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  • (January 12, 2023, 01:18:11 AM)

Author Topic: Back in my day…  (Read 7739 times)

Chris

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Back in my day…
« on: January 14, 2017, 08:27:56 PM »

Even back in my day people were gunning others down in theaters
I think it’s appropriate to preface this by saying that back in my day I used to frequent Fark before it went downhill and there was a mass exodus of members. I don’t necessarily think there was any real reason why the site went down hill, either. I think it was a combination of the fact that there was more competition from sites similar to it, as well as the fact that social media became a staple in most people’s lives just before it could get real big and appeal to the masses. This notion really makes sense now because back then most sane people laughed it off thinking no one was ACTUALLY getting their news from social media, but we’ve all found out this is sadly true and has been going on for a long time now.  

This is just a long winded way for me to tell you that yes, I used to frequent Fark a lot back in the early 2000s but now find myself browsing Reddit several times a day.  

I saw in r/AskReddit someone asked “What will be the Millennial generation's ‘I had to walk 20 miles uphill both ways in the snow to school every day’?” and I got to thinking… “Yeah… what will I tell my kids when they’re in their early teens?”  

Some people responded with the obvious “Back in the day you had to wait for the modem to connect to the internet… we only had a 14.4k modem!” or “We had to actually drive our own cars!” but what are some other things that us millennials had to endure that the next generation will find to be barbaric?  

Opposing opinions
Apparently this has been going on for a while now but I have only started to take notice of it over the last 4 or so years. We have a global epidemic going on in which younger people, people post-millennial age, no longer want to listen to other people’s opinions, nor do they want to have to defend their own when questioned by someone who doesn’t share their same view. And I’m not talking about the late 60s and 70s “stick it to the man” mindset.  

The parents of the girl on the ground voted for Trump. She should have known better.
Sadly, I don’t think this is something that is ever going to be fixed. I think thanks in part to technology and social media platforms people are either fed content that plays into their perceived persona that has been extrapolated by some fancy algorithm, or they themselves have effectively doctored what they will “hear” by unfollowing/blocking any friends who don’t seem to meet eye to eye, and only visiting websites and reading content that cater to their own likes.  

Now when they go out in the “real world” and run into someone who doesn’t agree with their opinion on a certain subject matter they no longer know how to effectively deal with the situation.  

Back in my day you would see lengthy forums topics online of people arguing and defending their opinions on something they felt strongly about, or college students could actually have meaningful debates with their professors on a topic when given the opportunity to do so without fear of getting kicked out or ruthlessly ridiculed or attacked by other students. It’s sad - people now seem to have lost their gusto in defending their own opinions and are willing to live in their own little silos.  

Printed TV Guides
Yeah… for all you young people, this was actually a thing. You used to have to wait for the paper to get the TV guide for your cable provider to find out when Teen Mom was going to be airing on MTV. Oh wait, just kidding, we didn’t have trash like that on TV then. MTV actually played music videos then.  

But seriously, you would have to go through this book - usually it was printed every other week if I recall correctly - and highlight or earmark the shows that you wanted to watch or record using your VCR. There were no fancy DVRs with an easy to search/update listing of upcoming shows on each channel. And there was no real easy way to record something that was going to be on late at night. Sure, you could program the VCR to record it when it came on, but you had to program it that day and god forbid if you messed it up then it didn’t get recorded. TV guides rival card catalogues in terms of how primitive things were just 20 years ago. Hell, I don’t think my local library at the time transitioned from the old card catalogue system to computers until 2000. Both of these changes were welcomed by us millennials.  

Maps and MapQuest
I like to brag about the fact that I have a pretty damn good sense of direction and therefore don’t have any issues with using a map to find my way from point A to point B if given a few moments to review the map and maybe take note of one or two significant landmarks indicated on the map in the area. Kids who are just starting to drive now? Not a chance in hell could they use a map. They’re lucky to be able to find their way to their own high school when it’s time for them to start driving on their own without the assistance of a GPS.  

I remember getting lost in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 2005 because I didn’t have a GPS to help guide me and I was just winging it trying to pick someone up. New Brunswick is especially challenging because of the number of one way streets there are - I wound up getting within one block and then just walked the rest. Pretty damn good considering I looked up the directions the night before and was going off of memory. Looking back on the situation I am pretty lucky I didn’t go down the wrong street and wind up being held up at gunpoint and robbed.  

Infrequent Mass Shootings
Almost every week we’re hearing about some kind of mass shooting in which numerous people were gunned down in a public place and even beyond the ones that make the national headlines there are numerous instances that occur on a daily basis around the United States. Did this go on back in the 80s and 90s? Of course it did, but did it happen at such an alarming rate like it does now? I don’t recall there ever being such fear back in the 90s as there is now when it comes to the threat of potentially being gunned down when going out shopping with your family one afternoon.  

This isn’t meant to be a piece on whether gun control should or should not be a thing, all I’m pointing out is that back in the day I think we can all agree that mass shootings did not occur as frequently as they do in 2016/2017. Perhaps the media and social media allows us to hear about these instances at a much higher rate than in prior years, but it sure does seem like the instances of it occurring are much more frequent that they were even back in the early 2000s.  

Aren't we supposed to be driving flying cars already?
Cars that aren’t self driven
Being a geek and a motor head, I’m kind of torn about the notion of cars being able to drive themselves in a few short years. Sure, we already have cars on the roads that are driving themselves, but they are mostly reserved for the rich. And yeah, Uber has some self driving cars on the streets running red lights, too. But they are still not ready to be rolled out in mass quantities.  

In all likelihood though, in 15/20 year’s time cars will no longer be driven by humans but instead by themselves. Just think about all the possibilities there are and how much extra time everyone will have for selfies and other nonsense.  

This for sure is going to be one of those things that I will harp on my kids for when they have the luxury of hopping into their car and having it drive them somewhere without the need of interacting with it. Let’s just hope the iRobot scenario doesn’t play out on us and the cars come after us as a form of rebellion.

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Kingseason

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Re: Back in my day…
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2017, 05:29:15 AM »

What is it to read the information into knowledge so too. I like it a lot because I'm not that good.
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Chris

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Re: Back in my day…
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2017, 10:36:21 AM »

What is it to read the information into knowledge so too. I like it a lot because I'm not that good.

Yes, have some.

Pepe, is that you?
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BizB

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Re: Back in my day…
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2017, 01:28:51 PM »

What is it to read the information into knowledge so too. I like it a lot because I'm not that good.
Condition are too what thou hast into. Believe in that which were.
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Demosthenes

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Re: Back in my day…
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2017, 06:53:55 AM »

I are with the that which was; you too am having.
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ivan

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Re: Back in my day…
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2017, 01:38:02 PM »

What is it to read the information into knowledge so too. I like it a lot because I'm not that good.

Hmm...

Was ist es, die Informationen auch in das Wissen zu lesen. Ich mag es sehr, weil ich nicht so gut bin.

Что это прочитать информацию в знания. Я это очень нравится, потому что я не так хорошо.

'S e sin a leughadh air an fhiosrachadh gu eòlas. Is toil leam e tòrr nach eil mi cho math.

だから、知識に情報をお読みください。私はあまりよくないですので、私はそれをたくさん好きです。

Ita, placere notitia legere in scientia. Quia ego bonus sum ego multum placet.

Alors, s'il vous plaît lire les informations dans la connaissance de lui. Parce que je suis bon, je l'aime beaucoup.

Do, bonvolu legi la informojn en la scio de li. Ke mi estas bona, mi ŝatas ĝin multe.

Έτσι, διαβάστε τις πληροφορίες σε γνώση του. Είμαι καλά, μου αρέσει πολύ.

तो ज्ञान में जानकारी पढ़ें। मैं ठीक हूँ, मैं सच में पसंद है।

Lesa upplýsingar í þekkingu. Ég hef það fínt, eins og ég í raun.

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