Nostalgic

Take a moment to think back to when you were a kid and a teenager. Now, think about your kids or grandkids as teens and compare the conveniences they have today that you didn't have. There is so much new technology and it is crazy to think about all of the new things that have come up in the past few decades. The Internet alone has changed us all for the better and for the worse. Almost everyone has smartphones with the world at their fingertips but it can be so easy to get addicted to it. Streaming services have almost replaced cable television and music on the Internet has replaced records, cassette tapes, and CDs. Let's reminisce on some of the pains that teens today don't know anything about: 1. Trying to get ahold of someone while you're out and about Old phone / Flickr Back in the day, you could only call people at home. These days, you can reach anyone, just about anywhere! Cell phones have definitely increased safety while you are away from your home and decreased miscommunications. 2. Getting a ride Getting a ride / Travis Air Force Base These days, you can just download Uber or Lyft and get a ride whenever you need one. It helps a lot if you are out drinking alcohol, so you will not drink and drive. 3. Calling and asking to speak to the right person Making a phone call / Pexels Do you remember trying to call your friends or your crush and have to talk to their parents first? It was always so awkward! These days you can get ahold of someone on their personal cell phones. Teens these days don't even call each other that much, they mostly text! Would you have liked texting in your teenage years or do you still prefer phone calls? 4. Running out of blank discs or tapes Floppy discs / Freestockphotos.biz Kids these days don't know the struggle of running out of blank VHS tapes, blank floppy discs, or blank CDs when they want to record something. Everything can be saved in the mystical cloud now. 5. Standing in line for concert tickets Standing in line / Pixabay Before you could purchase concert tickets on the Internet, you had to go wait in line for hours to purchase tickets. There was nothing worse than getting to the front of the line only to find out that it was all sold out! 6. Forgetting the camera Old camera / Public Domain Pictures Before we all had smartphones with cameras, you had to bring a camera with you if you wanted to take photos when you were at an event. It was the worst when you forgot yours! Read onto the NEXT page to relive the memories of what you had to do to actually get your photos...teens would never understand this today! 7. Waiting for the film to develop Film / Flickr Speaking of cameras and photos, they were not instant like they are now. You had to go to the store to drop off your film, wait for it to develop and then go pick it up. It was awful when the photos didn't come out as you had hoped, but looking back on it now, it makes the good ones worth even more. 8. Doing research in school Research with books / National Park Service Kids have access to so much information now. In the past, all you had was books to do research with. It was certainly a more laborious process than it is now! Kids should feel lucky. 9. Using a map Map and compass / Pexels Just like apps like Uber and Lyft, smartphones make it easier to find where you are going. If you get lost, your phone can redirect you in the right direction too. Maps could be difficult to use and you had to pull over to figure out where you were going. 10. Using the Yellow Pages Yellow Pages / Flickr Teens these days don't know the difficulty of trying to find someone's phone number in the Yellow Pages book. They definitely don't know the difficulty when they were many people with the same name and you had to keep calling until you got the right person! I remember the small amount of excitement when a new yellow book was delivered to our door. Just something fun to flip through for an afternoon. 11. Using a typewriter Typewriter / Public Domain Pictures It was so frustrating to type on a typewriter and make a mistake and have to start over! 12. No air conditioning Ceiling fan / Pixabay Summers without air conditioning were the worst! Even though fans help, car rides and being at home was so sticky and miserable when it was really hot and humid outside. How many of these things do you remember? Do you think teens these days are so lucky? Some teens actually love vintage things. This teen wore her mother's wedding dress to prom and looks so beautiful!