What cultural touchstones of past generations will Gen X be the last to know about?
Posted by Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 340 comments
From Elvis to Patsy Cline, I Love Lucy to Roots, Casablanca to The Godfather, Who that we inherited from our parents and grandparents will not be, or is not being, picked up by our children and theirs?
This is genuine curiosity, not complaint. It's just interesting to me that my Gen Z family, for example, appear to have very little idea who The Everly Brothers were. No clue what almost any pre 1980 television is, and I'm not exaggerating as much as you'd hope, would assume that something was wrong with their screen if a black and white film appeared.
HandsomePotRoast@reddit
The Three Stooges
No-Location-5995@reddit
That Dominos used to promise 30 minutes or it is free
Sufficient-Pound-442@reddit
Unless they watch MeTv, they won’t know the old school Loony Tunes or woody woodpecker. Some older Hanna Barbera shows are unknown too.
Zelig30@reddit
Well I spoke to a 20 year old kid wearing a Nirvana shirt who thought they were a clothing line. So, yeah…
Zelig30@reddit
The Thompson Twins
Braincloud@reddit
Who will remember old radio? Whether pirate radio, Wolfman Jack, cbs Mystery Theater, local late night/crazy talk radio, etc. Streaming and podcasts just aren’t the same. It’s all homogenized.
j1knra@reddit
Mystery Theatre on the radio!!!! Core memory unlocked!
Mondschatten78@reddit
On that note, when you could call in a request at any time to a local radio station. Now it's mostly Iheart radio playlists, with maybe a couple hours with an actual dj playing stuff.
grahamasterflas@reddit
3 Stooges
Notch99@reddit
The Jackass crew has replaced the Stooges.
Independent_Wrap_321@reddit
My son loves them. His sisters think it’s dumb. Nothing ever changes, lol.
Gene-reader@reddit
My parents and grandparents watched the tonight show every night. I loved Johnny Carson and watched the show until he retired. My Gen z children have no idea who Carson was and, for what it's worth, they don't even watch later night TV at all.
j1knra@reddit
Aww man I feel this! I’m 47 and one of the oldest at my tech driven company. In a mixer I made a Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers reference to my Millennial peers and got dead fish eyes.
Now I watched Johnny Carson at sleepovers at my Grammys house so I know I was the odd kid who grew up with him but I mean to not even know who those 2 icons were?!?!? I died a little
saintdudegaming@reddit
The last generation to know what it's like to live without the internet and cellphones.
HawthorneMama@reddit
I wonder if millennials and younger are aware of Trucker/CB culture from the 70’s. At the time of Smokey and the Bandit it felt so important 🤷🏻♀️
WaterwingsDavid@reddit
Dukes of Hazzard too!
Grafakos@reddit
My parents bought an Olds 98 in the early 80s that had integrated AM/FM/cassette/CB radio. Complete with handheld microphone attached via a coiled cord. The car itself barely lasted 6-7 years and went through two transmissions and an engine in the process. But hey, built-in CB!
HawthorneMama@reddit
Just knowing CB lingo made me feel so cool 😁🤦🏻♀️
Independent_Wrap_321@reddit
I had C.W. McCall’s Convoy 45 and played it to death. I was obsessed with the lingo. My dad got a CB in our Chevy Blazer, with a big whip antenna, and my alter ego was born. Mr. President here good buddy, what’s your ten? Good times.
otayguy619@reddit
BigFitMama@reddit
We are pretty close to being the last to have an actual Great Depression survivor in their prime. A few us even met our Pioneer covered wagon travelling great grandparents or our immigrants of the 1800s parents (for Americans.)
I feel like I've been extra lucky meeting professors and seen speakers from these generations. And it shaped my view of everything like time and space.
Its weird to sit back and think all the very old people I knew as a child are long dead.
NHmountain-man@reddit
Im a late GenXer, growing up my great grandmother was alive in Rochester NY. She was born in 1900, died 1992-ish. The country and the world changed almost unimaginably during her life. Even the rise and fall of Eastman Kodak in her home town.
I am grateful for the little time I got to spend with her.
DMaury1969@reddit
I still remember meeting one of the guys that worked a boat that did Titanic body recovery sometime in the early 80’s. I was 12-13 but still remember some of the stories he told. It absolutely added to my experience seeing the movie years later.
KatJen76@reddit
The "easy listening" type music popular with old people when we were young. I hated the genre so much that I don't even have an example of an artist. Maybe Lawrence Welk.
I don't think you hear much of the 1950s rock anymore. Rock Around the Clock, Silhouettes, Stagger Lee, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, stuff like that.
Will the iPad kida know the Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Looney Tunes and Disney shorts? I don't know.
musical_nerd99@reddit
Correct grammar.
Cursive writing.
hughgrang@reddit
Older movie stars Dean Martin, Clark Gable, Roy Rogers, even Elvis to an extent
Poison_Ivy_Rorschach@reddit
I teach and I’ve watched things decline rapidly as far as being aware of the past. That wouldn’t bother me, if they were at least curious. Every so often I get an “old soul” in class and they either know or they want to know. It’s the outright rejection of any type of art that was made before a certain time that makes me sad.
Tall-Yard-407@reddit
I got a record player a few years ago and was so excited because I could finally play my records again and my SD (17yo) was looking at it while it was looking at it with amusement. It got to the end and I had to nudge her to the side to turn it over and she asked in all seriousness “There’s music on the other side?” I had to seriously think about how I should respond to that question because I didn’t want to make her feel stupid so I told her that yes there was music on the other side and that we were lucky that the record player didn’t have a crank and she said “Why? What does the crank do?” I just said that it made the record go around and left for the bathroom to take a good laugh and a long look at my face and finally realized just how white my beard was. Fuuuuuck.
jaywright58@reddit
They will never know about Slim Whitman or Zamfir, master of the pan flute.
Rand_74@reddit
Alfred Hitchcock
The Twilight Zone
Perry Mason
Kojack
Independent_Wrap_321@reddit
TZ is still going strong even after 65 years, and with the reboots (I know) and renewed interest in the original I think it might make it farther than most shows. It certainly deserves to. It will be interesting to see what stands the test of time, and why, but I’ll be long gone so good luck.
HistorianJRM85@reddit
The Brady Bunch...and to a lesser extent, The Partridge Family.
Independent_Wrap_321@reddit
I can still sing an embarrassingly large number of PF songs from memory, but that will die with me. Perhaps that’s best for humanity.
“I’ll meet you halfway, that’s better than no way, there must be some way to get us together…”
SamHandwich0@reddit
Al Capome and his vaults.
My mom and i stayed up and watched that damn thing.
MysteriousCodo@reddit
Oh man, I remember this well. Watched it live and what a waste of time.
Independent_Wrap_321@reddit
Poor Geraldo. Even as a kid I understood the stakes for a live tv stunt like that and the impact on his career, I just couldn’t believe he didn’t stash SOMETHING in there to make it pay off even a little. He still managed to eke out a somewhat greasy little career after that but he was still a joke with the vault thing for many years.
SamHandwich0@reddit
I found out what bathtub gin was that night because they announced they found an empty bottle of it, and i was like WTF?
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
My mom figured he would wait until the very end for the 'big reveal' and just switched back and forth between that and whatever show she was watching. She was laughing at the expression on his face when they showed basically an empty vault.
WNJohnnyM@reddit
You knew it was going to be nothing special...and were still disappointed that it was.
SamHandwich0@reddit
No way it was live tv - LIVE!!!
That was only for special important things in the 80s
railworx@reddit
I dont recall any live "very special episodes"
MysteriousCodo@reddit
TV Station sign offs late at night. I used to love trying to stay up to watch Saturday night live. Soooo many times I woke up to the national anthem or just snow on the screen.
Curious_Field7953@reddit
This one got me in my feels.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
"It's 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?" They had current (at the time) celebrities doing that reminder.
You could call a number to get the current time and temp.
MysteriousCodo@reddit
Fox TV network has been playing the Do you know where you children are PSAs recently!
Independent_Wrap_321@reddit
…AND THE HOME OF THE…..BRAAAAVE-BEEEEEEEEP
Listen to the first 10 seconds of Billy Joel’s “Sleeping With the Television On” if you don’t already know it; it’ll take you right back to those times.
Azipcoder@reddit
I feel like Laurel and Hardy are not getting passed on to subsequent generations. Babes in Toyland, March of the Wooden Soldiers, Nothing But Trouble, Saps at Sea. They were the generation after the silent stars like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. The today kids have no idea who they are or how important they were.
LAARPer@reddit
The connection we as Gen X had with the pop culture of yesterday was severed with the rise of social media and then streaming. I used to watch Gunsmoke, the Rifleman, and Maverick with my grandmother. I saw all the 50s and 60s stuff on syndication in the 80s. My daughter (b. 2008) spends most of her time on Snap and Tik Tok. She knows who the absolute major names from the 80s in music were, but doesn’t have any desire to listen to the stuff.
HawthorneMama@reddit
From watching Gunsmoke after school, I was a twelve year old with a crush on James Arness.
CountHonorius@reddit
That makes me even sadder. Hip hop ruined their minds.
cadien17@reddit
Where does hip hop enter into that?
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
I can't really tell, I'm overly familiar with Ulverston, Stan's birthplace, so it's warped my perception of their wider fame.
That Steve Coogan/John C Reily film of a few years back might extend their shelf life a bit, but i suspect you're right.
Iko87iko@reddit
Bout 10 years back on a road trip with one other gen x and a bunch of 20-25 year olds. I mentioned L&H and got nothing but blank looks
Novel_Willingness721@reddit
The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are losing their relevance and popularity. Only one of my niece’s and nephew’s friends know any of their songs and she’s a musician (drums).
flyingfish_roe@reddit
Pay phones, answering machines, pagers and landlines. We are the last analog generation.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Fax 📠 machine. Microfiche and pagers 📟
dharmabird67@reddit
Card catalogs, yellow pages, cross referencing.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Collating and roladex
CountHonorius@reddit
Filofax, anyone?
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Don’t forget fax and phone sharing a line so can’t do both at the same time. Or AOL and dial up internet
DainasaurusRex@reddit
Postcards, handwritten letters, telegrams
5150-gotadaypass@reddit
I still do postcards to remind people to vote.
pete10278@reddit
Leaded and unleaded gas available at the pump.
S&H green stamps
Sub $20 headline concert tickets
Foot operated highbeams
Car window cranks and separate vent windows
Candy/trinket vending machines at supermarkets
Mustard Ketchup Mayonnaise in glass jars
mspuffins@reddit
i know my kids don’t give a rats behind about all the silverware and china i inherited. i have 3 sets of sterling as the only granddaughter on both sides and my moms.
they will probably sell it all for scrap value.
No-Staff-7107@reddit
I got a bunch of fine china....I dont use it, it just sits in the garage. I feel guilty because my mom valued it so highly as it came from her grandmother, but I don't want it either....
Princess_Parabellum@reddit
Agh, I have the same problem. My parents are in Swedish death cleaning mode, which I appreciate, but my mom is unhappy that I don't want her good china, her mom's good china (which she doesn't use!), and the two sets of silver to go with. It's all nice stuff, but it doesn't go with our paper plates, throw everything else in the dishwasher lifestyle. Sorry mom :-(
Dr_StrangeloveGA@reddit
Same here, almost exactly. Mom is not happy about, but has at least accepted that my brother and I do not want the sterling silverware. She's thinking of selling it and taking us all on a family vacation which is another thing altogether. Her wedding China we use at Thanksgiving and such but will likely go to Replacements LTD. No one entertains like that anymore, at least not in my circles.
Remarkable_Food4792@reddit
My Boomer mil loves Stuff and attaches so much meaning to the crap she’s always trying to unload on us. Like, I’m glad that decorative spoon you bought at The Alamo is a special meaning for you but why the fuck would you think I want it?
mspuffins@reddit
spoons 😂
mspuffins@reddit
i’ve never used fine china. i have 3 sets and 3 full sets of sterling. it makes me sad because those items were so valued by the prior generations…and i remember sitting at holidays with cloth napkins and full place settings. sadly most of my family has passed in a very short time and i can’t bear to do holiday dinners without them…so we go to the chart house.
Remarkable_Food4792@reddit
I gave all that stuff to Goodwill,
kapeman_@reddit
This is the real answer. So much junk…
Federal-Membership-1@reddit
My Gen Z girls are aware, at least, of many touchstones. I had MeTV on constantly during lockdown. They grew up with 80s alternative, classic rock, 70s hits, and then yacht rock in my truck. My younger child would reach for the radio to crank up the volume as opposed to changing the channel when I drove her to school.
blaspheminCapn@reddit
Lawrence Welk
Rubberbangirl66@reddit
Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes
pete10278@reddit
Especially the ones that are certainly not politically correct any more.
sasquatchbrokers@reddit
Forest porn , Sears Catalog
Dr_Sisyphus_22@reddit
I was watching Something About Mary with my teenaged boys and felt the need to pause the masturbation scene so I could explain why Ben Stiller was jerking off to an underwear section of the local catalog.
Truly a “We had to find our porn in the woods or settle for soft core lingerie.”
Dr_StrangeloveGA@reddit
I'll bet that was a moment they won't forget.
NotWorriedABunch@reddit
My friend's girlfriend thought we'd made up Forest porn!
ChessieChesapeake@reddit
Cracks me up how common woods porn is for us GenX males.
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
Gotta have a place to “read the interviews” in privacy….
ChessieChesapeake@reddit
Saturday morning cartoons. Communication with cords, and no wireless except for TV and radio. No way to pause or rewind, so if you miss a show, you’ll have to wait for a rerun.
Mistervimes65@reddit
Landfill porn
belinck@reddit
The Oregon Trail video game.
N0P3sry@reddit
Good one, but I’m fighting to keep it alive
I make my JHS students play the old school version. I give them a HW pass if they make it all the way. They love that game and get super into it.
belinck@reddit
Good for you! I should make my twin sons play it. We should code a networked version where we can join up as a family online and play as a team. Kinda Red Dead Redemption 0.1.
Odd-Opinion-5105@reddit
People that specialize in using a type writer and flex their words for minute
TillikumWasFramed@reddit
70s music, almost across the board. There are hardly any videos (and they are hardly shown anyway), and not many songs are still heard today--some classic rock tracks, some disco songs, a miniscule number of pop hits.
yellow_tamo@reddit
Well, my four year old loves Abba, and she also likes spending time watching YouTube videos of her dad’s favorite 70s artists. So there’s that. 🤣
yellow_tamo@reddit
Well, my four year old loves Abba, so there’s that. 🤣
hapster85@reddit
My Millennial/GenZ children have been exposed to all of that. Especially the music. All 3 have a wide and varied love of music, just like their parents.
crashcondo@reddit
Great Space Coaster
ProfessionalFlan3159@reddit
I'd have to say WW2 in terms of thr veterans are pretty much gone. Oldest GenAlpha are 14 and WW2 is ancient history
qUHTehGB@reddit
Coins and paper money
stphrtgl43@reddit
This question makes me think about how many things are lost to time. For example since this is a Gen X sub in 50 years will anyone know who Nirvana was? At that point they’ll be from 85 years ago. You mentioned The Godfather. In 50 years that movie will be over 100 years old. Nobody’s gonna know it even existed. Just a crazy concept to me.
Cold-Negotiation-539@reddit
It’s considered one of the greatest movies of all time, by one of the greatest directors of all time; people will still watch it, just like people still watch Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton movies, which are also 100 years old.
I think popular music doesn’t age as well. Nirvana is likely to be a footnote about the end of the rock and roll era, but not something that kids are still jamming to.
stphrtgl43@reddit
I highly doubt people under the age of 60 are watching Charlie Chaplin movies. If you ask a Gen Z’er who he is I bet almost none will know.
Cold-Negotiation-539@reddit
I’m happy to inform you that my niece and her husband, both Gen Zers, watch old movies. It’s because many of those movies are very good and stand the test of time. Also, if you are interested in film, you are going to watch classic movies to understand how the genre evolved.
stphrtgl43@reddit
Ok so I’ll change what I said to ALMOST nobody will know it even existed. Obviously film majors and real hardcore movie buffs will but I guarantee your average young person will not have seen The Godfather in 2076.
ST0IC_@reddit
It makes me wonder what this Gen X sub will be for in 50 years. I mean, it's not like any of us are going to be around to use it.
adventurehasaname81@reddit
I have tons of nieces and nephews in the 15 to 25 year old range ... one day my sister and I decided we were going to play a game and try to come up with the most popular band from the 80s and 90s we could find that the kids had never heard of. I personally thought it would be the Gin Blossoms. We started with obscure (Right Said Fred, etc), blew right through the Gin Blossoms, Wallflowers, REM, Tears for Fears, Poison ... and were downright dumbstruck when they didn't know The Police, Genesis, Dire Straits, U2 (!!!!).
These kids don't know a single thing about popular culture before the day they were born unless there has been a Netflix documentary on it (they knew Motley Crue). This is not like when GenX were kids and we were discovering Steve Miller Band, America, Three Dog Night, the Eagles, Santana, the Righteous Brothers, etc.
stphrtgl43@reddit
It’s a fuckin shame. I don’t wanna get kicked out of the sub cause I’m not a gen x’er (don’t tell anyone!) but even when I was in high school in the mid 2000’s all my friends and I listened to was older rock from Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to Nirvana and AIC. It’s like teenagers these days have no curiosity about anything that came before them.
mr_oof@reddit
All our generation had was 1) our music, be it Top40/pop, rock etc.; 2) our parents’ music, aka Classic rock- late Beatles to Aerosmith, AOR if you were lucky; 3) oldies, everything pre-Beatles in AM mono. Each on its own station, very granular. Today there’s no boundaries to what music kids can discover, but also no distinction, no timeline, no Top 40 hierarchy. Everything is on the same level. Your kids might not know U2, but ask them about Angine de Poitrine.
priscillaturts@reddit
No. Don't ask them about Angine. They might make you listen to it.
cadien17@reddit
My son (13) and my husband both love them.
CountHonorius@reddit
So by that yardstick, Hammurabi and Abe Lincoln went to the same school...
NixKTM@reddit
My son is now 14 when I built him his first pc I added an extra hard drive with all of my 70's and 80's music copied to it, I love music and wanted to make sure he could appreciate it as well.
ghjm@reddit
My kids do. When they were the age to start using computers, I told them they weren't allowed to go in my MP3 folder. So of course they went in my MP3 folder daily and listened to the entirety of it throughout their childhood.
HandshakeOfCO@reddit
Omg genius
StrictFinance2177@reddit
Polka.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Wasn’t that on Lawrence Welk? I remember watching with my grandparents
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
Syndicated packages of “The Lawrence Welk Show” are still a ratings-grabbing staple on many PBS stations. Of course, PBS is mostly irrelevant to those between 10 and 50, so….
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
I’m just glad zpBS is still around
Old-Somewhere-6084@reddit
No generation will grow up again with the feeling that 2000 would be an exciting future.
Total-Combination-47@reddit
we were lied too
stphrtgl43@reddit
Sure were. Everything went downhill after 2000.
Cysteine_Chapel64@reddit
Did anyone else feel like they were lucky they made it to 21 in the first place?
Anotherams@reddit
or party like it’s 1999
JimboFett87@reddit
skibbity rizz
stanleymodest@reddit
Old films, stuff like the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello or Jerry Lewis. I watched them as a kid.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
The Labor Day Telethon. And fundraisers on PBS, where they showed people sitting in some sort of bleacher set up with phones in front of them.
Dr_StrangeloveGA@reddit
It would be interesting to know what my grandparents' answer would be regarding what they learned from their parents and grandparents. They saw an immense amount of change in their lives, from the advent of radio and television to men walking on the moon.
I imagine the cultural touchstones of those bygone eras are very different than our own.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
GenX-ModTeam@reddit
{community rule 2}
rjm72@reddit
One that already blows the kids’ minds: when we were growing up, the location of the sunken Titanic was an unsolved mystery.
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
I'd actually forgotten that myself.
North-Collection-751@reddit
MAD Magazine
neitherzeronorone@reddit
It still exists!
North-Collection-751@reddit
That's true! ....although it's mostly reprinted material
Gandalfthegrey2@reddit
high_everyone@reddit
Boomers seem to have forgotten why WW2 happened, we will probably shuffle Vietnam into a deep dark well.
railworx@reddit
Benny Hill & the Three Stooges
Overall-Avocado-7673@reddit
If history is any indication of the future, than just about everything will be forgotten. TV shows, bands, your favorite recipes, movies, celebrities, your favorite cars, and eventually we too will be forgotten.
Julian_Thorne@reddit
Do they still do Saturday morning cartoons?
ST0IC_@reddit
Nope. Those faded out of existence long ago.
1questions@reddit
I’d say being able to accompany people to their gate at the airport. Also smoking sections at restaurants.
ST0IC_@reddit
Or just casually walking in a mall while smoking.
No-Jump-9601@reddit
Smoking sections in planes too.
flgirl-353@reddit
That Mr Ed was a horse.
Outrageous_Plum5348@reddit
The weird thing is that I was absolutely ravenous for history and past music from classical onward and there just is no taste for being well rounded anymore.
FriendRaven1@reddit
There really isn't. Scrolling and videos are given and governed by one interest. These days I've repeatedly used "well-rounded" as meaning obese...
Cysteine_Chapel64@reddit
"No clue what almost any pre 1980 television is"
What about Star Trek original series? I can understand Outer Limits and Twilight Zone becoming a bit more obscure although I'm trying to collect Outer Limits right now; I just got Demon With A Glass Hand on dvd last month.
worstpartyever@reddit
Not to mention Gillian’s Island, Bewitched, Petticoat Junction… anything that started in black & white but switched to color
Cysteine_Chapel64@reddit
I thought Bewitched was pretty funny growing up but I haven't watched it in decades.
Free-Preparation4184@reddit
I loved it growing up and watched it over and over, but it's hard to watch now. I try not to overanalyze what is supposed to be a fun little comedy, but the sexism of Samantha changing herself to be a good little wife because Darren says no magic makes my skin crawl. I'm totally Team Endora now.
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
Most of the people I’ve known in the past several years under 30 (not a huge number) know about the entire Star Trek franchise, including TOS, but few seem to have much interest in it. I think TNG is somewhat of a popular touchstone among a fair number of Millennials.
Simple_Shake_5345@reddit
Waiting for a family member to get off the phone so you can use it. Or, talking to someone on the phone while a family picks up a phone in another room starts dialing, right in the middle of your conversation.
ghjm@reddit
What kind of tropical island cannibals don't know about dial tone?
Simple_Shake_5345@reddit
You don’t think the phone is being used so you pick up the receiver and start dialing. Easy mistake to make, used to happen all the time in the era where of the home landline.
ghjm@reddit
Noooope. In the age of landlines nobody was just picking up the phone and pressing buttons without noticing there's no dial tone. Maybe some kind of caveman would do that.
Simple_Shake_5345@reddit
Noooope. Not unusual…happened from time to time when you lived with other people and there was only one phone line.
CountHonorius@reddit
Right! Explain a "party line" to them, you'd get blank stares in return.
FerretFarm@reddit
Oh yes.
Having to yell out to your parents or sibling in the other room, "I'M ON THE PHONE!" when you hear it.
peacefinder@reddit
It’ll be a very sad day when this punchline no longer works because no one remembers the Sears Catalog.
suziesophia@reddit
Or that is was based on Who Shot Jr from 1980s Dallas cliffhanger.
Free-Preparation4184@reddit
At work I asked a younger millennial "who shot JR?" She looked at me very confused and asks, "Do you mean who shot JFK?"
Even our older co-worker who didn't grow up in the U.S. knew what I was talking about.
minpin75@reddit
I mean if your kids don't get these references thats on you for not exposing them
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
Like, did you read what I said at all? If not, why respond? And if you did, what could possibly lead you to.conclude your response relates to what i said?
Glass-Nectarine-3282@reddit
Yeah, I don't even understand those sorts of ragebait replies. Okay, you didn't tell your kid about the Partridge Family, so that's "on you?" What does that even mean?
A parent is not responsible for exposing their children to every aspect of culture from years ago. My father didn't talk about Elvis, but like was said, I figured out who Elvis was. It it was important, the kids will pick it up, and if it wasn't that important, they probably want.
But yeah, people who are like "you didn't exposeeeeee them" don't seem to grasp that kids are more interested in what they figure out themselves, not what parents forcefed them. Jeez.
EveningRequirement27@reddit
I disagree. We knew about a lot of those things because of shared cultural experiences. Neither one of my parents were really into Elvis, but everyone knew who he was. We all use to at least share the titans of fame, we all knew who they were. I mean, my kids know who Michael Jackson is, but just barely. And they also know that Michael Jordan was “ good at basketball”. There’s wayyyyyyy tooooooo manyyyyyy choices.
IntoTheSunWeGo@reddit
The Vietnam War. Not to be political, but its effects on GenX were dramatic, whether we knew it or not.
Fannnybaws@reddit
It was 65-75 and gen X is 65-80,so most gen X were born during it.
IntoTheSunWeGo@reddit
Yep. Then the aftermath permeated all our culture right up to the 90s.
Oxjrnine@reddit
We won’t know. New historical works get rediscovered and know ones go through waves of popularity.
The victorians were obsessed with medieval times.
The 1920s was everything ancient Egypt
The 80s we became obsessed with Amadeus
The 90s was a decade of sampling 70s disco and funk
We are not going to know how much of our culture will be lost, carry on, or be rediscovered.
burner-throw_away@reddit
Gen X came up through the beginnings of the “communication boom” but there was still a strong monoculture that catered to Boomers and the Silent Gen., so I feel like X were exposed to so much more about the 30’s through 60’s than subsequent generations will be about decades before them. For Gen Z, the world was created in 2000 and what they do reference is very niche.
Optimal-Ad-7074@reddit
I think this covers it perfectly. we witnessed the switchover from tv to internet, and the birth of the individualized algorithm.
it makes me nuts when people still parrot the old utopian idea of "the global village" or the concept of a vast online repository of aLL hUmAn ExPeRiEnCe AnD kNoWlEdGe, EvErYwHeRe." that's not what's happened. instead we've become deeply culturally balkanized.
CountHonorius@reddit
Best flair I've read so far, lol
Optimal-Ad-7074@reddit
hst fans representing 😉
Total-Combination-47@reddit
Gen X had close contact with grandparents who lived through WWII and ration books, influencing their perspective on thrift and resilience so we will be the last ones who had proper contact with the War Generation.
Being allowed to play out until dark with no adult supervision, often described as being raised on hose water and neglect.
The agonizing sound and long waits of loading games with a cassette recorder / tapes on a ZX Spectrum or BBC Micro.
Optimal-Ad-7074@reddit
just cultural consciousness of WWII, I feel.
WWII, apartheid, Watergate, the cold war, the second feminist wave ... books and media had these things as elements in the characters' backstory even if they weren't major plot themes.
the other shift I notice is post-x gens seem far more severed from their own immediately-preceding eras. I don't mean to imply we were all studious and conscientious historians, but we least accepted that things like the two world wars and the Communist revolution had happened. even if most of us were sneering or dismissive because "I couldn't care less" we knew they were real.
many internet babies don't seem to even have that. you can't even say they're rejecting the immediate past. they don't seem to know it exists.
VikingTeddy@reddit
Very true unfortunately, too much noise to signal. But from my experience our generation is woefully ignorant on history too. It was in our time that historical documentaries and books became commercialized to the point that most of our knowledge is from movies, the history channel, and video games.
Unless you happen to have an interest in history, you're likely almost as ill informed as the kids, just in a slightly different way. Younger people don't know what happened, and most of us don't know how it happened, which can be worse in some situations. A little knowledge and all that..
What we do have is more media literacy. We've seen how facts have become fluid and subject to agendas, including history. Gen X and millennials have better media literacy than those that came before AND after us, which is scary.
Optimal-Ad-7074@reddit
this is an excellent point. the monoculture provided a pretty monochrome view.
CountHonorius@reddit
This hits the nail on the head.
Total-Combination-47@reddit
No one else will know what it was like in school during the 80's with the Aids pandemic, the real threat of being nukes and in our case having to watch "Threads" in the classroom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_(1984_film)
Old-Somewhere-6084@reddit
My father was a boy in WW2. My mother was a toddler, so she didn’t experience much of that period. But my father had quite some memories.
Total-Combination-47@reddit
My Grandad was in the Polish free army and was forced settled in the UK and we were brought up on his stores of Poland, his fight in the war and how he couldn't return home.
Old-Somewhere-6084@reddit
My grandfather never told us anything. We only learned what he had experienced when he had passed away.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Mix tapes and MTV
LordChauncyDeschamps@reddit
Gumby
Outside-Crab2058@reddit
Can't read or hear "Gumby" without thinking of Eddie Murphy in SNL!
LordChauncyDeschamps@reddit
Gumby dammit
MaximumJones@reddit
Dark humor.
We are the last generation that thinks dark, snarky humor is funny.
Those after us gasp in horror.
MysteriousCodo@reddit
Remember the Tasteless Jokes books?
Old-Somewhere-6084@reddit
Laughing about Monty Python.
Unable_Car_5539@reddit
my humor is so dark cops pull it over and shoot it
lostinexiletohere@reddit
I told my chemo nurses that joke and after they stopped laughing they were like yeah that is dark
doesanyuserealnames@reddit
Lolol yeah too far but that's the point 😆
OliveBadger1037@reddit
Dark humor is like food. Not everyone gets it.
dreadful_cookies@reddit
This is accurate to my experience. The sarcasm, wit, and disdain at our own mortality is not shared by later generations.
mizuaqua@reddit
I think that when it comes to music and visual media, we’ll see more resurgence that is driven by the artist’s catalogue than ever and will be exceptions to obsolescence. The reason being that the distribution and promotion is going to be driven by individual consumers rather than the marketing from the media distributor. We’ve already seen a lot of movies, shows, and songs become cult classics, where the definition is that the property did not achieve popularity in their initial release and were possibly considered failures in a traditional sense, but achieved massive popularity later when the property was cheaper to access.
John_Barnes@reddit
I don’t know if any single name for it, but changes from what actually as to how it’s remembered are very common as far back as we can track pop culture. Compare actual radio station playlists from the fifties, sixties, or seventies with what plays on oldies programs; “movie classics” streaming or collections from a given period v. actual top grossing; audiences for prime time game shows, Westerns, and variety shows versus eternally resyndicated sitcoms and detective shows.
Chuck Klosterman’s book BUT WHAT IF WE’RE WRONG? explores a lot of this brilliantly.
_WillCAD_@reddit
Very few people younger than GenX have any idea how to dial a rotary phone. A lot of people younger than GenX have no idea what dial-up internet sounds meant. Very few people even in GenX knew what the crank in a car was for, or ever encountered a foot starter. Shit, I barely remember the foot switch for high beams myself.
Even as a kid in the 80s, there were things I knew about my grandparents' lifetimes that most of my peers had never heard of. The Thin Man? Hoofers and tootsies? Ice wagons? I think most of our generation has no idea what those things were.
FacePunchMonday@reddit
Hello fellow gen xer what the in the fuck is the thin man? Hoofers and tooties?!? Lol ive never heard of these things
Orbitrea@reddit
The Thin Man was a series of films from the 1940s with William Powell and Myrna Loy, generally involving solving a murder or other shenanigan.
OccamsYoyo@reddit
The best stuff will always traverse time. I never expected Gen Z embracing Fleetwood Mac to the extent they have, for example.
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
A few years ago I worked with a woman in her 20s who loves Pink Floyd and Fleetwod Mac. During the same period I’ve noticed a few TV commercials that use Fleetwood Mac songs, but those were aimed at selling things to people in their 30s + 40s.
NostradaMart@reddit
reading the title I was thinking Elvis...so yeah,,,right on lol
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
Although, there was that major Elvis biopic a few years back. Did it capture much of a younger audience?
ExtraAd7611@reddit
Classical music. I grew up listening to it a lot. I played cello in the school orchestra. I didn't really enjoy it and I wasn't very good, but it gave me exposure and appreciation for classical music. We would go to professional classical concerts pretty regularly.
My kids have both been very involved in school bands, but they play in the marching band and concert band, and they play modern pop music for marching bands, which is not necessarily bad but it's different. The school also has several jazz bands so at least they are getting some exposure to classic American jazz.
The professional orchestras around here seem to play a lot of John Williams movie scores the 1812 Overture on July 4 for some strange reason, but not much Mozart or Haydn.
Just because it's old doesn't mean it's not worth listening to.
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
I’m 59, and didn’t start to truly appreciate classical music until about my late 20s. I think the film “Immortal Beloved” is what flipped the switch. Although even now I listen to mostly just “darker,” more “serious” classical, and don’t own a huge amount of it.
cadien17@reddit
I’ve had the disappointment with my kid’s band concerts. Then again, I did orchestra. Maybe they’re still doing Mozart. Even when the band does something classical, it’s often something recently commissioned for schools rather than the really famous stuff.
phtcmp@reddit
It was niche and remains so. And let’s face it, the core music has endured for over 200 years. More modern versions of it have never surpassed the original. So its had white a run, and will likely not fade completely to obscurity anytime soon.
mizuaqua@reddit
Phone books
HumphreyBulldog@reddit
And paper racks.
Formal_Plum_2285@reddit
I’m from 1974 and don’t know who the Everly brothers were.
But we are probably the last generation that had magazine supscriptions galore.
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
That seems it must be for a diffetent reason, im 1974 too, and from the UK and their reunion tour was a worldwide event in 1983.
Wake up, Little Suzie? Crying in The Rain?
FacePunchMonday@reddit
Same, no idea who they are but im from the usa so maybe thats why
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
So are they. Im learning a lot about what I think are the icons compared to reality though!
Formal_Plum_2285@reddit
For s second there I went “wtf?!?” Cause my name is actually Susie 😂 then I realized it was the songs. I obviously know the songs though, had no idea who made them. I’m European too btw.
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
Oops. Sorry! That would have freaked me out quite a bit.
phtcmp@reddit
And how long will some keep bridging generations? Much of “classic rock” actually originated in the teen years of the Baby Boomers, but continued strong through our youth, and remains a fairly significant staple of FM radio. The songs have been going strong for 50 or more years. Maybe they’ll fade with the Boomers, but they seem to keep attracting at least segments of younger generations.
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
A few years ago I worked with a woman in her 20s who loves Pink Floyd and Fleetwod Mac. I think the crazy vinyl record resurgence of the past 10+ years is helping to introduce younger generations to “AOR,” with all the endless re-issues to cash in. Then add the fact that for so long now The Clash, Greenday, and Grunge bands have been considered classic rock.
SlyFrog@reddit
I mean basically any history that they can't learn some tiny amount about in a ten second snippet.
I'm not being sarcastic or mean, I'm just saying what I have seen with my own eyes. Growing up, even the dumb kids knew that Napoleon existed, even though he was 150+ years before our time. They knew about the Civil War (beyond just "there were slaves back then").
I admit that I kind of left the teaching of history up to the schools. Let's just say, I have no idea what in the hell they were actually teaching my kids and their friends, because they seem really confused over things like WWI and WWII, etc. It's kind of embarrassing.
lewisfairchild@reddit
Little Rascals
RaccoonHaunting9638@reddit
My millennial daughter always compliments my cursive writing! She can barely write this way, they had pretty much stopped teaching it to her generation in school, her writing to me is aweful!! Remember we had penmanship classes??
Admirable-Currency89@reddit
I'm 1969(M). I've been in tech a long time. I bet besides a few scribbles here and there, the only time I've even put my signature in cursive on something I can count on two hands that weren't related to real estate in 20 years.
RaccoonHaunting9638@reddit
I went to catholic school, it was hard core for penmanship. I still have an old fashioned calender note book, that I write reminders in , or I will forget because shit has to be in my face. And I still do cards, birthday, holidays, my older family members that live far love receiving them.
CountHonorius@reddit
Something my Mom always complained about. "Don't they teach you penmanship anymore?" uh, no...
Zealousideal_Draw_94@reddit
More than half don’t know 1990’s, Nirvana or grunge. Weirdly Rap, NWA, Tupac, Biggie, are better known, because of movies and television shows.
R&R is a much lower level popularity wise than Pop.
cadien17@reddit
That’s regional. High school students in my town love 90s grunge.
cadien17@reddit
It’s impossible to predict. Things are always being randomly brought back. Like old albums that suddenly blow up because a song is used in a Tik Tok video and people like it. Also, nostalgia was artificially pushed on us so it feels more important.
Prestigious_Carpet28@reddit
Flintstones
I die a little on the inside every time I get a confused look at “Yabba-Dabba-Doo”
techbear72@reddit
We’re the last generation to really have true second hand knowledge of the world wars from our grandparents. After us, there won’t be anyone alive that learned about them from people who they know, trust, and love.
I don’t think there are much bigger cultural touchstones than those wars and especially the reason for the second one.
UnderaZiaSun@reddit
And the Great Depression as well.
No-Hospital559@reddit
A big reason we are in the current situation in the US politically is due to that generation dying off. Most people still alive in the US didn't fight in any wars of necessity. We are a nation of lazy complacent slugs now.
Columbia_Guy001@reddit
Abbott and Costello
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
I just now asked a co-worker in his mid-20s if “Who’s on first,” meant anything to him; he knew it was an old comedy routine and even knew it contained “What’s on second” and “I don’t know’s on third,” but didn’t remember Abbott & Costello’s names. But his father is in his 60s, and used to talk about them when the co-worker was growing up.
BabadookOfEarl@reddit
Unified cultural touchstones in general. Media comes through so many formats now that it really breaks up the cultural hegemony.
TheGreatRao@reddit
Pulp fiction heroes like the Shadow and Doc Savage. Arthur Fonzarelli and Tony Manero. Music videos or television channels devoted to them. The joy of searching for albums in a record store. The smell of old books.
FacePunchMonday@reddit
Wow doc savage. I havent heard that name in like 40 years. I think I still have all the books still somewhere...
S99B88@reddit
I know what Jump the Shark means but as a kid I remember being terrified at the end of part 1 of that episode that Fonzie was going to get eaten.
ChessieChesapeake@reddit
Saturday morning cartoons. Communication with cords, and no wireless except for TV and radio. No way to pause or rewind, so if you miss a show, you’ll have to wait for a rerun.
johnstonb@reddit
Looney Tunes and older cartoons in general. I mentioned “Kill da Wabbit” to my 20-something coworker and she just stared at me blankly.
Also my new neighbor, late 20s-early 30s, the first time I met her she told me her name was Natasha. I was like “I am terrible with names but I’ll remember your name because moose and squirrel.” I’m sure she thought I was crazy.
NotWorriedABunch@reddit
🎵🎶Kill da wabbit 🎶🎵
Totally sang it!
MommaGuy@reddit
My kids were raised on The Beatles, Queen and The Godfather. They knew what vinyl was before it was cool again. And both learned to drive manual on a ‘68 Road Runner with no power brakes or steering.🤣
Gloomy_Narwhal_4833@reddit
I think music has better staying power than television and movies, in general. There will always be stand outs. But shows I watched as reruns when I was a kid like Dobie Gillis, Leave it to Beaver, Dennis the Menace, and Mr Ed are largely forgotten already. Maybe not by strictly genx, there will be older millennials that remember them, but it will die there.
MommaGuy@reddit
My kids watched their fair share of Bugs Bunny and Three Stooges.
Gloomy_Narwhal_4833@reddit
I mean, both examples are the stand outs I was referring to. Bugs Bunny will be remembered until the last human takes their last breath. The Stooges may not last as long,lol.
S99B88@reddit
Racing home to watch The Flintstones on your school lunch. Even just watching The Flintstones. Which I guess also makes me think Mel Brooks.
Muted_Evidence1311@reddit
First puke by mixing ouzo shots with vodka and orange not being broadcast on social media. Using a pressure cooker. Cooking with animal fats (oh those fish and chips...😢). Reverse call pranks at the public phone. Buying $1 worth of 1c lollies and picking out each one from a wall of lolly boxes.
foodweneedfood@reddit
The mall.
NOGOODGASHOLE@reddit
Slamming down a phone on someone
anothercynic2112@reddit
I don't know, our Elvis would have been Michael to a Gen Z.
But something to consider is we only had three TV stations which played reruns and movies and series from the prior generation because that's all the content there was.
Today people have access to an enormous amount of content. While we might have watched Leave it to Beaver I can't imagine telling my kid to turn off Sprout to watch it.
Sadly, Sprout is also just a memory but whatever. Tempus fugit and all.
Taskerst@reddit
How about Beat poets? Not only is all that stuff ancient history, but their whole schtick would probably be labeled “problematic” by today and future generations.
DarthGuber@reddit
Lord Buckley erasure
Catskillschick@reddit
The Little Rascals
ElegantBob@reddit
Champion the Wonder Horse!
dchusband@reddit
The Three Stooges
Life_of1103@reddit
Samurai Night Fever, Samurai Delicatessen, Samurai Tailor….John Belushi
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
Possibly for the best, this one...
Life_of1103@reddit
You’re not one of us, so who cares what you think about the topic?
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
Wow. OK, weirdly abrasive person.
CountHonorius@reddit
Wasn't there a Samurai Tailor? "These pants need a fly"
Life_of1103@reddit
Yes…I mentioned that one. I can’t remember if there was a Samurai Practitioner or they just teased it.
ZakanrnEggeater@reddit
FM radio. Analog anything. To go!!😁
CountHonorius@reddit
They have an unhealthy disregard for radio. It may save their lives someday.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Analog life
Novel-Inevitable-164@reddit
Changing the channel with a butter knife in the slot where the channel changer knob broke off.
lostinexiletohere@reddit
Rabbit ears and in rural areas turning the antenna to get different channels.
Only 2 or 3 channels
CountHonorius@reddit
Tin foil on said rabbit ears! lol
Responsible-Bet8661@reddit
Haha yeah or pliers
Extension-Rock-4263@reddit
Beepers
CountHonorius@reddit
Don't remind me. Had to confiscate them from teen employees at my workplace in the early '90s.
Inwardly-Outgoing@reddit
The next gen will not know how to read an analog clock or how to address an envelope
SnooTigers8871@reddit
This is not true. I am making my students learn how to read an analog clock every year. (Of course there's always a few who simply rely on another student to answer, but at least the majority of every class can tell time!)
CountHonorius@reddit
My sister was a Spanish instructor. Her students learned to read the clock for the first time ever in her class, but in another language, which is hilarious.
auntieup@reddit
Casablanca will outlive us all, and probably our kids as well. Gilligan’s Island will not.
MrBlahg@reddit
I got all three seasons of Gilligan’s Island on DVD when my kids were little. I can say with certainty it will live on… at least with two Gen Z kids lol
CountHonorius@reddit
The millionaire...and his wiiiiife....
EveryExplanation8084@reddit
Rock and Roll
CountHonorius@reddit
Judging by this group, its the #$%@ Beatles or nothing.
Aggressive-Cut5836@reddit
My young kids had never seen a proper newspaper, my daughter thought it was a sheet of plain white paper that had news stories written on it. Not sure gen x is the last to see or read them but maybe the last to deliver them to homes in the neighborhood growing up?
robertwadehall@reddit
I kind of miss newspapers. We subscribed to the local paper, and on Sundays would go to a convenience store and get the Cleveland Plain Dealer or Miami Herald (summer or school year) and New York Times. My family were voracious readers when I grew up.
CountHonorius@reddit
Plain Dealer was good paper. I live in a small town with its own paper - 16 pages, 8 of them covering local sports action, so not much fun.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Newspaper delivery
gmkrikey@reddit
Jenny's number.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
8675309?
CountHonorius@reddit
Janet, Janet...
Azipcoder@reddit
I know you think I'm like the others before.
Hyperocean@reddit
People like Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Ed Sullivan from reruns. And with Colbert exiting, the concept of a live TV audience seems to be dwindling away..
CountHonorius@reddit
That's a good thing.
texachusetts@reddit
Trading stamps I remember being surprised that there was a Brady Bunch episode, 54-40 and Fight centering around that form of thriftiness. That was also the card tower vs charm bracelet episode.
Braincloud@reddit
I loved the Green stamps catalog and bringing the books to the green stamps store!
SummerBirdsong@reddit
Ma and Pa Kettle
Braincloud@reddit
lol my dad used to use them as a reference to sort of low key way roast people.
geetarboy33@reddit
I loved watching the Ma and Pa Kettle movies on Saturday afternoons in the 70s. They used to run those movies and Frances the Talking Mule on the local station.
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
Who and Who Who, now?
(Im British. That may explain my complete no plussedness)
DashSnowden@reddit
Is this an OCATC reference?
SummerBirdsong@reddit
I don't know what OCATC means.
DashSnowden@reddit
My sincere apologies. On Cinema At The Cinema. It's a long-running cult comedy-performance-art project by Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington, and Ma and Pa Kettle was a prominent in-joke over the course of one season of the show. There's absolutely no reason to familiarize yourself with it, I just wasn't sure bc I've only ever heard of Ma and Pa Kettle through OCATC.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OnCinemaAtTheCinema/s/U9PF6nKgsU
CountHonorius@reddit
GenZ is familiar with GenX/Boomer songs, but doesn't know them by name and much less the performer. The so-called 'Generation Gap' of the Sixties has nothing on the current gap between cadres. It's lamentable.
FollowTheFellow@reddit
I like to think that the good stuff will keep coming back around. Remember the swing revival in the ‘90s?
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
I remain convinced that Big Swing paid to have Matthew Perry endorse it in Friends. The rest was on us...
Winter_Throat3109@reddit
That’s true and lots of if was really good…We must be almost due for round three!
Black_Pill_Oh@reddit
I've seen AI alter historic photos and hardly anyone notice, so really a ton of accurate info is going to die with us.
TheRabidBadger@reddit
Liberace for sure.
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
That might depend on the final reckoning of Ichael Douglas's career.
HandshakeOfCO@reddit
Bridge Over River Kwai should be a required watch for all high schoolers. The world would be a better place.
Quick-Reputation9040@reddit
They’ll never who shot JR…
tragic
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
But they'll always have Mr Burns
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Classic show
wayc@reddit
Definitely not I Love Lucy. You'd be surprised at the number of young millennials eating it up on Nick at Nite in the 90s. It was us realizing "Woah, black and white shows can be goofy and entertaining?!?!". I now own the whole series and even made my own DVD covers for them. And there's another millennial on YouTube who used to post like exclusively I Love Lucy content for a while and did giveaways.
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
This pleases me.
saki4444@reddit
My Gen Alpha niece is currently obsessed with I Love Lucy
wayc@reddit
Awesome!!!
ultimate_ed@reddit
Given the amount of media that they get subjected to these days, the very idea of "cultural touchstones" is probably something our generation will be the last to know about.
Game of Thrones was probably the last closest thing we had to something that "everyone" knew about in terms of media. Taylor Swift may be the last big music start that ""everyone" knows. I say "everyone" in the context of, even if you're not a fan, they are big enough to have creating a major impact in the cultural awareness.
Today, some Youtube star can have a million followers and be a big deal to that audience, and yet most of us will never have heard of them.
Salt-Ostrich9731@reddit (OP)
How bleak. Accurate, but bleak.
Wish I hadn't asked 🤣
RustbeltMaven@reddit
Watching black and white reruns on TV.
rjlynn68@reddit
On a black and white tv.
Daddioster@reddit
Zorro
Remarkable_Insect866@reddit
Raiding a payphone for chains.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Keeping a coin 🪙 purse 👛 in you in case you had to use a pay phone
Unable_Car_5539@reddit
last night I was talking with my friend's 18yo daughter and mentioned the movie "The Edge" and she asked "who is Anthony Hopkins?"
Life_of1103@reddit
Probably doesn’t know who The Edge is either.
Substantial-Wolf-883@reddit
Why are your Gen Z kids not aware of that stuff? Sounds like failure as a parent there.
My son got Commando on DVD as a stocking stuffer when he was 8. He listens to 90s tunes from Red Hot Chilli peppers, Bush, and Pearl Jam. I've shown him old episodes of I Love Lucy and The Three Stooges. When he was little, he watched Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and Fraggle Rock instead of Barney & Friends or whatever 💩 they had on.
Sure, he won't know everything, but hopefully I've broadened his tastes.
FloppyFerrett1@reddit
I'm pretty sure OP was commenting on things as a whole, not their own kids (if they have any? I don't). Kudos on your parenting for sure, but l think OP's post is in large part pretty accurate, although perhaps (according to comments) not entirely, which is cool✌🏻
lovebeinganasshole@reddit
I think watching tv at all will be gone they watch clips they don’t watch shows.
FloppyFerrett1@reddit
Certainly not waiting a week for the next episode, or having to wait over the summer after a cliff hanger! Binge-watching a series & streaming changed everything.
Twisted_lurker@reddit
Cultural but not a touchstone: unscheduled, unmonitored playtime.
Status-Effort-9380@reddit
Looking nuclear war.
-Granby-@reddit
Video stores.
For us it was an event. Especially if you were broke like I was. Friday night. Might actually be able to get a pizza and a friend stays over. Trip to the video store to find the perfect movie. The anticipation. Wait. Have to adjust the tracking on the VCR.
They'll never experience it.
Melodic_Caramel1777@reddit
My zillenial daughter knows Elvis Presley, I Love Lucy, Casablanca and plenty more from her grandparents’ and great grandparents’ generations because I made sure she was exposed to them as she grew up. It was (is) important to me that she knows music, entertainment, cultural things from before her time and before my and my husband‘s time. I love that we can share those things and she can ask questions about our experiences and her grandparents’ experiences growing up. Sort of an informal oral history that imprints with the music or movies in her mind. She’ll carry that with her long after we’re all gone.
jones29876@reddit
sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me
OliveBadger1037@reddit
The nightly news. I remember regularly watching Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and others with my family. Those guys had a lot of credibility and everyone was mostly on the same page as far as current events. With today’s fractured media that kind of cultural norm will never happen again. It can be debated whether this is a good thing or not, but there is no doubt GenX is the last to experience it.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Don’t forget to dial 10-10-220. And calling cards.
Old-Somewhere-6084@reddit
Hopefully learning what to do when a nuclear strike happens. Useless information (hide under the stairs or under the table, stay away from windows).
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Stop drop and roll
Responsible-Bet8661@reddit
My kids watched Voltron before school!
Anotherams@reddit
the pleasure of slamming down the phone.
Outrageous_Drag6613@reddit
Call waiting and party lines
Significant_Ruin4870@reddit
God I miss that.
Feasibly_Impossible@reddit
Square Dancing in gym class.
sherlockjr1@reddit
God I hated that. I was not a cool kid. The boys refused to touch me so that we could dance properly
DainasaurusRex@reddit
That can definitely go the way of the dinosaurs as far as I’m concerned 😆
Meetzorp@reddit
And GOOD RIDDANCE.
stmft@reddit
5 1/4 inch floppy discs
Throckmorton1975@reddit
A lot of Hollywood’s Golden Age actors and actresses were still around in our youth in the 70s and 80s, even if they weren’t getting many roles. But you’d see them on award shows, specials, variety shows, etc., and we had a sense of who they were.
suddengloss@reddit
I don’t know champ. if they don’t know it maybe it’s because no one ever made an effort to show them. Do you expect them at the age of six to go “OH BOY CAN WE WATCH THAT COOL I LOVE LUCY SHOW” without ever having context for it?
-Granby-@reddit
Too many things to list. My daughter is about to be 14 and she knows fuck all about anything pre 90's unless it's music related then she is a savant.
Everything is digital to the Gen Z and Alpha. If they don't come across it in a meme on Twitter they don't come across it and if they do come across it they don't know what it is.