Young Person Is Clueless About How People Lived Before E-Mail, And His Texts With An Older Person Go Viral
Zoomers struggle to imagine the world before smartphones and the Internet. And Kathy Torrence, 52, learned that her son, 21, is no different. Recently, he texted Kathy, asking, “How did any of college work before email?” So she decided to teach him about those ancient times.
The conversation they had hilariously highlighted the differences between the two generations. One is used to commuting and bulletin boards, the other doesn’t even know what that is. However, it proves that they can overcome them, too. In the end, both Kathy and her son walked away understanding each other a little better.
Image credits: kathy.torrence
“I think he has always known that times were different when I was growing up pre Internet and pre -mail,” Kathy told Bored Panda. “But one day after one of his classes was canceled and he was notified electronically, it just hit him how different communication was when I was in college.”
Zoomers (Gen Z) is the newest generation to be named and were born approximately between 1996 and 2015, which makes them 5-24 years old.
The average Gen Zer received their first mobile phone at the age of 10. But many of them grew up playing with their parents’ mobile phones or tablets. They were brought up in a hyper-connected world and the smartphone is their preferred method of communication. On average, they spend 3 hours a day on their mobile device.
Image credits: kathy.torrence
Kathy’s son, as a Zoomer should, has always been connected to technology. “I have photos of him at 3 years old sitting at a computer,” she explained. “He got his first phone in 6th grade and has several laptops, an iPad, a Raspberry Pie, and a brand new phone that he bought himself from the money he has earned at summer jobs.” He also spends a lot of time online writing code, including contributing to open source projects. “He is a math major with a computer science minor, a music minor, and a French minor in college.”
The proud mom said her son is very bright and excels in math and science. “He is now a senior in college and has almost a 4.0 GPA. He picks up on new technology very quickly and is a very logical thinker.”
“He is also very independent and has done two summer research projects (at Brown and UCLA) that he applied for and traveled to himself.” The guy also has a great sense of humor and a sense of sarcasm that can be seen in those texts. He is currently applying to graduate schools for mathematics.
Here’s what people said about the conversation
I kind of pity those who didn't experience life before the internet. There are advantages and disadvantages to both the internet and the pre-internet world but they didn't get to see how nice it can be to not always have to be “on call“.
Yes, that. Plus you could get out of the house on a weeknight, because you had to "go to the library". Spent a lot of time there in high school. Wink, wink.
YES! Me too! 😉😉
Sounds like a good excuse. But now I don’t have it.
Where I got my first real kiss from a girl. Maybe that's why the smell of a book excites me so.
Stannous Flouride follower
This is why my phone is ALWAYS on silent. I hate people thinking I'm always on call..NOPE, I am not.
OMG, the youngs are like "aren't you going to get that?!" Um, they can leave a message. Or text. Or email. I mean it's not like the old days where you actually had to be physically tethered to a phone at a particular time and place to connect with someone. Isn't the whole point of advances for convenience - not to shackle me?
Email had just started to take off when I graduated from college. I spent the summer between undergrad and grad school working for a state (that will remain unnamed) in their department of information technology. The department head would have his secretary print out his emails, hand write his responses on them, then have his secretary type them in -- all because he was too intimidated to use email. The head of IT for an entire state. I used to think "How can he not know how to use email?!" Now I'm like, "What's the big deal with TicTac? And why is Zoom so hard to use?" :-D
This is his reality. It would be no different than me asking my great-grands how they managed without electricity. A world without electricity is totally foreign to me.
And phones... at least we had landline phones...
we had party line telephones and no TV when I was little, and I'm not all that old.
I think it's staged. I'm pretty young, and I know all those things.
Boomer here, never underestimate how stupid your own peers can be.
I think you might be right.
Dunno. I once explained analog photography to a young person (before it made its come-back). The fact that he could not see the pictuers after he took them was really difficult to graps for him. I think, to him, the whole process was more or less magic.
Katinka Min easy
ucanobua no
I thought I was old enough to be un cool at one point. But when I mentioned my ICE Mower to a customer of mine who also owned and used an electric mower, he didn't know that I.C.E was short for Internal Combustion Engine. Guess I am not that old yet.
I agree. Everything that was said adds-up but the (similar) language gives me the feeling this was just one person.
This comment has been deleted.
When I went to college, my mother let me take her portable typewriter (it was in a red case) with me so I could type up my papers. I turned that thing into a full-fledged business. I used to charge $1 per page for advanced work, $2 per page if it was less than 48 hours, and $3 per page if it was less than 24 hours. I had so much business I had to turn people away!
I just missed this opportunity. By the time I hit college, keyboarding was a required course. There was still a market for it, but a very slim one. I never got more than enough for a couple of lunches per semester.
I wound up taking typing classes and bought a typewriter because it wound up being cheaper than having someone else type my papers!
Azziza Good response!
Cards Catalogues should never stop existing,I love libraries,no matter how tech savvy we become if such a place ceases to exist I shall deem life not worth it.That is it my friend,good day!
Card catalogs began disappearing from libraries 35 years ago. They are incredibly labor intensive to maintain, update, and to search. Typed-card subject indices are very limiting because you realistically have to confine your keyword search to a particular section. The possibilities for keyword searching and cross-referencing are limitless with electronic search technologies. Most systems will now allow you to see resources at OTHER libraries, and even allow you to request ILL services from within the catalog itself. Your local library has its own system, but you can search libraries the world-over using a service like WorldCat.org. Don't worry, the wildly over-priced copy machine, cold-war era globe, and massive headphones will always be there though. :)
If you REALLY feel the need to do it manually, the the 42nd edition of the LCSH Redbooks are available in PDF form. https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeLCSH/freelcsh.html
Those card catalogues are great for storing wine. But I miss their original use too, and the kick you used to get when finding the card of the book you were looking for.
I had to explain to my kids that I walked around with a dime in my shoe, so it was hidden, in case I needed to call my mother. And when I went on a date, she gave me a $20 bill (huge money then). She called it "mad money" So I'd have enough for a taxi, in case I got "mad" at my date.
Ah yes, I too survived the dark ages 😂 pepperidge...70-png.jpg
And if we wanted to order something we had to go through a catalogue, write down the item number and post it like regular mail
Please allow 4 - 6 weeks for delivery.
Well... in my country, if the package goes trough the "national" post service, you still have to wait 4-6 weeks for a delivery... and that's for "in-country" packages, if you order something from AliExpress, for example, you could easily be looking at 4/5 months of waiting...
No "order confirmation" and you wouldn't know if you paid for it till your statement came in the post mail the following month.
And no tracking
I remember if you got to your class and the Professor wasn't there you had to wait 15 minutes before you could leave.
It was the same at my school. We’d just sit there praying the professor wouldn’t show😂 I’m only in my 30s so I’m not very old. We had email when I went to college, but it wasn’t used by everyone at the time. Some professors frowned upon using it for important communication instead of coming to office hours. And we still had to turn in papers by hand.
Couldn't text and say "I forgot to put ice cream on the list" if you sent someone to store.
Yes. I love this.
There’s a quote from the opening of L P Hartley’s book, “The Go-Between” that I think is quite apropos the subject of this article. “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”.
It shows how fast technology is developing and how fast old technology is forgotten. Just think of that video where a couple of kids can't figure out how to dial a number on an old telephone. Try to explain cassette player, walkman, typewriter or carbonpaper to young people. They will look at you and seriously doubt your sanity.
Had this in 2011. No online announcement, no email, just a note scribbled inside the room. To be exact, the computer pool of an IT degree.
Your name sounds german ... where did you study?
I'm 34 now. I remember very well times...we left for 2 weeks for summer camp and the parents received one post card. Week after arrival 😁 Now when we plan to leave for a weekend...there MUST be internet so we're available for phone calls, checking emails, connecting into SAP, if "needed" 🤦🏻♀️ F*ck this on-line world.
I always forget someone didnt experience these things and then I'm shocked that they don't understand lol. Although, some technology advances are great, I do miss these simple days (jfc, this is such an old person comment).
We had to memorize all the phone numbers (or use a phone book). I remember when *69 became a 'thing'. If you wanted to hear a certain song (but didn't own the album), you had to call the radio station and put in a request to the DJ. Check the newspaper of use MoviePhone (later) to find out what movies were playing, where, and when. And save your files to a 5.25" floppy then a 3.5 floppy disk - that could only store 120 MB...
It's pretty funny. But it's the same with every generation, new things are invented the way we do stuff changes. It'll happen to zoomers with their children.
When I went to university (99-04), there weren't even notes on the door to announce a cancelled class. The rule of the "academic quarter" was applied: if the professor didn't show up within 15 minutes, it meant class was cancelled.
Cool, we were expected to find another one...
Astrid Nineor like
Like how did farmers get their crops in and out before John Deere came along with those big green tractors? LOL I once asked my grandma about the "Good Old Days" and got a lecture about doing laundry before these nice washers and dryers we had.
I am still a student, so obviously after email existed, but one of my past teachers wouldn't even announce if class was canceled. You would just show up to class and if the teacher wasn't there in 20 minutes, you just left
me easy
I work at a University and when we implemented email we had to force the students to use it by only giving out assignments via email. They groaned and complained about it, saying; how inefficient it was, it would never catch on, and why can't we just write it on the board. Ha!! What a difference
Ok I think the son here might have been playing dumb on purpose- I'm even younger than him and I can say everyone I know knows what a corkboard is lol
Ah, but he didn't say he didn't know what a corkboard was. His mother called it a bulletin board, at first. He probably had only ever heard of electronic bulletin boards, which obviously didn't apply in his mother's case. But this post does seem a little weird. It sounds like something an 8-year-old would ask - not a 21-year-old.
SoozeeQ ?
We had to walk to school to find out if it had closed because it was too cold to go to school. As an adult, I've heard of "snow days", we didn't have that. Either you managed to get to school or you didn't. But the school had heating problems when the temperature dropped below -30C (-22F), and the school closed if the janitor couldn't get it working.
Where in the world did you grow up?! Back in the 80-90s you watched the morning news to see if it was a snow day.
Same in the 70s, or you'd listen to a local radio station.
The FM radio was how we found out if the school bus was going to be late because of the fog. There was 4 or 5 stations that the school had a contract with. I also got news, advertisements, and entertainment from this same media.
It was way past 2000 that universities really engaged in electronic planning. I was a student starting in 2003, with a longer break and a few bad decision I finally got my Diploma in 2015 and EVERYTHING changed throughout these years. You had to walk to a lot of places, but then they bought a software for planning that stuff and we could sign up for one thing online, another thing we had to go there, another thing online after the lecture - as a commuter, I always got the unpleasant time slots by this method, or I went with someone to their home to sign up, and came home an hour later. I liked it better the way it was later, but I think in seeing both ... systems? Or at least see the old one die and the new one emerge ... was a worthwhile experience.
If you wanted, or needed, to know them ASAP, final grades were posted on a bulletin board outside the department the class was under. Otherwise, you had to wait until they were snail-mailed out. You also had to stand in long lines to register for classes, parking permits, and anything else you needed. If you were sick or couldn’t attend a class for other reasons (better be be good reasons too), you had to call in and leave a message, which was written by a secretary on a message pad and physically handed to the prof, or left on their desk. Then you had to call a classmate for copies of their handwritten notes, which they had to pay per page to copy on a Xerox machine at Kinko’s, which you either got from them next class, or they had to come to your place to drop off. Lastly, you had to hand write (and end up with writer’s cramp), or type your assignments on a typewriter with no spellcheck, just Wite-Out. If it was your thesis paper, you paid a typist to do it, so it would be perfect.
Lol, I feel like this is fake, but still funny!
I had to register for classes at UC Berkeley by looking through the printed catalog, walking to each classroom on registration day, and collecting a computer punchcard from each class. If there were no more punchcards for a class, I'd have to find another class (potentially needing to rearrange my whole schedule), and do the whole thing all over again. Then I had to turn all the punchcards in at the registrar's office. Fun!
Yes! Punchcards.
My mom would fall asleep and forget to pick me up all the time. I would always find a way home w other parents or the bus etc. she wouldn't even know if I got home or not until she woke up. No one worried about stuff like this in the 80s and a teenager.
I was born on a farm in 1951. I remember party line telephones. 4 neighbors to each line, our signal was 3 rings, but the phone rang whenever any other party got a call. And the phones went out whenever it rained hard. And no TV at all until I was 5 years old, when we got a black and white set with a 12" screen. Snail mail....5 mile round trip to highway to check the mail every day..
Forget about not having a mobile phone until I was in my late twenties. My family didn't get a landline until 1981 when I was nine years old. My girls refuse to believe it.
We had to wait 4 to 6 weeks to listen to our new music, but at least we got 13 albums for one penny (with nothing more to buy ever)!!! LOL
I'm a graphic designer, and have been before the Mac. I would paste up galleys of type delivered from the typesetter on the layout board using a thing that coated wax on the back. Customer needs to edit text? Well back to the typesetter guy. Took the photos and made stats adding a screen so the photo would have the tiny dots that you see in a printed photo. It sounds like I am talking about 1910, but actually this was in the 1980s.
I'm a gen Z and I experienced most of these things growing up. Even now, I still do some of the things the old person does. Granted that I'm a very early zoomer, that is, and exhibit some millennial characteristics, but it's a bit of a stretch to say "all gen Z grew up with nothing but technology around them".
I somehow doubt this. I’m not sure what context you would have experienced most of this stuff in as a child, as it all relates to going to college/university.
If your 8:00 a.m. class was cancelled, then you went to the library and studied. How stupid can you be?
If my 8 am class was cancelled I went and ate breakfast with my friends...
I got laid off from my job a few years back. My 75 y/o mother said, "Well, I guess you better look in the yellow pages." I was laughing my ass off inside, but just said to her, "Yeah, that's not how it works anymore." lol
This isn’t funny - it’s pathetic. Not to mention fake af. No 21 year old doesn’t know these things - especially one as educated and “logical” as he claims to be.
I'm 50/50 when it comes to the internet. I miss the days when there was no credit scores, apartments were alot easier, apts and jobs etc didn't look up every personal thing about your life, etc. I also remember when the internet first came out, the very first big thing to happen was the announcement of princess Diana's death.
I was at a restaurant and there was some commotion in the lobby. It was about half a dozen 10 year olds (6 years ago) who had never seen a pay phone. They all had to pick it up and listen for the dial tone to believe it.
I lost my housemate on a night out and she had the door key. I slept in the shed.
Many years back I saw a list of how each generation lives in a new technological reality. Each previous generation is in awe of things the current one takes for granted and is NBD. For my daughter it's the internet and a computer in her pocket, for me it was TV and jet plane travel, for my mom it was telephones, airplanes, and radio, for her mom it was automobiles and the highway system.
We had a phone tree. So when school called 1 person, he called 2 then 4 would be called then 8 and 16 after that. That way everybody quickly knew if the first class fell out.
I’m 28. I graduated high school in 2010. I miss when everyone and everything wasn’t on social media. Yeah I had MySpace but most people didn’t post every single aspect of their lives on there. I think it’s harder for kids these days in general, always comparing themselves to others online. And I’m sure If u don’t have social media you’re seen as a “weirdo.” And most kids want to fit in. I guess that’s just my opinion but everyone has their own.
I love the way life works, today. But even thoughh everything just took forever, back in the dark ages, life was less stressful. Less information, less options also means you sometims just went and did stuff without overtinking it. (Man, remember the phoneline where someone would read what went on in the cinema?? Orrr....took for-EVER to find out what was running where and when)
Somethings never change. "Google" might sound like a funny name for a search engine, but then again, in my day "Dewey Decimal" was kind if weird as well.
Rob love
Getting up to change the TV channel. Phoning the cinema to find out what movies are showing and the times. Writing snail mail letters to friends during the school holidays to stay in touch. Paying for everything with coins as a child. Having to go to the library to look up information. Doing all mathematical calculations on paper. Having to go to the record shop to buy new music on vinyl and having no way of knowing what the actual lyrics were to most songs unless you bought the album, which would usually have lyrics on or in the cover. Making arrangements to meet friends days in advance and having to just show up because you couldn't necessarily contact them to change plans. Having to go to the bank and cash a cheque to get actual money. Having to pay for everything with cash and cheques when credit cards were not common. Having to borrow someone's written notes to copy if you missed a class. Having an actual book with everyone's addresses, phone numbers and birthdays in.
"...no way of knowing what the actual lyrics were to most songs unless you bought the album..." There was a magazine here in the U.S. that had song lyrics. You just had to hope the one you wanted was in this month's issue.
I have a feeling this might be staged. I mean, they ask such naive questions, they aren't just young, they must be pretty dumb as well. Most of us don't know life without electricity, but you can figure it out logically.
Not sure why this is a thing? I struggle to imagine life in the world wars, or medieval times... Anything outside your normal experience is novel...
So fake
And when your favorite song finished playing, you had to let the whole 8-track album play through to hear it again.
For us old farts on BP. Think back to when we had outings and the group got separated. Even without cell phones we managed to meet up again. Or, how in the world did Dad know where to pick us up after a concert or at the airport (again, no cell phones). We worked it out!
My sister told me her kids weren't even taught the alphabet in school. Why? Because nobody uses indexes anymore and anything that has to be alphabetised is just a highlight and click away. Bloody ridiculous. These kids are going to be so damn lost if they ever went into a Library. Not that the word "Library" would mean anything to them. They'd probably ask "What flavour is that?". 🤦♀️
Sorry, what now? Literally everyone gets taught the alphabet, and in elementary school, one of the first things they taught us was how to use an index, table of content, etc. And I don' think there is a single person in the world who doesn't know what a freaking LIBRARY is.
It sounds like someone who can't imagine a time that technology didn't give you immediate instant and remote access to everything. From checking out a movie at Blockbuster and not knowing if they have it until you get there to looking at the classified ads in a newspaper. No YouTube to learn how to tie a tie. Not knowing who is calling you before you answer. This poor kid couldn't function if he had to ask a stranger for directions.
Sigh, kid sounds a little TOO privileged. He can't even imagine the thought of society existing before modern conveniences. That people made effort to learn things and engage socially rather than just flipping on their computer.
Didn’t you ever talk to your parents or grandparents about how things were when they were young? Things were different back in the day. For instance, my father graduated from pharmacy school in 1940. Back then, pharmacists had to know how to make—-from scratch—-the capsules, salves, creams, and syrups that are now pre-packaged. He learned how to measure out the liquid or powdered ingredients, so as not to overdose a patient, mix them with the fillers, and make sure the dosages was evenly distributed, and make each individual capsule, fill each syrup bottle, mix the salve/cream on a marble slab (like the ones used to make certain kinds of candies) put it into a tube and crimp the end so it would leak. That’s not taught anymore, unless a student wants to learn compounding as a specialty.
I was raised to appreciate the comforts we have of modern society and to not take it for granted. We get to see this even as we grow up, as your father had shown you. And to hopefully appreciate, but not downplay the advancements we get to witness in our lives. This kid though sounds like they're talking to a complete alien.
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The younger person asking the questions sounds like a spoiled, lazy idiot.
Bet your parents think the same thing about you living in their basement, not working, and not paying rent.
Oh yes, Kathryn Baylis - Burn! Spot on!
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These Boomers need to join my army so we can teach them a lesson
I kind of pity those who didn't experience life before the internet. There are advantages and disadvantages to both the internet and the pre-internet world but they didn't get to see how nice it can be to not always have to be “on call“.
Yes, that. Plus you could get out of the house on a weeknight, because you had to "go to the library". Spent a lot of time there in high school. Wink, wink.
YES! Me too! 😉😉
Sounds like a good excuse. But now I don’t have it.
Where I got my first real kiss from a girl. Maybe that's why the smell of a book excites me so.
Stannous Flouride follower
This is why my phone is ALWAYS on silent. I hate people thinking I'm always on call..NOPE, I am not.
OMG, the youngs are like "aren't you going to get that?!" Um, they can leave a message. Or text. Or email. I mean it's not like the old days where you actually had to be physically tethered to a phone at a particular time and place to connect with someone. Isn't the whole point of advances for convenience - not to shackle me?
Email had just started to take off when I graduated from college. I spent the summer between undergrad and grad school working for a state (that will remain unnamed) in their department of information technology. The department head would have his secretary print out his emails, hand write his responses on them, then have his secretary type them in -- all because he was too intimidated to use email. The head of IT for an entire state. I used to think "How can he not know how to use email?!" Now I'm like, "What's the big deal with TicTac? And why is Zoom so hard to use?" :-D
This is his reality. It would be no different than me asking my great-grands how they managed without electricity. A world without electricity is totally foreign to me.
And phones... at least we had landline phones...
we had party line telephones and no TV when I was little, and I'm not all that old.
I think it's staged. I'm pretty young, and I know all those things.
Boomer here, never underestimate how stupid your own peers can be.
I think you might be right.
Dunno. I once explained analog photography to a young person (before it made its come-back). The fact that he could not see the pictuers after he took them was really difficult to graps for him. I think, to him, the whole process was more or less magic.
Katinka Min easy
ucanobua no
I thought I was old enough to be un cool at one point. But when I mentioned my ICE Mower to a customer of mine who also owned and used an electric mower, he didn't know that I.C.E was short for Internal Combustion Engine. Guess I am not that old yet.
I agree. Everything that was said adds-up but the (similar) language gives me the feeling this was just one person.
This comment has been deleted.
When I went to college, my mother let me take her portable typewriter (it was in a red case) with me so I could type up my papers. I turned that thing into a full-fledged business. I used to charge $1 per page for advanced work, $2 per page if it was less than 48 hours, and $3 per page if it was less than 24 hours. I had so much business I had to turn people away!
I just missed this opportunity. By the time I hit college, keyboarding was a required course. There was still a market for it, but a very slim one. I never got more than enough for a couple of lunches per semester.
I wound up taking typing classes and bought a typewriter because it wound up being cheaper than having someone else type my papers!
Azziza Good response!
Cards Catalogues should never stop existing,I love libraries,no matter how tech savvy we become if such a place ceases to exist I shall deem life not worth it.That is it my friend,good day!
Card catalogs began disappearing from libraries 35 years ago. They are incredibly labor intensive to maintain, update, and to search. Typed-card subject indices are very limiting because you realistically have to confine your keyword search to a particular section. The possibilities for keyword searching and cross-referencing are limitless with electronic search technologies. Most systems will now allow you to see resources at OTHER libraries, and even allow you to request ILL services from within the catalog itself. Your local library has its own system, but you can search libraries the world-over using a service like WorldCat.org. Don't worry, the wildly over-priced copy machine, cold-war era globe, and massive headphones will always be there though. :)
If you REALLY feel the need to do it manually, the the 42nd edition of the LCSH Redbooks are available in PDF form. https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeLCSH/freelcsh.html
Those card catalogues are great for storing wine. But I miss their original use too, and the kick you used to get when finding the card of the book you were looking for.
I had to explain to my kids that I walked around with a dime in my shoe, so it was hidden, in case I needed to call my mother. And when I went on a date, she gave me a $20 bill (huge money then). She called it "mad money" So I'd have enough for a taxi, in case I got "mad" at my date.
Ah yes, I too survived the dark ages 😂 pepperidge...70-png.jpg
And if we wanted to order something we had to go through a catalogue, write down the item number and post it like regular mail
Please allow 4 - 6 weeks for delivery.
Well... in my country, if the package goes trough the "national" post service, you still have to wait 4-6 weeks for a delivery... and that's for "in-country" packages, if you order something from AliExpress, for example, you could easily be looking at 4/5 months of waiting...
No "order confirmation" and you wouldn't know if you paid for it till your statement came in the post mail the following month.
And no tracking
I remember if you got to your class and the Professor wasn't there you had to wait 15 minutes before you could leave.
It was the same at my school. We’d just sit there praying the professor wouldn’t show😂 I’m only in my 30s so I’m not very old. We had email when I went to college, but it wasn’t used by everyone at the time. Some professors frowned upon using it for important communication instead of coming to office hours. And we still had to turn in papers by hand.
Couldn't text and say "I forgot to put ice cream on the list" if you sent someone to store.
Yes. I love this.
There’s a quote from the opening of L P Hartley’s book, “The Go-Between” that I think is quite apropos the subject of this article. “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”.
It shows how fast technology is developing and how fast old technology is forgotten. Just think of that video where a couple of kids can't figure out how to dial a number on an old telephone. Try to explain cassette player, walkman, typewriter or carbonpaper to young people. They will look at you and seriously doubt your sanity.
Had this in 2011. No online announcement, no email, just a note scribbled inside the room. To be exact, the computer pool of an IT degree.
Your name sounds german ... where did you study?
I'm 34 now. I remember very well times...we left for 2 weeks for summer camp and the parents received one post card. Week after arrival 😁 Now when we plan to leave for a weekend...there MUST be internet so we're available for phone calls, checking emails, connecting into SAP, if "needed" 🤦🏻♀️ F*ck this on-line world.
I always forget someone didnt experience these things and then I'm shocked that they don't understand lol. Although, some technology advances are great, I do miss these simple days (jfc, this is such an old person comment).
We had to memorize all the phone numbers (or use a phone book). I remember when *69 became a 'thing'. If you wanted to hear a certain song (but didn't own the album), you had to call the radio station and put in a request to the DJ. Check the newspaper of use MoviePhone (later) to find out what movies were playing, where, and when. And save your files to a 5.25" floppy then a 3.5 floppy disk - that could only store 120 MB...
It's pretty funny. But it's the same with every generation, new things are invented the way we do stuff changes. It'll happen to zoomers with their children.
When I went to university (99-04), there weren't even notes on the door to announce a cancelled class. The rule of the "academic quarter" was applied: if the professor didn't show up within 15 minutes, it meant class was cancelled.
Cool, we were expected to find another one...
Astrid Nineor like
Like how did farmers get their crops in and out before John Deere came along with those big green tractors? LOL I once asked my grandma about the "Good Old Days" and got a lecture about doing laundry before these nice washers and dryers we had.
I am still a student, so obviously after email existed, but one of my past teachers wouldn't even announce if class was canceled. You would just show up to class and if the teacher wasn't there in 20 minutes, you just left
me easy
I work at a University and when we implemented email we had to force the students to use it by only giving out assignments via email. They groaned and complained about it, saying; how inefficient it was, it would never catch on, and why can't we just write it on the board. Ha!! What a difference
Ok I think the son here might have been playing dumb on purpose- I'm even younger than him and I can say everyone I know knows what a corkboard is lol
Ah, but he didn't say he didn't know what a corkboard was. His mother called it a bulletin board, at first. He probably had only ever heard of electronic bulletin boards, which obviously didn't apply in his mother's case. But this post does seem a little weird. It sounds like something an 8-year-old would ask - not a 21-year-old.
SoozeeQ ?
We had to walk to school to find out if it had closed because it was too cold to go to school. As an adult, I've heard of "snow days", we didn't have that. Either you managed to get to school or you didn't. But the school had heating problems when the temperature dropped below -30C (-22F), and the school closed if the janitor couldn't get it working.
Where in the world did you grow up?! Back in the 80-90s you watched the morning news to see if it was a snow day.
Same in the 70s, or you'd listen to a local radio station.
The FM radio was how we found out if the school bus was going to be late because of the fog. There was 4 or 5 stations that the school had a contract with. I also got news, advertisements, and entertainment from this same media.
It was way past 2000 that universities really engaged in electronic planning. I was a student starting in 2003, with a longer break and a few bad decision I finally got my Diploma in 2015 and EVERYTHING changed throughout these years. You had to walk to a lot of places, but then they bought a software for planning that stuff and we could sign up for one thing online, another thing we had to go there, another thing online after the lecture - as a commuter, I always got the unpleasant time slots by this method, or I went with someone to their home to sign up, and came home an hour later. I liked it better the way it was later, but I think in seeing both ... systems? Or at least see the old one die and the new one emerge ... was a worthwhile experience.
If you wanted, or needed, to know them ASAP, final grades were posted on a bulletin board outside the department the class was under. Otherwise, you had to wait until they were snail-mailed out. You also had to stand in long lines to register for classes, parking permits, and anything else you needed. If you were sick or couldn’t attend a class for other reasons (better be be good reasons too), you had to call in and leave a message, which was written by a secretary on a message pad and physically handed to the prof, or left on their desk. Then you had to call a classmate for copies of their handwritten notes, which they had to pay per page to copy on a Xerox machine at Kinko’s, which you either got from them next class, or they had to come to your place to drop off. Lastly, you had to hand write (and end up with writer’s cramp), or type your assignments on a typewriter with no spellcheck, just Wite-Out. If it was your thesis paper, you paid a typist to do it, so it would be perfect.
Lol, I feel like this is fake, but still funny!
I had to register for classes at UC Berkeley by looking through the printed catalog, walking to each classroom on registration day, and collecting a computer punchcard from each class. If there were no more punchcards for a class, I'd have to find another class (potentially needing to rearrange my whole schedule), and do the whole thing all over again. Then I had to turn all the punchcards in at the registrar's office. Fun!
Yes! Punchcards.
My mom would fall asleep and forget to pick me up all the time. I would always find a way home w other parents or the bus etc. she wouldn't even know if I got home or not until she woke up. No one worried about stuff like this in the 80s and a teenager.
I was born on a farm in 1951. I remember party line telephones. 4 neighbors to each line, our signal was 3 rings, but the phone rang whenever any other party got a call. And the phones went out whenever it rained hard. And no TV at all until I was 5 years old, when we got a black and white set with a 12" screen. Snail mail....5 mile round trip to highway to check the mail every day..
Forget about not having a mobile phone until I was in my late twenties. My family didn't get a landline until 1981 when I was nine years old. My girls refuse to believe it.
We had to wait 4 to 6 weeks to listen to our new music, but at least we got 13 albums for one penny (with nothing more to buy ever)!!! LOL
I'm a graphic designer, and have been before the Mac. I would paste up galleys of type delivered from the typesetter on the layout board using a thing that coated wax on the back. Customer needs to edit text? Well back to the typesetter guy. Took the photos and made stats adding a screen so the photo would have the tiny dots that you see in a printed photo. It sounds like I am talking about 1910, but actually this was in the 1980s.
I'm a gen Z and I experienced most of these things growing up. Even now, I still do some of the things the old person does. Granted that I'm a very early zoomer, that is, and exhibit some millennial characteristics, but it's a bit of a stretch to say "all gen Z grew up with nothing but technology around them".
I somehow doubt this. I’m not sure what context you would have experienced most of this stuff in as a child, as it all relates to going to college/university.
If your 8:00 a.m. class was cancelled, then you went to the library and studied. How stupid can you be?
If my 8 am class was cancelled I went and ate breakfast with my friends...
I got laid off from my job a few years back. My 75 y/o mother said, "Well, I guess you better look in the yellow pages." I was laughing my ass off inside, but just said to her, "Yeah, that's not how it works anymore." lol
This isn’t funny - it’s pathetic. Not to mention fake af. No 21 year old doesn’t know these things - especially one as educated and “logical” as he claims to be.
I'm 50/50 when it comes to the internet. I miss the days when there was no credit scores, apartments were alot easier, apts and jobs etc didn't look up every personal thing about your life, etc. I also remember when the internet first came out, the very first big thing to happen was the announcement of princess Diana's death.
I was at a restaurant and there was some commotion in the lobby. It was about half a dozen 10 year olds (6 years ago) who had never seen a pay phone. They all had to pick it up and listen for the dial tone to believe it.
I lost my housemate on a night out and she had the door key. I slept in the shed.
Many years back I saw a list of how each generation lives in a new technological reality. Each previous generation is in awe of things the current one takes for granted and is NBD. For my daughter it's the internet and a computer in her pocket, for me it was TV and jet plane travel, for my mom it was telephones, airplanes, and radio, for her mom it was automobiles and the highway system.
We had a phone tree. So when school called 1 person, he called 2 then 4 would be called then 8 and 16 after that. That way everybody quickly knew if the first class fell out.
I’m 28. I graduated high school in 2010. I miss when everyone and everything wasn’t on social media. Yeah I had MySpace but most people didn’t post every single aspect of their lives on there. I think it’s harder for kids these days in general, always comparing themselves to others online. And I’m sure If u don’t have social media you’re seen as a “weirdo.” And most kids want to fit in. I guess that’s just my opinion but everyone has their own.
I love the way life works, today. But even thoughh everything just took forever, back in the dark ages, life was less stressful. Less information, less options also means you sometims just went and did stuff without overtinking it. (Man, remember the phoneline where someone would read what went on in the cinema?? Orrr....took for-EVER to find out what was running where and when)
Somethings never change. "Google" might sound like a funny name for a search engine, but then again, in my day "Dewey Decimal" was kind if weird as well.
Rob love
Getting up to change the TV channel. Phoning the cinema to find out what movies are showing and the times. Writing snail mail letters to friends during the school holidays to stay in touch. Paying for everything with coins as a child. Having to go to the library to look up information. Doing all mathematical calculations on paper. Having to go to the record shop to buy new music on vinyl and having no way of knowing what the actual lyrics were to most songs unless you bought the album, which would usually have lyrics on or in the cover. Making arrangements to meet friends days in advance and having to just show up because you couldn't necessarily contact them to change plans. Having to go to the bank and cash a cheque to get actual money. Having to pay for everything with cash and cheques when credit cards were not common. Having to borrow someone's written notes to copy if you missed a class. Having an actual book with everyone's addresses, phone numbers and birthdays in.
"...no way of knowing what the actual lyrics were to most songs unless you bought the album..." There was a magazine here in the U.S. that had song lyrics. You just had to hope the one you wanted was in this month's issue.
I have a feeling this might be staged. I mean, they ask such naive questions, they aren't just young, they must be pretty dumb as well. Most of us don't know life without electricity, but you can figure it out logically.
Not sure why this is a thing? I struggle to imagine life in the world wars, or medieval times... Anything outside your normal experience is novel...
So fake
And when your favorite song finished playing, you had to let the whole 8-track album play through to hear it again.
For us old farts on BP. Think back to when we had outings and the group got separated. Even without cell phones we managed to meet up again. Or, how in the world did Dad know where to pick us up after a concert or at the airport (again, no cell phones). We worked it out!
My sister told me her kids weren't even taught the alphabet in school. Why? Because nobody uses indexes anymore and anything that has to be alphabetised is just a highlight and click away. Bloody ridiculous. These kids are going to be so damn lost if they ever went into a Library. Not that the word "Library" would mean anything to them. They'd probably ask "What flavour is that?". 🤦♀️
Sorry, what now? Literally everyone gets taught the alphabet, and in elementary school, one of the first things they taught us was how to use an index, table of content, etc. And I don' think there is a single person in the world who doesn't know what a freaking LIBRARY is.
It sounds like someone who can't imagine a time that technology didn't give you immediate instant and remote access to everything. From checking out a movie at Blockbuster and not knowing if they have it until you get there to looking at the classified ads in a newspaper. No YouTube to learn how to tie a tie. Not knowing who is calling you before you answer. This poor kid couldn't function if he had to ask a stranger for directions.
Sigh, kid sounds a little TOO privileged. He can't even imagine the thought of society existing before modern conveniences. That people made effort to learn things and engage socially rather than just flipping on their computer.
Didn’t you ever talk to your parents or grandparents about how things were when they were young? Things were different back in the day. For instance, my father graduated from pharmacy school in 1940. Back then, pharmacists had to know how to make—-from scratch—-the capsules, salves, creams, and syrups that are now pre-packaged. He learned how to measure out the liquid or powdered ingredients, so as not to overdose a patient, mix them with the fillers, and make sure the dosages was evenly distributed, and make each individual capsule, fill each syrup bottle, mix the salve/cream on a marble slab (like the ones used to make certain kinds of candies) put it into a tube and crimp the end so it would leak. That’s not taught anymore, unless a student wants to learn compounding as a specialty.
I was raised to appreciate the comforts we have of modern society and to not take it for granted. We get to see this even as we grow up, as your father had shown you. And to hopefully appreciate, but not downplay the advancements we get to witness in our lives. This kid though sounds like they're talking to a complete alien.
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The younger person asking the questions sounds like a spoiled, lazy idiot.
Bet your parents think the same thing about you living in their basement, not working, and not paying rent.
Oh yes, Kathryn Baylis - Burn! Spot on!
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These Boomers need to join my army so we can teach them a lesson