Years ago, I remember riding in the car with my son who, I think, was around ten at the time. He goes...Mom, what's a Beetle? It threw me for a second until I realized he must have overheard Mr. Regina and I talking about The Beetles. We had the entire collection (records not cd's) and listened to them a lot. As time went by, I've descibed to my kids what a typewriter was and how I once did my college papers on them. They were curious about them and how they worked. They listened, wide eyed, when I told them about the black and white television we had when I was a kid and that when the new color tvs came out, several neighbors came over to watch THIS IS ELVIS on our new set. We bought records, eight track tapes and then cassettes. Now everything is downloaded from music providers to tiny mp3 players or to a computer.My daughter only likes to print rather than write in cursive and my son's handwriting is pitiful. Why? Because they grew up in a time of computers, smart phones, and such. I don't think penmanship is even taught in schools anymore but I could be wrong about that. A phone with a cord? Forget about it! They've always used cell phones which now do everything from play music and games to play televsion shows. News is now 24/7 and we get it instantly. Do you remember when information was gained from daily newspapers and the six pm news on the three major networks? Now we have a wide array of news sources and experts predict that newspapers will soon go the way of the dinosaur.
Each year a list comes out about the cultural knowledge of our kids. Students entering college this year believe that Fergie is a rock star, not a princess. Nirvana is played on oldies stations. They don't remember the Cold War except for what they study in history class. It really boggles the mind that they know Clint Eastwood is a movie director but if you mention Dirty Harry they'll only say Dirty WHO?
This stuff makes me feel so damn old! I remember loving to hear my grandmother talk about 'the olden days'. She was elderly when I was just a little girl and grandma was a teenager in the early 1900's. She talked about grandpa 'courting' her and picking her up in a horse-drawn buggy to picnic when they were young. I got all googly-eyed over that. Later, I saw those same googly-eyes looking back at me when I talked about recalling where I was when JFK was killed, or when I mention what kinds of clothes I wore or how I wore my hair! My daughter was blown away at the idea of sitting under a hair dryer with my curlers however, she did get the concept of Dippity Do. Siiiigh. I guess some things DON'T change. Only the names.
If you are interested in reading more about this, please click this link. It's pretty amazing. Prepare to feel OLD.
30 comments:
What's Dippity Do? Hair gel??
I had a computer in college. A MacIntosh and it was huge. Most of my friends had word processors (like an electrical typewriter that stored a few lines of text at a time before printing it out).
Once, I had to EXPLAIN who Casper the friendly ghost was to my niece. OMG felt old then!
About to click the link. This is boggling indeed.
Do I dare click the link? I'm scared! I don't wanna feel old!
:)
YES MIA DIPPITY DO IS HAIR GEL!!!!! OMG, now YOU are making me feel old. snort!!!!!
Yeah, remember what those old comps looked like. Big monstrosities and slower than death. High speed internet is something these kids grew up with. The other day my daughter is going...what's UP with your computer? Why is it soooo slow? Seemed pretty damn fast to me but what do I know?
click it, Nat, click it.
Oh, but I loved those antiquties so!
I DID go to the link. I AM old. Sigh. LOL...
Just think. By 2024, even the technology of the class of 2014 will be old news. That's scary.
It IS scary, C. I was laughing over the thing about email being slow. I remember when we had to mail everything and now we pay our bills on computer. To these kids, email is slow. They are texters. I haven't a clue about texting. Damn, I'm butt-wrinkly old.
Yes, I now feel reeeeally old. Thank you, Regina. And yes...I will get even with you. Mwahahahahaaa.
;)
Hell, I know you will, Laura! LOL
"Slower than death" only works as a metaphor if you have a long time until it happens. Considering how OLD you are though, Reggie...
*snicker*
(ducking and running before Reggie smacks me)
Craaaaack. That's the sound of my badass WHIP. LOL. Actually I'm not all that old ya know! Just seems that things have changed sooo fast over the past twenty years.
I took typing in high school on a typewiter of course. I never used Dippity Do, but do remember it. Pagers came before cellphones and I resisted getting one until my family insisted. Now of course, we all have cellphones with my younger daughters and grandson doing all the texting.
Yep. I know, Reg. But I couldn't resist the dig. ;)
I remember how excited I was when I signed up for typing class. Now it's computer classes.
I'm just constantly amazed by instant information. We get the 'word' immediately on everything. And yeah, Andrea, I recall when pagers were a big deal.
Sigh. I graduated and married in 1967. I know exactly where I was when Kennedy was shot because it was my 14th birthday. We had keypunch cards and the computer was the size of a small building.
When our family got our first computer it was a Commodore from Radio Shack and all our neighbors thought we were insane to even want to own one. Programs were not available for sale. We bought magazines that had simple programs printed in them. We typed maybe 10 pages of three columns of programming so we could play simple games like hangman.
Try explaining who John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Doris Day are...
Or explain carbon paper, white-out, and typewriter ribbons...
Cars without seat belts or car seats. I brought my first three children home from the hospital without a car seat.
And no disposable diapers. None.
Ah, the good old days.
I swear, Regina, you sure know how to make a gal feel old. LOL
About the penmanship? I've put three kids through the public school system now (one still moving along)and not one of them was ever involved in learning cursive writing. All their handwriting just sucks.
And they now complain about it. I told them to sit down and practice writing--which is what I used to do. And they look at me like I've lost my mind and go back to tapping on keyboards.
It was like I was saying yesterday with regard to the costly school--none of those students will understand--get the feeling of the Kennedy legacy in politics--the Cuban Missile Crisis--the assassination of JFK or RFK.
The history taught in schools these days seems to be far removed from recent history. It seems there should be more concentration on that.
Dippity Doo...no, don't remember that...no no, just can't. Won't. Curlers under a dryer? Noooooo nope, won't remember that either. LOL
It's pretty funny when I talk to the kids about what it was like when I was a kid. LOL They can't imagine a world without X-Box, cell phones and Facebook. LOL
Oh yes, Anny, the old movie stars. I find if I mention an old glamor queen (Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly) I have to pull up their pics on the internet. Now I was born in the late 50's so they were really oldies to me but I certainly remember when Farrah Fawcet was sick. My daughter didn't have a clue so I had to pull up the famous poster with the hair and red bathing suit. I remember telling her that just about every young guy in the world had that pic on his walls.
Oh how well I remember carbon paper and I thought liquid paper was a miracle.
TESS!!!! ahahahahahaaaaaaa. Did you have one of those neat little portable hair dryers. It folded up all neat until you had to drag it out everymore before throwing the curlers in your hair. And that remind me...do you remember when girls were ironing their hair. Just about burned mine up. I wore minis, maxis, bell bottoms (with patches and without)and wore long long hair parted down the middle right after 'the flip' went out of style.
Anne, bet you didn't play video games, did you? No, our kids can't imagine.
Nope...my 17 year old grandson knows all of these things. I taught him what these things were when he was a little guy. BTW..it's spelled "Beatles"
My parents were way into "technology". They were the first in the neighborhood to have a remote control TV with the cord stretched across the floor to the handset that only my Dad controlled, to switch between the four available channels.
It was an event when they got the Radar Range, a monsterous microwave that my Mom took classes on to learn how to pop popcorn and defrost meat.
My Dad bought a VHS player when BETA was all the rage and for years made sure everyone was in awe of his forward thinking!
My first computer experience was in college, with punch cards and an IBM that took up an entire room!
I remember the excitement of a hand held calculator, self correcting typwriter, telephone without a cord, CABLE, caller id!
I also remember, vividly, when the first Gulf War was broadcast in real time. And when I watched in stunned horror as the events of 9/11 unfolded.
My daughter talks about the students in college who can't do simple math without a computer. I just interviewed three candidates for a receptionist/office assistant position. When they found out that one of the criteria was answering a question, hand written, one paragraph, no computer, spell check, etc., they all chose to leave!??
Yep. I remember when the Beatles came to the states. I had a Beatle cut for YEARS before they showed up. Then BAMM! My parents made me grow my hair because they didn't want me tainted by the "demons" from England.
I remember riding in a VW Beetle when I was a kid. Think there were about eight of us in the back seat.
Also remember maxi pads that were reallllly maxi. Actually I remember them before they had sticky stuff on them--back when they had tails and you had to use pins and a belt. Hmmmm.
And my dryer didnt' fold up. It was this dome shaped sucker that didn't fit in any closet or shelf.
Real records.
Nylons and garter belts.
Panty girdles EVERYDAY in high school.
And NO pants in school. Skirts only, no matter how bad the weather.
Penny loafers.
Yeah. Duh. You're right Fran. Beatles. I've had a bad spelling day. Thanks for the correction.
Tessie, you hit on something so important. With all this technology our kids can't do basic, simple, commonplace things like add and divide and compose a simple sentence by hand. In a way, it's very sad. When was it decided that the basics could just be ignored?
WOW Anny. Blast from the past. I remember lots of that stuff. I hated wearing those little panty girdles but no girl would be caught dead without one. I remember the days before "wings" too. Umm. Awful. Sometimes the good old days weren't so good, huh?
I try to remember that life is all about change. I tell my son stuff that I grew up with in hopes him getting a perspective of past, present and future. He loves to laugh at things and can't imagine going on a long driving vacation without his mp3 player and his video games.
I don't miss cursive, my handwriting sucks. That's why I learned to type and use computers. I started collage in 1980. No one had a pc in their dorm and we had to use the computer labs. We didn't have a graphical interface. I see improvement here. LOL
There is improvement.I LIKE being able to heat stuff instantly in the microwave. I love working on a computer. I just think we need to make sure our kids also know about the other stuff too. Like you do with your son, Connie. That's good stuff.
You are soooo damn cute, Regina. I don't remember any of those things. I wasn't there. Ha...I ain't old!
SNORKLE!!!!! Okay, who ya trying to convince, Tess, my dear. Me or YOU???? :-)
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