10 Modern Technologies We Lived Without in Primitive, Pre-Millennial America

Pajamas Media ^ | 05/08/2014 | PAULA BOLYARD

[a fool in paradise]

You could also go to the library and check out records, then tape them at home.

When CDs first came along, the industry tried to block them at libraries saying you’d be able to make “too good” of copies/home tapes.

[fredhead]

Talking about keeping things, I still have and ride the banana bike I got at age 7 for Christmas in 1966. Recently restored it and take it with me to display at car shows with my 69 VW.

[a fool in paradise]

Ahh, Pong! My brother and I spent hours on the display model at Sears. My dad thought it was stupid and refused to buy one.

[GOPJ]

It wasn’t until the 1980s, when the advent of cable TV made them a necessity, that remote controls were included with every TV set and we were finally able to say goodbye to changing channels by turning the clunky knobs. A legitimate case could be made that children were less obese back then because of those frequent walks back and forth from the TV.

Having kids who could change channels was one of the reasons for having kids...

[GeronL]

Lol

[AU72]

Believe it or not, there was a time when human beings had to stand up and walk across an entire room to change the channel or adjust the volume on a TV set.

And you had channels to choose from. Plus you had to adjust your rabbit ears for some channels.

[GeronL]

And if you missed! Rewinding to that spot was a real pain

[TruthWillWin]

We had a TV with a remote in the 50’s. 58 or 59 I believe. Had a wire that attached to the TV and an electric motor rotated the tuner to change channels.

[familyop]

"...we ate the toxic paint chips because they tasted sweet and some kids couldn’t resist gnawing on window sills and picking up stray chips that peeled off of the porch railing."

Let's research the "we" demographic.

America’s Ruling Class — And the Perils of Revolution
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/americas-ruling-class-and-the/print

The Fragmenting of the New Class Elites, or, Downward Mobility
http://volokh.com/2011/10/31/the-fragmenting-of-the-new-class-elites-or-downward-mobility/

Environmentalism and the Leisure Class
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2835601/posts

The New Upper Class and the Real Reason We Dislike Them
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2843575/posts

Are you a member of the political class?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/are_you_a_member_of_the_politi.html

Downton’s Class System — and Ours: We have a ruling class that despises the free market and does all in its power to restrict its scope.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3024119/posts

[roamer_1]

I just bought a truck with none of that stuff. A Unimog.

I still DRIVE a truck without all that stuff - The newest pickup I have ever owned is a 78 Chevy... And it's my daily driver for now, till I get the minivan fixed. If I get a 'next truck', I will probably relent and cross the line into a mid-80's 1T heavy 4x4, Mostly for the convenience of taller gears and over-drive already installed. But IF I do, I'll die with that truck, because once restored, it will last that long.

All y'all have lost your minds, and you don't even know it. Who needs butt warmers and electric windows in a pickup truck? *shakes head*... Pickups are made to WORK. And simple things don't break.

[latina4dubya]

And I was damned happy to have it.

did it have power steering?

[latina4dubya]

I’m just barely old enough to have been exposed to the stress fax machines caused in the office ...

remember when fax machine used those rolls of thermal paper?

[latina4dubya]

Typewriter - Typed my senior year research paper on an old L.C. Smith typewriter that was my mom’s. You almost needed a hammer to press those keys. Mom typed up many a church bulletin onto mimeograph stencil on that typewriter.

i never had to do this, but i do remember seeing my sister typing with carbons in between her sheets of paper so she could have copies... and if she made a mistake, she would use that pencil-looking thing that had a pointed eraser at the tip and a brush on the other end... and she would have to erase the mistake on each layer... what a pain!

[truth_seeker]

“I’m just barely old enough to have been exposed to the stress fax machines caused in the office ... “we’ve lost a whole day, everything’s moving too fast!” lol. Same with FedEx overnight. Little did they know.”

I escaped a lot of crappy duties in the Army, because I prepared a daily report of high importance. It had to be prepared in seven copies. Four were in the form packet, and three more from tissues and carbon paper.

And up to two mistakes were allowed, with crossover, initials, etc.

Make the third mistake, and you started over, which meant loading three more pages of tissue and carbon.

I labored thusly, while my boss had locked securely in his bottom desk drawer, the roll of scarce electrographic copy paper, for the seldom used machine.

So when I got back to my civilian job, I was thrilled they had a fancy modern copy machine.

A few years later, along comes Faximile. Wow. The European subsidiary offices were ahead of us. But we caught on.

It cost a lot of money to use at first. I remember $6 per page to Europe.

[21twelve]

“An hour later they’d still be sizzling on the inside. I pointed out that he had missed his chance to invent the microwave oven.”

IIRC that is how the idea got started, someone had a bunch of radar systems left over from the war. I think I saw prom on being able to cook your entire turkey in two minutes or something crazy.

But the oven was so large, and I think the energy leaked out until they figured it out for actual use.

[driftless2]

"adjust"

My father had a problem with one of his eyes, the lazy eye, so he often did't see the same picture we kids saw.

One huge memory of my childhood is my father coming downstairs, looking at the tv set that appeared out of focus to him, yell "who's been monkeying with the tv set," spend about 5-10 minutes sitting on his haunches in front of the tv adjusting the picture while completely blocking out our view of the program.

Then satisfied with himself, he would sit on the sofa while we all watched the program that was slightly out of focus.

[driftless2]

Well, we did’t get that much exercise changing channels...for many years we only had two channels, CBS and NBC. So many evenings the tv was set to the same channel. But the shows seemed more interesting in those days than today. Now I can’t stand most primetime, network programming.

[markman46]

my first car was a 67 dodge dart 3 on the tree slant 6, learned to change the point n plugs and oil, ran like a tank no AC or power steering

[Ditter]

Air conditioning! I grew up without air conditioning, please don’t make me do that again.

The only item on the list that I would have difficulty giving up is my cell phone. I don’t even have a smart phone just an old flip phone but I love it. Just for making calls any time and any place.

[Mears]

“Though I refuse to believe that women EVER went without hair dryers.
“

—

We opened the oven door and let our hair dry from the heat.Rollers or bobby pins,not blow dry.

.