THe list of what we didn't have in the 70's

1. We didn't have cell phones. We had to talk into the receiver which was attached by a cord to a phone. We had to sit in one place to talk. Some phones even hung on the wall. We couldn't talk in the car. But you could still throw the phone down when you became outraged at the person on the other end.
2. We couldn't text message. We had to go home or fumble through our pockets for change to call someone and hope they were home. And rather than looking at texted naked pictures of each other, kids had to find their parents playboys hidden around the house.
3. Many of us didn't even have answering machines. They were very expensive. We simply went on with our lives ignorant of every little detail occuring in others lives.
4. Nor did many of us have calculators, they were $100 for the cheap versions. We had to calculate in our heads. Kids HAD to learn there addition, subtraction, long division, and their multiplication tables in school.
5.Furthermore, we didn't have computers. Without spell check, kids also had to learn how to spell and how to compose a sentence.
6. We didn't have the internet, if you wanted to learn about something, you had to go to the library or book store and ask somebody and hoped they knew what they were talking about. And home finances had to be hand written on these green graphed legers and calculated, often in someones head! And no internet dating or flirting, by God if you liked someone, you had to call them on the telephone or talk to them in person, live.
7. We had newspaper boys (what a historionic notion) who delived the daily news to your house. It also included comics and Dear Abby, it was sold as a complete package. And often the reader had to read for a couple of paragraphs before she got the whole story.
8. We didn't have email, we wrote letters by hand. And if you wrote with a pen, well you'd have to make a line through your mispelling, which would obvioulsy make you look like a fool to the recipient. And to mail a letter you had to go to the Post Office and buy a stamp for 10 cents (which always seemed like such a bargain)
9. I don't even think we had erasable pens back then, but we did have pencil sharpeners and pencil erasers, thank goodness.
10.There was no cable TV. We had 12 or 13 channels and Channel U. What was Channel U anyway? And there were no remotes so you had to go to the television and manually change it. People really had there shows back then. Readers Digest was living the High Life. And TV's were expensive, so most families didn't have one in the bathrooms, kitchen, and forget the kids rooms. Kids, you had to fall asleep in the dark. No wonder kids don't believe in monsters anymore.
11. We didn't have digital cameras. Every single picture you took had to be sent off to a photo lab for someone else to look at, so obviously we were limited with which moments we had to record. There weren't nearly as many bad cheap shots, or on the other hand perfect shots hanging around. You had the hand you were delt with, and you were essentially at the mercy of the photographer.
12. We didn't have GPS devices (and most certainly not on our phones), let alone, Mapquest. In Geography class kids, they actually taught you how to read a map. As complex as that sounds, it really made sense. So of course, we had to learn the difference in North and East and so on.
13. We didn't have medication for the ADD's. (The adults however were releived with Valuim) Kids were going crazy sitting in those classes learning all this stuff....although come to think of it, I don't remember witnessing an ADD meltdown till the 80's. Well at least I didn't have my own ADD meltdown till the 80's.
14. We had vinyl record albums, tapes, and 8 tracks rather than CD's, or IPODS. Tapes and 8 tracks were for the car, records were for the house. And if you wanted to make your friend a recording, you had to record onto the tapes which consisted of a lot of rewinding and fast forwarding, and the sound quality was dubious. I still think the sound out of a clean record is better than a CD.
15. We didn't have DVD's, but video tapes did exist, though like calculators, a pricy investment and rare to find. I remember watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with some other kids at a bar while our Dad's threw back a couple of Milwaukees Best. If you wanted to see a movie, you had to get to the movie theatre before it went off. Going to the movies was a big deal.
16. Speaking of popcorn, no microwaves existed at homes in the 70's (but maybe in labs somewhere). Everything had to be heated on the oven or in the stove. That's when cold leftover pizza really came into fashion. So lots of dishes had to be washed, and dishwashers were luxury. Moms were in full support of Dad's perfecting his outdoor grilling skills. Sandwiches were big.

You might be surprised to know what we did have....like, digital watches, pens with digital watches on them elevators, TV dinners, and cameras the size of the tip of your thumb.