Tag: dailyprompt-1951

Posted in WP Prompt

Blockbuster Nights, Slap Bracelets & Slow Days

Posted on by Mama

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!!

Posted in WP Prompt

Bonus – WordPress Prompt – Before?!

Posted on by Mama

Do you remember life before the internet?

Well this is an intriguing question and I can only imagine the answers people will give. The birth of the internet was in the early 80’s I believe and sadly I was not even a thought in my parents mind at that time. I was born later in the 80’s.

However, I remember when we got our first computer in the 90’s and for us it was a big deal. I was still too young to be on the internet, so I remember vividly what it was like before I was hypnotized by the marvels of the internet and chatting with friends on MSN Messenger, Neopets, etc.

There were a ton of kids in my neighbourhood and my best friend lived down the street. We were always outside playing games; skipping, hop-scotch, tag, hide n’ seek, soccer, boys would play street hockey, hula-hoop, etc. After school we would head home, do our homework, go play, be called in to dinner, than play again and once the street lights came on, it was time to head in. That or you would be called in by your parents at any given moment. We would generally be at someone’s house and our parents always knew where we were. If I were at my friend’s house, they would walk me half way until I met my mom or Nonna and vice versa.

For me, that was life before the internet. Once I discovered the internet, along with the rest of my friends, we all became shut ins for a while. It was a fascinating new world for all of us and we just thought we were the coolest thing since sliced bread for having a name like Cute_baby_girl or some nonsense like that for our messenger screen name. And you had to have it typed in that funky lettering everyone used. However, I eventually became a video game nerd and that was my escape on the internet.

There you have it folks, I was just a kid who played outside. Weird huh?

Ciao!