People Explain Which Things They Thought Were Fancy As A Kid That Totally Weren't
Reddit user SinkingFeelingBruh asked: 'What did you think was fancy as a kid that isn’t?'
Have you ever gone back to your elementary school as an adult and been amazed that everything looked smaller than you remembered?
It's a great example of how our perception of the world around us is shaped by our own experiences and where we are in life.
As a child everything seems big because we're small.
Our childhood perceptions of other things were also skewed. Things that seemed grand luxuries became ordinary or mundane as we aged.
Reddit user SinkingFeelingBruh asked:
"What did you think was fancy as a kid that isn’t?"
Mc's Steakhouse
"Getting to eat McDonald's all the time..."
~ 02red
"This was my first thought, and it was also the first comment I came across opening the thread."
"You are so right..McDonald's used to be so exciting. I don't even eat it anymore."
~ kasparzellar
GiphyWith or Without Crusts
"Cutting sandwiches diagonally."
~ 787la57la47al
"As a college student, I love dressing up my husbands plate when he eats mediocre meals. If he wants a sandwich, I will dress it up like it’s fine dining."
"I made us air fries nuggets and had the ketchup dots and swirls garnishing the plate lol. It makes things more fun."
~ ireallyamtired
Cocktails for Children
"Shirley Temple/Roy Rogers drinks."
"I remember when my parents would take us to a 'fancy' restaurant and we would be able to order these."
"I felt so adult! With the skinny straw and the maraschino cherry..."
~ Iron_Chic
"Okay but low key though… I still love myself a Shirley temple."
"Like if someone were to offer me one I definitely wouldn’t turn it down."
~ faithle97
GiphyWelcome to the Club
"As a kid I thought going to a restaurant and having a club sandwich was the height of sophistication. Probably because I learned about club sandwiches from a family friend who introduced me to them."
"I used to think the little toothpicks with the plastic frills that held the sandwiches together were sooooo fancy. I always brought my toothpicks home with me to play with."
~ Bebe_Bleau
Processed Foods
"My friends whose kitchens were filled with junk food like Captain Crunch, Twinkies and Ding Dongs, hot dogs and American cheese."
"I thought they were so fancy and I was so jealous."
"My mom cooked from scratch every day, and we thought we were so neglected because she wouldn't buy that sh*t for us to eat."
"We were so lucky. Thanks, Mom."
~ riceme0112358
GiphyOoh la la!
"Viennetta ice cream cake was the peak of fancy for me."
~ KaleidoscopeVast9290
"I came here to say this! They marketed it really well to 7-14 year olds."
~ Holiday-Armadillo-34
The BIG Box
"Back in my day, kids who had Crayola 120 colored pencils were considered the elites of society."
~ Prism_Red
"Or the Crayola Crayons with the sharpener on the back."
~ Spoozle64
GiphyA World Tour in a Mug
"A cup of General Foods International Coffee to cap off your five star evening. Might I recommend the Suisse Mocha?"
~ Smooth_Riker
"That was upper class shiz that I begged my parents to buy for company."
"Turns out, Folgers out of the red can was all encompassing; for home and company. Sigh."
~ burgerg10
"My 10 year old self would walk around my room sipping a cuppa and pretending I was grown in my own apartment."
~ odd_kumquat
It's the Foil Wrapper
"Ferrero Rocher chocolate."
~ SirRobynHode
"Richard Gere did the commercials in a tux. I thought these must be the most fancy and expensive chocolates imaginable."
~ Either-Durian-5517
"Dude I'm 22 and they're still fancy to me."
~ rubbersoulelena
GiphyUnder Glass
"Desserts in the display cases (eclairs, bon bons, petifores, etc...)."
~ Med_Vamp
"This jogged my memory of those iced cookies they’d have on display at Giant (American grocery store)."
~ nicheencyclopedia
Pardon Me, Do You Have Any?
"For some reason, as a kid I thought Grey Poupon was some fancy delicacy by the French. I imagined some fancy guy with a gray wig slathering it on a baguette."
"Like only the rich had access to it."
"It’s just mustard. WTF. Still haven’t had it."
~ JackfruitCurry
"When I got married, my dad insisted upon renting a Rolls Royce to take hubs and me from the church to the reception."
"I jokingly asked the driver 'pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?' in my snootiest faux-British accent. He popped open the glove box and there it was!!!!"
~ RefugeefromSAforums
GiphyBeep, Beep
"Old cars from fancy brands."
"Kids are always like 'whoa he drives a BMW' without realizing it's not impressive to drive a 1999 BMW in 2023."
~ slightofhand1
Get Some Quarters for the Bed
"Hotels were the fanciest as a kid, weren't they?"
~ Non-opisthokont
"I thought a motel or an inn was fancier than a hotel."
~ tobiiam
"Omg, yes! Lol, the vibrating beds were so fancy & fun! I’d always beg my parents to get me one."
~ Sad-Comfortable1566
Jumping Michael Chiesa GIF by UFCGiphyBut There's Cheddar in the Biscuits
"Red lobster."
~ MonsoonMermaid
"A guy I worked with (in the 90’s) said he treated his women right."
"When he went out to eat, he took them to places like Red Lobster. What a baller!"
~ eastcoastme
"Oof, I took my junior prom date to Red Lobster back in ‘00. Sorry, Michelle…wherever you are."
~ kyd712
The Beer Fridge
"I thought that having a second, older fridge in your garage meant your family was rich.
"Actually, hell, if you had a garage at all I thought you were rich."
~ CoolBugg
"Didn’t realize people used their garages for cars for YEARS. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it."
"It feels like such a waste of storage space to keep a car in there. Where else do people keep lol their tools, holiday decor, and sh*t they don’t want to throw out but also don’t want to use anymore?"
~ Ithinkillgrowthis
"When we bought our house it came with a fridge in the garage."
"I audibly gasped."
~ Aggravating-Dig-8987
GiphyMy Father was in the military, but didn't want to live on United States Navy bases, so we lived off base in a trailer.
Back then, trailers were much smaller and easily moved from place to place. So each time my Father was stationed at a new base, our trailer was packed up and moved to a new trailer park near the new base.
Because of this life of trailer parks, my idea of luxury living wasn't a mansion—it was a double-wide trailer.
What did you think was fancy as a kid?
People Explain Which Things They Thought Were Normal As A Kid And Later Realized Were F**ked Up
We are so innocent as children.
Innocent or gullible?
I think when we're young, we tend only to see only the good.
Because that's what instinctually we gravitate towards.
But it's a sad fact to learn later that the good is darker than we realize.
Not everything in childhood is a happy, innocent memory, no matter how badly our parents want to frame it.
The folks on Reddit can certainly attest to that!
Redditor True_Customer_8913 wanted to hear about all the things we saw in a new light once we grew up, so they asked:
"What’s was normal to you as a kid but you later realized how f**ked up it actually was?"
Double Agent
Comedy Say What GIF by BrownSugarAppGiphy"During the divorce they would try to get information about each other and say the other one was bad for me."
nasandre
"That happened to me too! Once had a judge tell 11-year-old me that my parents were one of the most immature cases he had dealt with, because they were more focused on making each other’s lives difficult than being parents."
TJ_Augustine
In Private
"My father was nice and friendly out in public but was an absolute a**hole to the family at home..."
"Me witnessing my dad being really friendly to everyone in public and then being an absolute raging a**hole at home made me just think 'well I guess everyone is just two-faced and using each other.'"
"All those movies about love are just lies and fantasies, if you're not using someone then what use are they to you? Obviously he doesn't get to use us at home so we aren't useful so we don't get treated well"
"Btw No he wasn't an alcoholic, he wouldn't even allow alcohol in the house because so many people in our family were alcoholics."
MysticalMagicalMilk
Not Funny
"My mom's boyfriend would pick me up by my hair sometimes. It didn't hurt a s**t ton so I never complained, which in turn made him keep doing it. My hair was always in a ponytail so it was easy to grab and do. I told a coworker about it and laughed because it wasn't a terrible memory. But he didn't laugh like I did."
"It was more of a nervous laugh then he says 'that's actually pretty f**ked up.' Then I started to think about all the stuff I actually do remember from my childhood and realized how shi**y it really was. I have two kids and it was never a thought to ever pick them up by their hair."
BUFUByUsF**kYou
Signs
"When I was 7, I came to the realization that if I showed any signs that I was in a good mood around my mother, she would find some reason to yell at me. Even started testing it, would walk into rooms she was in smiling vs not and proved my theory right, so I just stopped smiling, and it didn't take much longer for it to stop being an act."
LegendaryMuffins
In the Garden
"I live in England and my uncle's neighbor had a pet monkey living in a big enclosure in his garden. This was in the early 2000s. I assumed this was totally normal. No idea how he got it. We still know those neighbors and it's just never discussed."
BassEvers
When in England... stay out of trouble.
Be Free
Arrested Development Crying GIF by HULUGiphy"Not being allowed to feel or express any type anger or sadness."
Exotic-Counter5112
"Unless someone died it was, 'I don't want to hear it. Go to your room, close the door, and bury your face in a pillow until you're done,' or the worse, 'I'll give you something to cry about' followed by whooping."
BigDamnHead
Bye Mike
"Having no food in the house and little to no adult supervision while random men come and go from my mothers room."
"I'm legit impressed I nor my younger brother ended up taken or worse. It was kind of miserable, in hindsight, because some of these guys would come back with some fast food for us and hang out for a bit talking or playing video games. Magic Mike was super cool and I still miss him. :( "
Donequis
Sorry
"Thought it was normal to constantly apologize over even the slightest little f**k-up so I don't get screamed at. I still have this problem today."
CagedKage
"Not me, but my wife. I used to just reassure her that she didn't have to apologize for everything, but that didn't help her to distinguish when it was appropriate or not. Now, when she says 'sorry,' I ask what she's apologizing for, and it seems to help her a little. That being said, she apologized last night when the dog tripped me."
I_used_to_be_hip
Ouch
It Hurts Sal Vulcano GIF by truTV’s Impractical JokersGiphy"I remember my sister had this fake belly button ring she showed my dad. He immediately ripped it out which was quite painful. I asked if he even knew if it was fake and he didn’t. He thought it was real and did that."
Intelligent_Bug6515
Rages
"Parents having blackout rages. Sometimes, I was a brat. Other times, I had done nothing wrong. I just remember being made to feel like a worthless loser, screamed at, and manipulated. Then the next day, they would say 'Sorry sorry sorry' This happened a lot. Eventually, the sorries mean nothing and you begin to feel actually worthless."
DistractedDreaming
Oh how the times do change. We're glad folks made it out of most of these situations!
Do you have anything to get off your chest? Let us know in the comments.
The moment we find out there's no Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny is when we are forced to become adults.
We lose our childlike sense of wonder, setting many of us up for perpetual skepticism.
But since believing in these mythic heroes is commonly embraced by kids all over the world, it does provides a sense of relief that we all fell victim to the same ruse that brought so many of us plenty of joy.
However, there are specific situations where being gullible was embarrassing because no one else was as impressionable as you were. Sound familiar?
Curious to hear about our childhood, Redditor Keke_Dudu asked:
"What's the dumbest thing you believed as a kid?"
Redditors thought they were going to be violently pursued.
Potty Monster
"I would be in a perpetual state of fear on the toilet because I thought an alligator would bite my backside."
– aeiou-i-love-you
Flotsam & Jetsam
"I had a recurring nightmare that the eels from Little Mermaid were gonna come up the toilet and go for my butt."
– Greylings
Having active imaginations is nothing surprising...up until a certain age.
Sheep Exist For Real
"I thought sheep weren’t real when I was quite little. I thought they were mythical creatures like unicorns and dragons."
"My parents eventually figured this out and took me to a farm to see some real sheep, and my preschool brain was just like oh my god??? Are you fricking kidding me??? Sheep??? and was apparently just absolutely aghast at the sight of sheep."
– MatthewBrokenlamp
Fake News
"Not me, but my dad believed spaghetti grew on trees till middle school. All because he saw it on a TV commercial."
– KailerJ3304
Live And Work At One Place
"I thought ppl lived at their jobs. so mcdonald’s workers lived at mcdonald’s, teachers lived at school, etc. and that my parents just happened to be the exceptional weird discipline tactics."
– highuptop
Parents have wild disciplinary tactics.
Solo Snooze
"My parents had me convinced that if i don't learn to sleep alone when i was 8, I'd never be able to do it and I'll have to sleep with them even after I'm an adult. Idk why that scared me at that time but their little trick worked. Having a little brother is nice."
– kshay-
No More Loose Boogers
"My parents told me that they don’t let people who don’t know how to blow their nose into Disneyworld. We had a trip coming up so I learned fast. I truly thought that they had someone at the gate handing everyone a tissue to make sure they could blow their nose to be allowed in."
– OrangeTree81
Princesses Know How To Pee
"My daughter learned how to use the toilet real quick because I said only potty-trained kids could go to Cinderella's House. She didn't know we already had the trip to Disney booked, and I did not have a plan for if it backfired." - Reddit
What if these were true?
Conditional Teleporter
"A friend said he could teleport, just not when they were at school."
– Kerrminater
Delivering Bad News
"There was only one mailman. Idk wtf I was on but I remember telling my grandma 'look the mailman got on this side of town fast' she was like I know you don't think that's the same mailman. I said yea so she took me to the post office downtown and I saw all the mail trucks and was like oooooooooooo well I'm dumb."
– XxXWatchItAllBurnxXx
As a kid, I often psyched myself up and always thought of the worst case scenario.
My fears got the best of me when I went to camp as an eight-year-old.
The camp counselors would tell us about the "Unjai monster" or bigfoot snatching away the kids who didn't fall asleep when it was time for lights out.
I had the top of the bunk bed...right next to a window. I couldn't sleep that whole night because I was too afraid the Unjai monster would sense my restlessness and grab me through the window and take me deep into the woods and feed me to its family.
It was the worst.
I still can't tell if my bedsheets were soaked with night sweats or pee.
Toys People Always Wanted Growing Up But Never Actually Received
Unless you grew up with the most doting parents on the planet, there's probably a toy or two that you really wanted as a kid, but never received.
Whether it was too expensive for your parents to afford, or something like a noisy toy that was going to be way too annoying for your parents, there are probably some toys that you really missed out on as a child.
Redditor Moist-Patience-4989 asked:
"What is a toy you always wanted growing up, but never got?"
Power Wheels
"The Barbie Jeep that you could actually ride in. But once I had kids, I bought them one (not the Barbie version, but still). And guess what? I was five pounds under the weight limit so I was able to ride in their battery-powered Jeep. I mean, it was a couple decades late, but I eventually got to do it."
- smugmisswoodhouse
"Lol I never got one of those as a kid either. It still haunts me till this day. I have no idea why but it still does. My mom bought me a car for my 16th birthday but I still bring up the freaking power wheel. I guess it really scarred me."
- Annonme123
Easy - Bake Oven
"Easy - Bake Oven"
- Antibara
"Me too. I wanted one so bad. When they came out with the real retro looking ones a while ago, I was sooo tempted. LOL"
- Real-Web8925
"I was a child of the 70s, and wanted the Holly Hobbie version. My parents were poor and/or didn't want me cooking in my bedroom, so they dodged by pointing out it was for ages 8 and up. By the time I was 8 I was cooking real food in an actual oven so the request was dropped. Still low-key want one though, entirely to indulge my inner child."
- pepperminticecream
"Easy bake oven. Parents didn’t think it was a toy for boys. I still became a baker anyways"
- Soggy-Juggernaut-569
Mini Bike
"A mini-bike like they advertised in the Sears Christmas catalog."
- XploringTheWorld
"Same. I wanted one so bad. All the guys on my street had one and to get into the woods they drove their bikes between my house and the neighbors. On our lawn! I was so pissed off they got to do it but my dad didn’t think it was safe for a girl (in 1968)."
- SnowinMiami
Tamagotchi
90S Nostalgia GIFGiphy"Always wanted a Tamagotchi"
- DuracellCosmonaut
"They were banned at my school. I think there was a bit of controversy with them at the time."
- Maso_TGN
"I have mine! Just put fresh batteries in it a couple weeks ago and I still can’t keep the dumb thing alive 😅"
- IJustWantWaffles_87
TMNT Pizza Shooter
"The ninja turtle pizza thrower van."
- Ph33r-Enigma
"My friend brought his TMNT Pizza Shooter over. We then spent the next 2 hours shooting my older sister. I asked for one and my parents (for very good reason) told me absolutely not."
- HoopOnPoop
"I just used it to shoot pizzas at my little brother. Thing was amazing
- MrJimBusiness18
American Girl Dolls
"An American Girl doll. Loved the books so much. I've been tempted to buy myself a Samantha now that she's out again, but I like the original outfit better."
- horseruth
"I read that catalogue cover to cover every time I got it (which is back when there were only three dolls and nothing ever changed). I was convinced when I grew up and had kids, my daughter would have all three dolls, each in its own room so that the historical eras didn't get mixed up. Spoiler alert: that did not happen. No kids, and my house doesn't have three extra bedrooms to devote to dolls."
- jleebeane
Castle Greyskull
he-man GIFGiphy"Castle Grayskull, from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe."
- Maso_TGN
"My brother had it and I played with my strawberry shortcake dolls in it."
- GlamSpam
"By The Power Of Grayskull, sacrilege!"
- Maso_TGN
"They actually made a new one recently, and it’s identical to the original 80’s one, just with modern details. You can get it here."
- IncreaseWestern6097
Rock Tumbler
"A rock tumbler"
- Picklesgal111
"I was looking for this one. We are two rocks in the tumbler together."
- Independent_Cut8651
"Not really a toy, but I’ve wanted a rock polishing kit for as long as I can remember and would ask for one every Christmas and birthday."
- awesquirrel
Pokédex
"a pokedex. I wanted one so bad, but NoOoOo, mom and dad thought pokemon was annoying"
- CptJaxxParrow
The Big Box of Crayons
"The Crayola 64-pack with the three metallic colors."
- wholewheatscythe
You may have missed out on these toys as a child, but the great thing about being an adult is that you can do what you want. If the toy you desperately wanted as a kid is still available, you are totally allowed to just go out and buy yourself one.
With millennials now reaching their thirties and forties, many are looking back on the childhood they had compared to the ones they're witnessing now.
With technology advances and a constant need to impress, these two worlds of childhood are undeniably different.
Redditor professorf asked:
"What did your generation have that kids need more of today?"
Unstructured Playtime
"Unstructured playtime outside with others that are a variety of ages. Not under the eyes of an adult."
"This was my favorite part of being a kid. There were 10-12 kids within a six-year age range on my street and we'd all be out playing between multiple blocks, houses, and wooded areas. Our parents would just yell or whistle from the porch at dinner time, and sometimes we'd go back out again after!"
"Beyond playing and having fun, being unsupervised and big kids amongst little kids provides so much mental enrichment that kids don't get sitting in front of a screen being constantly tended to. Problem-solving, imagination, cooperation, taking care of each other, sharing, working things out, navigation, self-awareness... on and on."
- EarthCadence
Ghosts in the Graveyard
"I miss playing 'Ghosts in the Graveyard'!"
"I grew up with an actual cemetery in my backyard (once you hopped a fence, of course) and you haven't really played 'Ghosts in the Graveyard' until you played it in an actual graveyard!"
- Fred_the_skeleton
Computer Literacy
"Typing classes. Most Gen Z/Alpha kids grew up with tablets and maybe a laptop, no desktops. Teachers assume they know how to type, but they've only done it with their thumbs, they don't have the muscle memory for a traditional keyboard."
"The ability to type on a physical keyboard is really important in the working world, and a lot fewer kids can do it well these days."
"We need to bring back typing classes, along with how file/folder/directory systems work in general, a lot of college students don't know how to use them!"
- cinemachick
Imaginative Play
"Toys that were just toys. Not everything had to be educational. Just let kids play and explore and discover. Let them get bored."
It Takes a Village
"Village grandparents. My parents would leave me with my grandparents for months during summer. We had a large, large yard with many old collapsing or collapsed buildings, a variety of animals roaming around, and a few gardens."
"I’d climb trees, and buildings, play with the animals, and go fishing in the small river near the house with a self-made fishing rod made out of a bottle, rope, and an old nail."
"I never caught anything. Best time of my life."
- John_McTaffy
Thinking Outside the Box
"Freedom to explore, invent, and create. Today's kids are so scheduled with activities and online all of the time. Getting out in the world without an agenda would be helpful."
"I'm now seeing college graduates who have a hard time doing anything other than following explicit instructions from their boss. They don't problem-solve. They don't innovate on their own."
"I can teach someone numbers or the structure of loops or conditional statements. I can't fix an issue with someone not understanding why they would choose a certain solution or not being able to relate what they are doing to the software module's objectives. I see perfect Leetcode problems with no understanding of the problem they're solving or even why they want to be an engineer. Or what to do if something varies slightly from what they memorized."
"AI will take over a lot of jobs if kids can't think nonlinearly or relate information. ChatGPT already writes code akin to what I'm seeing from young engineers. It doesn't have human reasoning about the problem and why you'd need to solve it a particular way, but it sure codes a variety of solutions quickly. A senior engineer can replace the junior engineers who don't think through the problem with AI."
- LilMick786
Boredom
"I feel like kids have no tolerance for 'boredom.' I try to tell the youngins to let their minds wander and allow thoughts to flow, but they feel compelled to stuff every moment with games or videos."
"They’re not even enjoying music anymore. It’s all, 'Can I play this song? It’s from a meme.' And they change the song before it’s over because there’s less appreciation for composition anymore."
- Specific-Pen-1132
Lacking Patience
"No patience. That's a side effect of the tech culture. My friend's kid is 10, and she's only known the instant gratification of TV, iPad, and Nintendo Switch all without ads. She never has to wait. If she's losing a game, she hits the reset button. Doesn't like a song, she skips."
"The rest of us grew up with limited or no tech. We had commercials on TV. Our favorite shows were only on once a day at a specific time. We were prisoners to whatever the DJ was playing on the radio. Sometimes our friends were grounded, so we'd have to play alone."
"Now I have friends with kids who place limits on the 'electronic babysitter.' These kids do have patience and they use their imagination. So there's hope."
- popcornstuffedbra
Basic Connections
"I love technology for its educational pieces. I avoid my kids on YouTube etc. They are aware of those people but not how you access it from their tablet. Coding, PBS Games, reading, writing, math, stem games."
"Kids today need time to just be kids. I believe study hall should exist after their main subjects. They can do homework, tutoring, and extracurriculars afternoon until their parents pick them up or they ride home on a bus. It should be a time of exploration, soft social skills through board games, etc."
"They are missing, and even daily living skills because the world is always on the go."
"They need access to actual food. Vegetable gardens, rabbit pens, etc. Helping others. Time to just be kids, make mistakes and get messy without it being filmed. We all f**k up that doesn't mean it needs to be filmed and posted or shamed for it."
"They need time to build resilience, kindness, and just to be with their family and friends. Access to actual public transportation. I could go on and on."
- Taterandabean
Being Held Accountable
"Accountability! Especially in schools. In my district, they think it’s unfair to the children and can hurt a child’s self-esteem if they’re held back in school. So, even if they never do a single assignment, flunk every class, and learn nothing, they advance to the next grade."
"Because of this, I have sixth graders who don’t know how to spell anything, don’t know punctuation, have no idea what to do with commas, and have no clue that they need to capitalize the first letter of a sentence. They don’t know how to write a paragraph. They are disrespectful to teachers and just don’t care because it doesn’t matter if they flunk. It is just sad."
- meow1983
Enjoying Nature
"The outdoors without electronics. We have nature trails that border where I work and when I see people out 'enjoying' the great outdoors, most of them have their faces buried in their phones."
"There is so much beauty in nature and being able to observe it can teach a person a lot."
- crewchief1949
Less Technology Dependence
"Growing up in the '90s/early '00s was a lot of fun. H**l, I didn’t get my first cell phone until ninth grade."
"Kids are surprised when I tell them I had to share it with my brother, had no internet access, and it only had enough memory to store 50 texts. If you reached that, you had to delete some in order to receive new ones. Oh, and I got so good at texting without looking at my phone."
- WolverineJive_Turkey
Poor Attitudes
"I'm Gen Z but I see older people being a lot more optimistic. If something fails, they try something else. A lot of young people are so fed up with life (me included), they can barely function and they either isolate themselves or indulge in obscene hedonism."
- pensiero_97
"Free time (too much homework in my opinion)."
"Privacy (social media and constant connection via a phone/laptop)."
"Downtime (time to just chill and do nothing, they feel like every moment needs to be filled or they’re missing out)."
"Ignorance (they’re introduced to world/political issues way younger)."
- Strude187
Kids Being Kids
"A youth without having to be perfectly styled and ready for social media..."
"We played. Outside. In the mud and snow and in the summer's heat. We came back with dirty clothes, freezing cold noses, and wet from jumping into the nearby lake. We didn't care about our clothes, about our "style" and happily wore the same green t-shirt and jeans every day (of course, cleaned)."
"We knew when to come home , not because we had a smartphone or a smartwatch, but because of the sunset. I'll never forget sitting on the porch, watching the sunset, eating ice cream, and being completely and undeniably unworried."
"No one captured every third step on digital videos and posted them on every single social media platform. No one needed 'likes' and 'retweets.' No one bullied you because you didn't have the iPhone 383637 S for ˘$3000..."
"We were KIDS. Just. Kids. Not miniature adults with bad manners and mobile phone addiction."
- DieDobby
For people who grew up in the early 2000s or sooner, these memories are undeniably nostalgic, and even sad, knowing that today's kids won't share in the same memories.
The biggest takeaways seemed to be the push for a full schedule and impressing the internet, when really, the point used to be to unplug and relax with friends.