Here was something that caught my eye. It’s just a
list of the things younger Americans either don’t know or will never learn about. A reminder of just how old I am, and how much the world has changed.
A couple of the things that really struck me about this list of 100 things kids will never know includes:
Typewriters – which is how all my college papers were done, and I still occasionally use
Super-8 film and cameras – which is not a great loss, but is visually interesting
Walkman’s – do people under 30 even know what they are?
Cassette tapes and/or 8-tracks –see Walkman
3 networks on television – yep before cable there were just 3 major channels
An album – though CD’s and DVD’s may be called that, I mean the original vinyl discs
A television without a remote control, in black and white, and/or with a round dial
A phone that is not digital, nor portable
Television stations turn off for the night – yes they used to not be 24/7
A floppy disc – do they even have that for computers any more? Remember when they came in 5 inch size?
Atari video game systems and the joysticks they had – or Intellivision. There was another one too.
Reading books – an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, an almanac, or just a regular book for entertainment
Writing letters to talk to friends - For that matter, calling someone and having to call back because there were no answering machines, text, IM, and so on
Writing full grammatically correct, properly spelled sentences
Learning how to write in script
Life without a computer
Playing games on a board with people
Going down the block to use a payphone, or a payphone that you could close the door on
Being restricted to just 1 ringer sound
Doing math in school without a calculator – that includes trigonometry, algebra, calculus, and geometry
Slide rules – I don’t even remember that
A library card catalogue system
Paper wrapping on candy bars
There are many more things that the list at Geekdads has. A few things they left out include:
A time before music videos – buying a record just because the singers sounds good
Cartoons only being on tv for 2 hours during the week and 5 hours on Saturday
Banking hours being the only time to go to a bank
Pizza costing 55 cents
Beer cans with pull-tops
Soda and orange juice in glass bottles
No warning labels – on anything
One phone company for the nation – Ma Bell and it was cheaper
When being a soldier was an honor – still is in my eyes
Drinking was legal at 18
Using tokens to get on the subway in NYC – they cost a little as 50 cents as I remember
Not having to worry about school shootings, or the loner students, or child molesters
A time when rap was about having fun
Break dancing
Men wearing platform shoes
Growing afros 14 inches or more – not for braiding just the afro (men and women)
Non-digital clocks
Playing outside
There is so much more. Just imagine though what the next generation will not know or forget.
