Millennial Edition: "It Never Used to Be Like That" Game

[peaceful-forest]

I saw this game over in the Gen X forum. (Here's the thread: The "It never used to be like that" game) It looked fun and I thought I would start the Millennial edition.

Here's the rules: those born from 1981 to 1998, think back to when you were growing up (the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s). Think of 3 different things that you did back then that you no longer do now. This can include arts, media, technology, communication, transport, shopping, and education.

3 things I did back then:
1. Switch between the A side and B side of cable TV
2. Use a landline phone
3. Use LiveJournal as an Internet diary

 

[Shane R]

Remember when you used to have to call the movie theater or look in the local newspaper to find their showtimes? I don't even go to the theater anymore. Last time I did I took my kids as a treat and they place was about 3/4 empty. I don't know how they stay open.

 

[peaceful-forest]

Remember when you used to have to call the movie theater or look in the local newspaper to find their showtimes? I don't even go to the theater anymore. Last time I did I took my kids as a treat and they place was about 3/4 empty. I don't know how they stay open.

I think my mom used to look in the paper for the show times.

I think the last movie I went to was Jem and the Holograms back in 2015.

 

[dzheremi]

1. Watched Saturday morning cartoons. Of course now in the era of on demand everything, the idea of something only occurring at a specific time such that you had to wait for it so that you could catch it (or else wait for a whole week for it to come on again) probably seems ridiculous.

2. Found a job simply by seeing a sign in the window and walking in off the street to ask about it. Seriously, when I was maybe 19 I was walking around in my hometown and saw a sign that said "Do you like cheese? Inquire within!" I was intrigued, so I did just that. Walked out with a job. No LinkedIn or Indeed or whatever job hunting internet profile needed, since I'm guessing those things probably didn't exist yet (or if they did, I didn't know about them, since my family only had the internet starting the year before, and it was still a business tool for dad to send and receive work emails, not to browse).

3. Read big books of facts like the Guiness Book of World Records, various almanacs, etc. When I was a kid in the early 1990s, this was the only real way to know things outside of what you were taught at church or in school, unless you had parents who were rich enough and academically-minded enough to get you the full set of encyclopedias through the mail (I didn't). No one had the entire breadth of human knowledge accessible 24/7 on their phone, so I remember my friends and I would actually get into serious arguments about quotes from movies, members of bands, general facts about the world, etc. How do kids even argue now? Do they just angrily Snapchat each other links to Wikipedia articles or something?

 

[peaceful-forest]

1. Watched Saturday morning cartoons. Of course now in the era of on demand everything, the idea of something only occurring at a specific time such that you had to wait for it so that you could catch it (or else wait for a whole week for it to come on again) probably seems ridiculous.

Oh yes, Saturday morning cartoons! I loved them! I don't think they show them anymore because certain people griped about how "educational" stuff should be shown instead. Kids need to have fun too!

 

[kdm1984]

1. Use a typewriter to type/print something
2. Record songs off the radio onto a cassette tape
3. Roll up the car window using a wind-up handle

 

[elytron]

1. Play video games from cartridge. Example: Nintendo 64, Gameboy Color.
2. Aggressive inline skates. (Grinding curbs and rails, jumping off ledges.)
3. Rent movies from Blockbuster. Watch on VCR from VHS tape. Needing to rewind the tape afterwards.

Was born 1985

 

[Shane R]

3. Roll up the car window using a wind-up handle

I had a 2007 GMC Canyon single cab pickup truck that still had hand crank windows. I used to carpool with a guy and the first time he climbed in he was dumbfounded to see that.

 

[pen_and_poetry]

Shopping for Christmas gifts from a physical catalogue. We wore out the Sears and JCP catalogues that arrived every year with great anticipation, and then we would circle the gifts we would like. Now everything goes on an Amazon wishlist...

 

[Lost Witness]

Shopping for Christmas gifts from a physical catalogue. We wore out the Sears and JCP catalogues that arrived every year with great anticipation, and then we would circle the gifts we would like. Now everything goes on an Amazon wishlist...

I might have been too poor to have received such catalogues lol

 

[DragonFox91]

Unfortunately reading stuff online & browsing the Internet has mostly replaced reading books for me. I buy books, but then find myself reading articles & social media instead of the books I buy.

 

[Kale100]

1) De-Gauss the computer/tv screen.
2) Install DOS with a floppy disk in order to install Windows 95 in order to install Windows 2000.
3) After a casette turns to spagehtti, twirling a pencil in the gears with absolute terror hoping it doesn't get tangled or tear.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Three things that stick out to me are:

1. Used to get a pre-cooked pizza from Papa Murphy's (then called Murphy's Pizza) and rent videos from All The Best Video on Friday nights (pizza and a movie with the fam).
2. Never had a phone when I left the house: walked out the door and was unplugged until I came home and checked the answering machine, if I was out and needed to make a call I'd use a payphone. If I had no change I'd do that collect call trick.
3. Buy lunch for under $5.

 

[DragonFox91]

Whatever was on TV you were stuck watching.

Black & white video games.

 

[angelsaroundme]

Hope your favorite music videos played on TV because you couldn't just watch them on Youtube

 

[GodDoesListen55]

1) Dial-Up Internet
2) Listening to the radio and hearing a song you really like then downloading it on Limewire to make a CD of it.
3) Gameboys.