Difference in Decades

Remember when we were young and our parents told us how they used to walk uphill, both ways, in the snow to school? And we would laugh and shake our heads at how delusional they were?

I've become my parents. I bet you have to!

1970's there were 4 channels on the TV and heaven help you if the President was on.
1980's there were more channels but if you wanted to know what was on you needed to buy the TV Guide
2012 Not only is there 4 million channels, a 9YO can search the guide to discover she wants to watch On-Demand because (and I quote) there is nothing on!

1980's we upgraded from the rotary phone that the telephone company provided. There was one phone, in the kitchen. And if you were in a vacation spot, you probably had a party-line where you could pick up your phone and listen to the cool teenager down the street tell all her friends back home about the lifeguard on Hampton Beach.

2012 Your house phone is cordless which means you can leave the kitchen. Except I cannot find my house phone. I had one. I did. But Boo reprogrammed it to French, rotary dial (who knew that still existed!) and I cannot figure out how to fix it. She also called Ireland on it. Thankfully Maeve was a beautiful grandmother who didn't mind listening to Boo babble for 15 minutes while I was in the shower. So I put the phone someplace safe where she couldn't get a hold of it. And now I don't remember where that is.

1980's MTV played music videos
2012 MTV plays 'reality' shows that make my hair turn grey.

1980's the waist of our pants came up to just under your breastbone.
2012 the waist of our pants show the crack of our ass.

1980's My hair was three stories tall
2012 My hair is still three stories tall but most girls use a flat-iron


1980 my mom straightened my hair using her ironing board, an iron and a towel.
2012 a hairstylist spent 2 hours trying to blow-dry and straighten my hair with a flat iron. (Sadly, mom's remedy was less painful)


1970 we had rabbit ears with tin foil as antennas. To watch the Muppets some one had to be holding the ears
1980 we had to still get up off the couch to change the channel. In one direction only.
2012 Boo hid the remote and my husband almost had heart failure because he couldn't flip between Duck Dynasty and the Sox game.

1980 you left the house after breakfast, came home for lunch and then we did not come back inside until it was dark or our friend's parents stopped feeding us
2012 you are only allowed in the backyard and only if your parent has a monitor on you.


1970 George Carlin had the 7 dirty words you cannot say on television
1980 the words were still taboo
2012 I think I heard all but one of them on MTV

1970 Archie & Edith, Lucy & Ricky and just about every married couple slept in separate beds
1980 Newhart and his wife slept in the same bed
2012 Everyone sleeps with everyone and sometimes more than one

1980's Ronald Regan told the Communists to take down that Wall
2012 We are trying to build a fence around the USA

1980 you nylons, tights, anything to cover up your legs
2012 you shave every day because there is no way you are wearing nylons

1970 you went to the bakery, the butcher, the pharmacist, liquor store and the market for everything else
1980 you went to the supermarket, the liquor store and the pharmacy
2012 you go to the Supermarket or the Walmart for one stop overpriced shopping

1980 that one phone in the kitchen, it was the only phone number you had to remember
2012 you have to remember your home phone, cell phone, husbands and childrens cell phones, your parents home and cell numbers. Oh wait, it is stored in your phone so you don't need to remember it. Except the battery died on the cell and you are now screwed until you can find the cord to recharge it. It was around here somewhere. I am sure it is where I put the cordless phone so it would be safe from Boo.

1980 we believed everything Walter Cronkite told us
2012 we believe everything the Internet tells us

1980 you read Wifey by Judy Blume and thought you were a rebel
2012 you read 50 Shades in the gym, in full view of everyone who knows what you are reading!

Yup, I can see the conversation with Allie now...When I was your age I walked to school in the snow, uphill in both directions.

Because let's face it, that sounds so much harder than I had to get my ass off the couch to change the channel.




Photo credit Google images