Life Before Technology: What Central Minnesota Residents Remember

Technology has come a long way in the last 23 years. In 2000 we were still using dial-up, and thought it was the greatest thing ever. Now, if it takes more than a few seconds for the streaming service to load, I’m yelling at the TV. 

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I started thinking recently about how different life is now versus when I was a kid. One of the things that came to mind for me was getting the Christmas Catalog every year. It was what the internet is to kids these days, except the pages didn’t update. It would come in the mail in September or October, and I’d spend the next couple of months hoping and dreaming about what Santa might bring me. 

I turned to our audience asking Central Minnesota residents to name something from their youth that kids today wouldn’t be able to understand or relate to. And the answers did not disappoint. 

Pat said “Go downhill sledding with a cardboard box” 

Theresa sent us a good one- “Glass bottles of soda pop in a pull-out machine with a glass door” 

Missy remarked- “Biking to the local pool with friends and spend all day there throughout the summer. It was time to go home with the 6pm siren going off. Just enjoying the day without electronics” 

Lynette shared- “Making sure you have a quarter for the phone booth” 

Tina sent us- “Rotary telephones” to which I asked the question how did we text on those things? 

Valerie said- “Cassette Tapes & VHS Tapes”. (Be Kind, Please Rewind) 

Lee recalled “Hanging out in a parking lot and watching cars drive by, without a cell phone” 

Roman had a good one too, “Cigarette machines”. (Did they really just trust us kids to just walk on by?) 

Stephanie in St. Joe said on our app “Car windows you had to physically roll up and down” 

Jason also on our app commented “Long car rides with no electronics to play with” 

 One thing is very clear that kids from the 70’s and 80’s encountered a lot of the same things no matter if they lived in Central Minnesota or Western North Carolina. Technology has opened a whole new world to us, but there are times I miss the world I grew up in.