# The Things For Which Kids Today Have No Context (another list of how things have changed) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2014, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035 "2014-08-07T14:43:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/181 "2014-08-08T06:22:04Z")
Taking glass soda bottles to the corner penny candy store and getting the deposit back in CANDY! Heaven for a kid! Getting ice cream bars or popsicles from freezer in the corner drugstore on a hot summer afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/182 "2014-08-08T06:43:51Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > [Compendium of poetry from Burma Shave signs!](http://www.fiftiesweb.com/burma.htm) (ETA: This, from a web site devoted to [1950’s and 1960’s nostalgia](http://www.fiftiesweb.com/) of all sorts.) > > Modern-day fun signs: Clover brand milk, a regional brand in and around Sonoma County, Ca., has a cartoon cow mascot named Clo, and a long-running on-going series of silly cartoon billboards with Cow and Moo and Clo puns. [http://cloverstornetta.com/category/billboard-gallery/1990-1999/](http://cloverstornetta.com/category/billboard-gallery/1990-1999/) I remember that in 1993 the Cow made fun of Jacques Cousteau and in a move that many in the city called humourless and “all wet” the son of Cousteau threatened to sue if the billboards with the cow in the sea with the caption “Jacques Cowsteu” were not taken down. The company complied and the web site shows the lame replacement caption. [http://cloverstornetta.com/2011/07/1993/1993clos-friends/](http://cloverstornetta.com/2011/07/1993/1993clos-friends/) Kids in the background: “Who the heck is Jacques Cousteau?!?” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/183 "2014-08-08T06:47:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, they are called “fixies” and are ridden by douche-bags in SF.:mad: It’s worse than that. (Many) fixies don’t have brakes at all. The pedals have a direct connection to the wheel. Slowing down is accomplished by… not pedaling so fast. God help you if your feet slip from the pedals when going down a hill. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/184 "2014-08-08T10:06:55Z")
I mentioned that my sister and I used to “crank the ice cream” on summer weekends. My kids had no idea what I was talking about. Also explained to one youngster about planning vacations months ahead because it took that long to send the letters and room deposits back and forth. She was flabbergasted at the process of vacationing in a “new” place: 1. Look up information in library, and address of local Chamber of Commerce at interesting location. 2. Write letter to Chamber of Commerce requesting hotel info/brochures. 3. Call (or write) individual hotels/resorts for additional info. 4. Send check for deposit, along with letter referring to room, previous contact, etc. 5. Await confirmation letter from hotel. 6. Plan for stops along the way (usually phone call to chain hotels) 7. Write Exxon (Esso) requesting relevant maps. Usually they were sent free of charge. 8. Wait 9. Go to bank, obtain cash and traveler’s checks. 10. Got to drug store and buy film and flashbulbs. 11. Go. Nowadays it’s 5 minutes on Travelocity and you’re on your way. ---
**Author:** ![Kiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiber/32/317_2.png) [@Kiber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiber)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/185 "2014-08-08T11:47:07Z")
Don’t spit on the sidewalk. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/186 "2014-08-08T12:19:19Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > TV stations “signing off,” usually with the “Star Spangled Banner” or “America the Beautiful” over a patriotic montage, followed by a brief station ID (often incorporated into the end of the montage) and a few hours of color bars or a test pattern (later replaced with informercials). > > A bunch of nostalgic examples [here](http://www.woot.com/blog/post/when-tv-went-to-bed-13-classic-tv-sign-offs). …here is the NZ version, Good Night Kiwi. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2H2BOGGUbm4/hqdefault.jpg "The Goodnight Kiwi") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H2BOGGUbm4) ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/187 "2014-08-08T12:30:50Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I remember one station wagon my parents owned when I was a kid (remember station wagons!) where the back windows didn’t even roll down. We didn’t find out about that little feature until the start of a 6 hour cross country drive to Grandma’s house in the middle of August with no air conditioning! > \*\*Typing up a paper resume and mailing it. \*\* Back in college and shortly after, the way we applied for real professional jobs was to print out a bunch of resume and cover letters. If you were somewhat tech-savy you could use the “Mail Merge” feature on a form letter. Sometimes seniors posted their actual paper rejection letters on their door until they landed a job. > **Minesweeper / Windows Solitaire.** I recall a time after Windows 3.1 and before commonplace corporate Internet where vast amounts of unproductive time was spent playing this free Windows Games. > **Mix Tapes** - Also it’s later incarnation, the Mix CD. People used used to spend hours with a double tape deck or CD/tape player to create the perfect scratchy sounding playlist of songs to fill a certain mood or occasion. They used to exchange these tapes with friends, romantic partners or just themselves. Sure, kids now can create a Spotify or iTunes playlist. But it just doesn’t have the same feel as a unique playlist that only exists on one warped tape or scratched up CD and has to be played in that specific order. Are you kidding? I still play minesweeper all the time! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/188 "2014-08-08T12:51:23Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > Take The Wizard of Oz, for example. It only came on CBS once a year, usually in the spring around Eastertime. It had its [special bumpers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3eIxtTjyBQ) and its sponsors. You got your bath early and got into your pajamas so you wouldn’t miss it. And hearing Dorothy say “oh, Auntie Em, there’s no place like home!” and hearing those final notes of the score were a little sad…because that was it for another year! … > > Now, there are advantages to being able to see what you like (movies, holiday specials, etc.) anytime you want, as often as you want. But there was always that specialness of knowing that it only came on once a year, even if it felt a little bittersweet when it ended. So, so true. Similar to this: From age nine, I was a big fan of the Stones. Knew every song, and pretty much everything about them. But what a special treat it when my mother brought me to the Museum of Broadcasting in New York, which had a video library, and to watch the Stones playing live on Ed Sullivan or Hullabaloo! I still remember the feeling of savoring every second, knowing that would be the only chance to enjoy them perform. (Being able to rent the videotape of the film “Gimme Shelter” a few years later blunted this feeling a bit, but nothing like today, where you can see pretty much anything, anytime, anywhere.) In a similar vein, while going to concerts is still a popular activity, it must be mainly for other reasons these days than curiosity about what a favorite band is like live on stage. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/189 "2014-08-08T13:05:50Z")
When you checked out a book from the Fairfax County Library in the 70s and 80s, it would have a pocket on the back page, into which the checkout person would put a punched card, the kind computers used to use, with the due date rubber-stamped on it. They didn’t have a card catalog; they had a machine with the books listed on a long strip of microfilm which was sealed inside, with fuzzy white text on a dark blue background. It had a manual control for moving the strip a little way, and a knob which, the farther you turned it, the faster it would whiz by. It was pretty time-consuming, especially if you had to move it back and forth between the Title, Author and Subject divisions. And you had to be really careful near the end: if you had it at too high a speed when it hit the very end of the strip, it would break and the machine would go out of service, plus your mother and probably the librarian would yell at you. In the early 80s these were replaced by microfiches, still with the white-on-blue text, individual sheets stored in a binder with pockets (three binders actually). A lot quicker unless the fiche you needed had gotten lost or hadn’t been put back in its proper pocket, which happened about half the time. Much quieter too since you didn’t get the whizzing noise. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/190 "2014-08-08T13:11:39Z")
I loved the smell of card catalogs. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/191 "2014-08-08T13:32:51Z")
I grew up with computer games, but the transaction model was very different: I paid once for the game, then played it all - or as much I as I could get through. Now, my son gets a game for free, plays a limited amount of it, then is invited to pay for further levels or features. The game is less about entertainment than it is about opening up a business relationship. (In fact I don’t let him pay for extra levels or power-ups. In this house we grind out Angry Bird wins the hard way, goddamit.) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/192 "2014-08-08T13:43:36Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Replicative Fading > > It used to be that you’d tape a song or a movie or xerox an image and give it to a friend. They would make a copy and give it to a friend- and so on. Each copy of a copy would have new errors and defects. > > Burning a song to a CD is digital. So every copy is just as good as the original. This works for copying MP3s too. Pictures too. It occurred to me last night that my parents are much more connected with my boys than they would have been 30 years ago, between unlimited long distance, Skype and digital cameras. Back in the day, it would have been an occasional long-distance call to talk to the grandparents and the same periodic car trips, but now we can Skype or call them whenever we want, and send full-sized pictures of things the boys did that day, without having to order double prints at the drugstore and snail mail them to the grandparents. On a related note, assuming travel stays earthbound, they’ll never know the vaguely 19th century feel of going on vacation somewhere and being almost completely disconnected from their everyday lives. Nowadays people go on vacation to other continents and text photos to their friends and family. I can’t help but think this’ll get more and more common as wireless connectivity becomes more widespread and cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/193 "2014-08-08T13:55:55Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > No jeans or t-shirts or sneakers in school. Boys were sent home if their hair was over the collar in the back. The two assistant principals of my high school were the bane of my existence for this very reason. I was always trying to dodge them in the halls for fear I’d get the dreaded “Get a haircut” dictum. This was roughly 1967-1969, and the irony is that (according to underclassmen I knew) everything seemed to change the very next year after I graduated. Suddenly, boys could wear jeans to school, girls didn’t have to wear skirts, and no one got hassled about their hair anymore. Another irony: I encountered both assistant principals later in life (15 or so years after the fact), at a time that I had, er, considerably less hair than I did in high school. I told them I was one of the kids they used to chase down and force a haircut on, and conceded ruefully that those were the good old days! > [@](#): > > Girls had to kneel, and they were sent home if their skirt didn’t reach the floor. I’ve heard this repeated so many times over the years, and I’m not doubting that it could be true. I’m just wondering if anyone here was ever actually subjected to this practice. In this day and age, it just seems so demeaning. But it was a different era, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/194 "2014-08-08T13:56:04Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > [TV test patterns](http://blogs.mcall.com/.a/6a00d8341c4fe353ef0133f370767a970b-pi) - Broadcast stations shut down after midnight. The test pattern followed the end of the last program. If your TV was wonky you’d see it easier with the test pattern because geometric shapes would be askew. I remember them also coming on at some arbitrarily awful early time- like 4 or 5 am, and at least in the Houston area, always had some sort of sign-on/sign-off clip of the national anthem with NASA footage (hey… it was the 1970s in Houston, what else would you expect?) Sometimes they had USAF airplane footage as well. I used to wake up just to see the sign-on clips play with the national anthem when I was somewhere between 4 and 7. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/195 "2014-08-08T13:58:07Z")
Let’s not forget TV antennas on the roof. Haven’t seen one of those in ages. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/196 "2014-08-08T14:03:15Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Sometimes one can think that a related expression is lost forever: “This is where we came in!” > > > [@](#): > > > > If you are old enough, you will recall this phrase when you went to the movies in the 1950s. That was when during the double-feature era before 1960, movie theatres did not list show times in newspapers. If they did, few paid attention to them. You just showed up and entered the dark theatre while one of the movies was playing. You would wait a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the dark and then shuffle to empty seats. A few hours later came that memorable moment when you or one of your companions would nudge the others and say, “This is where we came in.” Then you’d shuffle out. Yes. Reminds me of an old joke that probably wouldn’t make much sense to kids today. A man takes his wife to a doubleheader\*, and along about the second inning of the second game, she gets up and starts to leave, saying “C’mon…this is where we came in.” \*Actually, regular scheduled doubleheaders went away several years ago. They happen now only if there’s a need to make up an earlier postponed game. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/197 "2014-08-08T14:07:10Z")
> [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](#): > > I remember when the Lifestyle section of my local paper was called Women’s News. Unless I’ve missed it, I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Rotogravure section of the Sunday newspaper. Our local paper had one at least into the 1970s, possibly longer. And a propos of the above, in addition to photos, ours always had a one-panel comic called “The Girls” — which basically portrayed somewhat older and overweight society women as complete bubbleheads. (It was drawn by a man, of course!) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/198 "2014-08-08T14:07:33Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > I’ve heard this repeated so many times over the years, and I’m not doubting that it could be true. I’m just wondering if anyone here was ever actually subjected to this practice. In this day and age, it just seems so demeaning. But it was a different era, wasn’t it? I’m a little younger than you, but yes, my skirt had to be a certain length when I was kneeling . But it was a Catholic school and we were all kneeling pretty regularly anyway, it’s not like there was some special skirt inspection. ( I’m pretty sure the skirt had to touch hte kneeler in the pew , because I don’t remember any kneeling on the floor) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/199 "2014-08-08T14:12:31Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > I mentioned that my sister and I used to “crank the ice cream” on summer weekends. My kids had no idea what I was talking about. > . > . > . > 7. Write Exxon (Esso) requesting relevant maps. Usually they were sent free of charge. AAA would give you customized maps if you were a member. It would be a large scale map with start and finish points, and the line of travel in marker, followed by closer scale maps showing each segment of the journey. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/200 "2014-08-08T14:21:08Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Pull string talking dolls. > > You pulled a string. This compressed a spring. The compressed spring turned a tiny record in front of a plastic cone. > > Talking dolls these days work on bubble switches placed in the doll (usually in the hands). These cause a chip to play back a clip. > > OTTOMH, the last pull string talking dolls I saw were Ren and Stimpy back in 93 or so. Bah, _Luxury_ ! As a small child I was given a small carven wood dancing bear, prolly Russian ( or Black Forest at a pinch ). Hung on the wall, pulling the string makes it’s arms and legs rise up. Gave us days of fun in the hut as the long winter months passed slowly amid an unchanging chill leaden sky. _Talking !_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035.md?page=11)