The other day, Reddit user u/Bagolyvagymi asked fellow redditors, "What's something that newer generations will never understand?" TBH, the responses might get you feeling a bit nostalgic.
Here are some of the most eye-opening ones:
1. "Meeting up with a friend at the movies and having no way to communicate once you’ve left the house."
"Your friend doesn’t show. Is he coming? Should I continue to wait and stand at the precise spot we agreed on? Has he died? Did he forget? I’ll call home using a pay phone and hope my mom is there to tell me whether he left a message on the answering machine."
2. "'Let’s all meet back here at 6:00.' *Looks at watch.* 'I’ve got 4:35. What time do you have?'"
3. "Having to rewind the tape before returning it to the video store or else incurring a fee."
4. "Blockbuster."
—u/Ness_902
5. "Having to buy the entire album to get one song you liked, or else wait for it to come on the radio and record it."
"Missing any part of the song was unacceptable, and you had to wait until it was played again."
6. "Taking pictures and then waiting for them to be developed to see if they turned out okay."
7. "Slamming down the receiver on a landline telephone."
"Pushing the red button is not nearly as satisfying."
—u/iamwalldoh
8. "Having a three-ring binder of CDs for road trips."
9. "Parents not knowing where their kids are and trusting them not to get into trouble."
10. "Making plans to meet friends and having to commit because you didn't have mobile phones to ask where they were, how far, and if they were still coming."
11. "How to use the card catalog in the library — the ones with the cards in the drawers."
12. "How we got around without GPS navigation."
13. "The frustration of cassette tapes getting mangled."
14. "Turning the dial on the TV to change the channel."
—u/Rukawork
15. "Checking the pay phone change return for any forgotten coins."
16. "Not being able to binge a show unless you literally recorded a bunch of episodes from TV onto a bunch of VHS tapes."
17. "Having to say BRB to all your friends on MSN because your mom wanted to make a call, and then having to disconnect from the internet and dial back up when she was done."
—u/emzyyx
18. "The difficulty of not being able to instantly find the answer to questions."
20. "Going to the arcade and playing games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. This is my childhood 😢."
21. "How great Myspace was."
22. "Saturday morning cartoons."
"I miss sitting in front of the TV and eating a bowl of cereal while Tale Spin, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or whatever Saturday morning cartoon series played. Then getting on my bike once they ended around 10 a.m. and riding over to my friend's house to play till sunset."
—u/asportate
23. "Circling pictures of toys in the Sears catalog as a Christmas list."
1998 defined by one page in the Sears catalog: Earnhardt, Gordon, Jordan
"My brother and my cousin would do this every year at my grandma's house. We also put our initials so our parents knew who wanted what toy."
24. "MTV played music videos, had music discussion shows, and had news about music 24 hours a day at one point."
And finally...
25. "Having to properly time getting a drink and snack before the ad break on TV finished."
"I still sweat thinking about it."
Do you miss any of these? What are some other things newer generations will never understand? Let us know in the comments below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.