30 Currently Non-Existent Things That Were Part Of Some People’s Childhoods, As Shared Online

"It's 10 o'clock, do you know where your children are"?

What boggles my mind is that there is much information regarding childhood obesity (USA), yet kids more often than not are now riding Ebikes, which only lends to the problem. When I was a kid, we'd ride all day in the summer, and have to be home when the street lights came on. We were a rugged, athletic bunch.

I grew up around the same time period. My mother would never have allowed this.

Ahhh the 80s and 90s

What was it like to be a latchkey kid in the 1970s? In my household, it was total freedom. Do you want to go somewhere at 10 years old? That’s great. Here’s a bike, a map, and 10 cents to call in case you get into trouble. You can figure it out. Just don’t bother us. Do you want to stay overnight at a friend’s house at 13? That’s cool. Just leave a note and don’t bother us. Do you want to get into all kinds of unsupervised mayhem of your own choosing? Go for it! We don’t want to know. Please don’t get arrested because that would bother us. We all had our own lives and that was OK. Our adventures ranged from the mundane to the literally insane and unbelievable. What did I learn? Independence, and with that came the confidence to try new things. If you failed or got hurt, no one was the wiser. I am happy for the experience and lucky to have survived it all.

If you did something boneheaded and footage made the news, it would all be forgotten pretty quickly. Now everything is on Youtube for your eternal mortification

Kids with lots of free time either got into trouble or invented the future (or both).

The parent doesn't even have to be an influencer. I've seen so many reels/toks of kids worst moments bc the parents thought it would be funny to post it online.

I would add the freedom to be a kid without being constantly tested and sitting exams at school from the age of 6

By your own parents

Who else chose their cereal based on the toy?

And boy did we get in trouble if we dug for it. It had to go to the kid that poured it into their bowl.

I remember in the 80's as a kid Rice Crispies did a collect the tokens and get a Top 40 single of your choice. I got Pass the Duchie (Musical Youth) and my sister got Happy Birthday (Altered Images), weirdly I later developed a serious crush on Claire Grogan that I still have today.

Records on the back of the boxes!!!

Id say I missed the free cd games, but my computer doesn't even have a DVD drive anymore. First they came for our floppy drives, then our cd/dvds....

HUh. I still have a paper TV guide.

Back in the day _everybody_ had a morning paper delivered, and often an evening one as well. With only three channels (UK) they would list the whole schedule for the day. TV Times and Radio times were published weekly, but weren't really needed and not normal in most households back in the 60's and 70's,

Lol this is a Dutch TV guide, and they still exist here in the Netherlands

We still have them in Australia, but now that we have gone from 5 free to air stations to 20 or so, much of it is reduced to just the name of the show and the time. So you might end up missing a good show or movie just because you didn't know what it was about

They still do. My Dad still buys a Sunday paper for the TV guide and the crossword.

Then only taking one photo of something as you only got 24 or 36 pictures on a roll of film, only to discover that it was out of focus when developed…

Not mainstream any more, but they still exist. I still have my old 35mm camera - very old in fact as it was my Dad's before he gave it to me when I was in my early teens. Completely mechanical and even the light meter doesn't need batteries.

And of 36 shots on a roll, only two were decent. Mostly a waste of money. Digital photography is the greatest!

I used to do semi-pro photo shoots and developed and printed my own pictures. Modern electronic systems are a lot less adaptable than the old darkroom magic I used to pull off... So now I use an electronic camera (since roll film is now almost impossible to find) and 'develop" my stuff on my computer...and the modern stuff is nowhere near as good as the old film and chemical way, but its all that is left to use.

Or having a roll of film and carefully calculating your pictures because you only had one role. Looking at something and deciding if you really wanted a picture of that because something more exciting might come along

Pluto will always be a planet to me.

What possible difference could it make to your life if Pluto is a planet or not? The obsession some people have with inconsequential stuff is mind-numbing.

"My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets". Now how are we supposed to remember them?

Only constant in the universe is change.

Many, many people’s understanding of science is JUST like the beliefs they started forming in Sunday school — fixed, dogmatic, unchangeable, dearly held as the final word. Those old “science” beliefs came from parents, teachers or fictional works, and when the student moved on in life, her brain remained frozen in the old timeless truths. Pluto as a planet, Neanderthals as brutish cave men, extraterrestrials as secretive abductors, etc etc etc. Too bad they didn’t also learn early on that scientific knowledge is so powerful because it’s always subject to revision, even major revision. Guess they weren’t hearing that in Sunday school either.

I love how people now a days are so sensitive about "doxxxing" (wherever or whatever that stupid a*s word came from) when THE PHONE BOOK used to just do this to everybody. seriously first and last name and a general location you could find literally anyone you wanted. You don't have a right to privacy, you never did, you never will. Grow the f**k up.

They were useful for creating elaborate crank phone calls

I remember moving when I was 18 and looking in the phone book when a new one came out to see if my name was added yet, then years later asking them to remove my name from the phone book.

Those are good for pressing plant stuff in, like leaves and flowers. The paper they use dries it out nicely. You can still get them through the phone company if you ask.

Why in the world would anyone miss this?