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

[msudaisy26]

Gilligan's Island here.

Seriously though, why did they pack so many cloths for a 3 hour tour?

 

[Binky The Doormat]

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.

like 29 years and still going.  lucky *******.

 

[crusty crab]

How about the horror of yearly portraits? We always got them in school, and they always had those weird silhouettes of your face at another angle on top of the one main picture. Sometimes we had to actually go to someplace like Sears and get a few more. just because the school ones were not enough for mom. The pictures would all hang together somewhere where everyone who ever entered the house couldn't help but see the evolution of bad haircuts and terrible "dress up" clothes. A wall of shame is what it was.

 

[msudaisy26]

like 29 years and still going.  lucky *******.

Wiki says they split up in May of 2018

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Wiki says they split up in May of 2018

Ohhhh, thanks.  Hadn't seen that.  Man, she's only 53.  He's 74, going on Crypt Keeper.

 

[Bossman]

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 certainly hope she made it worth the trip ... wakawaka!

 

[Bossman]

I'm now realizing ... sure are a lot of old dudes in here. 

 

[Koya]

BTW has there ever been a more 1980s statement than "Paulina Porizkova marries Ric Ocasek."?

Perhaps this... I found out "Paulina Porizkova married Ric Ocasek while wearing Jams and making mix tapes on my cassette, from the radio"

 

[Koya]

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.

How about getting a book report and pulling the short straw of some subject with no books written on it? You had like 3 paragraphs and one diagram to use for your book report from the Encyclopedia. If you were LUCKY, you had access to a second Encyclopedia to have a "little" more material.

Yeah, I'm still bitter about having to flesh out a report on the Continental Shelf.   Much easier for me to get info on the Bobcat (2nd grade) and the T Rex (3rd grade, and yeah, I "won" that assignment... no stupid half bird quasi dinosaur for me!)

 

[Politician Spock]

Hi. I'm Casey Kasem. We'll get back to this week's American Top 40 in just a bit. But first, it's time for this week's Long Distance Dedication.

We received a unique letter this week from a Studs & Duds located at FBG FFA. He writes, "Casey, I am so very sad. Our thread is gone. It was a great thread, full of beautiful people, and so much support. But some just misunderstood it, and complained, and they won and now it's gone. I've lost my heart. I feel bad. I'm so down. Can you play a song for me and my friends to make us feel better after losing our thread. Thanks! Studs & Duds."

Well Stud's, I've got your back. We've all been there, and here is this weeks Long Distance Dedication just for you and your friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_NTaAAx6k

 

[Koya]

Coincidentally (or, as we now call it, "ironically"), a few days back I began watching CHiPs on Netflix.  

Two times I remember being crestfallen as a kid. One, Estrada's big accident while filming, and then no more CHiPs.

Second was my refusal to admit Luke got his arm cut off by Vader. I refused to admit he could have let that happen. 

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Anyone remember the color TV screens? We were the first in our neighborhood to get one and it was awesome! (OK, it actually sucked but hey...lol)

Yep.  My family could not afford that "tech", but some neighbors had it.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

The remote control for our T.V., which had the three network channels and when the whether was right a UHF channel that played the Munsters and apparently nothing else, was to slug the kid brother in the arm until he would get up to change the channel.

 

[snogger]

Hi. I'm Casey Kasem. We'll get back to this week's American Top 40 in just a bit. But first, it's time for this week's Long Distance Dedication.

We received a unique letter this week from a Studs & Duds located at FBG FFA. He writes, "Casey, I am so very sad. Our thread is gone. It was a great thread, full of beautiful people, and so much support. But some just misunderstood it, and complained, and they won and now it's gone. I've lost my heart. I feel bad. I'm so down. Can you play a song for me and my friends to make us feel better after losing our thread. Thanks! Studs & Duds."

Well Stud's, I've got your back. We've all been there, and here is this weeks Long Distance Dedication just for you and your friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_NTaAAx6k

Local station here in the Twin Cites replays these in the morning over the weekend. Still enjoy the "old" countdowns

 

[snogger]

Still remember having my own 13" B/W TV in my bedroom and being considered "Spoiled"

Many nights were spent adjusting the antenna on top to get the scrambled station in just enough that you might catch a glimpse of naked women

 

[NeverEnough]

Still remember having my own 13" B/W TV in my bedroom and being considered "Spoiled"

Many nights were spent adjusting the antenna on top to get the scrambled station in just enough that you might catch a glimpse of naked women

I remember the days of scrambled Cinemax

 

[NeverEnough]

SI swimsuit edition

I used to call & make up bs to get them for free. #winning

 

[simey]

Coincidentally (or, as we now call it, "ironically"), a few days back I began watching CHiPs on Netflix.  

Two times I remember being crestfallen as a kid. One, Estrada's big accident while filming, and then no more CHiPs.

I had a crush on Officer Frank Poncherello back in the day. It seemed like in every episode there would be a big slow motion crash with explosions. 

 

[Jayrok]

And the A-Team fired 900 rounds of bullets every week and no one was ever hit.  Sort of like some episodes of The Walking Dead the last couple of seasons.

 

[Jayrok]

Local station here in the Twin Cites replays these in the morning over the weekend. Still enjoy the "old" countdowns

I like to catch some of the old count downs on long trips with XM radio.  Like to try and guess which is the top 3 songs from any given week from 76'-83'.  

 

[Jayrok]

No DVR or even VCR to record shows from childhood.  If you weren't front and center at 8 pm EST, you missed Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, Mork&Mindy, etc.  No rewinding or pausing when the phone rang loud.  We had it rough. 

 

[Koya]

I had a crush on Officer Frank Poncherello back in the day. It seemed like in every episode there would be a big slow motion crash with explosions. 

My sister thought Jon was dreamy.

He and Simon Le Bon were her first crushes, in the 80s

 

[Sabertooth]

The Search Function was called the library, and it always worked. Not like here. We had it good.

Rip the Dewey Decimal System.

 

[Sabertooth]

Still remember having my own 13" B/W TV in my bedroom and being considered "Spoiled"

Many nights were spent adjusting the antenna on top to get the scrambled station in just enough that you might catch a glimpse of naked women

My kids still don't have TVs in their rooms.  

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Still remember having my own 13" B/W TV in my bedroom and being considered "Spoiled"

Many nights were spent adjusting the antenna on top to get the scrambled station in just enough that you might catch a glimpse of naked women

I had the same TV.  I watched the entire first season of Star Trek The Next Generation in black and white.  And I was older by then.

 

[simey]

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

When I first started watching those shows they were on prime time on a Friday night, and not in reruns yet. I continued to watch them when they went into syndication. I own The Brady Bunch Complete Series on DVD now.       

 

[Bull Dozier]

Thought of this thread last night while I watched my kids play video games.  We have an awesome (compared to what I had as a kid) video game room with two TVs, two Xboxs, a PS4, a DirecTV box, and three leather reclyners.  My two boys never have friends over.  I thought of how as a kid, we would always get together in groups to play video games, taking turns playing each other, putting tournaments together on scratch paper, or playing leagues of Baseball Stars when that amazing ability came to the NES.  Whoever was not playing was picking out the music, and leafing through magainzes in whatever musty basement we were hanging out in.  I looked at my boys and thought they will never have that.

Then I realized they were on their headsets, talking to who knows how many of their friends, all playing Xbox with each other, some playing the same game, some playing different games.  All of them probably sitting on their own comfortable chair.  They have it way better.  Different, but better.

 

[Sabertooth]

Racism was pretty casual when I was a kid.  I grew up with almost exclusively white people.  By the time I was 10 I probably new 50 racist jokes.  I don't know if that's changed or not.  But it was pretty bad, looking back.  

 

[Sabertooth]

Thought of this thread last night while I watched my kids play video games.  We have an awesome (compared to what I had as a kid) video game room with two TVs, two Xboxs, a PS4, a DirecTV box, and three leather reclyners.  My two boys never have friends over.  I thought of how as a kid, we would always get together in groups to play video games, taking turns playing each other, putting tournaments together on scratch paper, or playing leagues of Baseball Stars when that amazing ability came to the NES.  Whoever was not playing was picking out the music, and leafing through magainzes in whatever musty basement we were hanging out in.  I looked at my boys and thought they will never have that.

Then I realized they were on their headsets, talking to who knows how many of their friends, all playing Xbox with each other, some playing the same game, some playing different games.  All of them probably sitting on their own comfortable chair.  They have it way better.  Different, but better.

Baseball Stars was awesome.  Just awesome game.  I also remember keeping stats on Madden on a legal pad because they didn't track them game to game.  

Tecmo Bowl was the bomb as well.  Bo Jackson was perhaps the best digital football player of all time.  

 

[Bull Dozier]

Baseball Stars was awesome.  Just awesome game.  I also remember keeping stats on Madden on a legal pad because they didn't track them game to game.  

Tecmo Bowl was the bomb as well.  Bo Jackson was perhaps the best digital football player of all time.  

I can't remember the name of the baseball game we played before Baseball Stars.  The batting was opposite of most games, with the camera angle being from the back of the pitcher.  It had no real players, but fake teams and players.  No stats or seasons tracked, so I kept them by hand as we went on scratch paper.  I would then go home afterwards and type them up on a typewriter to look like the stats that would come out in the newspaper on a weekly basis.  Then when I went to my friends house the next time, we would compare.  The funny thing was I didn't know how to calculate batting average, so I just bumped a players average up three points for a hit, and down one for an out.    (I admittedly was far too old not to know how to calculate this).  By the time I realized how to calculate a batting average, baseball stars came out and it was a moot point.

Speaking of keeping track of video games on scratch paper, I remember playing Genghis Khan.  Part of the game was buying and selling various goods.  I would keep track of high and low prices on a piece of paper so I knew when I had a good price to buy or sell when the traders came to town.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Our swimming pools had high dives.  Our cars, no seat belts.  Our cartoons had violence.  Females sat in the sun for hours using oils to enhance the suns rays rather than to block them. American Motors still produced cars, the Gremlin even had an interior package where the upholstry was made out of Levis denim.

 

[Sabertooth]

One time I made a new friend.  He had a treasure trove of GI Joes.  He had carefully cut out the Personnel files from the back of the packaging each one came with.  We didn't have a copy machine so I asked my step-mom if I could copy those and use the typewriter.  After about 10 minutes she said to just stop (I didn't know how to type at all).  A few weeks later she gave me a stack of papers (in courier font so it looked really official) of these personnel files.   It's maybe the nicest thing she ever did for me.  We didn't get along great.  She beat me with wooden spoons, drove drunk with me and generally favored her son over me.  But I have to say...she was money on that one.  

It's weird.  She divorced my dad just about the time I had kids (14 years ago) so she's only ever met my older daughter when she was probably 5 months old.  She was a big part of my upbringing (probably the biggest) and my kids just look puzzled when I talk about a story involving her.  

 

[Sabertooth]

Our swimming pools had high dives.  Our cars, no seat belts.  Our cartoons had violence.  Females sat in the sun for hours using oils to enhance the suns rays rather than to block them. American Motors still produced cars, the Gremlin even had an interior package where the upholstry was made out of Levis denim.

Hotel and motel pools usually had diving boards.  

 

[maxwelledison]

Hotel and motel pools usually had diving boards.  

High dives. Different animal. 

 

[Sabertooth]

High dives. Different animal. 

True, but they don't even have anything anymore except "No Running" signs.  

 

[jwb]

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. 

we're the same age, and yea, everything here. 

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Still remember having my own 13" B/W TV in my bedroom and being considered "Spoiled"

Mine was color but only about 9". I remember the color orange being on overload to the point of burning my retinas out.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

  Our cars, no seat belts.  

 American Motors still produced cars, the Gremlin even had an interior package where the upholstry was made out of Levis denim.

And a 3rd seat would face the back window so you could be rude to drivers behind you while being extremely unsafe in that position.

As far as those odd looking little Gremlins were concerned, pic: https://www.google.com/search?q=gremlin+levi+edition&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjb5snO0eLbAhWI0YMKHbMqCrwQ_AUICygC&biw=1280&bih=929#imgrc=hV59xZmJfuIe8M:&spf=1529511306096

 

[nirad3]

Rushing home during middle school to watch Dance Party USA so you could learn some fresh new dance moves since, ya know, the Sadie Hawkins Dance was coming up in a couple weeks.  And good thing it ended at 5pm, right when mom and dad came home from work so you wouldn't get embarrassed.   

 

[belljr]

I can't remember the name of the baseball game we played before Baseball Stars.  The batting was opposite of most games, with the camera angle being from the back of the pitcher.  It had no real players, but fake teams and players.  No stats or seasons tracked, so I kept them by hand as we went on scratch paper.  I would then go home afterwards and type them up on a typewriter to look like the stats that would come out in the newspaper on a weekly basis.  Then when I went to my friends house the next time, we would compare.  The funny thing was I didn't know how to calculate batting average, so I just bumped a players average up three points for a hit, and down one for an out.    (I admittedly was far too old not to know how to calculate this).  By the time I realized how to calculate a batting average, baseball stars came out and it was a moot point.

Speaking of keeping track of video games on scratch paper, I remember playing Genghis Khan.  Part of the game was buying and selling various goods.  I would keep track of high and low prices on a piece of paper so I knew when I had a good price to buy or sell when the traders came to town.

Oh sir - are you referring to this gem of a game

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/princessbride/images/4/4d/Hardball-C64.png/revision/latest?cb=20110320032447

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XuJBTCX9M28/maxresdefault.jpg

 

[Bob Loblaw]

TPIR models

 

[skycriesmary]

Psychedelics were more fun.

 

[Ilov80s]

Racism was pretty casual when I was a kid.  I grew up with almost exclusively white people.  By the time I was 10 I probably new 50 racist jokes.  I don't know if that's changed or not.  But it was pretty bad, looking back.  

The 70 year old janitor at my elementary school used to tell us racist jokes, use the n word, etc. He also had Barbie doll body parts taped on the wall of his janitors closet, called everyone chief and gave out free pieces of disgusting old looking crusty bubble gum that he dug out who knows where. Looking back, I think he was probably mentally handicapped or something.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

Our swimming pools had high dives.  Our cars, no seat belts.  Our cartoons had violence.  Females sat in the sun for hours using oils to enhance the suns rays rather than to block them. American Motors still produced cars, the Gremlin even had an interior package where the upholstry was made out of Levis denim.

Buddy in high school had one of those denim Gremlins.  Easily the ugliest interior ever.  Car only lasted a month or so, he liked to do neutral drops in it, and the last one he did there was a clunk instead of a squeal.  It ran for a few days after that.  

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

One other thing I remember is eating out was a special occasion.  Only when I was in high school and my mom started working did we go out almost every Friday or Saturday night.  Thank goodness my mom can cook because if your mom couldn't cook you were doomed to a childhood of nasty food.

 

[nirad3]

One other thing I remember is eating out was a special occasion.  Only when I was in high school and my mom started working did we go out almost every Friday or Saturday night.  Thank goodness my mom can cook because if your mom couldn't cook you were doomed to a childhood of nasty food.

I remember going to McDonald's every so often.  Everything in styrofoam, or at minimum the burgers came in them.  I remember I'd use the empty side as storage for my fries.  I guess I still do that now, but the containers are partially-recycled cardboard.  Good times.

 

[snogger]

Finding a job before the internet was a PITA!

You'd buy a paper and search through Help Wanted and/or around for hours dropping off Resumes and hoping for an interview.

College's back then didn't help that much with finding jobs after graduation..
After graduating with my Electronics/Computer degree my first job was suppose to be fixing Arcade machine.. figured it would be a good stepping stone to possibly getting a job out in Vegas...
Instead I spent my days driving around delivering and picking up games to bars and restaurants.. Glad I got a degree for that crap.. NOT! ...
Luckily a classmate got a job at ZEOS International that produced Home PC's and got me in the door.

Kid's graduating now days have no idea how easy they have it trying to find a job compared to us "Get off my lawn" folks.

 

[Bull Dozier]

I remember going to McDonald's every so often.  Everything in styrofoam, or at minimum the burgers came in them.  I remember I'd use the empty side as storage for my fries.  I guess I still do that now, but the containers are partially-recycled cardboard.  Good times.

What I remember about McDonalds was going in and looking at the food prep area behind the registers.  They'd be making hamburgers and piling them up in the back, and they would just grab from the front.  You got a burger that had been sitting their for who knows how long...and you loved it!

 

[Bossman]

One other thing I remember is eating out was a special occasion.  Only when I was in high school and my mom started working did we go out almost every Friday or Saturday night.  Thank goodness my mom can cook because if your mom couldn't cook you were doomed to a childhood of nasty food.

Restaurants were a treat but we used to have a sit down meal every night. Actual conversation and eye contact with the entire family.

It's a shame so many chose to buy pizza or KFC now ... instead of cooking real food ... meat, fish, vegetables, and potato or rice.

... and don't give me the lame excuse of working parents / lack of time. I can cook a full meal in 30 mins.

Now kids eat their drive-thru meal #7 in front of a TV or looking down at their phone in their other hand.

Between greasy, doughy, fried, crap for meals and failure to get off the couch due to endless hours of electronic entertainment, it's no wonder so many kids are fat and/or lazy.

This is all just lazy parenting. Fat, dumb, and stupid is no way to go thru life son. Yet we allow it to continue because it's easier and everyone likes easier.

 

[nirad3]

Finding a job before the internet was a PITA!

You'd buy a paper and search through Help Wanted and/or around for hours dropping off Resumes and hoping for an interview.

College's back then didn't help that much with finding jobs after graduation..
After graduating with my Electronics/Computer degree my first job was suppose to be fixing Arcade machine.. figured it would be a good stepping stone to possibly getting a job out in Vegas...
Instead I spent my days driving around delivering and picking up games to bars and restaurants.. Glad I got a degree for that crap.. NOT! ...
Luckily a classmate got a job at ZEOS International that produced Home PC's and got me in the door.

Kid's graduating now days have no idea how easy they have it trying to find a job compared to us "Get off my lawn" folks.

I was real lucky in the job hunting sense.  First job (besides being a paperboy in junior high) was during college, got hooked up by a friend at the computer lab.  Then, during winter/summer breaks, got hooked up by my mom who is/was a realtor.  Friend of hers was a loan officer who needed admin help.

Then my first "industry I am in now" job was through my then-girlfriend.  She was a residential appraiser and through her boss I found out about a consulting company that needed some help.

I did "job hunt" a bit back in the late 90's, which consisted of going through industry magazines and faxing my resume out.  Probably sent 300-400 using my parents' fax machine.