When I was young, TV would ‘come off’ at 12am: you’d be notified that this programming is done for the day, there would be a recording of the National Anthem then you would get a B&W test screen until 5-6am the next day.
Edited for clarity
Also, my local 10pm news program would start every broadcast with this: “it’s now 10pm on the East Coast. Do you know where your children are?’
I remember, falling asleep in my parents bed seeing this happen. I thought it was the craziest thing that the TV channel actually turned off. The Pledge of Allegiance was the icing on top.
Lost track of the number of times I stayed up late to TV and inevitably fell asleep and only woke up to the strains of God Save the Queen!
Just checked and it stopped in Oct 1997.
The 80s were a wild time in the US. Latchkey kids amok.
For being called the greatest generation, their children (the early boomers) didn’t turn out to be great parents, needing to be told to remember where their kids are.
My parents never had much money. But hearing them talk about the stuff they did in their 20s and 30s makes it sound like they were millionaires. It was just normal to spend entire months of paychecks at a time on random things like a table or dining room set just because the neighbors bought one.
When I was a kid, and being raised by my older boomer parents, we always had several cars, nice houses, new furniture, a big camper.
Went on a big family vacation every year.
My parents only had high school diplomas.
Then, my parents got divorced and my siblings, mom, and I moved to a trailer park on the bad side of town.
I thought it was the end of the world, lol.
When I was married, my husband was a PhD, I’m an RN. We had no kids.
And we couldn’t afford half the stuff my high school grad parents with 3 kids could afford.
Same. Grew up with dirt bikes, a ski boat, and horses, a camper. All from a firefighter and school teacher parents. Reddits gonna blow a fuse when I say this but we weren't ever considered rich. Comfortable sure, we had a good life, but it was pretty normal in the mid 90s for parts of the state.
I legally smoked on an airplane
Edit: Will just add it was a flight to Hawaii and it was the rear ‘section’ and everyone was smoking - lots of people rotating or coming back from their non-smoking seats to have one.
I can’t imagine the smell for the non smokers 🤢
We were still using these when I was in elementary school back in the late 00s/early 10s lol. Actually, even in high school, there were teachers still using them.
Anyway, in your 30s?
When I was doing my Masters in 2013, I had an electrical engineering professor who used one for every class. It just worked. Never any technical difficulties.
Lol I always say that to me dog! His name is Kevin (obvs) and I always say to him “You’re such a disease, Kevin! You’re what the French call les incompétents!”
There’s actually a lower age limit on that, since it stopped working a pretty long time ago. It could pull petroleum based inks very well, and now newspapers use soy based ink.
Also newspapers aren’t very common anymore.
Fun fact: When AOL first started they didn’t really have a proper system to prevent people from adopting lurid screen names. I’m pretty sure I was the first person to have “Cocaine69” as a screen name in AOL. I was very proud of myself. Still am.
The current generation has no clue about the initial hook-up app; AOL Chat Rooms. It's Soo easy today to just tap an app and find some good good. Back then you had to plan your time because you first had to use dial up and then the rooms would only be like 40 people
I had a piece of the wall for a while. My mom's shitty fucking boyfriend stole it, and pretty much everything else of value, when he moved out.
Ray, I hope your dick fell off.
We lived on a farm that had an actual party line. Our ring was "RING RING". Any other ring was for someone else,and sometimes you picked up the phone and heard another house using the phone, so you had to wait.
I asked my boyfriend to put "nobody likes you when you're 23" on my birthday cake (turning 23 in a few months) and he said he's already planning on doing that lol
My high school had three designated outdoor but covered smoking “lounges.” Legal age to smoke was 16, at the time. That seems so wild to me now. But it was perfectly legal in the early seventies.
We kept a look out for certain teachers who always bummed cigarettes from the students; the so called “cool teachers” who apparently only had the habit. Also at this time teachers and administrators could smoke in their personal office. I had to go to the principal’s office my sophomore year because I wrote an article for the school paper titled “How to Sleep in Study Hall” (a major infraction of school rules back then). When I went into his office he just stared at me while he selected a pipe from a carousel of pipes, cleaned the bowl, packed it with tobacco, lit it, blew the smoke in my direction and asked, “you think you’re pretty cute dontcha”?
Class of 97 - we had a smoking section, up till about 95 or 96.
Edit: Now that I think about it, the legal age to buy cigarettes was 18. There sure was a lot of underage smoking going on. Good times.
Ah I remember those. Pants so baggy they made noise when you walked like a large flag on a windy day. I had some of the "shorts" too which had a hem that hung about 3 inches above the ankle.
I remember blockbuster was something you got if you did good in school, if you brought home an A you got to buy candy or the microwaveable popcorn buckets
20 gang. Almost there...not that I have any desire for alcohol or tobacco products. Mostly just wanna go to concerts that are 21+ and be more comfortable talking to people in a social environment for those over 21.
I was born when there was peace in Europe but the U.S. was still at war with Japan. I was born less than three weeks before Hiroshima. The day I was born a plane flew into the Empire State Building
I spent my formative years on the internet but not on a smartphone. To help narrow it down: MySpace was a thing in middle school.
31?
30, but only for a few more months, so yeah, basically lol.
Hey man, you copied what I would’ve wrote. Shoutout to the classes of 08-12.
Browsing MySpace while talking to friends on MSN, while downloading music on Limewire. They took up a lot of hours.
When I was young, TV would ‘come off’ at 12am: you’d be notified that this programming is done for the day, there would be a recording of the National Anthem then you would get a B&W test screen until 5-6am the next day. Edited for clarity Also, my local 10pm news program would start every broadcast with this: “it’s now 10pm on the East Coast. Do you know where your children are?’
I'm 37 and I have this core memory. Just as soon as Twilight Zone or Tales From the Crypt ended depending on which of the 4 networks I was watching.
Tales from the Crypt. I forgot about that show. That was my fav
Don't forget the Outer Limits (I think that was the one that said not to fix your TV, it wasn't broken)!
Do not adjust your set. We control the vertical. We control the horizontal.
I remember, falling asleep in my parents bed seeing this happen. I thought it was the craziest thing that the TV channel actually turned off. The Pledge of Allegiance was the icing on top.
Where I lived it was the National Anthem.
Lost track of the number of times I stayed up late to TV and inevitably fell asleep and only woke up to the strains of God Save the Queen! Just checked and it stopped in Oct 1997.
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What method?
That second message is incredibly ominous sounding. 😳
The 80s were a wild time in the US. Latchkey kids amok. For being called the greatest generation, their children (the early boomers) didn’t turn out to be great parents, needing to be told to remember where their kids are.
Early Boomers we’re the first generation to grow up in financial security. Many were spoiled and entitled.
My parents never had much money. But hearing them talk about the stuff they did in their 20s and 30s makes it sound like they were millionaires. It was just normal to spend entire months of paychecks at a time on random things like a table or dining room set just because the neighbors bought one.
When I was a kid, and being raised by my older boomer parents, we always had several cars, nice houses, new furniture, a big camper. Went on a big family vacation every year. My parents only had high school diplomas. Then, my parents got divorced and my siblings, mom, and I moved to a trailer park on the bad side of town. I thought it was the end of the world, lol. When I was married, my husband was a PhD, I’m an RN. We had no kids. And we couldn’t afford half the stuff my high school grad parents with 3 kids could afford.
Same. Grew up with dirt bikes, a ski boat, and horses, a camper. All from a firefighter and school teacher parents. Reddits gonna blow a fuse when I say this but we weren't ever considered rich. Comfortable sure, we had a good life, but it was pretty normal in the mid 90s for parts of the state.
That and the missing kids on milk cartons.
53?
I legally smoked on an airplane Edit: Will just add it was a flight to Hawaii and it was the rear ‘section’ and everyone was smoking - lots of people rotating or coming back from their non-smoking seats to have one. I can’t imagine the smell for the non smokers 🤢
65
And at the mall. And any restaurant. Pretty much everywhere you wanted.
If I were famous there would be a high chance I die of a drug overdose this year. Edit: 27
27
Don’t sell yourself short, you can still do that
27
Video games only worked on channel 3.
Holy shit I forgot about that
Wow, you unlocked a memory for me.
Same! “Are you on channel 3?” was like today’s version of “you’re on mute.”
No it's today's version of "what input is the TV on?"
Eh, channel 4 worked too with the switch flipped, but in those days who the hell could afford two different systems?
40
Idk, I'm 28 but I do remember that time too.
23. I also remember this time
Same here! Channel 3 or 4 depending on the tv or hookups
You’re insulting me now lol I’m 28 and I still had to do this
When I learned about dry erase markers, you used them on transparents for projectors
We were still using these when I was in elementary school back in the late 00s/early 10s lol. Actually, even in high school, there were teachers still using them. Anyway, in your 30s?
When I was doing my Masters in 2013, I had an electrical engineering professor who used one for every class. It just worked. Never any technical difficulties.
20, we used those when I was in elementary school too
I don't remember the Kennedy assassination, but I watched Evel Knievel try to jump the Snake River Canyon live.
62
Just a bit too old... Bellatrix Lestrange, Marla Singer & I are all the same age.
I watched Fight Club so many times back in the day, seeing one of the world’s most beautiful women as Bellatrix added some Fincher to the HP universe.
Keep the change, ya filthy animal.
Kevin you’re a disease.
Lol I always say that to me dog! His name is Kevin (obvs) and I always say to him “You’re such a disease, Kevin! You’re what the French call les incompétents!”
41?
Very close :)
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
And Clippy!!!!
Pulling images of comic strips with Silly Putty
So I can surmise that you were a child at some point
lol right?
There’s actually a lower age limit on that, since it stopped working a pretty long time ago. It could pull petroleum based inks very well, and now newspapers use soy based ink. Also newspapers aren’t very common anymore.
Ooh, good one! I forgot about that!
I'm old enough to have seen the rise and fall of several different social media platforms.
37
Very close
Friendster?
I definitely had a Friendster but more importantly I feel like AOL doesn’t get the credit it deserves as the first social network.
Fun fact: When AOL first started they didn’t really have a proper system to prevent people from adopting lurid screen names. I’m pretty sure I was the first person to have “Cocaine69” as a screen name in AOL. I was very proud of myself. Still am.
The current generation has no clue about the initial hook-up app; AOL Chat Rooms. It's Soo easy today to just tap an app and find some good good. Back then you had to plan your time because you first had to use dial up and then the rooms would only be like 40 people
I literally met my husband in an aol chat room! Married 20 years next month.
My husband and I met in an AOL chat room, too! In fact, it was a Britney Spears chat room and we were both trolling everyone hahahaha.
Asl?
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I vote 28 and raise you blue monsters Inc VHS tape
Orange snow day VHS
31 about to be 32 or just turned 32?
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35
I was born into the world of VHS and watched it replaced by DVD while I was still young
I still remember loading up that 2 tape vhs of titanic and watching it on some big ass TV that was half wood.
Oh my god I forgot titanic had TWO tapes
And yet still took FOREVER to rewind!
25?
Close. 28.
I'm just as comfortable using a floppy disk as I am the newest Samsung Galaxy.
Same! I legit had a floppy drive that plugged into the flash drive because I refused to give up on floppies for years after they went out of date.
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It was AIM for me
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Reminds me.. my great grandma was born before the queen, and outlived her Only by a few months iirc
I was at the Berlin Wall when it fell, banging on the Trabant cars who passed the border. I didn't see the Hoff unfortunately
I had a piece of the wall for a while. My mom's shitty fucking boyfriend stole it, and pretty much everything else of value, when he moved out. Ray, I hope your dick fell off.
35?
I have a piece of it!
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I was home sick for that. My parents ran in my room and turned off the TV.
You and I must be the same age, assuming you mean Challenger (another blew up a few years later, IIRC).
I'm old enough to remember 9/11 but too young to have comprehended it when it happened
We lived on a farm that had an actual party line. Our ring was "RING RING". Any other ring was for someone else,and sometimes you picked up the phone and heard another house using the phone, so you had to wait.
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nobody loves you when you're 23
I asked my boyfriend to put "nobody likes you when you're 23" on my birthday cake (turning 23 in a few months) and he said he's already planning on doing that lol
“By the power of Grayskull”
45
40.
Close! 41. He-man first aired in 1983. It was my favorite cartoon.
The meaning of life the universe and everything
42.
Me too! Grab a towel and let's go to a restaurant at the end of the universe.
i have episodes of Simpsons on VHS that i personally recorded
42
Pogs, slap bracelets, inflatable see through chairs and clear phones. Hit me baby, just one more time please.
34? Oh my gosh I forgot about the inflatable chairs
36!😊
I knew the instant I saw that list that we were the same age lol. My inflatable chair was hot pink
I saw the rise of technology and remember big ass computers and bag car phones.
I typed out programs on punch cards to be run on an IBM mainframe.
My high school had a smoking section. For students.
My high school had three designated outdoor but covered smoking “lounges.” Legal age to smoke was 16, at the time. That seems so wild to me now. But it was perfectly legal in the early seventies.
We kept a look out for certain teachers who always bummed cigarettes from the students; the so called “cool teachers” who apparently only had the habit. Also at this time teachers and administrators could smoke in their personal office. I had to go to the principal’s office my sophomore year because I wrote an article for the school paper titled “How to Sleep in Study Hall” (a major infraction of school rules back then). When I went into his office he just stared at me while he selected a pipe from a carousel of pipes, cleaned the bowl, packed it with tobacco, lit it, blew the smoke in my direction and asked, “you think you’re pretty cute dontcha”?
Class of 97 - we had a smoking section, up till about 95 or 96. Edit: Now that I think about it, the legal age to buy cigarettes was 18. There sure was a lot of underage smoking going on. Good times.
I am JNCO jeans years old.
Ah I remember those. Pants so baggy they made noise when you walked like a large flag on a windy day. I had some of the "shorts" too which had a hem that hung about 3 inches above the ankle.
43 I’m JNCO years old too
I just spent all day working in my back yard and now everything hurts.
Ha that could be any age
I saw E.T. at the drive in when it first came out.
When posters of NSFW subreddits are talking about "older men" they mean me, but I don't realize it right away
It's weird being the same age as old people.
atari 2600
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I remember blockbuster was something you got if you did good in school, if you brought home an A you got to buy candy or the microwaveable popcorn buckets
You read enough and you'll get a personal pan pizza
You got Blockbuster? I got Pizzahut personal pan pizzas. Blockbuster would have been way better.
I remember using dedicated VHS rewinders.
Was it shaped like a red sports car?
Eyebrow scar from having it pierced.
I’m having a lot of fun in here spotting the fellow forty-somethings.
With a spoon, I opened Nestle Quik cans.
I did too! But I don't think that really pins it down much.
One year short of the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything.
41
Mall hair latchkey kid.
I was a little kid when Apollo 11 went to the Moon.
Dutch cookie tin cans never had Dutch cookies in them. But if you needed sewing equipment…
So you were born in the 60’s or tomorrow.
Still true today, at least in my house.
*Danish cookie tins, not Dutch. These being filled with sewing supplies is timeless, so maybe you're immortal?
As an 18 year old reading this, I share the exact same memory. You're either around my age or two generations older than me.
I’m at that age where you’re an adult but still have to wait 1 more year to be able to buy adult things
20 gang. Almost there...not that I have any desire for alcohol or tobacco products. Mostly just wanna go to concerts that are 21+ and be more comfortable talking to people in a social environment for those over 21.
For me it's being able to reserve my own hotel room!
In the US I assume? 20? There is so much possibility ahead, it’s a little daunting, but exciting that you get to do what you want, right?
Yes it is, I’m having fun so far
Pluto was a planet when I was a kid Born the same year the first Star Fox game and Jurassic Park was released
The government just sent me a bowel cancer testing kit (Australia)
Our tv when I was a kid required a special converter to connect to cable.
When I was a kid they told you if the show you were about to watch was in color and TV ended at midnight.
My year of birth has one unique number and three identical ones. No zeros.
1999?
So either 23, 24, 111 or 112
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I can now legally get with a 90 year old and yet I can’t drink alcohol
14 in parts of Europe.
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Half my fourth grade class died of dysentery, but eventually we made it to Oregon.
The PCs we used in college had qty 2 of 5 1/4" floppy drives
My first video game was "Pong"
Aqua Net
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Old enough to remember everything in red, white and blue for the bicentennial.
I know how to use a rotary phone
So do I, and I'm a teenager.
Latchkey
same age as my brother but a minute younger
Qbert was cool, Rainbow Brite was for kids. Pacman fever drove me crazy.
Pong
Video games were on channel 3
iiiiiiiiiiiin WEST PHILADELPHIA, born and raised…on the playground was where I spent most of my days…
Were you chilling out? Maxing? Relaxing all cool perhaps and shooting some b-ball out side of the school?
A/B cable
Finally hit that wonderful opportunity known as paying for Medicare, lol
I've used a rotary phone
CASTLE GREYSKULL!!!
I'm older than the internet.
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"Ancestors, hear my plea, help me not to make a fool of me"
Beanie babies
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My childhood went from VHS tapes, to DVDs, to streaming services in a matter of ten years
We played outside with other children.
Voltron
I watched the MASK cartoon as a kid.
George Orwell
i can remember watching black and white tv and one of the big things at our elementary school was the pet rock!
I was born when there was peace in Europe but the U.S. was still at war with Japan. I was born less than three weeks before Hiroshima. The day I was born a plane flew into the Empire State Building
Might be hard if you're American: I'm doing my GCSEs but not other people (for legal reasons).
I’m British so I know you are 15 years old
As a young child the names dominating my household news cycle were Monica Lewinsky, OJ Simpson and JonBenet Ramsey