Things that are foreign to your kids, that were normal for you...

[diser_fam]

I remember wanting to know scores of baseball games on the west coast. We did not have a satellite dish or cable and only got CBS, NBC and ABC. West coast scores were not in the next day's morning paper, so you had to wait an extra day. My Grandmas subscribed to the evening edition of the paper, so I would call her sometimes for scores.

Crazy to think about now as scores are now at your fingertips in real time. And you can watch any game you want.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Interesting, given that seat belts (but not actual use) have been mandatory since 1968. And we did have car seats midcentury. Hooked over the passenger front seat, metal frame, cloth or vinyl seat, steering wheel with horn...

Car seats weren't mandatory until 1985

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Rotary dial phones. Answering machines with silly song messages. Floppy disks.

 

[jpakstis]

Correct. OP said we didn't have seatbelts, nothing about mandated usage.

Regrettable when dry humor needs to be explained, or flies over heads.

One of the first things my grandfather used to do when he bought a car was to actually remove the seat belts. I remember in the mid-80s Massachusetts passed a law requiring people to wear seat belts. He re-installed them. At the end of the year, they repealed the law and he took them back out.

Everyone went nuts over that law. I remember you could buy a t-shirt that made it look like you were wearing one of the seat belts that goes across your chest. Its so weird that someone would go to the trouble of buying a t-shirt and having to wear it whenever they were driving instead of just wearing the seat belt.

 

[ChrisFL]

typewriters, VCR's, walkmans

There's a youtube channel about kids reacting to various old technology which is funny

 

[L&Lfan]

Women wearing hats and gloves as part of everyday dress for leaving the house. And girdles.

 

[jpakstis]

I remember wanting to know scores of baseball games on the west coast. We did not have a satellite dish or cable and only got CBS, NBC and ABC. West coast scores were not in the next day's morning paper, so you had to wait an extra day. My Grandmas subscribed to the evening edition of the paper, so I would call her sometimes for scores.

In the same vein, but sports broadcasts where the score isn't on the screen the whole time. I remember when Fox debuted it when they got football, then you'd switch to NBC, which would only show the score periodically, and it felt like time stood still until they would show the score again.

Having to call your local paper's sports line to get the scores. I did that a few times. Or wait for Headline News' sports scores at 19 and 49 minutes past the hour.

One thing my parents still do that seems like its from the 50's. They still listen to our local AM news station to get traffic ("traffic on the 3s"). When we go to Cape Cod for the weekend, during the summer, we all would have to shut up whenever the traffic report would come on Sunday afternoons.

For that matter, physical maps! I lived in LA in the late 90s/early 2000s and everyone had this big spiral-bound map of the city. Thomas Guides.

 

[jpakstis]

Women wearing hats and gloves as part of everyday dress for leaving the house. And girdles.

I clerked for a judge my first job out of law school. He was appointed by Lyndon Johnson. He said you used to have to put on your hat even if you were just going to another floor in the same building.

 

[RangerPooh]

I just came across my phone calling card from when I went to Europe in 2002. It was the only way to contact my parents. I think I may have used it once I returned for a few calls that would have been long-distance charges otherwise.

One of my friends recalled using hers when she traveled to Europe back in 1998. She would call home to her parents who would only use a minute (You alive? Where are you headed to next? Ok, stay safe), and use the rest to call her boyfriend (now husband).

 

[Boopuff]

Dressing up for church, holidays, work! leaving the house to go play and having to be home when the street lights came on!

 

[TLSnell1981]

One of my friends recalled using hers when she traveled to Europe back in 1998. She would call home to her parents who would only use a minute (You alive? Where are you headed to next? Ok, stay safe), and use the rest to call her boyfriend (now husband).

Or calling collect for "Ima Fine"...so they could decline the call at no charge.

 

[starvenger]

- VCRs
- Saturday morning cartoons (that I missed on the first airing because I went to Saturday morning Chinese school)
- Dial up modems
- CRT televisions
- Dressing up to fly on airplanes
- "Non-smoking sections" on airplanes
- "Chinese feather duster," which to my knowledge has never once been used to dust by an Asian parent, ever. (you'll have to google it)

 

[kaytieeldr]

Car seats weren't mandatory until 1985

Bless your heart. "1960s car seat with steering wheel".

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/563864815818474447/

 

[kaytieeldr]

One thing my parents still do that seems like its from the 50's. They still listen to our local AM news station to get traffic ("traffic on the 3s").

Well, of course they do! Waze can only report so much. Traffic cams and copters are much more all-seeing!

 

[JoanneAZ]

How easy it is to get Xrays at the dentist today.

Recently I brought my son to the dentist for a check-up/cleaning. When we were leaving he smiled and said, "That wasn't so bad." I had to tell him about how horrible Xrays used to be when they used to jam those hard plastic things in our mouth and make us bite down. Ripped the heck out of our gums. Ouch! Anyone remember that?

Dentistry as a whole is soooo much more pleasant than decades ago.

Yes! The awful plastic bitewing xrays! They always made me gag. I love digital xrays, they’ve made a huge difference for me.

 

[tvguy]

Pagers come to mind.....

LOL. My son has one for his work. He does IT for the state and works inside high rises where all the steel and concrete block cell signals (which transmit at 800-900 MHZ). Pagers operate on 49 MHZ which is a frequency range that can penetrate steel and concrete.
Most police and fire departments still issue them as well, likely for the same reason.

 

[JoanneAZ]

That news stations didn’t have that little ticker running across the bottom of the screen. The first time I ever saw that was a special case, they were announcing that Elvis had died.

 

[tvguy]

How easy it is to get Xrays at the dentist today.

Recently I brought my son to the dentist for a check-up/cleaning. When we were leaving he smiled and said, "That wasn't so bad." I had to tell him about how horrible Xrays used to be when they used to jam those hard plastic things in our mouth and make us bite down. Ripped the heck out of our gums. Ouch! Anyone remember that?

Dentistry as a whole is soooo much more pleasant than decades ago.

Oh Lord, PLEASE BRING BACK THOSE OLD FILM XRAYS. Yes, they could poke your gums, but those huge digital sensors they use now gag me, and you have wires hanging out of your mouth!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We were just talking about floppy disks the other day and our 20-something year old boys just stared at us like we were crazy. One finally said, “Why were they called floppy disks when they didn’t even flop?” We explained that the bigger ones were flexible and did flop, but then the smaller, hard plastic ones came along that didn’t flop but were still referred to as floppy disks. More blank stares.

Wonder if they were just too young to use them in school (using your 20 something age aspect) or maybe your schools didn't use them. Even my sister-in-law who is 23 knows what floppy disks are even if she didn't really use them as flash drives were more common back then--do your kids know about flash drives?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

One thing my parents still do that seems like its from the 50's. They still listen to our local AM news station to get traffic ("traffic on the 3s").

We have traffic reports on most of our FM stations. One of the well known ones discusses the traffic while he is in the helicopter. I don't really tune into the FM stations for the traffic but they def. give the traffic report for the metro at specified times.

That said if I start to see a backup normally my go-to is Google Maps where I turn on traffic part. If it's red or dark red yup it's a traffic jam lol.

Well, of course they do! Waze can only report so much. Traffic cams and copters are much more all-seeing!

These days we also have digital traffic boards which use traffic cams and helicopters and user-driven called in reports.