The world to an 18 year old

Scarlett68

I lecture in a 3rd level institution and whilst I get older with every passing year, I have to constantly remind myself that my students stay (on average) in the 18 -25 year category. There is so much that a student of 18 years of age today (born in 1993 :-0 ) assumes is common knowledge; so here’s some of the things that Ive become aware over the last 2 or 3 years that my students have thought to be "truths" :) (please feel free to add!):

The Soviet Union has never existed

There has always been only one Germany

“Google” has always been a verb

Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.

“So” as in “Sooooo New York,” has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else.

They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.

Every adult had, and has always had, a mobile phone. They've had one of their own since they were eleven

The internet has always been around. Cable or satellite TV has always been around. CDs and DVDs have always been around (and are boringly bulky). Freeview has always been around. iPods have been around since they were ten. They've never seen a Sony Walkman, though they've probably heard old farts mention them. And what did the coffin dodgers do with those big black round things, exactly?

looksee

Sounds about right!

I remind myself though that, while any date after the one on which I was born is somehow real and relevant, any dates before that are somehow imaginary and of no relevance to me.

Now, we are going back well over half a century to those dates, at that time technology didn't really change at all over the decades before and after my birth-date, but before and after say 1980 technology changed at an amazing rate and I could see how it would be difficult for an 18 year old to easily imagine a time before technology.

Oryx

Scarlett68 wrote: »

They've never seen a Sony Walkman, though they've probably heard old farts mention them. And what did the coffin dodgers do with those big black round things, exactly?

My first walkman was square. It took casette tapes, another thing 18yo's giggle at.

If I want to feel ancient I only need to mention the two terrestrial channels only, black and white tv we had when I was a kid.

peasant

You know you're proper "old" if you lost your virginity at least a decade before you were ever able to access internet porn

rainbowtrout

Ask those students about football and see what answer you get.

I was talking to my Leaving Cert students about football one day about 3 years ago. They were bemoaning Ireland's poor performance in a match the night before and the topic turned to World Cup. I mentioned Dave O'Leary's penalty against Romania in the World Cup to which I was met with blank looks. I had to elaborate that it was World Cup 90, to which they replied 'I was born in 91/92' Obviously they didn't witness it but were completely oblivious to Ireland's performance that year!

While they can't imagine life without mobile phones or internet they accept that it happened, what they can't get over is that people used to write letters to each other. They thought I was barking mad when i described writing letters to college friends in the summer and maybe being allowed one inland phone call every once and a while once it wasn't for long as the phone bill would be too high. The notion of local, inland and national calls didn't sit well with them either!

Scarlett68

looksee wrote: »

Sounds about right!

I remind myself though that, while any date after the one on which I was born is somehow real and relevant, any dates before that are somehow imaginary and of no relevance to me.

So true looksee...:)

But the mere fact that I now feel anachronistic in relation to them only serves to reinforce my midlife crisis:D (Ive even gone and bought the crisis sportscar.....:o)

itac

You don't ever have to save to buy anything-just put it on the credit/laser card....

Irish currency has always been euros and cents, not pounds and pence..*

Soap has always come in liquid format...



I think it was Douglas Adams who said something along the lines of "anything invented before you were born is normal, anything invented before you turn 35 is new, exciting, and something you wonder how you ever lived without. Anything invented after that age is terrifying and against the natural order of things!" The older I get, the more I think he may be right!

*I'm not quite old enough to remember pre decimalisation

Skerries

more than 1 telly in your house never mind in your bedroom was unheard of, and it shut down at 11 o'clock
we had to queue outside the cinema in the cold for tickets
the equivalent of surfing the net was waiting for pages to load on teletext
central heating and insulation wasn't common so you would all be in the sitting room gathered around the fire
if you were going somewhere you had to have a prearranged meetup as there was no mobiles to organise on the fly nights out
you could go out and play for hours without your parents knowing where you were and usually come home to a dried out dinner in the oven as we didn't have microwaves
butter had to be left out to soften in order to use as there was none of this easy spread stuff
Cartoons were only for kids

OldGoat

Getting the first colour TV in the street and every kid in the street piling in to watch TOTP.

anything invented before you were born is normal, anything invented before you turn 35 is new, exciting, and something you wonder how you ever lived without. Anything invented after that age is terrifying and against the natural order of things!

And I do believe we have found a motto for the Forums coat of arms.

Cicero

I bet most of those students never went into a telephone box to make a telephone call.

And of course, they have never heard of pressing button A to speak once they get through or pressing button B to get their money back, (which rarely happened anyway.):p

Oryx

Or queued at the same phone box when it was refusing to take money, so you could phone australia for free. Even if you didnt know anyone in australia!

chucken1

Or using ring pulls from cans instead of 2p pieces in the public phone...or was just my misspent youth?

peasant

Having said all that ...there is one thing your average 18-25 year old has that we old fogeys have all lost ...


...the steadfast belief that once they get older they will have made this world a better and fairer place.

Ah yes ...those were the days

old hippy

I knew I was on a downhill slope when some kid getting off the bus yelled "out of the way, grandad" at me. I was 33 at the time

looksee

Cicero wrote: »

I bet most of those students never went into a telephone box to make a telephone call.

And of course, they have never heard of pressing button A to speak once they get through or pressing button B to get their money back, (which rarely happened anyway.):p

That was the time when you had to wait 4 years to get a phone installed in the house. We were still waiting when the government made an announcement that everyone on the waiting list would get a phone within (I think) a year. So finally we got one!

And then there was queueing for petrol, and powercuts twice a week - everyone had candles and storm lanterns to hand.

Scarlett68

chucken1 wrote: »

Or using ring pulls from cans instead of 2p pieces in the public phone...or was just my misspent youth?

Ring pulls....how antiquated:D

I was the master at "tapping" them:cool:...I remember the only number you had to dial was zero!...I spent most of my college days tapping calls for all my class mates....ah the beautiful memories!

Cicero

Scarlett68 wrote: »

I was the master at "tapping" them:cool:...I remember the only number you had to dial was zero!...I spent most of my college days tapping calls for all my class mates....ah the beautiful memories!

Bob Says...

"Phone wreckers are idiots"...:mad:

Bizzi Lizzy

Scarlett68 wrote: »

Ring pulls....how antiquated:D

I was the master at "tapping" them:cool:...I remember the only number you had to dial was zero!...I spent most of my college days tapping calls for all my class mates....ah the beautiful memories!

I laughed when I read this, I was talking to my Daughter who is 22, and was telling her about how, when ever my friend would ring me from the phone box, she would tap the number in and wouldn't have to pay for the call, I then had to explain what tapping was. This got me thinking, my Daughter has probably never set foot inside a phone box in her life.

Daniel S

Scarlett68 wrote: »

I lecture in a 3rd level institution and whilst I get older with every passing year, I have to constantly remind myself that my students stay (on average) in the 18 -25 year category. There is so much that a student of 18 years of age today (born in 1993 :-0 ) assumes is common knowledge; so here’s some of the things that Ive become aware over the last 2 or 3 years that my students have thought to be "truths" :) (please feel free to add!):

The Soviet Union has never existed

There has always been only one Germany

“Google” has always been a verb

Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.

“So” as in “Sooooo New York,” has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else.

They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.

Every adult had, and has always had, a mobile phone. They've had one of their own since they were eleven

The internet has always been around. Cable or satellite TV has always been around. CDs and DVDs have always been around (and are boringly bulky). Freeview has always been around. iPods have been around since they were ten. They've never seen a Sony Walkman, though they've probably heard old farts mention them. And what did the coffin dodgers do with those big black round things, exactly?

That's pretty unfair imo, I was born in 1993 and I happen to know a lot more about the Soviet Union than most people two or three times my age. Same goes for Germany. I also understand that people tend to be tech savvy at an age, around mine I guess. So people in their 40's/50's were tech savvy at some stage :rolleyes:. Basically, I disagree with all of it, apart from "iPods have been around since they were ten", which they were...

I also had a Cassette type Walkman

IMO, you're just as ignorant as "they" are.

Scarlett68

mtb_kng wrote: »

That's pretty unfair imo, I was born in 1993 and I happen to know a lot more about the Soviet Union than most people two or three times my age. Same goes for Germany. I also understand that people tend to be tech savvy at an age, around mine I guess. So people in their 40's/50's were tech savvy at some stage :rolleyes:. Basically, I disagree with all of it, apart from "iPods have been around since they were ten", which they were...

I also had a Cassette type Walkman

IMO, you're just as ignorant as "they" are.

If I were to make any logical inferences on the above I could only infer that logic proofs and humour are not inversely proportional to age BUT I wouldnt make sweeping generalisations based on one respondant.:p

* and everything I quoted was based on far more than one single students utterances *:)

Daniel S

Scarlett68 wrote: »

If I were to make any logical inferences on the above I could only infer that logic proofs and humour are inversely proportional to age too BUT I wouldnt make sweeping generaliations based on one respondant.:p

* and everything I quoted was based on far more than one single students utterances *:)

:eek:

*Runs to get dictionary!*




:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

OldGoat

/Watching the thread >.<
Play nice now everyone. Lets keep it to generalities.

NewHillel

Oryx wrote: »

If I want to feel ancient I only need to mention the two terrestrial channels only, black and white tv we had when I was a kid.

You had TWO?

Latchy

Oryx wrote: »

Or queued at the same phone box when it was refusing to take money, so you could phone australia for free. Even if you didnt know anyone in australia!

I remember back in the late 80s there was a telephone box on Camden street Dublin which did just that with a line of foreign students waiting to use .

Bearhunter

My god, tapping phones, I'd forgotten about that. Luckily most local country numbers were only four digits long.

"You had TWO"

My thoughts exactly. RTE was a single entity, starting at 5 and finishing about 11. How did we live?

And what still amazes me is that kids born in the 1970s are legally allowed to vote and drink. I can't even think about 90s kids doing the same.

robinph

Was my granddads 100th birthday a couple of weeks ago, therefore we are all just youngsters to him. My dad had put together a time line of his life though and it was quite something to see what had happened during that time.

chucken1

robinph wrote: »

Was my granddads 100th birthday a couple of weeks ago, therefore we are all just youngsters to him. My dad had put together a time line of his life though and it was quite something to see what had happened during that time.

I'm nana sitting my EX mother in law at the moment..ya Im a saint!
But the stories..wow! Shes 90 years young

OldGoat

New fangled ring-pull cans. Pfffft...how cool were these churchkeys.


EDIT: Still use one for the occasional 'shotgun' at barbques for giggles.

robinph

Here is an early draft of the last 100 years timeline that was put together:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5YKSUtVQ4OoZjg2OTM4OGUtNTM4YS00YzA1LThmYTAtNWRiNmE4YjJkMWU3&hl=en_GB&authkey=CMbvmvcB

Note that is was done for a UK audience and there are probably a bunch of errors in there as well where my dad didn't know what he was talking about.

Rubecula

OldGoat wrote: »

New fangled ring-pull cans. Pfffft...how cool were these churchkeys.


EDIT: Still use one for the occasional 'shotgun' at barbques for giggles.

How cool they WERE? OMG I still have two and some older ones.

Why do the younger folks think Party 7 and Party 10 beer cans never existed? And you had to hammer a screwdriver into them to open them up... promptly spraying beer over everywhere and everyone.

Living in UK we had something called Davenports, Beer At Home. Dunno if any of you will have memories of that. A delivery of bottles of beer just like the milkman. Sigh I was too young to try it but my dad loved it.

looksee

robinph wrote: »

Here is an early draft of the last 100 years timeline that was put together:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5YKSUtVQ4OoZjg2OTM4OGUtNTM4YS00YzA1LThmYTAtNWRiNmE4YjJkMWU3&hl=en_GB&authkey=CMbvmvcB

Note that is was done for a UK audience and there are probably a bunch of errors in there as well where my dad didn't know what he was talking about.

That is an amazing idea, my mum is 90 in July, I might just do my own version for her!

I saw the 'rationing ended' entry - I have my partially used ration book for 1953-54, when I was 7, for meat, eggs, fats, cheese, bacon, sugar, tea and sweets. Some of the pages have been cancelled and only eggs have been used as far as I can see. I have no memory of it being used but I suppose at that age you would take things for granted.