What? No Cell Phone

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning....Uphill... Barefoot...BOTH ways...yadda, yadda, yadda

 

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

 

 

 

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

 

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

 

2) There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

 

3) Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

 

4) There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

 

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

 

6) We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

 

7) There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

 

8) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

 

9) We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

 

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

 

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

 

12) And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

 

 

 

 

13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

 

 

 

 

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

 

 

 

 

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1970 or any time before!

 

Regards,

 

 

The Over 40 Crowd

 

=

[Krawnka 282]

I honestly miss the days before cellular phones...when you left the house/work, you were unavailable until you got home...if someone called your house and you didn't answer it, you could just tell them, you weren't home.

 

Oh yeah, and if you didn't want any calls, you could just unplug the handset, and they'd get busy signals all night.

Edited July 14, 2011 by Krawnka

[RazorStar 4,025]

Cellphones piss me off, honestly... They aren't even feasible for using like a computer, yet most people insist on it. The screen is too small, the pad is too small, and the connection is slow as shit. I don't know how people can do it. Use your damn phone to talk to people, otherwise put it away.

[Krawnka 282]

The only real upside to cell phones is because of the sever lack of payphone availability nowadays...if you break down, good luck finding a payphone anymore.

 

Even though it was because of cell phones, pay phones became an endangered species.

Edited July 14, 2011 by Krawnka

[әightninә. 39]

I think the scariest part of this is that you're old enough to be my dad.

 

0_o

[blotsfan 2,112]

Yeah, as a society we've made a lot of progress. I just look forward to seeing all the technological advances that will be there when I'm in my 40s.

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

I think the scariest part of this is that you're old enough to be my dad.

 

0_o

lol

ya, can you imagine your dad trying GFX?

Edited July 14, 2011 by BoneKrusher

[әightninә. 39]

lol

ya, can you imagime your dad trying GFX?

My dad is actually three years older than you.

 

Holy. Fuck.

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

Yeah, as a society we've made a lot of progress. I just look forward to seeing all the technological advances that will be there when I'm in my 40s.

 

ya, i'd say you'll be amazed at how far the technology will advance by then.

[BwareDWare94 723]

We've made technological progress, yeah, but we've regressed as human beings. Not only does our younger generation have no work ethic, they have no desire to even try get out of the house because parents are no longer allowed to punish their children without chancing some overprotective school counselor calling child protective services. Most kids I know have cell phones by the time they're 12 or 13, I withheld from getting one until I was a senior in High School. I'm so glad I did. Texting is so unnecessary. I don't even bother talking to anybody during the workday unless they contact me first off.

 

I like Facebook because I can keep in touch with my friends from college (we all write, and it's an easy way to have group chat), but it's opened pathways to so many different kinds of bullying it's ridiculous. Ugly pictures, nasty wall posts and arguments. Honest to God, the world would be better off without all these social sites that expose people so much.

 

Personally, our new world sickens me. It's far too easy to be contacted by anybody at any time. I like my own personal space. I'm debating whether I ought to work with my phone on me, but it's a farm so dangerous shit can happen. It's a tough call. I despise how middle schoolers and high schoolers have been so absorbed by video games they don't even want to go outside. My folks just took my little brother's Wii and we hid his copy of Black Ops. He's a lot easier to get along with now. I don't think he's getting it back, and I don't believe that's harsh. I believe it's good for him.

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

yep and Obesity is a big problem with kids more than ever as well.

[JetsFan4Life 542]

yep and Obesity is a big problem with kids more than ever as well.

 

Yeah and a lot of the blame falls on parents of those particular kids when I think it should be more on the society we live in.

 

Yeah, we can say it'd be better without these things but that's the danger of technology. Once something is introduced there is no going back. People just have to consistently adapt.

 

I also look forward to seeing how much technology does progress in the next twenty years. I think the gap is getting smaller and smaller (meaning there's even quite a difference between five years of being born and such). I mean for porn websites they might as well have a VCR and a VHS tape and ask for you to type what both of these things are to enter.

 

Speaking of that you should've also put how porn is much more easily accessible these days via the internet.

Edited July 14, 2011 by JetsFan4Life

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

Yeah and a lot of the blame falls on parents of those particular kids when I think it should be more on the society we live in.

 

 

 

I also look forward to seeing how much technology does progress in the next twenty years. I think the gap is getting smaller and smaller (meaning there's even quite a difference between five years of being born and such).

 

Speaking of that you should've also put how porn is much more easily acceptable these days via the internet.

i agree about the blame on the Parents.

 

also the Technology 20 years down the road will be awesome IMO, i mean there may be a BK clone by then. lol

 

and ya Porn was only pics from a magazine when i grew up and with todays technology (HD) its like smokes for me, i cant live w/o it.

[Shotgun 442]

I don't honestly think all of this material stuff has made things easier on kids these days. There's been studies linking high internet users to depression and depression among kids as a whole is at an all time high and is continuing to rise. If anything it's all just led to lazier parents.

[sweetness34 142]

old man BK layin down the law haha.

 

surprisingly a lot of this didn't apply to me until I was in high school. I had a cell phone when I was in 8th grade, but it was for emergencies only, didn't even have texting on it. I didn't really start texting until my Sophomore year of high school. Even now I don't text much.

 

as far as the other stuff, I grew up outside. I had a playstation 1 and my friend had a N64, but we rarely ever played, maybe some Mario Kart late at night on a weekend. But for the most part my childhood was outside playing cops and robbers, kick the can, biking or rollerblading everywhere..that was until we got ridiculously dangerous go karts that we went a little nuts in. But all summer long we were told to leave our houses when we woke up and not come back until it's lunch or dinner time, then it's right back outside until the sun goes down.

 

I had to earn everything, I have grown up doing chores and in my house I was never really allowed to sit down and just relax, even to this day. And it's ingrained in me and I always feel like I need to be doing something important.

 

If I did something wrong, I got my ass beat by my dad who was a big man, and I thank him for that because it made me who I am today. I remember one time I was with a buddy of mine, I was probably in 5th grade and my dad was downstairs watching tv. I thought I was soooo cool, I got his attention then mooned him from the top of the stairs..well I've never seen him move so fast and my ass hurt for a few days after that whooping. My friend said nothing about it because he knew I deserve it.

 

Even in the ten years it's been since I was a kid, times have changed ridiculously

[JetsFan4Life 542]

old man BK layin down the law haha.

 

surprisingly a lot of this didn't apply to me until I was in high school. I had a cell phone when I was in 8th grade, but it was for emergencies only, didn't even have texting on it. I didn't really start texting until my Sophomore year of high school. Even now I don't text much.

 

as far as the other stuff, I grew up outside. I had a playstation 1 and my friend had a N64, but we rarely ever played, maybe some Mario Kart late at night on a weekend. But for the most part my childhood was outside playing cops and robbers, kick the can, biking or rollerblading everywhere..that was until we got ridiculously dangerous go karts that we went a little nuts in. But all summer long we were told to leave our houses when we woke up and not come back until it's lunch or dinner time, then it's right back outside until the sun goes down.

 

I had to earn everything, I have grown up doing chores and in my house I was never really allowed to sit down and just relax, even to this day. And it's ingrained in me and I always feel like I need to be doing something important.

 

If I did something wrong, I got my ass beat by my dad who was a big man, and I thank him for that because it made me who I am today. I remember one time I was with a buddy of mine, I was probably in 5th grade and my dad was downstairs watching tv. I thought I was soooo cool, I got his attention then mooned him from the top of the stairs..well I've never seen him move so fast and my ass hurt for a few days after that whooping. My friend said nothing about it because he knew I deserve it.

 

Even in the ten years it's been since I was a kid, times have changed ridiculously

 

That's pretty unhealthy. You need some time to kickback and chill.

[funnygunny 521]

yeah our generation is spoilt, but whose the generation that brought us up?

[Barracuda 629]

yeah our generation is spoilt, but whose the generation that brought us up?

 

Steve Jobs.

[RazorStar 4,025]

<_ i haven used an apple product since>

[Barracuda 629]

<_< I haven't used an apple product since 1995.

 

 

Because you can't afford it.

[Titanswin472 29]

I think its kind of funny when older people get mad at younger people for what their generation gave us.

 

Not trying to bash you BK I'm just sayin. :wink:

[Anthony 78]

There's an unfortunate flip side to the technology, and it comes with a decrease in jobs.

 

You no longer go to the store and find a cashier in every checkout lane. They've been replaced by automatic checkout centers.

 

Banks do everything to encourage you not to walk into the building. They want you banking from the outside through automated teller machines and online transactions. The number of bank tellers has decreased, just as it has in other customer service jobs.

 

Technology has an effect on postal workers, with electronic mail becoming the first choice. Fewer personal letters and paperless billing leads to a reduction in the postal staff.

 

Newspapers take a big hit, with everyone getting it online. It's a trickle down effect that moves from the top all the way down to the actually printing departments. Layoffs at major papers across the country have been evident.

 

Couriers are nearly non existent. Once upon a time, you hired a courier and he took a document from one location to be signed at another and returned. Now you just fax the document, the other party signs it, and the document with the signature is faxed back.

 

When I go to my local Jack in the Box, I have the option of placing my order with the cashier or using my debit or credit card to place the order with a machine 5 feet away from him or her.

 

The list could go on and on, but technology has created fewer jobs, and more competition for existing jobs. That's the package deal that comes with the new gadgets for today's youth. And the rising cost of college tuition doesn't make it any easier for them to take a step ahead of their peers in the game.

[BwareDWare94 723]

Honestly, we just need to slow the hell down. For some reason, our country believes that it has to be working on all cylinders 24 hours a day. That pisses me off. The only "businesses" that should be open 24 hours a day are healthcare facilities and law enforcement agencies. Economical experts think that if we didn't go by our extreme hours, there'd be a major impact on the financial gain of big business. Bullshit. If everything was only open from say, 6am to 10pm, people would get their shit done during those hours.

 

I went back to the farm because it allows me to work by my own schedule, which is balls to the wall from mid April to mid November and 40 per week over the winter. It's a better way of life. It allows me to live a little. That's something big business doesn't allow it's employees to do with the ridiculous scheduling and all-out disregard of family life.

 

Technology is slowly destroying our moral code.

[BwareDWare94 723]

I don't honestly think all of this material stuff has made things easier on kids these days. There's been studies linking high internet users to depression and depression among kids as a whole is at an all time high and is continuing to rise. If anything it's all just led to lazier parents.

 

I'm the first in line when it comes to believing that depression is real, but it is undeniably OVER-DIAGNOSED, just like ADD.

[sweetness34 142]

That's pretty unhealthy. You need some time to kickback and chill.

I would love to ha, my friends tell me that shit all the time. But it's how my dad is and he engrained it into my head. But I do chill a lot more when I'm where I am now, at my apartment away from home. But still, my dad calls me and if I don't have a valid thing that I am doing at that exact second, I get a lecture. I have to make shit up all the time ha