Question for old people: What was it like when they had vcrs and station wagons

Question: Question for old people: What was it like when they had vcrs and station wagons back in the old days!?

and you know stuff like computer mouses with wires and typewriters and stuff!Www@QuestionHome@Com

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okay little girl, back in the old days--like you are referring to , we didn't have computers to go on and get the answers to our homework!. Homework was to be done by the student, not people on line!. Open a book dear--you could learn alot!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Funny, station wagons are still around, just typically smaller today than back when I was a kid!. It's still extremely possible to get a mouse with a wire that hooks into your mouse peripheral port, though the optical mouse is becoming far more common than the old ball mouse!. VCRs are still around for sale (though they are becoming more and more rare, especially as the DVD-R becomes more and more common and affordable)!. Now typewriters I haven't seen new ones for sale since the mid '90s!. Even at that time they were being replaced by word processors, which were a cross between a typewriter and a computer with a built in printer!.

Just to give you a heads up, I'll be 34 this year and can remember when you were really something if you had a computer period in your house!. There was no such thing, or so it seemed anyway, as a mouse!. Our first computer was a Commodore 64 and everything was saved onto data tapes!. We had NO programs we could just load onto the computer, we had to type out all the coding for a program by hand and then save it to the data tape if we wanted to use it in the future!. Otherwise each time we wanted to use a program we had to type up the program, which could take an hour or better for a more complicated program (and 10 to 15 minutes for a fairly easy, short program)!. Just three years later I used Commodores in school that used cartridges instead of data tapes!.

About six or seven years after we got the Commodore we got a new computer (and this was going four or five years without one as something happened to the power unit for the Commodore), a used Cordata!. This was actually our first "modern" computer as it had a hard drive, a 5 1/2" disk drive, a peripheral port for a printer, and it's own monitor (the Commodore required we plug it into a TV using an old antenna-computer/video game console adapter)!. Even for a used computer the Cordata was great, but by today's standards it wouldn't even be considered a dinosaur but more pre-dinosaur!. There was no desktop and icons to scroll through to get your programs or files!. Everything had to be done via the keyboard alone, which meant having to know what folder something was in and typing everything out!. Meaning you had to do things like cd\documents and settings\all users\documents just to get into a specific sub-directory to find the particular document or file you're looking for!. Then you had to know the different file types to get a program to run or to read info and how to bring up material to read!.

Now virtually everyone has a computer in their house, which includes a desktop and a mouse for easy access to all your files and programs!.

Station wagons were large affairs when I was a kid!. I'd basically describe them as a cross between a pickup truck and a car!. Front seat and back seat, both bench seats in the ones my folks owned, and then a lot of cargo space behind the back seat!. The average sized eight year old could lay down in the back with the back seat up and fully strech out, at least diagonally!.

Wagons today are mini-wagons!. Half the size of a regular station wagon or a little less and a quarter to half the cargo space!. The front seat is now two seperate seats so no chance of having a driver and two passengers up front!. Backseats are still bench, but now the back of the seat folds down in two parts!. The average sized five year old is lucky if the can lay down diagonally in the back end fully streched out, that would be more a three year old!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

lmao!.

VCR's really weren't that long ago!. They came with the same inconveniences as cassette tapes!. Occasionally, the VCR or tape player would "eat" the tape!. Which means that it would get caught in the moving parts and unravel, making a huge mess and rendering the tape useless!. Phonographs really weren't so bad!. The records were prone to scratches, just like CD's and DVD's!.

Station wagons were popular before it become mandatory to use your seat belt!. I spent quite a bit of time as a child riding in the back of the station wagon, playing with siblings and cousins while grandpa drove!. We didn't fight because we weren't bored!.

Manual typewriters took more effort to press the keys, but electric typewriters weren't that different from your computer keyboard!. The ink ribbon had to be changed periodically, but it wasn't any more of a hassle than changing a cartridge is now!.

My mouse has a wire!. I don't like the wireless mice!. The battery runs low too quickly and I can't use my computer while it's recharging!. I do, however like the optical mouse much more than the one with a ball!.

I'm thirty-five!. I would hardly consider myself "old"!. I work in a retirement center, and have come to appreciate the wisdom and experience of "old people"!. Even at my advanced age (snickering) I've found that there's a lot that I can learn from previous generations!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Ha! That's a good one!.

I remember life long before the age of personal computers, VCRs, and station wagons!. Not every family had an automobile and those that did only had one in the driveway!.

Manual typewriters--the kind that you sling the carriage to the left--was the mainstay for teachers, writers, and fortunate students that could access them!. Then electric typewriters, such as those made by IBM, came along!.

VCRs are a modern contraption that preceded the DVD players!.

Changes in technology don't mean a thing until they make changes in lifestyles!. For example, I grew up without air conditioning in the home and in the car!. Now, not having those luxuries would be difficult!. I found that out again during the latest power outages caused by Hurricane Gustav!.

I'm old and have read your question, but you may refer to us as senior citizens if you're not sure how others of my age might take it!.

Old people are simply those that have acquired experiences along the road of life and who ought to share them with the younger generations!. The young could learn much from their grandparents and older friends!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Transistor radios, TV sets with no color, some people out in the rural areas has no indoor plumbling and used the outhouse to shower and to do their 'business,' no computers, loud-ringing telephones with a spinning dial with a curly cord, I also remember life with no VCR, then the video-recording machines for the color TV set and during the time, they were expensive!. There were VCRs and BETA devices!. The VCRs were favored by the consumers!. I remember Reel-to-Reel audio tape recorders!. There were also reel-to-reel video tapes used in schools!. There were cassette tapes and cassette tape recorders with no radio attached to them!. Console stereos with an 8-track tape player, AM/FM radio, and a phonograph with big speakers!. Early in my life, there are 4-track tapes as well as 8-track tapes!. I hated those things!. I preferred vinyl records and cassette tapes!. That was before CDs came along and I started to prefer them!. Station wagons and cars as big as a boat were common on the road!. The 1973 Buick Electra 225 was a car as big as a boat that could seat about 8 people and the gas milage was about 12 mpg on the highway!. You would be lucky to get 15 mpg once unleaded gas replace the leaded gasoline!. Yes, back in the day, cars and truck were runned on leaded gasoline!. This is maybe part of the reason I could not see Los Angeles during the morning rush hour traffic while visiting relatives back when I was 10!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

My family had a station wagon in the early 80s!. We used to go to drive in movies!. My parents would put my brother and I in our pjs, give us a pack of skittles to share, put the sleeping bags in the back, and we used to fall asleep before the movie was over!.

We used to record stuff off the TV all the time with the VCR!. It's how we got Cindrella and Sleeping Beauty on tape, which I used to watch all the time!. We couldn't skip around like you can with the DVDs, you'd have to rewind or fast forward through everything to get where you wanted!. I actually still have a VCR/DVD combo, and still watch my tapes!. I was buying VHSs until about 5 years ago!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

it was simpler, but still much like now

things were much cheaper, especially gas and food

we were trying to figure out how to work the darn vcr and some of us still are, ha ha

we did not have computers in most homes, electric typewriters were something special at that time

people were more polite, considerate and children did what their parents said or they got a spanking

only had 3 tv stations, and if something important happened and president came on tv, it was on all 3 stations so you could not watch anything else, more than likely if you turned on the radio, it would be on there too

we had radios, some of them only played AM stations

we used 8 track tapes, and later cassettes, we still used record players

our refrigerators did not have ice dispensers!.!.!.!.!.!.!.but overall, less crime, a nicer place to be, kids played outside all day and you did not have to worry too much about them, and we all ate dinner togetherWww@QuestionHome@Com

What was what like!? You didn't really give a very specific question!.
I'll presume you simply want to know more about the mentioned items!.
Computers weren't as powerful back then, nowadays you have quad core CPUs starting to become standard (with standard speeds of over 2GHz)!.
Back when corded mice were invented (at one point they were considered "AI" I do believe) computers were likely around 800MHz for speed (1000MHz = 1GHz) and only a single core!.
Graphics cards were 32MB, whereas today you have cards up to 1GB (1024MB = 1GB)!.
Computing technology improves at a very large rate, I can't remember right now (must be the old age thing) but I think it was at least 5 times better over 2 years!.

This has been your special presentation old timer's rant, we now return you to your regularly scheduled coughing and mumbling!.
(hope i was of some help)Www@QuestionHome@Com

young whipper snappers, have some mercy ! ;)

It was modern beyond belief is what it was,,, in my life time I can recall the introduction of color TV, micro wave ovens, Starbucks, debit cards, electronic games as well as video games, cassette players, bag phones ( the fore runner to cell phones), indoor wireless phones, answering machines, home computers, flights to the moon, GPS, solid state circuit boards to name just a few,,, so each new invention was a step up from what we had been used to which means it was modern technology to us!.

Exactly the same way each new thing being introduced now is considered modern and a "must have item" to you,,, a good example is cell phones,,, look at how far they have advanced in the past 5 years!.

Www@QuestionHome@Com

i have all of those things still - minus the station wagon!.!.hahah!.!.!.you're funny!!!! Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'm not even out of my teens yet and I'm called old!.Www@QuestionHome@Com