A trip down memory lane from the seventies to the modern-day
December 08, 2021 6 min read
Let’s start by taking a little journey down memory lane, well it will be for some of us. Many of you will relate to this little story, which will hopefully bring a wry smile.
If I were to say, “How did you use to know where all your friends were?” I bet I know the answer (for those of us born pre-2000)
“How did your mum and dad used to know where you were?”
“When did you know it was time to come home?”
“How did you call your friends?”
“Did you ever stay in the house on a summers evening or during the school holidays?”
I smile when I think of those times. I can hear the laughter of my friends as we rode our bikes, all around our area, we played football, cricket and just hung around. Hiding from each other and just playing the fool.
If I were to say, “How did you use to know where all your friends were?” I bet I know the answer (for those of us born pre-2000)
“How did your mum and dad used to know where you were?”
“When did you know it was time to come home?”
“How did you call your friends?”
“Did you ever stay in the house on a summers evening or during the school holidays?”
I smile when I think of those times. I can hear the laughter of my friends as we rode our bikes, all around our area, we played football, cricket and just hung around. Hiding from each other and just playing the fool.
I look back to the summer of 76, which was hot, as a young lad all I wanted to do was get out, climb trees, and explore the area behind our houses known as the swamp. The long grass was in need of cutting as the sun beat down, the water shimmering as the light danced across its dappled surface. The smell of heat, permeating from the tarmac and the stifling stench brought about by the gasses being released in the swamp. Then as the day drew toward its end the sun would slowly be descending the heat of the day diminishing and the feeling of chill in the air.
I’d get up and go to my paper rounds at 06.30 (I had two of those and would always stand in if someone was off) I’d be finished by 08.30 and the day was mine. Onto the pushbike, an old, battered thing which I had saved and bought with my paper money, then stripped it all down and painted it, just so it looked good, well I thought it did and it was all mine! Off I’d cycle to my mates’ houses, one by one waking them up and getting ready for what the day would hold. If one of them was not home it’d be carry on the journey to find out which house they were at. With everyone found we’d be off to play football at one of the local fields or out into the countryside to go on an adventure. We’d sometimes find wood and build a den and play armies as we attacked each other’s plots.
It was so funny when I think back to then and look at now. What has changed that has brought so many changes in place. I recall my parents never knowing where I was really and to be honest many parents of today will think back and say yes, they had no way of calling us, no way of tracking us, and for the most part, just let us get on with it. As long as you didn’t get into trouble or bring a policeman home with you it was okay!
It was so funny when I think back to then and look at now. What has changed that has brought so many changes in place. I recall my parents never knowing where I was really and to be honest many parents of today will think back and say yes, they had no way of calling us, no way of tracking us, and for the most part, just let us get on with it. As long as you didn’t get into trouble or bring a policeman home with you it was okay!
What has changed then, we talk about it being a far more dangerous place now for our children? I spent twenty-two years in the military, a lot of that time spent in Germany where my two eldest did a lot of growing up. We’d let them go out and play, enjoy themselves with their friends doing the things we used to. I know they’d go off cycling all over the place as they’d be spotted by some other mums or dads. Lunchtime had come around and normally our two would not have missed their grub. No sign of them though. Popping round to where they were all playing, we found them in a garage. They had pulled the door down on themselves whoops! A lesson learned. I thought back to my days as a child and how my parents must have felt when I was late. I’ve always been a believer though that you have to give children some responsibility so they can learn from it, something my parents instilled into me. The kids were fine all happy that they’d had a great adventure and one which in many years they will also look back on.
Let’s wind the clock forward to today, that sort of thing wouldn’t happen as the children have mobile phones, a quick message to mum or dad and they’d be found.
We look at the way technology has advanced, some of it is great, some of it not so, just in the way it is used.
Can you imagine back in our day sitting in front of a computer playing games all day? thankfully we never had that distraction. I know now I spend far too much time, but that’s due to programming and earning my crust!
When my eldest was a youngster, we had the start of the Sega games console and the Amiga computer. I still remember buying an 8MB ram computer, which cost around £1500, how great was that then. This was only back in 1994 equivalent now to over £3000
Over the years technology has advanced year on year ‘Moores Law’ states the number of transistors on a microchip will double every two years, that the speed of computers will increase and that the price we pay for them will reduce as well.
With this, we see faster computers, new gaming stations, better graphics, better games. With the internet and the increase in speed, we now see the online gaming world taking over the real world for some children. They immerse themselves in these worlds, good or bad, not the topic here, might do one on that subject later.
What we do know is that society has changed massively, remember back to dial-up, or if you had an ISDN line how lucky you were. I started my first online business on a 128kb ISDN line (not cheap at the time)
Mobile phones, now there is a blast, my first phone was fairly large, it was a Barclaycard phone from Alcatel.
Let’s wind the clock forward to today, that sort of thing wouldn’t happen as the children have mobile phones, a quick message to mum or dad and they’d be found.
We look at the way technology has advanced, some of it is great, some of it not so, just in the way it is used.
Can you imagine back in our day sitting in front of a computer playing games all day? thankfully we never had that distraction. I know now I spend far too much time, but that’s due to programming and earning my crust!
When my eldest was a youngster, we had the start of the Sega games console and the Amiga computer. I still remember buying an 8MB ram computer, which cost around £1500, how great was that then. This was only back in 1994 equivalent now to over £3000
Over the years technology has advanced year on year ‘Moores Law’ states the number of transistors on a microchip will double every two years, that the speed of computers will increase and that the price we pay for them will reduce as well.
With this, we see faster computers, new gaming stations, better graphics, better games. With the internet and the increase in speed, we now see the online gaming world taking over the real world for some children. They immerse themselves in these worlds, good or bad, not the topic here, might do one on that subject later.
What we do know is that society has changed massively, remember back to dial-up, or if you had an ISDN line how lucky you were. I started my first online business on a 128kb ISDN line (not cheap at the time)
Mobile phones, now there is a blast, my first phone was fairly large, it was a Barclaycard phone from Alcatel.
This phone had a credit card-sized sim card that slid in the bottom, the network was not great and it was expensive to make calls.
In the then late eighties, it was the Nokia 6110 who remembers playing snakes on their phone, wow the height of excitement. Of course, we move on and the smartphones which made their appearance in June 2007 with the iPhone 3, did you know that the first smartphone was invented in 1992 a Simon Personal Communicator, no neither did I.
The smartphone has over the years, increased in speed, capacity, and computing power to now be a vital part of most people’s daily lives, did you know the average smartphone owner touches the device 2617 times a day!!!!
What has this meant for us as a society though, well gone are the days of not being able to get in touch with someone, of having to find a phone box to make a call. Now we have everyone at the touch of a button. Immediate communication, can this be a bad thing though? How many of you get annoyed when someone does not answer their phone, so you call them again and again. There is probably a good reason they are not answering, but we become irrational about it (I don’t by the way, I just know some who do)
Has our reliance on technology, but more importantly, our reliance on our mobile devices become too much for many? The stress levels brought on by this immediate channel to all news, notifications, etc. All of this is not good for our health, something we see all the time, more mental health issues, brought about by anxiety, stress, but why, what has changed?
In the then late eighties, it was the Nokia 6110 who remembers playing snakes on their phone, wow the height of excitement. Of course, we move on and the smartphones which made their appearance in June 2007 with the iPhone 3, did you know that the first smartphone was invented in 1992 a Simon Personal Communicator, no neither did I.
The smartphone has over the years, increased in speed, capacity, and computing power to now be a vital part of most people’s daily lives, did you know the average smartphone owner touches the device 2617 times a day!!!!
What has this meant for us as a society though, well gone are the days of not being able to get in touch with someone, of having to find a phone box to make a call. Now we have everyone at the touch of a button. Immediate communication, can this be a bad thing though? How many of you get annoyed when someone does not answer their phone, so you call them again and again. There is probably a good reason they are not answering, but we become irrational about it (I don’t by the way, I just know some who do)
Has our reliance on technology, but more importantly, our reliance on our mobile devices become too much for many? The stress levels brought on by this immediate channel to all news, notifications, etc. All of this is not good for our health, something we see all the time, more mental health issues, brought about by anxiety, stress, but why, what has changed?
Technology has changed and the way we use it. News has changed and the way we consume it. Communications have changed and the way we engage. Social activities have changed and the way we are informed.
All in all, the mobile phone particularly the smartphone has a lot to answer for in this modern world and a lot of the problems we face. Of course, it is not the mobile phone’s fault, it is the way we use it and the way big companies control us.
I had a friend who went cold turkey on her mobile for three months, never picked it up, turned it on, never looked at it. She told all her friends if they need me, I will be available on the landline between these hours. It worked a treat, when she did pick up the phone again, she found she no longer needed it in the same way. Now she will put it down and not even think about it. It shows we can in many cases remove our reliance on a device.
The big social media giants would hate this. Truth is who cares, we have been led down a path where our state of mind is in jeopardy. Our youngsters are being bombarded with rubbish and for the slightly more mature generations a direct access tool to conspiracy theories and fake news.
For those of us who remember wouldn’t it be nice sometimes to have to cycle to find your mates once more and wait for the light to go down before rushing home…
Are children losing the innocence of being a child, those magical years that help mould us to who we become?
All in all, the mobile phone particularly the smartphone has a lot to answer for in this modern world and a lot of the problems we face. Of course, it is not the mobile phone’s fault, it is the way we use it and the way big companies control us.
I had a friend who went cold turkey on her mobile for three months, never picked it up, turned it on, never looked at it. She told all her friends if they need me, I will be available on the landline between these hours. It worked a treat, when she did pick up the phone again, she found she no longer needed it in the same way. Now she will put it down and not even think about it. It shows we can in many cases remove our reliance on a device.
The big social media giants would hate this. Truth is who cares, we have been led down a path where our state of mind is in jeopardy. Our youngsters are being bombarded with rubbish and for the slightly more mature generations a direct access tool to conspiracy theories and fake news.
For those of us who remember wouldn’t it be nice sometimes to have to cycle to find your mates once more and wait for the light to go down before rushing home…
Are children losing the innocence of being a child, those magical years that help mould us to who we become?
