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People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn’t Understand Them

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Every new generation of people experiences life differently. That depends on what economical, political and cultural environment they grew up surrounded by. They are also heavily impacted by the technology that is available and how it makes their lives easier and less complicated as time goes by.

Those who were born earlier witness the change in the generations, in the global trends and technology development and observe how younger people than them don’t experience the world in the same way they did.

This does not necessarily mean that the way today’s kids are growing up is wrong, but it’s still interesting to explore what things lose their relevance over time and how they immediately expose your age. Redditors went down memory lane when LastPoopOnTheLeft asked them “Without revealing your age, What is something from your childhood that ‘Kids These Days’ wouldn't understand?”

Let us know if anything in this list was part of your childhood and if you ever had to explain it to a younger person who had no idea what it was!

More info: Reddit

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#1

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them How much time we spent playing outside, but not in organized sports. Pickup kickball in the street where you yell “CAR!” to break up the game briefly for a car driving through. Coming home covered in dirt after disappearing for five hours. We all made fun of how we were called by our parents. We would explore and poke around. Dig up worms, chase butterflies, freak out over finding a dead baby bird, skin our knees at least twice a summer and entertain ourselves for hours.

GoddessOfOddness , Yi Chen Report

Final score:

292points

Ryan spencer 2 years ago

There wasn't even text message, phones had a cord on it that you could wrap around your house ten times, and if the TV wouldn't focus you had to either move these things called bunny ears or smack the TV lol

52points

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#2

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Getting to be goofy and awkward and not have to worry about it ending up online for everyone to see.

anon , Osvaldo Gago Report

Final score:

255points

Troux 2 years ago

I think more importantly, you could be goofy and awkward just for the sake of fun in the moment, and not always be attempting to make a video and gain likes for it.

9points

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#3

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Recording music from the radio

AndNoc , schnaars Report

Final score:

248points

Corey Beth 2 years ago

I used to hate when the DJ talked over your favorite song after you had waited HOURS to catch it on the radio so you could record it.

95points

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#4

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them TV going off-the-air at night.

J_David_Settle_1973 , Shal Farley Report

Final score:

238points

Terry Tobias 2 years ago

Ah yes! Right after the 'Star Bangled Banner' played!

38points

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#5

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them How we had to plan our TV watching around a printed schedule. No VHS, no dvr.

thorndike , pizhonas Report

Final score:

236points

Nathaniel 2 years ago

Circle what you wanted to watch! And if two programmes overlap then.... Dad decides.

69points

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#6

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Running to go to the bathroom during a commercial break

OptimistPrime527 , Marnie Morris Report

Final score:

223points

James016 2 years ago

Then your sibling screams “it’s on!!” And you have to run back.

81points

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#7

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Using a road atlas to get somewhere on vacation

siriusonbroadripple , Rob Russell Report

Final score:

212points

Zoe's Mom 2 years ago

Still good to know how to read especially if you go hiking. Too many people depend on their phones way too much and don't realize there are still alot of dead air when it comes to cells.

59points

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#8

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Memorizing peoples phone numbers

OptimistPrime527 , Alan Levine Report

Final score:

209points

Nathaniel 2 years ago

I still remember a couple of number of my friends house numbers, from 30 years a go. Cannot remember any more recent numbers.

53points

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#9

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them It’s not working, cuz it’s not on Ch3

moridin82 , cucuzza Report

Final score:

203points

Nathaniel 2 years ago

"They're here"

37points

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#10

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Knocking on your friends door to see if they could come out and play.

whit3lightning , Henry Burrows Report

Final score:

200points

Terry Tobias 2 years ago

My best friend lived in the house behind mine so I would climb our chain link fence instead of going around the block to go visit her. She did the same for me. We went over so often we had pushed the top of the fence down. My father finally decided one year to put a ladder over it for us.

48points

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#11

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Hitting that red strip of paper for your toy gun with a rock.

songinheart17 , Harry20 Report

Final score:

197points

Terry Tobias 2 years ago

OMG yes! We were easily entertained then!

44points

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#12

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Organising to meet someone on a landline and actually having to turn up on time or they wouldn’t know where you are because you have no way of contacting them.

withereddesign , Alan Kotok Report

Final score:

195points

Nemo 2 years ago

Wait....... did we say one or two? Maybe it's one and they could be a little late. They will be here. Any minute now. Let's just wait untill two, just to be sure. At two your friend came around a corner and said that they weren't sure if we said one or two. Some of my friends still don't have a phone and it still stresses me out

14points

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#13

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Rewinding vhs or a cassette before returning.

est1979 , Allan Hazle Report

Final score:

192points

スプーン 2 years ago

Ok, I legit thought for the longest time that those pens were made for rewinding cassettes

31points

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#14

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Calling the theater to listen to the prerecorded list of what movies were playing and at what time.

SteamboatMcGee , stu_spivack Report

Final score:

183points

Lorrie Rothstein 2 years ago

Thank you for calling moviephone

48points

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#15

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Calling a girl and her dad answers the phone. That s**t was rough, kids.

clydem , Anselm Hook Report

Final score:

180points

LeeAnne B 2 years ago

I think that level of accountability was a good thing.

58points

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#16

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Phone corded to the wall.

Dendad6972 , Joybot Report

Final score:

177points

Zoe's Mom 2 years ago

I actually miss these. Especially the ones in the kitchen that had the phone book holder.

24points

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#17

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them The joys of Saturday morning cartoons

GallicPontiff , xmoltarx Report

Final score:

176points

Ell Torn 2 years ago

Thundercats theme still gives me nostalgia tingles.

33points

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#18

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them We had to walk up to the t.v. to turn it on or off, change the channel, or adjust the antenna when the picture became unclear.

BingeRedditor , noricum Report

Final score:

172points

Chucky Cheezburger 2 years ago

Antenna? What's that? /S/

14points

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#19

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them "Please get off the computer (internet) so that I can make a phone call."

Big-Professional723 , Blake Patterson Report

Final score:

170points

Zero 2 years ago

No, you get off the phone so I can use the internet!

32points

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#20

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them The Wizard of Oz was on once a year, and if we missed it we had to wait another year to see it

Fearless_Associate_5 , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Report

Final score:

163points

Terry Tobias 2 years ago

It always seemed to be around Easter because I remember eating chocolate bunnies while watching it.

26points

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#21

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Walkman

Shuoinked , Chris Waits Report

Final score:

162points

LeeAnne B 2 years ago

With a little case for your cassettes.

17points

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#22

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them those sort of binoculars with cardboard discs with pictures. I used to have Dora the Explorer ones.

guitarhansolo , Jack Pearce Report

Final score:

155points

LeeAnne B 2 years ago

Viewmaster. You could buy whole stories.

79points

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#23

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Playing the same level on a game over and over because there’s no Saves

drevilishrjf , blahter09 Report

Final score:

147points

Ryan spencer 2 years ago

Countless times of being on the verge of having an aneurysm, but you kept your cool because you knew if the controller got obliterated that was it for the rest of your childhood....

19points

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#24

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Video rental stores with adult sections

est1979 , Elliott Brown Report

Final score:

146points

Zoe's Mom 2 years ago

BlockBuster did not have an adult section. 😉

29points

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#25

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them That Lite Brite was peak technology

shanecdotes , fo.ol Report

Final score:

145points

Terry Tobias 2 years ago

I loved my Lite Brite! Also my Spirograph, but that took more skill.

53points

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#26

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them NOT DA MAMA!

BeEccentric , Disney Report

Final score:

142points

Sky Render 2 years ago

Re-watched that series recently! It's surprising how much of it I clearly remembered, and just how cheesy it really is too.

34points

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#27

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Walking to blockbuster and spending an hour trying to pick a movie everyone agrees on

sugarfairymagic , Ben Schumin Report

Final score:

140points

Marette 2 years ago

Oh, this takes me back! I worked at Blockbuster in 1997 & remember taking hundreds of orders for new copies of Titanic.

15points

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#28

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Kids these days wouldn't understand why people who grew up with beanie babies won't buy NFTs

Lovebot_AI , Michael Lehet Report

Final score:

129points

Zero 2 years ago

Franklin Mint "collectibles".

43points

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#29

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them The sound on the phone when somebody was using the internet.

Poops_McClanahan , Ajit Beborta Report

Final score:

125points

Terry Tobias 2 years ago

And waiting for the dial-up connection!

30points

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#30

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Waiting til nights and weekends to make FREE phone calls on your mom’s Nokia.

SameAsk6997 , Paul Swansen Report

Final score:

120points

HarriMissesScotland 2 years ago

Waiting to call long distance on weekends because it was cheaper. No cell phones.

62points

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#31

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them I've noticed a lot of younger people who have grown up with social media don't have a strong sense of privacy. Everything is filmed and turned into a tiktok or an insta story without asking if you consent to having your life shared like this.

Houndie , Marco Verch Report

Final score:

119points

Anonymous 2 years ago

And I absolutely hate it

69points

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#32

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Waiting for your friend to get home to call them. (Not having constant access)

est1979 , David Wilson Report

Final score:

107points

Featherytoad 2 years ago

Yeah, and my mom always saying "What do you possibly have to talk about, you've seen them all day at school and you're going to see them tomorrow, you can talk then." I'm now perplexed by what we actually had to say to each other for so long.

24points

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#33

A computer with a black screen with orange or green font.

Just_Series_3125 Report

Final score:

107points

Shane S 2 years ago

MS Dos

32points

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#34

Blowing on Game cartridges to make them work.

PrudentBuffalo4535 Report

Final score:

106points

I'm.Just.A.Girl 2 years ago

This!

10points

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#35

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Going on road trips as a kid where the only form of entertainment was some sort of game played amongst your siblings in the back seat involving the license plates of other passing cars. On our car trip to Disney/FL from central PA me and my brother had a competition on who could write down the most license plate numbers… we ended in the thousands but for the life of me I can’t remember who “won” 😂

Ambrosia0201 , Rod Waddington Report

Final score:

105points

Sky Render 2 years ago

We used to do "Slug Bug" (without the punching, thankfully; we'd just yell that out whenever we saw a VW Beetle drive past). That's gotten much harder now that the VW Beetle has been discontinued.

29points

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#36

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?

cfishlips , The Learning Company Report

Final score:

98points

Zero 2 years ago

Be honest, who read that in the voice of the Rockapella?

42points

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#37

Hunting for dimes in pay phones

stupidlyugly Report

Final score:

93points

Missy 2 years ago

Lol pay phones and phone booths themselves!

25points

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#38

Picking up the telephone to call your friend and hearing people talking because it was a party line, meaning multiple households all had to share the same line and so you had to wait until it was available.

doinmybest4now Report

Final score:

87points

LeeAnne B 2 years ago

This was the only way to get first class gossip.

22points

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#39

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them 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 , Forsaken Fotos Report

Final score:

84points

Powin 2 years ago

Flip phone from 2000s (as depicted in Turning Red) is completely different from flip phone that we have today

11points

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#40

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them You needed a light accessory for your Gameboy because those suckers didn't have back lighting. And to trade Pokemon, you needed to use cables. CABLES.

gracefultime , Phil Nelson Report

Final score:

80points

James016 2 years ago

I had the light magnifier accessory

13points

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Note: this post originally had 45 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.

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Jurgita Dominauskaitė

Having started as a content creator that made articles for Bored Panda from scratch I climbed my way up to being and editor and then had team lead responsibilities added as well. So it was a pretty natural transition from writing articles and titles as well as preparing the visual part for the articles to making sure others are doing those same tasks as I did before well, answering their questions and guiding them when needed. Eventually I realized editing gives me the most enjoyment and I'm focusing only on that right now.

Having started as a content creator that made articles for Bored Panda from scratch I climbed my way up to being and editor and then had team lead responsibilities added as well. So it was a pretty natural transition from writing articles and titles as well as preparing the visual part for the articles to making sure others are doing those same tasks as I did before well, answering their questions and guiding them when needed. Eventually I realized editing gives me the most enjoyment and I'm focusing only on that right now.

What do you think ?

Pogi Gwapo 2 years ago

Getting your photos developed (and you could only take 24, not thousands)

26points

M Rob 2 years ago

And each picture costs money, including blurry and too dark to see.

14points

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AK to LV 2 years ago

Not knowing immediately how the photo turned out. You just crossed your fingers that it was in focus and the lighting was okay.

1point

Lauren Caswell 2 years ago

we always had photos of dads feet and thumbs on the camera rolls, poor dad wasn't the best with it 😅

0points

Jode Mode 2 years ago

THIS!!!!

0points

Disgruntled Panda 2 years ago

And you used to be so careful with what to use them on! And then hope and pray that they turned out not blurry or poorly lit while waiting days for them to be developed

0points

Seabeast 2 years ago

Some rolls would hold up to 48 exposures. Then you'd take about 10 pictures of your pet at the end just to use the roll up, because you were impatient to see your vacation snaps.

0points

Mike Cassino 2 years ago

Kids are the original remotes!

18points

AK to LV 2 years ago

Adjusting the rabbit ears too. The youngest had to stand and hold a certain position so the tv would stay clear!😂

5points

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Marisol L. Banks 2 years ago

Cars had only AM radio and no air conditioning.

11points

Benita Valdez 2 years ago

Oh lord don't remind me. Cramming 5 people in a dodge colt hatchback with no ac to drive 12 hours to see relatives in another state. I hated summer break from school sometimes knowing that trip was coming

9points

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Nikki Sevven 2 years ago

Cranking the windows open.

2points

Miss Frankfurter 2 years ago (edited)

We had 2 AM stations. One with young people's music ( The Beatles) and one for adults where they talked A LOT. We "rolled" down the windows if it was hot.

2points

Chucky Cheezburger 2 years ago

I remember when getting a cassette player in a car was a BFD...My first car had the original AM/FM radio with an 8 track player.Look that one up for a blast from the past.

2points

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Pogi Gwapo 2 years ago

Getting your photos developed (and you could only take 24, not thousands)

26points

M Rob 2 years ago

And each picture costs money, including blurry and too dark to see.

14points

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AK to LV 2 years ago

Not knowing immediately how the photo turned out. You just crossed your fingers that it was in focus and the lighting was okay.

1point

Lauren Caswell 2 years ago

we always had photos of dads feet and thumbs on the camera rolls, poor dad wasn't the best with it 😅

0points

Jode Mode 2 years ago

THIS!!!!

0points

Disgruntled Panda 2 years ago

And you used to be so careful with what to use them on! And then hope and pray that they turned out not blurry or poorly lit while waiting days for them to be developed

0points

Seabeast 2 years ago

Some rolls would hold up to 48 exposures. Then you'd take about 10 pictures of your pet at the end just to use the roll up, because you were impatient to see your vacation snaps.

0points

Mike Cassino 2 years ago

Kids are the original remotes!

18points

AK to LV 2 years ago

Adjusting the rabbit ears too. The youngest had to stand and hold a certain position so the tv would stay clear!😂

5points

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Marisol L. Banks 2 years ago

Cars had only AM radio and no air conditioning.

11points

Benita Valdez 2 years ago

Oh lord don't remind me. Cramming 5 people in a dodge colt hatchback with no ac to drive 12 hours to see relatives in another state. I hated summer break from school sometimes knowing that trip was coming

9points

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Nikki Sevven 2 years ago

Cranking the windows open.

2points

Miss Frankfurter 2 years ago (edited)

We had 2 AM stations. One with young people's music ( The Beatles) and one for adults where they talked A LOT. We "rolled" down the windows if it was hot.

2points

Chucky Cheezburger 2 years ago

I remember when getting a cassette player in a car was a BFD...My first car had the original AM/FM radio with an 8 track player.Look that one up for a blast from the past.

2points

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