“Without Revealing Your Age, What Is Something From Your Childhood That Kids These Days Wouldn’t Understand?” (35 Responses)

The generation gap is getting larger. Not the ages, but the way life is so supremely different from even 10 years ago.

Once, I had to explain to a 24 year old what the hand crank on an old car door does. He was baffled.

Redditor r/LastPoopOnTheLeft posed the question, “What is something from your childhood that kids today wouldn’t understand?”

1.

TV going off-the-air at night.

J_David_Settle_1973

2.

Memorizing peoples phone numbers

OptimistPrime527

3.

Recording music from the radio

AndNoc

4.

Using a road atlas to get somewhere on vacation

siriusonbroadripple

5.

Getting to be goofy and awkward and not have to worry about it ending up online for everyone to see.

[deleted]

6.

It’s not working, cuz it’s not on Ch3

moridin82

7.

Schwinners and Losers: The cast of Netflix’s Stranger Things.

How much time we spent playing outside, but not in organized sports. Pickup kickball in the street where you yell “CAR!” to break up the game briefly for a car driving through. Coming home covered in dirt after disappearing for five hours. We all made fun of how we were called by our parents. We would explore and poke around. Dig up worms, chase butterflies, freak out over finding a dead baby bird, skin our knees at least twice a summer and entertain ourselves for hours.

GoddessOfOddness

8.

Running to go to the bathroom during a commercial break

OptimistPrime527

9.

Organising to meet someone on a landline and actually having to turn up on time or they wouldn’t know where you are because you have no way of contacting them.

withereddesign

10.

How we had to plan our TV watching around a printed schedule. No VHS, no dvr.

Edit : 15 years on reddit and this is my highest rated comment!

thorndike

11.

Rewinding vhs or a cassette before returning.

est1979

12.

The Wizard of Oz was on once a year, and if we missed it we had to wait another year to see it

Fearless_Associate_5

13.

Waiting til nights and weekends to make FREE phone calls on your mom’s Nokia.

SameAsk6997

14.

“Please get off the computer (internet) so that I can make a phone call. (and visa versa)”

Big-Professional723

15.

The sound on the phone when somebody was using the internet.

Poops_McClanahan

16.

We had to walk up to the t.v. to turn it on or off, change the channel, or adjust the antenna when the picture became unclear.

BingeRedditor

17.

Kids these days wouldn’t understand why people who grew up with beanie babies won’t buy NFTs

Lovebot_AI

18.

Calling the theater to listen to the prerecorded list of what movies were playing and at what time.

SteamboatMcGee

19.

Walking to blockbuster and spending an hour trying to pick a movie everyone agrees on

sugarfairymagic

20.

Phone corded to the wall.

Dendad6972

21.

That Lite Brite was peak technology

shanecdotes

22.

The joys of Saturday morning cartoons

GallicPontiff

23.

NOT DA MAMA!

BeEccentric

24.

You needed a light accessory for your Gameboy because those suckers didn’t have back lighting. And to trade Pokemon, you needed to use cables. CABLES.

gracefultime

25.

Playing the same level on a game over and over because there’s no Saves

drevilishrjf

26.

I recently had to explain what “changing the channel” meant to my small kid because he only knows streaming. We’ve already covered CDs, VCRs, and what it means to roll down a car window. It was a little rough (for me, not him). Edit: oh and we watched “Turning Red” and I got to explain what a flip phone is.

Proper-Emu1558

27.

those sort of binoculars with cardboard discs with pictures. I used to have Dora the Explorer ones.

guitarhansolo

28.

Picking up the telephone to call your friend and hearing people talking because it was a party line, meaning multiple households all had to share the same line and so you had to wait until it was available.

doinmybest4now

29.

Walkman

Shuoinked

30.

A computer with a black screen with orange or green font.

Just_Series_3125

31.

Blowing on Game cartridges to make them work.

PrudentBuffalo4535

32.

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?

cfishlips

33.

Going on road trips as a kid where the only form of entertainment was some sort of game played amongst your siblings in the back seat involving the license plates of other passing cars. On our car trip to Disney/FL from central PA me and my brother had a competition on who could write down the most license plate numbers… we ended in the thousands but for the life of me I can’t remember who “won” 😂

Ambrosia0201

34.

Waiting for your friend to get home to call them. (Not having constant access)

est1979

35.

I’ve noticed a lot of younger people who have grown up with social media don’t have a strong sense of privacy. Everything is filmed and turned into a tiktok or an insta story without asking if you consent to having your life shared like this.

Houndie

h/t: BoredPanda