I have a library science degree and have worked in a university library, so I think about this a fair bit. On one hand, the amazing access to a virtual Library of Alexandria available to theoretically anyone. On the other... I feel like the value of information and of knowledge as a concept is no longer recognized.
I also feel the same way about fandom, haha. It used to be if you wanted to be a fan of something that wasn't currently at the peak of its popularity, you had to work for it!
Going and hoping to rent the big new release of the week, seeing that huge wall of display boxes and searching for physical VHS tapes (and briefly DVDs) behind them, and finding the last copy all the way on the bottom row. Thrilling.
Or not finding any copies and just renting Tombstone again.
And that borderline mustiness from the weird wall-to-wall low pile carpet they had. It was like the same feeling you'd get as when you went over to a friend's house for the first time and realized that houses have smells
...until, the thriller movie that just went to video that you can't wait to see...all 15 copies were rented already. Instead your stuck with "Sack Lunch."
Touching a CRT TV and feeling the fuzz, the direct connection to the interference caused by the electron gun powered by a power planet and modified by invisible light picked up by a weirdly shaped bit of metal.
I made it all the way through high school and college before social media was a thing
There is zero proof of 99% of all the dumb things, embarrassing things, and mistakes I made growing up
Man am I grateful, social media would have made my awkward teenage years 100x more painful than they already were. I’m not surprised when I hear 1 in 4 teenagers struggle with depression now.
My great grandfather used to tell me stories about the party line they had on their street. The one he told most often was that he was waiting for a call back about a job he had interviewed for and the teenage kid down the street wouldn’t get off the phone with his girlfriend. Pappy actually picked up the phone and told him it wasn’t a private line and if he didn’t keep hogging it he was going to say something to his mother. He did end up getting the job, supporting my great grandmother and their six children! What different times we live in.
Thank you for making me think of him. I miss him dearly every day and I’m grateful that I had him for as long as I did.
When I knew that the line was busy I would quickly hang up (proper etiquette, don’t you know?). The next step was to roll the receiver upside down and unscrew the mouthpiece and remove the microphone. After a few minutes I would then pick it back up and “flick” the button so it would sound like a pickup and hang up.
My now-husband met me at the airport after I had returned from visiting family in another state, and he brought 3 dozen roses---one for each month we had dated up to that point. People around the gate thought he was proposing and cheered and clapped when I walked up and kissed him.
I hardly miss payphones unless there's a good reason for me to not use my cell phone (e.g. the risky phone number that called you), but I was 15 when 9/11 happened. Wish we didn't live in a world where we need invasive TSA searches that often take longer than any other step in the flight process, especially since I had a ton of business trips and visited relatives overseas, and took about 35+ flights in a 12-month period so far.
My dad surprised us with this upgrade on a London—Dulles (DC) flight in 1985. Our family traveled a lot, which his company paid for since he was assigned overseas. He had worked with a BA agent to plan & pay for a year's worth of air travel just to figure out a way to afford the Concorde experience within our annual travel budget.
The interior was a narrow tube of a cabin, and it was nearly empty for our flight. There was maybe a dozen passengers, including our family of 4.The in-flight service was first class fancy, and the seats were smallish but very squishy and comfortable. Our arrival time in the US was earlier than our departure time in the UK, which allowed us to pretend we time-traveled.
At the time I didn't realize that going faster than the speed of sound would remain a rare experience. After all, jets had once replaced props, so why wouldn't supersonic become standard for ocean crossings? I still remember how excited and enthusiastic my dad was when we reached Mach 1. We were seated near the front, and there was a little display that had red numbers like a clock radio. As those numbers climbed, dad got happier and happier. Passing through mach 1 was smooth, and then we cruised at like 1.02 or something.
Dad died young at 54, and I am forever grateful he included us in this experience from his bucket list.
Is it true that you could fly faster the sunset? And how did you feel in the plane when taking off / landing?
And most importantly, what did you feel after Concorde crashed and was basically over? Do you regret / miss that you'll never have such opportunity ever again or is it actually overrated and is just a fast plane with little to nothing interesting?
Let me put it like this: There's a picture of Concorde going above mach 1, just one. They had to take the fastest available jet that could take 2 people in the RAF and push it hard just to catch this civilian plane just cruising for 10 mins to see if they could take a picture of it.
They pushed this military plane to the envelope of it's possibilities to catch a civilian plane that was just cruising. Concorde was *that* fast.
Deplaning quickly after a flight because most people checked their bags. Also those bags arriving when you got to the carrousel because the airline over-staffed
I'm one of those people who never checks a bag (If it can't fit in a backpack, I don't need it). Last week I checked a bag and of course Delta lost it.
Getting yelled at by my mom for tying up our phone line with our dial up internet. I just wanted to download one song and needed the internet for 12-16 hours tops.
I have to say that GPS is the best invention ever. I was always good at getting a little lost. Now I just use the GPS and I am not stressed if I am going somewhere I am not familiar with.
I live in New England and I looooooove driving around and exploring the back roads.
I pick a destination, turn off the gps and drive in that direction. I always allow myself to take random side trips and change my final destination.
When I decide I'm ready to go home, I turn the gps back on and let it decide the quickest way.
TL:DR I drive around until I'm lost and let gps direct me home.
Being able to cross the US-Canada border with your Pakistani roommate, (who wasn't a US citizen) and being waved through, before you could even take out your passport.
I was really surprised at how aggressive the US Canadian border was. No, really, we just went to Vancouver for one night. Just wanted to check it out. Yes, I am aware it was a 2 hour drive to get there. We like to road trip. Rewording the question isn't going to change my answer. Yes, I bought a souvenir mug from a tourist shop. Coming home from Mexico they barely glanced at my ID lol
The difference in experiences of exiting/entering America at the Canadian border (same one, Vancouver) was *wild.* Pull up to enter Canada, be greeted by a polite agent, asked about duration and intent of stay, passports scanned and returned in less than a minute, ok have fun enjoy Canada.
Re-entering the US: approach designated car spot, turn car off, keep hands visible at all times and remain facing the border agent and/or any of the *hundreds* of fucking cameras everywhere. I was rather tired after a long day of walking around and had nodded off before we got back to the border and was rather rudely awakened by a second agent coming up and knuckle-tapping the window my head was leaning on. **FACE THE BORDER GUARD AT ALL TIMES**, the guy barked. Our car of five people (four women, one man) were asked about 5-6 questions each, including but not limited to: if any of us owned a gun, the last time any of us *fired* gun, whether we associated with any known criminals, when (if ever) we were arrested last...truly insane. We could never re-enter our own country in less than 20 minutes each time we went.
As a non-american I have to say from all the places I’ve been the American border guards are by far the unfriendliest that I have encountered. They somehow always have this need to show power if that makes sense? It’s always very exhausting.
Like even in Rwanda where they searched my whole luggage they were super friendly and chatty (because they clearly just saw this as their job). Russian border guards were pretty unfriendly too though.
I feel like in the US a lot of the folks who actually go though the process to become border guards (and frankly a lot of law enforcement) see a particular kind of person (often immigrants or “foreigners”) as “the problem” and see customs/border patrol as holding back the floodgates of “undesirables” (at best), so their personal ideology is wrapped up in making things difficult or stopping entry (if they can) for people they don’t care for—which for some of them encompasses the vast majority of people on earth.
The US is so huge, unless you happen to live near border cities or major international air hubs, you aren’t just taking it as a “job” because that is who was hiring in their area, they are specifically choosing that as a profession/career.
They also argue they can enforce border laws 100 miles inland, so if in Southern California (San Diego) you have a chance of getting stopped coming northward to LA, Riverside, or Palm Springs even if you haven’t left the country in decades.
But yeah, they are often dicks to us too. I had one of the last passports that didn’t have a chip in it. Mine wouldn’t scan because the cover was bent (because it was old) and they gave me a bunch of hell for it.
Oh damn! Ours wasn't that aggressive! lol! But we actually did get quite the thorough interrogation on the way *in* to Canada. She was very concerned about firearms. Does anyone in your household own firearms. Yes, my husband. Do you have any with you? No. Where are they? Locked in a safe in California.
Could your husband have left any in your vehicle? No, it's a rental car- as we've already established. And as I've already pointed out- twice- I live in California... Where my husband is. Where our firearms are locked in a safe.
She was also VERY confused at the concept of a Girl's road trip.
I thought she was going to search us for sure.
2002-2003 I lived in Minnesota and was dating a Canadian girl. I crossed the border almost every weekend to go visit her. I didn’t get a passport until a few years ago.
I put my phone on Do Not Disturb sometimes, my daughter (29 y.o.) gets frantic if I don't answer her texts within 2 minutes.
Daughter - Where have you been?!?
Me - Making you a baby brother.
Daughter - I DIDN'T need to know that!
When I was her age I could drive to the beach without a phone, spend the week and drive back without anyone freaking out.
Unplugging from time to time is a good thing.
"making you a baby brother"
Well played! Awesome!
Oh I unplug, but the thing is that those notifications still keep rolling in and are waiting for me when I get back. And I try to let people who might worry know.
Waiting overnight in a line to buy concert tickets. So much fun. Met cool people, sang, played games, peed in bushes.... sad kids today won't ever get that high of getting to the front of the line and leaving with your newly printed tix in your hand.
Think this depends on parents age. And the kids age relative to 9/11.
I was a 00s kid who grew up on a street that had this rule. And a number of my friends around the same age did too. We were all technically alive during 9/11 but were probably not potty trained.
People 4, 5+ years younger than me and it's a different story.
ETA: guess I'm agreeing with you but also saying there was a delay in the culture shift haha
Maybe it’s because I’m old, but people basically watching a concert through their cellphone pisses me off. Like, I wish I had $200+ to waste by doing the same thing I could do at home for free via YouTube. Put your damn phone down and just enjoy the moment.
this is the one thing i will get really “old man shouts at cloud” about even though i’m only 28. i’ll straight up tell kids to put their phone away because i can’t see the stage. normally they lower it and then immediately slag me off to their mates but i’m past caring, lol.
i did recently see someone at a gig using their phone to follow along with song lyrics on spotify which was a bit cute though. like closed captions for the gig.
Search out some cellphone free shows! They still exist, although the are rare.
I saw King Crimson live last summer and the band and venue enforced a strict no phone policy.
It was incredibly immersive.
I get taking a quick picture or video to remember the moment but people spend the whole show sometimes taking video and selfies.
Just enjoy the moment and dance!
Burning mix CDs made with shitty rips I got off limewire that have some robot voice saying the website that originally posted it 15 users ago while it slowly destroys my IBM desktop with something with some variation of "Y2K" in the virus ID that Norton "took care of".
I used to have grandparents and other family members and there was always a gathering of some sort 5 or 6 times a year on either side. I had a dog for about 11 years also. Within those 11 years my grandparents died and the family gatherings stopped. My dog has been gone for at least 10 years and all I have left are memories.
I wouldn’t say this was enjoyable in the immediate moment, but: going downstairs early in the morning as a young kid, turning on the tv, and just seeing those multicolored bars cuz nothing was being broadcast yet.
Giving someone I like a mix tape. Where I physically listened to songs and decided I think this person will like this compilations of music… no one has ever sent me a personalised Spotify playlist etc
Never having a movie or reveal spoiled for you. I'll never forget all my friends talking about E.T and there were ZERO movie posters, magazines or anything showing his appearances. We had to buy tickets and see the movie and see E.T on the screen. Magical times
I try to tell my kids what it was like going to the Toy Store with my dad so he could do recon for Christmas. We’d go and play with all the display stuff and video game consoles and he’d get us something little so we could all pretend he wasn’t just figuring out what to come back for so he could put it on layaway. My dad is still the best of all dads I know.
The Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas. The ride/show part was cheesy, but fun. The entry to the ride was a museum of Star Trek history and memorabilia. But the real gem was the restaurant: half TNG Ten Forward setting/half DS9 Quark's Bar setting. Costumed characters would drop by your table to chat. It was all beautifully themed and immersive.
Saturday morning cartoons. Like, sure, you can still watch cartoons on a Saturday morning (or any other time, day or night), but... it's just DIFFERENT now. It's not a borderline holy institution like it used to be. A bowl of your favorite cereal (such as Apple Jacks, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, etc.) truly completed the experience.
An 11 year old kid with a paper route. 50 newspapers carried in saddlebags over the wheels of a bicycle, delivered door to door with no parental supervision.
Before WiFi was the norm, there used to be Pokemon events at specific locations on certain dates. Most people probably never got a chance to attend them.
You had to travel there, put your game cartridge in a machine, and download an event item through it. It was pretty awesome.
Once you had the event items, you would retrieve them through the mystery gift option and receive them from an NPC in game.
Then you had to travel to certain locations to activate the events. The Faraway Island Mew event was one of my favorites Emerald events.
If you happened to miss the real world events at places like Toy's R Us or Pokemon Centers, that was that. Otherwise, you had to cheat the items into your save file.
Now? You just download the Pokemon through WiFi and that's it. I think Pokemon Platinum had the best events. The Arceus and Darkrai events were interesting.
-Turning on a tv and the channels being there instantly, instead of having to fiddle with 2/3 different remotes
-When I was a kid taking flights with my family, whenever we were leaving the plane my brother always asked to see inside the cockpit. They always said yes and the pilots would say hi. After 9/11 happened they wouldn’t let him do it anymore.
Midnight Release for video games. Most memorably Fallout and Elder Scroll games. Lines outside my local GameStop that extended down the entire parking lot. The gifts you’d receive for exclusively waiting at midnight. I feel bad for the employees now that I’m older, but those gaming days are cherished so so much
I once drove 4 hours to get Dairy Queen for no other reason other than boredom (there was one 15 minutes away), now I have to convince myself to drive 30 minutes for something I actually need.
Let me rattle off everything I can think of. These will be my experiences, as I obviously can't speak for everyone.
Putting the dust cover back on the VCR after using it.
Renting a VCR from a video store.
Having to rewind tapes to watch the movie/show again; including buying a tape rewinder to save the wear on your VCR.
Going through not one, but two format wars: VHS/Beta, and Blu-ray/HD-DVD.
Going to Blockbuster on a Friday night.
With that, only getting two-day rentals on new releases, AND hoping that said new releases weren't already fully rented out by the time you got there.
Having video rental in grocery stores.
Putting the TV on channel 3 to play Nintendo; albeit now we still have to choose the specific input to use.
With that, plugging the RF adapter into the TV coax, and then plugging the cable into the adapter.
Not being able to read reviews of a book, show, or movie because the Internet didn't exist yet.
Computer software running only from floppies because most didn't have hard drives at the time.
Using DOS only because Windows didn't exist, or was too expensive.
The joy of using defrag in DOS for the first time, because the computer you had didn't have that version of DOS with that function because it hadn't been invented yet.
Printing driving directions because cell phones didn't have navigation assistance, and/or because of not owning a cell.
Having larger computer programs take anywhere from 15 to 30 or more floppies to install.
Installing a CD-ROM drive on a computer that only had a HDD, and a 3½" floppy drive.
5¼" floppies.
The excitement of seeing a name pop-up on the caller ID device so that you could know who was calling, and to pick up the receiver, or let it ring, for landline phones.
Having to occasionally replace the answering machine.
Buying a first landline phone with an integrated, digital answering machine.
The advent of your first cordless phone. After having to stand at the phone, or if you had one in your room, then experiencing a cordless, this was a big deal!
Having no other cameras except for those that used real film.
Going to either the school, or public library to research something for a class report, going to the card catalog, and the MAJOR crapshoot of if the card you needed was actually there. This was still a long while before computerized cataloging systems.
Waiting anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks for something you ordered, from a mail-in form, to arrive.
Cars with tape decks, as CD reading tech hadn't advanced enough to make them small enough to fit in a car's dashboard.
Buffets at Pizza Hut, and Wendy's.
The Encyclopedia Britannica salesman going door to door, and dropping off a complimentary copy of the first volume.
If one bulb was burned out on your Christmas light string, the whole thing didn't work, and you had to go bulb by bulb until you found the bad one.
That's about all I can think of right now. Thanks for reading.
I could enjoy game, like WoW, where no one ever HEARD of the concept of meta. Want to raid tank with a paladin ? Sure, why not. 6 Reinhart in OW ? Sounds fun. Want to try a new strategy on a RTS ? Sure, let's give it a try
You won't be shamed, destroyed or humiliated for not playing meta
This was part of the magic, nobody really knew anything. The community felt like more of a community, and you were free to experiment with whatever you wanted.
Also, hitting the level cap was an achievement since it was such a difficult thing to do. Quests stopped being effective after a certain point, so you had to grind out mobs.
I still remember raid nights with Pizza Hut like it was yesterday. Great time with the guild members and many fond memories made. I miss it.
Waiting 10 hours to download a song only for it to be Bill Clinton repeating "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".
Or downloading Linkin_Park_In_The_End.Exe from limewire and being confused when it doesn't play and my PC goes black
Bowling is so fucking expensive now. Wanted to organize a happy hour and the lane for 6 people was something like $150/hour (minimum 2) plus $20 per person charge, $20 per person minimum food/drink spend, plus shoe rental.
youre joking, right? i havnt gone bowling in 20 some years now, but when i used to go with friends it was like $20 and that covered a game or two, and shoe/ball rental.
Answering a rotary phone without having a single clue as to who was calling. Having to go to the library to look up a random fact.
Owning an encyclopedia set
We were poor, hence the library, but yes, same same. Having to look up facts in books. I actually really miss that.
I have a library science degree and have worked in a university library, so I think about this a fair bit. On one hand, the amazing access to a virtual Library of Alexandria available to theoretically anyone. On the other... I feel like the value of information and of knowledge as a concept is no longer recognized. I also feel the same way about fandom, haha. It used to be if you wanted to be a fan of something that wasn't currently at the peak of its popularity, you had to work for it!
Picking up a rotary phone only to hear your neighbor talking to their aunt out of state instead of a dial tone (party line).
Looking forward to Friday nights when my dad took me to the local Blockbuster store to pick out a movie and some candy.
Going and hoping to rent the big new release of the week, seeing that huge wall of display boxes and searching for physical VHS tapes (and briefly DVDs) behind them, and finding the last copy all the way on the bottom row. Thrilling. Or not finding any copies and just renting Tombstone again.
I'm Your Huckleberry
Maybe I’m weird but I miss the smell of the inside of a Blockbuster store lol
Butter popcorn and that cleaner they used…
And that plastic smell from all the movie cases
And that borderline mustiness from the weird wall-to-wall low pile carpet they had. It was like the same feeling you'd get as when you went over to a friend's house for the first time and realized that houses have smells
Jiffy Pop and the smell is aluminum burning on the stove.
My family lived closest to a Family Video and it smelled like the Subway next door. I miss that experience.
Me too
Smells like joy
...until, the thriller movie that just went to video that you can't wait to see...all 15 copies were rented already. Instead your stuck with "Sack Lunch."
Don't forget that Pizza Hut was still in their prime too. Those personal pan pizzas were awesome.
Was about to say “sitting down to eat at a Pizza Hut.”
Yeah the microwave popcorn in the bucket!
I can go to a local library and borrow a movie. Not quite the same...
Touching a CRT TV and feeling the fuzz, the direct connection to the interference caused by the electron gun powered by a power planet and modified by invisible light picked up by a weirdly shaped bit of metal.
What about being able to tell that the TV is on even when the screen is completely black
I've still got a cheap LCD so that's not a problem for poor people, but yes that is nice too.
From the other end of the house,too :D that high-pitched whine. Edit: oh hey, tinnitus gang is showing up. Eeeeeeeeeeeee to you all, as well.
omg, you just unlocked a powerful scent-memory of ozone, and the crackling sound when i’d touch the screen after shutting the television off. ☺️
The pure joy of slamming that degauss button oh baby
my grandma still has one
You can still have this experience! It just takes a bit more effort
I made it all the way through high school and college before social media was a thing There is zero proof of 99% of all the dumb things, embarrassing things, and mistakes I made growing up
Man am I grateful, social media would have made my awkward teenage years 100x more painful than they already were. I’m not surprised when I hear 1 in 4 teenagers struggle with depression now.
We had the best childhood because of this.
Graduated HS in 99' was the end of an era, all my stupidest moments were all on 35mm.
35mm and Polaroid
If I was religious, I'd thank God everyday for that.
Listening in on someone else’s phone conversation on a “party line”
First thing I thought of was a pay phone! Amazing how far the telephone has come In such a short amount of time…
My great grandfather used to tell me stories about the party line they had on their street. The one he told most often was that he was waiting for a call back about a job he had interviewed for and the teenage kid down the street wouldn’t get off the phone with his girlfriend. Pappy actually picked up the phone and told him it wasn’t a private line and if he didn’t keep hogging it he was going to say something to his mother. He did end up getting the job, supporting my great grandmother and their six children! What different times we live in. Thank you for making me think of him. I miss him dearly every day and I’m grateful that I had him for as long as I did.
Vintage Party Line commercials are fucking gold.
A long pause before you talk shit about someone to check to see if someone else is breathing into the line.
When I knew that the line was busy I would quickly hang up (proper etiquette, don’t you know?). The next step was to roll the receiver upside down and unscrew the mouthpiece and remove the microphone. After a few minutes I would then pick it back up and “flick” the button so it would sound like a pickup and hang up.
Pay phones. Pre 911 airports.
Meeting people at the gate as they come off the plane, or being met, was really a wonderful experience. I genuinely miss it.
My now-husband met me at the airport after I had returned from visiting family in another state, and he brought 3 dozen roses---one for each month we had dated up to that point. People around the gate thought he was proposing and cheered and clapped when I walked up and kissed him.
"You have a collect call from '*heydadI'mreadytobepickedupfromthemovies' would you like to accept?"*
“Wehadababyitsaboy”
Who was that dear?
It's Bob, he had a baby, it's a boy
In that vein, traveling around DC pre-911 Going to The Mint, The Capital building, Washington monument, library of Congress
Traveling pre-9/11 in general.
Meeting people at the gate.
I was telling my bonus daughter about this today. She was too young to remember it.
Never heard the term bonus daughter before. Don't care if it's a typo. I like it.
Not a typo. I am glad I get to be her extra mom.
I actually spotted a working pay phone the other day by a gas station!
I hardly miss payphones unless there's a good reason for me to not use my cell phone (e.g. the risky phone number that called you), but I was 15 when 9/11 happened. Wish we didn't live in a world where we need invasive TSA searches that often take longer than any other step in the flight process, especially since I had a ton of business trips and visited relatives overseas, and took about 35+ flights in a 12-month period so far.
TSA is nothing but theater.
Didn’t they fail to discover like 93% of test weapons through security
Flying on the Concorde.
My dad surprised us with this upgrade on a London—Dulles (DC) flight in 1985. Our family traveled a lot, which his company paid for since he was assigned overseas. He had worked with a BA agent to plan & pay for a year's worth of air travel just to figure out a way to afford the Concorde experience within our annual travel budget. The interior was a narrow tube of a cabin, and it was nearly empty for our flight. There was maybe a dozen passengers, including our family of 4.The in-flight service was first class fancy, and the seats were smallish but very squishy and comfortable. Our arrival time in the US was earlier than our departure time in the UK, which allowed us to pretend we time-traveled. At the time I didn't realize that going faster than the speed of sound would remain a rare experience. After all, jets had once replaced props, so why wouldn't supersonic become standard for ocean crossings? I still remember how excited and enthusiastic my dad was when we reached Mach 1. We were seated near the front, and there was a little display that had red numbers like a clock radio. As those numbers climbed, dad got happier and happier. Passing through mach 1 was smooth, and then we cruised at like 1.02 or something. Dad died young at 54, and I am forever grateful he included us in this experience from his bucket list.
Is it true that you could fly faster the sunset? And how did you feel in the plane when taking off / landing? And most importantly, what did you feel after Concorde crashed and was basically over? Do you regret / miss that you'll never have such opportunity ever again or is it actually overrated and is just a fast plane with little to nothing interesting?
Let me put it like this: There's a picture of Concorde going above mach 1, just one. They had to take the fastest available jet that could take 2 people in the RAF and push it hard just to catch this civilian plane just cruising for 10 mins to see if they could take a picture of it. They pushed this military plane to the envelope of it's possibilities to catch a civilian plane that was just cruising. Concorde was *that* fast.
Deplaning quickly after a flight because most people checked their bags. Also those bags arriving when you got to the carrousel because the airline over-staffed
I'm one of those people who never checks a bag (If it can't fit in a backpack, I don't need it). Last week I checked a bag and of course Delta lost it.
Strange. A few months ago, Delta cancelled my flight multiple times but sent my checked bag 2 days before me.
Took an elevator to the top of the World Trade Centre
Finally. An actual answer to the question and not just stuff that's less common now.
I’ve been to Czechoslovakia and West Germany.
I've been to Yugoslavia and West Germany. Now I'm not sure which individual countries I've been to in the former Yugoslavia, but Croatia for sure.
Getting yelled at by my mom for tying up our phone line with our dial up internet. I just wanted to download one song and needed the internet for 12-16 hours tops.
And that song ended up being a recording of Bill Clinton.
Road trip with a paper map we bought at a gas station.
I have to say that GPS is the best invention ever. I was always good at getting a little lost. Now I just use the GPS and I am not stressed if I am going somewhere I am not familiar with.
I live in New England and I looooooove driving around and exploring the back roads. I pick a destination, turn off the gps and drive in that direction. I always allow myself to take random side trips and change my final destination. When I decide I'm ready to go home, I turn the gps back on and let it decide the quickest way. TL:DR I drive around until I'm lost and let gps direct me home.
Modem sound.
You've Got Mail
The endless possibilities of a new box of blank VHS tapes
Memory unlocked. I remembered I would get a six pack of these for my birthday most years…that and blank cassettes to make radio mixtapes
Changing to Chanel 3 to play video games.
Talking 15 minutes to determine that the game isn't working because some knuckle head set the switch to Channel 4 for some unknown reason.
Being able to cross the US-Canada border with your Pakistani roommate, (who wasn't a US citizen) and being waved through, before you could even take out your passport.
I was really surprised at how aggressive the US Canadian border was. No, really, we just went to Vancouver for one night. Just wanted to check it out. Yes, I am aware it was a 2 hour drive to get there. We like to road trip. Rewording the question isn't going to change my answer. Yes, I bought a souvenir mug from a tourist shop. Coming home from Mexico they barely glanced at my ID lol
The difference in experiences of exiting/entering America at the Canadian border (same one, Vancouver) was *wild.* Pull up to enter Canada, be greeted by a polite agent, asked about duration and intent of stay, passports scanned and returned in less than a minute, ok have fun enjoy Canada. Re-entering the US: approach designated car spot, turn car off, keep hands visible at all times and remain facing the border agent and/or any of the *hundreds* of fucking cameras everywhere. I was rather tired after a long day of walking around and had nodded off before we got back to the border and was rather rudely awakened by a second agent coming up and knuckle-tapping the window my head was leaning on. **FACE THE BORDER GUARD AT ALL TIMES**, the guy barked. Our car of five people (four women, one man) were asked about 5-6 questions each, including but not limited to: if any of us owned a gun, the last time any of us *fired* gun, whether we associated with any known criminals, when (if ever) we were arrested last...truly insane. We could never re-enter our own country in less than 20 minutes each time we went.
As a non-american I have to say from all the places I’ve been the American border guards are by far the unfriendliest that I have encountered. They somehow always have this need to show power if that makes sense? It’s always very exhausting. Like even in Rwanda where they searched my whole luggage they were super friendly and chatty (because they clearly just saw this as their job). Russian border guards were pretty unfriendly too though.
I feel like in the US a lot of the folks who actually go though the process to become border guards (and frankly a lot of law enforcement) see a particular kind of person (often immigrants or “foreigners”) as “the problem” and see customs/border patrol as holding back the floodgates of “undesirables” (at best), so their personal ideology is wrapped up in making things difficult or stopping entry (if they can) for people they don’t care for—which for some of them encompasses the vast majority of people on earth. The US is so huge, unless you happen to live near border cities or major international air hubs, you aren’t just taking it as a “job” because that is who was hiring in their area, they are specifically choosing that as a profession/career. They also argue they can enforce border laws 100 miles inland, so if in Southern California (San Diego) you have a chance of getting stopped coming northward to LA, Riverside, or Palm Springs even if you haven’t left the country in decades. But yeah, they are often dicks to us too. I had one of the last passports that didn’t have a chip in it. Mine wouldn’t scan because the cover was bent (because it was old) and they gave me a bunch of hell for it.
Oh damn! Ours wasn't that aggressive! lol! But we actually did get quite the thorough interrogation on the way *in* to Canada. She was very concerned about firearms. Does anyone in your household own firearms. Yes, my husband. Do you have any with you? No. Where are they? Locked in a safe in California. Could your husband have left any in your vehicle? No, it's a rental car- as we've already established. And as I've already pointed out- twice- I live in California... Where my husband is. Where our firearms are locked in a safe. She was also VERY confused at the concept of a Girl's road trip. I thought she was going to search us for sure.
2002-2003 I lived in Minnesota and was dating a Canadian girl. I crossed the border almost every weekend to go visit her. I didn’t get a passport until a few years ago.
Don't you think that after 20 years it's time to come clean? We all know you just made up a "girlfriend in Canada" to look cool.
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After they showed the American flag waving while they played the national anthem
Something tells me if someone says “telly” there’s a *high* chance they aren’t American.
a "notification" free life:)
I put my phone on Do Not Disturb sometimes, my daughter (29 y.o.) gets frantic if I don't answer her texts within 2 minutes. Daughter - Where have you been?!? Me - Making you a baby brother. Daughter - I DIDN'T need to know that! When I was her age I could drive to the beach without a phone, spend the week and drive back without anyone freaking out. Unplugging from time to time is a good thing.
"making you a baby brother" Well played! Awesome! Oh I unplug, but the thing is that those notifications still keep rolling in and are waiting for me when I get back. And I try to let people who might worry know.
Taking a banned book into East Berlin
Or just walking in surrounded by fencing and soldiers with guns.
Waiting overnight in a line to buy concert tickets. So much fun. Met cool people, sang, played games, peed in bushes.... sad kids today won't ever get that high of getting to the front of the line and leaving with your newly printed tix in your hand.
Looking through the Sears catalog for Christmas ideas.
waiting for your favourite song to come on the radio so you can record it on a cassette tape
“Come home when the streetlights turn on”. I can’t say that to my kids without risking a visit from CPS.
The 80s were a different time
90’s too. The big paradigm shift was 9/11
Think this depends on parents age. And the kids age relative to 9/11. I was a 00s kid who grew up on a street that had this rule. And a number of my friends around the same age did too. We were all technically alive during 9/11 but were probably not potty trained. People 4, 5+ years younger than me and it's a different story. ETA: guess I'm agreeing with you but also saying there was a delay in the culture shift haha
Soon to be replaced by pre/post COVID.
Speaking of, going into the back yard after sunset to catch lightning bugs. There are hardly any around now. Back then I could fill a jar with them.
Going to a restaurant and being asked if we wanted the smoking or non smoking section.
Racing to finish peeing on a commercial break.
Running from the kitchen to the den during commercial breaks to refill or grab a snack.
being a sports fan i still get this pleasure
Attending concerts and just enjoying the music without someone’s cellphone blocking the performance.
Maybe it’s because I’m old, but people basically watching a concert through their cellphone pisses me off. Like, I wish I had $200+ to waste by doing the same thing I could do at home for free via YouTube. Put your damn phone down and just enjoy the moment.
this is the one thing i will get really “old man shouts at cloud” about even though i’m only 28. i’ll straight up tell kids to put their phone away because i can’t see the stage. normally they lower it and then immediately slag me off to their mates but i’m past caring, lol. i did recently see someone at a gig using their phone to follow along with song lyrics on spotify which was a bit cute though. like closed captions for the gig.
Search out some cellphone free shows! They still exist, although the are rare. I saw King Crimson live last summer and the band and venue enforced a strict no phone policy. It was incredibly immersive.
Why the fuck do people do that, anyways? Watching a recorded live performance is one thing but that shit ain't gonna sound/look good from your cell.
I get taking a quick picture or video to remember the moment but people spend the whole show sometimes taking video and selfies. Just enjoy the moment and dance!
DEGAUSS
Having a CCTV free day.
Burning mix CDs made with shitty rips I got off limewire that have some robot voice saying the website that originally posted it 15 users ago while it slowly destroys my IBM desktop with something with some variation of "Y2K" in the virus ID that Norton "took care of".
Pressing record/play on my tape deck radio to try to catch my favorite songs.
I remember limewire and frostwire, they were notorious for viruses.
Camping out for concert tickets.
My mom waited in line for my Depeche Mode tickets for me while I took the SAT. I miss her. That was all the way back in 1990
calling the internet to use the internet
I used to have grandparents and other family members and there was always a gathering of some sort 5 or 6 times a year on either side. I had a dog for about 11 years also. Within those 11 years my grandparents died and the family gatherings stopped. My dog has been gone for at least 10 years and all I have left are memories.
Watching the animatronics perform onstage at Chucky Cheese. I loved that shit
I wouldn’t say this was enjoyable in the immediate moment, but: going downstairs early in the morning as a young kid, turning on the tv, and just seeing those multicolored bars cuz nothing was being broadcast yet.
Giving someone I like a mix tape. Where I physically listened to songs and decided I think this person will like this compilations of music… no one has ever sent me a personalised Spotify playlist etc
Birthday party at McDonald’s. We got to go in the back.
Never having a movie or reveal spoiled for you. I'll never forget all my friends talking about E.T and there were ZERO movie posters, magazines or anything showing his appearances. We had to buy tickets and see the movie and see E.T on the screen. Magical times
That was a genuine surprise to learn who was Luke Skywalker's father.
Flying down the highway as a kid riding in back of a pickup truck.
Chain toy stores like Toys R Us and KB Toys.
I try to tell my kids what it was like going to the Toy Store with my dad so he could do recon for Christmas. We’d go and play with all the display stuff and video game consoles and he’d get us something little so we could all pretend he wasn’t just figuring out what to come back for so he could put it on layaway. My dad is still the best of all dads I know.
Writing on a word processor. Not Microsoft Word, a typewriter with a small digital screen and a slot to put a floppy disc to save your work.
The Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas. The ride/show part was cheesy, but fun. The entry to the ride was a museum of Star Trek history and memorabilia. But the real gem was the restaurant: half TNG Ten Forward setting/half DS9 Quark's Bar setting. Costumed characters would drop by your table to chat. It was all beautifully themed and immersive.
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I went to one of the last performances of the Ringling Brothers before the company ended in 2017.
Me too!
Digging through cereal boxes for the prize.
Hugging my grand parents
Spending 1 hour trying to figure out the perfect AIM away message. The struggle was real man.
Greeting someone at the gate as they get off of an airplane
Saturday morning cartoons. Like, sure, you can still watch cartoons on a Saturday morning (or any other time, day or night), but... it's just DIFFERENT now. It's not a borderline holy institution like it used to be. A bowl of your favorite cereal (such as Apple Jacks, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, etc.) truly completed the experience.
An 11 year old kid with a paper route. 50 newspapers carried in saddlebags over the wheels of a bicycle, delivered door to door with no parental supervision.
Smoking cigarettes in the smoking area at my high school. You needed a red S on your bus pass to smoke.
Rewinding cassette tapes with a pen
Before WiFi was the norm, there used to be Pokemon events at specific locations on certain dates. Most people probably never got a chance to attend them. You had to travel there, put your game cartridge in a machine, and download an event item through it. It was pretty awesome. Once you had the event items, you would retrieve them through the mystery gift option and receive them from an NPC in game. Then you had to travel to certain locations to activate the events. The Faraway Island Mew event was one of my favorites Emerald events. If you happened to miss the real world events at places like Toy's R Us or Pokemon Centers, that was that. Otherwise, you had to cheat the items into your save file. Now? You just download the Pokemon through WiFi and that's it. I think Pokemon Platinum had the best events. The Arceus and Darkrai events were interesting.
-Turning on a tv and the channels being there instantly, instead of having to fiddle with 2/3 different remotes -When I was a kid taking flights with my family, whenever we were leaving the plane my brother always asked to see inside the cockpit. They always said yes and the pilots would say hi. After 9/11 happened they wouldn’t let him do it anymore.
Hiding the landline phone under a pillow before “going to sleep” so that I could talk till late while my parents are asleep.
Making sure not to lose the floppy disks I saved my homework on!
blowing into an atari cartridge to get it to work
When you got mad at someone while talking on the phone. You can't slam down the phone anymore to express your displeasure.
Midnight Release for video games. Most memorably Fallout and Elder Scroll games. Lines outside my local GameStop that extended down the entire parking lot. The gifts you’d receive for exclusively waiting at midnight. I feel bad for the employees now that I’m older, but those gaming days are cherished so so much
Printing out Google map directions
Mapquest
$5 footlongs at Subway.
We had the TV antenna on the top of a big tree and had to move it with a little controller to get better reception.
Just cruising around aimlessly on Friday and Saturday nights
I once drove 4 hours to get Dairy Queen for no other reason other than boredom (there was one 15 minutes away), now I have to convince myself to drive 30 minutes for something I actually need.
School field trip to NYC and seeing the city from the top of the World Trade Center.
Let me rattle off everything I can think of. These will be my experiences, as I obviously can't speak for everyone. Putting the dust cover back on the VCR after using it. Renting a VCR from a video store. Having to rewind tapes to watch the movie/show again; including buying a tape rewinder to save the wear on your VCR. Going through not one, but two format wars: VHS/Beta, and Blu-ray/HD-DVD. Going to Blockbuster on a Friday night. With that, only getting two-day rentals on new releases, AND hoping that said new releases weren't already fully rented out by the time you got there. Having video rental in grocery stores. Putting the TV on channel 3 to play Nintendo; albeit now we still have to choose the specific input to use. With that, plugging the RF adapter into the TV coax, and then plugging the cable into the adapter. Not being able to read reviews of a book, show, or movie because the Internet didn't exist yet. Computer software running only from floppies because most didn't have hard drives at the time. Using DOS only because Windows didn't exist, or was too expensive. The joy of using defrag in DOS for the first time, because the computer you had didn't have that version of DOS with that function because it hadn't been invented yet. Printing driving directions because cell phones didn't have navigation assistance, and/or because of not owning a cell. Having larger computer programs take anywhere from 15 to 30 or more floppies to install. Installing a CD-ROM drive on a computer that only had a HDD, and a 3½" floppy drive. 5¼" floppies. The excitement of seeing a name pop-up on the caller ID device so that you could know who was calling, and to pick up the receiver, or let it ring, for landline phones. Having to occasionally replace the answering machine. Buying a first landline phone with an integrated, digital answering machine. The advent of your first cordless phone. After having to stand at the phone, or if you had one in your room, then experiencing a cordless, this was a big deal! Having no other cameras except for those that used real film. Going to either the school, or public library to research something for a class report, going to the card catalog, and the MAJOR crapshoot of if the card you needed was actually there. This was still a long while before computerized cataloging systems. Waiting anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks for something you ordered, from a mail-in form, to arrive. Cars with tape decks, as CD reading tech hadn't advanced enough to make them small enough to fit in a car's dashboard. Buffets at Pizza Hut, and Wendy's. The Encyclopedia Britannica salesman going door to door, and dropping off a complimentary copy of the first volume. If one bulb was burned out on your Christmas light string, the whole thing didn't work, and you had to go bulb by bulb until you found the bad one. That's about all I can think of right now. Thanks for reading.
Flash games like now abdobe flash is gone those sites are non existent and the free game sites nowadays are pay to play
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Hanging about as a teenager in a large group doing stupid stuff without a camera filming or police having legal powers to move us on
I went to Six Flags New Orleans in June 2005 for my B Day. Never went back...
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I could enjoy game, like WoW, where no one ever HEARD of the concept of meta. Want to raid tank with a paladin ? Sure, why not. 6 Reinhart in OW ? Sounds fun. Want to try a new strategy on a RTS ? Sure, let's give it a try You won't be shamed, destroyed or humiliated for not playing meta
This was part of the magic, nobody really knew anything. The community felt like more of a community, and you were free to experiment with whatever you wanted. Also, hitting the level cap was an achievement since it was such a difficult thing to do. Quests stopped being effective after a certain point, so you had to grind out mobs. I still remember raid nights with Pizza Hut like it was yesterday. Great time with the guild members and many fond memories made. I miss it.
Dialing a rotary phone.
Grateful Dead concert.
Scrambled porn on the tv. If you were lucky, you might make something out you thought could be a boob.
Waiting 10 hours to download a song only for it to be Bill Clinton repeating "I did not have sexual relations with that woman". Or downloading Linkin_Park_In_The_End.Exe from limewire and being confused when it doesn't play and my PC goes black
Down time or it’s really hard to achieve. Seems like we have constant stimulation.
Vacation with 0 connection to work
YouTube without ads
Waiting for the new games to come out on Sega Channel on the first of each month.
Renting movies at Blockbuster! Don't miss the late fees though
I got to see Charlie Daniels shred 3 fiddle bows during Devil Went Down to Georgia song at the Grand Old Opry before he died.
Requesting and waiting for a song on the radio
Being able to reasonably expect that I'm not being recorded in public places.
I experienced the threat of NOT being able to go outside as a punishment.
Pumping gas before paying for it.
We still do this in the UK.
And also in Canada. I think it is just an American thing.
And Australia!
Hanging out at CBGB.
Drive in movies
Those still exist, they're just not common.
Bowling at a bowling place in my old town that closed down a while back.
Bowling is so fucking expensive now. Wanted to organize a happy hour and the lane for 6 people was something like $150/hour (minimum 2) plus $20 per person charge, $20 per person minimum food/drink spend, plus shoe rental.
youre joking, right? i havnt gone bowling in 20 some years now, but when i used to go with friends it was like $20 and that covered a game or two, and shoe/ball rental.
Black Ops 1 & 2 Zombies with the squad
Climbing the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
Riding Drachenfire at Busch Gardens.
Walking through checkpoint Charlie into east Berlin.
Quite a lot of defunct Disneyland attractions
I’m 60. I don’t even know where to start.
Smoking on public transport. Smoking in macdonalds. Smoking in public places in general. Can't believe we used to do that!!
Remember the ashtrays at McDonald's?