Things About Your Childhood That Would Baffle Younger People Of Today

denice

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I can go back further. No cable just the major networks and we only got two of them. The only way we seen a movie was to go to a theater, drive in or an old movie that had made it to T.V. No internet, we had a set of encyclopedia and research was done at the library. We didn't wear a helmet to ride a bike and we had roller skates.
 

aliceneko

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Ah, I remember Blockbuster! And also having to tape over a film or series you missed on video, as well as cassette players and later on CD players (no streaming services such as Apple Music or Spotify!).
Having to get out the massive camcorder for recording family moments and taking photos randomly and hoping for the best before digital cameras. And also the fun of disposable cameras on school trips!
TV screens being considerably smaller than they are now and computers being A LOT bulkier, as well as mobile phones only being designed for calling and texting (and later on the odd game - and then Blackberries in my secondary school years).
I was growing up in the early 2000s and it shows just how rapidly technology has changed as this was only just over a decade ago or so :)
 

Lari

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Film cameras where you had to take it to be developed to see if your pictures were any good or not.

I don't miss getting back 10/24 blurry images and about 5/24 with fingers in them and just being able to delete right away, but kids these days don't understand the concept of not being able to see right away how it turned out.
 

weebeasties

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I can't remember what it was called...maybe a "party line"? Anyway, growing up if you wanted to use the (rotary-style) phone you would pick it up and hope you had a dial tone because all your neighbors shared one line. Sometimes you would pick up the phone and there would be someone talking to their aunt Thelma or whoever. You would have to check every 5 minutes or so to see if they had hung up yet so you could make your call.
 

Kat0121

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How about actually going to a friend's house to "call on them" to see if they wanted to play? Or ride bikes. Or swim in the pool?

Summer was the best. We were outside playing from right after breakfast until dinner time. After dinner we were allowed back out until the street lights came on. Then we were expected home.

Using typewriters in HS to type up papers.

Home ec and shop class. Do they still exist?
 

Katie M

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Having to rewind movies and music, and no ability to skip to a favorite scene or song.

Hearing the squeal of a dial-up modem, and hoping that nobody needs the phone.

Having the most exciting thing about your first cell phone be a primitive game of Snake :lol:

And last, but certainly not least, tan M&Ms!
 

Winchester

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I remember the phone party lines. There were quite a few people on our line. You had to pay extra to have a private line and, eventually, that's what my parents did. We could never use the phone because one of our neighbors was ALWAYS on the phone! She spent hours and hours on the phone. One time, we kids were all sick and Mom needed to call the doctor. She asked our neighbor to get off the phone, so she could make a phone call. The neighbor did, but she was angry. And then Mom said she listened in on her phone call.

In the summer, I'd get up in the morning and take off on my bike. I came back in time for dinner, although our family always called it "supper". When we got older and had chores, I always had to do my chores before I could leave.

B/W tv with ABC, CBS, NBC. And that was with cable.

No cell phone, no computer, no internet, no nothing. And we survived.

Coming home from school and Mom had Jim Reeves on the record player. I don't think my ears ever recovered. "Snowflake"! :hmmm: Ack! Hank Williams. To this day, I hate country music.
 

blueyedgirl5946

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I grew up in an old farm house with no running water or electricity. There was a path out back that led to a toilet. We had what was called a chamber pot under the bed at night. When I started school, I did homework by the light of a kerosene lamp. The house was finally wired for electricity. Each room had a bare bulb in the ceiling with a long string attached to pull. My sister and I figure how to tie tobacco twine on the end. We pulled it over to the iron bedstead and tied it. We thought it was great to be able to get in bed and turn off the light by pulling the string. We were among the first in the community to get a television. It was a huge box and was made by Stromberg Carlson. Our cousin came over to watch it with us. It was also black and white only. They came out with a plastic film thing to put on the screen. That made us have "color TV then." There is more, but this is probably enough said for now. I know it sounds primitive but they were happy years.
 

NY cat man

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A house without running water; walking a half-mile to get to the school bus at age 5; black and white TV; no 24-hour broadcasting; paper and pencil only in school; learning cursive writing by the Palmer method; no calculators- pocket or otherwise; no organized summer sports besides Little League baseball; using a slide rule; no CDs or mp3s- vinyl records only, and 45 rpm at that; no McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, or Arby's; drinking well water from a hand pump; crank-operated cash registers; paying cash for every purchase, and learning to drive on a stick shift.
 

susanm9006

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Outhouses. We only had a single but the next door neighbors had a two seater. This allowed us kids to go in and hold hands while we did our business to protect each other from a kids biggest outhouse fear - falling in.

And burning our trash in barrels in the back yard - no such thing as waste pickup. And lighting the fire seemed to be a kids job.
 

foxxycat

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Being outside all year long. Winter was ice skating, hiking in woods, sledding, cross country skiing down the railroad bed trails, watching our pets play in the snow.

In the summer it wasn't unusual for me to leave at 5am to either hike, ride a bike or go swimming or just go get lost in the woods. I spent hours outside and hated being inside due to mom n dad smoking. yuck.

We had cable but that was in the 1980s. We had a tv in the kitchen and the living room but we werent allowed to watch tv during suppertime. Dad watched his sports on the kitchen tv along with a cigar and his beer.

mom watched tv in living room and smoked her ciggies. I read my books up in my room far away from the smoke and played my music. I had CDs and records.

We used to stay outside all day and didnt come back until dusk. We didn't have to check in-in fact both parents worked so there was a stern rule not to call unless it's an emergency.
 

mama africa

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The almost complete lack of smoking regulations. People were allowed to smoke in their offices, in pubs, in restaurants, on buses, trains and planes, hospitals... I even had a GP who smoked during consultations with his patients. (The grievances of) non-smokers were just ignored.

(I used to be a smoker, but stopped smoking in 2004)
 

NY cat man

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The almost complete lack of smoking regulations. People were allowed to smoke in their offices, in pubs, in restaurants, on buses, trains and planes, hospitals... I even had a GP who smoked during consultations with his patients. (The grievances of) non-smokers were just ignored.

(I used to be a smoker, but stopped smoking in 2004)
Not to mention the TV ads with dancing cigarette packs, or that said that 4 out of 5 doctors recommended (insert brand here) cigarettes.
 

Mother Dragon

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Big black and white 17" TVs with rabbit ears with aluminum foil stuck on them to help the picture, which rolled up and down and side to side.
Roller skates with four-square wheels and a skate key to attach them to your shoes.
Clunky single-speed bicycles.
Only AM radio, but it played all the new music.
Learning to write with a fountain pen and always spilling the ink when you filled it. Blotters from the bank.
Being deliberately exposed to measles, mumps, and chicken pox.
Commercial airplanes with propellers and dressing up to ride in them.
Dressing up nicely to go anywhere.
Transistor radios - wow!
Home movie cameras that you wound up.
Movies where the film broke and you had to wait for it to be fixed. Or the operator put the wrong reel on and confused everyone.
Cars with chokes you had to use before they would run right.
Tony home permanents - They stank and I still have nightmares about them. I never did look like the photo on the box.
Those little wax bottles with the juice inside. You chewed them like gum but weren't supposed to swallow them. I saw some in a candy store recently.
Stories on the radio. Everyone would gather round to listen.
Cars with huge tail fins.
Sack dresses. They fit just like they sound - nowhere except the shoulders. Like wearing a tube with sleeves.
"Marge Simpson" beehive hair.
Walking through the chicken yard to the little shack out back.
Polio and iron lungs.
Betsy Wetsy dolls that really did wet after a bottle.
Mood rings. They changed color supposedly according to your mood.
Paper dolls whose cut-out clothes fastened with tabs.

Mercy! I'm really old!
 
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