Growing up without a cell phone

[Rob Smith]

If you are 36, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

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 fifty, 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 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 @#*% 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.
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 butt 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 little brats!

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!

[Dennis P Chapman]

Rob..... Boy so true on all of it and we still had a lot of fun.

[pontiacchuck]

my 13 year old grandson just read that and said how did you live ha ha also all 2 lane roads no expressways what take 3 hrs now took 5 hrs

[bobby]

You aren't fair bringing back my childhood memories like that.


don't forget "What's this big box on the back of the T.V. Son, that's the rest of the T.V."

[Hemiparts]

this is so funny, I had 2 of my young quick lube techs @ the parts counter this morning and I had to google and 8 track tape because they had no idea what I was talking about.

[Glenn Hayes]

....and That is how it was, and we turned out just fine, not sure I can say that about my 26 & 30 year old kids.

[tj310]

I remember when I first went to school the only kids that could tell time were the ones that had TV ( no digital clocks ) half the class felt like luddites .---Trevor

[Mile High]

LMAO when I read this. So true but what's an Atari? Never had one, not into video games either. Loved the "safety arm" part too. Kids today have it so tough. I couldn't believe when my daughter got cell phones for her girls at the ages of 8 & 9. That was 6 years ago.

Jeff

[Adger Smith]

Wow what memories this thread brings back.
Recently I have moved my 87 year old Dad into our home and my wife and I are taking care of him. I made a pass through his house to get some things for him and had one of these "flashback moments" I found a Pioneer 8 track tape player on the shelf in one closet. I took my sister to it and said "look at this" she said that it was the one in her car and she bet no one had any tapes. Ha! Ha! I laughed and told her I still had my "Box" of 8 tracks at my house. Remember those boxes that were divided so each tape stood on end? At one time a "treasured collection of tunes". I grabbed a few of his things and got out of there. Too much past stored there. I told my sister we need to call the "pickers" when it comes time to clean his house out.
I would bet it takes a while to do that clean out because we will probably discusss the past history of each "treasure".
BTW: I still have my Atari 2600!! :~)