When we were young...

Yeah, yeah...

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 thirty, 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!


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 catalogue!!


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!


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!


There were no MP3' s or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!


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 the tape would come undone. Cause - that's how we rolled, dig?


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!


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 mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We
had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your 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!



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!!!


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 rat-bastards!

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


That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!


Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

4,414 views 38 replies
Reply #1 Top

:rofl: what ever you do redneckdude, don't start wearing brown and a brimmed hat. Those were the days.

 

Reply #2 Top

I lived every one of those......:grin:

Reply #3 Top

We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'.
End of quote

well...I'm in the over 50's so we didn't have Atari games and the like....we had...Dinky cars and wooden gas stations....marbles...Monopoly (the set I have is my Mum's from 1935)... mecano...cowboys & indians....I was Annie Oakley....with my deringer...used to run around hiding in the rockeries and around the riverbank....black & white TV with all the good ole westerns.......and come to think of it...I and my brothers had a lot more fun and communicated more....than kids sitting in front of screens now....there are lots of things I love about today's technology....but a lot of things got lost along the way too....

Reply #4 Top

See, and I think we had it so much easier than kids today BECAUSE we didn't have all those things -- it was much easier to have actual friends because so many activities required a group to participate -- we appreciated things a lot more because we had to wait so long for them, (our toys AND our relationships).  Abstinence does make the heart grow fonder. 


We sure the heck didn't have to tackle all the new diseases that are out there -- anything we could catch would clear with antibiotics (with the exception of pregnancy! That takes at least 18 years to clear -- actually longer I'm finding out now that mine are all adults). 

Our cars were easier to fix, gas was cheap, the drugs weren't as lethal, "cutters" were unheard of, there's weren't as many gangs and the ones that did exist weren't as murdurous as the ones there are now.

I think it's a trade-off, Jim.  Kids today have things technically easy, but socially and physically difficult.  It's definitely much more complicated.  I feel lucky to have grown up in the 70s, and I feel sorry for my children having to find their way in these complicated times.

Reply #5 Top

I think it's a trade-off, Jim. Kids today have things technically easy, but socially and physically difficult.
End of quote

Very Correct !!

 Jim, Why did'nt you mention how easy it was to get a job in those times as compared to the tough times we are facing now !!

Reply #6 Top

Well...I am a really old geezer...I was born as World War 2 was ending.  I grew up in the 40's and 50's....life was WAAAAAAY simpler then!  My children grew up in the 60s and 70s.  It was much easier on us parents to raise our kids, then it is now.  My kids are really having a rough time raising their kids...I sure do not envy them.  My oldest grandchild turned 21 yesterday...and will be starting a family of her own soon.  I have commented several times that I am sure glad I don't have to raise my kids in this day and age.   

Reply #7 Top

I grew up in Australia before there had been a single known child kidnapping or murder. We had none of the inventions of today but we had innocence and security 24 /7 even with house doors open and that far outweighs the risk children are at today and then our fun was outdoors spur of the moment spontaneous harmless mischief not sat in front of a TV or computer screen couch potato style with a fat mac and coke.

We had it easy we were never going to be stolen, murdered or turned into a sex slave and that was so good.

Reply #8 Top

I remember going to school with holes in my shoes and darned socks. There were only three channels on TV and they were in black and white.

The most trouble anyone got into was ringing doorbells for fun. These days the kids carry knives...

Reply #9 Top

The most trouble anyone got into was ringing doorbells for fun.
End of quote

O:)

Reply #10 Top

The most trouble anyone got into was ringing doorbells for fun.  O:)
End of quote

 

would not have thought trolls could reach..... :|

Reply #11 Top

I wonder what will happen if the electricity ever goes down....besides the obvious catastrophes, the 'kids' w/o games, and skinners w/o computers???

I shudder.

Reply #12 Top

The most trouble anyone got into was ringing doorbells for fun.
End of quote

After setting a small bag of dog poop on fire on the porch.

Reply #13 Top

You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!!!
End of quote

Ummm, actually, the kids were the remote. My job was to get up whenever the show was over and flip the channel to what ever the old man wanted to watch. Thank goodness there were only 3 channels for him to choose from.

Reply #14 Top

After setting a small bag of dog poop on fire on the porch.
End of quote

 

Hey CarGuy, we used to do that too when I was growing up.  Lot's of fun!  :D

Reply #15 Top

I'm over the ripe old age of thirty
End of quote

Oh, spare me....;p

Reply #16 Top

Yup, these rat bastards have got it far too easy today.. not like whan I was a kid and had to put my hands in my pockets to find somethng to play with... or to decorate the Christmas tree (which was actually painted cardboard cutout) we'd have to stand grandad in front of it and make the old fart sneeze... and after Christmas we'd have to get an old toothbrush and scrub the floor where the tinsel had dripped on to it.

I was born at a very early age into a life of poverty and lacking... there was no technology in our house.  If we needed our school uniforms ironed, there was no iron.. no, we had to sneak into the fat lady's next door and put them under her mattress, then carefully sneak in before she awoke to retrieve them.  And if we wanted to hear music, there wa no radio in the house... we had to go to church on Sundays if we wanted to listen to songs.  Nope, there were no MP3 music players in my day... just the M3, a road we had to walk 20 miles to school on each morning.

Yup, they have it way too easy these days. ;)

Reply #17 Top

Quoting DrJBHL, reply 11
I wonder what will happen if the electricity ever goes down....besides the obvious catastrophes, the 'kids' w/o games, and skinners w/o computers???

I shudder.
End of DrJBHL's quote


Had that happen in 2004 when that group of hurricanes hit Florida -- the first few days were novel -- we sat on the back porch and made up ghost stories.  We sang songs, (horribly off key) as if we were camping.  By day 10 we were ready to kill each other.  It was the force that set off a chain reaction of a lot of unfortunate events in my life, but we learned what was most important in life, and we also learned that nothing looks so much like the second coming of Christ than a convoy of trucks from the electric company.

Reply #18 Top

In the 50's-60's we could walk to school without the fear of being abducted or shot by some gang banger.  I would gladly give up all of the "modern" conveniences to return to those day.

On the side of the kids today.  Their education sucks.  Dating is Russian roulette at best.  It's next to impossible to move out working at McDonald's and paying for a minimal apartment at $800.00 a month, not to mention the prices of ridiculous utilities and gasoline.

Better schools, yes.  Better discipline, yes.  More stringent punishments for child abuse, yes.  Most of it boils down to better parenting needed.  If you don't give kids limits when they are little, then you will have teenagers and young adults with no limits or respect for social morays.  IMHO

Reply #19 Top

i was just talking to my sister the other about the same thing her daughter is 13 and dying for a cell phone you know the fancy kind .so fo course we started remembering growing up our entertainment was black and white tv jump rope with our friends going to the park basically we made our own fun .  my kids grew up in the 70's and 80's the newest thing my husband bought them was that atari2600 .so they didn't have many gadgets either my daughter was born in 85 so she was the one to benifit the most from the new technology.                                                                                                                                                                       but my husband set limits when they were all growing up i took them on picnics to the park ,we joined the reading club at our local library we played board games together so as all these things were coming out i tried to show them other things of interest because we couldn't afford most of them .   i guess it worked they turned out to be very nice people  .know what i got for my birthday last week a book my daughter works in the library and when books in her department are no longer be ciculated or the children are no longer checking them out they go for sale from 5cents to 25 cents  she bought me the very first book i ever took home to read when i was little the best present ever  .   :inlove:     i guess some of what we tryto teach our kids stays with them                                                                                                 

Reply #20 Top

Imagine......we used to play outside untill mom called us in for supper.

Tree forts and jumping makeshift ramps on my bike (this is the bike that wobbled if you went too fast down the hill.......didn't stop me from riding it no handed, standing up on the pedals with the seat clamped between my knees :dur: :thumbsup: ).

 

Sometimes I wish I were 9 again!

 

Reply #21 Top

~
We had a phone bill and a gas & electric bill.
~

Reply #22 Top

we had a black and white tv, with no cable, no remote and 3 stations, abc,nbc and cbs, uhf was in its infancy, when i got my drivers license gasoline was 27 cents per gallon and cigarettes were 45 cents a pack, and mcdonalds always advertised get a meal and get change from a dollar, burger fries and drink, and change

Reply #23 Top

For the most part I think the attitudes haven't changed much from gerneratio to generation or between generations.  Children still have at times exteme cases of the 'I wants, and give me it', parents can't get over how thier children's interest chages from day to day and grand parents, well they just sit back an shake their heads and wonder how folks are able to raise a family these days.

Me, I just sit back with a smile and say to myself, been there, done that. :sun:

 

Reply #24 Top

He's so old when he went to school........They didn't HAVE history O:) :rofl: ;P

Reply #25 Top

We had no tv only radio in the 50's. But I fondly remember my Hornby clockwork trainset and my Winchester. And attitudes were different then. Could go on all night, but one example - I remember at night listening to the PanAm Constellations droning their way into Shannon airport, and my parents saying "God speed them on their journey". Nobody thinks like that today. Different times, different attitudes to life.