When I was a kid...

[Stelex]

...only a few people I knew had touch tone phones. The rest of us still had rotary dial.

When I was a kid, the tone dialling wasn't invented yet.

 

[The_Chief]

When touch phones first came out, there was a switch on the side to select either Pulse or Tone. For those people who paid a premium to the phone company (of course), they had touch tone service and used that setting. For others, they selected "Pulse". Hit the "7" button and the phone would click seven times, just as if you'd turned a rotary dial. Took forever to place a call compared to today but it saved your fingers a lot of grief

 

[argedion]

These were very popular

music had to be good back then we had no rewind

 

[olbriar]

When touch phones first came out, there was a switch on the side to select either Pulse or Tone. For those people who paid a premium to the phone company (of course), they had touch tone service and used that setting. For others, they selected "Pulse". Hit the "7" button and the phone would click seven times, just as if you'd turned a rotary dial. Took forever to place a call compared to today but it saved your fingers a lot of grief

Those clicks are actually momentary disconnects. Me and my best friend perfected the art of dialing a seven digit telephone number using the hangup disconnect buttons for the handset. It took some work if the phone number had multiple eights or nines in the number. Obviously, we suffered greatly from a lack of entertainment.

 

[Seanette]

Maybe some tech guru can answer this one: why is the usual response (both in fiction and real life) on older phones to a disconnect jiggling that button? What would that accomplish?

 

[zuben el genub]

People thought the phone was stuck. Dirt did get down there, so they jiggled in hopes of restoring connection.

A. They have no knowledge of how phone does work. It's a mystery

B. No knowledge of how voice is transmitted - greater mystery

C. They can't believe the person on the other end hung up deliberately - vanity

 

[damewolf13]

People thought the phone was stuck. Dirt did get down there, so they jiggled in hopes of restoring connection.

A. They have no knowledge of how phone does work. It's a mystery

B. No knowledge of how voice is transmitted - greater mystery

C. They can't believe the person on the other end hung up deliberately - vanity

About that vanity thing...... I remember when I was in my early teens, my sister-in-law used to call my Mom about twice a week and ask her to ring her back just to make sure that her phone was working properly.
We would just laugh cuz we knew that it was just that nobody wanted to talk to her.

 

[IHateMyTreo]

Anyone remember "Mr. Wizard"?

 

[The_Chief]

Anyone remember "Mr. Wizard"?

Why of course! When I was about 10 I got a Mr. Wizard Chemistry Set for Christmas!

Go try and find a chemistry set NOW

 

[IHateMyTreo]

Why of course! When I was about 10 I got a Mr. Wizard Chemistry Set for Christmas!

Go try and find a chemistry set NOW

Had to make my own kit. But the primary goal was to procure and pack sulfur, charcoal and NaNO3. Woo Hoo!!

 

[argedion]

If you try to find or put together a chemistry set today they question you, your parents, grandparents. Monitor your for the next 36 months, your friends their family's all to decide if your a terrorist or not. If not then they want to know if your a drug dealer. If no then they want to hook wires up to your brain to see if you are an alien from outerspace, or if your just some crackpot kid who is destined to become a resident in a mental institution because after all the prodding and probing and questioning and interrogating you no longer are sure why you wanted a stupid chemistry set to begin with

 

[zuben el genub]

All the Heath and Lafayette Kits.

 

[olbriar]

Kits were the greatest idea ever. Not only did you save yourself some money but learned a lot along the way. I built a CB radio and helped my buddy build his first PC.. a 8088

 

[Stuntman]

When I was a kid, there was never a traffic problem around our school. Other kids think you are some type of a wuss if your parents had to drop you off and pick you up regularly.

 

[argedion]

When I was a kid, there was never a traffic problem around our school. Other kids think you are some type of a wuss if your parents had to drop you off and pick you up regularly.

Yeah if we didn't ride the buss we either walked or rode our bikes. Something I don't even see at schools any more are the old bike racks heck we didn't even need to use one of those fancy locks to lock it to it. Everyone knew who's bike belonged to who so there was no point.

 

[zuben el genub]

Quick, Henry, the FLIT!!!

 

[olbriar]

I had a bike or two that were either hand-me-downs or a trade but when I was in the fourth grade I won a bike from a drawing at a local tv kid's show. It was a three speed English racer. It was the only bike in town that had hand brakes. I rode that bike a gazillion miles.
Does anyone remember putting pet milk in their bike tubes to seal up sticker holes? Or finally saving up enough money to buy a new tube to replace the one that had more patches than unpatched tube? For Christmas one year I received one of those bell things that mounted on the handle bar that you ratcheted with your thumb. I think they outlawed those things they were so annoying but I thought it was top shelf in the day. Have you ever caught your toes in rear wheel spokes while riding on the back of a friend's bike? Own a bike that had a basket in the front and those multil colored streamer things coming out of the handle grips? Playing cards clothes pinned to the bike to simulate an engine sound? A battery operated headlight?

 

[argedion]

I had a bike or two that were either hand-me-downs or a trade but when I was in the fourth grade I won a bike from a drawing at a local tv kid's show. It was a three speed English racer. It was the only bike in town that had hand brakes. I rode that bike a gazillion miles.
Does anyone remember putting pet milk in their bike tubes to seal up sticker holes? Or finally saving up enough money to buy a new tube to replace the one that had more patches than unpatched tube? For Christmas one year I received one of those bell things that mounted on the handle bar that you ratcheted with your thumb. I think they outlawed those things they were so annoying but I thought it was top shelf in the day. Have you ever caught your toes in rear wheel spokes while riding on the back of a friend's bike? Own a bike that had a basket in the front and those multil colored streamer things coming out of the handle grips? Playing cards clothes pinned to the bike to simulate an engine sound? A battery operated headlight?

ahhh found memories. I remember not having a helmet either. The coolest bike I ever owned was a huffy. It was a solid bike and lasted me for several years. Back then we built ramps to jump things we had so really cool bike paths that we made we all new where to jump, how to jump it. We didn't hang out at the house and play video games or watch TV. We were made to go out and be social. We didn't get fat as we exercised all day. We never had problems with going to sleep. And perhaps the most important thing is we DIDN"T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE BILL'S, FEEDING THE KIDS, OR GETTING SOME CRAPPY GIFT FOR OUR WIFE THAT ENDS UP BEING LOCKED IN A CLOSET SOMEWHERE.

 

[colinjschwager]

When I was a kid we still used cassette tapes not CDs. We still played the original Gameboy. Pokemon Red had just come out and was the most popular game on the market. Food was cheap, gas was cheaper. Everyone was friendlier.

 

[The_Chief]

Cassettes? LOL

When I was a kid we used THIS thing a LOT:



I know you young whelps can't figure out what this is... but we old poops know it and know it well

 

[Stuntman]

Cassettes? LOL

When I was a kid we used THIS thing a LOT:

View attachment 32653

I know you young whelps can't figure out what this is... but we old poops know it and know it well

It had an alternate use. I used them as pretend ninja throwing stars as well.

When I was a kid we still used cassette tapes not CDs. We still played the original Gameboy. Pokemon Red had just come out and was the most popular game on the market. Food was cheap, gas was cheaper. Everyone was friendlier.

My first electronic game was Coleco's Electronic Quarterback. It was one game. I had to wait for Microvision before I had a portable electronic game device that had multiple games.

 

[argedion]

It had an alternate use. I used them as pretend ninja throwing stars as well.



My first electronic game was Coleco's Electronic Quarterback. It was one game. I had to wait for Microvision before I had a portable electronic game device that had multiple games.

I had this one and Loved it and believe me if you could learn to pass with this thing you were really good. These kids today don't know what a real game is they are ruined with graphics we only dreamed of having but hey we always did well with what we had and never COMPLAINED like a lot of the kids today.

This was a solid game complete with dashes for players and a little . for a ball. There were no game cartridges to switch out no memory sticks to save games with you turned it on and played till it was over (Or your parents called you to come home)

 

[olbriar]

Below is the video game we had when I was a kid. You started at this for a couple of hours every night before you went to bed.

 

[saptech]

Below is the video game we had when I was a kid. You started at this for a couple of hours every night before you went to bed.

When you saw this, it was time to goto bed...lol !

I remember playing this football in late '60s & early '70s. St. Louis had the Cardinals instead of the Rams back then. I guess you can say our version of Fantasy Football!

 

[DblDragon]

i used to shout at the electric fan. lol!