# 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:** 15
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/281 "2014-08-09T21:12:33Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > There are millions of people in the world who have never rolled down the window in the car. > > This makes me sad. Do you mean they’ve never used a handle to roll down a window, because the windows are electric, or they’ve never needed to, because all cars have AC now? AC that actually cools the back seat. > [@DocCathode](#): > > Also, there were no dollar stores. They were called “5 & Dimes.” My grandmother worked at one, and even though she was Jewish, she had her grandfather’s Irish last name, so she got hired. On her way home from work, if she wanted to stop at the kosher butcher, she didn’t go to the closest one, on the next block, she went to the second-closest one, so her boss wouldn’t see her go there. She probably would’ve quit when she got married anyway, but she might have gotten fired when her boss heard her new name, so she just quit. This was in the 1920s. > [@Bricker](#): > > Also: a pencil with an eraser point on one end and a brush on the other. What mysterious object could this be, I asked my son when I was cleaning out my mom’s stuff for her move and found one from her days as a secretary. Typewriter erasers! They were practically worthless, because they tended to tear the paper. > [@Whatever4](#): > > Starting a standard shift car by pushing it, hopping into the driver’s seat, and popping the clutch. I did this last month, because I have a 20-year-old car, that you car still run the battery down on, by leaving the lights on. Our other car is 8 years old, and the lights go off automatically. If there were some after-market relay I could install so I would never forget the light on the old car again, I’d buy it in a second. Which reminds me of another one: **seeing a strange car with its lights on, and checking the doors to see if one was open, so you could turn the lights off for the person who had left them on.** > [@Bricker](#): > > Pay toilets! My mother hated those so much, that even though she was famously germphobic, she made me, around the age of three, crawl on the public restroom floor under the door, and open the stall from the inside. > [@Arrendajo](#): > > He has also never cued up an LP on a turntable, though I’m sure he groks the concept from watching DJs scratch. > Frankly, I am shocked myself at the changes wrought in personal communication and information technology in the last 20 years. I asked a 20-something aide at my son’s preschool to turn off a record player that this one old teacher insisted on using (don’t ask), and she said she didn’t know how. > [@Leaffan](#): > > So, people would say “We can’t come to the phone right now” or some other lame message. Did anyone’s house actually get burgled because of their answering machine message? > > My brother’s from back in the day “We’re out back feeding the dobermans…” I had a friend whose just went ahead and said “I’m waiting to see if you’re someone I want to talk to.” > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Sanitary belts. Oh dear gawd, my mother made me wear those, even though the adhesive pads had been around for seven or eight years. She didn’t think the newfangled things could possibly be any good. The clip on the back dug into my buttcrack, and hurt so bad. I was like, 12, and would be sitting in school, and afraid to adjust, or tell a teacher. My mother went out of the country to do some research for a couple of months when I was 13, and I switched to adhesive without telling my father my mother wanted me to wear the belted kind. My mother never said anything about it when she came back, and I just used my own money to buy pads after that. When I was 14, I went to live with my aunt and uncle, and my aunt probably would have let me wear tampons if I’d wanted. She didn’t care, and she didn’t make me pay for them. My mother had a hysterectomy in 1988, and I think right up until then, she used those belts. ---
**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 9, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/282 "2014-08-09T21:25:53Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > The UK. Yes. The roof aerial gets me something like 40+ channels of Freeview digital TV (though, admittedly, only about 25 or so that I can imagine ever wanting to watch), plus enabling access to numerous further subscription based channels. Interesting. I thought you lived in the UK, but wasn’t clear if you were still there. I imagined you guys were all using satellite dishes if you didn’t have cable. We do have plenty of dishes around here. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/283 "2014-08-09T21:55:56Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I have never experienced it, being male, but I vividly remember a couple of girls in my high school having to kneel and be measured. I think I remember it because I was subconsciously kinky even then, and that was just the sort of thing slavegirls might have to do. Frankly, I think the “measuring skirts to make sure they meet standards” was just a rationalization that was covering some kinky thrills for the Powers That Were in those days. They might not even have realized it themselves. Oh, I think they realized it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/284 "2014-08-09T22:14:24Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Long distance driving before interstate highways. Central Maryland to northern Alabama took 22 hours in the mid-60s. Most recent time was 11.5 hours. Oh hell yeah. Southern California to Sacramento meant getting up at 4am to hopefully get there before bedtime. Now it’s just 6 hours up the 5 instead of 15 hours behind farm equipment up the San Joaquin Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/285 "2014-08-09T23:53:04Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Oh hell yeah. Southern California to Sacramento meant getting up at 4am to hopefully get there before bedtime. Now it’s just 6 hours up the 5 instead of 15 hours behind farm equipment up the San Joaquin Valley. Not to mention going over the Grapevine and worrying whether your car would overheat. Carrying a water bag with you so you could keep refilling the radiator, looking for water stops in the mountains to keep refilling the water bag. Romper Room. Miss Nancy. Ding Dong School Miss Frances The plastic screen you put over your TV screen that had a blue strip at the top, a brown strip in the middle and a green strip at the bottom, so you could say you were watching color TV. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/286 "2014-08-10T00:01:57Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Telephone pranks, as there was no caller ID. Sadly, I suspect Prince Albert remains trapped in his can these days. Prince Albert was a pipe tobacco and not a penis piercing. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/287 "2014-08-10T01:03:48Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Unleaded? When were you born? It was Regular and Premium. For some period time (mid to late 1970’s), one of the chain stations (I think Conoco) had pumps with a selector dial where you could get 5 or maybe 6 different octanes. I assume it was just mixing the high/low octane gas - I imagine it didn’t last long because how many people knew exactly which octane their car would run the best on? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/288 "2014-08-10T03:52:05Z")
Just thought of 3 things most kids have never seen. Cars with headlight switches on the dashboard, high beam switch on the floor, and cars with no seat belts. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/289 "2014-08-10T04:02:22Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Just thought of 3 things most kids have never seen. > > Cars with headlight switches on the dashboard, high beam switch on the floor, and cars with no seat belts. I’m old enough to remember TV ads encouraging people to begin using the now standard seat belts. One ad featured several frivolous reasons people give for not wearing the seat belt, such as _“Besides, it wrinkles my dress!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/290 "2014-08-10T04:14:18Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It was a huge deal to watch the WOZ when you got a color TV. The moment Dorothy steps out of her house was magical. This was back when TV shows were still made in B&W. When I first watched the Wizard of Oz we still had a B&W television. It wasn’t until the fourth viewing that I learned Oz was colorful. That’s when the joke about “a horse of a different color” finally made sense to me, as I hadn’t been able to see the change before. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/291 "2014-08-10T04:19:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Interesting. I thought you lived in the UK, but wasn’t clear if you were still there. I imagined you guys were all using satellite dishes if you didn’t have cable. We do have plenty of dishes around here. Cable and satellite are available, but they cost money. Satellite dishes are quite common, but I think most houses that have them also have a roof aerial, and I suspect that since the advent of digital Freeview, many satellite dishes are now unused (although I think you can also get the Freeview channels via satellite without a subscription, and for some people this may give better reception, depending on your location). Back when you could only get four or five analogue channels “over the air”, either a cable or satellite subscription was worth it to some people, but these days, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/292 "2014-08-10T04:37:25Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Seeing a commercial for Flintstones vitamins yesterday, I wondered if the typical kid these days had ever even seen an episode of the Flintstones or knew of it beyond vitamins and breakfast cereals. > > I won’t even ask about The Honeymooners… I’m a bit disappointed Seth MacFarlane’s proposed remake of _The Flinstones_ never got past the script stage. > [@Magiver](#): > > Just thought of 3 things most kids have never seen. > > Cars with headlight switches on the dashboard, high beam switch on the floor, and cars with no seat belts. I’m a bit confused. I’ve never been in a car without a headlight switch on the dashboard. How are they turned on now? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/293 "2014-08-10T04:46:16Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > The library collection was indexed in a “card catalog,” housed in one or more large pieces of furniture. Each contained rows upon rows of small drawers, each holding hundreds of 3-by-5 inch index cards. Each book in the collection would be indexed at least three times, once by author, once by subject, and once by title. If you watch \*Big Bang Theory, \*there’s a card catalog in Sheldon’s living room. I always wonder whether they use it for anything. And more stuff: I remember when the first Walkman came out. It was something like the size of a book, and WOW! You could take your music with you! You could insert a 90-minute cassette (45 min. on each side), and listen to 90 minutes of music! Amazing! I remember the first [“calculator”](https://img1.etsystatic.com/006/0/6112481/il_570xN.354295189_qvdd.jpg) I got, in the early 70s. It could only add or subtract, and was used with that little stylus attached to the right side. It’s amazing how fast I got on it. Clock radios. You kept it by your bed, because it had an alarm clock in it. Or wherever else you’d want a clock or a radio. Most newspapers had a column for women, with things that would be interesting to women, but not to men. I guess they had to do with fashion, homemaking, etc. There were no “flight attendants” in planes, just “stewardesses,” and always female, and always pretty. And when they reached a certain age, they got fired. Nobody was openly gay. You could get beat up (or worse) by the cops. Your mug shot, name, address and employer could be on the front page of the newspaper. You could lose your family, your job, your friends, and have no recourse. NOBODY was saying it was ok to be gay. It was the equivalent of being a serial killer. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/294 "2014-08-10T04:51:24Z")
When I was 4, in 1950, My family visited my grandparents in Miami Beach. \*By Grayhound. \*From Cleveland, it took 4 days. No interstates, and we were always stopping for meals. I don’t remember whether we stopped at motels or just slept in the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/295 "2014-08-10T04:57:58Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > …I’m a bit confused. I’ve never been in a car without a headlight switch on the dashboard. How are they turned on now? What? Headlights are controlled on one of the two arms protruding from the steering column. Back in the day there was a knob somewhere on the dashboard, and as mentioned, some cars had the “bright” switch on the left floor, along with the manual windshield washer pump. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/296 "2014-08-10T04:58:46Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Clock radios. You kept it by your bed, because it had an alarm clock in it. Or wherever else you’d want a clock or a radio. I’m sure most kids have seen a clock radio. They haven’t gone anyplace. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/297 "2014-08-10T05:01:20Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > What? > > Headlights are controlled on one of the two arms protruding from the steering column. > > Back in the day there was a knob somewhere on the dashboard, and as mentioned, some cars had the “bright” switch on the left floor, along with the manual windshield washer pump. I realize my car is old, but this must be a very recent change. I have the dimmer switch on the turn signal stalk, but I have a knob on the dash for the headlights. I didn’t even know it was changed. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/298 "2014-08-10T05:47:11Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Back in the day there was a knob somewhere on the dashboard, and as mentioned, some cars had the “bright” switch on the left floor… My grandparents had a Cadillac. Not because they were particularly rich, but because it was one of the few cars with power and guts enough to pull their Airstream trailer. (Back then, people generally only had trucks if they lived on a farm.) A propos of the above, the one I remember had some sort of winged thingee protruding above the dash. It had a light sensor built in. If the road ahead was dark, it would switch on the bright lights automatically, and then switch them off when cars were approaching. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/299 "2014-08-10T08:00:34Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I realize my car is old, but this must be a very recent change. I have the dimmer switch on the turn signal stalk, but I have a knob on the dash for the headlights. I didn’t even know it was changed. In the days of yore it was the same switch on almost every car. Something like [this](http://www.jegs.com/i/Painless/764/80152/10002/-1?CAWELAID=1710692550&CAGPSPN=pla&gclid=CPXPnPGbiMACFYk7MgodjxoAdQ) with a rheostat for the dash lights and dome light. You could turn the dash lights off/on and adjust the brightness. Turn them up all the way and the dome light came on. The switch controlled the lights directly. To remove the switch you had to reach in from behind and press a button to release the knob which was on a long shaft. It was about as universal as round headlights that had the bulb built into them. There may still be some switches on the dash in a few cars today but they control relays now. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/300 "2014-08-10T08:04:37Z")
add [bumper jacks](http://www.bobschevelleparts.com/images/T/BJC67.jpg) to the list. they were enormous jacks that hooked into the chrome bumbers to lift the car. [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=14) [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=16)