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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

#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

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Ryan spencer
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

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Troux
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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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

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Corey Beth
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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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

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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

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Nathaniel
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

#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

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Zoe's Mom
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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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

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Nathaniel
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

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Terry Tobias
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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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

#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

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Nemo
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

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スプーン
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

#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

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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

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Zoe's Mom
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

#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

#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

#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

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Terry Tobias
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

#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

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Ryan spencer
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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....

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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

#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

#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

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Sky Render
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

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Marette
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

#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

#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

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HarriMissesScotland
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

#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

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Featherytoad
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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#33

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

Just_Series_3125 Report

#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

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Sky Render
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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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

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#37

Hunting for dimes in pay phones

stupidlyugly Report

#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

#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

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Powin
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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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

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#41

People Remember These 40 Things Being Their Reality When They Were Kids But Children These Days Wouldn't Understand Them How exciting it was to open a new box of cereal to see which toy you got and trade with your mates, usually pencil toppers or bicycle reflectors etc lol

WishUponAStar35 , anokarina Report

#42

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

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Terry Tobias
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you continued the chain you'd have good luck, but if you didn't... beware!

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#44

A photo hut.

est1979 Report

#45

Removing your pal from your top 10 MySpace pals when you fell out with them

Phantom_Sunflower Report

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