I wish my kids had a chance to see what life was like pre-internet....

there must be something on youtube about that!

[link to www.youtube.com]

No....more like this but in color.

Let's not forget about the music aspect. How the hell does Justin Beaver compare to Jimi Hendrix, or Jim Morrison, or Stevie Ray Vaughan? Or Jon Bon Jovi and Bono, while we're on that note...

Oh they will don't worry

Right there with you OP. I enjoy technology, but there is most definitely a trade-off. I feel so blessed to have been a kid of the 70s. Child services would not interrogate your parents either just because you fell out of a tree and got the wind knocked out of you! In our day, you could make a finger gun, point it at a teacher, pull the pretend trigger, & even make the blast sound. A cool teacher would grab his/her heart & fain being shot. All the while with a smile on their face at having been "got". Today that same action would result in the entire school locking down & the " perpetrator " going off to juvi as a terrorist. The crazies are def running the asialum.
Wired, combined with a lack of common sense that the exists today, is sad. Kids coming up today will never experience what we did.

Do kids even play outside now? I haven't seen any.

I never see kids playing on the local ball fields. He'll we'd play football baseball etc until we were exhausted and then play some more. My kids make me feel like they are being punished when I tell them to go outside on a gorgeous day....

I think they can live without it. Parents should set limits on the amount. unfortunatly parents these days don't have the nuts to be firm.

Do you live in a city? I live rurally and always see kids outside playing. Things must be different out here in the sticks lol

The streetlights coming on meant time to say later to my friends & head home for dinner.

don't worry the internet will be gone soon

Shortly you will be wishing your kids had a chance to see the potential America gave everyone....before Obama was allowed to destroy the country.

Great post, OP. Was just thinking about this the other day how different my life would have been growing up with the internet like children today. I'm a child of the 70s too, and like you, would not change my late 80s-early 90s coming of age. You stated it perfectly - less complicated, more intimate, more enjoyable.

Ever since I became a parent, I think about this often. I'm a product of the 80s so the internet was barely existent during the majority of my childhood. Everything was more innocent before the world had constant contact/connection. I feel technology grew way too fast and we are/will be paying for it dearly in the near future and for years to come - if it can be reversed at all! I hope to raise my kids in a way that they will value hard work, honesty and real human interaction. We try to avoid excessive screen time in our house, opting for hikes, parks, music and art more often than not.

Do it like the Japanese:

Japanese children today have access to more communications technology than ever before. Just a generation or so ago, children had to ask their parents to use the phone, but now they have smartphones and various other devices with wi-fi connectivity that they can use around the clock.

Except for, that is, in Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, which has announced that there will be a smartphone curfew in which all elementary and middle school students will be banned from using their smartphones after 9pm. The city hopes that this will cause a reduction in bullying and other issues among schoolchildren.


Source: [link to www.japancrush.com]

No practical skills are learned by the internet addicts, thus creating more jobs for people to do, like changing a tire or checking the oil. Its a win win for the hands on "live in reality" people of knowledge. Practical knowledge, thus so many specialized fields.