Memorable MondayWhen I was a Kid

Challenge -  How are things different now from when you were a kid?

Technology has changed so much since I was a kid.  When I was a kid, I often heard "Did I ever tell you that when I was a kid, we walked 5 miles to and from school in 3 feet of snow, up hill both ways?"   I hated that saying, but as I get older and try to tell my kids how spoiled they are with their gadgets I feel like I'm saying the same thing just with different works.  My kids have the internet, computers, cell phones, streaming TV, cordless video games, and so much more.  I want my kids to know of the technology that I used as a kid.  Maybe they will understand how lucky they are to have a cell phone with them.  

Whenever we wanted to talk to our friends, we had to call them on the phone.  The only phone that was available were the corded phones without neither caller id nor answering services.

Corded Telephone

We didn't have PC's when I was a kid, so if any needed to be typed, we used a typewriter.  I took a class and learned how to use this machine.  I learned how to type on a form with quick accuracy.  It was a tough class and I love that we can now use the computer compete with spell check  and grammar check.

Typewriter

When we wanted to watch a movie, we headed to the video store to rent a VCR and some movies.  We didn't do this very often, but when we did we would get several movies and have a movie marathon.  My kids use streaming TV and just pick a show to watch on Netflix.

VCR

When I was a kid, we listened to music through a boom box, if we were lucky.  The boom box had a tape deck as well as access to the radio.   Sometimes the audio tapes would get caught in the machine, so we used the radio more often.  

Boom Box

Since we didn't have computers, we used a card catalog to find books in the library.  We would look up the title of the book  in the card catalog and then use the Dewey Decimal system to find the book.  There are no card catalogs in the library today, but the Dewey Decimal system is still used.

Card Catalog

When we watched a film at school, we used use a film projector.  We would attend special classes to learn how to thread the film through the machine.  This was a fun machine to operate and I always felt important when I was asked to do it.

Film Projector

If we took pictures using a camera, we would have to wait to have the film developed.  There was no instant pictures except if you used the Polaroid camera.  The picture was printed on special film paper after the shot was taken.  The film for the Polaroid camera was expensive, so it wasn't used often.

Polaroid Camera

The only way to play video games was using the Atari.  Video games were a new idea and only a few homes at them.  My neighbors had one and once in a while, maybe 3 times a year, I would go over to play over with it.

Atari Video Game system

There have been a lot of technology changes since I was a kid.  It's so fun to look back on how much it has changed.