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Strollerderby
100 Things Your Children Will Never Do Or See
The headline on Wired uses the word “may”, as in “things your kids may never know about.” But I’m feeling old and cynical, hence the more affirmative language.
For example, does anyone really think that their kids will ever listen to music “on an audio tape using a personal stereo”? Heck, even the name “Walkman” is barely known these days, and it used to be like Scotch tape or Xerox copies. I had several “Walkmen” but never an actual Sony Walkman.
Some items, like VHS tapes, are still around, but are gradually going the way of the Laserdisc. We recently upgraded our aging DVD/VCR player combo with a new standalone DVD player. So far nobody has noticed the lack of VHS-ness in our living room. In fact, the only time I think about it is when I encounter a pile of old tapes.
A few of the items on the list are obvious, like 8-track tapes or a rotary dial TV with no remote control. (Remember watching something because you were to lazy to change the channel? Good times, good times.) Others I disagree with, like big old CRT televisions. A lot of people don’t have a plasma hanging on their wall, although a lot of people do.
Some of the list entries are quite clever, such as “Starbuck being a man,” “Spending your entire allowance at the arcade in the mall,” or “Remembering someone’s phone number” and “Not knowing who was calling you on the phone.” Hell, I remember getting caller ID and thinking it was a big deal, something not everybody had. Of course, I also remember getting a color telelvision.
Finally, certain things are up to the parent. For example, my children will absolutely know that Han shot first. (Even George Lucas knows that, despite his dopey revisionist editing.) Luckily, there is this new-fangled thing called YouTube to help me prove it.
I have one to add: my kids don’t get it when I trip over a bump in the rug and say, “Oh, hello Mr. Hoffa.”
What about you? Anything that you don’t think your children will experience?
Source: Wired
Image: Wikipedia
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20 Comments
jeannesager commented on Aug 05 09 at 5:18 pmI was thinking about this the other day when I read my daughter an old Little Critter book. It was one of Mercer Mayer’s later ones – copyrighted 1989 – but the mom takes the little girls’ “tape player” away so she will finally nap. My daughter didn’t ask what a tape player was, but I was waiting for it!
Brett Singer commented on Aug 05 09 at 5:37 pmWe still say “dial the phone” although I think that’s going away in favor of “making a call.”
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Aug 05 09 at 5:43 pmA friend of mine told her daughter that she sounded like a broken record. Her daughter responded “what’s a record?”
My husband, PC snob, said 10 years ago that our children would never know what Apple Computers were. Now he can’t live without his iPhone.
Brett Singer commented on Aug 05 09 at 5:46 pmI used “broken record” recently. Had to explain it, which was not easy. Luckily I still have a turntable and some vinyl. “A skipping CD” doesn’t have the same ring to it.
re: Apple, I would have disagreed with that one, even 10 years ago. We’ve became a Mac house recently after years of PCs.
dianna commented on Aug 05 09 at 6:59 pmChicken pox–my 14-year-old sister is among the first generation of children who will (probably)never have chicken pox run rampant through school. Even less likely–the chicken pox party, where neighbors send their kids to play with the sick friends so they can “get it over with”
patricia commented on Aug 05 09 at 8:22 pmNot having anything on TV because the President was having a news conference. I’m old enough and lived life without cable long enough (because I lived in the boonies, not because it didn’t exist) to remember when there were only 3 networks and a news conference screwed the evening. For that matter, having to watch shows when they came on, without fast-forwarding through commercials, is something I think kids will never experience. It’s something I don’t experience myself any more, ever.
beep commented on Aug 05 09 at 8:55 pmCard catalogs, and even having to go to the library to work on a school research paper.
patricia commented on Aug 05 09 at 10:01 pmwriting checks (still do this VERY occasionally). typewriters (I had one when I was a kid.) not opening the back of the camera until the roll was finished so you don’t expose the film.
patricia commented on Aug 05 09 at 10:05 pmoh, related to the walkman thing- making a mix tape. Making an Ipod mix or even on CD isn’t the same at all- you had to watch out for the tape length and everything. Oh the middle school hours consumed by mix tape making!
Brett Singer commented on Aug 05 09 at 10:19 pmMy wife and I were discussing mixtapes tonight. The word survives – rappers release “mixtapes” even though they’re on CD. But real mixtapes are long gone. I guess you’d have to watch the length on a CD, but do kids even bother anymore? Eventually they won’t.
And yeah, writing checks. I barely do that anymore.
Brett Singer commented on Aug 05 09 at 10:21 pmre: opening the camera and film, there’s also worrying about airport x-ray machines ruining film. You still see the signs at the security check in, but I doubt that will last.
In the same vein, our kids will never know a time when you didn’t have to take your shoes off before you got on a plane.
amy commented on Aug 06 09 at 8:45 amNot just that there were only 3 TV channels but that there were no TV shows after a certain time of night, like midnight or maybe 1:00 a.m. And the national anthem played and then showed snow like in the movie Poltergeist.
Bluster commented on Aug 06 09 at 8:58 amWhat was that thing with the hand crank on the side that you had to twirl three times if you wanted to talk to your neighbor through that long nose sticking out of a box hanging on the wall??
dianna commented on Aug 09 09 at 7:39 amWe just inherited a VCR and box of scooby doo tapes from Grandma—my kids are fascinated, absolutely mesmerized, by the “Rewind” button.
dianna commented on Aug 09 09 at 8:01 amooohhh, beepers and they pay phones your parents had to hunt down if they got a “page” from the babysitter or the boss.
byron commented on Aug 09 09 at 9:57 pmMy chore as a kid was taking the 8 pack of glass returnable coke bottles back to the store to be refilled. That’s one thing that really should come back.
Brett Singer commented on Aug 09 09 at 10:06 pmI love those bottles. Anytime I encounter one it makes me smile.
Tim Harrison commented on May 01 10 at 5:07 pmOur kids will never know the feel of a Balata golf ball?
Hari commented on Jul 23 11 at 12:36 amWhat I’d like to see is one of these lists that was made up in the early 1970′s so I can see what adults today weren’t supposed to know about. I’m most interested in whether there’s anything on it that I’m not at least vaguely familiar with.
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