ever thought about

amother

Pearl

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 8:05 am

* the fact that if you are over 40 your parents probably raised you without sending a single email

* the empire state building was built without sending a single email

*Rashi wrote what he wrote without a single Google search

*Rambam never tasted chocolate

*if we are without electricity for a few hours, it is a disaster. But no one from 250 years ago and before ever had it

* the Vilna Gaon never made a telephone call

*People used to make 3 day Yom Tov without a fridge

*The Rama never flew anywhere

* the Ramban never went in a car

PinkFridge

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 8:31 am

I remember reading Dr. Twerski describe our live vs. just 100 or so years ago - everyone has electricity, running water, phones, basic major appliances like fridge, oven, washing machines. Then there are advances in medicine like antibiotics, vaccines, etc.

Was Reagan the last US president to grow up in a family without a car?

imasinger

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 8:38 am

amother wrote:

*People used to make 3 day Yom Tov without a fridge

DH has spent some time learning hilchos YT. Being allowed to cook on YT is directly related to the refrigeration issue long ago. I, for one, am grateful that it was not changed with the advent of refrigeration!

Aylat

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 9:14 am

I'm in my 30s and so much has changed even since I was a teen. It's seeing it through my kids eyes that makes me realise.

"You didn't have YouTube then? How did you listen to music?"

flowerpower

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 10:15 am

I always say that I am happy to have grown up without emails, text, computers, cell phones... life was so much simpler and happier then. If we wanted something we went to the store. No Amazon Prime. My kids don’t understand it.

TranquilityAndPeace

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 10:27 am

My grandparents couldn't fit all their Yom Tov food in the ice box about 100 years ago, so they put some on the cold windowsill outside. Birds ate it. So my grandfather shechted chickens that they kept in their yard on Yom Tov so they'd have more food. I think of this every Yom gov!

thunderstorm

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 10:36 am

How about photography? When I got married and had my first kid I still had the 35mm roll of film while my grandmother had the 110 film in that long thin camera ( don't know if any of you know what I'm talking about and I'm only in my thirties! How many times have I developed film to get back black photos because the entire roll was "exposed". You didn't have a screen to check out how that photo came out. You developed it and then you saw it didn't work!!!
And my kids have no idea what it means.

Chayalle

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 10:45 am

Aylat wrote:

I'm in my 30s and so much has changed even since I was a teen. It's seeing it through my kids eyes that makes me realise.

"You didn't have YouTube then? How did you listen to music?"

I have memories of being 5 or 6 years old, playing in my playroom and listening to records. Remember how they would sometimes get stuck on a scratch and a part would repeat itself over and over?

Later on we had cassettes.

My parents had an old tape deck - the kind where you put on these open reels to listen to music. It didn't work well by the time I was growing up, but I remember its existence.

Oh, and their old movie projector....no sound, only pictures. Their wedding was on one of them. My father recently had it converted to DVD.

amother

Peach

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 10:48 am

When I went to college, I carried a massive stereo along with purloined milk crates filled with albums.

My son took his phone and a miniature pair or bluetooth speakers.

But yes, I often think about how different things used to be.

Grandma wasn't a stay at home mom the way women today are. She was washing clothes with a washboard, beating rugs over a clothesline, and soaking and salting her own meat.

PinkFridge

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 1:19 pm

Chayalle wrote:

Our first car had an 8 track deck.

heidi

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 1:24 pm

Our parents left us at school and went about their business. Somehow we all survived even though they weren't instantly reachable.
In college we all shared one landline with a really long cord. Useful to drag into the bathroom or hallway for a "private" conversation.
Our school papers were typed on typewriters. When I went to college I got the latest invention, a word processor

PinkFridge

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 1:33 pm

heidi wrote:

In seminary, we had to keep a log of all of our calls, the time, and length, and one of the girls in the apt. did the math, monthly.
And re typewriters: When electric typewriters became affordable, oh joy!

amother

Peach

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 2:05 pm

heidi wrote:

Ahh. I went to a fancy schmancy school where all the dorm rooms were wired for phones. My brother's school's dorms had a payphone in the hallway. If you wanted to reach your kid, you would call, and someone would knock on his door. Parents would speak to their kids once a week.

ETA -- you'd make a collect call to yourself, at your parents' number, and then your parents would call back. As if that tricked the operator. An operator once told brother's friend, "that's OK, mom will call you right back."

crust

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 2:07 pm

The Gedolim in Yerushalayim had no AC. They learned and lived in the sweltering heat.
When I went to Teverya the first time it was the only thing I could think about.

Raisin

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 2:20 pm

I was an adult with kids for quite a few years before smartphones came about, and graduating high school when the internet was becoming commonplace. So I actually appreciate the advantages smartphones and internet bring. GPS, free texting, cheap international calls or video calls, camera always on hand, online shopping, podcasts...I definitely managed without many of these things but I don't think life was infinitely better. If I thought life was better before no one is forcing me to have a smartphone.

I remember we got a car about 17 years ago that we imported from Japan. It came with a built in GPS system. Only problem was no one in Europe (or the USA) had even heard of GPS systems. So it was useless with no software.

heidi

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 3:43 pm

Raisin wrote:

Me too. The ease of putting together a carpool or organizing food for the week for a friend in need is incomparable with a smartphone. When I first got one I organized a year's worth of carpools while DH was driving us home from a restaurant. In 30 minutes. I commented on how that used to take hours of back and forth calls. Sometimes even a meeting.

Chayalle

Tue, Jun 12 2018, 3:56 pm

PinkFridge wrote:

Our first car had an 8 track deck.

I remember my grandmother's first car. It had two doors, and you had to push it forward to get into the back. The back windows did not open, and there was no a/c. Guess what happened when yours truly was taken on trips in it during the summertime (hint: it was rather unpleasant on the olfactory senses.....).