Growing up without a cell phone

ballscout1

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
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 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 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 damn 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 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! 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 ass! 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 damn 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.

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! 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!

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 ass 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 rat-bastards!

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 1970 or any time before!

Regards,
Susan Smith.
The Over 40 Crowd
 
She forgot to mention the days before cable existed. There were only like 3 or 4 channels if you included PBS. TV would go off the air at about 3 in the morning.

There were no VCRs either. TV would just be a bunch of snow and a loud static noise. They used to play the national anthem before the station would shut down.

There were also no music videos. You had to wait for the Midnight Special American Bandstand or Soul Train to see your favorite artist perform or just wait for the concert to come to your town.
 
Living in apartment buildings in Brooklyn,

we used to splice the cable line to the lines going down to other apartments. No cable box needed LOL.

WHT and HBO late night was the shit when I was a kid!
 
I was JUST talking about this the other day. I was on my daughters phone and she was getting an assignment over the schools message service. I was like OMG... that would've been incredible to have back when i was in school.

rofl#4 :wink:

No cable. Turning the tv knob with pliers. Parents wouldn't want to get up to turn the tv. So they called you from your room to come do it.

Plastic floor mats, covers for couches. Like the only sweet cereals were frosted flakes. And fruit loops. You didn't have a whole aisle.

My first job was working at a taco bell. And you had to actually know MATH to give people back correct change.

No power steering.

Learning stick shift.

Soul Train was ANTICIPATED.

Stations shutting down at night. Hell EVERYTHING shutting down at night.
 
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Two yrs ago I took my some to Liberty Science Center. They had this on display and he was like "What is that??"

black-rotary-phone.jpg
 
The big floor model tv that acted as a tv stand for the small 19 inch on top of it because the big one didn't work.

or the big one had sound but no picture and the little one had picture..


being called in the house when you was playing outside so you could turn the channel for your granny.

not having cooking spray or bottles of cooking oil in the day because everybody had an old metal coffe pot or coffe can on the stove with the old bacon grease and a big ass can of crisco

not getting fast food burgers cause they made you burgers at home and put them on white bread....

Mister Softee ice cream trucks with soft ice cream and rinbow sprinkles
 
Two yrs ago I took my some to Liberty Science Center. They had this on display and he was like "What is that??"

black-rotary-phone.jpg

how many times trying to sneak a call to some girl and you had to start over dialing cause your finger didnt go all the way around..
 
:lol:

People actually had to trust people to pick them up at the airport before cell phones.

:lol:

My ex at 30 didn't know how a turntable worked.

t90_angle.jpg
 
Two yrs ago I took my some to Liberty Science Center. They had this on display and he was like "What is that??"

black-rotary-phone.jpg

I learned how to dial my home number on a phone like this and I also used this phone to dial 9-1-1 for the first time,I had to call someone to talk too.
 
Shiiiiit 36? I'm quite a few yrs away from 36 & I remember all of that. My mom & pops were never married so they both went off and got married and had kids much later in my life so I am much older than my siblings. It forces me to see the huge contrast in the way things were for me vs them. It's crazy to watch honestly. They go nuts and damn near don't know how to function when the internet is down or they get the ipads or iphones taken away. LoL!
 
Something I was thinking about lately is that kids today have no phone etiquette. You just dial your friend and that's it. We had to be polite and say "Hello Mrs. Johnson, can I speak to....."

I really miss the previews for the upcoming Saturday morning cartoon season. With no DVR it came down to what was more important to watch.

32 and in yo thread anyway :lol:
 
these lil niggaz dont know nuttin bout that.....

th


my mama had one of these......my brother tore it up.
he received the worse ass whoopin i ever seen a human being receive in life.
made Michael Fay's caning look like a bunch of love taps.
Stereo%20002.jpg


we didnt have to wear watches to know what time it was to see if we were out past curfew..........when them street lights come on, yo ass better be within yelling distance or on that front fuckin porch.
 
I learned how to dial my home number on a phone like this and I also used this phone to dial 9-1-1 for the first time,I had to call someone to talk too.

Funny story about how heavy these old ass phones were.

Growing up my sister was a fucking klutz. She's broken her arms 3 times playing outside. So the third break was while jumping double dutch and happened 2 weeks after she got her other arm out of her cast. So she know my mother will kill her so she's trying to hide the fact her arm was broken. My mother knew something was up and told my sister to lift up one of these heavy ass phones. She couldn't do it.

Back to the hospital.
 
Something I was thinking about lately is that kids today have no phone etiquette. You just dial your friend and that's it. We had to be polite and say "Hello Mrs. Johnson, can I speak to....."

I really miss the previews for the upcoming Saturday morning cartoon season. With no DVR it came down to what was more important to watch.

32 and in yo thread anyway :lol:

Hell I'm 29, but grew up in the country. My grandma didn't have cable until like 2002, only because the cable provider wasn't really concerned about country folks.
 
Hell I'm 29, but grew up in the country. My grandma didn't have cable until like 2002, only because the cable provider wasn't really concerned about country folks.

my grandma didnt get Call Waitin til 2002.....lol.
to this day, she got a brand new dryer sittin in the laundry room and she's never used it.
she's one of the few that still has a clothes line in the back yard.
i couldnt stand hangin up clothes back in the day nigga. shit felt like back breakin work. especially when you wanted to go play with your friends. :lol:

g-and-clothesline.jpg
 
Our first VCR was a top loader with a WIRED remote. If the cord got tangled, the shit didn't work.

As for cartoons, if you didn't want to wait until Saturday, you could catch the old Hanna Barbara cartoons (Flintstones, Banana Splits, McGilla Gorilla, Ricochet Rabbit, etc.), Speed Racer, Tom & Jerry, The Marvel Superheroes, the OLD Spider Man, Ultra Man, Prince Planet, GI JOE, The Transformers, and many more after school on the UHF stations. Here in Chicago it was channels 32(now FOX), 44, and channel 50.

What's interesting is that in time before cell phones and facebook, one used to hear about the hot party or get together via word of mouth and they still used to be packed! We just knew where to go and hang out without the need for what we have now. You actually had to talk to people.
 
my grandma didnt get Call Waitin til 2002.....lol.
to this day, she got a brand new dryer sittin in the laundry room and she's never used it.
she's one of the few that still has a clothes line in the back yard.
i couldnt stand hangin up clothes back in the day nigga. shit felt like back breakin work. especially when you wanted to go play with your friends. :lol:

g-and-clothesline.jpg

Yeah but those clothes off the line always smelled and felt better..
 
Something I was thinking about lately is that kids today have no phone etiquette. You just dial your friend and that's it. We had to be polite and say "Hello Mrs. Johnson, can I speak to....."

I really miss the previews for the upcoming Saturday morning cartoon season. With no DVR it came down to what was more important to watch.

32 and in yo thread anyway :lol:

My hubb's grandmother would correct you and say "May i". Not Can. You could. But that's not asking permission.

Or like when you called, "is ____ there?" "Oh you can't speak?"

"Hello Mrs. _____. How are you? today?" But you be like :hmm:
 
these lil niggaz dont know nuttin bout that.....

th


my mama had one of these......my brother tore it up.
he received the worse ass whoopin i ever seen a human being receive in life.
made Michael Fay's caning look like a bunch of love taps.
Stereo%20002.jpg


we didnt have to wear watches to know what time it was to see if we were out past curfew..........when them street lights come on, yo ass better be within yelling distance or on that front fuckin porch.

Grandmother in law still has hers.

my grandma didnt get Call Waitin til 2002.....lol.
to this day, she got a brand new dryer sittin in the laundry room and she's never used it.
she's one of the few that still has a clothes line in the back yard.
i couldnt stand hangin up clothes back in the day nigga. shit felt like back breakin work. especially when you wanted to go play with your friends. :lol:

g-and-clothesline.jpg

Yessssssssssssssssssssss. Kids don't even know what clothespins ARE now.
 
Good list. She hit a lot of stuff right on.

That last one NO car seat. She should have included no seat belts either. You just got in the car and sat.
 
Wow nobody mentioned being the human antenna??? Remember the coat hanger as the antenna??? There was always that person in the house who, when they adjusted the antenna they got the better reception and damn-near had to hold the thing in place for the entire show!!!
 
My hubb's grandmother would correct you and say "May i". Not Can. You could. But that's not asking permission.

Or like when you called, "is ____ there?" "Oh you can't speak?"

"Hello Mrs. _____. How are you? today?" But you be like :hmm:

Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey!.............I'm rusty is all. :lol:
 
I Remember when TV went off at 12! All u wld see was white snow! After they played the star spangled banner in my town!! Lol!!:angry::lol:
 
11 & 12 are wrong, and we had the dopest cereal lineup of ANY generation.

I pull up youtube vids all the time to show my kids what they missed. :lol::lol::lol::lol:

70's baby, 80's kid!
 
11 & 12 are wrong, and we had the dopest cereal lineup of ANY generation.

I pull up youtube vids all the time to show my kids what they missed. :lol::lol::lol::lol:

70's baby, 80's kid!

No sir we didn't have either.

Cartoons was a big deal they used to have shows previewing what was coming out in Sept.

There were certain cartoons that came on like WPIX during the week

But we didn't have microwaves in the crib.....


I think she may have used a cut off age that is to yuoung for some of her list......
 
Who else had the old cable box with the dial? If you set that dial just right in between, let's say, channels 200 and 201 you could unscramble the picture and see all the nasty shit on Cinemax late nights, even if your folks didn't have Cinemax. :dance:

Now that I think about it, even the old cable remotes had a dial on it. Goddamn my old ass is gettin old.

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And the best issue of the TV Guide was the one that showcased all of the new shows that were coming out during the Fall season. Ah, the good old days.

$(KGrHqZHJDgFHk1L8OuMBR8bt(cNM!~~60_35.JPG
 
Who else had the old cable box with the dial? If you set that dial just right in between, let's say, channels 200 and 201 you could unscramble the picture and see all the nasty shit on Cinemax late nights, even if your folks didn't have Cinemax. :dance:

nigga even if we didnt have the box,.....i would try my best to watch the shit through all the squiggly lines with just the sound
a nigga would get all happy and shit if u were able to see a tit for a split second....:lol:
 
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