3 Of My Interns Have NEVER Experienced A Busy Signal

[Wee67]

Most of the college interns in my office were born around 1990. Talking to a group today, it came up that 3 of them have never experienced a busy signal. The ones that had, have only done so once or twice. They either get through or they get voice mail.

Made me feel old.

What other things do kids today never really experience that we had?

Working in TV, I have also had to explain how there was once a time when there was not hundreds of channels. It made me feel like I was telling them how the ice man used to haul a big block of ice up the stairs for refrigerator.

[pmwasson]

I don't think my kids have ever seen "snow" on a TV. If there is no channel, they just see a blue screen.

[raider5gt]

Vinyl records and cassettes,everything now its either on cd or downloaded.

Basic games systems like Binatone or Atari 2600,it's all Playstations and Xbox.

Also over here we had 3 tv channels growing up,now it's a stack of channels to watch.

[Brazoo]

At a very early age - before they could really talk - my nieces would play with a toy camera that was meant to look like a 35 mm film camera. Everytime they snapped a picture they turned the camera over to show everyone the back of the camera. It took me a few minutes before I figured out what they were doing.

My nieces are older now, and absolutely fascinated by analogue technology. When they come over they love looking at my record player work, or playing with my typewriter. One of my favorite childhood toys is a Fisher-Price movie viewer and they love that.

[Mikey]

Pull off soda/beer tabs

Bottle openers

Not having a microwave oven --- they were only for "rich people"

[Meule]

[MegoSteve]

I bet none of them has ever had to get off the couch and walk across a room to change the channel.

How about... ordering something through the mail by writing a letter and sending a check, then waiting a month or two for it to show up?

[Nostalgiabuff]

a tv with a channel dial
a rotary phone

[kingdom warrior]

pliers to change the channel.......

[kingdom warrior]

Liquid soap.......you got a bar of soap and were told to go wash your arse....

[Mikey]

The only high tech item you owned was a green LED calculator

[kingdom warrior]

The only high tech item you owned was a green LED calculator

That you learned to write cuss words with when turned upside down

[Mikey]

That you learned to write cuss words with when turned upside down

Boob and sh....

[JediJaida]

Black and white TV.

Color TV's were expensive.

VCR's. Back when they first came out, they were expensive.

Now, they don't make them anymore.

8 Track Tapes.

Computerized sewing machines. You actually had to be SKILLED in order to do applique, embroidery, etc. by machine.

Home computers and printers. You had to type everything yourself.

Metrocards for the bus. We had to have actual change. Granted, back when I was a teenager, it was still 50 cents, but that's beside the point.

Cell phones. You had to be real careful not to inflate the phone bill, because there weren't any package deals on long distance or even local. You had to pay by the minute.

Knit sheets. They are the comfiest things ever, but back then, we had to have woven sheets with a medium thread count, and if they didn't have elasticated corners, you had to make hospital corners yourself.

Swiffer Wet Jet. You needed a mop, bucket and Mr. Clean.

Microchips for pets. You needed to have an actual set of tags for your dog/cat in case they got lost, with your name and address on them, as well as your phone number.

Microfiber of any kind. We had to make do with what was available. Remember the crappy knits that came out in the 70's? Horrors!

[johnmiic]

a tv with a channel dial a rotary phone

Yeah! I was going to say bring a rotary phone to work and challenge them to dial a phone number on it for $20 in under 5 seconds. I saw a TV show where they asked someone who had never seen a rotary to dial a number and they didn't get that the metal frame rotated so they tried to push the numbers down in the round holes. Should be an easy $20. Just do it individually to each person when the others are not around.

Swiffer Wet Jet. You needed a mop, bucket and Mr. Clean.

I switched to Swifter last year. I keep the bucket tho for the rare occasion when I need to vomit.