Blockbuster Nights, Slap Bracelets & Slow Days

Do you remember life before the internet?

I can wholeheartedly say I remember life before the internet. I was born at the end of 89′ and though I was itty bitty in the early 90’s, I do recall what it was like before we got Internet in our house.

We would be outside all day long playing with our friends in the neighbourhood, collecting Disney VHS, beanie babies, pogs, crazy bones, playing with polly pockets, Tamagotchi and everyone had a furbie. We all had those make your own bracelet books, where you’d make them out of the colourful string and slap bracelets were ALL the rage! We, for whatever reason, all wore neon or crazy coloured clothing, white washed “mom” jeans, chunky shoes, and scrunchies/ butterfly clips were cooler than you could imagine. Oh but don’t forget the plastic stretchy chokers! We would drink from the hose, get crazy unique candy from the corner store (Chocolate cigarettes or Bazooka bubblegum anyone?), played hop-scotch, jumped rope, tag and hide-n-seek (those were especially fun at “night”). Our parents would call us in for dinner but we would be right back out afterwards, and only come inside once the street lights came on.

If you went to someone’s home, you would have to use their landline phone to call home. NOPE, it wasn’t cordless and you couldn’t take it outside. And you had to memorize the most important numbers to you, home or especially your parent’s work number. And Friday nights were sacred because that meant you either went to Blockbuster or Jumbo Video (which was a Canadian video rental store) and the best part about Jumbo Video was the copious amounts of free popcorn they had. Yup, you can browse and munch on little baggies of popcorn from their popcorn maker. Let’s not forget we also had TGIF and Saturday morning Cartoons, let’s just say our weekends were set!

Honestly, before we got a legit computer and Internet in the house, it was a lot simpler. A phone was a tool when you had good or bad news to share, inform a friend you would be over soon or when relatives sadly passed away, it was a phone call, not a text or link to the obituary. You used colourful pens and paper to to make notes, lists or do your homework and research was done with books…..from a library! Ahhhhh the horror! Maps were paper and you had to have multiple ones in the car to map out your route to wherever you were going.

Being a latchkey kid was a real thing even when I was a kid, but we were taught about stranger danger, to be aware of our surroundings and common sense. Parents had to work! And don’t worry, my brothers only left me on the porch by myself after school a TON of times. But we all knew everyone in the neighbourhood, so I would just go to my next-door neighbours house until one of my parents got home.

I felt like a kid, acted like a kid and was innocent and curious like a kid should be. I wasn’t glued to a screen or worried about someone seeing my post about this or that, or how many followers I had. My idea of a future job wasn’t being an “Influencer” or Youtube sensation. I was just….a plain kid.

So needless to say, I remember life before the internet fondly and this was just a tiny taste of my childhood. I truly miss those simpler days and I hope that I can give my daughter a small taste of what that life was like. Let’s see if we can live a little more like a kid from the good ol’ days, yeah?

Hope you have a wonderful day or night wherever you are in the world!

Ciao!!