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View Full Version : What did you do in your youth before Computers.



Floyd Cox
07-14-2012, 8:23 AM
We would spend all day outdoors when I was a kid, in all kinds of weather.
We practically had to get dragged in to eat.

Ted Calver
07-14-2012, 9:26 AM
Me too Floyd, outside or helping dad build boats. Used to have special radio programs we listened to, like The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, The Shadow etc....but most of the inside time was spent reading everything I could get my hands on. Also spent a lot of time on the neighbors farm learning the value of hard work and no pay :)

Jerry Thompson
07-14-2012, 9:51 AM
It was out doors most of the time. I hd the good fortune to be raised in a small town of 900. We all new each other. which had good and bad aspects. I never saw a TV until I was 15. My fater did gunsmithing as a hobby/business so hunting and fishing were the main activities.
My father saw to it that I worked on farms and ranches during the summer. That afforded me the ability to work hard and not whine.
Today I use comuters to lessen the rigors if shopping and bill paying plus educating myself and corresponding with friends.

Chuck Wintle
07-14-2012, 9:54 AM
Yes i remember reading a lot more then..all kinds of books and magazines...lately i don't read any more(books that is) except now my information is all on line. Even the print newspaper that i read every day is now cut back to the saturday edition. Its evolution that we a re laying witness to now and maybe on par when Gutenberg invented the printing press to disseminate more knowledge to the masses.

Jim Matthews
07-14-2012, 9:56 AM
My boyhood home backed up to a flood control project that had 13,000 acres free to explore.

I ran crosscountry as a kid, throughout this playground. I doubt I could run half a mile today, even if I was on fire and facing open water.
My kids have a much smaller "backyard" and a shorter range - there are just fewer kids, with responsible parents anywhere today.

Matt Meiser
07-14-2012, 9:57 AM
Before computers? We got our first (Atari 800) when I was in about 3rd grade. We had 2 Apple IIs by 5th.

But yeah, we played outside a lot.

Steve Griffin
07-14-2012, 10:01 AM
Shooting BB's at cans, bottles and grasshoppers, swimming in lakes and jumping my BMX bike for hours.

Skateboarding the local storm drain system, building models, playing piano and mowing grass for cash.

We were expected to make an appearance for 6pm dinner and be in before dark.

Now kids have too much homework, too many team sports and too much fun stuff to do on computers to enjoy childhood as much as we did.

Belinda Barfield
07-14-2012, 1:33 PM
Played on tire swings, climbed trees, spent the day in the fort in the woods or playing in the creek.

Fished, ran, played "One Adam 12" with neighborhood kids on our bikes.

Walked in the rain (still do this), went in search of the first wild Violet of the season, picked blackberries, looked for arrowheads, collected snakes, searched old home places and dump sites for bottles and other treasures with my dad.

Water skied, cruised the strip from the Diary Queen to the Weiner King (seriously), watched movies at the drive in from beach chairs in the back of a jacked up pick up, went mud boggin' on Sunday afternoons, twirled a flag on the football field every Friday night during football season, danced mid court twice a week during basketball season, dated the captain of the baseball team during baseball season - Go Pirates!

Rode around cornfields in a jeep at dusk just when the corn was tousling - no other smell like it in the world. Partied around a bonfire on the sand bar in the summer, at the back of the cornfield in the winter.

Through it all, went to church every time the doors were open. Through high school I sang in the choir, played piano for some church services, typed the church bulletin on a manual typewriter (Correctype was my friend), played piano for the nursing home Thursday night prayer meeting, cheered on our church league softball team.

Fred Perreault
07-14-2012, 1:37 PM
Do you mean what did I do before TV?

In the mid 50's at 8 years old my friends and I would walk 2 miles cross town to dig worms from my uncles' manure pile, then go to a small pond nearby to catch perch, hornpout and pickerel, most of which we ate. At 10+ we would swim across the local large lake because we could, then walk back around the edge catching frogs etc. Playing pickup baseball or soccer was a favorite. By 13 yrs old I was big for my age (now I am too big), and was employed by my dad's moderate sized construction firm (13-15 employees) shovelling and raking blacktop, driving a wheelbarrow and generally being the gofer. By 15yrs old I was one of the more proficient equipment operators, and was skinning my knuckles doing repair and service on the tractors and dozers. I was not able to go out for many sports as I was expected to work after school and weekends and school vacations. Of course I resisted this lifestyle at the time, but now I am very pleased to have been required to undergo this kind of apprenticeship. I have been spending much of my life passing my fortunate learning experiences on to other young, interested apprentices and grandchildren. Computers now? After resisting the technology age for a while, I have become proficient at building and repairing desktops, repairing laptops, and using most software. But I grew up using a sliderule in high school and at college, doing mechanical drawings, and I also knew what an abacus was used for. Now we have pocket calculators, pocket computers, cell phone/computers, CAD programs, and less time in a day than ever. But I am proud to still be a dinosaur at heart..........

Kevin Bourque
07-14-2012, 3:16 PM
We used to bring our BB guns to school to shoot bottles and cans during recess.
We got yelled at once by the janitor because we didn't clean up the mess.
After that he left a broom and trash can for us to use.
Try doing that today !!!

ray hampton
07-14-2012, 3:48 PM
I can answer this question with one four-letter word "WORK "

Gordon Eyre
07-14-2012, 5:31 PM
We were far to busy to have wasted our time playing with computers (if there was such a thing back then). We thinned sugar beets, harvested grain, baled straw, cut and baled hay, harvested the sugar beets, slopped the pigs, built our own baseball diamond in the pasture, played football in the fields, built my own crystal set so that I could listen to the Green Hornet. The Shadow and other assorted programs, hunted ducks and pheasants back in the fields behind our house, played basketball in the barn all winter long, organized a trapeze show on the barn featuring neighborhood kids and charged admission, learned to drive tractors and trucks in the field when I was 13 or 14. Computers, what the heck were those things. When it got dark I went to bed and when it began to get light I got up. Life was simpler then and we never told our parents we were bored.

Belinda Barfield
07-14-2012, 5:55 PM
I did leave out the work stuff. Tobacco in the summer. Picked peas and butterbeans and shelled them, broke corn and shucked and silked it, cut okra (makes me itch just to think about it), and later pulled peanuts. Froze peas and beans, and corn (creamed and on the cob), okra went into canned "Brunswick Stew" with lima beans, peanuts were boiled and frozen (and eaten). Cucumbers magically turned in to three different types of pickles.

ray hampton
07-14-2012, 6:15 PM
picking blackberries, 2 went into the bucket 1 went into the mouth

Joe Kieve
07-14-2012, 7:05 PM
I grew up in South Georiga and believe me, it was hot, 102 was average in the summer. We played outside a lot, short pants, no shirt, bare footed because there was no air conditioning. Had BB gun battles and dirt clod wars. It's a wonder someone didn't get an eye put out.
When I got older, age 10 or 11, I worked in the family fast-food restaurant before fast-food was popular. This was in the late '50s.
We had to use our brains and imagination...no computers, calculators, TV...only radio.
I guess "them was the good old days", huh.

joe

Steve Friedman
07-14-2012, 8:30 PM
Am I the only one who grew up in a big city? In the Bronx it was Stickball, Chinese Handball (Ace, King, Queen), and lots of games using marbles, bottle caps, and baseball cards. The best part was going downstairs any time of the day knowing that there would be a group of other kids on the street to play with.

Steve

ray hampton
07-14-2012, 9:02 PM
any town 2 mile wide are a big city to me, there are a number of homes between the towns , maybe more people than live in the town

Phil Koundakjian
07-14-2012, 9:26 PM
If you mean computers to play games .. then it was outdoors, sports,swimming, cycling. If you mean computers at work, then it was paper and pen. Books, reading, and getting my knuckels wacked for not learning my multiplication tables.

Shawn Pixley
07-14-2012, 9:42 PM
Played outdoors, rode bikes, played baseball & soccer, practiced my instruments, read books, and took care of my brother. When I turned twelve, I started work. I turned over apartments (clean and paint everything). Then I went to work repairing and restoring antique furniture.

Kevin W Johnson
07-14-2012, 9:52 PM
We would spend all day outdoors when I was a kid, in all kinds of weather.
We practically had to get dragged in to eat.


+1 Sounds like me as a kid.

John C Lawson
07-17-2012, 12:03 AM
Am I the only one who grew up in a big city? In the Bronx it was Stickball, Chinese Handball (Ace, King, Queen), and lots of games using marbles, bottle caps, and baseball cards. The best part was going downstairs any time of the day knowing that there would be a group of other kids on the street to play with.

Steve
I grew up in Brooklyn. It was mostly street games with balls: stickball, boxball, stoop ball, running bases, Chinese handball. Sometimes we went to the park and played real handball. In high school we rode our bikes on long trips in the summer: Astoria, Rockaway, Staten Island were our longest trips, and all over Brooklyn.

James Baker SD
07-17-2012, 12:22 AM
chemistry set in the day, telescope at night.

(and making boats and airplanes out of my Dad's woodworking scraps)

James

Bruce Boone
07-17-2012, 12:46 AM
I built stuff. A 6' solar concentrator, 4 lasers, homemade holograms, Tesla coils, model roller coaster, fort in the back yard with a cable car, human powered vehicles, Rubik's type cubes, model train layout, telephone system for the workshop, arc lamps, etc, etc. I always had to have a project going. Had to learn about that stuff from books!

Prashun Patel
07-17-2012, 9:31 AM
Man I feel old.
Spent most of the summer outside, getting into trouble. When I think of the dangerous stuff we did (playing on construction sites, experimenting with fire, riding bikes miles away from home - in the dark often) it's scary. But we didn't kill ourselves, and we learned how to grow up.

The culprit is not just the computers. It's a new fear (and as a parent of young kids, I have to say it's a well-founded fear) of letting our kids make mistakes. We don't let them "touch the stove" any more. Kids don't play outside bkz their parents don't want them out of their sight when they're 4-5-6. How are they supposed to learn to play outside later?

We're having the biggest fight with our daughter now (8) about getting her an i-touch. She already has an old computer of ours in her room, and can score over 1,000,000 on TempleRun on our i-pad. How did I get here? I have no idea... If anyone has an answer that does not involve constant bickering/nagging/fighting (I'm unsuccessfully employing that technique right now) then please advise. It's not as simple as just putting your foot down. "Kids these days" have a lot of resolve to stand up (for better or worse) to their parents. And believe me, my wife and I are not pushovers. But at some point, you just wonder whether yr doing more damage by nagging than by acquiescing (sp?)...

Sigh.

Ben Hatcher
07-17-2012, 2:43 PM
We rode our bikes a lot, played tackle football, fished, explored the woods, walked through the storm sewers and streams, built forts, played guns, watched TV, made stuff out of Legos, and built stuff in my dad's shop. We had video games, but they weren't then and still aren't something I spend much time doing.

Jim Matthews
07-18-2012, 7:43 AM
picking blackberries, 2 went into the bucket 1 went into the mouth

Now I know why there's an "under 12 surcharge" at the local U-pick.
My kids go in ravenous and come out gorged.

Jim Matthews
07-18-2012, 7:49 AM
Take lots of pictures in embarassing situations.

Save for first date.
Repeat on prom date, apply topically as needed.

My kids (8 and 5) can have any computer they pay for with their own money.
Make the tasks required for allowance so repugnant that the kids won't take them on - problem solved.

FYI - My kids don't get an allowance for cleaning their own mess, that's a basic requirement.

I fear my challenge easier than yours - I'm raising boys.
jim

Gary Hodgin
07-18-2012, 11:06 AM
Fought a lot Indians and Germans early on. Played a lot of baseball, basketball, and football a little later. Chased girls after that. Finally caught one and now I just do what she tells me to.l