What did we do before.....

Friday, March 4, 2011

What did we do before....
  • DVR's - Yes, we had to watch commercials. Yes, we had to schedule evening and weekend activities around our MUST see shows. Yes, we missed a lot more TV shows than we do today. Hmmmm......
  • Mobile Phones - And I'm talking dumb cell phones, the ones you can use to talk to people and nothing else. Yup, we had to find pay phones. We had to have long distance calling cards and plans, or lots of change. Sure, we were behind on the latest news, had to wait till we got home to our land lines. Hmmmm......
  • Microwaves - Oh yeah, we had to use ovens to heat up our leftovers...and we had to wait for the oven to heat up first. Meal preparation took longer for sure but we all sat down together to enjoy those meals. Hmmmm.....
  • Post-it® Notes -Ah, one of my favorites. No more staples that have to be removed. No more scotch tape that tear the originals. Any downside to this one? Hmmmm.....
  • Bar codes and scanners - Standing in line, waiting for a clerk to get a price for your item. Watching the ring-ups like a hawk, waiting for the clerk to enter the wrong price. Never really knowing if you over (or under) paid. Of course no one outside of the checkout clerk knew what you were buying. Hmmmm.....
  • Pocket Calculators - Oh my, the math we did in our heads...or on little scraps of paper. We memorized our times tables, we learned all kinds of math shortcuts. We could count, calculate and count back the correct change. We weren't stymied when someone handed us a twenty and a dime when the bill was $18.60. Hmmmm.....
  • Permanent Press Clothes - Ironing, an all day Saturday event when I was in high school. Spray starch in hand, music on the stereo and away I'd go. Now I don't buy anything that isn't permanent press. Hmmmm....
  • CD's and DVD's - Those were the days. Reels and reels of audio and movie footage. Shelves overflowing with 8-track audio and Betamax tapes. Tons of storage space eaten up by dust attracting cases....and then finding out that the tape was shot just when you wanted to watch or listen. Hmmmm.....
What did we do before? In some case I think we were better off. In others, not so much. But it's still find to think back over some of the innovations of the last 50-60 years. I'm sure you can come up with a lot more!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

9 comments:

  1. How about car seats. I saw on the news this morning where Georgia wants to raise the age from 6 to 8 for mandatory car seat use. And, I bet they'll ticket every tourist on the way to Disney with kids too!

    How did so many of us old farts live this long without ever using a car seat? My favorite place in the car when I was a toddler was standing up in the middle of the front seat.

    Then there is bottled water. We drank out of the hose if we were in town or if we were in the country out of the communal rusty tin cup hanging on the pump.

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  2. All good things. But on occasion I miss the ability to just drop below the radar screen and not be "in touch" 24/7.

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  3. How about laptop computers? Being able to sit in my recliner and catch up on all the blogs. Use to have to write letters and such. And blogs, how would I know what was going on in the world?

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  4. Digital cameras! Looking at my boxes and boxes of un-albumed photos and the stacks of albums already filled, I wonder how much money was spent on developing and printing. And do the kids REALLY want all those old photos when I'm gone? I wonder...

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  5. What about automatic washers and dryers. I sure don't want to go back to that wringer washer!

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  6. I remember our first television in the 50's..We were one of the first on our street to get one..the whole neighborhood came over to watch wrestling on that little bitty screen...
    What did we do without disposable diaper??? We bought LOTS diaper rash cream!! and rinsing those nasty diapers out in the toilet...YUCK! Our daughters would have a stroke...LOL

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  7. Amazing changes in our lifetimes. And it seems to be happening at an exponential pace. Just think what changes the next generation, or our grandchildren will experience in their lives!

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  8. GPS? Trip planning software? Websites that let you look at a campground before you get there? So much of the mystery of travel is gone. Is that good?

    Linda Sand

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