THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

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

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 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! 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!

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!!

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!

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'd usually talk over the

beginning and @#*% it all up!

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!

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!

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 'a steroids'. Your 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!

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!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that

was only like 15 channels

and there was no on screen menu and no remote control!

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 and there was n o Cartoon Network eit h er! 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!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat

something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire .. imagine that!

If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing

and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about!

You kids today have got it too easy.

You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,

The over 30 Crowd

Edited April 1, 200818 yr by TerriDoodle

I am 39 and man does this bring back memories. I remember changing the channel for my dad.

No call waiting was a pain. We used to make emergency break throughs when we had a crisis, you know like I heard jimmy likes susie.

I remember sitting by my boom box all day waiting to record songs. Let's not forget mix tapes for that someone special.

For me cable TV was all about MTV back when it was all videos all day, at least until midnight when it went off the air.

I remember playing outside with my friends instead of sitting in front of the computer IM'ing them. If they weren't home when you called there was no anwering machine so they missed out on the fun.

I remember when we got our first microwave when I was 10 and that thing was huge and still worked until we gave it away 6 years ago. I still have the first VCR we bought but of course I don't use it.

I'm right there with Laura, I remember some of that stuff too and taped songs off the radio onto cassette tapes.

Now Over 30 Crowd - let's look at the other side of that coin for a second shall we?

When you were a kid/younger did you or your parents have to worry about:

-You walking by yourself to school and not having some pervert or pedofile, etc abduct/assault you?

-Going out to a club (or whatever you want to call it) and someone spiking your drink when you weren't looking with the date rape drug?

-How you are going to get a good job without investing years and tonnes of money into an education because the market is so competitive these days if you don't have a great post secondary education you're screwed.

-Comfortably and safely going anywhere by yourself after dark.

-Not having to lock your doors and windows.

-School shootings or violence in schools (to the degree it is now).

-Metal detectors in big city schools

-DANGEROUS drugs being introduced to kids/teens at a young age (not talking pot here folks).

And those are just the tip of the iceberg that popped into my head.

Now I know the post was meant to be "a funny" but I just thought I would turn it around and add a bit of other perspective... while you may not have had computers, videogames, caller id, cell phones or caller ID ...

Ang,

I know you're trying to make a point...I get it. I graduated from HS in 1986, I'm going to be 40 in two weeks. But I want to take what you are saying seriously, but also let you know we've been sliding to where we are for well over twenty years.

I was terrified walking by myself after at dusk or after dark because already in the 80's girls were programed with that necessary fear.

The pervs were out there and as a little girl I was told not to talk to strangers/and run away from cars that stopped to ask me for directions. I think we just talk about them more now than ever.

Drugs were bad-ish. Mostly pills, Drinking was extreme and if you were a good girl all you did was screw your boyfriend silly. Herpes was rampent and HIV/AIDs hit my radar as a senior in HS.

True Dat about college, but we were told that a high school diploma wasn't going to get us far. It just took a few years for what the old people had to say to really manifest.

School violence is frightening today in ways unimaginable. That point you win hands down.

I have a 6 year old daughter and if I let myself I can get worried sick about what she will face. I try to see that most people are good and technology is just help, but yeah, the monsters in the closets are much more real and do far greater damage than what I knew as a child.

But every generation thinks their music was the best, they struggled the hardest and most importantly they believe that they invented sex. LOL.

Hope I didn't offend, I just wanted to chat it up a little.

Juli, Oh gosh no, no offense taken! :wink_smile: And I do realize that they aren't issues that have popped up overnight.

It is crazy to think how scary the world is becoming though and I can't even imagine what it will be like when I'm staring down the face of my own kids in the future having all those same worries that all you moms have.

And wishing you an early Happy Birthday!

I remember we got an Atari...I was in Heaven!

And we also had the laser disk player before the VCR, where you had to flip it during the middle of the movie.

And, I never called a friend to see if they were home or could play - I walked over. I was out from morning until night. "When the street lights come on" my mom used to say.

Car games!! We played "I Spy", Padiddle, License Plate Alphabet and my Dad would give us spelling tests...all to pass the time!!! LOL

Anyone remember Q-bert?

Q-bert? Rings a tiny bell, but....no.

Qbert was the best! A little phallic, but still very cool!

We had the hand held simon-says game passed down from my aunt from when she was a kid.. it was black with 4 colored buttons on top. We also played car bingo, and wal-mart had a whole collection of little packs of car games (like the bingo), I remember all that. I also remember when we were young and my parents finally got a van WITH A TV IN IT!! This was before the cool technology, it was a BIG normal bulky tv, installed into a shelf in the top of the van.. but it had no cable or stations, you had to watch VHS on it. All we had were Looney Tunes Babies, whatever that movie was. So we watched that over and over and over on every trip. And the table that assembled in the van, a pole & round wood table top you put together between the seats.. ahh.. good times.

But every generation thinks their music was the best, they struggled the hardest and most importantly they believe that they invented sex. LOL.

Ooooookay, I was going to keep my mouth shut, but now you've just offended tooooo many people with this one missy! Juuuuuuuuust kidding.

I was born in 84 and I'm not going to lie to you, I have YET to hear a halfway decent song that came out from 1980 to 1996ish. Crappy fashion, crappy music, crappy lyrics...come on.

So, in conclusion, my generation's music sucked. Ohhhhh yeah. Eeeeevery other generation had better music than mine.

Oh yeah, and most of those points at the beginning were my life story! Trying to tell me that I don't know crap! ha! Old fogies... mmmph. :smile:

I had Q-Bert on my Atari. I sucked at it.

I loved Simon. And we had another one called "Qwiz" or something like that. Some kind of trivia game.

Ok, this is a little more modern than Q-Bert, but still a childhood thing. When I have "remember when" conversations with friends no one ever remembers these, but I had tons of them, I *think* they were popular, and you could get some pretty popular names so it couldn't have been that rare of a thing... ok so what is it? Here's my best description:

Oversized books that were held together with plastic bindings. The books were illutrated normally, but had no words. Instead, each page had a "record" attached to it, and you had this little handheld record player you would put on the record, push the button, and it would read the page to you. Only the "records" were small - like the size of a coaster at the most, and usually brightly colored to match whatever colors were in the book. And the record player was small too, maybe the size of a large computer mouse but a much more boxey shape... but something you could easily handle as a kid. I remember I had a few Dr. Seuss books like this, some Barbie stories, but I don't remember what all else. I had about 20 or 30 of them, so they must have been around a while.

Does ANYONE else remember these, or more specifically what they were called?

I want to call them read alongs. I know exactly what you are talking about. I do, I do!

I'm 31 - like most everyone else we had one T.V. - a CONSOLE with a dial tuner. If the president was one we were screwed! I remember our first VCR - the tape popped out of the top of it (my parents STILL have it), it came with a remote that had a cord attached that had to be at least a football field long. Oh and the cars - Seatbelts? My mom's arm was the seatbelt. It's funny, she still puts her arm out to me in the passenger seat. I look at her and tell her mom, I'm past that age and look I have on a seatbelt. She laughts and says it is a lifelong habit. We had an Atari (usually for cold and rainy days - we weren't addicted and were limited), but when we did get to play I loved Kaboom and Pitfall! But most of all it was outdoors - I lived outdoors. Kids now-a-days have no idea what it is to play outdoors unless it is at a park. We had to invent our own games...usually bicycle jumping was involved - but hey the Dukes of Hazzard was "IT" back then! I hate it when my kids say, "Mom, I'm bored"....that is like nails to a chalkboard for me...I of course go into the rant of - "you have no idea what bored is!". I'm worried for their generation. All they have ever know is FAST FOOD and have you noticed the JUNK FOOD at the grocery stores...the produce section looks mighty small. Exercise? Please, the majority (not all) of them are sitting on their rumps in front of the computer or playing video games! I do make my kids watch what they eat and send them outside (I ignore the mom it is hot and I am bored - just tell them to deal with it and play in the waterhose or ride your bike - yes they love them)...if our generation has a weight issue, where are our children going to be at our ages?

All this talk about antique video games is cracking me up. The first video game we owned was Atari (Pong & Frogger) and my HUSBAND (yes I was 30!) and I would play a round or two before bed every night. No wonder I didn't have kids 'til I was 32!

THAT explains it Terry!!!! I grew up with NO video games....so was forced to play with a boyfriend, got married at 17, and had a baby at 21. Atari would have been MUCH cheaper.

My........that 'splains a lot!!!!

Kat

Oh a trip down memory lane....

Staying outside 'until the street light came on'...yes, I remember it well. And of course you knew the streetlight was on as you were outside playing...kick the can, hide and seek, riding your bike, skipping..anyone remember the little skipping 'ditties'? Girl guide, girl guide, dressed in yellow? or blue?

The first microwave..and being warned to stay out of the kitchen while it was on in case of radiation. Manually turning on and off the TV...which was in the rec room and the sole 'ownership' of it was my Dad.

One stepdaughter just last week when her father asked what she was going to do when she finished university next year replied: Travel or maybe go for my Masters. I asked: What about getting a job? Her response: That just seems so grown-up. I don't want to go to work and be responsible or old! :ohmy: I was SOOOO tempted to say something, but discretion is the better part of valour and marital bliss!