To the under 40 crowd

tonyb

After dinner,there was no everyone going to their seperate rooms. Everyone helped clean up, no TV, listen to the radio on an old Zenith console. You actually dressed up to go to church on Sunday. You had your knives sharpened by the guy who came down the street with a cart. Italian ice was homemade,cost a nickel,and came in a paper cup. Gas was .20 cents a gallon,and cars where built like tanks. Appliances where made to last 20-30 years. Everyone had chores to do. Today you ask a kid to hang up his jacket and you get a look. Gangs were cool back then. No guns, just knives and bats. I used to pitch pennys with the leader of the Latin Kings when I was 12. We were more diverse then than today. People helped each other, neighbors cared for one another. Today if you wave to a neighbor,they think your an ax murderer. Everyone had a garden for veggies. Today it's all gassed, radiated, pre-packaged, and comes from mexico. Everyone looked out for each others kids. Today they just mind their own buisness. Teachers, at least in catholic school, were allowed to discipline kids, today, it's a law suit if the kid stands too long and his foot falls asleep. Parents could spank their kids while today,DCFS shows up at your door. While I can agree that technology has it's benefits, and society in general evolves, you still have to ask yourself at what costs ? Is what we've gained worth what we've lost ? I know it's hard for the under 40 crowd to understand, if you never had it, you don't view it as loosing anything.

Joe08867

I float somewhere in between being 37yrs old. So I totally relate to what you wrote but like a couple of others have said. Times change, technology and life moves on. So just because you didn't have something then doesn't mean you can't enjoy it now.

I would like to add one thing.

My dads first remote control for the TV was me. He would call me into the living room and of course back then when your parents spoke you listened. So I would run in and he would say "see what is on TV". I would give the tsk sound and he would say "I will give you something to tsk about now see what is on Home Box". And don't be the one to zip or spin the dial to quick or you would hear "easy your gonna break it" Meanwhile that cable box was in the house for something like 10yrs without issue. Ahhh Memories..

exalted512

tonyb wrote: »

After dinner,there was no everyone going to their seperate rooms. Everyone helped clean up, no TV, listen to the radio on an old Zenith console. You actually dressed up to go to church on Sunday. You had your knives sharpened by the guy who came down the street with a cart. Italian ice was homemade,cost a nickel,and came in a paper cup. Gas was .20 cents a gallon,and cars where built like tanks. Appliances where made to last 20-30 years. Everyone had chores to do. Today you ask a kid to hang up his jacket and you get a look. Gangs were cool back then. No guns, just knives and bats. I used to pitch pennys with the leader of the Latin Kings when I was 12. We were more diverse then than today. People helped each other, neighbors cared for one another. Today if you wave to a neighbor,they think your an ax murderer. Everyone had a garden for veggies. Today it's all gassed, radiated, pre-packaged, and comes from mexico. Everyone looked out for each others kids. Today they just mind their own buisness. Teachers, at least in catholic school, were allowed to discipline kids, today, it's a law suit if the kid stands too long and his foot falls asleep. Parents could spank their kids while today,DCFS shows up at your door. While I can agree that technology has it's benefits, and society in general evolves, you still have to ask yourself at what costs ? Is what we've gained worth what we've lost ? I know it's hard for the under 40 crowd to understand, if you never had it, you don't view it as loosing anything.

and what part of that was NOT caused by the over 40 crowd?

tonyb

exalted512 wrote: »

and what part of that was NOT caused by the over 40 crowd?

Agree, thats where we failed, not all, but a damn good portion of us.

camp21178

steveinaz wrote: »

I remember when we got our first color TV, it was around 1966, and it was a VERY exciting day at our house!

Great memories, we got ours in 1968 and my Dad sprung for cable. Our TV had a remote that powered a motor that moved the mechanical channel knob. So cool!

TECHNOKID

Only on an electronic/technology forum will you see push - pull threads :biggrin: Priceless... :cool:

exalted512

tonyb wrote: »

Agree, thats where we failed, not all, but a damn good portion of us.

We can't agree...I'm in the under 40 crowd..and by you agreeing with me makes you wrong for saying thats right...which cant be right because i said thats right

...

-Cody

audio_alan

Don't forget about telephone party lines. You actually had to pick up the phone and listen to make sure someone FROM ANOTHER HOUSE wasn't already using the phone line. Sometimes people would bust in and say, "Are you going to be on here for very long, I need to make a call." Kids these days would die if they had to deal with that!

I remember my Dad would occasionally let me dial into his work's mainframe (late at night, with an acoustic boot 400 baud modem) to play a text-based game called "Adventure". Like clockwork, after a few minutes of playing, someone from another house would pick up the phone -- bye-bye game!

And for the record, I'm in my late 30's...

hearingimpared

Circa 1964 Summer Olympics Boxing; My father bought a color TV for my grand parents. We used to go there every Sunday for dinner and Ed Sullivan. The Olympics were on and a Russian & and American were boxing . . . I don't remember their names. Well the American gave the Russian a straight right to the nose and the blood began to flow . . . BLOOD ON TV! Now my father was an avid boxing fan and used to watch the Friday nights fights religiously every week.

Well when he saw the Russian bleeding profusely and the red blood all over his nose and face, it set us back about 5 to 6 years from getting a color TV.

plainoledave

not all the things you mentioned are changes for the good.

breal74

NotaSuv, are you looking to replace Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes? I think you would be a good fit.:biggrin:

grimmace19

If you want to complain about how easy we have it than your generation shouldn't have invented all this stuff for us....

inspiredsports

It's a continuum of progress and it don't see any sign of it slowing up. I wish I could live to see what they have in 2111.

stuwee

Big Dawg wrote: »

Best post I've read in a long time. My head still hurts a bit from when the safety arm was a tad late....

Yep, mine too, Mom always put the 'safety arm' for the beaker full of gin and let me hit the metal dash on the '61 Olds Starfire convertible, no seatbelts, I had to tell all my teachers the mark on my forehead was a birthmark (it was from the glovebox release). But what a gorgeous automobile!! It had a tachometer on the console, I know because I hit that flyin' off the seat quite a few times as well

leadfoot1

LOLz #13. I remember standing up in the front seat when we went places. :razz: we actaully got into an accident once, a dump truck ran a red light and we T-boned it. I went flying up into the dash. Woke up and had been pulled from the car. Somehow my dad found out we were in a wreck (no cell phones) and we all drove home together. No hospital time for me, no huge lawsuit for the dump truck driver. Black '69 Ford Torino with a 351 Windsor totalled

sucks2beme

Danny Tse wrote: »

You have to admit....channel-surfing was much easier back then....when there were only 5 channels!! Total!! :mad:

5? I got TWO. CBS and NBC. ABC was way to fuzzy to be watchable. And that was with an antenna on the roof.

slowhat

:razz::razz:
AudioGenics,
this must have been what it looked like as you composed your post:

and your excitement after it posted to the online webernet:

Upstatemax

I guess it's all situational, I'm 28 and my dad had zero problem kicking my ****, giving me tons of chores, making me work and buy my own stuff, locking me out of the house all day...

As others have said, we face a lot of new challenges also. Between modern tech, overseas competition, and corporate greed/"efficiency", millions of jobs have been cut and work life balance is almost a thing of the past...

Not to mention the cost of living for a young family... student loans are outrageous, getting a home is still very difficult, health care cost is insanely high. Don't forget daycare cost now...

To put my daughter in a safe, licensed daycare averages at least $800/month.

I think it's tough for every generation, just when you look back the grass always seems greener.

bobman1235

Oh awesome, I'm so glad this thread got revived from the dead from a year ago.