A couple years ago, my husband and I took our three daughters, currently ages 12, 10, and 7, to an
event on a college campus. While there, we walked through one of the older
buildings and passed by a bank of payphones. “What are those?” the girls asked.
I explained the concept of putting a quarter into the slot to make a call. They thought the idea was completely absurd! “Why
wouldn’t you just use your cell phone?” they questioned. I reminded them that
there was a time before the invention of cell phones when people were dependent
of those archaic methods of calling someone to which they responded, “You mean
payphones are a real thing? We thought Adam Levine just made it up for that
song!”
It
occurred to me then that there are, in fact, several “old fashioned” things and
concepts, like payphones, my kids will simply never understand thanks to modern
technology!
- How to look something up in an Encyclopedia or Dictionary – Let’s face it – they’ll just Google it.
- How to use a rotary dial phone – My grandmother
had a black one. I used to love to put my fingers in the circular opening and
spin that dial, but it took forever to call someone. Now, my kids just tell
Siri to “Call Mom.”
Photo Source - How it feels to be tethered to the wall when talking on the phone – When my family got a cordless phone, I thought it was so cool that I could take the phone to my room and shut the door! Nowadays, we can walk around almost anywhere and even drive our cars while we talk on our phones.
- Traveler’s checks – Do they even make these anymore? Before we went on a vacation, my parents went by the bank to trade cash for these little ditties. These days, everyone just uses plastic.
- Being limited to three TV channels – Back in the
day, we only had the Big Three – NBC, CBS, ABC. There was no FOX, CNN, MTV,
Disney, or Nickelodeon. Today, it is absolutely mind boggling how many channels
and mind numbing shows are available.
Photo Source - Walking across the room to change the channel – When I was a kid, I was the remote control. Now, we have so many remotes that I don’t even know what half of them are for!
- VHS and Cassette tapes – Last summer, I was showing a movie
on VHS to a group of kids at our church. As they impatiently waited, I told
them I had to rewind it to the beginning. Most of them didn’t even know what
“rewind” meant.
Photo Source - The sound of a dial up modem – Modern kids would probably think Earth is being invaded by aliens or zombies if they heard the sound that anyone over 30 would instantly recognize as the doorbell to the Internet.
- How to entertain themselves on a road trip by playing the license plate game and singing “99 Bottles of Pop on the wall” a few dozen times – Even ten years ago when my kids were toddlers, we had a minivan with a DVD player. Now, newer model cars come fully quipped with wifi and our kids are fully equipped with devices to stave of boredom (and save our sanity) if we plan to be in the car for longer than 20 minutes.
- Giving someone you care about the gift of a Mix Tape – I can remember sitting by the radio for hours with my tape recorder ready just waiting for that certain song to come on so I could record it. Thanks to iTunes, we will never have to do that again.
- Flipping through a photo album – Remember the days of loading the film into your camera, watching the number tick lower with each photo you snapped, dropping the film at the drug store, going back a few days later to see what you actually captured, then organizing them in a photo album? For my kids, Instagram is their photo album. Many “youngsters” will probably never even own a camera – they will just use their cell phones.
Modern
technology has certainly made our lives easier and I will be the first to admit
that I love my contemporary conveniences. However, it does make me a little sad
that my kids will never experience the smell of an old Encyclopedia or the
excitement of waiting for that song to
finally come on the radio. I can only imagine how ancient our current
advancements will seem to my grandkids another 25 years from now!
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This post was part of the One Word Blog Linkup hosted by, Janine of Confessions of a Mommyholic, Marica of Blogitudes, and me! This week, the word prompt choices were Blessing and Absurd. If you would like to join the linkup you can find more information HERE, sign up for weekly emails HERE, and/or join our Facebook group HERE. Every Friday, two prompts are emailed. Choose one and write a post using that word as inspiration. Linkup up any time between 6:00am EST on Wednesday-9:00pm EST on Thursdays on any of the host sites.
An InLinkz Link-up
17 comments:
My girls definitely don't remember any of these and never will, but like you I totally can never forget any of the above, especially only having three TV channels and having to actually get up to change a channel instead of remote surfing. Seriously, we have come a long way, but wonder how much further we will advance in years to come now, as well.
I too was the TV channel changer. lol I also made mix tapes for friends and special someones. I found one not too long ago and laughed because I had no way of even playing it now. Our kiddos also will never lnow the joy of Saturday Morning cartoons. The one day of the week when they played all the cartoons.
YEs! Your girls are even younger than mine, so I'm sure these things will really seem like ancient history to them! Thinking about where we will be in the future is exciting and terrifying.
Oh, Saturday Morning cartoons!!! That's a great addition to the list! When I was around 5 or 6 my mom actually signed me up for a Saturday morning dance class. I hated it because the teacher was mean and I had to miss my favorite cartoons! :-) I didn't last long in that class.
We purchased the full World Book set with the Childcraft books and Welcome to Reading and about 70gazillion other things, and I MAKE Dietrich look things up with me when he asks questions about a topic and we learn together (I do resort to google when the Books seem to leave out information specific to his question or one of my own). I also make photo albums through Snapfish or Shutterfly, but before I discovered that I loved making the scrapbooks myself. Dietrich and Madilynn both enjoy flipping through the pictures. Some of their baby pictures look so similar they don't identify themselves correctly. The VHS portion of our combo player is currently working better than the DVD side, leaving us to use the X-box for DVD playing (and it's up higher than they can reach for so many reasons). Hoping to link up today but my blog is being transferred to my own personal domain! Really enjoyed this list and your stories!
We used to lay on the floor in front of the TV so we could change channels with out toes. Man! We thought that was genius, and then along come remote controls!! My kids don't understand commercial breaks. We used to rush to the bathroom and then get a snack from the kitchen and try to make it back before the show came back on. Now they just pause whatever they are watching!
Lisa I love this post. Wow, talk about bringing back memories. Holly cow. We were just talking {my hubby and I} about only having three channels on the television. Encyclopedias, oh man I sure wish we had kept ours. I always remember loving the smell of them whenever I had to use one. What a fun post :)
Oh yes! To think that we didn't even have television in India while I was a kid! How far we've come. Hard to explain this to the new generation.
Great post, Lisa! I totally remember so many of those things, and I am happy to say that my kids do know a couple of them...we have a huge set of Encyclopedias in our upstairs library. They also grew up with VHS, because that was what we had. Oh and three channels was a real nightmare if the President was on! LOL! Have an amazing week!
Thanks, Angela! Good luck with the transfer!
Yes! My hubby is even bad with the commercials thanks to the ease of the remote -as soon as a commercial comes on, he just changed the channel (again and again and again!).
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Yes! My dad has told my kids about listening to radio shows and they are completely dumbfounded by the idea that there was not TV! :-)
Thanks, Stacey!
I think my dad still has our Encyclopedia Britannica collection and part of me is just sad that our kids will never, ya know? Also the rotary phones and waiting to tape my songs and yeah, all of it. I miss those days, so much.
Ah yes - the time phone line! I had forgotten hat one! :-)
They were definitely simpler days - though in a more complicated way.
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