Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Explain Which Things From Their Childhood Kids Today Wouldn't Understand

People Explain Which Things From Their Childhood Kids Today Wouldn't Understand
Xavi Cabrera on Unsplash

The technology of the last 50 years is almost unrecognizable when compared with the technology of today.

To the point that today's children often just have no frame of reference for what things from our childhoods were like.

Whether it's older media formats, methods of communication, or the toys of yesteryear, things have certainly changed.


Redditor LastPoopOnTheLeft asked:

"Without revealing your age, what is something from your childhood that 'Kids These Days' wouldn't understand?"

Landline limitations

"Party lines."

- Consistent-Routine-2

Giphy

"Not only did only 'rich people' have more than one phone or even just one with touchtone, most of us had a party line. It meant you and your neighbors had different phone numbers, but you all shared the same line."

"You could pick up the phone and listen to your neighbor's call. And if they were using the phone, you couldn't."

"If you had an emergency, you'd have to interrupt their call and ask them to hang up."

-LakotaGrl

Old School Music Piracy

"Recording music from the radio."

-AndNoc

cassette tape GIFGiphy

"Calling into the radio station to request your favorite song for your mixtape then waiting with your fingers over the record button to see if they play it."

-HazySnowDays

Who Was Going To Answer The Phone

"Calling a girl and her dad answers the phone. That sh*t was rough, kids."

-clydem

Giphy

"Calling a guy on the phone and his dad answers and they sound alike so you just start talking and then he cuts you off laughing and you realize you may have been a little too familiar and now he can probably guess you're banging his son on the regular."

-lolabythebay

TV Was A Lot Different

"I recently had to explain what 'changing the channel' meant to my small kid because he only knows streaming."

"We’ve already covered CDs, VCRs, and what it means to roll down a car window."

"It was a little rough (for me, not him). Edit: oh and we watched 'Turning Red' and I got to explain what a flip phone is."

-Proper-Emu1558

Giphy

"I was the youngest so I had to sit by the TV and hand turn the channels for my siblings. This was the 1980s."

-harlemhon

"It’s not working, cuz it’s not on Ch3"

-moridin82

Be Kind. Please Rewind

"Rewinding vhs or a cassette before returning."

-est1979

"Cassette tape rewind with a pencil ✏️ 😂"

-Sparkedmoon

Giphy

"And those rewinders that looked like cars and were super fast."

-BussHateYear

"Lol I remember when we got our first DVD and DVD player, and my mom (bless her heart), was like 'how do you rewind it?' And my dad was like 'woman it's like a CD, you don't need to rewind!'"

-bcoftheimplication7

Chains Of Ignorance

"The things on Facebook that say repost this… they were called chain letters back in the day, and you got them in the mail."

-Plenty_Surprise2593

Giphy

"Chain letters! I’d forgotten all about those. 'Make ten copies and mail them within 10 days or evil will befall you…' Ha."

-BrnEydGyrl

No Saving It

"Playing the same level on a game over and over because there’s no Saves"

-drevilishrjf

"Writing down codes after passing a level"

-Duochan_Maxwell

Giphy

"Got a PS1 and MGS1 (secondhand) for Christmas, little did i realise i need to buy a memory card to save my games. For months i got through the game by speedrunning it from the start to whatever level i last played."

"When i beat sniper wolf pt 2 the console tells me to insert disc 2, only had one disk lol. Never played the game again"

-blinky9021Flow

"KEEP ON PUTTING IN QUARTERS!!!"

-Pentacostal-Haircut

Saturday Mornings Were The Best

"The joys of Saturday morning cartoons"

-GallicPontiff

Giphy

"And your *ss better be up to watch them or you're waiting until next Saturday."

-Facelesspirit

"And god forbid the episode this weekend had any relevance on the following weekend."

-LazyTitan39

Art That Glows

"That Lite Brite was peak technology"

-shanecdotes

"Lite Brite IS the peak of technology"

-Lukas7088

Giphy

"I still have the lite brite jingle stuck in my head."

'🎶lite Brite, making things with light!!!🎶'"

-F**kYouImFineThanks

It Wasn't Always On

"TV going off-the-air at night."

-J_David_Settle_1973

Giphy

"Yeah, and they played the national anthem before they did!"

"Then, it was the test image, until 4 p.m. on the next day, except during school holidays, when there was a special holiday program which started at 3 p.m. :-)"

-P44

Technology has evolved explosively over the last few decades, but some things have absolutely stuck in our minds.

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Donald Trump; Martin Luther King Jr.
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images; Jack Sheahan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Trump Ripped After Forcing National Parks To Drop Free Entry On MLK Day And Juneteenth For Infuriating Reason

President Donald Trump was criticized after the National Park Service announced it will be dropping Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth for next year's calendar of free-entry days and adding Trump's birthday, which happens to fall on Flag Day, on June 14.

Last month, the Department of the Interior unveiled changes to what it now calls its “resident-only patriotic fee-free days,” expanding the calendar to include new dates like the Fourth of July weekend and President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, while dropping others that had honored the department itself, including the Bureau of Land Management’s anniversary.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Juanita Broaddrick's tweet overlayed against a picture of the J. Crew sign
@atensnut/X; Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

MAGA Is Melting Down Over A Pink J. Crew Sweater For Men—And Our Eyes Can't Roll Hard Enough

MAGA fans are melting down over a $168 men's sweater from J. Crew with a fair-isle collar, claiming, in yet another example of the idiocy of the culture wars, that only liberals would actually wear it.

We know what you're thinking... Really?!

Keep ReadingShow less
Robert Garcia; Marjorie Taylor Greene
WWHL/Bravo; Daniel Heuer/AFP via Getty Images

Dem Rep. Has An Idea For A New Line Of Work For MTG After She Leaves Congress—And It Would Certainly Be Something

California Democratic Representative Robert Garcia was elected in November 2022 and even before being sworn in, he was locking horns with one-time MAGA darling and Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

For years, MTG was best known as the QAnon conspiracy theory-spewing, State of the Union heckling, crossfit hyping, Trump ride-or-dying, anti-LGBTQ+ racist MAGA minion from Georgia.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump Jr.
Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images

Don Jr. Sparks Outrage After Startup Company He Backed Scores Massive Contract With Pentagon

Donald Trump Jr. is facing criticism after The Financial Times reported that Vulcan Elements, a startup he backed, scored a $620 million government contract with the Department of Defense.

The company said the deal falls under a broader $1.4 billion collaboration with the federal government and ReElement Technologies aimed at scaling up U.S. magnet production and strengthening the domestic supply chain.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Describe The Deepest Internet 'Rabbit Hole' They've Ever Fallen Down

Who amongst us hasn't wasted HOURS of life surfing the web for things we couldn't help being intrigued by?

Going on the internet for one quick look at a sale, then staying up until sunrise trying to uncover a 50-year-old unsolved murder mystery is totally normal.

Keep ReadingShow less