Growing up in the 21st Century

[Huckleberry]

Things have certainly changed since I was a kid.

New IFS Brief: More Screen Time, Less Play Time For America's Kids

A new IFS assesses parenting practices on a national level, including how much time kids spend online, the level of restrictions on their smartphones, and how much time they spend with friends.

ifstudies.org

 

[Bodhisattva]

I'm starting to think my parents banning my siblings and me from the house during daylight hours because they didn't like us was actually beneficial.

 

[dayhiker]

This book does a good job of explaining why and how this has happened. It came out before the smartphone phase of this transition though.

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Child-Woods-Children-Nature-Deficit/dp/156512605X

 

[arthurdawg]

I'm starting to think my parents banning my siblings and me from the house during daylight hours because they didn't like us was actually beneficial.

And who needed vaccinations when we all drank from the neighborhood hose pipes! I kid of course. But remembering which hose pipes had the freshest water was a key part of childhood enjoyment!

 

[92tide]

And who needed vaccinations when we all drank from the neighborhood hose pipes! I kid of course. But remembering which hose pipes had the freshest water was a key part of childhood enjoyment!

waterhose rubber is like good scotch, it’s an acquired taste

 

[Elefantman]

I wonder what percentage of kids born in the last 18 years can operate one of these things.

 

[Tidewater]

On summer days and school year Saturdays, my mother would hold the door open and tell us to git and not come home until the streets turned on.

 

[oskie]

On summer days and school year Saturdays, my mother would hold the door open and tell us to git and not come home until the streets turned on.

Did you have to "look both ways" only when the streets turned on.

 

[Tidewater]

Did you have to "look both ways" only when the streets turned on.

Yes, but living on a street that did not lead anywhere. Nobody drove down our street en route to somewhere elsewhere. The only traffic were the five families who lived on that street, so not much traffic to dodge.

 

[oskie]

We did not have a TV until I was 12 years old. There was absolutely no reason to be in the house, unless it was raining. I was outside until dark every day, and even after dark, if I was in my own yard. I was free to roam the area. Mom only required that I be within the sound of her voice as it got closer to supper time.

I grew up believing God made trees to climb and bicycles for riding. And I certainly did not want God to think I took either one for granted. .

re: TV
My dad was against owning one, so there was not a TV in our house until his own mother gave me a little one for my 12th birthday. She knew he did not "believe" in owning a TV, but she gave me one anyway. My dad was not a happy camper about that. .

My parents confiscated the TV and put it in their bedroom. My sister and I had to sit in their bedroom to watch it, and of course, our watch time was rationed as my parents saw fit.
My sister and I didn't care... we finally had OUR OWN TV. .

 

[arthurdawg]

We had a solo TV in the house until I was 9... It was in the living room and Dad decided what to watch, although we were allowed to watch our shows when homework and cleaning up were done. That is how I came to watch every single episode of MASH by the time I was ten and Last MASH came on.

We did get a second TV for our TI99/4A computer for Christmas about that time. We didn't have a cable hookup to it for a couple of years, although we had cable on the main TV. All 9 channels... Of which only 6 were ones we ever watched! Not many antenna options in our area.

 

[92tide]

We had a solo TV in the house until I was 9... It was in the living room and Dad decided what to watch, although we were allowed to watch our shows when homework and cleaning up were done. That is how I came to watch every single episode of MASH by the time I was ten and Last MASH came on.

We did get a second TV for our TI99/4A computer for Christmas about that time. We didn't have a cable hookup to it for a couple of years, although we had cable on the main TV. All 9 channels... Of which only 6 were ones we ever watched! Not many antenna options in our area.

i got my own tv when i went off to college. i grew up watching a lot of hee haw and this old house

i loved mash as a kid

 

[Bazza]

 

[Huckleberry]

 

[Bazza]

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I think I was a junior in HS when we got one. In Decatur, there wasn't much reception. My dad put up a tower for an antenna to get a snowy B'ham signal. Finally, in 1954, WMSL was started and the tower placed atop the Mutual Savings and Life building, where it still is. It was the first broadcast originating in the Tennessee Valley. In the late '60s, it was moved to HSV and renamed WAFF...

 

[Elefantman]

There is nothing like yelling at your dad who's on the roof turning the TV antenna:

Better, Better, STOP, go back the other way, STOP, go back the other way, Better, STOP, go back the other way.......

 

[oskie]

There is nothing like yelling at your dad who's on the roof turning the TV antenna:

Better, Better, STOP, go back the other way, STOP, go back the other way, Better, STOP, go back the other way.......

Same … except the roles were reversed.

Me on the roof. Dad hollering out an open window.