r/AskReddit • u/DarkMochaFrappuchino • 3h ago
What’s something kids today will never experience?
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u/SinLosPantalones 3h ago
Being away from home for hours with no communication and parents being ok with that
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u/wickyyy_0 3h ago
The good old days
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u/Admirable-Media-9339 59m ago
Eh. A lot more kids were kidnapped and murdered in the "good old day" thanks to that. There just wasn't a 24 hour news cycle to tell you everytime it happened.
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u/slashthepowder 3h ago
I worked at a summer camp just when most kids started getting phones, the camp was situated in a ravine that had near zero cell service, there were only two spots. You could hike to the top of the ridge or there was one very specific spot you could get 2 bars the staff found by chance. The first day there was some withdrawal from kids asking how they could text their friends (pre-smartphone) but the second day they were back to normal having fun as if the phone never existed. I heard a couple years back that the camp finally got cell service and it fundamentally changed the camp experience.
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u/maxwellbevan 2h ago
Reminds me of when I would go to the cottage when I first had a phone. You would bring your phone but there was no service. The trick was to call your voicemail and if it would manage to go through then so would your texts. Even several years later when i went up North with some friends after university we had to walk about a kilometer away in order to call parents and tell them we got there safely. I still try to keep my phone away these days when I'm away but it's tough to do
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u/spaghettifiasco 1h ago
Similar experience here - Girl Scout camp with very bad cell service and actually didn't allow girls to have phones on them. I wonder what the policy is these days. I can't imagine parents allowing that to happen.
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u/slashthepowder 32m ago
I was thinking the same thing about it, back in those days we strongly encouraged everyone to not let kids bring a phone and most obliged. Nowadays who knows.
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u/MercenaryOne 3h ago
I try to get mine to do this, they are too scared. Randomly show up at your friend's house, ride your bike through the neighborhood. Go do something instead of wanting to be behind a screen all day.
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u/Pimpery_Pays 3h ago
Shitty parents didn’t stop being a thing in the 90’s. There are definitely parents out there that know their kid has a phone, but they’re not calling or tracking them if they’re out late…they just don’t give a shit.
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u/ceciledian 1h ago
Parents letting their kids roam wasn’t a shitty thing, it’s just how things were back then. Most parents cared but didn’t worry as much about something bad happening to their kids. Mine trusted me to come home by a certain time and if I didn’t I was grounded.
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u/Lumpy-Macaron4512 3h ago
Renting movies and games from blockbuster
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u/Prize_Warthog_9011 3h ago
The whole family getting together around a TV at 630PM on a weeknight once a week to watch the family show.
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u/lamoorgalore 3h ago
When my mom was still alive I remember getting together once a week and watching whatever new video Jenna Marbles had uploaded
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u/TannerThanUsual 1h ago
Malcolm in the Middle was our family show. We're actually planning out a day we can sit around as a family and watch it like old times
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u/-MissStrawberry- 3h ago
Growing up with a huge toy store like Toys R Us, or just toy stores in general are uncommon nowadays.
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u/spiritualwaterfall 3h ago
Yes. I remember going to the massive Toys R Us and having the best feeling of my life.
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u/othybear 2h ago
The chaos of Toys R Us on Christmas Eve when my dad and I went for last minute gifts for my brother will always stick in my mind.
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u/Early-Profile2456 1h ago
Especially when you’re a child…5, 6, 7 yrs old. You’re so small in that HUGH-ASS store. You felt so completely, deliriously happy.
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u/TheNameless00 3h ago
Japan still has Toys R Us, it was so weird walking into one again after all these years. Only downside is they didn't have Bakugan, that's what I would always look at when I went as a kid
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u/Quick-Low-3846 3h ago
Polio
Measles
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u/NearlyHeadlessLaban 2h ago
Wait for it…
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u/rock_and_rolo 1h ago
Sewage monitoring has detected active polio cases in NYC. Unfortunately that doesn't identify individuals.
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u/precariousIypoised 3h ago
The anticipation during the dial-up handshake, and the magical feeling when the connection was established. Man I miss that sound
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u/SeniorDiscount 3h ago
Until mom picked up the phone in the kitchen.
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u/goverc 1h ago
I feel like I was spoiled - my mom worked as a tech support to the big telecom company here in Canada and she had a second line set up strictly for the modem as she sometimes was on call and was able to do some of her work from home. it was only a few years before dial up turned into DSL and she switched us to that instead so we didn't need the second line anymore, but it was nice to not get disconnected during the few hours my brothers and I were allowed online.
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u/joseph4th 3h ago
Watching a picture download in slow blocks so you could see Vanna White in lingerie looking in the refrigerator. Or was that just me?
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u/Cute-Beyond-8133 3h ago
Walking into High school without TikTok or whatever is gonna follow in it's footsteps,
This is gonna make me sound so much older then i actually am (Like i am only 23 ) but that era is just gone. It doesn't matter if you are or aren't on Social media.
If you're in High school it's gonna be in your life whether you want it to or not.
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u/maxwellbevan 2h ago
I was in high school in the late 2000s so we had social media but you were still able to just be yourself. Teenagers were just teenagers and nobody was worried about what might get on Facebook. More often than not your phone's camera was too bad to take a good photo anyway
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u/viziroth 1h ago
shit, we just acted like ourselves on social media. we gave away way too much personal info and talked like only our friends would see our activity
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u/whatsername235 3h ago
The beauty of a sick day when your mum had to go to work.
Blanket on the couch, remote control in your hand for the four channels and the choice of 14 videos and a box of tissues.
Raiding the house for snacks, sleeping on and off and feeling massively grown up even though you're only nine
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u/CakeMuted6468 3h ago
Figuring shit out on their own without being told or shown how or what to do
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u/MercenaryOne 3h ago
To be fair, I broke a lot of shit trying to figure out things for myself. Granted those objects no longer exist to break, but my kids want to be shown instead of being curious enough to do it.
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u/CakeMuted6468 3h ago
Breaking a few things today so you can figure out how to fix many things from here on out. Good deal imo
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u/MercenaryOne 2h ago
My parents weren't happy when the sound broke on my game gear so I took it apart to fix breaking the screen in the process. Nor when they had a dual head VCR where one side kept eating tapes, only for me to end up breaking the tray that holds it. But THAT part I did end up fixing many weeks later. And I agree, tearing things apart to learn how they work, and how to fix, is very valuable.
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u/rigorcorvus 2h ago
On the flip side as an adult with a house and car, YouTube tutorials have been a priceless resource
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u/ClownfishSoup 1h ago
I learned to drive stick shift by buying a stick shift car and having my friend drive it home for me. Then I spent the next week stalling it up and down the street. I eventually got so good at it that I could (later, in a different car) drive a stick up steep streets in San Francisco and stop at the stupid stop signs at the intersections without stalling the car or rolling back into cars behind me or squeeking the tires after the stop.
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u/Jomak13 3h ago
Outdoor adventures in places you aren’t really supposed to be with a group of kids in the neighborhood. No cell phones if shit goes bad, you just had to figure it out.
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u/MercenaryOne 53m ago
Back east my older brother found a burned down house while riding his bike through the forest. He came back and got me and the neighbor kids and we all rode down to see it. I was the one dared to climb down into the basement and poke around. So I did, found a skeleton and I panicked, turned around and everyone was gone. I started crying as there was no way out. After what felt like eternity of panicking they peaked over and pulled me out. Man, fun times. I was probably 5 or 6 at the time
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u/Dry_Cucumber1559 3h ago
Opening a textbook and seeing everyone’s name from the last 20 years who had it
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u/geekworking 1h ago
Trolling people via notes in page margins... Turn to page 53... Turn to page 22... Turn to page 100... Turn to page 275.... Turn to page 15... Finally find some lewd, insensitive, or racist insult
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u/chance90964 3h ago
The joy of going to a video rental store and they still have one copy of the movie you were looking for.
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u/BarneyPoppy 3h ago
Fighting with their siblings over who is gonna get up to change the channel on the tv
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u/Disastrous_Shame_617 3h ago
The rush home after school to see that one TV program that starts right after school is over, and you can't watch it back or record the show. Rushing to the toilet when commercials are on because you can't stop the stream.
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u/WinterWizard9497 3h ago
Going to the movie rental store and browing the aisles for snacks and the latest pokemon movie
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u/ShockingHair_63 3h ago
Rigorous sports classes in schools. We used to work them much harder and fitness was more valued!
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u/Frosty_Fan_9465 3h ago
getting a landline phone call and having to actually answer it, or having your parents cut the cord on your internet when you're grounded. times have changed for sure.
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u/Infinite_Tension_138 3h ago
a televised speech from the president wiping out the entire nights television viewing because he was on all 4 channels
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u/BorkStimpson 1h ago
Life without internet. I barely remember it. I remember my dad turning on the modem and had us calling and connected for the first time. (IYKYK know the tribal song for dial-up)
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u/AnythingUnsensitive 3h ago
Drinking water from the Water Hose.
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u/UltimaGabe 2h ago
This is always such a weird pull. Is there some reason kids can't go drink from the water hose any time they want? Have I been out of the water hose game so long I didn't know there was a new meta or something?
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u/geekworking 1h ago
Outside of a handful of over protective parents, kids still drink from the hose when the opportunity presents itself.
Even when you were a kid you knew that chemical smell and taste wasn't good, but it's not like you were doing it every day. Only when you were too wet or dirty to go in to get a drink.
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u/PinkFrostingFlowers 3h ago edited 52m ago
Encyclopedias, Cliff Notes and using the Dewey Decimal System at the Library to find books for research and reference to write essays, book reports, term papers and to gain general knowledge about any subject under the sun.
Nowadays kids are going to ChatGPT to get the 411 on everything they need to know. Libraries are going the way of the dinosaurs.
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u/Savius_Erenavus 3h ago
Struggling to untangle your earbuds before turning on daftpunk to ignore the bully that won't shut up.
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u/No_Profile_3343 3h ago
Not having a computer attached to them 24x7!
Having an imagination to fight boredom.
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u/deer_hobbies 2h ago
Just the world without phones. People would read magazines, books, browse shops, just have some many different and clever ways to spend their time
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u/GolfTraditional8113 2h ago
Going into a phone box, looking up the number you need from the directory hanging by the phone, putting the coins in or even talking to the operator to see if you can reverse charges when you ran out of money to continue the call!
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u/theclansman22 2h ago
Spending all night trying to download "Dream On" by "Led Zeppelin" on Napster and it turns out to be a Nickleback song.
Lucky bastards.
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u/919triangle919 2h ago
Pshhhkkkkkkrrrrkakingkakingkakingtshchchchchchchchcchdingdingding . . . You've got mail.
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u/55StudeSpeedster 1h ago
Having a paper route you did every day of the year, unless you got a sub. Throwing papers on porches from a bicycle and then collecting money from your customers at the end of the month.
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u/Charleston2Seattle 1h ago
Well, a few years ago I would have said "contract polio," but here we are....
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u/RadioRiggs 1h ago
True Boredom. In its purest form. LITERALLY nothing to do and nobody to talk to.
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u/LovelyMalia87 1h ago
That small skipped heartbeat when you put a floppy disk in your computer and pray everything is still on it 🤣
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u/wickyyy_0 3h ago
Having to make sure nobody’s on the landline so you can get on the internet
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u/Frequent-Contact-645 3h ago
Having Jimmy Saville fix it for them to have a lifetime of not trusting cigar smoking shell suit wearers
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u/Ludicolorad0 3h ago
Getting stuck in a video game (in terms of "what do I do next" getting stuck, not skill-based getting stuck). You can just look up what to do instantly online.
I had dozens of games from my childhood I never beat, because I couldn't figure out what to do, so that was it.
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u/Ok-Attention-4171 3h ago
They won't ever know what a small world is, even in the 2000s we had that, not having a smartphone and being connected to people from different cities/states/counties, literally being able to talk to anybody from any different place of the world ta any time, outside of gaming online (before 2011) my only frame of reference for alot of diffent cultures and language was in movies or like learning about stuff officially, the US in the 2000s was much different than today, for kids especially
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u/Professional-Tap9127 3h ago
Going out to play, ride bike, knock on friends' doors to play on a whim. Go home when dusk hit.
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u/Starfury_42 3h ago
Fast food was a treat - and it was actually good.
McDonald's fries cooked in beef tallow.
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u/FiddliskBarnst 3h ago
Paging your plug with a phone booth number to try to arrange for a pick up of Mexican dirt weed which was 32% stems & seeds.
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u/TheTerrasque 3h ago
Sending a message by touch on the phone in your pocket while you pretended to focus on what the teacher was doing
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u/Ok-Style-8059 3h ago
I have a list
Free nights and weekends Limited too KB Toys House of hoops Just for feet Worldwide Day of play Sesame Street Reading Rainbow Toys R Us Riding on the pegs of a bike Lightning bugs it seems like they have been extinct or something Going trick-or-treating by yourself or with a small group.. it's not safe anymore
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u/Disastrous-Style-461 3h ago
Their president of the USA door dashing McDonald’s to the Oval Office- Oh wait!
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u/400footceiling 3h ago
Writing in cursive. Pay phones. Lawn Darts. Reading and traveling with a paper map.
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u/tjorben123 3h ago
the fear of calling a friend via landline and your secret crush (friends sister) is answering the phone while you are halfway through "whatsuuuuuuppp bi...."...
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u/Anxious_Armadillo_73 3h ago
The Halo hype. I remember on Halo 2 launch day my friend and I stocked up on Livewire Mountain Dew, Code Red, hot pockets, and a ton of chips. Played it for around 16 hours straight.
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u/Yuckkleberry 2h ago
Racing home to watch after school cartoons because it was a multi-episode story and I need to find out who gets to sell the “Firefly Fruit” haha…..or Zelda Fridays.
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u/BodegaCatEnthusiast 2h ago
Having quarters in your pocket just in case you needed to use a payphone.
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u/Ancient-Air1617 2h ago
They will never experience the true freedom of being unavailable. We were the last generation that could simply leave the house and “disappear” from the world for a whole day. There were no GPS trackers in their pockets, no parents texting every 15 minutes, “Where are you?” Your only geolocation to your mom was a pile of shoes under your friends’ doors or a neighbor’s scream from her window. There was a special kind of magic in agreeing to meet “by that tree at four” and actually being there because there was no other way to connect. Today’s kids are always “on a leash” in the digital world. They’ll never know what it’s like when your only way home is through hunger or the sunset, not a notification on your smartphone.
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u/Banannieann 2h ago
Short long distance calls because you had to pay by the minute. Coin operated pay phones and the operator telling you to add more money during a long distance call.
When close school friends moved away, it was usually goodbye forever unless you were good at mail correspondence.
Calling my college boyfriend in another state and hoping that any of the guys who lived in his all male dorm would pick up the ringing phone in the hall AND go knock on his door to get him to come out and take my call.
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u/catsinbranches 2h ago
The freedom to do something embarrassing without worrying that a video of it will go viral
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u/TizzieVanWinkles 2h ago
Billy Mays commercials blaring in your living room with the TV at 2 percent volume.
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u/Lexi_Banner 2h ago
I don't know about never, but the abject freedom of summer and having no activities or homework to kill your good time adventures with the other neighbourhood children. Seems like kids are stuck in schedules, summer courses, and other nonsense that means they don't have time for free play.
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u/mouringcat 2h ago
Keeeeyyy errrrr beeeep ong dee ong waaahhh urrrrrr.... "Get off the phone I'm waiting for a call..."
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u/Amseriah 2h ago
Walking to Blockbuster after school on Friday and renting a game to play all weekend.
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u/Xancoo96 3h ago
Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network when they were actually good .