Growing up without a cell phone (add your own thoughts)

[Jean]

Yes, BrightSky69, you are correct. Still, I am happy that I grew up in the 50"s, the age of Innocence. While my children were quite normal then, I did have them under control in public, unlike the kids of today. A temper tantrum was out of the question as far as I was concerned, and I am grateful they both grew up to be responsible adults.

[Gandalf]

LOL, wow this brings back memories.  I grew up in the 70s/early 80s - no TV, small neighbourhood, no shops within walking distance, pizza a mystery, malls unheard of, Drive Thru - what's that?  We were indeed sent out to play until dark, and play we did.  Be it beach, mountains (we lived at the coast in a fairly mountainous area) or the like, we were driven home by hunger rather than any desire to watch nonexistent TV.  Friday was an enormous highlight, because it featured "Squad Cars" at 19:00 - the entire child population would gather to listen with eager anticipation.....  And then - WINTER, out of sheer boredom we all learned to read at age four, and never stopped....!!!

[Rerun]

Caller ID ruined the fun I use to have making prank phone calls!

                   

[YLGuy]

I was born in the early 60's and remember a lot of what u guys are posting.  I lived in a small town in Connecticut without any street lights or sidewalks.  We did not have any mass transit and if you wanted to do anything like a movie or bowling you had to go a town or two over.  We used to hitchhike all the time.  Imagine that.  Getting into strangers cars on purpose.

[Poppylicious]

Poppy... hold me?! 

Oh, go on then, but don't tell Blokey, k? *ssshhh*

I actually agree with everything you've written.  I work with behaviourally, mentally, emotionally and socially challenged poppets, but do know that there are some amazingly well-adjusted and fantastic kids out there who really will be of huge benefit to society one day. There just don't seem to be as many of them as once there were. Perhaps I should just removed these blasted rose-tinted spectacles.

English essays in text-speak?  Pfffttt! Ridiculous!  What is the world coming to?

*shakes head in disbelief*

Horrible things have always happened to children and adults alike since the beginning of time. It's just that we hear more about the horrible things since we live in such a electronic (internet) age.
A lady I work with told me about a tombstone she saw in a cemetery. It was for a little girl about 8 years old. It said she was murdered on her way to school. The year she died was 1897. You wouldn't think stuff like that happened back then....but it did.Just like it happens today.

'Tis true indeedy. One of the most prolific serial killers ever was allegedly a well educated woman in the sixteenth century.

I saw a programme on the BBC (so it must be factually correct  ) where an expert claimed that the crime rates (for murder, rape, burglary, etc.) were actually decreasing in the UK, but the media reporting of such events was increasing, thus making the ordinary public perceive crime rates to be getting worse. 

Idiot media! 

[Genlando]

When I was a kid, a "home-theater" was a console black & white TV.  The town where I grew up only had 2 television stations, so there wasn't much need for a TV Guide.

The "home-entertainment center" was a massive console stereo in our living room.  Although it took up a significant amount of space, it had a dinky vacuum-tube based amplifier, and wto cheap speakers.  A "playlist" meant that you had several 33 1/3 RPM LPs stacked on the turntable, which would allow you to play almost an hour of non-stop music (assuming that the records weren't scratched).   

Since my dad worked at a nuclear facility, we had a "compute" in the house: a slide rule.  He taught me how to do basic arithmetic on it, but he forbade me from using it for homework--that would've been cheating.  The first real calculator came in the house in the early 70's.  It did the 4 basic arithmetic functions and percents.  Cost: Over $100.00.

We didn't have video games; instead we played with guns.  At first, these were "BB" guns.  Then as we got older, we started using .22 rifles and 410 shotguns.  Nobody was the least bit concerned seeing a gang of children walking the neighborhoods with firearms. If a Sheriff's Deputy came up on a group of kids shooting at bottles or targets, the most he'd do is remind them to make sure to aim away from traffic or people.  I know this is probably shocking to some people, but that's how things were in rural areas of the Southern US during the 60's.  People drove around with shotguns and rifles mounted on racks in their trucks, and boys played with guns and knives.

We also rode bicycles all over the county.  Our parents would kick us out of the house in the morning during summer months, and they wouldn't know where we were until sunset.  Somehow or other, we'd all make it back home before the street lights came on, relatively undamaged.

Even though we didn't have video games, we were too busy to miss them:  we were out in the woods hunting squirrels, raccoons and rabbits for lunch, which we cleaned dressed and cooked ourselves; or we would spend the day fishing.  Or we'd have a pretend war at a tree house or fortress somewhere.  Regardless of what we did, we'd barely get home before our "curfew."  We'd usually be dirty from head to toe, and we smelled like we were homeless people, but we did have fun!

[Joe Paul]

We didn't need cell phones when I was 13 up, I was born in 1960. Most of my friends and I kept in touch by way of the citizens band radio. I had a 100 watt linear amp, and could talk as far away as Florida on good weather weekends from my bedroom. My friends and I had both mobile and home base stations, so we were just a yell away. Only bad thing then was anybody was able to listen in on your conversations, so we stepped up to the "slider channels", which were upper or lower frequencies of the regular channels. That was great fun back in our day, always had ways around the general public, and the system. There was no thing such as the 800 MHz the Police use today, you could buy a scanner for less then 100.00, and know if something was going on that might involve friends, or, some family LOL. Met many good people back then, most of them  truckers, or trucker wanna Be's. Hometown Police were known as "local yokels", State Police were smokies & Ambulances were the Meat Wagons. Only dialing then was to scan channels on the C.B.  That's my trip down memory lane, hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my life, growing up without a cell phone.

[jbeany]

Watch out for those bear traps, JP!  We had a CB for all our trips to Texas to visit my grandparents.  We all had handles and chattered with all the truckers all the way the there.

Remember when you could make that pulling motion out the back window of the station wagon as you passed a semi and they'd blow the air horn for you?

[Joe Paul]

Watch out for those bear traps, JP!  We had a CB for all our trips to Texas to visit my grandparents.  We all had handles and chattered with all the truckers all the way the there.

Remember when you could make that pulling motion out the back window of the station wagon as you passed a semi and they'd blow the air horn for you?

Oh yes, those air horns!! My Family and I spent most of the 70s into early 80s, traveling from Pittsburgh to Florida for our yearly vacations. People had to have thought us kids were insane, 4 of us, all hanging out the side and rear windows of the station wagon, pulling on an imaginary chain trying to get them truckers to toot those horns. I manned the C.B., watching out for them bear traps, and yappin away to the truckers to make sure it was safe to put the peddle to the metal. Yep, in spite of no cell phone, I wouldn't trade those memories for anything in the world!

[Hazmat35]

When our son was in JR.HIGH SCHOOL a few years ago, the 1st thing we did to punish him was take away the TV.  You would have thought the world was coming to an end.  He would SCREAM at the top of his lungs.  We would unplug it, until his "time" was over.

He thought he was slick, and would sneak it and plug it in at night, but the smart little angel, didn't realize that he was casting shadows under the door into the hallway.  So, I cut off the breaker to his room!  NO ELECTRIC AT ALL.  End of problem! 

[Chris]

When our son was in JR.HIGH SCHOOL a few years ago, the 1st thing we did to punish him was take away the TV.  You would have thought the world was coming to an end.  He would SCREAM at the top of his lungs.  We would unplug it, until his "time" was over.

He thought he was slick, and would sneak it and plug it in at night, but the smart little angel, didn't realize that he was casting shadows under the door into the hallway.  So, I cut off the breaker to his room!  NO ELECTRIC AT ALL.  End of problem!

[Riki]

I remember being put out in the morning, and not expected back except for meals. It was done by my grandmother, and everyone in the neighborhood would watch me and my cousin, as we were the only kids in the neighborhood.  we'd run around pretending to be He-Man and She-Ra.. *L*  We'd play in the brook, go sledding in the winter time.  We used to play in the graveyard at the bottom of my grandmother's hill too.  That was probably the only place we'd go where we couldn't be seen by either my grandmother or his (my grandmother and his grandfather were brother and sister)

[Henry P Snicklesnorter]

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[Hazmat35]

 

[chook]

My sister and I used to walk to the local swimming pool in summer after dinner to watch telly before we had one at home. The telly was set up on one of the picnic tables. Dad used to come and pick us up in the car though, as it would be dark by the time we were ready to come home.

[Riki]

I always hung around with the boys when I was little, so I was out riding my bike, and building forts, playing cops and robbers, looking for worms, or catching tadpoles.. and this was in the 80s.  We had video games, we just didn't spend all day and night playing them.

I have no idea what girls did then. There were no girls in the neighborhood my age at the time.  All the girls were older, and I got in their way, I think.

[MooseMom]

I remember when Bonanza and Gunsmoke were still in black and white and have a vivid memory of my dad saying that he didn't think they'd look all that much better in color.

My parents used to tell me stories about how they'd take me out on a drive around town, and I'd be STANDING UP between the front bucket seats.  We didn't know what seat belts were!

When was the first time you remember using sunscreen?  When I was growing up, we used baby oil to encourage a tan!

Summer was mosquito season, so my dad would get on my big turquoise colored bike with me on the back, and we'd ride around the neighborhood, chasing the mosquito truck.  Picture "Cloverfield" but with a mosquito truck.

This thread is making me cry.  My parents are dead now, my son is disabled and I have CKD.  What the hell happened?  I wish I could be 8 years old again...

[monrein]

Ahh.....Bonanza...we got that one our 1 channel in Jamaica...we had horses on our farm and my sister and I loved the show BUT just one problem.  Show came on at 8 pm.  Our bedtime was 8:30 and we never got to see the endings!!!!!!   Maybe that's why I can handle a certain level of frustration?

[Riki]

When was the first time you remember using sunscreen?  When I was growing up, we used baby oil to encourage a tan!

My grandmother used to do that.  She'd put on a baby oil and iodine mixture and lay out in the sun and 'bake.'  She did it for years.  She still goes out in the sun, but she doesn't 'bake' anymore.  She'll be the first to put sunscreen on, and she'll bug us to do it too.  hehe, most of us grandkids are adults now, but I don't think it matters to her.  She changed all our bums at one point.. *LOL*

[Henry P Snicklesnorter]

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[jbeany]

Ah, standing up in the front seat of the car - or rolling around in the back of the station wagon!  The only passenger who got buckled in was Gram's little dog, so he wouldn't squirm his way under the gas pedal or the brake.

When we cleaned out Gram's garage, we found a slim spring-loaded tension, still in it's packaging from the late 50's.  It was meant to wedge across the open back window of the station wagon so the kids and the dog wouldn't hang out the window too far!

[galvo]

Henry,
You've given me a large dose of the nostalgias!

[gothiclovemonkey]

hey, im 27, and all of this rang true for me too! I didnt have a cell until I had my son, only deciding to get one for emergencies, now that I had this tiny thing to be responsible for.
Now, I did have a very lucky life, I did have internet the first time when I was 13, but I still prefered the library method for research for long after. Also had an atari, pong is the best game ive ever played! Frogger! Then we got a nintendo and a sega, both, i still say are better than all that new fangled stuff hehe they were simple and fun.
Maybe I am a bit old fashioned for my age, but being a mother, for the first few years, i didnt allow my son to watch tv, now I do, and I fear it my biggest mistake thus far as a parent. Furthermore, he will NOT have a cell phone, or be allowed to surf the web endlessly when he gets older. He will know what a card catolog is, and how to use it. He will know how to ride a bike, swim, and all that other jazz my parents blessed me with. If I had my way, the only "new" invention id have in my home (besides the net, for myself of course mwahahha) would be air conditioning! (ok, ok and the microwave, im lazy...sheesh)

One thing this forgot.... children of this generation will never know is dialing the telephone with the long dial method.... 2....1.... or how about dialing without the whole damn number!
OH and typewriters? whats that??

[Riki]

hehe.. dialing... I was playing with a dial phone in a pawn shop recently.. the guy behind the counter was looking at me funny... he was younger than me, by at least 10 years.. I don't think he got it..