For those of you who are over 30, do you recall the days of our youth when our parents used to tell us how hard they had it when they were our age? They’d say things like, “When I was young, I had to walk to school barefoot, in the snow and uphill – both ways.” Heck, I used to tell my kids that very same thing, jokingly of course.

And while kids do have it rougher as far as the moral decay of our society as well as the cost of living, technology wise, they have it pretty good. They are quite spoiled in fact but then again, I guess we are as well.

This is a humorous look at the differences between the time those of us over 30 were kids compared to kids today.

Cooking Food

Then: Use the stove, oven or build a fire to cook or heat food. And popcorn? We had to shake those Jiffy Pop thingees over the stove for what seemed like forever.

Now: Microwave ovens and even those aren’t fast enough for you. The stove and oven are more decor than items to cook with.

Accessing Information

Then: We would go to the library and look things up in a card catalog system.

Now: Just hop on the Internet and “google” it. What is a library? They have Wikipedia.

Written Communication

Then: Get out a pen and paper and actually write, then go to mailbox and mail the letter or postcard.

Now: Email, texting, instant messaging, Twitter… you get the point.

Free Music

Then: If you wanted free music, you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and then the DJ would usually talk over the beginning of the song. Either that or shoplift from the local music store (not that I did that).

Now: Napster, MP3’s and the like.

Telephone

Then: When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was. It could be your school, your mom, your boss, a collection agent – you just didn’t know. You had to pick it up and take your chances.

Now: Caller ID and voice mail.

Video Games

Then: Atari 2600 with games like Space Invaders and Asteroids. Your player was a little square which means you’d have to actually use your imagination. And there were no multiple levels or screens, just one screen. Furthermore, you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died. We’d eventually get bored and actually go out and play!

Now: xBox, Sony Playstation, Wii, etc. all with high-resolution 3-D graphics. Kids don’t know what it means to “go outside and play.”

Television

Then: Yes, we had analog cable but it consisted of about 15 channels. No on screen menu and no remote controls either. You had to use a little book called a TV Guide (do they have those anymore) to find out what was on and actually had to get off your arse and walk over to the TV to change the channel.

Now: High definition all digital cable television with a gazillion channels to choose from, on-screen menus, even search functions, TIVO and kids still complain, “There’s nothing on.”

Movies

Then: No surround sound and all the seats were the same height. If a tall guy or some old lady with a hat sat in front of you, forget about having good visibility.

Now: State of the art surround sound, screens that are humungeous and stadium seating.

Yep, technology is pretty good for today’s kids. But then again, didn’t we think we had an advantage over our parents? 😉