# Stuff our baby will grow up with that wasn't around when we were kids **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 12, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-our-baby-will-grow-up-with-that-wasnt-around-when-we-were-kids/618525 "2012-04-12T02:16:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-our-baby-will-grow-up-with-that-wasnt-around-when-we-were-kids/618525/21 "2012-04-12T18:36:53Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > We did have some REALLY bad music though which was, frankly, a historical CRIME. Here’s something else to think about – pop/rock music was completely reinvented between 1966 and 1968. The entire genre changed. Everything before was doo wop and everything after was long drawn out distorted guitar solos. OK, maybe not quite that cut and dry. But imagine if your entire record collection from 2010 was obsolete and from another era. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-our-baby-will-grow-up-with-that-wasnt-around-when-we-were-kids/618525/22 "2012-04-12T18:38:07Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > We’ve talked about this before, but if you’re in the 40-60 range, think about the past 30 years. Technologiocally things have changed, but culturally it seems like not so much. Yeah, we had a bad hair decade, but big deal. > > Now think about the 30 years before that. From 1952 to 1982. How much did things change. Why, the world went from black and white to color! We went from a TV, maybe, if you were rich, to a TV in every room. We went from mono to stereo. > > Will your kids think of 1982 the way we thing of 1952? Politically, though, things have arguably changed more. We had a Cold War, with NATO vs the Warsaw Pact, with a possibility of all-out nuclear war between them, in 1982. We don’t now. That’s a big change. I think the internet might be a cultural change on the order of going from black and white to color, actually. We (most of us, anyway) didn’t have the internet in 1982. We didn’t have Google or Wikipedia. Sometimes I think back to those days, and wonder how the hell we managed to find out anything back then. For example, if my daughter studies physics in college (as both her parents did), unit conversions probably won’t be a nightmare for her. They were for me. You had to find a book that had the unit conversion factor (say, converting from feet to centimeters) you were looking for, or you had to memorize the conversion factor, then do the calculation with your calculator. I’m sure it was even worse before calculators, but fortunately I’m not that old. I hated hated **hated** physics problems that required unit conversions. Converting from Fahrenheit to Celsius or vice versa was even worse, because you had to remember or look up the formula for going each way (I never could remember it). And you’re not learning any actual physics while you’re doing any of this, it’s just tedious slogging through formulas. Now, you just type “3.14159 feet in cm” or “40 f in c” into Google, and you have your answer. No memorization or books with unit conversions required. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-our-baby-will-grow-up-with-that-wasnt-around-when-we-were-kids/618525/23 "2012-04-12T18:51:59Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Now, you just type “3.14159 feet in cm” or “40 f in c” into Google, and you have your answer. No memorization or books with unit conversions required. You still need to apply your brain a little, though, otherwise you end up with howlers, as often seen in the media, involving “temperatures rising by 5ºC (41ºF)” etc. > [@tdn](#): > > We’ve talked about this before Ah yes, I remember an excellent OP called [“30 years ago now versus 30 years ago 30 years ago”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=593040). A catchy title, I’m sure you’ll agree. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-our-baby-will-grow-up-with-that-wasnt-around-when-we-were-kids/618525/24 "2012-04-12T19:04:56Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Ah yes, I remember an excellent OP called [“30 years ago now versus 30 years ago 30 years ago”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=593040). A catchy title, I’m sure you’ll agree. 🙂 Interestingly enough, that’s not the thread I was thinking about. There was another, more recent one. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-our-baby-will-grow-up-with-that-wasnt-around-when-we-were-kids/618525/25 "2012-04-12T19:07:27Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Interestingly enough, that’s not the thread I was thinking about. There was another, more recent one. More or less recent than the previous thread? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-our-baby-will-grow-up-with-that-wasnt-around-when-we-were-kids/618525/26 "2012-04-12T19:10:53Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > More or less recent than the previous thread? 😛 I could swear it was in the past 6 months. Just think – for someone born in the past year, there have always been threads on the subject! ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-our-baby-will-grow-up-with-that-wasnt-around-when-we-were-kids/618525/27 "2012-04-12T20:18:05Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > You still need to apply your brain a little, though, otherwise you end up with howlers, as often seen in the media, involving “temperatures rising by 5ºC (41ºF)” etc. You do, but at least there’s less slogging through plug-and-chug. Stuff where you had to apply your brain I always minded a lot less than the tedious slogging through formulas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-our-baby-will-grow-up-with-that-wasnt-around-when-we-were-kids/618525.md?page=1)