Someone on Reddit posed the following question:
How Did Older Generations (I read that as Boomers and GenXers, mostly) Have Fun Before The Internet.
Over 9,000 Redditors responded and the following are some of the best, with some editorial comment.
“Waiting for the radio to play your favorite songs so you could record them took a big chunk of time.”
And how about making your own mix tapes…ON CASSETTES!! That you could play IN THE CAR!
“Mostly video games.”
It wasn’t my thing, but I knew a lot of people who were into Dungeons and Dragons back then.
“Being a latchkey kid gave me so much time with my parents’ records. If it weren’t for that time alone with Sam Cooke, I’d be clapping on the first beat like a neanderthal.”
Yep. Playing 45’s with one of those plastic adapter rings so they would fit on the little spindle.
“I have a hope chest full of bad poetry from when I was a teenager. I don’t know what to do with it! I’m genuinely afraid of anyone finding that shit after I die — and frankly, I don’t trust the dump.”
I’ve got some fiction somewhere that I thought the New Yorker would want to publish.
“Lie about where the Victoria’s Secret catalog is.”
Hmmm. Boys were perusing any number of catalogs in the late 50s.
“Hanging around outside with my best friend was pretty much what I did every day, and it was bliss. Yes, there were times when I was incredibly bored out of my mind, but it never lasted.”
And you could be gone all day without anyone freaking out about it.
“Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll…without the sex and drugs. But definitely lots of rock ‘n’ roll. Also, riding bikes, camping, and summer jobs. I only saw my room when I was sleeping or it was raining outside.”
And our parents were quite happy to have us out of the house – for hours at a time. The closest we came to anything bordering on technology was a little transistor radio that you could sneak under the covers and listen to music from far away places or Jean Shepherd on WOR in Chicago.
Go back in time and I’m sure every boomer could come up with a list of activities that filled all our waking hours, and never once did we have to worry about whether we had WI-FI service.
Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. You can also visit his author page here. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon.
