scott rubin and i need a little help from you for our middle school ministry book. in the “middle school culture” chapter, we have a list of things that didn’t exist when we were in middle school (well, at least when i was in middle school, in the mid-70s). here’s what we have:
- Cell phones
- The internet (meaning, websites and buying stuff online and everything else that is so completely normal today)
- Text Messages
- IM
- Hybrid Cars
- Social Networking
- “Friends with benefits”
- “Bi-Curious”
- Cable TV
- Digital Video Recording (or TiVo)
- Mp3s and downloadable music
- DVDs
- Hi-Def
- Satellite Radio
- Xboxes and Wiis and other amazing gaming systems (“Pong” was introduced when I, Marko, was a young teen, and “Space Invaders” had just showed up in the commons of a local community college).
- Email
- Spam (the email variety – we had the stuff in the can, made of humans).
- Any kind of camera, video or still, that didn’t need developing.
- Cordless phones
- In-ear headphones
- Ringtones
- Call waiting
- iChat or other video conferencing
- snowboards and wakeboards
- rollerblades
- an African American president and a female Secretary of State
- Airport Security (and National Security levels, and Terrorist threats)
- Internet porn
- snowboards and wakeboards
- rollerblades
- Starbucks
- Viagra
- Plastic Pop Bottles
- X Games
- Energy Drinks
- Home Theaters (?)
- The Simpsons, Spongebob, American Idol and a host of other dependable TV staples
- Reality TV
- Crack Cocaine
- Minivans
- GPS
- Disposable Cameras
- Disposable Contacts
- Abortion Pill
- Doppler Radar
- Space Shuttle
- USA Today
- HIV
- Paintball and Airsoft
- Laser Tag
- ESPN
- iPods
- MTV (could be in the “started and faded away” list…)
- DNA fingerprinting
- Artificial Heart
- Fantasy Sports Teams (which are still lame)
- Cloning animals
- The SuperBowl as a kind of National Holiday (I’m reaching)
- Cutting (?)
- “Walkman” came & went — remember that!
- Suitcases with wheels on the bottom (seriously …. Nobody had em!)
- most piercings… Besides ears…
- McDonalds Playlands
this second list is things that didn’t exist when we were in middle school, then came on the scene in a major way, and have already faded:
- Fax machines
- CDs (seriously – who buys CDs anymore? They’re the betamax cartridge of this generation.)
- Video tapes
- Internet chat rooms
- Really, we could put email on this list, since teenagers don’t use email anymore, except to communicate with parents or teachers.
- Music videos played on MTV
- The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
- The Walkman (pre-mp3 cassette and CD players)
what are we missing?? would love to hear as many additional ideas as you have…
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ok — i’m terrified that being the first to comment (thank you international date line) that I’ve just not read the list correctly and that being from nz – we were late developers .. but
Laptops and home computers.
The idea of a portable hard drive.
Recycled products/recycling.
We definitely didn’t have 24hr TV (1994), or 24hr gas stations (90s), supermarkets(00s).
Atkins diet.
Spray tan & Sunbeds.
In the been & gone category… minidisc?
- PC’s
- laptops
- color laser printers (remember those b&w banners made from a dot matrix printer?)
- remote controls for anything
- cordless tools and appliances
already faded:
- personal pagers
- palm pilots
Wow . . . I think that about covers it. Nice list.
Let’s not let our youth-centric world view get too far out of control. While our youth don’t use e-mail much at the moment e-mail remains a massive part of the world. And a new survey just came out where college aged young people acknowledge that they’re going to have to start using it as they enter the business world.
And with Will Smith about to open a massive new film on Friday (7 Pounds) how exactly has he “faded”?
You do know you have the African American President and Airport security listed twice each, right?
Pagers/beepers
Wal-Mart dominance
And if you say that Will Smith has faded, you lose all credibility. But you must include Michael Jackson.
yeah, i had “fresh prince (and will smith as an actor” on the first list, then created the second list, and move it there because of the “fresh prince” thing. no, i don’t think he’s faded as an actor.
didn’t know i had a will smith fan club here, though.
jay, your rant on email reminds me a bit of the AM (as opposed to FM) radio station owner in the movie “hot rod” who is convinced that AM radio is about to see its most amazing days.
Gameboys (or any portable distraction system)
News, anywhere and at anytime.
Google Maps
Budget Flights
Also, CD’s haven’t faded I don’t think, not even among the young people I work with. I reckon so anyway.
Mark, ask someone in the recording industry. Cd sales are tanking. It’s all about downloads, baby. Music stores are in an unsustainable business.
For some really odd reason a ton our jr highers know the Fresh Prince and can repeat the song back on demand!
Wow, not to make anyone feel old, but as a youth pastor, most of the things you list as not being around when I was in middle school were around. I was in middle school in the late-nineties. Obviously the Wii and Xbox 360 weren’t around, though. :)
Just thought I’d throw my useless $.02 into the ring.
Marko my dear brother and friend,
You ain’t seen me rant yet, lol!
I offer the following from the folks at ypulse
Note especially what it says about teens and the impact of email versus text, social network and IM combined.
I’m just sayin’
Seat belt and car seat laws
midnight openings for films
midnight book release parties
black Friday insanity
cordless phones
if I recall the phone was rented from the phone company, people didn’t even own their home phones
Ummmmm…I still buy CD’s.
Whole sections of the frozen food dept. dedicated to microwave meals. Most houses didn’t have microwaves
Prelit Christmas trees
icicle lights
Oprah
Smart boards in classrooms
24 hour a day news
back in junior high, we had to peg our pants ourselves- now they come pre-pegged as skinny jeans! acid wash denim jackets are another one of those things that came and went.
two major tv shows that came & went besides Fresh Prince: Seinfeld & Friends
I think the Fresh Prince of Bel Air is still something they love because of reruns. I hear my teens and middle schoolers singing the song all the time and talking about different episodes. They also like Saved by the Bell which makes me laugh.
Mmmm, I do remember some of these things in the 70′s.
- Atkins diet – wasn’t called that, but he came up with his diet in the early 70′s, it went away, and then came back again (er, maybe that’s what you were referring to there).
- spray on suntan – I remember a girl in our youth group who did that – and turned orange when she went swimming in a chlorinated pool – in 1978.
- 24hr gas stations – oh yeah! Of course, this was in metro Atlanta, so there was probably some necessity there.
- Space shuttle – when did this start? I thought it was late 70′s, but maybe it was early, early 80′s. I remember watching one take off in 1981 or 82.
- Home theaters – no, but I do remember that the stereo systems in kids’ rooms were much more advanced than they are now. Now it’s a headset or a boombox at most, but then it was a whole system we HAD to have. (Do you remember the inline tracking turntables?)
At the risk of showing my age and my geek streak, a couple of considerations – fax machines have been around since the late 1800s, transistor radios had earpieces back before the 70s, and as far as a camera not needing developing… what about Polaroids?
As far as things that didn’t exist: ATMs, caller i.d., voice mail, Harry Potter, and hip hop come to mind.
Earlier in the comments Mark mentioned there were no portable distraction devices but I spend most of the late seventies and eighties trying to get that red blinking dot on my Coleco Electronic Quarterback in the end zone.
another category worth listing might be things that used to be hot when we were in middle school – have faded – and are making a comeback.
Old Navy up here in Canada is pushing neon colored pants again a la ’80′s. The Killers are another ’80′s throw back.
how about the recession itself – that is a def a throw back…
things that did not exist…
-retiring baby boomers
-the most prominent feature of the house being the garage door
-simulated telephone rings
-the need for a passport to travel btwn Canada and the USA
things that don’t exist now but used to
-the strap
hey calvin you old enough to be a youth worker – he he – just kidding ;)
Hey Marko! the Fresh Prince never faded away. it got cancelled but is still on every night, and is still awesome! and yes, i can still sing the intro song if asked.
Here’s a couple
-parents that office at home
-alternative/extreme sports (existed but not with the status they have today)
-reality TV
-TIVO
-Sports Center
“- Spam (the email variety – we had the stuff in the can, made of humans).”
Humans?!?!? That’s what is in SPAM?!?!
bottled water
$4 cups of coffee
hate crimes
that big weird mole on my back
projection systems at church
cartoons outside of Saturday mornings
standing in long security lines at the airport
seatbelt and child safety seat laws
desert camo
I am so excited about this book!
Overhead projectors (in the came-and-faded category)
Powerpoint presentations
Emo culture
Also, you included Starbucks twice. Is that a mistake, or just irony?
Did anyone else notice that the person who named Harry Potter was Ginny?
The list of TV shows is seemingly endless – from pop-culture fare like Good Times and The Cosby Show to PBS offerings like 3-2-1-Contact. You could probably collect the Beloit College list from the past 20 years and create a couple of chapters from the information there alone.
You listed cable, but you’re not that much older than me, and I remember having cable in grade school/middle school. Just not the 100+ digital behemoths we have today.
WYSIWYG and GUI’s for computers. I remember playing on a TRS-80 in MS.
CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and FoxNews. For that matter, we didn’t even have FOX, let alone
UPN and the WBthe CW.A depressing one – HIV/AIDS
Multi-million dollar athlete salaries.
Beta and 8 track have come and gone!!! Listening to Star Wars music on 8 track ….
We didn’t even have the Simpsons.
-A democratic Russia
-terrorism as a local threat
-Toyota and Honda having number #1 selling cars
-call centers in India
- Bluetooth
- Kindles
- Frequent Flier Miles
- Nudity (or close to it) in mainstream advertising
- Dollar Menunaires
- Ban on trans fat
- moral majority as a political big dog
Come and gone:
- The artist formerly known as P-Diddy (now the respectbale Sean Combs)
- Jumbo Loans
- Ska
- chicken soup for the soul
Christian Fads come and Gone:
- left behind
- purpse driven life
- the prayer of jabez
Corrections
Ginny – nice call – in ear/ear buds have been around since the 50′s at least…see That Thing You Do…it’s all over the place
MTV – it’s an 80′s thing
More that Didn’t exist
Church Stuff
Mediashout – sorta mentioned – remember film strips (beep)
Contemporary Worship – at least back in the 70′s unless you were at something like the early Calvary Chapels…definitely not in mainstream/evangelical churches at the time)
Women wearing pants to church – dresses for ladies, suits and ties for men…hard to believe most of the under 30 crowd can’t even imagine that…not sad, mind you, just a mental change
No evening service…believe it or not…everybody used to have Sunday night church. That would be your second time at church, too, not your first time at the church that day.
Tash – nice call on the 24hr tv – remember color bars or a flag with patriotic music playing?
Marko – nice call on the Superbowl holiday
Faded Stuff
speaking of holidays…remember Columbus Day
N Sync, Backstreet…unless you just say Boy Bands which have been around for ages and always are flashes in the pan
Popcorn Popping Machines – you put in the kernels it blows them up with hot air and they come pouring out into the bowls. After Jiffy Pop it was the best way to pop corn. It even melted the butter on top.
The Cosby Show, Friends & Seinfeld, etc. Media is almost unfair because it never lasts even though it dominates our culture so much during it’s short lifespan.
Imagine the day 5 years from now when The Office will be unknown to the next generation except through reruns.
Maybe the best example of a fade/fad:
Take the success of Star Wars…add in the coolness of 3D…the stardom of Michael Jackson…every 15 minutes all day at Disneyland and you have…
Captain Eo!
HPV Vaccine and the debate surrounding it for parents and teen girls
Pete Johnson – too sad but too true…scary stuff coming out about the vaccine effects, too.
Faded Away…U2
On the scene in the early 80′s, big again in the late 80′s (oh the joy of the Joshua Tree album)
Back big in the 90′s
Except for maybe thinking of Bono as a weird guy that talks a lot and people listen to for no reason…I don’t think most of my Middle School kids know/care about U2
oh, and what about school starting after labor day.
no child left behind/standardized testing overload
For the came and went, I don’t think I saw anyone mention the blu-ray/dvd precursor- Laserdiscs. I had a friend in college who spent big bucks on those bad boys…
seeker and purpose driven churches.. oh ? Scotty, does that hurt?
Dissolvable stitches
Online stock trading
Digital clocks (younger gens have trouble reading clocks with “hands”, while its second nature for older gens)
Sun roofs
“911″ (Actually late 60′s)
Come and Gone
The Perm
Zubas
TGIF on ABC
Steve Urkel
Zack Morris and AC Slater
Hulkamania
Won’t this chapter itself be a joke in 5-10 years?
digital clocks – still had the wind up clang-clang alarm clock
pocket calculators – nothing like a good ol’ slide rule
neoprene skateboard wheels – them steel wheels caught every rock and crack and you went flying
Aluminum bats – you never even heard of such a thing
Nike shoes – Adidas and Puma were great sport shoes
Post-It-Notes – you wrote a note on cheap scratch pads
Disco – especially the YMCA song
Minimum wage was still under $2.00
The working hydrogen cell car. Honda have just made one and are running it around California. Who knows? That may become a big thing…
Tickers on the bottom of the TV screen and time and temp and ads for other shows.
Widescreen.
Wow, I guess you need to hear from someone of the sixties:
8 tracks, cd’s were just coming out in my HS years.
For television: Johnny Carson, sorry folks, but he buries Letterman and Leno. Happy Days ( the That 70′s show of the 70′s)
Streaking
The Draft (my number was 93)
Someone actually played a guitar in church (Gasp!!!)
Hair on guys below the top of the ear
Hot Pants
The Juke Box
Drive-in restaurants (probably still around in Ca)
MBA’s (there really was no such thing in the 60′s-70′s)
Earth Day (It was a really big deal back then)
Here’s a good one to finish on – We were still doing nuclear bomb drills where we were all herded into the hallway and had to assume the head between the knees position. It was a different time.
I think with “came and went” under MTV you could put TRL. That was HUGE when I was in middle school/high school (and I graduated in 2005), and now it isn’t even around.
Around now:
-Most stores open on a Sunday
-Automatic car windows (no more manual crank)
-Individual Bottled Water & Smart Water… individual plastic bottled anything (soda, etc)
-Costco
-Antioxidant Drinks
-Diagonal Crosswalks
-Flat Irons
-The Christian Coalition
Caller I.D.
Self Service Gas Pumps
Super Sized Meals
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