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“Life Without Smartphones”: 30 Things Today’s Kids Will Never Get To Experience
Interview
The life of a child who grew up in the 1990s looks undeniably different from that of a kid in the 2020s. Back then, the only way you could reach your friends was by calling a landline phone and asking their parents if you could speak to them. And let’s not forget having to wake up early on a Saturday so you don’t miss a new episode of your favorite cartoon.
It’s quite wild to think that kids today won’t get to know such things. Having a similar thought, redditor Subject_Thorn turned to the AskReddit community with a question, “What is something that 2020s kids will never get to experience?” Striking a nostalgic chord with many older adults, such an inquiry received over 3K comments in just a few weeks.
Scroll down to find the most popular answers that will shortly take you back to the good old days and a conversation with Subject_Thorn, who started this discussion in the first place.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Privacy. Doing stupid things without the whole world knowing about it on TikTok.
PeePeePooPoo 8 months ago
I'm so glad my stupid years happened when there were basically no camera phones and internet...
Cat Chat 8 months ago
On the other hand, not every stupid thing recorded ends up on TikTok. Plenty of sites going around. In this case TikTok is just used as a euphemism for "ending up on the internet".
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SonicAlchemy 8 months ago
There's this really great concept I heard somewhere, that you don't HAVE to post anything on the internet. Crazy, right?
megasmacky 8 months ago (edited)
How brainless do you have to be to think everything you do HAS to go on tiktok? Just don't post it if you want something to remain private! Are they all going to be this stupid?
SonicAlchemy 8 months ago
I don't know why you'd be downvoted for speaking truth so I got you out of the negative, at least. I agree. You don't HAVE to post anything online. Pretty ignorant for anyone to cite "privacy" as a problem when it comes to something they chose to upload. No sympathy there.
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#2
Waking up early on Saturday morning so you can watch the next episode of your favorite cartoon.
Libstak 8 months ago (edited)
Or MTV..music videos and artist interviews, not the c**p they have today. In Australia we also had Video Hits which counted down the top 10 hits plus Sundays was Countdown with live acts, interviews, videos a countdown of the top 10, usually they played the top 3 or more.
#3
Buying a video game and it has everything it should on it without having to provide an update or paying for extra content.
Bored Panda reached out to redditor Subject_Thorn, who started this discussion online, and kindly agreed to answer a few of our questions. Naturally, we were curious to know what inspired him to take this question to Reddit.
He told us, “I was actually in a nostalgic mood that night, so my mind was wandering. I work in an office in an adjacent IT role, so we use the Windows file system in various ways daily for our tasks, and last week I was reading about how kids today don't even know what File Explorer is because of the oversimplification of technology, primarily on smartphones and tablets.
Kids today could never know that you can actually manually change video game files to adjust the game experience, nor how to actually do it. It's made me sure that to teach my future children technology properly, they will need to be exposed to a computer before, or at least around the same time, they are able to use a phone.”
#4
Developing a roll of film and all the pictures are bad.
#5
Waiting for a new episode to come on at 7:30, yelling into the kitchen that it’s starting.
Calling your crushes house and having to politely ask a very scary dad if you can speak with Tanya. And then they say, that depends, who’s calling?
General Anaesthesia 8 months ago
"Please Mrs. Avery, I just gotta talk to her, I'll only keep her a while... And the operator says 40 cents more, for the next three minutes..." - Silvia’s Mother song by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
#6
Violence fixing technologies. Remember when we used to slap the television 📺 for it to work properly or operate CPR on our consoles and game cartridges?
If he were to answer the question himself, he would say that something the 2020s kids will never experience is not being able to connect with other people instantly and lacking a stable or accessible internet connection.
Our interviewee shares, “I remember when I was little and I had just picked up Counter-Strike to play with friends from school, and we needed to install Steam to do it. In the process of that, we found that you can actually talk to other people on Steam! It was crazy that I could type on a chatbox, press enter, and they would see it a few moments later! It was like magic.”
He adds, “When I was young and we visited with my cousins, we would find YouTube videos we thought were cool to watch and some flash games like Stick Fight, and we would open several Internet Explorer windows and let them load so we could check them out later. We did this the moment we woke up, around 8 or 9, and the videos and games had only loaded by the evening!! And we would NOT turn the computer off or the windows with the media on them, so we could access them through our vacation without having to re-download them again. This is not a problem anymore in the developed world.”
#7
Hearing your favorite song on the radio and waiting for it to come on again so you can record it on a blank cassette tape to listen to later.
Having a CD binder the size of Merriam Webster’s dictionary for road trips.
Taking a CD Walkman on a walk and making sure you didnt walk too fast or the CD skipped.
#8
The joy of going to school without social media.
I remember getting bullied in middle school and having a terrible time. But all that could have been so much worse if smartphones and apps were a thing back then.
Kids these days must be so stressed out just trying to tune it out.
Having said all this, the redditor doesn’t think that childhood was better back then compared to now. “I don't believe in the "good old days" sentiment. Kids now will experience different things than my generation did, and they will be similarly nostalgic about their unique experiences the same way I am. And their kids similarly after them, and so on.”
#10
I was at work the other day when our department's landline phone started ringing. One of my coworkers (my age-ish, 30s) called out "I'll get it!" I felt a weird sort of sad nostalgic pang. You don't hear that much anymore.
#11
Going to the movie store.
The Doom Song 8 months ago
I miss this one. We could either choose a movie or a video game for the week
#12
Exploration.
As kids we played video games but we also got outdoors. Sometimes finding areas of forest to go and investigate. We enjoyed checking out odd areas people generally would never go into such as those little wooded areas in between roads. Our parents didn't care as long we gave them an idea of what we were doing ahead of time in case we got lost or hurt.
We would have a small fire just enough to roast some marshmallows and then put it out and usually make it back in time for supper.
#13
Meeting family/friends at the **gate** at the airport instead of baggage claim or the curb.
#15
Tangled up telephone cords.
#16
Being disconnected.
There were periods of my life growing up, hours or even days at a time, where there was genuinely no way to reach me or my parents. In the 90’s, growing up, most people didn’t have cellphones. They existed but they were *really* expensive. I remember when my mom got her first cellphone. She always turned it off when she got home and stuck it in a drawer. Why would she need a cellphone at home?
We had the internet but it was slow and we had limited access to it, often on a family computer visible to everyone and maybe for an hour or two.
And if you go back a little further than that, answering machines were expensive and uncommon so you either reached someone or you didn’t. There was no constant demand from everyone for everyone.
I definitely remember calling a friend to hang out, their parent answering, and telling me they were already hanging out with someone else. “Okay, cool, I’ll try again later.”
I had no way to reach them. Which meant they got to be fully present with whoever they were with and weren’t talking to me or anyone else while they were with that friend.
That level of disconnect is something that, in hindsight, I really miss. You were wherever you were with whomever you were with and that was it. People took hours to reach and that was normal and, I think, a really good thing.
Me. Just Me. 8 months ago
And you could have a full conversation over email with someone because they were far away and you didn't want to pay the ridiculous rates for long distance. The conversation still took days because you only checked your email once per day, but it was still faster than mailing letters back and forth.
#17
Being responsible for zero parental contact and simply just needing to come home when the streetlights come on.
Scrappychick 8 months ago
People say uts because it was safer for children back then, failing to realise that there were still creeps out there doing grim things but no social media so if it wasn't in the evening news you'd not hear about it
#18
Getting kicked off the internet because mom needs to make a call.
#19
Having to check the newspapers to see when new movies were released, as well as what theater they’re playing at.
Kids today won’t ever experience that.
Carl Roberts 8 months ago
Welcome to Moviephone.Please say the name of the movie you'd like to see....NOW
#20
Snow on Christmas, at least most of the time.
I’m almost as far north in the USA that you can get and snow just doesn’t stick around anymore. It snows like once or twice in December and it melts in a day. 25 years ago you were lucky if it wasn’t a blizzard on *Halloween.*
But don’t worry, climate change isn’t real! /s.
#21
Having to listen/watch the nightly news with your parents because you only have one tv.
#22
Fixing the antenna to get a better picture on the TV. Or making one with a coat hanger.
#23
Downloading a song for 2 hours and finding out it's a virus.
#24
A life without immediate gratification. I feel like 90s/00s kids might be the last to have experienced what its like to have to wait for that good thing you want.
keyboardtek 8 months ago
And we used to actually build stuff like model cars and planes, things out of wood. We learned that a project that takes time and attention and thought resulted in something very gratifying to do.
#25
Watching that ticker at the bottom of the tv to see if school is closed only for them to cut to commercial when it’s time for yours to show up. I watched that thing like an nba draft.
Doyle Alan 8 months ago
I live in Canada and in my area, three flakes of snow and the kids are off school. When I was little we would have two or three feet of snow before they'd call a snow day.
#26
Mystery.
“Just Google it” has ruined any sense of wonder in the world.
keyboardtek 8 months ago
Remember when we all thought that free access to information on the internet would topple totalitarian countries and make everyone educated? Then all the criminals, Fascists, conspiracy nuts, and idiots took it over.
#28
Choking to death on smoke wafting over from the smoking section of every restaurant while you try to eat.
Feathered Dinosaur 8 months ago
This is the one thing I definitely don't regret being in the past
#29
Waiting for a video tape to rewind before returning it to the rental shop.
#30
That windows opening sound in pc.
What do you think ?
Guigsy Gwiggins 8 months ago
Reddit: where the same questions with the same responses are posted day after day
Cat Chat 8 months ago
I think you mean Reddit: where BP lists are reposted from.
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Miranda Veracruz de la Joya Cardenal 8 months ago
As a 90s kid, this is a list of things I DON'T miss. Why do we keep dwelling in the past? Yeah things were simpler but also harder at the same time.
Dragons Exist 8 months ago
This is like Ellen making fun of teenagers for not knowing how to use a typewriter. Like, sorry idk how to use a old piece of tech when we have computers
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SBocker78 8 months ago
What was that about? Why was there ALWAYS porn in the woods and why does it seem to have been a universal phenomenon?
Load More Replies... FABULOUS1 8 months ago
There is always a post about kids these days not understanding the great experience us adults had as kids because they are always online or have their nose buried in their phones. But lets place blame where it should go, not the kids but the adults who they have mimicked who also have their noses in to their phones. Who bought the kid their phone, computer, gaming console and didnt set any limits, an adult in their life. While I still love my 80s and 90s music that is about it. How would this list be possible for all of us to comment on if it wasnt for the internet. If you dont like it take their electronics away send them outside or pull out a puzzle. If you feel really nostalgic close the windows and smoke a cigarette with them in the same room (j/k dont do that), but do it before you go on Amazon and order something you dont need or hope on social media for the 50th time today to tell the world what you are making for dinner. If kids are missing out its our fault not theirs.
Floeckchen 8 months ago
As if kids don't do many of the things on the list anymore. And the others are just obsolete.
Dragons Exist 8 months ago
Most of these are just older people reminiscing about significantly worse tech cause nostalgia or significantly overestimating social media (as they comment on social media)
ConstantlyJon 8 months ago
Honestly, a lot of these kinds of things are still doable. I just slapped a microwave the other day to get it to not make a weird hum. There are apps I play on that aren't full of microtransactions or subscriptions. People can chose to leave their phone at home on a hike if they want to unplug. The options for a more simplistic time are there, you just have to look harder for them and put in some effort.
Caroline Driver 8 months ago
What gets me is, I've seen these lists on the internet for kids of the 90s, 80, 70s, 60s, and so many of them are the same or similar, whatever the decade.
SlightlyTarnished 8 months ago
Funny, I don't feel old, but most of these were not part of my childhood years. I'm from the alphanumeric phone number, didn't see a TV until I was 10yrs old, pin setter in a bowling alley, generation.
Richard Graham 8 months ago
Playing a record, then having it slow down because you forgot to wind-up the Victrola.
Paul K. Johnson 8 months ago
When software actually came with thick books that told you everything about how to use it.
Guigsy Gwiggins 8 months ago
Reddit: where the same questions with the same responses are posted day after day
Cat Chat 8 months ago
I think you mean Reddit: where BP lists are reposted from.
Load More Replies... Miranda Veracruz de la Joya Cardenal 8 months ago
As a 90s kid, this is a list of things I DON'T miss. Why do we keep dwelling in the past? Yeah things were simpler but also harder at the same time.
Dragons Exist 8 months ago
This is like Ellen making fun of teenagers for not knowing how to use a typewriter. Like, sorry idk how to use a old piece of tech when we have computers
Load More Replies... SBocker78 8 months ago
What was that about? Why was there ALWAYS porn in the woods and why does it seem to have been a universal phenomenon?
Load More Replies... FABULOUS1 8 months ago
There is always a post about kids these days not understanding the great experience us adults had as kids because they are always online or have their nose buried in their phones. But lets place blame where it should go, not the kids but the adults who they have mimicked who also have their noses in to their phones. Who bought the kid their phone, computer, gaming console and didnt set any limits, an adult in their life. While I still love my 80s and 90s music that is about it. How would this list be possible for all of us to comment on if it wasnt for the internet. If you dont like it take their electronics away send them outside or pull out a puzzle. If you feel really nostalgic close the windows and smoke a cigarette with them in the same room (j/k dont do that), but do it before you go on Amazon and order something you dont need or hope on social media for the 50th time today to tell the world what you are making for dinner. If kids are missing out its our fault not theirs.
Floeckchen 8 months ago
As if kids don't do many of the things on the list anymore. And the others are just obsolete.
Dragons Exist 8 months ago
Most of these are just older people reminiscing about significantly worse tech cause nostalgia or significantly overestimating social media (as they comment on social media)
ConstantlyJon 8 months ago
Honestly, a lot of these kinds of things are still doable. I just slapped a microwave the other day to get it to not make a weird hum. There are apps I play on that aren't full of microtransactions or subscriptions. People can chose to leave their phone at home on a hike if they want to unplug. The options for a more simplistic time are there, you just have to look harder for them and put in some effort.
Caroline Driver 8 months ago
What gets me is, I've seen these lists on the internet for kids of the 90s, 80, 70s, 60s, and so many of them are the same or similar, whatever the decade.
SlightlyTarnished 8 months ago
Funny, I don't feel old, but most of these were not part of my childhood years. I'm from the alphanumeric phone number, didn't see a TV until I was 10yrs old, pin setter in a bowling alley, generation.
Richard Graham 8 months ago
Playing a record, then having it slow down because you forgot to wind-up the Victrola.
Paul K. Johnson 8 months ago
When software actually came with thick books that told you everything about how to use it.
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