Some of the stories seemed ridiculous to me, like walking five miles to school, going to the movies for under a $1.00 and gas prices at $.20 a gallon. Is that even possible? Yep, that was in the 1950’s, the generation of my parents. This made me recall when I went to school. Prices more than quadrupled, but even more interesting, technology has really evolved!
25 Years ago when I was in Middle School…
-We didn’t have microwaves. Parents made popcorn on the stove.
-We didn’t have cartoons 24 hours a day on Cartoon Network. Saturday mornings we sat around the T.V. with our family watching Sylvester trying to eat Tweety Bird.
-We didn’t have cell phones, only land lines, of which we had to share the phone with everyone that lived in the house.
-We didn’t have call waiting, just a very annoying busy signal. Who knows who was calling, caller ID didn’t exist.
-We didn’t have MP3 players, IPOD’s or CD’s. We used tape cassettes and vinyl records.
-We didn’t have 3D games on PlayStation, XBOX or WII. Instead we had Atari games like Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pong and Pac Man.
-We didn’t have the Internet. Going to the library and using the card catalog, or skimming an encyclopedia, was our source of information. MySpace was my bedroom in our house, not my own internet page.
-We didn’t have email, texting or instant messenger (IM). If you wanted to write a message to someone you had to use a pen or pencil and write a letter on stationary and put it in the mailbox.
-We didn’t have computers in school. We learned to type on typewriters. We didn’t have spell check or keyboards. Homework and reports were hand written and in cursive, not typed and printed.
So when you think you have it bad, think back to the things your parents had and be thankful your generation is so technically advanced!
Here is my challenge to you. Keep a journal of your days in middle school and in 25 years share the evolution of time with your children.
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