I'd like to say that I wrote this but I did not. It rings so true to my ears because I'm over thirty and remember those days so well. I got this in an email and wanted to share it with everyone. I have know clue to who wrote this so I hope I don't get in any trouble for posting it here. Those over thirty will understand and those under will never really know how hard we had it back then. Does this ring true to anyone over thirty? Does anyone under thirty have anything to say about this? And will those under thirty be able to say just how hard they had it in the future to their kids.

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill...barefoot... BOTH ways Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,There was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia!
And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!! There was no email!! we had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! There were no MP3' s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances. We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your Imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and
faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a Little book called a TV Guide to find out what was On! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off
your tail and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no
Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you Hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons. And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

[edit on 12/2/2008 by Solarskye]

I am 23. My father had a very hard life growing up, and when my brother and I were growing up, he didn't want us to have to go through what he did. Though I would not say my brother and I were spoiled per se (that is, we rarely threw tantrums if we didn't get what we wanted, and we asked for less and less as we got older), we did have it very good. I realize this now.

Unfortunately I also realize that being spoiled hindered us as people. Both of us do not have the drive of the desire for success, because all we have known is our parents' generosity and love.

As grateful as I am to my parents for everything they have done, I am also resentful of the fact that my brother and I have turned into lazy people.

I have dreams of my own, and I am definitely intelligent enough to achieve them. The problem is, I lack any real motivation.

[edit on 12/2/2008 by prototism]

I'm with you on this! No email, no Internet, NO COMPUTERS!
Yes, I remember the old days. And no DVDs! I had to wait a year to see the Wizard of OZ! And I only got to see it once! No replay. No watching it over and over again. No Video!
Man, life was hard! Hard I tell ya!

thanks for sharing. The post was so funny, yet all so true.

BTH, this is Pamie at work (can't log on )

My gosh, I feel absolutely ANCIENT now.
Boy did that hit home.
What didn't help is that I was adopted at birth by a couple in their late 40's.
Talk about generation gap.
I heard my mom's stories of washing the soldiers uniforms (Norwegian) when she was a young girl. She even had love letters she had saved from a trist with a soldier.
I remember having a record player, 3 whole channels on TV..then we got cable when I was 5, and we got a whole 13 CHANNELS!
Saturday morning was cartoons from 6am till noon, and damn straight I was a couch potato for 6 hours. Then outside to ride my bike till dark.
Only video games were at the arcade with the pinball machines.I still love PacMan.
We cooked with a gas stove and leftovers were re-heated in the oven.
I remember when there were no VCR's, no CD players, No microwaves, and NO CELL PHONES!
I suddenly feel like my childhood was so deprived...NOT!
At least I developed an imagination.

Man that was great.


I can remember all of the things mentioned. We had the big floor model tv with the wooden cabinets that was broken...and on top sat the samll black and white tv. We had to use rabbit ears for reception and pliars to change the channel when the crappy knob broke off.

I remember the first time I ever saw the internet I didnt know what to make of it. It reminds me of my great uncle when he told me about the first time he ever heard a song on the radio...he thought someone was playing a joke on him.

We didnt have a microwave til I was in my teens, or a VCR. I owned an Atari 2600 and can honestly say I have owned almost ever video game system ever released...sans a few wierd ones like NEO GEO.

I remember when my dad got pissed one day because cigarettes went over $1 a pack. We bought these wierd things called cassette tapes when we wanted new music. My first computer was a Texas Instrument and it probably had the capacity of your average wrist watch these days...probably less.

I remember being in elementary school and seeing a computer for the first time, we played Hang Man via entering code. Cell phones were only used in the car and were as big as a hair dryer.

I feel old...lol....at 31. Imagine what the world will be like when we are in our 70's or 80's.

Now you all just made me feel old. I remember going down to the gas station a few blocks from our house and getting a pack of cigarettes for my dad. They were 50 cents a pack out of that machine you pulled the knob and down they fell. LOL BlackOps719, I remember the players turning the channel on the TV too. Remember the 8-track tapes that cut the song off half way through it and you had to eject it, turn it over to listen to the rest of the song. Man I hated that!

And AccessDenied, I spent most of my youth playing those arcade games. I liked Pac-Man, Defender, Asteroids. My favorite was Galaga with those insect like enemies dropping down and you shoot them with your spaceship. Then you can double your ship and double shoot. Those were the top of the line games back then. Now their ancient and I'm feeling ancient myself. lol

And anonymous yes those TV shows I couldn't wait to watch every year, including the Christmas ones. Things sure have changed haven't they.

Originally posted by Solarskye
Now you all just made me feel old. I remember going down to the gas station a few blocks from our house and getting a pack of cigarettes for my dad. They were 50 cents a pack out of that machine you pulled the knob and down they fell.

I was in a restaurant a couple of weeks ago where they still have one of those machines – man, the rush of nostalgia that gave me! Cigarettes were $1.10 when I first started smoking I think, although they quickly went up to $1.35 and I swore I'd quit if they ever got up to $2.00

I did, too, sometime after they went to $7.50

But yeah, I remember no caller ID, no call waiting, no cable, no VCR, no answering machine ...

Computer "graphics" strictly made of ASCII art on 80-character displays

I don't know about better or worse, or easier or harder, but it sure was different when people expected to talk to each other directly instead of trading voice mail messages.

[edit on 12/3/08 by americandingbat]

Aw man, this brought me back. I'm 28, but it all hit home. I remember I was never quick enough to hit pause, so all my mix tapes inevitably had either the DJ or the next song on it.

My mom would send me and my younger brothers to the store that was an entire 1.5 miles away. By ourselves!

I miss TV Guide. The saddest day ever was when they announced they were going to a magazine size format. I LOVED when my mom would buy one - I sill have the one from when Start Trek:TNG ended!

Compared to most on this site, I'm sure I would be considered a geezer but life on the farm on the high plains of Texas was pretty rugged. Out door toilets and no running water in the house. When we moved to town life seemed great. Paved streets even.

But I feel the need to pay a serious complement to the under 30 crowd I associate with.

They are talented, dedicated, professional, hard working, attractive, motivated and uncomplaining bunch of people and I feel lucky to be able to call them friends.

If they are any indication of the future of America; It will be a glorious place to call home and live.

Man forget about zip discs......we had the card catalogue at the library...hahaha. Thats right kids...it's the Dewey Decimal System....hoorah!!


I would wager there are kids out there 15 and under who have never actually checked out a book from a library. If I had a computer to help me when I was in school I have no doubt that I would have gone to Harvard....but because of the DDS and all of that damned required reading I settled for Princeton instead...(yeah right

All hail the Dewey Decimal System! I was one of the cool kids (cough, choke) in grade school and got to work in the library because of my solid understanding of it. Eh, it was better than some other tasks. I was actually good at it too - I could practically shelve books without looking at the numbers.

Thought of something else, although it's really more something the younger set is missing out on - RECESS. I have no idea how I would have gotten through school if not for recess. Waaaay too much fun.

OMG I remember the scratch and sniff lol! And the library was a place I would get the " BIG " head phones and plug into that little record player they had there and listen to 45 records. Man O man I'm old. I remember the Bic pen that had Red, blue, green, black and I can't remember the other colors, but that was top of the line stuff back then. Just click which color you wanted and write or color. It was either a zippo lighter or a pack of matches back then too. And those silly mood rings. lol