Top 5 things that Jack will never experience:
5. Appointment television and commercials -
I grew up with TGIF (Family Matters, Full House, Step by Step) as well as a serious Thursday night lineup (Friends, Seinfeld, ER). Now you just record whatever shows you want and watch them that night, days later, or weeks later. And commercials? Forget about it. Jack doesn't know how lucky he is that he'll never have to sit through a commercial.
4. Memorizing friends' phone numbers -
I know when I was a kid I had all my friends phone numbers memorized. In fact, I can still remember most of them. (note to self: erase that info to make room for more important things). But Jack will have a cell phone with all the numbers programmed in so he'll never need to know any of them. I just have to make sure he knows my phone number.
3. Long debates and late night conversations about movie trivia, historical dates, and sports -
I know that for the last 20 years probably, my friends and I have loved talking about movies and TV. Who's been in what, how old that actress is, what movie that quote is in... Of course, in the past 15 years, the talks and debates have gotten shorter and shorter. Because now instead of arguing about who is right, we just google it and get an answer in two seconds. Not as fun. Bummer.
2. Developing film -
Jack will probably never ever take a single "film" picture. But I remember it was so exciting to finish a roll of film, develop it, then get the envelope back and see what you had. Remember when you had no idea what the photo looked like until you saw it printed?
1. Easy air travel -
Yeah, the days of friends waiting at the gate, walking through X-ray machines with shoes on, and taking as much shampoo and lotion are over. Too bad he missed that time.
What other things did I miss?
First, did I tell you that Dave Coulier is coming to campus? Why, I have absolutely no idea. I'm surprised the kids even know who he is.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good list - it's hard to think of many more. Things I'll miss (sort of):
- Wrapping myself up in the spiral phone cord while talking on the phone (my grandmother had a rotary phone until I was in high school, at least)
- Video stores (be kind, rewind!) - I swear I spent so much of my childhood standing around in Video Library and Blockbuster while my dad checked out all the new releases
- Mix tapes (cds are fine, but not the same - mix tapes were an art form that required skill to get the timing right, etc.)
And re: your earlier post on Sea World - it's not the same, is it? It used to be really awesome (I especially loved Sea World Nights when I was a kid), but you're right - it's just not the same as I remember, even if it's still fun for the kids.
I rode my bike all over town, I would just come home to eat. My kids won't know that feeling, I'm too protective and they don't seem to want to do it anyhow. Same goes for walking to school, I used to enjoy that, now there is no way (too far anyhow). And here is the big one, hand written letters!! They are missing so much :( Yet so lucky in other ways!
ReplyDeletei agree, good list, and taryn, the mention of video library just brought on a wave of nostalgia.
ReplyDeletei would add the freedom from having to maintain an online identity. can you imagine? everything they put out there as a dumb kid has the potential to follow them for eternity. at least we can delete their currently public baby pics (in theory)!
How about having to plan out your weekend money and getting to a bank before 3pm on Friday to withdraw said money? I always guessed that I needed less money than what I actually needed.
ReplyDeleteKyle said he would put having to get up to change the channel on the tv manually. I really think that he actually made his sister do this one.
Lisa, you must be so young! My Thursday nights growing up were consumed by The Cosby Show, A Different World, and Cheers. ;)