My birthday is approaching. It always gets lost in the excitement over Halloween because it's only three days later (November 3rd). I thought I'd use this quiet occasion to reflect on how much things have changed during my lifetime. When I was young, there were no cellphones. If you wanted to make a call, you had to use your home telephone or go find a payphone. Payphones were in booths with doors on them, so you could take your suit off and become Superman without anyone seeing.
When I was young, there were record stores everywhere and people bought vinyl records to hear on their turntables. Nobody carried music around with them like you can today. It wasn't until the Sony Walkman was created in the 1980's (using cassettes) that you could listen to music outside your home.
When I was young, everyone in America watched the same TV shows and there was only one late-night option -- "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. Johnny amused us even when he wasn't funny and everyone heard the same jokes. Cultural critics say there will never be another Johnny Carson and what they mean is that no TV performer will ever again command the attention of the entire nation. Now, the television audience is fragmented by many viewing-choices.
When I was young, most women were homemakers and working women weren't allowed to wear pants. In the 1960's, women lawyers were held in contempt of court if they dared to wear pantsuits.
How much change have you seen during your lifetime?
I may be young, but I grew up in older homes. I road my bike, listened to records, cassettes, cds and mp3s. I watched cellphones change from bricks to computers. It's like advancements on super-cycle. I also grew up poorer than most. Despite my father working in the technology field, he worked for a dotcom company that died out in the boom.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky to be alive during such liberating times, but I also see the regression and stagnation of such rapid advancement. Laborer jobs go empty because no one my age has been trained like the old days, kids with college degrees go unemployed or work low-rung jobs.
People my age are grown children. I think we have too much choice, too much media, and not enough practical skills.
I love the memory of riding bikes around the neighborhood and checking to see who is home. Such fun days those were. The kids in my neighborhood even had a call or shout we'd do to get someone to come out without having to knock on their door. Now, it's texting and/or skype and facebook. They don't even go anywhere all weekend if they had their way.
ReplyDeleteI was in fourth grade when girls were allowed to wear pants to school for the very first time. Mine were high waters but they were flowered so I felt kind of special.
I remember all the neighbors knowing each other back then. I remember women talking to each other over the fences and bringing each other food, etc....there were more picnics, friend gatherings in homes rather than restaurants. The music was sappy happy rather in the 60's than being about dysfunctional relationships, materialism, and lack of values.
Happy upcoming birthday!
ReplyDeleteI'm a kid of the era of c-tapes, Glam rock and very early video games. Like PacMan coin machines in coffee shops ;)
And no microwave ovens. I used to have to bake a potato in the oven for a whole hour! Ohhhh, the hardship. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy almost birthday - your day is the same as my ex's.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, we walked all over the place - by ourselves! No adults! We also trick-or-treated alone after the age of 8 or so. Our parents trusted us.
We got 8 TV channels, and I remember when VCRs (beta!) were first for sale - they were over $1,000! My first TV was black and white and there was no remote - you got up to change the channel.
Cars all looked different, not like now where they all kind of look the same.
People seemed to be much more dressed up. They dressed up to go out to dinner. No one would ever dare wear jeans to the theatre!
We went to the drive-in movie - I miss that.
Ah, the good old days. When I was a kid, we played outside as much as we possibly could. Curfew was dictated by the streetlights, as in "Be home by the time the streetlights come on." My parents had a wooden toolbox-looking thing of 8-track tapes we used to listed to on car rides. They listened to country music, but did buy one or two Partridge Family tapes for me. Heating up dinner meant putting leftovers on an oven-proof plate and baking it in the oven. Children were taught manners and to obey their parents. Kids didn't raise ruckus in restaurants. They were either seen and not heard or they weren't seen! Sex was rarely discussed in the home much less seen on TV. We had a rotary-dial telephone. We learned how to use a telephone book (as in the big yellow pages) in school. News came from the newspaper, the radio, or one of three local news stations. People stayed married. As a kid, I only knew two people who lived in a single Mom home. Such simpler times. I miss the innocence.
ReplyDeleteI remember no internet and trying to look up ANYTHING in terrible old books in school libraries for essays etc. I also remember living without a smart phone... I think...
ReplyDeleteKids are holed up inside playing video games, watching TV, and being so stagnant. We used to play outside from sun up until the street lights came on at night. Roller skating, playing explorer, building forts, stuff like that. That has changed a lot since I was little. I miss the simple times. Heather
ReplyDeleteMuch more freedom in going out to play. We were expected to make up our own games, it wasn't as structured and controlled by adults as it is now.
ReplyDeleteFewer channels on TV, and many more reruns. The weekend afternoons often had black-and-white movies on the main channels, which gave you an glimpse into the eras before ours. Now kids have no idea what came before.
Sitting down to dinner -- as cooked by my mother when she got home from work -- every night. Going to McDonalds or Friendlys was a special treat. But pizza was every Friday!
It scares me how much changes in the 1980's. somethings for the good, some not. I remember friends thinking I was pretty awesome because I had a Walkman. Still have it.,. Wonder if that still makes me cool?
ReplyDeleteEven though we are a few years apart, it almost sounds like i grew up in the same era and same household you did....
ReplyDeleteI use to spend a lot of time outdoors, we used our imagination A LOT ... i think the first time i heard of video games was Atari and I was probably 10.
Okay, I must be "slightly" older than y'all cause I remember mail being delivered in the morning and afternoon! There's your history lesson for the day. LOL
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday too!!
I can relate to having a birthday near a holiday - mine is always around or on Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteAnd I may be younger than you but I remember many of those things, I remember records, and when CD players first came out. I rode my bike as a child. I remember when my parents first got a VCR to watch videotapes. And I remember when cable first came out and while it had a lot of channels, it didn't have nearly as many as you can find today. And I was the first generation to kind of grow up with computers, we were the guinea pigs so to speak.
As Bob Dylan sings "The Times they are a changing" and I guess we can't do much about it but remember and reflect on the good old days!!
I grew up in the 90s of course, so I haven't seen nearly as many changes as others have. I think I was like, 3/4 traditional kid, 1/4 affected by technology, until I reached my early teens where I never. Left. The. Computer. I was--and still am--a bookworm. I spent most of the summer at my grandparents' house and they weren't too big on TV, so I read a lot, wrote a lot, and drew a lot. Sometimes I'd help my grandma make cookies or hang out clothes on the line. In the evenings, my mom and I would go for walks and do some sort of sport...kick the soccer ball around, throw a little foam football back and forth. It's sad to think how long ago all that was even though it hasn't been that many years ago...my grandparents are in their mid-80s now and have numerous health problems, and if my mom even tried to throw a football, I'd tackle her to the ground because she's not supposed to do anything like that with her back problems.
ReplyDeleteAnywho, obviously a lot has changed since then...I remember pagers and giant "car phones." Dial-up internet and AOL (and we didn't have that until maybe 1998). We have a stack of old records and video and cassette tapes in our basement. I remember throwing a lot of videos in the trash not so long ago because what else are we going to do with them? Oh, and FILM CAMERAS. I briefly worked with a film SLR when I was just getting into the photography thing.
Oh man, I remember when microwaves were terribly newfangled! Back in the days of card catalogues and outdated library books, and having to know someone who knew how to do something if you wanted to learn - pre-computers, pre-Google!
ReplyDeleteWhat I really miss though are the mainstream cultural messages celebrating individuality - both explicit and implicit - which have disappeared. By this I mean "Free to Be You and Me" adverts as well as seeing a somewhat broader range of body types and facial features in movies and TV. Due to homogenization through ever-narrower idealized body type, even down to height and hair colour / style, and also the ubiquity of surgically-altered faces, I sometimes find it incredibly difficult to tell actors apart in the same show or movie because they all look the same. That wasn't the case with the ensemble casts of the 1980's; cultural diversity has stagnated since then as well.
I don't judge the individuals for submitting to the price of employment in their field, but the cultural pressures. I do find it very hard to watch - after a while all of the skeletal erosion and pinched and expressionless doppelganger faces freak me out and hurt my heart.
I love blog-land for its sheer range of dear humanity! And having the choice to access something we no longer have via something we never used to have.
P.S. Remember "getting doubles" printed of photos? We navigate photography and documentation entirely differently ourselves.
Deletei was born in the 80's but i still think a lot has changed. i remember the first time i used the internet. i suppose one day my kids wont be able to wrap their heads around that.
ReplyDeleteExactly. What was new to us now surrounds them to the extent they can't imagine life without it.
DeleteI am in the same age category as you so I can say "SNAP"to each and every one of your "When I was young" comments. Things change so fast now that it is really difficult to keep up!!!
ReplyDeleteYou're right. I've given up on trying to stay abreast of very new thing.
DeleteSince we're of a similar age, we've seen many of the same changes. I can remember when gasoline was .29 a gallon and service station attendants would wash one's windows and pump the gas for you.
ReplyDeleteIgrew up in 90s which means there is not so much change but it was. As I live in Russia I saw the change from soviet union to what we have now. That's huge and I am very grateful I don't get to live in USSR
ReplyDeleteThat has been a big change. I have a few Russian friends here who grew up in that world and they say how different it was.
DeleteMy teen years were spent in the 80's, so I remember all those things you mentioned, but I also feel I've adapted to all the new fangled-ness and was happy to see most of it come along. I still hang my clothes on the line in the summer though...
ReplyDeleteYou've adapted easily because you're young. As Lynn and I note above, it's harder when you get old to accommodate change. Many times, you simply let it pass you by without trying to jump on the train. It's going too fast.
DeleteThat's a lot of change. I am from the 80's and when I think of childhood, I already feel the world is a brand new place since back then.
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oh boy.. I hope we can have a party on your blog for your bday!!! you have to let me know when it is in advance!!! xoxo J
ReplyDeleteWow-we must be around the same age because I have the same memories as you do. Heck- I can remember the excitement of getting a COLOR TV!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy great-grandma lied to be almost 105 (1889-1994)-she saw the world go from horse and buggies to the moon-how amazing is that?
We're three months apart in age, so we've got the same memories :) My mom hated to cook and angrily banged the same heavy pots to burn the same three foods almost nightly. Oh, what a difference a microwave would've made. We did have a dishwasher, but you had to drag it over to the sink every night and hook the hose to the faucet. Good times!
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty amazing isn't it how much everything has changed in one's lifetime!
ReplyDeleteI am a bit younger than you but even I remember that when I was a kid WWW and cell phones did not exist. I used my first computer when I started college. Remember word perfect?
When I was a kid in Turkey, everyone also watched the same TV shows. It was a different world.
Our kids will never understand but then again who knows how much things will change by the time they are adults!
Daphne.
This is such a wonderful post, I can't imagine now how I used to run to the phone box at the end of the road with a pocket full of ten pence pieces to call my friends, it seems like another world! xx
ReplyDeleteHappy (early) birthday! So much has changed in my lifetime (and I'm only 31!), and I feel like the changes are coming faster. I am very grateful to be able to take my music with me everywhere. I'm also thankful that much of the world is becoming more open-minded (baby steps are still steps forward).
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