Modern life

I go to the Library weekly, take out three books (fiction mainly) I read and try to avoid the TV in the room. I do have a computer as you see and that is a hobby, smartphone also, apart from work, I spend about three or four hours on the PC and about 0.5 hours on the phone each week. But I am older :) .
 
Off the top of my head this is what I was doing before the internet:

Riding bikes, messing around in the countryside, Super Nintendo, GameBoy, radio controlled cars, Lego, scalextric, watching 80’s kids tv shows, reading magazines, swimming, fishing.
 
Vonhelmet said:
is rubbish.
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Great album :D

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Born late 60's.

In my childhood I played with plasticine, Lego, train sets, scalextric and action man. I read books and on Saturday morning watched TV for a few hours. I went outside with my friends on my bike. We rode for miles. We walked and hung about on street corners. We played board games sitting on the pavement when it was sunny. We climbed trees and walked miles to the sweet shop. We played football and made airfix models.

By the late 80's I was an early adopter of home PC's working my way through VIC 20's, CBM 64's, Amiga's and finally PC's in the 90's. I still read books. I went out with my mates down the pub. I would drive places for the sheer fun of it and to explore. We went to the cinema. We went out dating. We rented videos on big VHS cassettes. We just found things to do and it was great. We definitely had more social interaction.
 
Hades said:
Born late 60's.

In my childhood I played with plasticine, Lego, train sets, scalextric and action man. I read books and on Saturday morning watched TV for a few hours. I went outside with my friends on my bike. We rode for miles. We walked and hung about on street corners. We played board games sitting on the pavement when it was sunny. We climbed trees and walked miles to the sweet shop. We played football and made airfix models.

By the late 80's I was an early adopter of home PC's working my way through VIC 20's, CBM 64's, Amiga's and finally PC's in the 90's. I still read books. I went out with my mates down the pub. I would drive places for the sheer fun of it and to explore. We went to the cinema. We went out dating. We rented videos on big VHS cassettes. We just found things to do and it was great. We definitely had more social interaction.
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And pretty much this.People seem to live through social media these days.
 
Hades said:
Born late 60's.

In my childhood I played with plasticine, Lego, train sets, scalextric and action man. I read books and on Saturday morning watched TV for a few hours. I went outside with my friends on my bike. We rode for miles. We walked and hung about on street corners. We played board games sitting on the pavement when it was sunny. We climbed trees and walked miles to the sweet shop. We played football and made airfix models.

By the late 80's I was an early adopter of home PC's working my way through VIC 20's, CBM 64's, Amiga's and finally PC's in the 90's. I still read books. I went out with my mates down the pub. I would drive places for the sheer fun of it and to explore. We went to the cinema. We went out dating. We rented videos on big VHS cassettes. We just found things to do and it was great. We definitely had more social interaction.
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I was born late 80's and my childhood was pretty much the same.

Pretty sure we were the last generation where you were always outside kicking a football somewhere, building dens/tree houses/zip lines, getting lost in woods miles from home, riding bikes etc. I lived outdoors those days and as such am very grateful for the era I was born in.

I do wonder if social media will find its peak and naturally retract as people discover their lives again but no sign of that happening any time soon!
 
It taught kids how to cope with real life, getting lost and finding your way home without a mobile to call mummy. Making weapons to catch fish, rabbits etc, making dens and camp fires. You could imagine being able to live wild quite easily, can't picture today's as screenagers coping as well.
 
purplesky said:
As are SSRI antidepressants, which is probably why people are on them in the first place.
A social media phone zombie who is on antidepressants. What an awful existence.
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It's a vicious circle, can't say I blame them entirely though, as humans most of us are always going to follow the crowd and make use of new technology for a comfort zone.
 
Reading, playing piano, other sports hobbies. Museums/exhibitions, long walks, visiting national trust and other sites of historic interest. It's not difficult to find stuff to do, you just need to motivate yourself off of the sofa. :D

I haven't touched social media for a long time and think it was a good move. I genuinely think it makes you go nuts.
 
fonzee said:
I was born late 80's and my childhood was pretty much the same.

Pretty sure we were the last generation where you were always outside kicking a football somewhere, building dens/tree houses/zip lines, getting lost in woods miles from home, riding bikes etc. I lived outdoors those days and as such am very grateful for the era I was born in.

I do wonder if social media will find its peak and naturally retract as people discover their lives again but no sign of that happening any time soon!
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Most of the places I played outside, especially football, are now new housing estates or have "no ball games" signs up.
 
Hades said:
Born late 60's.

In my childhood I played with plasticine, Lego, train sets, scalextric and action man. I read books and on Saturday morning watched TV for a few hours. I went outside with my friends on my bike. We rode for miles. We walked and hung about on street corners. We played board games sitting on the pavement when it was sunny. We climbed trees and walked miles to the sweet shop. We played football and made airfix models.

By the late 80's I was an early adopter of home PC's working my way through VIC 20's, CBM 64's, Amiga's and finally PC's in the 90's. I still read books. I went out with my mates down the pub. I would drive places for the sheer fun of it and to explore. We went to the cinema. We went out dating. We rented videos on big VHS cassettes. We just found things to do and it was great. We definitely had more social interaction.
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We got bought a huge Meccano set one Christmas between the four kids in my family and we played with it non stop - our train set filled the attic too. We went everywhere on bikes with other kids - 20 to 40 miles while messing about in between was common place. Football on a rough bit of land somewhere nearby was always on the go and kids just joined in. My dad got the whole family a lifetime National Trust membership when there was a half price offer once and all six of us would pile into an old Vauxall Victor and go to amasing places. Some of the board games where the whole family were involved were fantastic too and all of us kids (now in our 50's and 60's) still have fond memories of them. At the age of 14 I cycled to my Aunty's place in the Cotswolds from Liverpool and then spent the barmy summers of the 70s there larking about with my cousin and his friends. The main reason was to get away from my dad as he was a complete bully, but not in any sort of productive way at all. A year later I went round England on the same 5 gear bike (Puch Pacemaker if memory serves), in an old sailing suit of my brothers with a one man tent strapped to it for the odd time I didn't make it to a youth hostel. Great times!!

As a side to the above, my sisters kids all got interacted with a lot as they grew up too and they did things similar to the above. While there's many different factors involved of course, all three of them went through Oxford / Cambridge university without being pushed in the slightest and they came out ridiculously well rounded and fun individuals on the other side.

For me, comparing then to know, it feels like if you wanted to do something there weren't too many excuses for not doing it.
 
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