Time Moves On – 5 Things Kids Won’t Know
Time Changes
Tire swing and boy
People will quote the only constants in life are, “death and taxes” (I wouldn’t put it past anyone if they were both made irrelevant too). Inevitably, our children grow up, we get older and current technology becomes obsolete. I read a post, I Want To Slam The Phone Down by Gina Valley, that made me laugh and think about how quickly things change. As an “old school” father, I sometime languish for the past. I can remember things that my son will never have the joy of knowing.
Phone books
As I was growing up, families actually looked forward to receiving a phone book. Every year, when a new edition arrived, you quickly opened it to make sure you still existed. It was only horrific if the phone company misspelled your name or had printed your phone number wrong (this actually happened to my family and for an entire year we had the number of a local auto mechanic).
I actually feel bad for my son, he will never know the joy of looking up names and numbers (especially the ones that they print wrong). I met some of the most interesting people because the phone company published a wrong number. In all honesty, I can’t miss the phone book entirely because we still receive one every year. Currently, our phone book is nothing more than a dust magnet and an occasional paper weight.
Movie Tickets
I am purist and a realist and I LOVE Star Wars (what’s not to love?). I am going to show my age here and tell you I saw Star Wars, for the first time, at the movies in 1977 (my uncle took me to see it when I was 8). The option to see a midnight showings or buy an advance ticket online was not available.
We went to the theater and waited in line to “hopefully” buy a ticket! Star Wars was no ordinary movie….the lines were long and you waited patiently if you wanted to see it (we waited for over 2 hours). It felt like we were living proof for the song, “I Have A Golden Ticket” when we actually had the movie tickets in our hands.
My son, lives in a different world, we print our tickets from the house. We don’t have to get to the movie theater early. He has never had to wait in line and try to bribe the people in front of him to leave so he can move up in the line quicker.
Directions
There was a time in my life that my wife and I would argue when we went on a trip (I would get lost). Being the typical male, I didn’t want to stop for directions! If I had stopped for directions that would mean defeat (and I had no intention of being defeated by not knowing where I was going). It was much more fun to drive back and forth on the highway (in a continual loop) and miss my exit 7 times (actually happened in Dallas, Texas).
My son is growing up believing that the only way to get from point A to point B is by using your cell phone. He won’t ever know the joy of arguing with your spouse and saying, “I am never lost! I know exactly where we are all the time!” (I can’t help it if the car didn’t know where we were).
Time
I received a watch from my parents as a graduation present. It was something they looked forward to buying for me and something I still cherish. Owning a watch made a person responsible for checking that it had the correct time. It was nothing for my watch to run either to fast or to slow.
You could effectively be late or early for anything. I could even arrive late on purpose and blame my watch. Try that with an I-Phone that has exact time. Yes, you can tell your friends that your i-Phone died but who wants to tell their friends that an Apple product messed up (or you were too lazy to charge it).
Black
and
White
Photos
Time moves faster every year between a mother and son.
I believe a black and white photo is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and can convey a stronger message than a color photo. As a boy, it was fun to look through my grandmothers photos (most of them black and white) and try to imagine the different places. A black and white photo is a moment that is frozen forever.
I enjoy photography. As a gift, I decided I would give my wife a series of photos I took of Xander and her in black and white. I thought it would be fun to include Xander in helping me. I asked him to help me pick out the photos for the gift. Xander looked at the pictures with shock and immediately asked, “What’s wrong with them?” I quickly looked and said, “Nothing is wrong with them. Why?” Xander’s eyes got bigger and he walked away from me and said, “I go get the crayons so we can fix them!”
Times change far to quickly. Children today live in an instantaneous world with everything at their fingertips. How do feel about life changing so rapidly? Is there anything from the past that you miss? Have you ever had to explain “old school” technology to your children? Tell me in the comments!!!
You can read my last post here: Men vs. Women and Child Injuries If you like this post you can follow me on my twitter @dadblunders.
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Tags: children, current technology, dad, midnight showings, star wars trilogy
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Hey there! Great post! The Missus and I were just talking about this last night. Specifically that our son may be one of the last group of kindergarteners to still use paper books! With Kindles, Nooks, and iPads, paper books are rapidly becoming a thing of the past and schools will eventually follow the trend. I love your son’s “fix it” attitude about the black and white crayons!
Justin- Writing Pad Dad
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Justin,
I had a lot of fun writing this post. It actually was making me laugh as I was writing it (sad but true). I know there are so many new things in our world for our kids to experience but sometimes I miss a few of the old things (they just seemed to give life a little more character) I guess I am getting old….sigh
Aaron
You made me feel so old.
You were luck that you could stand in a line and buy movie tickets. Where I come from, boys where less civilised. The strong guys would climb over other people’s heads just to buy tickets and resell them at double price. I don’t even recall seeing any girls in our local movie theatre. 
.
When I tell my kids how all the kids in the neighbourhood used to gather at one house to watch MacGyver on a 14-inch black and white TV, they don’t believe me. Only one family out of more that 40 families on our street had a television.
I call them the good, old days and they don’t understand why.
Churchill,
Writing this particular post was a lot of fun but at the same time it definitely made me feel old.
It was during the holidays we were “trying” to watch a black and white movie when my son asked me if the television was broken….sigh….my son doesn’t seem to realize that the world actually doesn’t always have color (such are modern time I guess….lol)
Aaron
Your comment on black and white photos made me chuckle. I had a student (I teach at a university) tell me that some discovery had to have been made more than 50 years ago because the photo of the scientists involved was in black and white. What strange logic.
Penny,
The logic of “older technology” and youth never fails to amaze me. My son almost had a complete meltdown during the holidays because we “tried” to watch a black and white movie on television. He was insistent that the television was broken and it needed to be fixed “now!” I will give my son some credit because he is only 3 but I can definitely see the generational difference. He has grown up in an instantaneous, colorful world!!
Aaron
Hey Aaron
Time and technology seem to move more quickly the older I get!
I miss an age of more innocence, where you could leave your door unlocked and not expect to be burgled.
I used to play outside for hours as a young child on our farm but I wouldn’t let my son do the same now even when he is a bit older as you don’t know who’s around these days.
I miss only having 4 channels on the TV to watch instead of the vast array we have today. information overload!
Tim,
When I get “overly” nostalgic (and it seems to become more frequently the older I get) I remember something my granny used to tell me. She never liked when people said they weren’t living in the “good old days.” She was happy to remind anyone, “The good old days were right now! If you don’t believe me try using an outhouse in the middle of winter.” She would tell you that without indoor plumbing life didn’t mean that much….lol
I do recall only having four channels on the television set! We had a great “early version” of a remote control too! Every time my dad would want to watch something else he would tell me to get up and change the channel for him (it was an instant and original exercise program too)!
Aaron
My mom & MIL have both jumped on the current trend in cell phone technology and can’t seem to ever recall a time when people weren’t accessible 24/7. My hubz and I don’t have cell phones, and it shocks the generation before us. I don’t exactly understand how their minds work. After all, these are the people who grew up BEFORE TVs and phones (and particularly computers etc.) were such common household fixtures. Blows my mind, how quickly some adapt!
Andi-Roo,
I always like telling the story about “remote controls.” My family had one of the earliest versions of a remote control. My dad would holler, “Aaron get up and change the t.v. for me….now!!!”
I can also add as a bonus story that we had one of the earliest versions of satellite’s (long before direct t.v.)
My dad would holler, “Aaron come hold this coat hanger and tin foil so we get a better picture….okay move back a little bit….little bit more….okay that about right now!”
I would answer “Dad, I am in the kitchen now and can’t see the T.V.”
Being the loving father I had he would answer back to me, “It’s okay son….I can still see it for you”
Technology changes and times change….it is a circle of life.
Aaron
P.S. I had a blast writing this one (okay actually I have had a blast writing the last few I have done)!
Hi Aaron, Truly great post! You’re right all of these items are relics of the past. You will probably enjoy this Mashable article about tickets of classic events you can get for your Paasbook app on your iPhone, such as a ticket on Titanic: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/10/13/historic-passbook-passes/
What will our children be telling their children about relics of their past? Kindles? iPads? Cars? Television? Movie theaters? Tech is changing life so quickly, our lifestyles are changing rapidly. This article illustrates beautifully how tech is dramatically changing our lives. Well done.
Carolyn,
Thanks so much!
I truly had fun writing this particular post (okay I truly have fun writing most of my posts)! I actually have a sequel already planned out for this and the change in my life versus our children’s. I enjoy reading Mashable a lot (like i do you). Thank you for the article about tickets…I am going to follow up on it.
There are so many relics from our past that have had their time and place in the “sun.” As long as Xander doesn’t begin to think of me as a relic from the past I will be okay with technology advancing….lol
Aaron