OT: Back in my day
 

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 through year 'round blizzards
carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room
schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average
despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where
they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their
family from starving to death!

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way in
heck 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've reached the ripe old age of twenty-nine, I can't help but
look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so friggin' easy!

I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a god-damned Utopia! And I
hate to say it but you kids today you don't know
how good you've got it.

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet--we wanted to know
something, we had to go to the goddamned library
and look it up ourselves.

And there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter--with
a pen --and then you had to walk all the way
across the street and put it in the friggin' mailbox and it would take
like a week to get there.

And there were no MP3s or Napsters. You wanted to steal music, you had
to go to the god-damned record store and shoplift it
yourself. Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and
the DJ's usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

You want to hear about hardship?

You couldn't just download porn! You had to bribe some homeless dude to
buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! It was
either that or snap one off to the lingerie section of the JC Penney
catalog. Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting. If you were on the phone
and somebody else called they got a busy signal. And
we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either.! When the the phone rang,
you had no idea who it was. It could be your boss,
your mom, a collections agent, your drug dealer, you didn't know... You
just had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with
high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600...
With games like "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked
ass! Your guy was a little square! You 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 faster until you died!

Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium
seating!
All the seats were the same height. A tall guy sat in front of you, you
were screwed!

And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20
channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to
use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on.

And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on
Saturday morning... ...D'ya hear what the heck I'm
saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled little bastards!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too
easy.

You're spoiled, I swear to God! You guys wouldn't last five minutes
back in 1984!

That's funny as chit, Wally! :D:D:D

I, by no means, consider myself old or even "All grown-up" but I swear, the more I look around, the more disheartening it is to watch these silly little punks meander through life being so damned clueless. Things are handed to these punks that we had to work hard at achieving.

Just the internet alone has transformed the world almost in it's entirety for business and such, I can only imagine what doors it opens up for kids who can't and don't have to leave the house.

They have the world at their fingertips and all we had was a bike and "20 channels" on tv.

I used to tell my kids about how I walked through 15 inches of snow to get to school but they never would buy it because they knew I grew up in the Los Angeles area.:rolleyes:

You're absolutely right. Todays kids have it real easy.
Or at least the have more forms and choices of entertainment.

You talk about 1984. Try going back to 1974 or 1964 for that matter.
In 1964 we still had BLACK and WHITE TV's.

Cable TV?....HA!!
You had an antenna on the roof and if you were lucky you got 6 channels.

The only means of outside communication, besides writing letters, was the telephone. Hell, we didn't have touchtone service till 1969. Up till then we had a rotory dial.
Forget about dialing 411 for information. If you wanted a phone number you grabbed the phone book and looked up yourself. If it wasn't in the book, they didn't have a phone. No such thing as an unlisted number.

Convenience stores?
The original meaning of 7-11 was their operating hours. They were open from 7am to 11pm, closed on Sundays and holidays. Not 24-7-365 like they are now.

Enough of that.

Atari 2600 ????
 

Lucky you,,, We stared out with PONG !!! 8 white lines and A white DOT !!!, we didnt get cable until 1987 !!!

At 27 I complain about "The youth of today" That just isnt right. What about the fact that High school kids now dont look like they did when I was in school. No wonder all they guys are on drugs. I wouldnt be able to walk up to one of these new and improved 11th grade girls that look like a 25 year old going to a night club without getting stoned first. The world is changing too fast.

That's some funny chit...:D :D :D :D

Aint that the truth!!! My graduation year of 91 the freshman class all looked like they skipped a few grade and came straight from 4th grade they were so small!! Its got to be in all these preservatives and chemicals that are in the foods now a days! My parnets never let us have any junk food...."You want icecream?....here have some frozen koolaid in a dixie cup!!!" :eek: McDonalds?.....maybe once a month if wer behaved! now its normal to bring home fast food cause no one has any time and its just too convienent... Oh well...the time they are always changing! Wonder what the kids growing up today will be complaining about the kids of the future? :D

Wally.... your on fire today!!!.... LOL
But it's all the truth!
Damn Kids! :D

Check this out...I do The SoCal thing of Going to the Coffe Shop every morning at 7:00. (You Know Latte's and Mochas...Coffe aint what it used to be either) anyway, All of the "High School" girls come in at around 7:45. First of all, what the hell does a high school kid need coffe for. Shouldnt they be drinking Hot Chocolate or Tang. WTF? Secound, They look like whores! and thats being nice about it. Boobs and Butts hanging out for the world to see. All I want is a morning pick me up and I end up feeling like Joey Buttafucco buy the time I leave there. So help me God if my little sister ever dresses like that Ill throw a boat cover over her before she makes it to school. Dont parents give a sh%$t. I dont think these kids are buying there own clothes? Oh my God! Im turning into my father! :(

You guys are all amatuers ...

I can remember when my Dad used to get his boat motor
out of the trunk of the car to hook up to the 8 footer to go fishing!

ROTFLMAO

Aqua
:frog:

Oh yeah....one more thing....Chris 232, I know I am relatively young (25 tomorrow), but what is pong? Was it a game, or more of a game console like atari?

Ah pong, I remember it well, but for those even older there was a video game that you layed acetate sheets over the screen and they clung to it by static, and then you moved a cursor through the mazes :D :rolleyes: .

As for computers, in school we thought we were king when we got to run the micro fiche machine or portable audio recorder (size of a shoe box) :( Or better yet the chaulk board eraser cleaning machine :D .

As for walking to school everyday, growing up in Aspen, I walked about 2 miles each way IN THE SNOW :crazy: every day.

Hey IDRPSTF, I notice you still make it in to the coffee shop at the same time each morning :D ;) :p

Now with McDonalds, like Wally said, it was a treat to go there once in a while, now it's punishment if I'm forced to eat there :hothead:

This is too fun.

Les

Does anyone remember:
1. Monchichi's
2. Who Shot J.R.?
3. ColicoVision
4. Americas Little Big Star (Mary Lou Retton)?
5. The words to Rappers Paridise? Lets hear it?

ya makin fun of me wally? Ya got that atari still?? lots better than Ps1.

Cable, Dvd, 27" tv. 5.1 surround sound, yeah we got it, up in my room (dont worry i had to get a job and buy it all myself)
Whenever I want something to eat or drink in the summer when mom and dad arent home, i have to walk 1/2 a mile to the marina (rough i know!!)
High school coffee (and whores) yeah, weve all been addicted to that stuff since 4 years old. me its just a soft drink, lots cheaper. and the whore part..... you just gotta be one of us to appreciate it.

why am i talking on amessage board in school you ask? we had a water main break and i am at home :D

Pong was the first video game to hit the market.
It had two players, each with a control knob. On each side of the TV screen there were flat paddles with a white dot bouncing from one side to the other. Object was to hit it back to your opponent and try to make him miss hitting it.
TV tennis of sorts or more accurately ping-pong.

BTW I have a working COLECO Vision system, still in the box, tucked away someplace. There's about a dozen cartridges with it too.

Hyperbaja, the nearest school bus stop was just about a mile away. Didn't matter if it was hot, cold, raining or snowing I walked with 20 other kids to meet the bus. In high school they moved it closer. Then it was just over half a mile away.

I agree, with everyone. I am the ripe age of 26, but man I wish I had this technology, 10-15 years ago.

:D

I play atari games on my pc sometimes, there awesome, superbreak out and pong are the best.

now im gona look on ebay for an atari.

I used to ride my ten speed to school in the winter
I could make it to school before hte bus would show up :(
It was warmer then standing outside.

very true here these kids ask for handouts and GET it
Not one of them wants to WORK for a living
and if you find one that does want to work they think you should pay them 20 bucks n hour to just stand there.

But you know what is worse then the way the kids are

It is the parents, teachers, friends and family that ALLOW them to grow up this way!!!!!!!!

:(

I wish i still had my Atari!! I cant even remember how many countles hours i spent playing space invaders, and frogger, dig-dug, joust, q-bert....oh man do i miss that system! :(

Speaking of cartoons...where are they now:

http://www.starterupsteve.com/swf/tooncops.html?

:D :D

anyone know what year the 1st computer chip hit the market ? and who made it ? try 1973 and it was TEXAS instruments a hand held calculater... Heck i was out of high school that year!!!!

My friend purchased Atari 2600 off of Ebay and was able to find lots of games on Ebay as well. We play it when ever we get together. Tank and Missle command. Just like riding a bike!

In 1976 I bought my first calculator, a TI-30, when I started my machinist apprentice course. Was two years out of high school.
I don't remember what it cost, but I know it was real expensive. Close to a hundred bucks.
The display was LED's and it would eat batteries like there was no tomorrow. That I do remember.

29 next month. I had ColecoVision, Stompers, and Pong as a kid. Anyone remember when Tonka trucks were METAL? WTF is up with all this plastic BS? This year at Christmas, I had to search for a week to find a slot-car racetrack for a gift. Those things were the BOMB when I was a kid.

I have a 17 yr. old step daughter.
when she needs to do a report for school she just get's on the internet. ( I remember getting a ride to the library and digging through encyclopedias and card files and having to learn the "dewey decimal system).

She has a cell phone. Damn thing rings off the hook at all hours of the day. We had one phone in the house on a cord (no privacy) and I had a 30 minute a night limit to use it - after I was done with homework.
Don't get me started on the clothes....

Took her to the mall last week - can't believe howmany young kids (14-19....) are walking through the mall with a cell phone to their ear. Used to be you went out of the house so you wouldn't be bothered by anyone calling or dropping by.

Food - she's used to eating out every night - I mean McD's, taco hell, Denny's, etc....
when she spends a few days with us she brings a menu of "homecooked" meals that we make at home. Yes, we enjoy cooking at home, hell I make better steak and Lobster than I can get in a restuarant - plus it turns into a few hours that me and the wife spend together talking and working on dinner together - it turns into an event every night, not just chucking food down your gullet and *****ing about the waitress.

I could go on and on with this thread,
and I'm only 31
I imagine I had it pretty easy compared to some of the "wiser" people on this board.

You think you had it tough?????
I grew up in the 40's and 50's when there was NO TV, NO such thing as a computer, NO malls, NO fast food, You took your dates to the movies or penny arcade, and worst of all.....trying to get laid was as impossable as snow sking in Death Valley in July.

Great thread. I'm 56 and have a son 18 who is a freshman in college. I had high school and college in the 60s ... they were the best of times and the worst of times.

Unfortunately many parents want their kids to "feel good", be their "friend, and want the schools to raise their kids. Parents have to be parents and accept their parental responsibility.

... don't get me started ... think I'll stop here ...

Some day the youth of today will be leading this country and deciding what to do with the elderly.
Thats you and me pal.

truth is , its a real shame how kids spend their time these days , always inside , hardly ever doing anything physical.

when i was growing up their were 20 guys around my age in the neighborhood. we would leave the house around 7 am with a p & j sandwich in our back pocket and head for the woods. play army , build forts , catch frogs , turtles , or anything else we could get hold of. wouldnt come back home till 6 pm for dinner then back out again to play hide & seek. DAMM , i had it good.:D

I've got a ColecoVision down in the playroom. Lots of games including the steering wheel and accelerator pedal...

I remember when I was home sick from school for a couple of days, nearly dead, and Mom still had to go work a half day. She brought in the family's black and white tv to my room so I could watch it. I had to nail 2 broom handles together and baling wire a fork on the end of it to make my own "remote control".

We were only allowed to watch 1 hour of tv (during the week) unless we got straight A's - then we could watch 2 hours.

Girls in school were sluts if they wore red LIPSTICK (we, of course, were savvy to this advertisement and consequently only hung around with those girls).

Nobody drank coffee. There were NO vending machines in school - you ate "meat surprise" and drank milk OR brought a sandwich from home...

I didn't get a videogame till I was in HIGH SCHOOL (atari).

I agree that kids these days are ruined.
My kids are 10 and 12. My kids are excited to get old enough to go to work at one of my shops in the summers. We'll see how that pans out when it happens...

The way that kids these days talk back to parents and teachers blows my mind. There is serious repurcussions (fanny whacking) at my house for smart@s talking back to any adult - even if I hear it 3rd party. Some of my friends' kids leave me amazed - combative, foul mouth, talking back, and the parents just laugh it off (let me fix them for you..) My kids are pretty good so far and I'm proud. Great grades, sweet, lots of hugs... The test is coming soon, though.

As good as they are, they still wouldn't know what hit them if they found themselves back in the 70s...

OK OK..

Anyone remember when Hoffman TV came out with their up scale Yellow vision>>
How about Jackiw Gleason>>
How about Sinatras first appearance in a theater?? It was the Paramont and I was back stage.
How about Steve Allen and the tonigt show??
Dean Martin
The rat pack
Benny Goodman??
Dizzy??
<==Proud to be the oldest on this board at this ripe old age..:p :p :eek:

Back in the late 60s & early 70s, a high school kid that worked could afford to build and maintain a hot rod and was allowed to drive(race) it to school.:)

I think they call it Progress :rolleyes:

We had kids of own when we sprung for the " INTELLIVISION"
What a P.O.S.

Then we went for the BETA-MAX video player

As a kid I was like Lotoparty. Out the door at the crack of dawn didn't return till dark.

As teenagers we were always taking something apart to see what made it tick, and then see if we could make it go faster.
I.E. mini bikes, gocarts Then later on Z-28's , Vette's etc.
came in handy when this boat insanity started.

Bottom line is only dorks stayed in the house.

BTW anyone remember winky dinks

oh my god!! did all you old fogies put the dippers on to tight today. Most kids like my self kinow how lucky we are to have all the crud that mom and dad buy for us. However we have a difficult time in todays word just like you old people had to deal with when you were younger. They may not be the same problens that you had to deal with but they are equally a difficult to get through. Did you guys have to worry about the drugs that are going arround that are very easy to od on how about thinking that the pill that you think is asprin is something else that your body doesnt agree with so you end up dead. How about pressure comeing from you at every angle for you to be the perfect person which includes looking perfect acting perfect having great grades in your APclasses.
No I dinn't think you had to deal with that so looswen your dippers, and get over it.

Hm okay well I'm under 20 and I realize that the younger generation is spoiled in a lot of ways. Not each kid is though, I mean I've done well and my parents got divorced so I never got handouts from every angle. I do agree that many parents now a days don't care as they are always at work and by the time they are home they'd rather not deal with their kids especially teens. But also, look at the increase in child abuse now. A lot of the problems with young people now are the kids themselves, but a lot of it stems from the parents. I do a lot of stupid stuf myself but I don't do drugs and all. I hang out at K-mart on my nights at a car meet and then go race instead of getting dead drunk at some party. For a lot of kids though it does hit home senior year in highschool when college rolls around. There are still a lot of good kids (teens in particular) out there, just not as many as there used to be. I can tell you that a lot of it depends on where you are raised ie south or north too. Just my 2cents.

Lance

I'm 30. I spent most my time outside getting into whatever looked like trouble. I was however a big Atari 2600 Indy 500 fan. I would play that ice oval game on Indy 500 until my thumbs were numb. You guys are crakcing me up, great stuff.....Colecovision, Betamax, texas Instrumnet calculators!!! HAHAHAHA

I got one for you. I used to play pro wrestling on Nintendo. I would be Starman, and the computer would SCREW you everytime you got to the championship bout!!!HAHAHAHA. I spent my TV time watching the Duke Boys, John and Punch, BJ McKay and Thomas Magnum. Then came Crockett and Tubs, perhaps the coolest show on the planet. You guys remember those Friday night TV shows!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!

I think that poor parenting in mostly to blame for the lack of respect kids show today. Mavflyby, I agree with what you are saying, but the numbers of unmotivated, spoiled and disrespectful kids certainly seems higher. That, and we are getting fat as a society, and for kids , that is bigtime unhealthy.....

One thing Little Princess said is correct. Aids, guns in school and drugs in school are more frequent today. But each generation had it's issues to deal with. It's all relative.
Good stuff guys and gals..... :D :D :D

like Billy Jole said "We didn't start the fire It was always burning Since the worlds been turning on us We didn't start the fire But when we are gone Will it still burn on"