It\u2019s amazing how far we\u2019ve come.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s perfectly normal to forget how much the world changes month by month. It can feel like we blinked, and suddenly there are self-driving cars, delivery robots, and home 3D printers. But not long ago, what was once considered \u201cthe way it was\u201d would drive people batty today.<\/p>\n
A user going by the name u\/CharlesUFarley81 took to the r\/AskReddit subreddit to pose this question: \u201cWhat \u2018back then\u2019 inconvenience would break people today in 10 minutes?\u201d The post received 6,200 upvotes and more than 4,000 responses, offering some surprising reminders of how different things once were.<\/p>\n
One commenter described what an ordeal going to the bank used to be: \u201cNo online banking. I remember being a kid, and it seemed like my parents were constantly going to the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another followed up with, \u201cMore than that, no ATMs. If you want to spend any money on the weekend, you\u2019d better withdraw it before 5 p.m. on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n
This Redditor reminded us that before trusty computers, we had only typewriters: \u201cProjects for class had to be typed. Mistakes were corrected with white-out. If you decided there\u2019s a better way to say something, you\u2019d have to retype the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Had to work for it
\nOh, and never forget there was a time before remote controls. \u201cHaving to stand up and walk across the room to change the TV to one of the three channels,\u201d one user wrote.<\/p>\n
Speaking of media, there was no Spotify in years past, so the music we wanted to hear wasn\u2019t always at our fingertips. One Redditor shared the memory: \u201cHaving to wait to hear your favorite song on the radio and try to record it onto a cassette tape without the DJ talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
A little personal fun fact: I was a DJ on the KZLA morning show in Los Angeles, and we were taught to talk over the beginnings (and sometimes the ends) of songs. It was called \u201ctalking up the ramp\u201d (or \u201chitting the post\u201d), and it was annoying to time perfectly. So, this wasn\u2019t just difficult for the listener.<\/p>\n
We call this \u201chitting the post\u201d or \u201ctalking up the ramp\u201d. #radio #dj #minnesota #kdwb #daveryan #mn #minneapolis \u266c original sound \u2013 Dave Ryan Show<\/p>\n
24\/7 access
\nOne Redditor took it a step further, noting how available many of us are expected to be 24\/7:<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody was expected to be reachable at all times. You needed to say something to a relative? You called them, and if nobody answered the phone, tough luck, you called them again a few hours later. And automatic answering machines were a later invention.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know about other countries, but in mine (Argentina), phone lines were some kind of luxury until roughly 30-35 years ago, to the point that homes were sold for more if they had a landline. And because not everybody had a landline, some people used a neighbor\u2019s number as a reference. So, people would call that number, the owner would answer, and then notify the person in question. Or, a neighbor would notify you about an incoming call they were expecting around that time, and they would wait (sometimes for like half an hour) next to the phone. Inside your house, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n
That comment alone received nearly 5,000 upvotes, with one person (of many) responding, \u201cThat sounds so peaceful. That\u2019s one of the things I truly dislike about the modern age: you\u2019re expected to instantly reply to people. It gets exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Missing being present
\nSimilarly, the information you were given on any given day was all you had. One user wrote:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou agree to meet up with a friend at a particular time and place. You\u2019re there on time, but your friend still isn\u2019t. Did they forget? Did they get in an accident on the way, or are they just late? Once they\u2019ve left their home, there\u2019s no way of calling them to find out. You will only find out what happened after they finally show up, or, if you wait around forever and they don\u2019t show, then you go back home and try calling them at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scary phones
\nSpeaking of calls, the panic of not knowing who was calling with each ring wouldn\u2019t be tolerated today. As one person pointed out, \u201cNot knowing who was calling you; you had to answer the phone to find out. Caller ID and *69 were like magic that only the rich could afford at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
And don\u2019t forget: before Google or Apple, navigation meant paper maps. Not only did we have to use them for directions, but as one Redditor pointed out, it was all about \u201chaving to FOLD them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s amazing how far we\u2019ve come. It\u2019s perfectly normal to forget how much the world changes month by month. It can feel like we blinked,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16625,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16623\/revisions\/16625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}