If You Are 30 Or Older

[angelwing]

If You Are 30 Or Older

If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious, and if you are under 30...show it to your parents (they'll understand it)!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car.. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play ... all day long. Oh, no, electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside ... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

[CajunMama]

Love this!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stephanie]

Oh so TRUE!!

I'll add a few more:

Imagine having NO AIR CONDITIONING or one window one in the living room. You actually WANTED to be outside in the shade or the pool all day long.

Cars radios came with AM radio stations - no FM, unless you had that little black FM converter box attached to the bottom of your dashboard.

You actually did wait at the bus stop for the school bus with an umbrella in the rain or snow. Mommy or Daddy didn't drive you to the bus stop and let you sit and wait inside the warm, dry car.

On Sundays, everything was closed. No McDonald's, Burger King, Saladworks, CVS, Wawa or 7-Elevens to hang out at. Very few malls - mostly strip malls, but all stores were closed.

Gasoline was Leaded or Unleaded. No Premium or Super Premium.

[mf_dolphin]

I'm laughing so hard the tears may short out my keyboard!

[Infdidoll]

I HATE TEXTING. Sorry, I just had to say it...I'm 33. I have a 16 year-old sister who texts at the dinner table. My mom laughs and waves her hand when I ask her if she's going to say something about it. "Oh, that's the IN thing, right now, isn't it, Steph?" My mom is obsessed with trying to remain 'hip'.

Love this list! But I did have a microwave...it was huge, primitive, took up a whole counter.

[Tireman4]

And our parents told us to stay outside and play ... all day long. Oh, no, electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside ... you were doing chores!

Yep, my dad would whistle when it was time for us to come home. That whistle was so loud, all the neighbors heard it.

Gas was 35 cents a gallon
There was not Atari...there were books. Lots of them. Then there was Pong and you liked it!!
The big thing was the top nine at nine on the AM radio. The DJ thing, yeah...always interrupting..man why would he not shut up
Fast food was a luxury. We ate in most of the time. If you did not like it, you did not eat. No cable at all. We went to drive in movies and that was an even bigger luxury ( I think I saw 4 movies like that)
No vans. You had a small crowded car with 4 children and we could barely breathe.
No computers. The great thing was...get this..the calculator. I am serious.
PE you actually had to run. I mean run...( well I run today), but we played dodge ball. When you were like me ( I was barely 5 foot and 120 pounds) you were the last one standing and when they came after you, lights out. No time out. No nothing. Die...LOL

[southerngale]

Love this! While I had no internet, cell phones, etc., I did have a microwave, remote, cable, and a Nintendo after that Atari! lol - I gotta share this. The spoiled brats have no idea how good they've got it.

I live in SE TX. Ya gotta go back a looooong way to the days before air conditioning! I've heard about attic fans in the old days... can't even imagine no A/C!

[AnnularCane]

I don't remember how old I was the first time I saw a TV remote control, but I'm pretty sure I was still a kid at the time. It was at my grandmother's house, and I thought being able to operate the TV from across the room was one of the most amazing things ever.

I don't text and have no desire to. Oh, and I'm pretty sure we had air conditioning.

[angelwing]

Anyone remember Intellivision? My bf (now my hubby) had bought me one for Christmas when they first came out, I loved playing Dungeons and Dragons on it, I thought it was the coolest graphics ever at the time, lol! But you know what I miss? PINBALL!!! I loved it and now you are hard pressed to even find a machine, sigh

[Stephanie]

Anyone remember Intellivision? My bf (now my hubby) had bought me one for Christmas when they first came out, I loved playing Dungeons and Dragons on it, I thought it was the coolest graphics ever at the time, lol! But you know what I miss? PINBALL!!! I loved it and now you are hard pressed to even find a machine, sigh

I remember Intellivision, but I didn't have it. I do remember have Atari and Space Invaders.

I love pinball too.

[brunota2003]

I was born in 1990, and the sad part is...I can relate to about 95% of those! We didn't get dial up until I was 10, and satellite (when one drop of rain would fall and you'd lose signal) until I was 11 or 12. Before that, it was just 3 or 4 local channels on bunny ears and VCR tapes. I do have an Atari, with like 40 games...including Pit Fall and Tunnel Runner. The microwave we had was made in 1988 (it still works, and was my parents' wedding gift from my grandparents! that thing is older than I am ) and is quite large.

[mf_dolphin]

The first computer I used was a Commodore PET. You had to load you games from a cassette tape. Black and White graphics but we had a blast !

[Tireman4]

The first computer I used was a Commodore PET. You had to load you games from a cassette tape. Black and White graphics but we had a blast !

Us too. The cassette tapes. Oh man. I remember my dad using a slide rule at work during the early 70's and just going on about how cool it was.

[weatherSnoop]

I don't remember how old I was the first time I saw a TV remote control, but I'm pretty sure I was still a kid at the time. It was at my grandmother's house, and I thought being able to operate the TV from across the room was one of the most amazing things ever.

I don't text and have no desire to. Oh, and I'm pretty sure we had air conditioning.

We had a remote...they emitted sound waves and we drove my parents crazy when we would bang silverware together to change the channel

[Tireman4]

I don't remember how old I was the first time I saw a TV remote control, but I'm pretty sure I was still a kid at the time. It was at my grandmother's house, and I thought being able to operate the TV from across the room was one of the most amazing things ever.

I don't text and have no desire to. Oh, and I'm pretty sure we had air conditioning.

We had a remote...they emitted sound waves and we drove my parents crazy when we would bang silverware together to change the channel

Woo Hoo. Remember when television stations went off the air at 12:00 midnight. You heard the national anthem, then the blue angels and poof, no tv. Ahh, those were the days...and still had radio shows too (CBS Mystery Theatre)

[Tireman4]

Also, for you older than 40...great programs used to come on local television:

First, one of the best ( still), but before cable, all you got was PBS affliate stuff:

National Geographic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X75oCf9i ... re=related

The music alone is worth it. It just builds up and whammo.

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZg2tE3xJDY

[angelwing]

Also, for you older than 40...great programs used to come on local television:

First, one of the best ( still), but before cable, all you got was PBS affliate stuff:

National Geographic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X75oCf9i ... re=related

The music alone is worth it. It just builds up and whammo.

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZg2tE3xJDY

Oh my goodness, Mutual of Omaha! I used to watch that faithfully!!! Also Lawrence Welk and Jackie Gleason!
And I am not 50 even (yet, lol)

[Tireman4]

[

Oh my goodness, Mutual of Omaha! I used to watch that faithfully!!! Also Lawrence Welk and Jackie Gleason!
And I am not 50 even (yet, lol)[/quote]

Carol Burnett Show...woo hoo..Sonny and Cher....Donny and Marie and good old Lawrence Welk. Remember.. a one and a two and a....music starts playing....

[x-y-no]

:roflmao:

Love this! While I had no internet, cell phones, etc., I did have a microwave, remote, cable, and a Nintendo after that Atari! lol - I gotta share this. The spoiled brats have no idea how good they've got it.

I live in SE TX. Ya gotta go back a looooong way to the days before air conditioning! I've heard about attic fans in the old days... can't even imagine no A/C!

I didn't have a school with AC until high school. Let me tell you, it was pretty hard to stick to your studies toward the end of the school year when it's 90 degrees and 90% humidity in the classroom.

On the good side, it was pretty easy to skip class by just slipping out the window when the teacher wasn't looking.

[Pburgh]

Good Lord!!! I'm one of the ones who walked 25 miles to school....uphill and barefoot. Remember I'm from West Virginia and old. rotflmao