Kids today have got it too easy

[Clifftall]

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 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 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 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 butt! 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.

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! Wehad 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 1970or any time before!

[Tallyrver]

I remember the calculators in 1977 ,they cost $200.00 and didn't do anything except add and subtract

[bluepill]

Ok here's a test: Remember when you had to pay Ma Bell extra for a color phone or touch-tone service.?

How about "Duck and Cover"?

How about air raid drills and blackout curtains?

[NLOVNIT]

Re #3: The principal at school was to be feared. That BIG paddle with the holes in it - OUCH! Plus, teachers could slap you too, for mouthing off. Oh & that was just the start....wait til you got home. You got it again.

Re #6: Remember party lines? Had to wait until the old ladies you shared a line with got done with gossipping before you could make a call.

Re #9: I didn't have an Atari, but I do remember my first TRS 80 computer. You had to READ the story, use your imagination to visualize the game (or draw up a map - with a pen! - on a piece of notebook paper) & then type commands on the keyboard "go north", "pick up sword" or "hit troll with sword" (multiple times!).

Kids have helmets, knee, elbow, shin pads wrist guards to ride a bike or skateboard now. Nuthin' like that for me. I remember trying to see how far I could get down the block with no hands & my eyes closed before I ran into a parked car on the side.

Ahhhh, the good ole days!

Lori-

[frankdamp]

A British comedian did a "Mickey take" on nostalgia commercials a few years ago. The last line was "We had a lot of things in those days that they don't have today, polio, diphtheria, ricketts, Hitler".

[woody!]

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!


I remember my folks had a 1963 Chevy station wagon.It had a dash board made from steel. You bump your head on that and you felt it for a week!

[NLOVNIT]

Also I vaguely remember riding laying down on the ledge behind the back seat. I must've been REALLY little or back seat ledges were much bigger back then.

Lori-

[ctcamper]

Those 8-track cassettes use to warp pretty bad after sitting in the back window

We used to go bowling and we had loads of fun, not sit at home and play computer games. We used to go fishing and swimming and hiking. We used to WANT to go to work when we were old enough so we could buy a few things for ourselves after we put some in the bank. We learned the value of money. There was no plastic credit cards. We played in the dirt and we started a garden and had the thrill of being able to eat things WE grew. We knew what the birds sounded like. Most importantly we respected our elders, we didn't necessarily have to agree with them but we were courteous and polite.

My neighbors kids do not do the lawn or shovel snow. They let the father do that. The few times they did try the lawn mower , they left it in the middle of the yard and went back to the hoop after about 5 minutes. They play ball all day. They don't help the mother with grocery shopping or take in the grocerys. They play ball and watch. God forbid they should even take in the garbage can after pickup. I feel sorry for them, it will be a rude awakening when the parties over.

[glorio]

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.

I think the texting began with the first telegraph message. Then telephones with
voice and then texting again. Am I missing something?

[Steve N Sal]

Clifftall,

You hit the nail right on the head with this post. I think back to my childhood and what it took to keep yourself amused and busy. With all they have today and still don't think it's enough. GO FIGURE!!!

[haulinhazmat]

NLOVIT, I did the eyes closed thing, thought I was the only one.
Lived on gravel road in the country and the road came from the rear to the front and down hill. The back yard was the first thing you passed. Mon was in the back yard hanging up clothes on clothes line. I had came down the hill with my eyes closed and turned into the driveway on my bike. and I had came down with my hands off the handle bars so thought I would try eyes closed, no hands. Turned to quick hit the ditch, rolled right up to Mom she picked me up brushed me off and was worred. I told her what I had done and she beat my rear with out mercy. I cam still feel the pain.

[wa8yxm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallyrver I remember the calculators in 1977 ,they cost $200.00 and didn't do anything except add and subtract

I seem to recall buying basic 4-banger (Add-Subtract-Mutliply-Divide) in about 1970 for 16 bucks..

My dad used to do that "you don't know" bit and talk about when he bagged groceries for 10 cents an hour.

I finally ask him the cost of a loaf of bread (5 cents, six for a quarter) and what the income tax rate was (0%)

Well... Turns out I'd have needed 21 dollaras an hour to bring home the same amount of bread his 10 cents did.

[historyljc]

Clamp on roller skates. Always came loose at the wrong time.

Postage of 1st class mail was 3 cents. Post cards a penny. Mail would go regular mail overnight from Tallahassee to Miami. Now it 43 cents and takes a week. Progress.

When we finally got a phone it was 4 party. We were 2 longs and a short.

We did have an "ice box". I remember the ice man and the milk man making deliveries.

The best of it was Grannie's cornbread. Hands down!!.

I wish my grandsons were privileged to have what I had.

[BpK9Miami]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluepill Ok here's a test: Remember when you had to pay Ma Bell extra for a color phone or touch-tone service.? How about "Duck and Cover"? How about air raid drills and blackout curtains?

Adding to the list (and grew up in Florida) - there was a run on bomb shelters in the early sixites...the further South you went, the more shelters. Do you remember WHY?