I thought it might be fun and a little insightful for my kids if I posted a list of things that weren’t around when I was 12 and under… you know, as a means of proving that there are certain things they could live without :)
- DVDs/DVD players
- Digital cameras (yes, we had to develop film!) … and we didn’t have LCD screens on cameras either — we looked through the viewfinder, snapped the photo, and didn’t get to review them so no one knew which ones came out and which ones didn’t until the photos came back from the lab.
- YouTube
- Social Media, at all.
- Oh and speaking of social media, the internet didn’t exist ;) I believe it came into play when I was about 12 years old and even then, high speed and wireless internet didn’t exist. We had to connect by dialing in through a phone line like a fax modem and it took us about 200 times longer to load a page than it does now through the best quality high speed cable internet connection. We could not use the phone while we were online. An incoming call would disconnect us from the internet.
- Wii, PlayStation, 3D games, etc. We played Mario and were thrilled when the Super Nintendo finally came out LOL!
- CDs (we used cassette tapes – pictured to the right) or CD-ROMs (the computers we had used floppy disks) and we laughed at the 8-track players like our children gawk at cassette players now.
- Color computer screens
- Laptops
- Adult language on television shows
- Genetic engineering (cloning and stem cell research)
- Touch screen anything
- Hybrid and Battery-powered vehicles
- Cell phones with cameras, games, color screens… or affordable plans. And? The screens of cell phones from when I was a young teen were like 1.5″ squares and were green and black, but supported simple games like snake which was a HUGE improvement from their predecessors pictured to the right. Believe it or not, cell phones used to be for *gasp* TALKING!
- To continue the last line: TEXT MESSAGING
- Flu or chicken pox vaccines
- Plasma screen TV’s — hence, the reason we referred to all TVs as “the tube” :) and to go a step further, we had an antenna that helped us receive TV channels. And? Even someone with every channel available was lucky to get 50. There was no such thing as digital cable, and for most of my younger childhood, we only picked up channels 2, 3, 4, 7, and 13! When we adjusted the antenna or added some foil to the top of it, we might even get channel 25.
- Voicemail and digital answering machines. We had answering machines that were separate from the telephone and required a mini-cassette tape to record. And? People actually left messages “back then” :) because they didn’t have the option of hanging up and sending a text.
I have to say, I miss the days when there wasn’t enough on TV to keep you interested and you’d opt to read a book instead. I miss the days when there was literally nothing to do inside so kids spent all day out in the yard, playing.
I miss the days when barely anyone had an audience and when something was said, it normally didn’t have any means of getting too far. I miss the days when you had to pick up the phone and call someone. And you had to actually remember their phone numbers and DIAL THEM to do so.
I miss the days when the only way to find out something was to pick up an encyclopedia or head to the library and when car phones measured about 9″ x 3″ and came in a bag (pictured to the right) with one strip that displayed nothing but basic numbers and messages like “low battery” and “no service” haha I wonder what our kids will reminisce on in 20 years :)
#NaBloPoMo:
For the entire month of November, I’m participating in National Blog Posting Month. Read more —>
It’s crazy how quickly and exponentially technology has exploded since we were kids, isn’t it? I remember feeling so cool when we got a VCR…one of the first families on the block to have one! LOL
I dob’t miss a lot of those things too but I can’t live without my DVR!
Read Kate, aka guavalicious´s last post ..Wine Wednesday : November = Nouveau
What a fun post. Crazy how much changes over time.
Read Jenn´s last post ..A Day With My Nieces
Funny, but the first thing I thought of that didn’t exist when I was a child were ATM’s. I guess you know where my mind is as I head out to the store!
We didn’t have remotes for televisions. We actually had to get up to change the channels that we wanted to change. I remember when we all wanted our MTV.
OMG, I remember Snake! I played it on my Nokia flip phone. And I remember having to get up to flip the channels on the cable box. And having a big music or movie collection was impossible, because there was nowhere to store all those bulky 8-track or VHS tapes.
Good memories! We rode our bikes all over the neighborhood and even several miles to the public swimming pool a couple of times. I remember when we got our first microwave. It was amazing.
My brother used to lay on the floor in the living near the TV so he could change the channels without having to get up over and over again. lol I remember the first 2 cassette tapes I bought were Purple Rain & Madonna. I can also remember sitting there listening to the radio forever hoping to catch a favorite song and record it on a tape. I remember waiting every year for The Wizard of Oz to come on TV so we could watch it…it was a big occasion in our house! :) That movie and “Hee Haw” on Saturday evening were the only time we were allowed to watch TV while we ate dinner.
I remember when you couldn’t watch television 24 hours a day. I remember at about 2 in the morning the stations would play the Spangled Banner, the jets would fly by on the screen, and huuuuuuummmmmmmm until about 5:30 or 6am.
I also remember portable CD/tape players that sort of worked with giant head phones instead of ear buds.
I also really remember the time before there were home computers. I know…old I am. :)
Read Kelly´s last post ..Good Nutrition and the Average American Family
OMG I remember that too! Love that.
Kat- it’s funny you mention “The Tube” not being aptly named anymore. Kind of you like I sometimes say I’ll “tape it.” LOL
Read Melissa {adventuroo}´s last post ..Five Kid-Friendly Foods to Pick Up at Trader Joes