# 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:** 6
**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 7, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/101 "2014-08-07T20:03:50Z")
Alarm clocks without a snooze function. No barcode scanners at the grocery store. No metal detectors at the airport. Inner tubes that were actually . . . . you know, inner tubes. Leaded gasoline. Police that might just bring you home and tell your parents instead of arresting you. The phrase “We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by.” The joke of getting up and standing next to the TV when the above message was shown. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/102 "2014-08-07T20:06:53Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Actually having to get up (or having someone else get up) to adjust ANYTHING on the TV. > > I was Dad’s remote control for many years. I mentioned in another context that my grandparents had the first TV remote control I ever saw, part of a giant console unit that also had a record player and AM/FM radio. But this one was different from what we later came to know. There were just two large buttons that you had to physically push (rather hard). Doing so would emit a blast of compressed air, which resounded at just the right frequency to be picked up by the receiving unit on the set. In other words, a sound signal, not an electronic one. One button would increase the volume in increments with each push. Another would change the channel. The main tuner on the set would actually rotate when you did this. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/103 "2014-08-07T20:07:55Z")
We were just saying today that there are fewer and fewer people who know what “E-ticket ride” means. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/104 "2014-08-07T20:08:19Z")
Cathode Ray Tubes. When I was a kid, even portable computers had CRT screens. Then, there was some kind of breakthrough in liquid crystal technology. Nowadays, everything is LCD or plasma. It makes me sad, it does. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/105 "2014-08-07T20:09:01Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > I was gonna mention this, and also ask if any bikes still have coaster brakes as opposed to hand brakes. Yes, they are called “fixies” and are ridden by douche-bags in SF.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/106 "2014-08-07T20:17:14Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Making sure you had those little inserts for your 45 records. Recently seen as an arcane talisman from a spooky BBC America [show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbRbU5sMlH0#t=26). [QUOTE=Macca26] They had to buy a push button phone at one point so they could get through prompters, but they just listen with the rotary phone and press the button on the push phone when necessary. [/QUOTE] It sounds like your parents aren’t fogeys – they’re hipsters. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/107 "2014-08-07T20:19:50Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/108 "2014-08-07T20:21:01Z")
Savings bonds (and those little books you stuck the stamps in) ---
**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 7, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/109 "2014-08-07T20:21:52Z")
> [@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). Oooh, I just had to explain this to my wife, who is 7 years younger than me. She had no idea that television stations used to go off the air. I must have just caught the end of that era. And I remember beginning early in the morning, one of the local stations would broadcast an old weather radar image for an hour or so before it officially signed on. Early version of the weather channel, I guess! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/110 "2014-08-07T20:27:56Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > We were just saying today that there are fewer and fewer people who know what “E-ticket ride” means. I mentioned “E Tickets” to a friend recently when he was taking his grandkids to DL, and he just sort of laughed. Uhm, no, there is no such thing anymore. Oh. OK! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/111 "2014-08-07T20:30:41Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Going to your friends’ houses to see if they were home and could come out and play. Now, parents are expected to call first, or even make “play dates.” Part of this is that not every suburb is chock full of homes with young kids like they were 50 years ago, speaking of changes. My son’s friends mostly live in other neighborhoods, and the ones that live closest are a half-mile’s walk away, which is a bit much for a 7 year old to do on his own. There are no kids near his age within a block in either direction. Hopefully in a couple of years, he’ll feel OK with getting on his bike and riding over to a friend’s house. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/112 "2014-08-07T20:30:57Z")
My parents still live in the house I grew up in, and still have the same phone number I grew up with. When I was a kid, phone numbers commonly began with two LETTERS! When I call my Mom, I still think of her phone number as “RA5-5555.” If I told my son to call his Grandma at RA5-5555, he wouldn’t know what the heck I was talking about! ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/113 "2014-08-07T20:31:00Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > I wonder what it says about your nostalgia level when you [look](http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/17613/amazingpop-o-matic-bubble)… I still have my game of Trouble from when I was a kid and play it with my 8 yuear old nephew who loves it. > [@gnoitall](#): > > Or, worse yet, “quarter to nine”. “Why are we talking about 25 cents?” 😕 😕 15 minutes is a quarter (1/4) of 60 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/114 "2014-08-07T20:32:22Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Or, worse yet, “quarter to nine”. “Why are we talking about 25 cents?” 😕 I’m not sure what you two are on about. I hear “quarter till” all the time. Also, boiling water on the stovetop is still very common, cigarette machines are still easily found (mostly in bars), lots of families eat dinner together and, to answer a question asked above, my son’s bike has coaster brakes. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/115 "2014-08-07T20:44:26Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > There are millions of people in the world who have never rolled down the window in the car. > > This makes me sad. 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. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/116 "2014-08-07T20:46:25Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > My parents still live in the house I grew up in, and still have the same phone number I grew up with. > > When I was a kid, phone numbers commonly began with two LETTERS! When I call my Mom, I still think of her phone number as “RA5-5555.” > > If I told my son to call his Grandma at RA5-5555, he wouldn’t know what the heck I was talking about! Party lines. We had one when I was really, really young. And where I live now, you have to dial the area code even for the person next door. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/117 "2014-08-07T20:46:27Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Three gas prices: > > Regular > Unleaded > Super-unleaded You are mis-remembering: it was Regular, Unleaded and Premium. Super Unleaded came along later. I know, I worked at the 76 on Union and Burnside (the one that still has the actual ball is on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway east of Shattuck Road). I had to change the price once, by going into the pump heads and moving some gears around. And back in those days, if someone said “five”, you had to make sure they meant dollars, so that you would not get stiffed. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Bicycles for kids over ~8 years old that didn’t have any gears. Seems to me most BMX bikes are single-speed, and you see a lot of them. > [@DChord568](#): > > I was gonna mention this, and also ask if any bikes still have coaster brakes as opposed to hand brakes. Off the rack, no. But I have a modern bike on which I built up a Nexus-8C, which is an 8 speed hub with a coaster brake. However, in most such set-ups, there will also be a handbrake on the front. Not a very common configuration in general, though. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/118 "2014-08-07T20:50:00Z")
Renting movies at the video store. What a cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming process. Going to the mall to hang out. Summer and after-school jobs. Waiting in line outside the record store for concert tickets. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/119 "2014-08-07T20:50:06Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And where I live now, you have to dial the area code even for the person next door. Are you in Maryland? We have to use the area code all the time. It would be tedious, except our cells and our home phone all have built-in directories. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-for-which-kids-today-have-no-context-another-list-of-how-things-have-changed/695035/120 "2014-08-07T20:51:55Z")
Back in the 80s the largest TV anybody had in their home was 27". Unless you were one of those rich families with the big rear projection sets which sucked anyways cause they were so dim. And every movie they broadcast on TV was in the 4:3 format cutting off the sides of the picture. [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=5) [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=7)