You can't use the phone and Internet at the same time

Very small town Midwest here. We only used 5 digits if we were calling in town. Just the number 2 and then the last 4 of your phone number. I remember like 8 of the local numbers from when I was a kid in the late 80s-early 90s.

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Poctz@reddit

I still have some of those phone numbers memorized.

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rdhdboi767@reddit

I done blanked and almost forgot my own number when someone asked me for it in recent years lol.

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IAteAnotherVegan@reddit

only 7? I think my mom had 10 drilled into me when I started school...

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sgrams04@reddit

Kids today: “What’s a channel?”

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gurnard@reddit

"Kind of a livestream"

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larryb78@reddit

If you want to know whether the library has a book you’ll need to go check the card catalog

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shamust@reddit

And the name of the person who borrowed it before you was in a paper pocket inside the book!

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jackfaire@reddit

Younger people would understand that. Now they only work on whichever HDMI port they're connected to. Honestly It was more confusing back then that you had to be on one specific channel than it would be now.

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ThisMachineKillsWOB@reddit

Computers used to come with frisbees.

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Mudcreek47@reddit

Our TV only got 4 different channels.

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justsomeyeti@reddit

I grew up on the edge/overlap of two broadcast regions, so we got like, 11 channels but only like 4 had decent reception

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InternationalRow1653@reddit

And if you were sheltered and deprived like my husband, you believe color TV didn't come out til almost the 90s.

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BasvanS@reddit

4? Well ladidah… 2. And that second one was new, so you had to be grateful.

On a clear day a 3rd foreign channel became less than 50% snow, but programming always sucked.

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fleetiebelle@reddit

And you had to watch what was on when it was on. Maybe you had a vcr and a blank tape and could plan ahead, otherwise, patience.

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pennie79@reddit

We had to share one tv for the household.

That was the one which blew my 7 year old's mind. She was pretty horrified by the concept of a broadcast schedule, no pausing, and ads. "So you had to run to the kitchen quickly for snacks?"

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Alternative-Light514@reddit

Sometimes you’d be in a car and couldn’t role the window down because the handle fell off.

All of the computers in the school were in one room - the computer lab & you’d only get to go in there every now and then.

Before internet, you had to literally map where you were going. On paper.

Need to look for a job? Get a newspaper.

Missed the latest episode of your favorite show? Too bad, it’s gone forever.

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Im_A_Nice_Karen666@reddit

UHF and VHF

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eg0deth@reddit

I’ve had to rewind a cassette tape to continue playing a computer game.

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-Odi-Et-Amo-@reddit

Cars used to have cigarette lighters and ashtrays.

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gurnard@reddit

My 2010 car still has a cigarette lighter. I have a bluetooth receiver that fits entirely inside the lighter port, with a cord coming out to the aux jack. Pairs to my phone as soon as I turn the engine on. So futuristic!

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JavaOrlando@reddit

My first car (a Mercury Grand Marquis) had ash trays and cigarette lighters in the arm rests of the back seats.

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-SandorClegane-@reddit

My 75 Lincoln Continental had ashtrays inside the ashtrays.

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Puzzleheaded_Race_90@reddit

You'd call the operator from a phone that was attached to a pole, and tell them that you wanted to make a collect call, and they'd ask your name, and when you said your name, they'd call your mom, and she'd hear your name and hang up, and about 20 minutes later, hopefully she'd show up to give you a ride, and if not you're on your own

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ayeyoualreadyknow@reddit

My mom's side of the family all lived out of state so when they came to visit for a few days, when they got back home they'd call my mom using "person to person calls" then hang up just to let her know they made it back safely and no one was charged

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obojones10@reddit

pin-ball 10 cents a game pay phone 10 cents

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RunTwice@reddit

We could smoke cigarettes in an airplane

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RunTwice@reddit

Also no TSA.. you just boarded the plane

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Longjumping-Air1489@reddit

It was channel 4 for us, because channel 3 was NBC.

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scoot2006@reddit

Calling a phone number to hear the time and weather.

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OneManGang2001@reddit

There used to be either a local or 800 number that had a choose your own adventure type short stories.

An example is you enter a cave. There are bats to the left or snakes to the right; which way do you go? Press 1 for bats for 2 for snakes

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Kyosuke-D@reddit

Core memory unlocked! Totally forgot about the phone adventures!!

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Adventurous_Pin_344@reddit

Calling a phone number to get information on what movies were playing in your area too!

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seamore555@reddit

Waking up to the national anthem on the TV

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SameSpecialist8284@reddit

Is this an American thing… or North Korean?

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seamore555@reddit

Canada

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Foxy-Knoxy@reddit

Or hearing it at the end of the broadcasting day and trying to get as far away as you could before the color bars and beep occured...or worse static which 100% meant it was poltergeist time.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Cnchea6LHN0

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IAteAnotherVegan@reddit

"what do you mean tv used to go off?" that was an awesome conversation with my kids. 🤣

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DustyScharole@reddit (OP)

Wow. Core memory unlocked.

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tibbletsforever@reddit

Blow in the cartridge first! Now give it a little wiggle… 🤣

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RunTwice@reddit

gif

Writing a check for groceries

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TOkidd@reddit

If you wanted to talk to your friend, you'd walk or ride your bike to their house and knock on their door.

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Objective-Plum1201@reddit

This one I’m glad isn’t a thing anymore. One of my son’s friends came over unannounced the other day and it was jarring.

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rdhdboi767@reddit

Why lol?

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Objective-Plum1201@reddit

I don’t need people just showing up to my house 😂 I thought we were all too introverted for this anymore. No? Just me?

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EternalNewCarSmell@reddit

And if you wanted to hang out with people, you rode your bike around town until you recognized everyone else's bikes on someone's lawn.

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creddittor216@reddit

Smoking…everywhere

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Puzzleheaded_Race_90@reddit

I worked at a restaurant and the end table in the smoking section butted up to a table in the non smoking section, so you'd literally have a guy in non smoking sitting directly next to a guy smoking a cigar

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InvestmentMain8414@reddit

I remember as a kid/teen my grandparents stopped all air travel when they banned smoking on planes.

Until I was almost 30, there was a hardware store that had their original "contractor" desk, with the holes where the ashtrays used to be.

Or when sone fast food places put up those glass rooms for a smoking section. It was so gross, even when I smoked I refused to sit there.

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creddittor216@reddit

Oh, there was a smoking room in the stacks of my library in college. What a great way to burn down a building!

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Powerful_Wombat@reddit

With the “non-smoking” section being separated by a waist high wall and located RIGHT next to the smoking area.

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j7style@reddit

I was literally paid money starting around age 5 to set the times on people's VCR's, microwaves and other devices because the "adults" couldn't figure it out.

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shamust@reddit

Our candy made you foam at the mouth

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martianunlimited@reddit

We get fined if we don't rewind the tape before returning it

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JavaOrlando@reddit

Really? I ever only got made to feel that I was unkind.

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DustyScharole@reddit (OP)

Sometimes it was cheaper to pay the late fee than the rewind fee.

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IAteAnotherVegan@reddit

it was $1 around here, you got lucky!

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darkofnight916@reddit

My dad bought and used a video cassette rewinder, didn’t put as much stress on the BCR.

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nopester24@reddit

Video games worked on whatever channel you selected from the back switch. But it was usually 3 or 4

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BabaofTheShimmer@reddit

“You have to blow along the cartridge”

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taskforceslacker@reddit

I was the remote.

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JavaOrlando@reddit

I'm your age and I never remember not having a remote.

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Legitimate-Produce-1@reddit

Must have been rich.

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taskforceslacker@reddit

Isn’t that nice. We had a “hand-me-down” TV from my grandfather. It was probably 30-something inches and in a wooden enclosure. Two knobs and it was black and white.

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JavaOrlando@reddit

Didn't mean to hit a nerve. I just thought they were pretty commonplace by our childhood. Maybe I'm miss remembering.

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taskforceslacker@reddit

All good. My reply likely came across more harshly than intended. Was meant as a light “oh, yeah?!” kinda thing.

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badchefrazzy@reddit

Dunno why you were downvoted. Some people had the money to have a remote back then.

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Adept-Address3551@reddit

I remember my gran having a chord connecting the video to a remote. Was cool.

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imhereforthevotes@reddit

BILLY CHANNEL 5. C'MON NOW.

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DustyScharole@reddit (OP)

It got to the point where I automatically got up during commercials to turn it down.

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badchefrazzy@reddit

Reasonable. Wasn't there a law that was put into place that said commercials wouldn't be a certain percentage louder than the shows they were put on with (that's still being ignored to this day as far as I'm aware... considering I don't watch TV at all anymore...)

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badchefrazzy@reddit

Funny. We had a remote that was wired to the TV.

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kathatter75@reddit

I could only be the remote if I had the pliers.

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taskforceslacker@reddit

My father, crafty fella he was, managed to fashion a makeshift replacement knob that was somehow sharper than the original mangled one.

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EternalMehFace@reddit

I used a cassette to help me play a CD in my car. 🤭

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ayeyoualreadyknow@reddit

Same!

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rdhdboi767@reddit

Oh shit lol, I forgot about that one myself!

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minxwink@reddit

So good. Mem unlock

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BigVegetable289@reddit

Up Up, Down Down, Left Right, Left Right, B, A. Maybe Select Start after that.

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rdhdboi767@reddit

It used to seem like we had to wait an entire extra year for successful films to come out on VHS lol.

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19Circa69@reddit

UHF channels

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712Chandler@reddit

Crash up Hotwheels.

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DustyScharole@reddit (OP)

Oh shit, those were dope. Also the ones that change color in the heat.

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Jedbo75@reddit

The computer lab

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travistyle@reddit

Three words - Dirty Operating System

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Ewe-of-Hope-002@reddit

Go up the roof and maneuver the aerial antenna there to get a better tv signal. A two-person job lol

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I_HaveSeenTheLight@reddit

To save a radio station to "memory" in my first car, I had to pull the tab out then push it back in.

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SameSpecialist8284@reddit

You take the phone, pick the number, and turn the dial round to the metal bar, let it go, select the next number, repeat until the number is complete

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LardLad00@reddit

Fuckin 800 numbers amiright?

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rdhdboi767@reddit

Bill collectors won't allow this to become a thing of the past lol.

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Obahmah@reddit

a pencil sharpener or a rotary phone

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BogOBones@reddit

baseball cards came with a rock hard stick of gum

waterbeds

cigarette machines

white dog shit

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Knight_thrasher@reddit

When you rubbed your feet along the carpet you could shock someone

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DustyScharole@reddit (OP)

99.999% sure you can still do this.

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No-Profession-6251@reddit

Man, I haven’t thought about that it a minute haha

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Holmes221bBSt@reddit

When you went to a restaurant, the host would ask “smoking or non-smoking”

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Late_Being_7730@reddit

My dad bought software for his computer to make my birthday invitations. It came on big floppies. We printed the invites on the printer that fed paper through with the bubble paper and I was in charge of pulling the bubbles off.

My friend’s parents had a small business, too. One rainy day, she and I spent all day faxing notes back and forth.

You didn’t have to dial all the numbers to call someone.

Oh, and I died of dysentery.

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MahliSaia@reddit

"Here's a quarter. Call someone who cares."

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coarse_glass@reddit

Internet came on a cd in the mail

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Kellzy1212@reddit

Josh Johnson comedy

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rdhdboi767@reddit

The party line.

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Careful_Farmer_2879@reddit

Remember when Verizon cellphones couldn’t make calls while on the internet?

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henry_canabanana@reddit

CD-ROM Drive
Dual Speed CD-ROM Drive
Quad Speed CD-ROM Drive
Hex Speed CD-ROM Drive
12x and then 24x

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Grongebis@reddit

weed had seeds

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CoyoteDown@reddit

Roll roll roll a joint, pick out the seeds and stems

Light it up, take a puff, and pass it to a friend

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iameveryoneelse@reddit

Not if you bought that sensimella. I came up on brick weed but music taught me better things existed.

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Adventurous_Pin_344@reddit

Seeds and stems!! It was always bad news when that's all you had left.

And it cost $50 for an eight of an ounce of good shit.

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TravelingMatt34@reddit

Caffeine pills were considered the worst drug imaginable, but you would definitely not get into Stanford without them. We were so excited yet so scared to learn this information back in the day.

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daydrinkersunite@reddit

Vivarin - Gateway to Hell!

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BStevens65@reddit

If you over-wind your watch, you might break it.

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Due-Explanation-7560@reddit

I needed stitches from a large wooden tv hitting my head...when I feel into it

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wmubronco03@reddit

Having to redial the rotary phone because you messed up dialing.

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Shinespark7@reddit

Hold on I gotta degauss my monitor

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Into-the-stream@reddit

And defrag my hard drive.

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elsie78@reddit

My 73yo dad still thinks he needs to do this.

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RedbarnRiver@reddit

I watched The Super Bowl Shuffle, Rocky IV, and the Challenger Space Shuttle as must see events in my elementary school gym.

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boyalien0@reddit

The tv straight up just didn’t air shit during the late night/early morning hours

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GlitterBombFallout@reddit

At least some radio stations would go to dead air at like 2am, too.

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FickleName5818@reddit

Be kind, Rewind.

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_wiz_@reddit

There were TV channels between the tv channels

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beeswax_swiffer@reddit

Waiting for dad to be done with the newspaper so you could see what movies are playing

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DustyScharole@reddit (OP)

Or read Calvin and Hobbes.

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SewistDoc46@reddit

Be kind and rewind. Pressing record or pause during commercials breaks. Syndicated reruns.

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lemmylemonlemming@reddit

The long ass cord on the phone in the kitchen came with an auto-tangle feature. It was wound into these like curls that would catch on each other and automatically attach to itself.

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555byte@reddit

Sometimes I could pick up my phone and listen to the neighbors talk...

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RonnieG3@reddit

Vacuum tube testing at the grocery store.

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elsie78@reddit

Ask them for a flash cube

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Few_Delivery_7098@reddit

Go turn the antennae.

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Dakaf@reddit

TV signing off for the night.

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FortyishYearOld@reddit

There were no colour TVs.

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ithinkitsnotworking@reddit

I adjusted the bunny ears.

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coci222@reddit

Untangling the phone cord was a skill

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sprinklesadded@reddit

Airplanes had a smoking section.

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Defiant_Flamingo4632@reddit

Please make a Xerox copy

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Sparegeek@reddit

It used to cost extra if you wanted to call outside of your local city/area.

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andyman686@reddit

Having to blow into a video game cartridge while vigorously waving it back and forth to try to get it to stop glitching when turning it on.

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telos2020@reddit

Go get me a Zima

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IAteAnotherVegan@reddit

there is a switch on the back that lets you use channel 4!

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iameveryoneelse@reddit

Why we call it rolling up the window.

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NotABot9000@reddit

Go turn the antenna

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_what_fresh_hell_@reddit

Once I sent a fax for Connie Chung

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DustyScharole@reddit (OP)

gif

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fleetiebelle@reddit

When you left the house, you were pretty much unreachable.

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throwawaycpa1980@reddit

Just make sure you're home when the street lights come on!

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Late_Being_7730@reddit

It’s 10 o’clock. Do you know where your children are?

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CenTexPlmbr@reddit

This. It was freedom. As I age, the more I find myself being "unreachable". Even with my kids. As long as I know they are somewhere safe, be unreachable.

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cutshop@reddit

On road trips, you look out the window or read a book. But we got a huge upgrade in early 90s with a mini tv with built in vcr watching Dances with Wolves because it was so long

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Professoressa411@reddit

Blow on the cartridge!

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smoothAsH20@reddit

Trying to learn how to fold a paper map. Well actually using a paper map.

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dipatello@reddit

You couldn’t walk far while talking on the phone.

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HeightExtra320@reddit

Couldn’t talk on the house phone while using the internet on your one computer you had in the house .

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SpprtRdclHbts@reddit

My first apartment was 400 bucks a month

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oadge@reddit

Mine was a 2 bedroom house for $500. I paid half.

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OneManGang2001@reddit

Pops bought an Atari when I was 2. There used to be a game/TV coax switch. Had to reach behind the CRT TV to switch it to play the atari. It eventually moved to my room when I was maybe 9. He bought a 13" black and white TV to play on. (For all the young kids, TVs used to be quite expensive).

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xt0rt@reddit

My first bedroom TV was a B/W 13" or 9". Many nights of Nick at Night were watched on that thing as I fell asleep.

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OneManGang2001@reddit

You had to switch it to UHF to get the one channel that broadcast as channel 45. Lousy reception

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Revolutionary_Gap150@reddit

That Ice-T was a rapper before he was an actor. She was so confused... I didn't bother to mention he also acted before he rapped, it would have just muddied the waters.

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daydrinkersunite@reddit

We can't call Grandma until the weekend when it's cheaper.

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HeightExtra320@reddit

Food stamps used to be paper 📄

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kittykittymeowmeow01@reddit

Internet once came on a CD

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loasdrums@reddit

We got a used PC from my uncle and it had AOL on a floppy (3.5"). It also had a series of floppies to install Windows 3.0. It was upgraded to Windows 95 before we got it. It had a whopping 500MG hard drive.

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HeightExtra320@reddit

Couldn’t use your cell phone before 7 pm

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MrThouu@reddit

Sometimes standing in a certain spot got a TV channel to show better

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poodog13@reddit

TV dinners that came in foil trays and could only be made in the oven

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MnkyBzns@reddit

*69

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MooingTree@reddit

Sometimes you've got to edit autoexec.bat but other times you've got to edit config.sys

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butterfly_ashley@reddit

I would only use my cell phone after 9pm unless I wanted to buy minutes.

Had to press the numbers on a cell phone multiple times to get the correct letter for a text

You had to watch the news to check for school closure

You had to get the newspaper for movie times.

Some cds came with a single song.

My first computer you could only type papers on

To learn something we had to spend hours in the library.

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BanielJP@reddit

The “tape” could come out of a cassette and you had to carefully wind it back in without tangling or breaking it.

Second would be, if your video game didn’t work, blowing into it would fix it

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NearbyAd9549@reddit

Calling somebody to have them tell you to call them back after 7:00 or whenever free nights kicked in.

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TheDukeofArgyll@reddit

I made my dad an ash tray in elementary art class and he brought it to use at his office.

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mekio_san@reddit

If I wanted music to travel with I had to burn a cd, after it was burned it was so fragile a scratch or a bump would ruin it.

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NewToHTX@reddit

If you had speakers and a cell phone, you'd know a call was coming in before your Nokia would ring.

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WilliamMcCarty@reddit

Being able to say "Don't believe me? Look it up " and knowing there was no way they possibly could.

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minxwink@reddit

P a y p h o n e B o o t h s

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shamashedit@reddit

If the phone ran 2.5 times, the call was for the neighbor. It if ran 3 whole times, the call was for my house.

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Sirnando138@reddit

My eBay search from last night…

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SpaceGrass_500@reddit

We would wrap aluminum around the antenna ears to get better reception.

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PrttyPussSoupp1@reddit

You could smoke on planes. No TSA to go thru either.

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Brokentoeses@reddit

No mirror on the passenger side

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Stuts81@reddit

A pinnacle of coolness was to own a tiny box that someone would call, and they would type their phone number into it. If it was really important they would also type 911.

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Candelpins1897@reddit

Use the contra code

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MitchMcConnellsJowls@reddit

Restaurants had smoking and non-smoking sections

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UnchoosenDead@reddit

Having my chest sounded during an asthma exam while the doctor was smoking... He set his cigarette down in his ashtray for the exam of course but still.

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Perfect-Resist5478@reddit

Titanic came on 2 vhs tapes

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Santos_L_Halper_II@reddit

The number of times my sister got a call right as a picture was about to download the good parts of a single porn pic. I’m frustrated and angry just thinking about it.

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MitchMcConnellsJowls@reddit

Page me

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_meestir_@reddit

Or 4 .. that’s a real thing

[-]

drewbaccaAWD@reddit

You can't call your friend who lives thirty minutes away because they are in a different area code and that's long distance.

[-]

juanvald@reddit

I amassed a $250 AOL bill due to all the time I spent in Teen Chat. My mom was NOT pleased.

[-]

BaldEagleRising17@reddit

You have to come home when the streetlights turn on.

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LackingUtility@reddit

TVs with two channel knobs, one of which had “U”

[-]

blanksix@reddit

I never managed a successful appendectomy, but I did manage to make it West.

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leave-no-trace-1000@reddit

Giant satellite dishes in people’s yards were common place. We had some weird channels come through on that thing.

[-]

AshDogBucket@reddit

When a public figure breaks the law, they get sentenced and serve their sentence like anyone else.

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xt0rt@reddit

Insanity

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Formal_Ground6513@reddit

If the picture doesn't stop rolling, give the side of the TV a good smack!

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S_A_R_K@reddit

Calling a business from the yellow pages, asking for directions then having to wait while they found the one employee who knew how to get there from where you lived

[-]

UnconventionalBlkWm@reddit

Upon walking into a restaurant, you immediately asked “smoking or non smoking!”

[-]

70camaro@reddit

When you bought something with a credit card it went "kechunk".

If I was sitting at my computer I always knew I was getting a phone call a few seconds before it rang.

[-]

xxlouserxx@reddit

Smoking sections indoors 🤢

[-]

UnconventionalBlkWm@reddit

My first Dell laptop had an Internet card you had to insert into the computer to connect to the Internet. 😅

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Acceptable_Class_576@reddit

I helped my mom balance her checkbook.

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Unique-Ad-4369@reddit

My Netflix came in the mail.

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Asleep_Welder_3494@reddit

No cable tv. We were better off

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OrangeBlackMilk@reddit

waiting for a video you liked to get played on MTV

[-]

AimlessClimber@reddit

Call waiting was something you had to pay for.

[-]

WhoYouBoo_eek789@reddit

Sometimes I had to miss recess to beat the chalkboard erasers.

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just_mark@reddit

you had to make sure nobody else was talking and pull up the plunger on the phone to get a dial tone.

party lines are why the whole town knew i was sick before the ambulance got to the house.

[-]

Professional_Suit278@reddit

Be kind, please rewind

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croissant_and_cafe@reddit

You could smoke on the back half of the airplane on international flights

[-]

snoopmt1@reddit

You needed a newspaper or magazine subscription to know what would be on tv.

[-]

SameSpecialist8284@reddit

Mum, can you get off the phone, I want to use the internet.

[-]

Dildo_Shw4ggins@reddit

Be Kind, Rewind

[-]

Hossflex@reddit

I once burnt my knee on a cigarette lighter while making out with a girl in her car. Apparently I pushed it in with my knee and kept it there. Since the pressure never stopped the plastic knob melted and red hit metal burned into my knee. I still have the scar lol.

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usernames_suck_ok@reddit

Not everything ends up on social media.

[-]

Revolutionary-Bee353@reddit

Had to turn the tv on 20 minutes before the show you wanted to watch so it could warm up.

[-]

Emannuelle-in-space@reddit

I used to download music on dial-up while I was at school without telling my parents. Dad was expecting an important fax that got blocked by me being logged onto AOL and Napster or whatever. He put a block on my AOL account so I could only use it 5-6pm, but forgot that I knew my mom’s login pw. It happened again, and they took my computer away.

[-]

LarryGoldwater@reddit

When she told you she called but it was a busy signal, you couldn't prove she was lying.

[-]

DustyScharole@reddit (OP)

"No one was on the phone"

"I don't know, man. The damn phone company, am I right?"