When I was your age...

It wasn't that long ago when I was your age, but a lot has changed since then. Back then, we didn't waste our day on the internet like you and I do now. The World Wide Web was so new to us we hardly knew what to do with it! We did not have facebook or myspace or twitter or any of those kinds of sites. Instead we would play games on the computer, usually the ones we had on CD-ROMs or the ones that came with the computer. These computers weren't foldable or portable either. They were big, heavy and clunky. Playing on the computer was not all we did of course. We played videogames too. The graphics were nowhere near as good as there are today but they were still just as fun. The games were cartridges so we had to blow into them if they weren't working or hit the game system. Even the handheld videogames were different. Those graphics were even worse and for a while they weren't even in color! We also watched television, but it was much different than it is now. For one thing, it wasn't taken over by reality TV. We didn't have shows about dating competitions or following families around. The closest thing we had to reality TV were game shows like "Who wants to be a millionaire?". Nickelodeon had a bunch of variety and game shows complete with green slime. Cartoons weren't even the same. All of these cartoons were drawn out, not computer-generated (it was like that in the movies too). Disney actually had good shows. Cartoon Networks had cartoons and only cartoons. Also, the cookie monster ate cookies all the time. We didn't have dvr so if we wanted to see something we had to tape it. I didn't mention we had tapes instead of DVDs did I? They wouldn't get scratched or smudged, but lines and some static would sometimes show up on the screen if it was recorded a while ago. They came in small cardboard boxes or in this thing that kind of looked like a plastic book. Sometimes we would even go outside to play. You know, that place out the window, with the trees and grass and streets and when you looked up you saw the sky? We didn't worry about the things parents worry about now. We had absolutely no idea what a pedophile was. All we knew is that we weren't supposed to talk to strangers and of course not to take candy from them.

When I was your age, we didn't have cell phones. Cell phones then were not that popular and couldn't do half of the bazillion things they can do now. The only thing you can do with them was talk. Since we didn't have cell phones, we had to tell our parents not only where we were going and with who, but when we'll be back right on the spot. If there were any change of plans, we went back to our house and asked our parents if that was okay. If we couldn't do that, we would find a phone. If that phone was on the sidewalk, we had to pay to make that call. Sometimes we would bring walkie-talkies when we went out with friends so we can talk to each other if we were out of earshot. They kind of look like old flip phones, but bigger and they didn't flip. We had to hold down the button to talk then release and wait to hear a reply. It was quick, but sometimes it sounded staticy and people could hear our conversation through their walkie-talkies, so we would have to switch the channel we were on every once in awhile. I-pods didn't exist way back then either. Our new thing was CD players. It did just what the name says. We couldn't download music (not that it would even matter then) so we would buy our favorite albums and play them on that. And we didn't have those little earphones for them, we wore headphones. We also got to play with some pretty cool toys (yep, we still played with toys at your age). The most memorable being the furby. Everybody wanted one, but they were ready to throw it out the window not long after they got one because it would not shut up. Some kids actually did just that.

Even though we took a giant leap in just about everything in what seems like such a short time, there are some similarities in the media. Our Hannah Montana was Brittany Spears, before she had that whole break down. We had N'synch and the Backstreet Boys instead of the Jonas Brothers (incase you were wondering, none of our musicians had any connections to Disney). We even had our own "swine flu". It was called Mad Cow Disease, which can actually be passed from a cow to a human. We had Beanie Babies instead of Webkinz. You couldn't use them on the internet, but they were just as big a craze. When it came to the year people thought the world would end, 2012 didn't cross anybody's mind. Although I don't recall it myself, people panicked about the world being blown up on 2000 New Year's Day.

When we couldn't settle on something we would play hand games, like "rock, paper, scissors" and "doggie doggie diamond" Sometimes we would do it just for fun. If we liked somebody, we would usually try to keep it a secret instead of asking him or her out. If our friends found out about they would sing about you two kissing in a tree, getting married and having a kid. In school, we didn't learn algebra in the 3rd grade. We were still focusing on multiplying and dividing. We also learned penmanship. I don't think most of us remember how to write all the letters in script, but we at least remember how to write our names. We brought our lunch to school in plastic lunch boxes that had this big sticker of our favorite characters or show on the sides. We also didn't dress like you at your age. We didn't wear thongs or laced bras. Why would we need to? It's not as if anybody would, or should, look. You didn't even reach puberty yet! People today are just growing up too fast. Some of us are pretty much forcing you to grow up too fast. Everybody, kids and adults, are just rushing to outdo each other. I don't remember it like that. I remember when I just enjoyed being a kid. I'm glad I had sometime to not be overruled by technology and actually talked to our friends face to face. It is really a shame that you were not given a chance to do the same.