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People that grew up before the internet age, how was life different? (1 Viewer)

General Malaise said:
I have two giant boxes of CDs in my garage that I used to cherish.  I bought CDs like some people buy cars; lotta due diligence and reading reviews.  I wasn't plunking down $13.99 or whatever on just any release.  I haven't listened to any of those CDs in several years and yet, I can't bring myself to part with them.  If I sold them, I'd get next to nothing for them and would probably be insulted in the process.  So they just there, a monument to what I worked hard to collect in my formative years.  
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Same, I have a rubbermaid tub in the basement with all of mine.  Optimally I would like to digitize them and import them to my Spotify account, but I don't even have a desktop anymore.  So, there they will sit.  My kids will probably have to take care of them when I'm dead.

My personal rule for buying CDs was waiting for the second song I heard off the album, and I had to like both songs.  I bought far too many one hit wonder CDs because the single was great but nothing else on the CD sounded the same.

Mr. Mojo said:
In our early years of Fantasy Football (early 1990s) one guy in our league was having a rough time picking a QB each week as both of his kept getting listed as Questionable, and whichever one he put in seemed to sit that week. It was really hard to get good injury news back then without the internet. He got so frustrated, that he called the New Orleans Saints organization number to try to find out if Hebert was playing or not. They couldn't tell him anything, so it was a wasted effort, but we all laughed about it for a while.
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My favorite were the weekly pickups with zero information.  We'd look at the box scores in the paper the day after the game to make pickups.  Of course back in those days, they might have individual rushing numbers for examples, but not carries.  So, we would continually, unknowingly, pick up the third string RB who happen to rack up 75 yards and think he was the new lead back, but he happen to just bust one of his two carries.  Then we'd be pissed when he had 7 yards the next week.

 
nirad3 said:
College Park in Costa Mesa, near OCC.  We now live on Magnolia/Adams in HB.
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I lived near there on Tranquil Lane in college.  Six of us rented a house for $450.    Grew up at Brookurst/Adams. Rode the 3 miles to Gisler off Atlanta for Jr Hi.

 
Wow - this thread brings back so many memories.  I was a kid in the 60s and a teen - through most of college in the 70s.  We rode bikes everywhere and was out of the house mid-morning until dinnertime.  Mom's did not want their kids inside during summer.  We played football in the street, in the yard, rode our bikes to the pee wee football field - same for baseball and wiffle ball.  We made up games with crazy rules. We played 21 in basketball when we only had 3 guys (I had a long, flat concrete driveway that was awesome for b-ball).  

Like a couple of guys have written here, I lived on a cul-de-sac and it was great for all kinds of games and you didn't have to worry about traffic.  

Several of us were big into the 3M games (baseball , golf, and football) and there were a couple of cool football games we have talked about here before.  NFL Strategy and Foto-Electric Football (11 min. video) are a couple examples.  Both are games where you select a play and your opponent selects a defense and then you match them up.  Everyone had the electric football men - and if you amped it up, you had the Superbowl version out of the Sears catalog with NFL teams - and you could order other teams.  

My big Christmas gift one year was Compumatic Football.  It was one of the first "computerized" football games, it turned out not to be that much fun ...it was too predictable - but it was the coolest thing out there at the time.  

One summer I played a baseball card/dice game called Official Baseball Card Game for the entire National League.  The game only came with All-Stars so I made up my own ratings for every player - and each team played around 20 games - the entire National League ...and I kept individual box scores for every game and then calculated stats for each player/pitcher for the entire season.  We also listened to every Cincinnati Reds game on the radio under the car porch (later garage in a new house) every evening in the Spring and Summer (I couldn't listen to the West Coast games during school).

 
Binky The Doormat said:
Wow - this thread brings back so many memories.  I was a kid in the 60s and a teen - through most of college in the 70s.  We rode bikes everywhere and was out of the house mid-morning until dinnertime.  Mom's did not want their kids inside during summer.  We played football in the street, in the yard, rode our bikes to the pee wee football field - same for baseball and wiffle ball.  We made up games with crazy rules. We played 21 in basketball when we only had 3 guys (I had a long, flat concrete driveway that was awesome for b-ball).  

Like a couple of guys have written here, I lived on a cul-de-sac and it was great for all kinds of games and you didn't have to worry about traffic.  

Several of us were big into the 3M games (baseball , golf, and football) and there were a couple of cool football games we have talked about here before.  NFL Strategy and Foto-Electric Football (11 min. video) are a couple examples.  Both are games where you select a play and your opponent selects a defense and then you match them up.  Everyone had the electric football men - and if you amped it up, you had the Superbowl version out of the Sears catalog with NFL teams - and you could order other teams.  

My big Christmas gift one year was Compumatic Football.  It was one of the first "computerized" football games, it turned out not to be that much fun ...it was too predictable - but it was the coolest thing out there at the time.  

One summer I played a baseball card/dice game called Official Baseball Card Game for the entire National League.  The game only came with All-Stars so I made up my own ratings for every player - and each team played around 20 games - the entire National League ...and I kept individual box scores for every game and then calculated stats for each player/pitcher for the entire season.  We also listened to every Cincinnati Reds game on the radio under the car porch (later garage in a new house) every evening in the Spring and Summer (I couldn't listen to the West Coast games during school).
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We played NFL Strategy and Foto-Electric also. 

We played Cadaco All-Star Baseball. I would generate 8 team leagues and play 56-game schedules with stats and standings. Would check the mail box daily for weeks waiting for the next set to arrive.

1972 SI/Avalon Hill NFL Paydirt was money. Each NFL team and pretty accurate.

 
Getzlaf15 said:
We played NFL Strategy and Foto-Electric also. 

We played Cadaco All-Star Baseball. I would generate 8 team leagues and play 56-game schedules with stats and standings. Would check the mail box daily for weeks waiting for the next set to arrive.

1972 SI/Avalon Hill NFL Paydirt was money. Each NFL team and pretty accurate.
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Would have loved to have played those - one buddy had a lot of war board games - I remember Jutland, especially ...was so much more involved than the other Milton Bradley war board games we normally played.

 
Bull Dozier said:
Wasn't this the competitor to the Intellivision?  We had an Atari 2600.  Then my brother and I shared a paper route one summer to save up for a Colecovision.  We bought maybe five games before we discovered it was crap.  Some time later we upgraded to the NES and my world changed forever.
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Loved colecovision. IIRC, first system with the wheel and pedals for driving games.

Intellivision was competition for the Atari 2600. Think it was technically "better" but other than a few games the 2600 rules the day. Baseball was significantly better on Intellivision, which isn't saying much compared to the 2600 

 
General Malaise said:
I have two giant boxes of CDs in my garage that I used to cherish.  I bought CDs like some people buy cars; lotta due diligence and reading reviews.  I wasn't plunking down $13.99 or whatever on just any release.  I haven't listened to any of those CDs in several years and yet, I can't bring myself to part with them.  If I sold them, I'd get next to nothing for them and would probably be insulted in the process.  So they just there, a monument to what I worked hard to collect in my formative years.  
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I still have maybe 250 albums ( I sold many) 100 cassettes (and I still own a truck with a tape player) and  300 C.D.'s.  The albums have some resale value, the rest, not so much.  Some day I will own a man house up in the hills.  I will have a T.V. or Two plus a nice screen on a computer.  I will have a wall for all my old stereo equipment.  I will play albums, tapes, and C.D.'s to my hearts content.  Who knows, some of those albums may reveal a decades old stash.  There is something about flipping an album.  There is something about cover art. 

Remember when a double album had the benefit of being a good place to clean your pot?

 
Koya said:
Loved colecovision. IIRC, first system with the wheel and pedals for driving games.

Intellivision was competition for the Atari 2600. Think it was technically "better" but other than a few games the 2600 rules the day. Baseball was significantly better on Intellivision, which isn't saying much compared to the 2600 
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I never had the intellivision, but a neighbor kid did.  It had this super strange controller with a number pad and then a joystick.  When a ball was hit, you had to hit the number of the player you wanted to control to move that fielder, then choose from it seemed like at least four different buttons to throw to where you wanted.  Coming from the joystick/one button controller of the 2600, it was just too complicated for me to ever figure out. :lol:  

 
IC FBGCav said:
Prank calls, aaah the delight.   Call 1:  Hi, is your refrigerator running?  Yes, it is.  You better go catch it!     Call 2:  (Of course you look in the phone book for people with the last name Walls)  (ask real real fast so it sounds like Mr Walls)   Is there Walls there?  No he's not.  Then what's holding up your house?  

Then Porky's was made and blew us all away with Mike Hunt.  :tebow:
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For any of your whippersnappers in here if you haven't seen the Porky's Mike Hunt scene Youtube it. I'm stunned the number of 20-30 somethings that don't know about Michael Hunt.

 
OP asked about clothes and food, we rarely went out to eat at a restaurant, that was a big treat when we did. I spent nearly every Sunday morning at Church and then at my Grandmother's for lunch with the extended family.

Thinking back on most of the fashion trends, the clothes sucked but were at least quality made. I had a pair of Girbaud jeans that probably lasted me nearly 7 or 8 years, now I buy a pair of jeans and they wear out in like 6 months. Loved the spandex era of the 80s, kind of like yoga pants these days. But the late 80s and early 90s with the flashy colors, parachute pants, etc. were pretty ugly. High waisted jeans on women were popular then and bleh too (these have come back recently apparently.) Hated the trend of skirts with something under them like jeans or shorts. The grunge era was comfortable with all the flannel, but the women all dressed like tomboys. Overalls and such on women were super popular for a time as well and not very flattering.

Most of those trends probably came out of the safe sex craze, everyone was scared of HIV and STD's everywhere and there was a lot of backlash to the freewheeling days of the 70s. I can still remember what a huge deal it was (especially for guys) when the first season of Friends came on and Jennifer Aniston wouldn't wear a bra under her shirt in some of the episodes. It took quite a few years for society to get past the being scared of sex and for lack of a better word, slutty/sexy, to come back in style. GB Paris Hilton, Britney, etc. for coming along and popularizing the short skirt, no panties, shaved hoo-ha look and freeing everyone from the puritanical fashion trends.

 
IC FBGCav said:
Prank calls, aaah the delight.   Call 1:  Hi, is your refrigerator running?  Yes, it is.  You better go catch it!     Call 2:  (Of course you look in the phone book for people with the last name Walls)  (ask real real fast so it sounds like Mr Walls)   Is there Walls there?  No he's not.  Then what's holding up your house?  

Then Porky's was made and blew us all away with Mike Hunt.  :tebow:
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I've told this story here before, but my summer job for a whole was working at my dads office and foundary (manufacture baseboard and boilers)... they had an intercom that ran through all but the executive offices and onto the foundary and assembly floors. 

I'm like 14, and over the intercom, for what would be a summer long running joke, was how often they called one of the lead foremen by his name. You guessed it, Mike Hunt. 

 
Yankee23Fan said:
YES!  I remember that.  If my memory isn't playing tricks on me, our dishwasher had a wood top so that it could serve as a cutting board while it was being used since it had to be rolled in front of the sink to work.

My kids would lose their **** if they saw something like that now.  
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We had one with the wood top also.  I swear that thing took up half of our kitchen.

 
arctic_panzer_wolf said:
I have all my CDs too and I actually still buy them.  Going from cassettes to cds was mind blowing 
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Going from cassette to CDs was mind blowing.  I still have a box of about 100 cassettes and have 500 CDs in the basement still alphabetized on racks.  I still buy CDs but put them on my pc and then put on my ipad.  I listen to CDs once in a while in my truck.   

I grew up listening to my mom's beatles and stones records and then she started buying 8 tracks.  She would buy them for me once in a while.  She had Elvis, Kool and the Gang, Barely Man Enough and then she bought me Black Sabbath Paranoid.  That was a game-changer.  It was all metal all the time from then on. 

It is mind blowing to see how far we came in how music is captured.  We have come a long way from large fragile disks. 

 
60s - I don't remember a lot since I was so young. 

70s

Rode bikes in packs. I still have a love for bikes and own four.

Went to the park all the time, and would jump out of swings, and have tether ball tournaments. We would play mancala, and would roller skate on the cement basketball court. I remember learning some cuss words and wrote them on a picnic table at the park. I think I was dared to do it. Mom found out and made me wash it off and grounded me.

Rode our bikes to the neighborhood community pool every day in the summer. My sister and brother were on the swim team. I mastered the diving boards.

Played in the creek often catching tadpoles and minnows in buckets. We would release them later. We collected rocks and painted them, and tried to sell them to suckers in the neighborhood.

Played "kick the can" all the time. 

Sled down big hill in the neighborhood when it snowed. 

Trick or treated in packs. 

Built tree houses and had slumber parties.

Bought lots of 45s.  Bought a small glitter ball type thing at Spencer. On FM Radio listened to the King Biscuit Flower Hour, Deep Cuts, etc.

Started going to concerts.

I remember it was popular to put a colorful comb that had a thick handle on it in your back pocket.

80s

80-84 High School 

We found out what everyone was doing by talking about it at school and calling on the (landline) phone. 

84-90 College 

We found out what everyone was doing by word of mouth or calling (landline). Mostly word of mouth, and also wondering about and bar hopping. 

 
Simple answer:

Cell Phone - Pager and a roll of quarters.

Internet - Libraries, newspapers and magazines.

You asked about television; anybody that old probably wouldn't be reading this forum, but yeah before cable, less channels and more radio.

 
Sitting on couch next to my son,  there is a knock at the door. Dogs go crazy. My son opens the door. "Hi Noah, you wanna come out and play basketball?"

My daughter is making slime.

Batting 500 i guess

 
Born in '75, grew up in East Bay (SF Bay Area).

We used to tie a string to a washer to manipulate the coin insert for unlimited credits.  NBA Jams.  Boom shaka laka laka!!!

In high school and college, I used to read The Source (hip hop magazine) for info on new releases.  I'd hit the record store (Wherehouse, Amoeba, Leopold's) on every Tuesday, and buy a new CD.  If I didn't like it, I'd record it to cassette, then return to store for another CD.  If I didn't like that one, rinse and repeat.  Acquired a lot of full albums this way.  A lot.

How about Cherry Chan, Peter the Grape, cinnamon toothpicks, and hot fries? 

 
Any mention of Cliffs Notes yet? If you had a book report due and didn't read the book, Cliffs Notes were a must. What do kids do now? Just go on the Wikipedia page and read the synopsis? Must be so easy. After the VCR came out you could rent the movie if you wanted but that usually backfired. I had to read Oliver Twist and give a book report. Blew it off until the last minute and rented the movie Oliver! which of course is the musical based on the novel. Got up to give my report in front of the class: "the name of the book I read is Oliver. Oliver was..." Teacher stopped my right there. "The name of the book is Oliver Twist." So busted right out of the gate.

 
Nipsey said:
Any mention of Cliffs Notes yet? If you had a book report due and didn't read the book, Cliffs Notes were a must. What do kids do now? Just go on the Wikipedia page and read the synopsis? Must be so easy. After the VCR came out you could rent the movie if you wanted but that usually backfired. I had to read Oliver Twist and give a book report. Blew it off until the last minute and rented the movie Oliver! which of course is the musical based on the novel. Got up to give my report in front of the class: "the name of the book I read is Oliver. Oliver was..." Teacher stopped my right there. "The name of the book is Oliver Twist." So busted right out of the gate.
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Oliver

 
Hot Diggity Dog said:
SI swimsuit edition
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Amen, brother.

I remember when Paulina Porizkova married Ric Ocasek just to make me jealous.

Man, she kept up that sham marriage for quite awhile.

 
randall146 said:
Riding the T to China Town to buy fireworks and then shooting bottle rockets at each other with wiffle ball bats 
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We had a cranky ### neighbor who nobody liked.One day we were shooting bottle rockets at their house and of course they called the cops. Cops came and asked us if we were shooting bottle rockets at their house, of course we said no. One of them starts walking around and sees a whiffle bat burned at the end, we look at him, he holds it up, looks at it, looks at us, looks at it again..... Says "cut the ####". And they left..... Those days are long gone.

 
Have we even talked about when radio stations would play the same thing every night for weeks?  Just hit play and 8 hours done.  

Then having to wait for hours to record your favorite song.  Then once you got it, spending hours to breakdown the lyrics.  Yep, good times.  And she is a rich botch girl.

 
Rolls of film

You would buy a roll of film for about 5 bucks and it had 24 exposures. Load it into your camera and take pics winding to the  next exposure after each pic taken.

When done, wind em all back up take your roll to a processing station fill out a form, pay another 5 bucks and they would mail it to the main center and in about 5 days you would go back (usually to a pharmacy) and get back your 24 pictures, of which only 9 were good.

Yea they had polaroids which were instant but those cameras were big and bulky and the picture had a big white border.

Eventually the 1 hour photo emerged and then overnight, places like kodak disapeared when you could take digital photos and keep em on your pc or print your own.

 
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JohnnyU said:
GPS is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  I hated looking at maps.
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I drove to Colorado (from Wisconsin) by myself because my girlfriend moved there. No GPS, no cell phone just a map. Not even sure i ever called my parents. I can't imagine that today.

 
I guess our house is the only one that had Brady Bunch and Partridge Family reruns on every afternoon. 

 
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