When I was a child, I remember rolling my eyes every time my parents told me for the 1,375th time how much things had changed since they were kids. At the time, what they were saying seemed silly, but now that I am an adult, I completely understand.
Times were so much different when we were kids. The internet existed, but was not something that most people spent a lot of time on. Cell phones were car phones and then, later on, flip phones. CDs and cassette tapes were the popular means for listening to music, and Sunday morning ‘funnies’ was a main highlight of each week. Times were so much different! It got me thinking, what are some after-school rituals that anyone born outside our generation (millennials) would not understand? Here are 10 I came up with.
1. Waiting until a certain time of day to watch their favorite show.
When I was a child, we had around 50 standard channels and received a TV guide each week. You then would have to find your favorite shows and remember the times they came on, so you could keep up with them. Sometimes, this meant waiting until 6 PM to watch one episode of your show each week.
2. Eating fun snacks from the pantry that no longer exist.
Man, in the 90s, snacks were awesome. I always begged my mom to buy Gushers, Fruit by the Foot, and Dunkaroos.
3. Popping in a cassette tape to listen to the song you recorded.
While we couldn’t listen to Spotify to enjoy our favorite songs any time, we did have cassette tapes. Either you purchased the ones that were made for recording, or you could shove the paper in the holes on pre-recorded tapes, which made them able to record music. Then, you hit the record button as soon as your **jam** came on.
4. Call your local radio station to request your favorite song.
Ah, those were the days. I remember waiting for the 7 PM DJ to come on the radio, so I could call in and request a song. Of course, it was my favorite artists, who at the time included Savage Garden and Spice Girls.
5. Call your bestie from the landline.
My mom used to get so mad, because the second I finished my homework, I was calling all of my friends. I would pretty much tie up the landline for hours.
6. Riding your bike until the sun went down.
On the days when I had no homework, my mom would tell us to go play. For me, that included jumping on my bike and riding it around my neighborhood until dinner.
7. Not knowing the answers to homework and having to look them up in the textbook.
We didn’t have Google, so instead of Googling the answers for our homework, we had to look them up in the textbook.
8. Hanging out with Clippy while writing an essay on Microsoft.
During homework times, if you did have a parent who had a computer, you got really lucky. Why? Because as you wrote your essay, you could enlist the help of ‘Clippy’ who was a virtual assistant who looked like a little paperclip.
9. Playing minesweeper to pass time on the old Gateway.
When my mom got her first computer, we were so stoked! I remember spending HOURS playing Minesweeper and the Oregon trail.
10. Sneaking around to watch ‘The Real World’
Of course, unless your parents were really open-minded, we were not allowed to watch the Real World. However, the commercials looked too spicy to resist, so of course, we would sneak around and watch.