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re: What was it like growing up without a smartphone?
Posted on 4/20/24 at 12:50 am to goldenturbo
Posted on 4/20/24 at 12:50 am to goldenturbo
Posted on 4/20/24 at 1:06 am to moontigr
Reading the back of a tampon box because they ain’t nothing else and being like “I see. Interesting.”
Posted on 4/20/24 at 1:08 am to goldenturbo
Gas was cheap as frick
You drove around until you found the party.
Beer was cheap.
Life was good
You drove around until you found the party.
Beer was cheap.
Life was good
Posted on 4/20/24 at 3:43 am to goldenturbo
I grew up without internet or cellphones and I can't even remember.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 4:17 am to TigerAllNightLong
quote:
Leaving on a road trip with the understanding that you could get stuck in BFE and had to manage the situation on your own. When “men” started relying on a smart phone to save them, test levels fell by half.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 4:40 am to Captain Rumbeard
quote:
It was better. You had to learn self reliance. You had to learn responsibility. You had to learn social skills and how to deal with people. Because you were out roaming around without any supervision doing pretty much whatever you like as long as you don't get caught. It's probably why an 18 year old in the 80's was a lot closer to being an adult than one now.
Nailed it. Most kids today are socially awkward to the point of being hard to talk to. We hire high school and college kids every year for our retail business. We burn through about 50% trying to find the ones that can lay their phones down for a couple of hours to work and speak to customers.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 7:17 am to goldenturbo
It was glorious. Riding bikes, pick-up games everywhere, either football, baseball or basketball. Talking to new chicks in the neighborhood. Throwing rocks at road signs. Looking for anything we could catch, snakes, turtles, frogs and the like. Flying kites, shooting firecrackers, running around on top of roofs, and jumping off them. Dirt clobber fights, water balloon fights, or just fighting or wrestling period. Seeing friends whose daddy were in the service come back after their tour overseas. Going to the movies and your mother would give you a dollar and you thought you were rich. And watching the same movie 3 times in a row with a break to show cartoons in between each movie.. Summer league baseball. Sno cone stands and the ding dong man (ice cream truck) would roll around during the summer. Sunday school and then church with daddy marinating a steak he picked out the day before to eat after church. It was so raw mom had to throw your piece back on the stove to cook it longer in which dad frowned upon. The fair every fall with the rodeo which I never went to. Collecting glass bottles for refund. Sneaking out to the woods to smoke cigarettes in which we didn't inhale but thought we were cool like our parents. Walking to school only to have your dog follow you and at first recess take him back home but not after he peed on the leg of the chalk board. Candy machines at school. I could go on and on. It was great being a kid in the 60's and 70's. The first taste of communications was the great CB trend in the middle 70's. What was your handle? Mine was Showboat.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 7:40 am to VernonPLSUfan
Great list of things before smartphones. My CB handle was Red Dagger. lol
Posted on 4/20/24 at 8:15 am to goldenturbo
quote:
What was it like growing up without a smartphone?
How about without a cellphone period?
:Picks up payphone handset:
Dials 0
--Yes, I'd like to place a collect call to xxx-xxx-xxxx from "wemadeitsafely"
Dad answers the phone at his house
"You have a collect call from -wemadeitsafely-" Do you accept these charges?"
Dad: "no" and hangs up
Turns to mom and tells her the boys made to Houston and they're ok.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 8:20 am to goldenturbo
I knew where all the pay phones in town were located.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 8:30 am to goldenturbo
When it was time to take a dump, I grabbed whichever World Book Encyclopedia I happen to be reading at that time instead of grabbing the phone.
(Which it would have been difficult to grab the phone as it was mounted on the wall in the hallway outside the bathroom. Plus, my mom would be pissed that I, for some insane reason, ripped the phone off the wall just to go take a shite)
(Which it would have been difficult to grab the phone as it was mounted on the wall in the hallway outside the bathroom. Plus, my mom would be pissed that I, for some insane reason, ripped the phone off the wall just to go take a shite)
Posted on 4/20/24 at 8:38 am to goldenturbo
Grew up in the 70s/80s.
Smartphones have definitely rewired the human brain.
People don’t think as deeply about things now. But on the other hand we can argue with strangers online about politics.
Smartphones have definitely rewired the human brain.
People don’t think as deeply about things now. But on the other hand we can argue with strangers online about politics.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 8:42 am to goldenturbo
It was normal. You didn’t miss what you didn’t have.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 8:43 am to Darth_Vader
How can you miss what you never had?
Not being tethered to the rest of the world is both good and bad, but it's a level of freedom that younger people cannot conceive.
I would toss my smartphone today and go back to an old flip phone except for one app -- Waze. Living in a metropolitan area makes it almost a necessity. I'd even keep the flip phone turned off unless I wanted to make a call except for one thing -- my wife and kids might need to reach me.
Not being tethered to the rest of the world is both good and bad, but it's a level of freedom that younger people cannot conceive.
I would toss my smartphone today and go back to an old flip phone except for one app -- Waze. Living in a metropolitan area makes it almost a necessity. I'd even keep the flip phone turned off unless I wanted to make a call except for one thing -- my wife and kids might need to reach me.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 9:25 am to FutureCorridor49
quote:
People forget just how much boredom and waiting there was. It’s bad to be constantly distracted like we are now, but the nostalgia for the old days drastically understates just how much boredom and tediousness used to be baked into every day life.
Boredom is a good thing. It invites creativity.
Posted on 4/20/24 at 10:59 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
When it was time to take a dump, I grabbed whichever World Book Encyclopedia I happen to be reading at that time instead of grabbing the phone.
Most people kept magazines in the bathrooms before smart phones came about.
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