Feeling Old? Read This!

Comparing life in 1976 with today

Comparison of life in 1976 vs. 2006

1976: Long hair
2006: Longing for hair

1976: KEG
2006: EKG

1976: Acid rock
2006: Acid reflux

1976: Moving to California because it's cool
2006: Moving to Arizona because it's warm

1976: Tryin to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
2006: Trying NOT to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor

1976: Seeds and stems
2006: Roughage

1976: Hoping for a BMW
2006: Hoping for a BM

1976: Going to a new, hip joint
2006: Receiving a new hip joint

1976: Rolling Stones
2006: Kidney Stones

1976: Being called into the principal's office
2006: Calling the principal's office

1976: Screw the system
2006: Upgrade the system

1976: Disco
2006: Costco

1976: Parents begging you to get your hair cut
2006: Children begging you to get their heads shaved

1976: Passing the drivers' test
2006: Passing the vision test

1976: Whatever
2006: Depends

And...

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things.. Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of this year's incoming freshmen.

Here's this year's list:

The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1987.

They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.

The CD was introduced the year they were born.

They have always had an answering machine.

They have always had cable.

They cannot fathom not having a remote control.

Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.

They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.

They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

They never heard: "Where's the Beef?","I'd walk a mile for a Camel", or "de plane, Boss, de plane".

They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is.

McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.
19,942 views 25 replies
Reply #3 Top
Old? Me? Noooo, I'm hip and with it.

Ouch, my hip. Where's my cane?
Reply #4 Top
The first stuff didn't make me feel old but the last stuff sure did. The fact that the 80s are "retro" makes me feel old too! I don't have any gray hair yet though...that I know of
Reply #5 Top
God, I HATE you!
Reply #6 Top
This makes me think of my dad.

I was born in '79, so I missed a lot of this myself, but my dad sure misses his hair! Hahaha.
Reply #7 Top
I remember going to my grandfather's house in 66.  He lived in California, and we were just moving out there.  And He had Cable then!  So there are a lot of people even here on JU that dont know what it is like to not have Cable.
Reply #8 Top
So there are a lot of people even here on JU that dont know what it is like to not have Cable.


I didn't have cable until I got to college. We lived in the boonies where there was no cable and satelites were either not available yet, or more likely, my family couldn't afford it. We made do with 4 channels! I had to go to my friend's house "in town" to catch the Brady Bunch
Reply #9 Top

I remember going to my grandfather's house in 66. He lived in California, and we were just moving out there. And He had Cable then! So there are a lot of people even here on JU that dont know what it is like to not have Cable.


It was the mid 70s before we even had a color tv. I didn't even hear of cable until around 1980. Like JillUser, we only had 4 channels, but we could usually find something worth watching (at least we thought ;~D), now people have 35-350 channels of "nothing to watch".

I don't have tv at all now, there are times I really miss it, but I don't miss it 1/10 as much as I thought I would. :~D
Reply #10 Top
I remember when cable came out...and I remember when VCR's came out....I remember...wait, I forget...
Reply #11 Top
remember when cable came out...and I remember when VCR's came out....I remember...wait, I forget...


Quit it! You'll tell "everyone" how old we really are!

Joke for ya.

Question: What are the 3 fastest ways to move information?

Answer:
1. Telephone
2. Telagraph
3. Tell a woman!


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Reply #12 Top
I remember when cable came out...and I remember when VCR's came out...


First movie on VHS: Alien.

First movie on Laser Disc: Xanadu.

Favorite show on cable: You Can't Do That on Television.
Reply #13 Top

Favorite show on cable: You Can't Do That on Television.

IN the early days, HBO had a Vaudeville show. I realy enjoyed watching those.  Sadly, that went the way of the dinosaur.

Reply #14 Top
now I feel old. sigh. I'm not ready to grow up yet!
Reply #15 Top
IN the early days, HBO had a Vaudeville show.


Was that in between episodes of that Midnight Taxi show?
You know, that soft-core porn show that came on around 2 am... not that I would know, of course...
Hey, come on! I was 12, guys! Of course I wanted to see porn!
Reply #16 Top
I was born in 1984, so chances are not even my parents can remember much of the early 70s (although my hippy aunt says that anyone who can wasn't there, whatever that means). But with your other list there's a few I don't know about.

They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.

I have vague memories but nothing concrete. I have a clear understanding in my head though that it involved packing materials in some way.

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

For sure. They drilled that one into my head in primary sex ed classes, even before I had any idea what they were talking about (From the video I got the vague idea that guys and girls in oversized jumpers were attacked by the grim reaper if they sat down on the grass together. Fortunately I didn't wear oversized jumpers so felt perfectly safe).

Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
Were they ever any other way? If so, what?

The CD was introduced the year they were born.
I think I bought a tape once when I was a kid, but my first stereo at the age of 10 had a cd player.

They have always had an answering machine.
Yeah. And I religiously ignore every message to this very day.

They have always had cable.
Nope. Cable didn't hit Australia in any big way til the late 90s, and even now it's fairly rare.

They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
We did have one of those antiques with a knob you had to turn, but it blew up when I was in year 2 in primary school, so more or less yes to this one.

Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
For sure. How are you supposed to keep the popping contained if it's not?

They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is.
Damn right. Who the hell is JR?

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.
It really can't be that hard if my ancestors could do it. I'm quietly confident.
Reply #17 Top
This is very old already. From 2000, I think.

The second part is certainly older than the Columbia catastrophe.
Reply #18 Top
Cactoblasta:
Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.

Were they ever any other way? If so, what?

Metal, you had to use a bottle opener to pry the lid off one.

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

It really can't be that hard if my ancestors could do it. I'm quietly confident.

Good luck finding one in working order. Probably went the way of your old TV, with the knob. (Heh, he said "knob".)

Leauki/Andrew:
This is very old already. From 2000, I think. The second part is certainly older than the Columbia catastrophe.

Probably is. I can't claim to have written it. Found it and posted, hoping it would strike up a conversation on how the world has changed in our lifetimes. And it has.

"Old at being young; young at being old" -- Stephen Page
Reply #19 Top

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.


I was born in 1977 and the only typewriter I know how to use is the 1938 model that my father used to use until the early 90s.

(He was one of the first people in Germany to use computers. He even knew the inventor of the digital computer in person. But he didn't use one at home for quite a long time.)
Reply #20 Top
Was that in between episodes of that Midnight Taxi show?
You know, that soft-core porn show that came on around 2 am... not that I would know, of course...
Hey, come on! I was 12, guys! Of course I wanted to see porn!


Actually, just before! As they did have strippers.

And where were your parents young man?
Reply #21 Top
I have vague memories but nothing concrete. I have a clear understanding in my head though that it involved packing materials in some way.


No, the O rings. The cold made them contract, and then the hot gasses leaked. I was at work when it happened. The Shuttle had become so routine, we rarely watched it any more. But we did have a TV in a conference room, and as luck would have it, it was across the hall from my cube. So I saw it.

Shuttles have not been routine since then.
Reply #22 Top
Were they ever any other way? If so, what?


Yes, that is what a bottle opener was for. Metal and they did not screw!

For sure. How are you supposed to keep the popping contained if it's not?


You put the popcorn in a pot, some oil and then when you hear the first kernel pop, you start shaking the pot so as not to burn the popcorn!

damn I am old!
Reply #23 Top
Were they ever any other way? If so, what?


Yes, that is what a bottle opener was for. Metal and they did not screw!

For sure. How are you supposed to keep the popping contained if it's not?


You put the popcorn in a pot, some oil and then when you hear the first kernel pop, you start shaking the pot so as not to burn the popcorn!

damn I am old!


Me too because I still do it that way sometimes.
Reply #24 Top
Yikes...is all I can say...I need a nap now
Reply #25 Top
They have always had an answering machine.

Yeah. And I religiously ignore every message to this very day.

Have you ever noticed something: back in the day, we used to get annoyed when the person we were calling had an answering machine.

Now we get annoyed when they don't.