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What are some things that today's kids will never get to experience?

Deleted member 31923

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Nov 8, 2017
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As I was eating a box of cereal, I realized that they don't have toys in cereal anymore and kids of today will never get to experience that. They had some pretty cool toys and prizes in cereal for 80's and 90's kids, from baseball cards to light up Star Wars spoons to Pixar minfigures. And they even had massive ones that were attached to the outside of the box like those Ninja Turtle cereal bowls. I still have of those.

Another thing is waking up to an alarm. No, not an alarm on a phone, but an ancient piece of technology called an alarm clock. If the power went out at night, you just might be late for classes or school as a result.

What are some things that today's kids will never get to experience (could be good, bad, or neutral things)?
 
Damien1990

Damien1990

Member
May 23, 2020
2,060
clevbrowns95 said:
Another thing is waking up to an alarm. No, not an alarm on a phone, but an ancient piece of technology called an alarm clock. If the power went out at night, you just might be late for classes or school as a result.
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Oi, I still have an alarm clock. And I'm sure plenty of cereal still comes with toys.

First, actual thing that comes to mind is they won't experience the struggles of playing handheld games in the dark and not being able to see the screen/batteries on backlight attachment running out.
 
Blue Ninja

Blue Ninja

Prophet of Truth
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Oct 25, 2017
2,765
Belgium
Alarm clocks are still in use, too, so not the best example.

Kids will never experience having to buy music singles, or having to wait for your song to come on the radio so you could record it on tape.
 
nsilvias

nsilvias

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Oct 25, 2017
23,788
the monstrosity that is ez squirt ketchup

latest
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,658
Arcades definitely comes to mind. Used to be one in every mall.

VHS rewinds!
 
doof_warrior

doof_warrior

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Oct 25, 2017
3,431
NJ
calling their friend's house land line and having to ask if ___ is home

edit: similarly, just knocking on the door to see if they wanna come out and play
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 31923

User requested account closure
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Nov 8, 2017
5,826
Damien1990 said:
Oi, I still have an alarm clock. And I'm sure plenty of cereal still comes with toys.

First, actual thing that comes to mind is they won't experience the struggles of playing handheld games in the dark and not being able to see the screen/batteries on backlight attachment running out.
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I remember having to wait for a street light or passing some kind of light in the car to actually see my Game Boy screen.
 
TheWooniestWoona

TheWooniestWoona

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,802
Going to a rental store without any idea of what you wanted, wondering around looking for something good, and picking a movie or game based solely on the box or on the recommendation of the teens that work there.
 
Violence Jack

Violence Jack

Drive-in Mutant
Member
Oct 25, 2017
41,767
Having to rely on newspapers or the evening news to know about events happening in the world.
Kazaa/Limewire
 
Rhomega

Rhomega

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Oct 25, 2017
6,639
Arizona
User Banned (1 Week): Misogynistic Commentary
Having to configure your sound card while installing PC games.
Having a huge issue in gameplay be unfixable due to lack of patching
Having to pull out a fold out map to figure out where you're supposed to go. Hope you know where you are. And how to properly fold it back up again.
Girls mostly only hoping to become a housewife. They could get a job as a secretary or a phone switchboard operator. Maybe some other jobs.
Having to do a report or something only to find that the encyclopedia doesn't cover it because it's outdated.
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,380
They'll never understand the experience of pre-internet, the pioneering days of the internet, and then the current state of the internet. The full saturation of the internet represents such an enormous change in how we live our lives that it almost can't even be described unless you went through the before & after. Sure, you can "disconnect" for a week or a month or whatever. But the world has pivoted. We're never going back to those days.
 
Carn

Carn

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Oct 27, 2017
11,921
The Netherlands
not having a cursor/pointer/touch based interface for your computer. In ye olde days, one typed in commands (and had a lot of patience)
 
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Wackamole

Wackamole

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,935
Laughter, joy, love and parents who care.

Edit: seriously though: they could still have a lot of the same experiences imo. Except for things like having to run to your friend's home to see if they are there. and having to go to the library for knowledge.

A world without social media wasn't all bad.
 
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GTOAkira

GTOAkira

Member
Sep 1, 2018
9,041
Squid ketchup was awful and I am glad its dead. Imagine actually wanting green or purple ketchup. I will say with how pc games on cd are pretty much dead I dont think we will ever see PC games in cereal box be a thing ever again. Rollercoaster tycoon, life, sorry, monopoly were all games I got to play thx to cereals lol.
 
Summer

Summer

Member
Oct 27, 2017
178
London
Waiting for video game cheats/guides in your favourite monthly console magazine to come out. And yeah, just things like downloading a full album or a film trailer on 56k which would take the best part of an evening. How on earth did we have the patience?!
 
Josh5890

Josh5890

I'm Your Favorite Poster's Favorite Poster
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,229
-Listening to the update on the radio at the top or bottom of the hour to find out if your baseball team won today.

-The importance of waking up early on a Saturday morning for cartoons.

-Going to Toys R Us to pull a slip to buy a video game.
 
Takamura-San

Takamura-San

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,118
Going to the video store to rent movies/games
Rewind
Having to be there on time to watch a show
Paper maps
Phone booths
 
Garp TXB

Garp TXB

Member
Apr 1, 2020
6,299
Attention spans.

Kidding, kidding. I think that's mostly projection on my part—mine has gone to shit compared to pre-internet. Doesn't mean all kids are going through it too.
 
Rune Walsh

Rune Walsh

Too many boners
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Oct 25, 2017
6,031
Learning how to answer the family phone and then scream across the house for them to pick up.

Also, telling your sister to get off the phone so you can look up cheat codes on the internet.
 
Metroidvania

Metroidvania

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,771
Pre-Social media, but really, the 'pre-internet' era in general, is probably the biggest thing.

Big_Blue said:
Printing out directions from Map Quest
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Or even further back, having to use the state/county 'maps' that unfolded like 6 times, and potentially having a stash in your glove box/tucked away in the corner of a car.

Navigating using those was a biiiiitch.
 

QuigleyMcShine

Member
Jan 29, 2018
9,394
Definitely calling a friend's home phone and having to ask their mom or dad if you can speak to them. And memorizing that phone number.

theme park joe said:
Most kids won't be able to experience the majesty of the Pizza Hut lunch buffet.
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Do they not do that anymore? Pizza Hut lunch buffet used to be a staple of snow days and bank holidays, since they didn't have it on weekends.
 
FerrisBueller

FerrisBueller

Member
Jul 15, 2018
2,873
UK
Signing in and out of MSN Messenger to try and get your crush's attention with the little popup that would show up. You got extra cool points if you had song lyrics in your display name, or that addon that showed what song you were currently listening to.
 
TaterTots

TaterTots

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,966
No internet/social media is the big one. I bet younger people thought life was boring af back then for people.

Not specifically for kids...However, approaching a complete stranger for small talk and asking for their phone number. I do not miss this.
 
Goda

Goda

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,432
Toronto
Renting movies from Blockbuster is probably my favourite one.
Also, walking around the house with a 20 foot phone cable.
 
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