THE SPOILED UNDER-40 CROWD!!!

 

 

 

 

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning....

Uphill... Barefoot....

BOTH ways

ETC, ETC, ETC

 

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

 

But now that . . . I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today

I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

 

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the bloody library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

 

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!

 

Then you had to walk all the way across the street to put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 5 pence!

 

Child Welfare Services didn't care if our parents bashed us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our arses! Nowhere was safe!

 

There were no MP3's or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the bloody record store and shoplift it yourself!

 

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and **** it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone. Cause - that's how we rolled, dig?

 

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

 

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mum, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, !

 

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

 

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your arse and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!!!

 

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little sods !

 

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

 

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!

 

Regards,

The Over 40 Crowd.

 

Alan................

Bloody hell!!! I think some of you need to chill out a little and take the original first post in the manner to which it was obviously intended.... lightheartedly! That's certainly how I took it, as I'm also over 40 and have two kids who have most of those things, some of which I've bought them and some they've bought themselves.

Life wasn't as easy back in the old days as it is now, but that's progress. Parents, who could, spoilt their kids back then as well. It's the way of the world, those that can, do, those that can't don't!!

I think the youth of today are in a wonderfull position with what is available to them and also what will be (is being) developed. I also take advantage of what is available, and why not, as it's better than what I had before!

 

Cheers Dave, you hit the nail on the head, it was posted up as a bit of a laugh. I would be lost without Skype as thats how my daughter and I stay in touch, well that and emails.

 

No, I wouldnt want to go back to a house with no central heating either, I can remember what it was like meself !! Freezing in the winter mornings.

 

I like my gadgets as well, and my stupid cars, look what I drive as a daily !

 

Yes we spoiled our daughter, but never to the point of excess, always made sure there was a bit of effort involved in her part. We bought her first car, but she paid the insurance, seemed fair ?

 

Chill out lads and lassies, it was just me having a groan. :wheelchair:

 

I am sure we all miss certain things about our past, and wouldnt want other things back if we could choose. Life evolves, its just the natural turn of events. No bitchin troops, I am sure we are all doing the best we can ?

 

 

 

And anyways, I hate kids !!

 

Alan..........

I feel a need to comment as I'm on the front line sort to speak..

 

I'm 31 (32 in 6 days...need a new spoiler :wink:) with a 11 year old daughter (12 in a couple weeks) and its scary how different things are.

 

I had the net, although a very different net, at about 12 / 13 (actually asked for a subscription for Xmas! It wasn't cheap then, lol). Things are a lot different though, I've watched my daughter and her friend all chatting on Facebook...talking about and to boys...its scary how quick they grow up now. An online existence is second nature to them, along with texting an so on...

 

I'd say she was spoiled in terms of tech etc...but the fact is they all have so its just normal, thought there is competition with mobiles...

 

As for the music...yep, even at 31 I still hear revamped dance tunes I listened to as a kid, before I learnt that rock and metal was the ultimate music evolution. ^_^

 

Things were more 'real' in the 80's, kinda raw if you know what I mean, for me the beginning of modern day living, the 90's where things started going wrong, except for the creation of the Z32 of course.

 

I think the last few years will be the foundation for future of tech, a glimpse of things to come. We're at the dawn of a technological evolution, not only with the actual tech but how the world operates socially.

 

I think it will all conclude just like the movie Wall-E !! :)

Edited January 1, 201114 yr by MasterCookieman

i hardly ever listen to all the new music, 80's all the way for me, oh a bit of lynyrd skynyrd an acdc,

Well done Alan :)

 

Remember these?

Bet most people under 25 have no idea what its for??

spoke spinner?

Well I'm 28 in 16 days, not even close to the oldest here, some of what people have said I totally agree with, even in the late 80s and 90s when I grew up, most of us were shit scared of the police, and adults, friends parents etc. But that is definitely when things started to change for the worse.

 

Schools weren't allowed to hit you any more, but they could still stick you in detention through breaks, lunch, after school, weekends, whenever they liked really, now if the school wants to give my 15 year old step daughter (The missus is 35) a detention, they have to have my permission in writing.

 

When I was 5, if I did something wrong, my dad gave me a smack, didn't matter if it was in public or at home, I knew, if I did something wrong, I was flying across the room. It wasn't miss-treatment or cruelty, it was discipline and you know what, it's what made me the hard working, honest, trustworthy, law abiding person I am today, because I fear consequences. If I smacked my 5 year old son, I'd be spending 3 - 5 in jail for abuse!

 

For those of you who would like to experience what it used to be like in the "good ole days" with regard to wooden window frames, no central heating and poor living standards, go live in NZ for a while, over the last 5 years I've spent 3 years then in two different stints. Houses made of wood, no double glazing, no central heating, high taxes for little return, no NHS etc etc etc. England is by far the best place in the world to live and the modern age aint bad either, if we could keep the tech and the advances, but get rid of the Political Correctness Agenda we'd all be living the high life.

 

Oh and Richard, the people making the rules in the world/country these days, are those of your generation and that before it, not mine, so who's to blame for the state of things? lol

 

In the words of my generation - PEACE OUT!

 

:D

 

Alex

spoke spinner?

 

NO! Ha Ha

Well done Alan :)

 

Remember these?

Bet most people under 25 have no idea what its for??

 

it's the centre spinner from what us oldies call a "record" lol

it's the centre spinner from what us oldies call a "record" lol

 

Take it out for a "Jukey" :sleeping:

 

Alan......

I liked my childhood.We had "THE KRAYS" Hanging for murder, inocent or not. No telly just a radio for the family to listen to.If you needed the loo in the night you had to go out the back cobbled yard to the toilet,rain or snow.Toilet paper was old news paper ripped in squares threaded with string and hung on a nail in the loo.You always picked the side with the less print so it did'nt turn yer arris black.No bath or shower or even a bathroom.It was either the kitchen sink or tin bath hanging on the wall outside.Cold tap no hot unless you boiled it. We always sat around the range for warmth and it was great for doing proper toast and now and again roast chestnuts. Hardly any cars no phones unless you went to the kiosk and who would you phone anyway. You amused yourselves and had respect for your elders.Yes I think those were happier days.:clap::clap::clap:

Bee Gee Vinz, seriously, go live in NZ for a few years and see if you still miss the old days.

 

Although the "dungy" is inside for the most part, you still have to huddle around the range or the log burner for warmth, because there's no insulation, no central heating or piped gas even and there's no double glazing. Telly might as well not be there unless you pay through the nose for Sky and that's really no better. Toilet paper is either bloody expensive or actually feels like old newspaper, your hot water out there is hit and miss. For one thing, it's electrically heated so it's expensive and secondly in a LOT of parts of NZ, it's controlled by the power company and NOT by you, in other words you have absolutely no say in whether you've got hot water or not unless you boil it, oh and you might not be able to do that if there's a power cut, last time we had one out there, there were old boys walking around saying "I remember when we lost power up here for 3 weeks after a storm", the most we lost it for was 2 days, but that was bad enough.

 

There are obviously cars and phones in NZ, although a lot of cars you see there are British classics, MGs, Jensons, Triumphs etc, and a PAYG sim card will cost you $50 with no credit on it, plus the cost of the phone, and your credit expires every 30 days, so not everyone has a phone either and landlines are just as expensive.

 

By the sounds of it, you'd love it. lol