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December 13, 2007
You Think YOU Have It Hard?
Do you remember getting up off the floor and walking up to the television to change the channel to one of the other two options - the 1970’s version of “channel surfing?”
Did your mom heat hot dogs in boiling water on the stove?
If so, I think you’ll find this as funny as I did. I don’t know who wrote it; it’s one of the endless forwarded emails I received that was actually worth reading.
Hey- add your own memories in the comments!
*******************************
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 BOTH ways ..
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 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! Compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
1. 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.
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.
3. There were no MP3’s or Napsters. 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!
4. 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 was it. Can you say emergency break-thru’s..until the operators caught on.
5. And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID boxes 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.
6. We didn’t have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics. We had the Atari with games like ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘asteroids.’ The graphics were horrible. Your guy was a little square. You actually had to use your imagination. 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.
7. When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating. All the seats were the same height. If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn’t see, you were just screwed.
8. Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu. You had to decode a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on.
9. There was no Cartoon Network either. You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. We had to wait ALL WEEK for Land of the Lost.
10. We didn’t have microwaves. if we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove or go build a fire. If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing or a pan with HOT oil and real popcorn kernels and shake it all over the stove forever like an
idiot.
11. When we were on the phone with our friends and our parents walked in, we were stuck to the wall with a cord, a 7 foot cord that ran to the phone - not the phone base, the actual phone. We barely had enough length to sit on the floor and still be able to twirl the phone cord in our fingers. If you suddenly had to go to the bathroom you were forced to hang up and talk to them later.
You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1980!
Regards,
The over 30 Crowd
———————–
I bet those of us 40 and over can think of more. My kids couldn’t figure out why I referred to music as “records” or “albums.” Sigh.
One year ago in My Tiny Kingdom: Who Needs Expedia When I’ve Got You?
(especially apropos, as we’re heading back this year, so bring on your suggestions - we need some falafel, Spanish food, Jewish food– Drew’s craving latkes–and ideas for activities. We’re thinking bronze doors, Statue of Liberty, William Steig cartoons, but we can always make time for other things!)
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December 13th, 2007 at 9:55 am, Jodi Says:
I got this one a while back and couldn’t stop laughing. My husband and I have already had more than one conversation involving the phrase “kids today”. Oh well, my hair’s still dark (thanks aveda!) so that means I’m still young — or at least that’s what I insist on believing.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:02 am, Amy Says:
I love this! Looking things up at the library, in a card catalog! (Even I shudder at the thought of not being able to Google something!). And the one about the video game just getting harder and fasrter til you die, like life — hilarious!
December 13th, 2007 at 10:24 am, liz Says:
Bwahahahahaha!!!
December 13th, 2007 at 10:27 am, amy Says:
Wait, I boil the hot dogs. What am I supposed to be doing with them? Of course, they’re preservative-free chicken dogs… and I prefer popcorn popped on the stove! And we don’t have Caller ID, or call waiting, and at the moment our answering machine is broken (nope, no voice mail, either). I guess I’m a throwback?
December 13th, 2007 at 10:39 am, christine Says:
Take the boys to the bodies exhibit in NYC! Really interesting…as long as they aren’t squeamish (they’ve never sounded like they are…….! haha) check it out on the internet and try and make it over there when your up here, they will love it.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:56 am, nicolien Says:
I’m almost thirty and agree with all of them… except that computer and tv were not allowed so i did the old-fashioned thing of playing outside (that’s why your boys’ activities are so hilariously familiar for me!).
And my dad still refers to the tv-guide as the radio-guide… now THAT’s old.
December 13th, 2007 at 11:00 am, twinkie Says:
Well I guess I’m like Amy. I don’t have caller id or call waiting (we are never home long enough to worry with that), we have a popcorn popper gadget for the stove and I like to cook hot dogs on the stove most of the time. I did laugh about the card catalog and the video games - that stuff is hilarious.
December 13th, 2007 at 11:36 am, Headless Mom Says:
Love the popcorn ads in your sidebar today. “In our day you had ads for one thing and they never changed until the next month when a new advertiser would bump the old ones.”
December 13th, 2007 at 11:37 am, MamaD4 Says:
We didn’t have any cell phones! If we had an emergency, we would have to walk to find a phone. If we forgot to tell Mom to get some lettuce at the store, we’d have to wait until she got back and then tell her. We couldn’t have our sisters call us while we were on bad dates and feign disaster to get us out of the bad date. Now when I get in the car with my nuclear family, we have about 9 phones between us!
What ever happened to all the card catalogs? Seriously, that would be a cool piece of furniture.
Our first VCR was about the size of a concrete block and had a cord to which a very basic remote was attached.
I still have a couple of my super-cool, circa 1991 “mix” tapes from American Top 40, with Shadoe Stevens DJ-ing. I hated that when he talked over the beginning or cut into the end. My tape features a lot of Boyz II Men, some Extreme and some Mariah Carey. I had good taste.
And the internet!! I haven’t had it here in Germany in the hotel because it’s over 20 EU per day, but today I broke down and busted out the Visa. There’s no way I’m living one more day without the internet!!
I agree about liking stovetop popcorn better. The best part are the kernels that are absolutely sopping and shrunk by the hot butter. If I had a stovetop in this weird hotel, I’d make some!!
December 13th, 2007 at 11:49 am, Candy Says:
Oh man, I totally taped all the songs off the radio. I was such a dork I even had them organized in a CARD CATALOG!
How about this one? My father used to cut the seat belts out of the cars he owned because they were annoying. One year, we went to Washington DC from New Jersey in his work van which had two seats in the front and that was it. My sister and I sat on folding chairs that Dad roped to side of the van. I’m pretty sure he drank a 6-pack of beer there and back as well.
December 13th, 2007 at 12:34 pm, Karin Says:
Yeah, they sure have it hard today. They can log on to just about any library in the world to do research for their papers. We, on the other hand, had to go through those card catalogs only to find out that the books we needed were already in use or checked out. Or, we had to try to find some antiquated periodicals in hopes to prove our theses.
December 13th, 2007 at 12:43 pm, liz Says:
I just remembered one! No ATMs! If you wanted to get cash money out of the bank, you had to go between the hours of 9 and 3 Monday through Friday. No weekend or evening hours. AND you had to bring your bank book with you!
December 13th, 2007 at 12:48 pm, Natalie Says:
I remember the 6 of us traveling to Utah from Arkansas in a little citation. I sat up front in between my parents on the fold down console. I sat on a pillow strapped in with my dad’s belt around my waist.
My sister and her family moved into a new home that still had a rotary phone and her kids didn’t believe that it was a “real” phone.
A friend rented a car and the only one she could get had the old fashioned roll up windows. Her son had never seen that before and played with it the entire trip.
December 13th, 2007 at 12:57 pm, Bhamdining Says:
Here’s one: No way to record something on TV! If you wanted to watch something, you had to actually be there in front of the tube at the time it came on! If you had to use the restroom, you had to wait for the commercials! No DVR, no TiVo, and my family didn’t get our first VCR until I was in college. My 5-year-old was totally confused when we rented a condo at the beach this summer and while she had a TV in her room, she couldn’t watch any of her favorite shows on demand like she does at home with TiVo. The live TV concept was just totally incomprehensible to her.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:42 pm, Ladybird Says:
I remember being one of the first families in the neighborhood to get cable. All of our neighbors would come over to see it it was worth “paying for tv”.
I recently cleaned out a storage unit and found all of my notes from my college classes. I have a degree in advertising and none of my books/notes even mention the interent. I only graduated 8 years ago!
December 13th, 2007 at 3:24 pm, Jennifer Says:
So funny and so true. I miss Saturday morning cartoons…they don’t even play cartoons (except on kid channels) anymore on the network channels.
I wonder what our kids will reminisce about?
December 13th, 2007 at 4:25 pm, Loth Says:
OK, so I’m British and am so going to win this! I can remember getting our first phone. Not our first cordless or cellphone. Our first phone. A man from the Post Office came to fit it, you only had one in the whole house and it was in the hall. And we were early adopters so you actually had to ask people “Are you on the phone?” because lots of people didn’t have a phone at all. And at that time in the UK you had precisely 3 TV channels and that was it. And you had to buy a license to be allowed to watch TV. Although, actually, you still have to do that today.
(I only just turned 40 this year in case anyone thought I was 90!)
December 13th, 2007 at 4:55 pm, Rachel Says:
OMG, I can’t imagine…without the internet and Disney DVDs I’d have to actually PLAY with my kids. Oh the horror!
December 13th, 2007 at 5:20 pm, zoe Says:
recall on taco night? you used to have to shred your own cheese…instead of pulling out of a nice preshredded ziplock bag.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:40 pm, Laura Says:
Here’s how old I am: The line “blew out my flip flop, stepped on a pop top” needs no translation. I *remember* drinking from cans where you pulled a ring and a little piece of metal came off. Imagine the lawsuits if we still had those.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:49 pm, Renee Says:
Typewriters! You had to actually HIT the keys, the letters were all a little off and if you messed up, you had to either start all over or use white-out. Word Processing is magic!
Blowdryers! My favorite gift from Santa at age 10 was a hairdryer with a plastic cap and a hose that went to the dryer. It took 30 minutes to dry your hair, and you looked so good doing it!
Loth, when I was growing up we had 4 channels, but one of them was PBS, so that didn’t count. However, we did not have to pay for a license to watch. That is hilarious!
December 13th, 2007 at 8:52 pm, Gini Says:
Funny post! Here’s a couple things I thought of:
No ipods, and not even a CD player in sight until I was in high school (late 1980s)! You were the hippest kid in town if you had a walkman or even just a radio headset.
And think about the clothes. Technology has even impacted what we wear. Those of you from up north, remember the voluminous down coats that made you look like the Mr. StayPuff or the Michelin Tire Man? There wasn’t any Goretex back then (or if there was, it was too expensive for school kids like me!)
Finally, contact lenses and braces! I know they had contacts in the 1970s, but they weren’t that common, were expensive (no disposables), and were always inconveniently popping out of your eye. And they didn’t have any of those invisible braces that you wear on the inside of your teeth! You were lucky if you got colored rubber bands!!!
December 13th, 2007 at 10:20 pm, K Says:
I remember…my grandparents were on a “party line” telephone, which meant you could pick up the phone and hear other people talking, and you had to wait until they finished to use it. Also, there was an antenna on the TV with a little dial do-hickey and you had to “dial” the channel you wanted and wait until it rotated the antenna around. My mother worked in a town 30 miles from where we lived and drove there everyday with me standing up in the passenger seat. No speed limit. VW Beetle. NO portable phones of any type. Single speaker record players. Buckets of Lard for cooking. A clothesline - hardly anyone had an automatic dryer in my neighborhood in the early seventies. I could go on - that was fun to read!
December 13th, 2007 at 10:41 pm, Sherry Says:
What about outside tolets? I’m in my fifties and have used outhouses as they were called many times. Some were clean and smelled allright and some not so good, just like public restrooms now. And having to sleep in a room with no heat, the only heater was in the kitchen. Pot bellied stove. These people were not poor, it was just the way they lived.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:00 am, Mishka Says:
I loved this post…and forwarded it to several friends that I know will love it too. Thanks for the chuckle.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:15 am, Joanne Says:
I’ve been fascinated by the signs around here that say under 4′9″ must be in a booster seat. I was telling someone recently I remember travelling to Florida by car when I was 12 (from Arizona) and there were only a few “seat belt states” and so my father got the information from AAA as to which ones they were and we’d flop from the back of the van (which was covered in comfy coats and sleeping bags) to the seat in states like Texas. We were so pissed off about that.
Let’s not forget those great steel roller skates that attached to your shoes. Clang clang clang trip. Clang clang clang trip (as they kept coming detached from the toes of your shoes). Man kids today, they got wheels in the heels of their shoes.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:08 pm, Anne Turner Says:
In the early seventies my parents put us in what we called our flying suits, which were black vest-like or jumper-like things that strapped to the seatbelt, for long car trips. We called them flying suits because our dad could carry us out to the car like suitcases by the straps on the back.
My mom was big into buckling up, which was a fairly new concept. I think there was a big ad campaign back then. The flying suits meant that we could move around and lie down while still being strapped in. Also, if we stopped abruptly, or were in an accident, our weight would be distributed throughout our torso… I’ve kind of wished for these things back for long car trips when my kids are uncomfortable, stuck in their car seats the whole way.
December 15th, 2007 at 8:49 am, Jo-L Says:
When I was a kid, I was the HUMAN REMOTE CONTROL! I sat on the floor in front of the enormous furniture-like TV 24 inches away so I could change from the fuzzy NBC to the even fuzzier ABC with my toes (the round switcher was exactly a leg length away) and at my parents request alternate. Unfortunately, i was also in charge of the “bunny ears” on top of the TV which required me to arise from my lair.
In the car, in the middle of Nowhere, Kentucky, there was no satellite radio and of course no CD/tape player. We did not even have an 8-track player in the car. We had 2 AM stations, and my Mom’s singing!!!
December 16th, 2007 at 7:37 am, Karyn Says:
Love it!
I was horrified when my Godfather (and uncle, paternally) took me to see the home where he and my father grew up… and then proceeded to walk me to their school down the road… because to get there, you had to go down a ridiculously steep hill and then up another ridiculously steep hill.
So when Dear (Now Departed) Old Dad used to tell us he had to walk to school in the sleet / snow / rain / hail , uphill, both ways…. he was right.
I hate when that happens.
Boiled hot dogs still make me totally nauseous. Remember the little globules of fat pooling around the surface of the water? Urgh - I feel queasy thinking of it.
Karyn’s last blog post..Santa, Baby
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:43 am, My Tiny Kingdom » Beast Says:
[...] to look back further? Check out the comments to this post. Posted by Anne Glamore @ 9:43 am • Parenting, I Birthed ‘Em, Now What? [...]