Viral Reddit Post Lists Things From The Past That Will Shock Gen-Z: "When The Internet..."

As technology advances and times change, practices and habits evolve, often leaving behind what was once considered normal. Each generation experiences this shift, with some norms and behaviours becoming unrecognizable or even perplexing to younger generations. Recently, a Reddit user sparked an interesting conversation on r/AskOldPeople, where people shared everyday knowledge from their time that's now hard to believe. The responses offered a fascinating glimpse into the past and how things used to be. Some shared nostalgic memories, while others revealed surprising facts that left many scratching their heads.

The discussion covered a range of topics, from technology and entertainment to daily life and cultural norms. It sparked a lively debate about how quickly things change and how different generations perceive the world. The conversation also touched on the theme of knowledge transfer, highlighting the challenges of passing on information from one generation to the next. 

Check the post here:

What's your favorite piece of trivia that everyone your age knows, but none of the youngins believe?
byu/MrDNL inAskOldPeople

Here are some interesting responses:

1. "When the internet first came out, you couldn't talk on the phone and be online at the same time."

2. "There were telephones EVERYWHERE. Streets, shops, sidewalk corners, etc., etc. You paid for calls with COINS.

3. "This wasn't that long ago, but there used to be no security screenings at airports. You could walk the person to the boarding area and watch them board the plane."

4. "My first job was working in the catalog department, calling people's homes to say their order had arrived. Best job ever, cause everyone was happy to hear from me."

5. "My adult children and all their friends didn't believe me when I first told them that married women weren't allowed to have a credit card in their name until 1974. Before that, they could only have one through their husband."

6. "That when you watched TV, you had to watch what was on and if you wanted to watch something in particular, you had to wait for it to come on."

7. "Phone numbers were memorized, and there was no speed dial, caller ID, or voicemail. I still remember my home  and my best friend's  from 50+ years ago."

8. "Whenever you wanted to download something online, you'd have to threaten everyone in the house with their lives if they picked up the phone during the amount of download time it took. It would take hours to download a game or an image, and if someone used the phone, the download would START OVER from the beginning. Plus, in the mid-'90s, you'd have to pay by the hour."

9. "People used to write letters, put a stamp on them, and mail them to their friends and relatives! As a kid, I would write letters to my school friends over summer break just to tell them how my summer was going, and most would write back telling me how things were with them."

10. "I'm just old enough to remember smoking on planes. It still blows my mind that that was a thing."

11. "No ATM or debit cards. You would have to withdraw enough cash to cover you for the weekend, since the banks were closed."

12. "TV stations used to just go off at midnight. They would play a test pattern and a tone until resuming broadcasting around 6 am."

13. ''Once you hit 18, wearing a seat belt was completely optional. You didn't have to wear a seatbelt if you didn't want to."

14. "My boss blew my young co-workers' minds the other day when she explained that there is a special kind of black paper that you can put between two regular pieces of paper, and when you write on the top one, it shows up on the bottom one!"

15. "When driving in unfamiliar territory, you had to get directions by either stopping at the gas station and asking an attendant, or buying a map/atlas."