Spoiled Kids Nowadays (*grumble*) (West, Argyle: high school, vs, rich)

[Pontificator]

Originally Posted by PYT

ahahahaha here I am in my mid 20's... bitching to a 14 year old about how lucky he didn't have to deal with dial-up.

Oh, we HAD dial-up, but it was something you did to place a phone call! Ha ha!! And you hoped that the person didn't have a number with 0's, so you didn't have to follow all around the dial.

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by Pontificator

Oh, we HAD dial-up, but it was something you did to place a phone call! Ha ha!! And you hoped that the person didn't have a number with 0's, so you didn't have to follow all around the dial.

How right you are! Remember when wall-to-wall carpeting was a big thing? Central air and heat...well, my gawd, weren't you the cat's meow! A home with 1/2 brick was getting on up there, but a fully bricked home? Get outta here! Colored TV? WOW! Remote control? Aw, get real! You really have a TV with A REMOTE CONTROL? WOW and double WOW! A cordless phone? Well, we've got it made in the shade now!

[AlGreen]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Greetings fellow Texans!

I figured on this fine, hot, humid, Texas morning -- with the sweet smell of honeysuckle in the air -- I would start one of the "light-hearted" threads.

In this case, the spark for it was triggered by a "forward" I got. In most cases, I just delete forwards...unless there is really something about the title which grabs my attention quick!

In this case it was one describing Life Before 30. Apparently, this one has entered the "public domain", so I hope Moderators will let it be pasted. My own comments will follow in the upcoming thread. Meanwhile, for those over *gasp* 30, can you relate?

**************
If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

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... Barefoot... 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 my 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! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

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!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen 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!

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!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! 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-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd
(Send this to someone you'd like to make smile)

****************

this was pretty funny, but i think it's necessary to point that pretty much anyone born before 1990 will be familiar with most of the things on the list.

[plwhit]

I hope I can add my 2 cents here, have been living in San Antonio for bout 32 years now, grew up in New York City.

My earliest memory was me sitting on my grandfathers lap listening to the Lone Ranger and Tonto on the radio, no tv.. Other times we'd listen to Wrestling Grandpa liked Killer Kowolsky and Haystack Kalhoon.

Milk would be delivered to a lead box on the front porch 4 empty milk bottles went in, milkman collected them and gave us fresh milk. (My Mom used to get mad at me cause I'd pry the top slightly off and drink off the heavy cream at the top of the bottle and put the cap back on)

I remember the doctor making house calls and (as it appeared to me then) his HUGE needle. and "one teaspoon of cod liver oil a night"

Only time I went inside the house was on dire threats from my mother, and God forbid I didn't was my hands and face before dinner.

When I visited my Grandma upstate NY was fun, had to go in the outhouse, need water? go outside, prime the pump, pump it in a pail and bring it back in the house. No electric used gas lamps. Yeah the stove... go get the wood and get the fire going in the stove AND DON'T FORGET TO OPEN THE STOVES DAMPER.

Nowadays it's all MTV, Teen Mom PS3/Wii/Xbox360... computers, "social networking" cell phones etc... doesn't seem to be much physical getting together with "the guys" with the younger folks.

[Canine*Castle]

My take on the matter is that kids nowadays are missing out on the way things used to be. To me, it's very sad. If my children were still living at home, they would NOT have all the things most kids have. They didn't back then such an a Nintendo or whatever other crap was sold. Usually kids are exposed to such "luxuries" because their parents buy them. In many cases, that can be avoided. I don't blame the kids; I blame the parents who really are the ones who want all these new things. I see it every day. I still don't own a microwave. I was given one as a gift and returned it to the store and gave the giver her money back. I don't have a cordless phone. My sister decided I needed one, so she bought me one. I can't stand them, so I gave it away. I bought my present home 23 years ago supplied with a dishwasher. I gave a guy the dishwasher if he would make that area a cupboard.. I don't even have a cell phone. There is absolutely no need for one. I still run the TV via the antenna on the roof and no cable, dish, or whatever will I ever use. In fact, if my TV bites the dust (you guessed it...the old console TV, 25 years old and never any problem with it), I doubt I'll get another one. I just don't like the way they make them now. The day I buy a GPS is the day I know I've lost my mind completely. Of course, that will never happen either. I could go on and on, but I won't. Yes, I do have the internet, but I probably still wouldn't have it if I didn't decide several years ago to start selling wares on eBay. That's a lot of fun. Actually, I must say I admire myself for keeping things simple.

[JS1]

you're a Luddite!

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by JS1

you're a Luddite!

Not quite, but I might make a good one.

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by AlGreen

this was pretty funny, but i think it's necessary to point that pretty much anyone born before 1990 will be familiar with most of the things on the list.

I enjoyed it as well, even though my generation in particular is the subject of this rant (the number in my screenname is my birth year). I can relate to everything except the ones involving the CPS, car seats, no microwaves, and I grew up with the Sega Genesis rather than the Atari 2600.

I really only use texting as a last resort, and I loathe MTV, but I'm also typing this on my iPhone while procrastinating. Go figure!

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

I enjoyed it as well, even though my generation in particular is the subject of this rant (the number in my screenname is my birth year). I can relate to everything except the ones involving the CPS, car seats, no microwaves, and I grew up with the Sega Genesis rather than the Atari 2600.
I really only use texting as a last resort, and I loathe MTV, but I'm also typing this on my iPhone while procrastinating. Go figure!

Hey Westerner? My generation (early 70's) grew up without even the stick figure people on the "video games". I can't remember for sure which company produced it, but it was called "Pong"...and consisted of two dials, and three "blips". One was the "ball" and the other two (controlled by the dials) were the "paddles." And we thought it was the neatest thing since sliced bread! LOL

I think you can now find them in the Smithsonian museum!

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

I enjoyed it as well, even though my generation in particular is the subject of this rant (the number in my screenname is my birth year). I can relate to everything except the ones involving the CPS, car seats, no microwaves, and I grew up with the Sega Genesis rather than the Atari 2600.

I really only use texting as a last resort, and I loathe MTV, but I'm also typing this on my iPhone while procrastinating. Go figure!

So, so young! You missed MTV when it was truly MTV. No reality shows, just music videos all the time. We'd watch for hours.