I'm a whole "person old enough to drive in the US" older than 20.
In cat years I'm 252 years old.
I've lived over a third of a century.
When I was growing up...
- Cassette tape technology was brand new.
- LPs and 45s were the mainstay source of music.
- 8-tracks were still prevalent.
- CDs didn't exist.
- DVDs didn't exist.
- VCRs didn't exist.
- Microwave ovens didn't exist.
- Cellular phones didn't exist.
- Cordless telephones didn't exist.
- Pagers didn't exist.
- Cable TV didn't exist.
- The internet didn't exist. Actually it's predecessor did, but it wasn't publically accessible. And even if it was, it wouldn't have mattered, because...
- Personal computers didn't exist.
- Video games didn't exist. (Space Invaders, the world's first popular arcade game, was new when I was about 8 years old.)
- The world's smallest computers filled a rack the size of a vending machine.
- No video devices had flat screens.
- Video cameras were so expensive they were only for the rich.
- MTV (and anything like it) didn't exist.
- HBO (and anything like it) didn't exist.
- Distributed porn could only be found in magazines. Porn in motion was called "hiring a hooker".
- Drive-in theaters were common.
- Television had 13 channels....via the rabbit ear antenna sitting on top of it.
- Cars had points. (The old fogies will know what this means.)
- People born before 1880 were still alive.
- Legos didn't have fancy custom-designed sets. Only simple blocks in four different colors. And we could build almost anything with them.
- What couldn't be built with Legos could be built with an Erector Set.
- Dirt was actually a fun toy.
- The closest thing we had to a video game was a few hundred green plastic army men and a BB gun.
...and I wish I could go back to it all.
Elderberry, can I borrow your machine?