Life changes in an instant. Every second can be a new discovery and a change of course. So one can only imagine the impact on a person's life when they are released from incarceration and they notice the life and the world has moved with warped speed without them.
Redditor u/EddiesThings101 wanted to hear about life for some on the outside by asking.... People sentenced in the 80s-2000s what modern world change shocked you the most?
A What Phone?
GiphyI remember helping a guy who went in, in 2005. Got released 2014. Had a black and green audiovox phone in his effects and asked where he could activate it. I had to explain that it wouldn't be happening lol
Like 3 months later, "y'know, I like the iPhone but I'm gonna wait for the release of the newest one."
Adapted pretty quick. lazarus870
Smoosh....
No matter what year you go in when you come out and stand on carpet for the first time is the most disturbing feeling. stuckondense
My Uncle was in prison for 20 years and the first thing he said when he got to his mom's house was, "whoa, I haven't felt carpet in years! It's so soft!" And then proceeded to walk around barefoot for about 10 minutes just smooshing the carpet with his feet. elarkay
Otis.
There was that documentary of someone who was sentenced in the 70s, Otis I think, and he just couldn't believe the stuff he was seeing, since he lived in New York, with all the screens it was just a different city then all the different colored drinks and people wearing ear phones like they were in the secret service. It's an interesting thing to watch. waawaaaa
Hungry Howies.
I hired a guy that was released after 17 years (circa 2005). A week after he started working he bought a phone. He had a child like wonder with push to talk and texting. A week later he was pissed off that he couldn't text his order in to Hungry Howies. if_I_absolutely_must
Action!
GiphyKnew a guy who was blown away by digital cameras. He had purchased an old, terrible one and couldn't get over how amazing it was. litttup1
So Much Chatter.
A co worker a few years ago had spent 10 years in jail. He got out right when blue tooth headsets for phones were huge. He'd talk about all the random conversations he thought people were trying to have with him, and smart phones freaked him the hell out. bigmac22077
So Many Cars....
Prisoner transfer I did one time for this man who was sentenced to life in 1968, and it's the first time he'd driven past the CN tower in Toronto and he couldn't believe how tall it was. That and he was blown away by how many different car brands there were. MissMyCrownVic
In the recent past pretty much everything below Front was Parking, rail, industrial. Now the parking and industry are leaving and condos, and towers take the place. green_bin_coon
Current Functions.
Got a call from a woman filing a claim on some abandoned funds... I got all her information and then asked for an email address and she said "What's email? I keep hearing about it, but you gotta understand I've been in prison a looooong time."Scottolan
I'm honestly surprised there aren't mandatory classes in prison that help keep people up to date on current events and technologies. It would go a long way to help ex cons function normally in society once they get out, and isn't that the whole goal of the prison system? Infinite_Jets
No Smoking.
I remember getting the bus years ago and this old bloke got on heading away from town centre towards the more residential areas.
Without a second thought he sparked up a cigar, one of the passengers told him you can't smoke on a bus! He apologized and quickly stubbed it out but said he got discharged from prison that day, and when he went in you could smoke anywhere you wanted so this was a massive culture shock to him. RooR_
Ahhhh Memories....
GiphyMy cousin's husband (that she married while he was serving 10 years beginning around 2008) wanted the first thing he did as a free man was to go to Hollywood Video, and rent movies to watch with her. Then she blew his mind with Netflix. At least the idea of Netflix and chill wasn't far from his original plan, but he was shocked about there not being video stores anymore. baxtermcsnuggle
Old Friends....
My friend's older brother was jailed in 1994, and served 15 years.
He said when he went in, anyone with an in car phone was super rich, and to then see absolutely everyone have a completely cordless, pocket-sized phone, was amazing.
He also said that all the TV adverts had websites to visit, or were for completely online stores, which were a bit of an alien concept, as he'd never really seen or used the internet.
He also found the chip and pin process of paying for things on a bank card, extremely exciting.
EDIT: I'm unfortunately not in touch with the friend anymore after an incident with the haddock and the umbrella, so I can't get any further answers to your questions about his brother. Last I heard was around 2012, and he seemed to be doing OK, and had a job and a place to live. rocknrollnobody
CD's Out!
Not me, but my father. I remember him trying to flip a CD upside down and put it back into the CD player like you would do with a record because it was skipping. Didn't notice how much of a big deal that must have been to him at the time. Adjusting to life on the outside can be really tough. NightxShade
Oh the Fanny....
GiphyMy uncle went away when fanny packs were in and when he got out in the mid 2000s we had to break the news to him. chinslapped
Google It....
I knew a guy who was in prison from about 1999 or 2000 for about 12-13 years. When he got out he did a few odd jobs for my family (my mum was friends with his parents and was helping him earn money for stuff like mowing the lawn and cleaning etc).
While he was over we found that he had no idea how to use Google, how to find a phone number in his phone contacts and barely knew how to send a text message. We helped him out with a few of those skills... but lost touch a while later... I'm not sure where he is these days. RQCKQN
Stuck in the Net....
Not me personally, but we had an older guy rent out a room in our house a few years back. Usually we rented it out to students but someone let us know that he had just moved to our city and needed something temporary until he found permanent accommodation.
It was a bit frustrating because this guy would not use the internet to search for a car or place to live.
Didn't know how it worked and didn't trust it. We tried to help him learn how because we thought he was just old and stubbornly resisted technology but nope. Turns out that he had spent 11.5 years in maximum security prison after being framed (by WA police!) for murder in the mid 90s. Came out with trust issues and a dislike for the 'new' internet.
Edit: Western Australian not Washington Police. And here's his Wikipedia page for those interested in his case. LarkieShark
Blindsided....
My friend got out of jail recently and was blown away by how many LEDs are everywhere and how many stores are using insane amounts of LED billboards. We were all at a buddy's house and he was blinded by all the bright LED light in the house. Biffmcgee
Attention Span...
GiphyI was talking to a lady who runs the education for a federal prison in Florida. She said when they start getting rambunctious or off topic, she mentions a new feature of the newest iPhone and all the sudden they're very interested in what she has to say again. sharkkkk
Everything!
I asked a friend what the hardest thing was for him re adjusting to being free again, this is a roundabout of what he said. "Closing doors. I'd leave the fridge open every time without fail for months, you're not allowed to open or shut anything for yourself and I'd I'd accidentally let the pets outside by forgetting I needed to close the front door someone else had opened in front of me, you forget the last one in rule etc, and have to learn it all again." "What was the thing you found you liked the most?" "Candy crush!!" gets phone back out and starts playing, 5 mins later exclaim they've leveled up excitedly, so sweet. ArtyMostFoul
Reddit user callmejari asked:
"What's the weirdest compliment you have received?"
Zzzzz...
"Someone once told me that my voice was so soothing, it could put a crying baby sloth to sleep."
~ Marena-Cris-18
GiphyWhat About My Sneeze?
"'Your cough sounds nice' Was just a random girl on the train."
"Still throws me off 2 years later."
~ ThatGothDinosaur
GiphyHope It’s Not SpongeBob
"A 5-year-old kid told me he liked me because I looked like a cartoon."
~ Sea_Ganache620
Giphy
Unfulfilled Potential
"I have nice wide birthing hips."
"I'm a guy."
~ kudzufarmer
"You got the foundation for it, you're just missing the plumbing."
~ ARoundForEveryone
Giphy
Wrong Hemisphere, But Thanks
"When I was 16 working the drive thru—'You’re the prettiest Arabic girl I’ve ever seen'."
"I’m Mexican. But thank you ma’am."
~ 3sp00py5me
GiphyWas His Name Vlad?
"'You've got beautiful veins'."
"By the guy that injected my contrast before an MRI."
~ Reblax837
Werner Herzog Halloween GIF by Arrow VideoGiphyIt Keeps My Teeth In Place
"Some random NYC man told me I had a nice chin once. I still think about him."
~ pssht07070707
GiphyNever Skip Leg Day
"I was told by a woman walking behind me on stairs that I had great calves."
"It was kind of weird at the time."
~ Sider-Pride
Not The BBQ Ones
"'I like your ribs'."
"From random girl at a pool party during a music festival."
~ Particular-Natural12
GiphyCleaning Up On Aisle 5
"I delivered bread to grocery stores in the 90’s and when I decided to change routes, the young lady who had always checked me in told me she’d really miss the sound of my voice."
~ OGGBTFRND
GiphyBloody Offal
"One time I was at the doctor for some lower back pain getting an ultra sound and the tech looked me dead in the eye and said 'You have really nice kidneys. They're very plump.'"
"Best strange compliment I ever received."
~ FlashRage
A compliment is a compliment, right?
What's the weirdest compliment you've received?
Every now and again, we might experience something that makes us stop dead in our tracks or gives us the shivers.
More often than not, there is a logical explanation for what happened, often resulting in our laughing about it down the line.
An electrical power surge caused the lights to flicker, that haunting noise we heard was just a nearby car radio, or that unexplained cold blast of air was simply owing to our standing too close to the air conditioning vent.
But sometimes, we experience something we simply cannot explain, and still lie awake at night trying to figure it out.
Redditor GifGuyRob was curious to hear people's mystifying experiences to which they still can't offer an explanation, leading them to ask:
"What is the weirdest thing you have seen that you can’t really explain?"
Card Tricks... Without The Cards.
"I was hanging out on the sidewalk in front of a drugstore when some dude walked by, stopped, looked at me, and asked me to think of a card, any card."
"Then he said 'you’re picturing the five of clubs!'"
"I was amazed."
"That’s the card I was thinking of."
”'Holy sh*t, that’s right!' I said."
"The dude just winked and walked away."
"That’s the best magic trick I’ve ever seen, and it was some rando on the street that I never saw again."
"I have no clue how he did it, other than some form of subliminal planting of the image in my mind, but that’s unreliable."
"It was a card trick that involved no cards at all."
"That was the most inexplicable thing I’ve ever seen."- I_Framed_OJ
Cosmic Injustice...
"In a hospital, the nicer the patient, the worse the prognosis."
"If they work charities and are really polite, definitely aggressive cancer."
"If they are rude a**holes, they will live long no matter how sick they are."- Koorsboom
The Knocks Hospital GIF by feierSunGiphyParanormal Activity
"I once saw a clipboard fly off of the hook it hung on and land around 3 feet away."
"The room was totally still beforehand, no breeze or earthquake or anything."
"Just hanging up where it always was, then flung across the room for no reason at all."
"Most boring poltergeist ever."- Reiseoftheginger
Lucky Pennies...
"I was living in my last apartment back in the 90s."
"I walked down the hall, turned to go to the bathroom, and got hit in the back with a penny."
"Nobody else was in the apartment."- kmsc84
Wrong Floor...
"Family was on holiday at a resort in Vietnam."
"My sister and I took an elevator in the hotel and it stopped and opened up on the top floor, where nothing was built."
"Just bricks laying about, a wheelbarrow, no fence or wall around the edge of the building, and there was a single small tree growing out of the ground in front of the elevator doors a few feet out."
"There was also this impenetrable fog that was floating around, obscuring the sight of what would be the rest of the resort below and it was quite windy."
"We both agreed it was weird and looked dangerous to be up here - we clearly weren't meant to have access to the top floor since it wasn't fully constructed."
"We went back down to the ground floor and noticed that it was actually a sunny and clear day all round."
"We wondered where that fog and wind went to."
"So we decided to go back to the unfinished rooftop level to check again, but when we did it was perfectly fine and fully built."
"We couldn't explain it and couldn't find that half-built top floor again afterwards."- lifesnotperfect
Going Up 13Th Floor GIF by Taylor SwiftGiphyNot-So-Little Piggy
"My friends and I flashed a powerful light across a river and saw what appeared to be an absolutely massive boar."
"It then stood up on its hind legs and it simply did not compute."
"Immediate fear everyone ran."
"I was a kid but I have a very good memory and several friends that are positive they saw it as well."
"Idk."- 444jxrdan444
Unexplained Exit
"I went from driving on one highway to another highway in pouring rain."
"Still headed in the right direction, and about 10 miles in total displacement."
"But I consciously chose one and was on it until I saw road signs telling me I was one the other."
"I just went numb."
"No loss of time or any other abnormality."
"If I didn’t have to actually make a distinct effort to choose the route I wanted, I can see how it might have been a simple mistake."
"But I was on the road I chose (geography etc) until I wasn’t."
"Like something picked me up and put me down instantaneously and I didn’t notice until how long?"- Stayvein
Creature Of The Night
"Actually, one that was recently solved thanks to the internet!"
"We used to have parakeets in an outside aviary."
"One night I was woken up by the budgies screaming and there was... some odd animal attacking it."
"It had a pointed, cone shaped head, no visible ears and a long tail that was not foxlike."
"But it wasn't a possum."
"It was thin and moved like a cat -- it jumped and moved lithely."
"I tapped on the sliding glass door and it stopped, cocked its head, and came over to look at me."
"We were looking eye-to-eye and for the life of me I still couldn't figure out a face."
"Now I was really into nature in my area, really into reading books and sh*t because I wanted to be a forest ranger, and I still couldn't identify this animal."
"Everyone who I told said it was a bad dream but it was real."
"Anyway, years later it was still the weirdest thing that happened to me."
"The internet had come along and I finally had my answer: I saw a Fisher!"
"It's a super rare animal in my area -- like 500 left, max."
"Kind of like a weasel, but heavier."
"They do have ears, btw."
"I assume it was hidden by fur."- Z0ooool
Cabin In The Woods
"When I was about 13 or 14 years old myself and two friends found a house in the middle of the woods that just didn't make sense."
"We were all neighbors, and along all three of our houses was a very large wooded area."
"It runs a few miles back and becomes a state forest."
"We had run around these woods plenty of times and even had areas we'd recognize as we went."
"This particular day we followed this ravine that was sometimes a stream, but was dry at this time."
"That part is important, because we followed that same ravine several times after that and never could find the house again."
"When I say the house didn't make sense, I mean it. It was a white trailer."
"I'd say a double-wide."
"There was white underpinning along the bottom."
"It was a poor country area, so that's not uncommon."
"But it was unusually clean."
"Like, brand new, perfectly white."
"But that's still not the weird part."
"It didn't have doors."
"Or windows."
"Or a driveway."
"We were in the middle of the woods."
"The entire walk through the woods is full of bushes, thorns, spiderwebs, bugs, vines, logs."
"Woods stuff."
"But this was a clearing of flat grass like someone mowed this area."
"We weren't afraid or anything while we were there."
"There really wasn't anything remarkable about it, and that's honestly what makes it so weird to think about to this day."
"We just walked around it for a bit, said it was kinda weird, and we went back on our adventure."
"Eventually we all just went home."
"I'm still friends with both of the other kids."
"We're in our 30s and I'm even going to a wedding for one of them this weekend."
"We've talked about it since, and the story still just doesn't add up."
"My parents still live in that house, and we spent years after that day exploring the woods all the time."
"Never found it again."- Lemonbeeee
Horror Home GIF by Knock At The CabinGiphySometimes our eyes might be playing tricks on us.
Other times, we know for certain what we're seeing is real, but simply can't explain what we're seeing.
Either way, there is little more disconcerting in this world than uncertainty.