Growing up without a cell phone

[Deelady]

Growing up without a cell phone



If you are 30, 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 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 catalog!!

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 or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the 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 then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! 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!

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 MY GOD !!! 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!

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!

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?!?!

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-finks!

And not many of us had microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

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 and seat belts - 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 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

(Send this to someone you'd like to make smile)

 

[Sass Muffin]

Ahh yes.. the good old days!

Excellent post Dee, and yes.. smiles here.

 

[smoke king]

lol! Well said Dee!

 

[buzzard767]

"Tape deck"? LOL Kids don't know what you're talking about, Dee.

 

[PanchoHambre]

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?
.

I spent so many hours of my life doing this.

 

[QSis]

We couldn't Google lyrics or YouTube melodies to songs, so we played our 45's over and over and OVER again, trying to write down the lyrics, in order to learn the songs.

I was just recently remembering that with a friend of my generation. Must have driven our parents nuts. LOL!

Lee

 

[Deelady]

We couldn't Google lyrics or YouTube melodies to songs, so we played our 45's over and over and OVER again, trying to write down the lyrics, in order to learn the songs.

I was just recently remembering that with a friend of my generation. Must have driven our parents nuts. LOL!

Lee

LOL I forgot about doing this!! But I did mine with a cheap tape deck

 

[lifesaver91958]

Good one Dee!

 

[buckytom]

i vaguely remember black and white tv's, and having to adjust the rabbit ears for reception. no cable!

or having to go to the bank during banking hours, monday through friday. no 24 hour atm's!

man, i'm getting old.

my supervisor tells a good story about the old rotary dial phone in his garage. one day, while playing in the driveway, one of his son's friends needed to call home quickly, so he told the kid to use the phone in the garage. after a minute or two, the kid asked for help using the phone. he was pushing on the numbers in the holes in the circular thing, but it wasn't dialing...

 

[Lefty]

... and the school yards had no protective coverings on any thing, you went down the slide your arse was medium rare by the time you got to the end. None of the plastic slides for us.

 

[Lefty]

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors,
or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!)

 

[High Cheese]

We had one phone in the kitchen, rotory dial with a long ass cord so you could talk and get around the kitchen at the same time. IIRC, we could stretch it out to the living room.

Our first cable box came with a remote control like this: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2248/2179678044_535ac33d27.jpg which would determine how far the couch was from the TV set.

Besides tapes, my Mom had a crapload of 45's and we all had our own records. Some 8 tracks. I still can't listen to REO Speedwagon Keep On Loving You without remembering the "cha-chunk" of the 8 track going to a new track at the guitar solo. lmao

Seat belts had a top and bottom part. You had to fold up the shoulder belt and place it into clips above the window.

 

[Lefty]

 

[Deelady]

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors,
or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!)

It amazes me that we all made it through unscathed! LOL How about parents putting booze in bottles to help a baby sleep or on the gums for a tooth coming in.......uhhhhh or was that just my house???

 

[Deelady]

We had one phone in the kitchen, rotory dial with a long ass cord so you could talk and get around the kitchen at the same time. IIRC, we could stretch it out to the living room.

Our first cable box came with a remote control like this: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2248/2179678044_535ac33d27.jpg which would determine how far the couch was from the TV set.

Besides tapes, my Mom had a crapload of 45's and we all had our own records. Some 8 tracks. I still can't listen to REO Speedwagon Keep On Loving You without remembering the "cha-chunk" of the 8 track going to a new track at the guitar solo. lmao

Seat belts had a top and bottom part. You had to fold up the shoulder belt and place it into clips above the window.

I remember our remote having only two buttons...one for volume and one for channels! And that was the cool tv all the others had the turn dial you had to walk up to.

 

[joec]

Probably had the first TV in our neighborhood in Miami as a kid growing up. It was an RCA with a AM radio, 3 turn tables as they didn't know how to make one work with all LP at that time. The TV was a 13" black and white set. TV was on all day and night with only few shows then. Saturdays was the kids days to watch till about noon time.

We had a hard wired phone with 4 party lines on it. Finally got a private phone when I was close to 16 years old. I've had a cell phone now for 1 year and rarely use it myself though my wife does. Hand an 8 track tape deck in my '66 Nova SS as well as the first AC I had in a car. Both were dealer add on not factory installed like today.

My grandkids can't relate at all to pre internet nor no cell phones at all.

 

[Doc]

Oh yeah, I remember party lines. We had an old b&w tv that the change station button broke off of. We had to use pliers to change to one of the 3 possible channels NBC, ABC, CBS. PBS was impossible to tune in with the broken tuner knob.

Did without a cell phone until 96. I've had one ver since and would have a hard time getting by without one now. I hate the thought. Not that I use the phone a lot, but when a problem comes up it's easy to get in touch right away. Makes it handy.

Loved the 66 SS Nova Joe. I had a 66 Chevelle convertible. Loved that car. I jacked it up, put corvette rally wheels on it and of course a 8 track player under the dash ...then I went all out and added a FM converter. LOL. Those were the days.

 

[Fisher's Mom]

OMG! We had a TV that you had to use pliers to change the channel, too! I had forgotten that, Doc. And at my grandma's house, she had a party line telephone and an outhouse, which scared the heck out of me. There were spiders.

 

[buzzard767]

Loved the 66 SS Nova Joe. I had a 66 Chevelle convertible. Loved that car. I jacked it up, put corvette rally wheels on it and of course a 8 track player under the dash ...then I went all out and added a FM converter. LOL. Those were the days.

We're into 66's. My first car (wedding present) was a blue, almost baby blue, Olds F-85 Cutlass Convertible with a Hurst 3 speed on the floor.

Buzz - wishing I still had that sucker, and my 63 Vette..... Oh well.

 

[buzzard767]

OMG! We had a TV that you had to use pliers to change the channel, too! I had forgotten that, Doc. And at my grandma's house, she had a party line telephone and an outhouse, which scared the heck out of me. There were spiders.

hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa

We had one of those outdoor "biffies" at the cottage in Detroit Lakes, MN in the 50's. The kitchen boasted water via a well - hand pumped.

 

[Fisher's Mom]

Grandma had a well, too, but there was a pump house by the time I can remember. I do remember when we all gathered there to fill in the outhouse because they had done the plumbing for an indoor toilet. Man, I was happy that day. (I used to be scared to drink anything before that because I didn't want to have to pee in the night time. In the dark. With the spiders.)

 

[buzzard767]

Awwwww, it's okay. Spiders always go to sleep after the sun goes down. lol

 

[Fisher's Mom]

Now you tell me!

 

[buzzard767]

Well, except for black widows and brown recluses of course.........

 

[Fisher's Mom]

Did you have sisters when you were growing up, Buzz? Did you torture them with stories of creepy-crawlies? LOL

BTW - I just read you had a 63 Corvette!!! What color was it? You got pictures? I always thought those were the most beautiful cars whenI was growing up. Really different from my parents' sedans.

 

[buzzard767]

Did you have sisters when you were growing up, Buzz? Did you torture them with stories of creepy-crawlies? LOL

BTW - I just read you had a 63 Corvette!!! What color was it? You got pictures? I always thought those were the most beautiful cars whenI was growing up. Really different from my parents' sedans.

My "little" sister is a couple of inches taller and could probably beat up on me.

My '63 Vette was a convertible that I bought used and it was likely a highly damaged car - hurricane, accident, whatever. It was green but the interior was red leather so I seriously doubt that was ever a factory standard combo. It was, however, a dual four barrel 340 HP V8 and that sucker moved right out so I just haaaaaaad to have it. I got rid of it a year or so later when the stork started dropping kids on the doorstep. Let's just say that it was my 1968 version of going green....

 

[VeraBlue]

We used to have to actually put the summer windows on the house when the weather got nicer. Until then, the windows were glass and down all the time. I remember my Dad putting snow tires on, too. No all weather tires back then.
Let's not forget gas on the odd/even days, depending on your license plate. And for that matter, my parents had the same license plate my entire life. I'll never forget it. No new plate every time they got a new/used car.
If you wanted something you couldn't afford right away, you did lay away; then went to visit your nice dress or winter coat every week to give it ten dollars till you could take it home.
Play dates??? When you were old enough to go 'call for so and so' you made your own play date and stayed out as long as you could. Unless you lived far enough to take the school bus, we all rode our bikes or walked to school. If the weather was horrible MAYBE might catch a ride with my Dad on his way to work. He drove a pullman type truck to work, so we had no seat, either. Had to hold on to the crummy floor for dear life.

We had pencil cases, too, because we wrote shit down. If you were a toot, you had a book bag, no such thing as a back pack...or you carried your books in your arms till they stuck to the covers and you had to peel the skin off.

And we covered our own books, my Mother never did. And we didn't eat all sorts of crap like Totinos pizza rolls or Hot pockets done up in a microwave when we came home from school. By that time, it was already 3:30 and dinner was too close. Maybe you could have one Chips Ahoy and a small glass of milk. Then we ate all the dinner that my Mother made without benefit of take out in the middle of the week.

If you had some kind of practice like cheer leading or baseball, or football, you got on your bike and took yourself there. Didn't need my parents watching practice all night long. They'd come for games and that was it.

And about those cartoons...?? Who could actually watch them before all your saturday chores were done??? Not me.. When my mother wanted me up on a Saturday morning at 7am she'd run the vacuum through my bedroom, making damn sure to knock the bed leg a couple of times.

And then, on Sunday, the relatives came, bringing pastries which you'd only get a half piece of, and watch them all fall asleep, sitting up, in the parlor. Then, one of us kids washed dishes and another put them away. Right then and there, no dishwasher to hide them in for a couple of hours.

Oh, cell phones my ass....

Thanks for the laughs!!

 

[Cooksie]

We used to have to actually put the summer windows on the house when the weather got nicer. Until then, the windows were glass and down all the time. I remember my Dad putting snow tires on, too. No all weather tires back then.
Let's not forget gas on the odd/even days, depending on your license plate. And for that matter, my parents had the same license plate my entire life. I'll never forget it. No new plate every time they got a new/used car.
If you wanted something you couldn't afford right away, you did lay away; then went to visit your nice dress or winter coat every week to give it ten dollars till you could take it home.
Play dates??? When you were old enough to go 'call for so and so' you made your own play date and stayed out as long as you could. Unless you lived far enough to take the school bus, we all rode our bikes or walked to school. If the weather was horrible MAYBE might catch a ride with my Dad on his way to work. He drove a pullman type truck to work, so we had no seat, either. Had to hold on to the crummy floor for dear life.

We had pencil cases, too, because we wrote shit down. If you were a toot, you had a book bag, no such thing as a back pack...or you carried your books in your arms till they stuck to the covers and you had to peel the skin off.

And we covered our own books, my Mother never did. And we didn't eat all sorts of crap like Totinos pizza rolls or Hot pockets done up in a microwave when we came home from school. By that time, it was already 3:30 and dinner was too close. Maybe you could have one Chips Ahoy and a small glass of milk. Then we ate all the dinner that my Mother made without benefit of take out in the middle of the week.

If you had some kind of practice like cheer leading or baseball, or football, you got on your bike and took yourself there. Didn't need my parents watching practice all night long. They'd come for games and that was it.

And about those cartoons...?? Who could actually watch them before all your saturday chores were done??? Not me.. When my mother wanted me up on a Saturday morning at 7am she'd run the vacuum through my bedroom, making damn sure to knock the bed leg a couple of times.

And then, on Sunday, the relatives came, bringing pastries which you'd only get a half piece of, and watch them all fall asleep, sitting up, in the parlor. Then, one of us kids washed dishes and another put them away. Right then and there, no dishwasher to hide them in for a couple of hours.

Oh, cell phones my ass....

Thanks for the laughs!!

Oh, you have made me lol! I guess you had to use paper grocery bags to cover those books too, no flowery stick on covers

 

[joec]

My "little" sister is a couple of inches taller and could probably beat up on me.

My '63 Vette was a convertible that I bought used and it was likely a highly damaged car - hurricane, accident, whatever. It was green but the interior was red leather so I seriously doubt that was ever a factory standard combo. It was, however, a dual four barrel 340 HP V8 and that sucker moved right out so I just haaaaaaad to have it. I got rid of it a year or so later when the stork started dropping kids on the doorstep. Let's just say that it was my 1968 version of going green....

I brought home every one of my kids when they where born in a different corvette. I had one of every year from 57 to 63 and one cobra before the 63 which was the hardtop with the split back window. Today one would go to jail for having a new born baby in its mothers arms in a 2 seat car. I remember sitting in my grandfather's lap and steering the car as we went down the street. I also remember going on trips and sleeping in the rear window on the deck back there. Nothing was child proof and stupid kids got hurt in my day.

Now my mother's parents own a farm built before the Civil War with 14 bedrooms and a fire place in every room. One of those Civil War plantations with metal roofs. At any rate they didn't have a bathroom but an out house until I was released from Duke Hospital when I had my accident. The had to put a bathroom in, running water and electricity none of which they had till I was 14 years old. Grandfather was a Pentecostal minister so no TV or radio's in his house as that was the devils work to him.

FM I with you I still hate spiders to this day because of it.

 

[Lefty]

Oh, you have made me lol! I guess you had to use paper grocery bags to cover those books too, no flowery stick on covers

Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt.