Growing up without a cell phone

[3timesoccermom]

A funny someone sent me.

Growing up without a cell phone

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 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 butts! 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 mess 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 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, 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 out of luck when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your bum 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!

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,
The Over 40 Crowd

[JulieDB]

I'm over 40. Heck I'm over 50! And while I agree that some things make life a lot easier these days...especially the Internet...

I think kids have it a lot harder than we did simply because they have to know so much more. In 2nd grade my daughter was expected to use a computer at school and know how to use it. A few years later she was expected to know how to use a flash drive. I didn't even know that.

And there is no such thing as playing with other kids any more! Not here anyway! All of the kids are involved in so many after school activities. Or they are the product of a divorce and have to spend after school time or weekends with the other parent. Or they go into daycare and don't come home.

My daughter had play dates prior to school age. We lived in military housing then and there were plenty of stay at home moms with kids. But after that? Precious few. The kids were all too busy. Including her!

[loaslaen]

I'm over 40. Heck I'm over 50! And while I agree that some things make life a lot easier these days...especially the Internet...

I think kids have it a lot harder than we did simply because they have to know so much more. In 2nd grade my daughter was expected to use a computer at school and know how to use it. A few years later she was expected to know how to use a flash drive. I didn't even know that.

You know the phrase, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"? That's because it's so easy for a young pup to learn. All my kids have known how to use a computer since at least age 2 and they even know how to do things that I didn't know how to do. My three year old knows how to work the DVR and can record, pause, fast forward, etc. even though he can't read yet. Kids are a sponge for knowledge.

When I was in school and learning computers, we had to insert a floppy disk and boot up, then take it out and insert another disk and type commands at the DOS prompt to start the program, Computers are so much more user friendly today. Just turn it on, and it does it all for you. Then point and click.

Also, if you wanted to record a TV program, you had to program the VCR. Now you just look for the program on your onscreen tv guide and click the record button. No VHS tapes to mess with or store.

Technology was also pretty much one dimensional. You watch tv on the television, take pictures with a camera, take videos with a video camera, listen to music with a radio, play video games on a video game console, talk on the telephone, etc. Now you have cell phones that do all of the above, computers that do all of the above, TVs that do all of the above, video game consoles that do all of the above, music players that do all of the above, cameras that do alot of the above, etc.

Now I'm starting to sound like the above list LOL!

[XUfan]

Renee...I totally enjoyed that! My husband and I say a lot of those things on a regular basis!! I'm going to copy and paste it to my older sister (I'm 53). She'll love it!

Funny story (true too!)....

A few years ago, a friend of mine was at her wits end with one of her boys. He was trying her patience on a daily basis. She had grounded him from something different every day. One day, she lost her cool and was yelling at him about his latest act of defiance. She told him, "When I was your age, I didn't have a TV in my room, or a DVD player, or an iPod. I didn't have video games, either. And those cool shoes you love so much? I didn't have those either!" Her son looked at her and said, "Wow! You must have been REALLY bad!"

[3timesoccermom]

XU - that was HILARIOUS!! I'm curious to know if he is better now or if he's still a PITB???

Loaslen - Loved your last full paragraph - good point.

[XUfan]

XU - that was HILARIOUS!! I'm curious to know if he is better now or if he's still a PITB???

Unfortunately, it's someone I've lost touch with, so I have no idea. If I had to guess, I'd say he's probably the same as he ever was!

[kschick96]

I'm in my mid thirties and grew up with the above list. Kids are way too dependent on thier phones. I have friends who have teens who can't make simple decision without having to call their mom. When we were out and a problem came up we just had to use problem solving.

I do have to laugh about the car seat thing. My dad was a state trooper and both my sister and I (when we were old enough to stand) would stand next to the parent that was driving with our arm wrapped around their neck-that's how we would go around town! THis was before all of the carseat laws, but we all still laugh about how crazy that was-especially where my dad was a state trooper! lol.

[kwhile0599]

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!


Regards,
The Over 40 Crowd

This cracks me up 3timesoccermom!!

I have a chronic case of "ISAD" - involutary safety arm disorder!!! If you're riding up front with me - oh, you will be getting the safety arm!! My DD (24), DH, friends, even the dog laugh at my safety arm!! The only precious cargo that doesn't mock me about it is my coupon organizer!!!

I would like to add to the list - no bottled water!! We drank right out of the hose!!

Thanks for sharing!!

[motherofmolly]

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!

personal favorite.

[3timesoccermom]

Ladies, I still do the "safety arm" too! As if it would do a darn bit of good! LOL

And I bet I'm not the only one that does the "extra brake" foot motion when there is someone with questionable skills driving. I'm sorry to say Hubs is the worst driver around here - I about wear a hole in the passenger side floorboard when riding with him.