And the classic.
Why it’s called “Roll down the window”.
Or “hang up” the phone
When bigger tech companies were cool.
When everything worked solidly and without bugs
When was that? I’m nearly 40 and don’t recall that ever being true.
Literally like four years ago
Most products have always had bugs in them, though.
Rushing to the boombox when you hear your new favorite song, to record it to cassette
Wow, am I a geezer already?
Is that the first step to becoming Geezer Butler? Or do you have to be butler first?
Rewinding a VHS tape.
As time goes on, more people are going to start wondering why a video has warping video and sound effects added to a sped up or reversed video.
We used to leave on our bikes for the day (no phones, so basically unreachable). The only rule was you had be back by dinner.
Tbf, as a parent now, I wouldn’t let my kids go unsupervised that long without some periodic check-ins throughout the day. I mean, I definitely remember much of my childhood being like this, but in retrospect it also led to us doing lots of stupid/dangerous shit that did result in a few ER visits over the years (e.g. broken arms, legs, concussions, stitches, etc).
Children need dangerous play in order to develop into successful adults.
I don’t disagree. My comment was saying a healthier balance is what I would prefer when my kids are a bit older. That article fails to be well-rounded and only focuses on proving their hypothesis versus presenting data in an objective manner. For example:
The answer lies in expectations. Parents today receive constant messaging that in order to be “good parents”, they must always keep their children safe. And it is widely believed that the world is no longer a safe place for children to play in. Yet statistics show that it has never been a safer time to be a child. Injury-related deaths are at an all-time low in most Western nations. In the US, deaths from unintentional injuries fell by 73% for boys and 85% for girls between 1973 and 2010. This misperception of risk creates the parental paradox.
Yet just a bit earlier in the article, she mentions this:
Every successive generation of children since the 1970s has seen their outdoor play and freedom shrink. Time use data show that children’s leisure time has gone down, particularly time spent in unstructured outdoor play, while time spent in academic and screen-based activities has increased. Between 1975 and 2015, outdoor play among UK children decreased by 29.4%, while screen-based activities increased by 22.4%. In the U.S., only 16% of children in 1997 played outdoors every day. By 2003—just six years later—that dropped even further to 10%.
So how can they rule out that it’s safer now because the amount of kids engaging in unsupervised, dangerous/risky activities is the lowest it’s ever been? (As a side note: In the US, I think she also ignores the very real financial problems with serious injuries. A medical bill for a broken bone or other serious injury can cost some families tens of thousands of dollars without insurance. Back in the 60s/70s and earlier, medical bills were way, way more affordable than now.)
There are other problems, as well. She seems to only focus on “intensive parenting” and showing that structured activities are a negative thing. Whereas articles like this, https://parenthetical.wisc.edu/2017/01/23/acing-afterschool-making-extracurricular-activities-work-for-your-teen/ , argue that structured activities can be beneficial, too. Later near the end she does discuss simply prioritizing it versus going all in, but the way it’s presented throughout the rest of the article makes it seem like structured activities are entirely a negative thing and unsupervised, unstructured activities is the best way for kids to thrive.
Anyway, I’m an advocate for simply striking a healthy balance between the two: Don’t overburden your kids with supervised, structured activities, and don’t let them become feral by completely going hands-off with their free time. In other words, gently guide, mentor, and support them. :)
It was definitely the time to do stupid shit, but it was also great freedom. I remember constructing skate parks in abandoned factories that would rival some of the best pre fabs today. We made a 2 story indoor go-ped track. Obviously very dangerous stuff, but i wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.
Haha, same here, but ours were packed dirt trails with dirt and wood ramps in the woods (our neighborhood had a large forested area nearby). Fun stuff, and definitely some very fond memories.
But, I was definitely one of the kids that broke their leg (my femur) and had to get 4 steel pins that stuck out of my skin to set the bone while it healed for about 3 months before getting a regular cast for the rest of the healing. It was pure agony, the entire healing and physical rehab recovery process took almost a year (my school even sent an in-home tutor to my house for a couple of hours a day since I had to stay at home for several months). I’d never want anyone to go through that, particularly my kids.
That being said, I do think it’s important for kids to have a degree of privacy and autonomy, I just don’t think I’d be kosher with the amount of unsupervised freedom that I had as a kid (my kids are still <5, so I have some time before they’re semi-free range animals).
Dirt tracks were amazing. We had a few, one of which was a huge bowl in the ground. The jumps were enormous and I always thought “whos hitting these?” Like pro level size and you would never see anyone on them. Then you’d hear “so and so” did a 3 on that one. It made for some good myths. Luckily there was so much empty space, we’d just make some jumps for our skill level.
So you are saying maybe two years?
Not being in constant contact with everyone you know, and not having a neverending stream of notifications assaulting you via your phone.
When you got to see relatives who lived far away, you talked about what had been going on in their life because you probably had no idea.
You read, listened to, or watched the news when you wanted to, unless someone you know told you sooner.
If you had to wait somewhere without a book or magazine, you just sat there with your thoughts. During childhood, you learned how to be bored and practice imagining things.
I wouldn’t use “never get to experience” but i would say it’s much harder to have that real sense of community that we easily found in the 90s, early 2000s, etc.
People are more connected to others but still more isolated from others. We were less connected to other people back then so people made a real effort to come up with fun activities and bond together. For kids, it’s the lack of just playing outside in the neighbourhood with friends. For adults, it’s the lack of third places and community/religious events.
Though to an extent, the lack of community, especially amongst children is due to the complete lack of independence and they have to depend on their parents to drive them everywhere. Parents have been arrested for picking up their child from school on foot, as in walking to school.
Due to that, and the kidnapping/child predator scare, children depend solely on their busy parents to drive them everywhere for every social interaction.
Though to an extent, the lack of community, especially amongst children is due to the complete lack of independence and they have to depend on their parents to drive them everywhere.
where do you live that there’s not even a playground or a residential street within walking distance of your home?
Setting up your computer before you go to bed to download a demo for a game that’s… 20 MB large! Waking up in the morning to inevitably discover the download failed part way through.
Remember download managers?
What a blast from the past! Totally forgot that these were a thing lol.
“apparently my sister picked up the phooone! Aarrg! $!#@t”
sometimes I still have to do this, sure not for something that’s only 20mb but a 1gb file can take a whole night to download in my uni accommodation. The landlord doesn’t seem to give a shit though because they’re still advertising that the building has “up to 100mb/s” wifi speeds.
Waiting for a single image to load on the screen from top to bottom, one line at a time and being charged per minute for the privilege.
Downloading what you think is a song off a file sharing program only to find out that it’s a virus.
Ah that reminds me of the time every single file on my computer got replaced with a .vbs version of itself. Good times.
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman. But I did buy viagra or whatever this ad was always about.”
Bugs hitting the front windshield in extraordinary numbers.
This is a sad one once you notice it. The outdoors feel emptier
what happened to the bugs?
We managed to kill off a third of the entire bug population during the last 25 years or so.
Huh, I think they all flew to Mexico, I did a road trip from Mexico to Austin TX recently and I do recall having not many bugs in my windshield in the USA… But back home to Mexico they all started to appear LMAO.
More of a the natural habitat of insects are still thriving in Mexico and the habitat being wiped elsewhere.
It’s two things, one personal vehicles are designed to bend air around them rather than slice through or just brute force through air resistance. This means that more bugs are pushed out of the way with newer vehicles now, compared to older vehicles which just had the bug hit the windshield. The second and much more impactful reason is because the insect population has dropped significantly in the last 25 years.
the insect population has dropped significantly in the last 25 years.
Why has that happened?
Pesticides
Climate change
Less flowers
deleted by creator
Accelerating climate change and an increase in consumer car culture (more cars on road to kill bugs = less bugs)
Fireflies/Lightning bugs. I remember there were so many in backyards in the summer, even in the suburbs.
Then they just kinda went away. Feel like I’m lucky if I even see a few a year.
Car design change? I’d assume that more aerodynamic cars airflow that sweeps more bugs away rather than smacking them into the glass. I can assure you that they still hit motorcycle visors.
I mean, I see way less bugs when outside even a decade ago.
I just drove through Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas and confirmed there are still enough bugs out there to make you use a squeegee when you fill up for gas. But I remember when I was younger having to stop just to clean the windshield or else you wouldn’t be able to see.
Regular police officers not wearing full body armor and tactical gear.
I think that’s pretty dependent on the country
I agree with that, some countries don’t have the money to oppress all fancy like that.
This reminded me of visiting London nearly two decades ago. People went “It’s so safe, the police officers don’t even have guns!”
I get there and maybe saw two cops that weren’t armed, most of the rest were suited for urban combat down to the MP5 and half dozen mags slung around them.
I think London is its own special place. The Met police have a reputation in the UK for being rougher.
Getting static shocked by the TV screen.
And degaussing monitors.
Reminds me of the time I had fun screwing up our CRT TV with magnets.
The internet in it’s heyday, when it was a genuinely thrilling place to find information, and quite a lot of weirdness, and before it was swamped by corporate interests.
I remember starting out with gopher and a paper print out of ‘The big dummies guide to the internet’ which was a directory of almost every gopher and ftp site (pre web) along with a description of what you’d find there. Then the web came along and things got really good for a while. Once big corporations got involved it all went down hill.
If you like gopher, you’re gonna love Gemini: https://github.com/kr1sp1n/awesome-gemini
I’ve been keeping half an eye on it for a while, I should probably give it a go again.
in its* heyday
Their 60’s.
This hits hard.
Carrying over heaps of computer equipment (including the mega CRTs before their demise) to your friends house for an all night LAN party that you guys had been prepping for. Then having a blast while parents look at you funny for being into computers.
Oh, and seeing a new BBS at a bus stop that you’d need to go dial into and check out.
I’m commenting too much in these replies because I remember too much, but I’m going to share one last anecdote. For a while I had a case with a bolted on handle to bring to LAN parties. Then I read in a magazine where people were building computers into hard shell backpacks to take back and forth and that changed the game. If I had to guess that was 98 or 99.
Those things were super expensive at the time. I took a seasonal second job to buy one and mount my system in it. The cooling was garbage but I sure thought I looked cool dragging it to LAN parties.
In 2004ish I set up a dial up server so my dad and I could play Battle for Wesnoth. We lived across the country from each other and neither of us had reliable broadband available. However, he had free long distance calling so it was (and remains) a way to keep in touch and hang out without actually having to talk to each other because we’re both terrible at that.
I really enjoy these types of anecdotes. Was the case with a bolted-on handle military themed? My buddy had one of those!
Not on purpose, but it did look like an extra large ammo can by accident. I had green and black spray paint so I painted it green with black stenciled letters on the side.
Beautiful. That’s exactly what I was imagining!
Oh, no, whatever you’re imagining it was much worse. However, I will always love it. I’ve built a lot of ugly but functional things in my life, but that’s probably the first significant one.
