For us middle agers

Tom@Hilltop_Machine

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2005
Location
Rural Retreat, VA
Taken from a post from another website I frequent.
Anybody over 40 should be able to relate to it.


Back in My Day....
I saw this on facebook and had to repost it. Sometimes we just need something to laugh at.

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 hell 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, 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!

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!!

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 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 us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was 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. 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!

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 MYGOSH !!! 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, your drug dealer, 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?!?!

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 rotten little rat-bastards!

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!
 
Dang, I can actually remember all of this, must not be completely around the bend yet.
 
im 22 and ill be the first one to admit my generation is spoiled! if im not sure about something i pull out my smartphone and google it. or in bigger projects i research it online for hours and find other people who have done the same (axle swaps and such), hell you can figure out anything online. and i couldnt imagine no cell phones. i can remember i time when cell phones were rare, and HUGE!! lol. your post is exactly right but i try to look at the bright side, i got a pretty good life and im fortunate to have and afford the luxurys i do have. but yep, your right man. my generation, totally spoiled!! lol
 
I had the same exact talk with my kids saturday night and they though I was crazy. 3 channels, no remotes & no cell phones!!! My daughter said how did you talk to your friends, I told her your friends were normally with you becuase they didn't have remotes or cell phones either. :) Kids they are so lucky these days!!!
 
I wheeled before jerk straps were invented!
 
no internet and no video phones...good times. I can imagine if some of the dumb sh!t I've done ended up on youtube :shaking:

Last week someone posted here about a plane crash in High Point. The next reply was a google link, that included a twitter feed. Wow! Back in the day, you had to wait til the 10 o'clock news, or the next morning's newspaper to find out what happened. Do they still print newspapers?

and where's the nearest payphone?
 
Im 38. I rememder all of that. Irony is.... I read this on my DROID cause I have to check the forum first thing in the morning. Lol

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
Turned 50 this year - try a few more on for size:

- No Air Conditioning until almost 12, growing up in the deep south - not at home, not in the classroom, not on the school bus. The library was about it. No wonder I like books.

- "Multi-player games" were played with the other players in the room, usually cards, but if really fancy involved moving something around a game board. "First person shooter games" were those that involved shooting bb guns at each other. No wimpy face masks either.

- There were no flame wars on forums or blogs. If you ran your mouth, you had to be ready to back it up with your fists. Had to call out the school bully in 7th grade for my first fight - he went home more bloody. We got along great after that.

- Not only did you have to get up to tune the TV, you had to tune it by hand - no just picking the channel. Twist one of two knobs to get reasonably close, the other to "fine tune". Somewhere in amongst that, play with the direction of the antennae. It usually wasn't worth the bother.

- On a vacation trip, not only did the kids just find a place to sit or sleep, the parents took advantage of the built in cup holders for their original purpose - to swing into the drive thru for a beer or cocktail - the 'ol "one for the road".

- Porn was the old man's Playboy magazines hidden away on the top shelf of the hall closet. If that was the extent of kid's knowledge today, we'd have a lot less issues.

Likely others, but unlike Green Giant, I'm definitely getting around the bend!
 
Last weekend our local library was having a book sale.
There were all these old encyclopedia sets and science reference books, great stuff. I almost bought a set, thinking, "Wow, this would be so awesome to have at home so our kids won't have to go to the library looking for information."
Then I realized, "Hey, when was the last time anybody did that? Everything is available online. Even from a phone. Who needs a paper encyclopedia set?"
Then, "Holy crap, my son will never know what it's like to look up call numbers for a reference from a card catalog index set." Rows and rows of index cards!
Then, "Wow how things have changed."

I remember having to actually make arrangements to meet or talk to people AHEAD OF TIME, like DAYS, instead of just calling and assuming you could reach them in the next 5-10 mins max.
 
We bought our oldest kid a couple of Disposable cameras to take on a field trip to D.C. she came home with a couple shots left on one of the cameras so to finish them out I took a couple shots of the kids. After taking a picture of my 3 y/o she came over and asked to see the picture... like you do on a digital camera. she just didn't understand why she couldn't see it NOW!
 
GEE WHIZ...... :shaking:

...adding a little more to the subject...

FOR ALL THOSE BORN IN OR BEFORE 1946

WE ARE SURVIVORS!!! CONSIDER THE CHANGES WE HAVE WITNESSED!!

We were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic, contact lenses, Frisbees and the PILL. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams, and ballpoint pens. Before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes ... and before man walked on the moon.

We got married first and then lived together. How quaint can you be? In our time, closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of". Bunnies were small rabbits, and rabbits were not Volkswagens. Designer Jeans were scheming girls named Jean, and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with our cousins.

We thought fast food was what you ate during Lent and Outer Space was the back of the Riviera Theater. We were before house husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers and commuter marriages. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electronic t ypewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt and guys wearing ear-rings. For us, time-sharing meant togetherness ... not computers or condominiums. A Chip meant a piece of wood. Hardware meant hardware, and software wasn't even a word.

Back then, "Made in Japan" meant junk and the term "making out" referred to how you did on your exam. Pizzas, McDonalds and instant coffees were unheard of. We hit the scene where there were 5 and 10-cent stores, where you bought things for five and te n cents. Sander's and Wilsons (and Rhea Drug Company in Somerville, Tennessee) sold ice cream cones for a nickel or a dime (and my brother Lynn and I have dipped over $100 worth on a Saturday night at our first job). For one nickel you could ride a street car, make a phone call, buy a Pepsi or enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards. You could buy a new Chevy coupe for $600 ... but who could afford one? A pity too, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In our day, grass was mowed, Coke was a cold drink and pot was something you cooked in. Rock music was a grandma's lullaby, gay meant happy, queer mean strange and AIDS were helpers in the principal's office. We were certainly not before the difference between the sexes was discovered, but we were surely before the sex change. We made do with what we had. And we were the last generation that was so dumb as to think you needed a husband to have a baby.

No wonder we are so confused and there is such a generation gap today.

But, WE SURVIVED!!! What better reason to celebrate?


BTW... I was born in 1946! :bounce2:

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


My mother has been threatened in stores to be reported for popping us on the butt, her standard response is 'she'd rather be sitting in jail for doing her job than sitting there visiting her child for breaking in to your house.'

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 MYGOSH !!! 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.!


I'm 25 and still have never owned a cell phone, some of the guys I buy and sell parts with here can attest to that. With the exception of an emergency, I see no point in having one. It allows a certain sense of freedom, and I don't see what's so damn hard about making a plan and sticking with it.

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?!?!!


I'll admit, I like the little line that pops up across the bottom of the screen and tells you what you're watching. As for remotes, I remember being the tv remote until was about 8.

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


My first encounter with a microwave was college.

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!


Those are still common options for my siblings...you can either do chores or play outside. And if ever they complain they're bored, chores are issued no questions asked.
 
I wheeled before jerk straps were invented!

Damn straight! ...you hooked up a chain when you were stuck ! (I still carry one) ;)

Here's another:
Mail order was just that, you filled out the order form with a pen, included a check or money order, and mailed it to the company. They processed your order and check and mailed you parts to you via parcel post , (there was no fedex overnight).
 
Granny is it true when you were younger and wheeling you could not go to Moab,Utah and wheel? I deducted this because there is no trees and water is scarce, you couldn't make steam to power your vehicle!:flipoff2:
 
Granny is it true when you were younger and wheeling you could not go to Moab,Utah and wheel? I deducted this because there is no trees and water is scarce, you couldn't make steam to power your vehicle!:flipoff2:

Naw... ya got it all wrong.... it was 'cause Utah hadn't been become a state yet! :fuck-you:
 
Yeah, but how was the drive from Plymoth Rock?
 
:popcorn:
 
We were lucky growing up.... I had a video games! well one and still to this day wish I knew where that Pong game was. We had no AC in the house growing up so in the heat of the summer we loved to sleep on the screened in back porch. My daughters (19 & 20) found our old rotary dial phone in the attic and asked us how you used it.... :shaking:



And I remeber when gas "jumped" to .59 cents a gallon.... damn that was high!
 
I was 18 in 1972 and was hauling produce back from California solo and I used to cross the mexican border and buy diesel for 11 cents a gallon! Slightly illegal, but so was I at the time!
 
I was 18 in 1972 and was hauling produce back from California solo and I used to cross the mexican border and buy diesel for 11 cents a gallon! Slightly illegal, but so was I at the time!
Still are :D
 
Man-o-man thanks for making me feel old.Funny stuff though....lol
 
Good stuff, and I'll add one more that I remember (37 yrs old here). Jeff Foxworthy said this one, but if the president was on TV, you were screwed!
 
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