People born before 1990, what’s something you experienced that younger generations will NEVER understand ?

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de-milo@reddit

the chokehold transparent colored electronics had on us. i had a clear teal blue pager and then a clear purple case on my nokia 5190 cell phone. i would’ve killed for one of those clear vtech cordless phones. they were in so many 90s tv shows

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graciejj2000@reddit

No internet, no cell phones, really shitty video games Atari

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Don-Poltergeist@reddit

The stress of trying to get a videotape rental back in time before you get a late fee.

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de-milo@reddit

and this

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PM_ME_UR_BEST_1LINER@reddit

Doing dumb shit and having no permanent online record of it forever.

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Sweet-Sale-7303@reddit

This is what is screwing up kids now. Everybody knows when a kid screws up because of social media.

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YVRkeeper@reddit

You would think that would make them behave a little better, but instead they’re intentionally being assholes for the gram

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sheeplewatcher@reddit

Doing stupid stuff for likes.

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Super_Moose_Rocket@reddit

This is one of my gratitudes. I’m the only that knows about most of my stupid shenanigans and I’m thankful it’s not all over the internet.

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Nachoraver@reddit

Having to actually put things together to make them work - like 5+ cables and adaptors to have a Nintendo hooked up to a tv. No Bluetooth, no WiFi, no airdrop. The lack of cables required today is astounding when you think about it. Everything is wireless. Also not having to physically touch anything now, it’s all controlled on an app or a home management system.

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PorkChopS8ndwiches@reddit

TGIF prime time television. One of the highlights of my week. Now my kids just stream whatever they want whenever they want. It was such a joyful experience for me and my siblings on Friday evenings! ❤️

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YVRkeeper@reddit

Was just talking about this with my wife. We started watching a tv series with our kids a couple nights a week and it’s really reminding me of when I was a kid.

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frackleboop@reddit

I used to look forward to TGIF every week. As much as I enjoy a lot of the conveniences we have now, appointment television is one of those things I actually kind of miss sometimes.

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PorkChopS8ndwiches@reddit

Absolutely! When content is overly accessible, it becomes devalued. I’m sure our dopamine hits were so much higher viewing scheduled programming vs. kids today who have unfettered access to anything they want.

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ThepalehorseRiderr@reddit

I miss having to go to the theater and video rental. Things that seemed to give us something to do and bring us together.

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tylenol3@reddit

I grew up rural and we only had FOX for most of my childhood so I never saw TGIF, but I definitely remember appointment viewing. Simpsons, In Living Color, X-Files, King of the Hill… I can’t remember the specific lineups but I remember Thursday and Sunday nights being magical.

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Express_Signal_8828@reddit

The X-files Friday night were such a highlight of my early teens!

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reillan@reddit

gif

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PorkChopS8ndwiches@reddit

I can still hear him: “did I do that?” Lol 90’s catchphrases

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Illustrious-Lead-960@reddit

And SNICK.

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DenverBroncos_Fan@reddit

I tried to explain to my son just last night that we had to plan what to watch and when. He couldn’t even begin to wrap his mind around that.

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Comfortable_Tale9722@reddit

To add to that. Must see tv NBC Thursday nights.

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22buns@reddit

Loved Thursday nights! What a lineup!

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redrosebeetle@reddit

Related: not being able to pause television.

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Not_a_werecat@reddit

IT'S BACK ON!!!!

running back from the bathroom with soap still on your hands so you don't miss anything

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omnes1lere@reddit

I took a shower during the commercial break for celebrity deathmatch

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MolassesConstant2256@reddit

The iota of power you had by screaming it was back on was insurmountable.

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chunkyloverfivethree@reddit

Album art. One of the most exciting things about buying music was the booklet that came with it. It didn't hurt that there were bands that still made albums as a comprehensive piece in the 90s.

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de-milo@reddit

with all the lyrics

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TikTokTinMan@reddit

True for video games, too! I remember buying a game and pouring over the instruction book in the car on the ride home.

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chunkyloverfivethree@reddit

Absolutely. Forgot about that. Games also worked right out.of the box. Now we are all the beta testers.

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MolassesConstant2256@reddit

Shared rumors. For example, Marilyn Manson was Paul from The Wonder Years.

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de-milo@reddit

walt disney is cryogenically frozen and housed in a secret basement under Cinderella’s castle in disneyland

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seche314@reddit

Richard gere

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Careful-Ant5868@reddit

gif

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thrawn3385@reddit

Marilyn manson’s rib

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nic626@reddit

Empty time

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Wrong-Local-4283@reddit

your parents planning a long roadtrip, and going to the AAA office to get maps of your journey. mom was the navigator and my dad would make her nervous and he would miss his exit, getting lost and relying on strangers directions to get you back on track.

now we have gps and who even buys atlas maps anymore.

i grew up outside Washington DC and my parents did two road trips to Mexico city this way. the first time was in my Dad's chevy custom delux truck. he had a few containers of gas that he ended up relying on in Mexico. otherwise we would have gotten standed in the mountains doen there.

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de-milo@reddit

my dad worked for southern california gas company in the 80s and early 90s reading meters at homes and businesses and always had to have four thomas guides in his car at all times to cover all the local counties — LA, orange, san bernardino and riverside. a new one came out every year and he always had to have the new one. if i went out with him on calls (definitely wasn’t supposed to do that) i was the navigator.

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Either-Sentence3652@reddit

You’re gonna drive down three lights. But don’t turn yet. Go two more lights. You’re gonna see a house with a mailbox shaped like a rooster. Make a left, then the first right. Go past the K-Mart. Then left at the first light. And you should see a sign for your exit…

Five minutes later…he said to turn after two lights, right?

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the_well_read_neck_@reddit

If you hit the railroad tracks, you went too far.

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the_well_read_neck_@reddit

I lived in Colorado from 2015-2020. Around 2017, I was working at a bar and someone left an atlas. Someone was going to throw it away, and i said id take it. I tossed it into my 87 Buick LeSabre. A few months later, we're going on a camping trip. It's me, my friend Sam, and his son in the front seat. Kid was blown away you could seat 3 people in the front seat. I gave him the atlas, and told him to keep track of where we were. I gave him some hints along the way. 5 hours later, we're about 2 miles from where we wanted to camp. Off road vehicles only. No cell service. I look down at the kid and asked, "Where are we?" He points to the map, and was damn near right on it. I used it to get us back to another highway crossing, we met a local and he showed us a few spots to camp. We head to one place and started to feel lost again. My friend in another car gets out to pee and stumbles upon a campsite. To this day, it was the most beautiful place I've ever camped.

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xXWestinghouseXx@reddit

And early map websites could be a little sketchy with there directions. I remember one roadtrip insisting we go straight ahead but the data was so old that it didn’t account for a BUILDING being built and turning a straight road into a t-intersection.

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Born_Tale_2337@reddit

AAA TripTik!

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Artistic_Potato_1840@reddit

Or if you’re driving cross country by yourself off of the main highways, having to watch the odometer and do math to know when your next turn is coming up.

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CrabbyCatLady41@reddit

That sounds exciting! My mom would wake us up really early and say, get up, we’re going on vacation. Where are we going? We’re going on vacation!

Then my dad would choose a general direction and drive. Usually south or east. We would stop at random attractions, and get a hotel room with access to a pool. Pick up a bunch of brochures and choose some more tourist attractions for the next day. It was chaotic and I wish stuff like this was still even possible. We could have driven the minivan off a cliff and nobody would have ever found our bodies.

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Vast-Pizza-7581@reddit

I went to AAA in 2014 for maps for a cross country roadtrip just in case gps and phone couldn’t be used!

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eyelers@reddit

Christmas before the internet and cell phones

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ManateeNipples@reddit

This isn't really a good thing but my kid loves to hear stories about psychos beating the hell out of each other to get the last popular item at the black Friday sales lol.

Black Friday was fun when you didn't know what the sales were until the newspaper hit the front door on Thanksgiving morning. The internet ruined it because then everyone knew in advance and would camp at best buy for 4 days lol

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Wrong-Local-4283@reddit

having worked at a best buy, that was always weird to me. they would also camp out when a new xbox would come out. i worked in the warehouse so i would be one of the first to recieve them and lock them up in a cage.

i only ever worked one black friday. it sucked. as my family was going off to bed after eating turkey, i was going to work.

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de-milo@reddit

same! and i worked in customer service so the day after christmas was the second worst day — all the returns

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Vash_85@reddit

And now there are "black Friday" sales starting the 1st of November that extend through the 1st week of December.

Our Thanksgiving morning routine was getting up early, going out and getting doughnuts for the kids for breakfast, grabbing the 6" thick paper with all the adds, getting home to get a fire going in the fire place and have everything ready right as the Thanksgiving day parade started. Kids would eat and sit by the fire looking through the toy ads and wife and I would look through everything else and "plan" the night. Nothing opened before midnight so we had time to eat and get everything ready for the night before battling the crowds for actually good door buster deals. There's almost no urgency or desire to do any of that now.

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de-milo@reddit

the toys R us toy catalog at christmas time was peak 👌

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Delta-IX@reddit

did they get to watch jingle all the way yet?

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Beneficial_Ad_1072@reddit

Eh? What was so different about Christmas…. Before the internet lol

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trifecta000@reddit

The holidays in general just felt... better when everyone wasn't plastered to their phones every second. Sure there was TV and video games and stuff, but I can't quite describe how stuff like that wasn't anywhere as ubiquitous or convenient as phones have become in our daily lives.

We posed for photos that didn't get developed for weeks, we watched some TV but we also all ate dinner together without a single phone in sight that wasn't attached to the wall.

Technology just kinda ruined everything.

[-]

Markottu@reddit

Actually playing outside

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Beneficial_Ad_1072@reddit

Kids spent the day out on the trampoline, plying with the hose, sprinkler was on for awhile… did outside stop existing?

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KoRaZee@reddit

Being disconnected

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jncheese@reddit

Not yet connected really, there was no internet to be connected to.

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Ordinary_Aioli_7602@reddit

VCRs

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jncheese@reddit

A time before the internet

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Jfonzy@reddit

Just not knowing something and being okay with it

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Bub697@reddit

I feel like “I don’t know” was a very common and acceptable answer growing up, outside of school lol.

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Grouchy-Reflection97@reddit

The unbelievable weight (and toe/ankle destroying properties) of the beds, sofas, coffee tables, TV tables, and HiFi cabinets we grew up with.

I moved into my first unfurnished rental a couple of years ago, so I bought a bunch of thrifted 80's furniture to get me started.

Furnished my house for around £200, many items being £1, from the 'dear god, someone please just take it' aisle of my local British Heart Foundation shop.

Figured it'd be cute and nostalgic, like Barbie's Dream Nursing Home. Wound up getting pretty impressive upper body muscles from 2yrs of ADHD driven 'I'm going to rearrange everything again, for reasons'.

I moved a TV cabinet thing upstairs yesterday, nearly died in the process, lmao, as the thing is pure dead weight.

I bought a flat pack bookcase a while ago, but took it back for a refund, as it felt flimsy AF. I can get stuff that could survive a tank driving over it for much cheaper, thank you.

I guess I'm a bit of a snob now, as if you don't feel your soul leaving your body when you move a piece of furniture, it's just not proper furniture, lol.

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constantgardenr@reddit

Calling time to set your clocks

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NicPaperScissors@reddit

The beautiful abandon of play before being saturated in so so so many different toys and technology.

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DannyPantsgasm@reddit

Seeing a new michael jackson song debut on tv. I remember when thriller premiered. Network news shows interrupted their broadcasts to show it. It was on every channel for a couple of hours. It also scared the living piss out of me.

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cnhn@reddit

Rubbing through the kitchen not knowing mom was in the phone and getting clothes lined by the telephone cord

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relpmeraggy@reddit

Answering the phone without knowing who was calling. Also calling a girl and having her dad answer.

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MolassesConstant2256@reddit

“Um hello sir, hi, good evening…this is…um…(voice cracks)…Steve. I’m sorry if it’s um…late…but may I please speak to Rachel?”

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Geewhiz911@reddit

Yah.. and hearing her dad yelling “RACHEL! There’s someone on the phone for you!”, felt like a violent indirect attack

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Godloseslaw@reddit

I vividly recall saying, "umm, umm, is Lynne there?"

And the brother replying, "umm, umm, yes she is."

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saskies17@reddit

Hahaha so true

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bUrNtCoRn_@reddit

She can’t come to the phone right now because she’s grounded.

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Munk45@reddit

*69

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jesusmansuperpowers@reddit

Nice

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Careful-Ant5868@reddit

gif

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Grouchy-Reflection97@reddit

Discovered yesterday that death by landline (during lightning storms) was apparently a thing in 80's America, too.

Mr Ballen's latest video covers the case of a teen who called a girl he fancied at school, but he got electrocuted through his eardrum before he had a chance to speak.

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/16/nyregion/lightning-in-telephone-lines-caused-jersey-youth-s-death.html

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stompy1@reddit

The good old days of prank calling and calling 1-800 numbers out of a magazine, because what else are you gonna do on a Friday night as a teenager.

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-_phaedra_-@reddit

And you could call 800 numbers from a pay phone. When I figured that out it was truly a moment of awakening. 1-800-ABCDEFG

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VOLTswaggin@reddit

1-800-ABC-DEFG Hooked on Phonics worked for me. Back when even companies had people answer the phone instead of a machine.

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gummi-demilo@reddit

I engaged HEAVILY in prank calling between 1995-96 prior to the advent of *69. Also calling the local alternative station and hoping the afternoon DJ would put you on the air

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indecisiveskin@reddit

NEWSFLASH: *69 was a thing years before 95-96.

They knew. 😂

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xtlhogciao@reddit

I learned about it when the 8675309 (I think this was before we had to dial the area code) guy called back…then I was grounded.

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gummi-demilo@reddit

Well, if it was, my middle school ass wasn’t aware of it.

I remember finding this woman named Aphrodite in the phone book and just leaving her these weird fake voicemails about psychic this or that. It was peak Miss Cleo era

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Upbeat_Tear3549@reddit

Prank calling your high school office from the only pay phone in the school was another neat trick from the 90s.

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mmoonbelly@reddit

Probably just a British thing : answering the phone by saying your own phone number back to the caller so they could tell you “sorry wrong number” and hang up.

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saskies17@reddit

Getting past the father's pickup was a huge feat. Confidence builder for sure...

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Captain3leg-s@reddit

Super long corded phone in one central location in the home.

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bUrNtCoRn_@reddit

I noticed an old phone jack near our kitchen bar last week. It’s right in between the living room and kitchen and I thought “huh, I bet some mom used to stretch that cord half way across the house from here”

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ZealousidealSea2034@reddit

I was running through the house and got clothes lined by one of these long ass cords. I swear I got a concussion before we knew what they were..."go lay down and take a rest!" 😂

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Boetheus@reddit

Rotary phones

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DerMettMark@reddit

Lol

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des1gnbot@reddit

Yes—I regularly spoke with my friends’ parents for a few minutes before they would hand over the phone, and this was completely normal

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FluffusMaximus@reddit

Terrifying

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maggie320@reddit

Regarding phone calls when you’d get on the phone and hear your neighbors having conversations, some of them were juicy. I remember being on the phone with my friend and we both shushed each other and listened to an R rated conversation for about an hour.

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amindfulloffire@reddit

People being nosy and listening in on your phone call.

Angrily slamming the receiver down on the cradle.

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S_A_R_K@reddit

Angrily slamming the receiver down on the cradle.

"I want you to listen very carefully "

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subtle_importance@reddit

Sending faxes to Art Bell during his show hoping to hear him read them as I listened live on AM radio.

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Better_Quarter8045@reddit

Just how fucking awesome the original Jurassic Park was in theaters.

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catsdelicacy@reddit

We used to be bored. Boredom was possible.

I remember putting a penny on a napkin over a glass. It was Jenga for cigarettes, you'd take turns burning the napkin and whoever lost bought the next round of coffee to keep the waitress from kicking us out.

People talk about how they're bored, but they're not. They're overstimulated. Boredom hasn't existed since 2007.

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burf@reddit

What people call boredom now is the anxiety of lack of constant dopamine hits (speaking from experience).

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Sorry_Consequence816@reddit

When my mom and I were flying back west from visiting my aunt in New York.

There was a big storm and we ended up getting rerouted to Chicago and having a big layover.

No one knew what was going on, there were no cell phones, my dad was at the airport waiting all day. When we finally arrived and got off the plane he was waiting there with tears in his eyes. (He was head over heels in love with her their whole 48 yr marriage.)

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Tony_Tanna78@reddit

Having less than 10 stations of television to watch.

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01110101011011100110@reddit

We had 3 and pbs, but only if I stood in a certain spot in the living room.

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jumpup81@reddit

Thank you for your sacrifice.

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positivefeelings1234@reddit

Having to get up to turn a dial to watch said television.

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oldmancoyote22@reddit

Having to adjust the antenna or hold it in place after turning said dial.

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bUrNtCoRn_@reddit

I remember when we got cable and I was amazed we had like 35 channels. I still remember ESPN was 23

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Substantial-Web-8028@reddit

I had to explain to a 17 year old yesterday what an encyclopedia was and why we had to have them. Also, phonebooks.

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Adventurous-State940@reddit

*69

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Positive-Neck-1997@reddit

Making the vast majority of my decisions by myself, with little or no assistance from others (or the Internet/AI). Life was good…

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HardyCheil@reddit

Imagining what games would be like if they had graphics like in the pre rendered cutscenes. FFVII in particular. Now, the remake is like a million times prettier than those terrible ultra compressed 90s fmvs

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blondeandfabulous@reddit

Using a rotary phone and having all my conversations within earshot of my parents (before we got a cordless phone sometime in the 90s).

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mid_1990s_death_doom@reddit

Calling the 24 hour movie showtime hotline in the middle of the night so your boo thang can call and you can answer call waiting without your parents knowing.

Calling and they're "not there."

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BijouWilliams@reddit

I'd call the weather report or what time is it number for that. Get call wanting without the phone ringing.

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dydrmwvr@reddit

OK, I just have to say I love this whole thread. also remember sneaking to unplug your parents bedroom phone so your friends could call past curfew to talk while disturbing your parents and then having to remember to go plug the cord back in.

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Jiggly_Pop55@reddit

The internet not being a thing in your home or at your fingertips. Hell, not even having a computer at home.

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AlexisEnchanted@reddit

Picking up the phone and hearing the lady down the street talking because the neighourhood shared a phone line. That was when I was very young.

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Akiranar@reddit

Saturday morning cartoons.

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CrazyWork2940@reddit

Just being able to walk around without camera's everywhere

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5hallowbutdeep@reddit

Traveling and being unplugged and nobody knows where you are at. Not even your parents.

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Mata187@reddit

Playing a video game all the way through on one go because you couldn’t save your progress.

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Green_Wyvern17@reddit

Having ro go to a comic shop to get the good ones

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Fun_Negotiation7663@reddit

Roadtrips where you had nothing to do except look out the window.

Boredom in general.

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kronik419@reddit

Genuine human connection.

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hiro111@reddit

Just generally not really knowing anything for a fact. Everything was hearsay and speculation. You also had no idea where anyone was and no reliable way to get in touch with them.

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angrybirdseller@reddit

Payphone to call friends!

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ebmfreak@reddit

Being excited for the sears catalog to arrive by mail every October / November - and spending hours And days leading through every page and circling items you would wish Santa can bring your for Christmas.

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whoisbill@reddit

Being bored and being ok with that.

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olive_juse@reddit

Life before internet access.

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Flat-While2521@reddit

The reasons we say

“Dial” the phone number
“Hang up” the phone “Roll up/down” the window

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FUCancer_2008@reddit

Hard core boomer parents

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jreashville@reddit

Holding the TV antenna because when you let go the picture goes fuzzy.

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iiooiooi@reddit

Waking across the room to change the channel.

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iiooiooi@reddit

Dying of dysentery.

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MikeBfo20@reddit

Riding bikes into the random woods behind places, crawling through sewer tunnels, throwing bonfire parties next to rivers after crawling and running under the interstate.

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spiker0620@reddit

Calling the OK Soda hotline from a rotary land line phone.

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Unpainted-Fruit-Log@reddit

Having to remember phone numbers and where places are.

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CheckYourStats@reddit

Two whoppers and a large Fries cost $3

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Illustrious-Lead-960@reddit

I told them, The joy of sorting through the 99% of the dreck in the hundreds of games of a shareware & freeware collection to find something you really fall in love with.

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AndroidNumber137@reddit

Legitimately being concerned that I'd die in a nuclear apocalypse against Russia.

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Born_Tale_2337@reddit

That’s back in style these days 🤣

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des1gnbot@reddit

There’s still time for that

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mstermind@reddit

Using your wrist watch to hack the telephone box and make free phone calls. That was a lot of fun!

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BaddestKarmaToday@reddit

9-10 years old. Saturday morning cartoons. Followed by leaving the house and not having contact with anyone but my friends until the streetlights came on that night.

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MaestroLogical@reddit

Here's an obscure one.

Peeling the styrofoam label off glass coke/pepsi bottles. The unique way it tore was just oddly satisfying.

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Swimming-Squash-3573@reddit

People smoking on an airplane with the ashtrays on the armrests.

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DocMcCracken@reddit

Dial up, internet takes forever, then someone calls and you're knocked off line.

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ItsDarwinMan82@reddit

Waiting for a song on the radio to record it, praying the DJ wouldn’t talk at the beginning of it!

Going to CVS to get my monthly YM and Seventeen Magazines.

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Alatariel99@reddit

Or calling the dj!!

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Hoppy_Hessian@reddit

Having to do an inter-library loan for a research project.

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weedtrek@reddit

Not everything was valued. Like not everyone wanted to get the most for everything. Garage sales and thrift stores had actual good deals. You could get a used car for a couple hundred bucks, nothing fancy but it would run.

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Open-Cryptographer83@reddit

The way the 80s felt.

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yeuzinips@reddit

Precisely how brown, orange, wood-panelled, and smokey it all was

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Alatariel99@reddit

We had orange counters and a wooden den 😂

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Markottu@reddit

Facts. I can remember when my parents went out and left us with a babysitter. She let others come over to the house (obviously a no-no), and we watched MTV when they actually showed music videos.

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shartoberfest@reddit

We never had a baby sitter, it was just the oldest sibling responsible for keeping the rest alive.

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chazd1984@reddit

Only being able to be contacted if you were home! Being out meant not answering phone calls, texts didn't even exist. Answering machines!

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Hades_Mercedes@reddit

Making your crush a special mixtape.

Calling somebody to make plans to meet and taking a whole ass subway ride across town on faith that they would just be at the place, at the agreed upon time and having it mostly always work out.

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BalrogRuthenburg11@reddit

The smell of car exhaust.

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maggie320@reddit

The New York Mets being good.

But seriously I went to an old Catholic school and we had to open the windows in class with a long pole. Please tell me someone else remembers this.

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Careful-Ant5868@reddit

I'm sorry, as a Philadelphian I'm obligated to do that.

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gummi-demilo@reddit

I didn’t go to a Catholic school but this was still a thing in extremely old schools

Also, go Mets lol

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kermitcooper@reddit

This repetitive post asking what I’ve experienced.

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Bushgooher@reddit

Colecovision controllers were joysticks, not steering wheels.

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Super-History-388@reddit

Having to go line up to buy concert tickets.

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three-sense@reddit

Doing school group assignments over the phone, or worse, mandatory in person. That was yucky.

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drimmie@reddit

Car phones, beepers

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Beneficial_Cicada_37@reddit

Being the remote controller for the tv.

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Sea-Significance8047@reddit

Having no obvious solution to boredom literally every single day.

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GMane2G@reddit

Dot matrix printers that take forever

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LeftHandofNope@reddit

Being unreachable.
Saturday morning cartoons. Driving a Standard What life was like before phones

[-]

gummi-demilo@reddit

Very specific, but your friends and your mom’s friends/coworkers calling the house and mistaking you for the other

(Even our family members couldn’t get it right)

[-]

Vash_85@reddit

Pagers and trying to find the nearest phone to call back.

Calling into a radio station to request a song so you could record it on a mixtape.

Dial up internet.

Kazaa, limewire, napster

Renting a video game from Blockbuster or Hollywood Video for 3 days at a time, trying to clear it in one or two goes.

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monkeetoes82@reddit

Going to the video store on a Friday night for a movie and hoping all the copies hadn't been rented.

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ArthurBachEsq@reddit

Turning the knob on the television

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greenerbeansheen@reddit

Going on a road trip with an atlas.

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Two-Soft-Pillows@reddit

Metal playground contraptions. Huge tall metal rockets you could climb up ladders through multiple landings 60 feet up. Metal spaceship looking things. Spinny things that you could get caught under if you tried to.

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IllustriousDoggo1855@reddit

Having 1 TV, 1 phone and 1 computer for the entire family to share. And if you went online that meant you were using both the phone and computer...so many arguments over this.

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CriticalChop@reddit

I played a lot of cards with my family, they gathered for it. I know many card games.. for some it was board games too

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rob132@reddit

Black Friday deals were actually amazing things.

People would rush in to the stores like lunatics to get amazing deals of which they only had five or so.

You really had to experience it.

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CamachoBrawndo@reddit

Having to wait for night and weekend rates, fight to dial a friend first, then listen for the click of a sibling on another receiver.

Saturday morning cartoons were our golden hour. Made to keep us entertained while the parents slept in, and our parents feigning outrage at it so we kept the volume low to "not get caught". Prime time TV was whatever dad wanted to watch.

We were allowed to freely roam the neighborhood. As long as our homework was done and we were back in time for dinner or bedtime, the news used to ask where your kids were at 10. We learned so much with those years of independence. We played outside no matter the weather.

We went window shopping at the mall as entertainment.

I know versions of this still exist, but it was on a different wavelength in the 80's.

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MotorbikeNick@reddit

Smoking was still everywhere. Parents smoked, smoking in restaurants, etc.

Cleaning a VHS head with rubbing alcohol when the picture didn’t look right anymore. Having no idea what “widescreen” even was and then when you first saw it complaining about the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen

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trifecta000@reddit

You had to get a book delivered to your house, or buy one at the grocery store, who's sole purpose was to tell you what was going to be on TV that week and at what time and channel it was on.

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Flagge33@reddit

Hooking up stuff to the TV took a minor in electrical engineering with the different connections and converters depending on your TV's age. You were lucky if you had RCA or coax that worked, doomed if you had to use a F adapter.

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bconner1277@reddit

Having to stop playing Super Mario Brothers 2 because you had to blow into the cartridge to get it working again.

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atlmobs@reddit

Leaving your house and your parents having no way to know where you went or who you were with.

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stealthmode00@reddit

The first date "unlock the door test". Date unlocks and opens the passenger car door for you (with a manual key!) and then you lean over and unlock the door for them from the inside. It was a test on both sides!

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Disco99@reddit

Complete disconnection on a brilliant summer vacation day. Up early to ride your bike to your friend’s house, and your parents knew you were gone but had no idea what you were doing for the 12+ hours you were gone, as long as you were back by dark. And even then, you might have gotten permission to camp up in the hills and watch the stars all night. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury has sections that capture that feeling.

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ScaryGarry_SG1@reddit

Christmas meant a day of NOTHING being open. Today, still a lot of places closed or with limited hours. But back then you didn't assume that anything was going to be open that day at all. You didn't even try to go

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CarlSpackler22@reddit

Smoking sections in restaurants

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IndomitableAnyBeth@reddit

If only! Many states didn't even insist on fully separate seating areas until after 2000. But Sis, born '88, can't remember when people could smoke everywhere in most restaurants unless it was a fancy sit-down place.

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someguyfromsk@reddit

Party phone lines.

There was 3 farms on our line, you had your own ring, if someone else was on the phone you were screwed.

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seche314@reddit

The Amish do this

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Big_Somewhere9230@reddit

The novelty of having two landlines in one house. Collect calls to pass a message on to someone else.

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digawina@reddit

Having to wait a whole year to watch The Wizard of Oz on the ONE day it was broadcast. And the disappointment if you weren't going to be home. You'd have to wait another year before getting the opportunity to see it again. Same with holiday shows like Rudolf.

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greaterwhiterwookiee@reddit

Not knowing who the Simpsons were

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TheGreat_Powerful_Oz@reddit

I remember watching the Tracy Ulman show as a kid just for the Simpsons in between the sketches before it became its own show.

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TikTokTinMan@reddit

1-900 numbers. I remember calling the Nintendo helpline and the Sierra hint line a couple times as a kid without my parents permission and getting in quite a bit of trouble. Not as much as trouble as my friend, though, who called one of the other kind of 1-900 numbers…

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Just-a-Guy-4242@reddit

I remember doing this, specifically for Zelda: Link to the Past. The automated “helper” talked soooooo slow, and would take seconds to respond to the selections… I kept thinking I was going to get caught! I realized much later in life that the reason it was so slow was to ramp up the time you had to spend on the phone, costing as much as possible for the simple “tip” that you could only damage Gannon with the silver arrow…

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Creepshowx@reddit

The excitement of seeing nudity in a movie because we didn't have an infinite supply of pornography available on a device in our pocket.

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throwaway20041517@reddit

The first date “unlock the door test”. Date unlocks and opens the passenger car door for you (with a manual key!) and then you lean over and unlock the door for them from the inside. It was a test on both sides!

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IndomitableAnyBeth@reddit

The utter fear drilled into us about the horrors that would surely befall is we ever pressed a key when the activity light on the 5¼" floppy drive was lit.

In first or second grade, in computer class, someone in my class chose to go get a tissue while it was working and their elbow accidentally hit the space bar. They gasped, immediately covered their face and waited for the awfulness, hands on their knees. For the computer to at best tell on them (I think the computer teacher had lied about that) or at worst to actually explode. (Very high-tech city. Enough of us had parents in computers that we'd heard tell of "the magic smoke" and combined that with the terror of the forbidden action to come up with this as the obvious reason.)

Nothing happened. So some kids started experimenting with breaking the rule to a point beyond what could be accidental. Still nothing happened. Could have, theoretically but didn't. I don't think the adults had any idea how much stress they'd created, leaving us terrified of hitting something at the wrong time.

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sha--dynasty@reddit

Stealing cigarettes from the counter of a gas station. They used to have displays up front. Or buying cigarettes from a machine at local diners or restaurants.

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CannedDuck1906@reddit

Knocking on your friend's door and asking their parents if they can come out and play.

Being told to go outside to play and being out of contact with everyone besides who you're playing with.

Trying to cram a portable CD player in your pocket. Or the set up in your car for it.

Racing to get home before the street lights come on.

*69

Candy bars wrapped in foil and paper.

Surge.

TV Guide channel and The Weather Channel's Weather on the 8's.

TV stations ending their broadcast day and going off air.

The Dewey Decimal System.

Grocery store encyclopedia sets. (Funk & Wagnall's)

The sound of the air changing when a TV turns on.

Koolaid in a Tupperware pitcher and cup. Or a metal cup.

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ddayam@reddit

Scrambled porn on HBO. SOMETIMES YOU COULD SEE A BOOB

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CaptainAHav@reddit

Click was a sound not a verb.

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GuessDizzy196@reddit

Not having the sum total of human knowledge within your grasp at all times actually makes you smarter somehow.

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bfume@reddit

Nah it definitely made me smarter. I knew the world before it existed. I’ve never taken it for granted.

Having that kind of instant access to the entirety of human knowledge was literal science fiction.

And then it just… existed. And it’s still awesome. And it’s still making me smarter.

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icanhaztuthless@reddit

Not having any source of news beyond newspaper or air broadcast.

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driventhin@reddit

Using encyclopedias 🥰

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FinishingMyCoffee1@reddit

Having 4 seasons

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SinnU2s@reddit

TiVo

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DoctorDividend@reddit

Civilized politics

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Undersolo@reddit

The quiet of your own thoughts.

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ASCENDKIDS@reddit

No

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Chemical_Shallot_575@reddit

Huge toy stores, with endless rows stacked floor-to-ceiling.

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Eric848448@reddit

Porn over dialup. Ugh.

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happy_snowy_owl@reddit

Teddy Ruxpin.

And why it's funny that Eminem makes sexual jokes about it.

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stoudman@reddit

The phrase "you won't always have a calculator on hand."

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Coop_4149@reddit

Card catalogues.

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StevieNickedMyself@reddit

Dial-up internet. Mom had to use the phone, you had to get off the computer.

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RipErRiley@reddit

The impossible escape from second hand smoke

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StNic54@reddit

The relevance of Gallagher, Ernest P Worrell, and Ray Stevens.

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RadGnarly42@reddit

Trying to record something on a VHS tape and forgetting you broke off the little tab so you're scrambling for a little piece of tape to put there before the commercial break ends and the program you want starts because there's no telling when it will air again.

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Substantial-Toe96@reddit

“30 minutes or it’s free”…

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PeterPunksNip@reddit

Doing naughty stuff with your mates at a young age, without the fear of ending on the internet. Freedom to be kids doing silly stuff, no camera in sight.

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frougle_mcdugal@reddit

That damn Noid!

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Economy-Weird-2368@reddit

“Be kind, rewind.”

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CaptZombieHero@reddit

Seeing a new NES game on the shelves and being so excited because you weren’t spoiled by previews, or months of online board discussions/discords, no around the clock coverage. It was new, no one knew how to beat it, and you had to spend days trying to figure it out.

Also, calling Nintendo Tips line for help.

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SaladAnnual@reddit

Wood paneling…everywhere.

Waiting for your favorite song to come on the radio so that you could record it for your mixtape, only have the DJ talk over the entire intro: “New Janet Jackson…this is the new new exclusive…shout out to Brooklyn…Friday night in the place to be!”

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DeathandHemingway@reddit

Crystal Pepsi in a glass bottle.

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maggie320@reddit

General sodas in glass bottles with the foamy plastic label you could peel off like a spiral.

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KudosOfTheFroond@reddit

Core memory!!

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Middleage_dad@reddit

Running to the bathroom during a commercial break

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idkmybfftiggz@reddit

Thomas Guide

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the-cookie-momster@reddit

You couldn't really fact check things easily. You had to like... go to a library or ask someone you trusted.

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Accomplished-Mud-173@reddit

The sound of dial up internet 🙄

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knivesofsmoothness@reddit

Purple passion

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cmh_ender@reddit

waiting until after 9 to make a phone call for free minutes

looking up a phone number in the white pages

using a paper map to plan a cross country trip

total freedom of your parents not knowing what you are doing, where you are at and who you are with

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ManInTheMorning@reddit

Man I forgot about the after 9pm calls.

I had a camp girlfriend in middle school who was just far enough away to be long distance. Timing was crucial.

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fourofkeys@reddit

being secretly three way called and being manipulated into talking smack about one of the other people on the call.

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Linvaderdespace@reddit

Cannonball by The Breeders.

oh sure, you can put the track on and they can listen to it, but without that firsthand exposure to the dial up it won’t hit the same.

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Markoff_Cheney@reddit

They used to have windows on the overhead portions of C class motorhomes, the ones where it is a converted van where there is a bed over the cab. We used to ride up there on the drive to and from the campsite, every time, all the time. All the way to Lake Powell from Denver. Before the RV, we were in the camper, over head of the cab, in the bed overlooking the highway. Absolutely not safe, but also really fun. Kept us out of our parents' hair and we got the best view for the ride.

Biking in empty fields. They're all houses and apartments now in the suburbs of Denver. Used to be so much open space in Littleton when I was a kid.

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S_A_R_K@reddit

Looking up a business number in the yellow pages, calling them to get directions and having to hold while they found the one employee who knew how to get there from your side of town.

Setting a meetup time & place then just hoping everyone made it. If not, you waited for a while then gave up

MOVIE PHONE- Austin Powers, the Spy Who Shagged Me....

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Going out with friends and your parents don’t know where you are.

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