

Harold_B · Jun 2, 2012

I'm just guessing here but I'll bet really close to the channel up and down buttons on your remote is the off button. Try that one! Then walk away! I watch 1 - 2 hours of TV per week tops using that handy option. Internet surfing on the other hand, I have a small issue putting down the electronics....

Bikeguy Joe · Jun 2, 2012

Yeah, put the remote down, lose the phone, and go outside! There is a whole world out there waiting to be discovered.

tooljunkie · Jun 2, 2012

i'll be 48 in one week.
if it wasnt for tv and the internet,i would actually get stuff done.
so many times i have wanted to kick the satellite dish off the roof,and get on with reality.
i deeply enjoy the internet,its a wealth of misinformation (except for the forums on which i'm registered)
i do ,however go outside and do stuff,today i built a lawn sprayer to pull behind my lawn tractor.6 foot boom and 25 gallon tank.
old recycled trailer.

i can relate to ron's list,my 15 year old resembles it-should the internet go down,its like a death in the family.

Allen_Wrench · Jun 3, 2012

Oh man. I love this thread. But I just realized: I'm old, aren't I.
When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and the Apollo missions had just begun, I thought of that as really high tech.
But I mention watching ol' Neil, leaving footprints on the moon, on a little Black and White TV - my younger co-workers start making "geezer" comments.

Blake84 · Jun 3, 2012

Homestly this is great! I was born in 1984 and I'm turning 28 Monday I know I'm not that old but some of this stuff I relate to. While I find all the new technology more convenient I find myself addicted in a way and it makes me sick. Constantly checkin my phone and texting. Fortunately I don't have a Facebook or any of that crap or that would be the end of me. Xbox 360 had me gain about 15 pounds till I refused to renew my Xbox online. I watch kids who are young and don't get what man hunt and building forts in the woods and playing capture the flag is all about. They would rather play halo and sit inside and get fat. It scares me to think what it will be like in another 28 years. All you guys who refer to yourselfs as "old farts" actually in my opinion lives in the best times in America. Also, by far the best cars and quality toys not this plastic **** that breaks in 10 days.

Bottom line I actually wish I could go backwards.

DBB · Jun 3, 2012

You had Atari?? All WE had was Pong!

Ilikeabikea · Jun 3, 2012

I was already married and had kids when pong became available for hooking up to your tv. I had to have one. Pong and Duck hunt, I thought it was amazing......

2door · Jun 3, 2012

The first Pong game I ever saw was built into the tops of tables in a fern bar in Miami. It wasn't available as a home TV game until a few years later. This was about the same time that Jimmy Buffet was playing for tips in a bar on South Dixie Highway in Miami.

Tom

tooljunkie · Jun 3, 2012

pong and listening to Boston play over and over.and target practice at the shooting range,used to put my .22 in a case and carry it on the bus to the range.

Growing up without a cell phone

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