As a millennial, it feels weird to be able to say “Back in my day,” but… BACK IN MY DAY, things were just a little bit more carefree, and I’m so glad that I was a kid when I was a kid. Lowkey, I kind of feel bad for kids today. Does that make me old?
Recently, Reddit user DigExcellent1363 asked, “What’s something from your childhood that kids today will never experience?” The answers made me feel so effing nostalgic, I almost passed out. It was so fun reading through all of the responses and remembering the “before times.” So I had to bring some of the very best answers to you. Here’s what everyone had to say.
1.“The Sears Christmas catalog. That thing brought me more joy than any actual present I ever got.”
2.“Just showing up somewhere and hoping your friend shows up, because that was the agreement when you last spoke to them yesterday.”
—u/pluvio_fille
“Yeah, for me, I’ll never forget getting home from church every Sunday and having to hop on my bike and ride around until I found everyone else’s bikes piled up in front of one of my friends’ houses.”
—u/FrancisKey
Related: “My Granddaughter Doesn’t Believe Me”: 22 Common, Everyday Experiences From “Back Then” That Are Now Obsolete
3.“Having to wake up early on a snowy day to check the news to see whether or not your school was closed. If you missed it, you had to sit through the entire list again until it got back to your city.”
4.“Calling my mom 1-800-COLLECT from the school pay phone after theatre rehearsal and when they said ‘You have a collect call from _____’ I’d say ‘MomI’mDoneComePickMeUp!'”
—u/jesileighs
5.“Having an actual limit on things that even your parents couldn’t change. TV shows were on when they were on, the shops or rental stores had what games they had, the toys that were available were the toys that were available, etc. Now, with streaming, Amazon, online gaming stores, etc., kids can get almost anything they want if their parents are willing to pay.”
6.“Being sent to the store with 10 bucks and a note for the cashier to buy cigarettes for your parents.”
—u/imacabooseman
7.“Privacy. We were left alone to our own devices (not smartphones!) and survived the misadventures. No one recorded us doing dumb stuff and shared it with the world.”
—u/crazyditzydiva
8.“It used to be a punishment to be indoors; now they think it’s a punishment to be outside.”
9.“Leaving the house on a summer morning and our parents having no idea where we were and no way to contact us until we showed back up for lunch or dinner with pine sap in our hair and strange rocks or small, confused critters in our pockets.”
—u/glossolalienne
“My mom hosed the dirt off me in the driveway more than once.”
—u/Ikey_Pinwheel
Related: Only People Born Between 1976 And 1985 Can Identify Most Of These Obscure Cartoons From A Single Screenshot
10.“Living for Saturday morning cartoons and really only having that one day to watch them! My kids can’t even imagine how we only had four channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS) and that cartoons were on for maybe five hours one day a week!”
11.“Using a cassette tape to record your favorite song from the radio (and hoping the DJ wasn’t talking through any of it).”
—u/SimpleAcrobatic6275
“I called my radio station one day to request a song and specifically asked them NOT to speak during the intro because I wanted to record it.”
—u/gh0st_n0te119
12.“Trying to pee during commercial breaks, and your cousins screaming ‘it’s baaaaaaackkkkkkk’ and having to run back so you don’t miss one second of your show.”
—u/bellabbr
13.“Waiting for photos to get developed, raw and unfiltered.”
14.“Your legs getting cooked by the damn metal slide that was baking in the sun. Also, that ‘eek eek eek’ sound as your skin sticks to the metal allllll the way down. Did anybody else ever throw sand on the slide to make it a little less painful? Didn’t work, did it?”
—u/ImToo0ldForThisShit
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15.“Calling a friend’s house and praying their parents didn’t pick up first.”
—u/teen-cutie
“Right! Like calling a girl to ask her out and being ready to hang up if her father answers.”
—u/greally
16.“Writing letters and passing notes in class instead of texting or DMing instantly.”
17.“They’ll never know the joy of a Toys “R” Us store being jam-packed with toys. My little niece was the last one in our family to really experience it, and that was 12 years ago. “
—u/Retro-scores
18.“Actually remembering everyone’s phone numbers by heart.”
—u/SafeIncrease7953
19.“Staying home sick from school and watching Maury Povich. I guess they can still watch Price is Right, but it’s just not the same.”
20.“Fixing a cassette with a pencil. IYKYK.”
—u/Pandoras_Fate
21.“Getting verbal directions to your friend’s house and trying to find it without GPS.”
—u/AtticThrowaway
Related: “My Husband Nearly Choked”: 18 Comically Incorrect Childhood Beliefs People Held Into Their Teens, 20s, 30s, And Beyond
22.“Setting a VCR to record a show and having to time it just right.”
—u/AlValMeow
23.“Physical encyclopedias.”
24.“Collecting pop/soda bottles for the deposit money.”
—u/BrassKneck
25.“Calling your parents at work.”
26.And finally, “Everyone could afford to go to a concert in the ’80s. Tickets were $10 to $20. I saw David Bowie for $15.”
—u/AlisonM66
Is there anything from your childhood that kids today will never get to experience? Tell me in the comments, or use the anonymous form below! Your response could be used in an upcoming Alpine Timesarticle!
Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.
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