How the world has changed

[jagwheels]

I was born an innocent child & still retain some of those memories but that world seems a distant past

Anyone like to comment on the world as you see it today

P.s Dom if you consider this inappropriate on the general forum that's fine but I would like to understand peoples thoughts

[JimX]

Norv, I was hatched just after world war 2 when 60 million people died, the world has not changed for the better but not as bad as it once was.

Do we just forget?

[Cactuslil]

None of us like getting old but I'm glad of the era I was born in. I know that now there is far more help given to those in need & working conditions, health & safety, education have all improved but I don't think it's a "nicer"" world. To me the biggest thing missing is respect.

[Devil]

When I was young, there were no NHS, no state pensions and I remember kids without shoes rummaging in dustbins to find a crust. I saw people in parlous states of health, often lying in tenement doorways with that glazed look of the starved. They could not afford to pay the gas to light their home at night (no electricity then). A 'jammy piece' would be manna to the slightly better off kids. I witnessed this, as a kid, although I came from a middle-class background but, today, I'm ashamed to say it was 'us' and 'them', as segregated as the KKK and the niggers in the deep south of the US (yes, I'm using that word as a historical fact and not derogatorily).

We were cossetted in our middle-class suburb (my father's house, a roomy 4-bed bungalow, cost a fortune of £800 when we moved in, in 1937, when I was 5) but I hated a penny tram trip that took us through the poorer areas.

Yes, jagwheels, the world has changed.

[WHL]

Kids when I was growing up, didnt have much, we made our own fun, conkers/football, in street etc , yes holes in our shoes, but in a way we were richer then today's kids, todays kids have every consumer thing going, but I believe are poorer inside......just a thought when we were kids if you saw someone with holes in their trousers you felt sorry for them, now they pay a fortune to buy trousers with holes in them...that tells you everything thats wrong today.

[cyprusgrump]

Kids when I was growing up, didnt have much, we made our own fun, conkers/football, in street etc , yes holes in our shoes, but in a way we were richer then today's kids, todays kids have every consumer thing going, but I believe are poorer inside......just a thought when we were kids if you saw someone with holes in their trousers you felt sorry for them, now they pay a fortune to buy trousers with holes in them...that tells you everything thats wrong today.

I can completely relate to that.

As kids, we had very little but even then, substantially more than our parents.

A second-hand bike, a set of cricket stumps chalked on a wall with a makeshift bat and tennis ball and we would be as happy as Larry for the entire summer holidays!

I remember the thing we longed for more than anything was a hill! In the comics, The Beezer and Topper, the kids were always riding, sliding or rolling down a hill and living in a relatively flat area we couldn't do it. The closest we got was finding an old cardboard box and sliding down the side of the local reservoir which we could do all day - or until we were spotted and chased off by an adult!

Plus, nothing on the telly of course and we couldn't afford the cinema more than once in a blue moon...

Yet today the kids have so much including 24/7 electronic entertainment and we are still told that they have nothing to do!

[WHL]

I had a crystal set to try and pick up Radio Luxembourg - tell that to a modern teenager they wouldn't know what you were talking about.

I asked a young guy recently. what records do you like, meaning what music do you like..he looked at me blank, genuinely not knowing what a record was.

[PW in Polemi]

I used to be sent off on my bike to hand deliver the Christmas cards to friends and relatives, some many miles away. Never had any problems, but wouldn't recommend it now. OH and I gave up cycling long before we moved out here - too many near misses with cars, one even passed OH so close his pedal got caught on the car's rear bumper and he was dragged along until the dozy driver realised what he'd done.

I used to walk to school most days, and would happily (and safely) stop to chat with people I met en route. Nowadays, parents seem to feel obliged to drive their sprogs to and from school for safety reasons.

[Dominic]

Increased communications is certainly a double edged sword. The fear in parents mentioned by PW is down to increased availability of news. So while attacks might not have gone up, their perception has.

Plus, people, and not just kids, seem to be slaves to their mobiles these days.

But in 40 years time, the current crop of kids will be shaking their heads at the weird and wonderful devices adorning their offspring. And in 400 years time the process will be continuing...

[WHL]

My Daughter and her group of friends have a great idea to put anyone off using their phones while out dining in a restaurant, they all place their phones in the middle of the table, the first to touch their phone pays for the meal, works every time.

[Lincoln]

My Daughter and her group of friends have a great idea to put anyone off using their phones while out dining in a restaurant, they all place their phones in the middle of the table, the first to touch their phone pays for the meal, works every time.

Love it love it love it. Spread the word.

[ApusApus]

I can remember when I was quite young having a medical emergency, tripped and went head first into a nail sticking out of a gate, my mum ran up and down the road trying to find someone with a car to get me to hospital! Nowadays, you can't navigate the roads because of the amount of cars


Shane

[PaphosAL]

I was born Aug 1947 (yes, a baby boomer) here in Luton. When I was 5 or 6, I remember it was still times of austerity, with Govt food rationing coupons still in operation. In 1954, my Dad died of TB. I remember Mum sitting me on her lap (when I was 7) explaining what had happened. I replied "Don't worry Mum, I will look after you..."

For a couple of years afterwards, me and my 3 year younger sister used to cry ourselves to sleep every night, having realized that we were NOT omnipitent, and would both die one day. But those two years were a struggle for our poor Mum. There was no Social Security safety net then, like there is these days, in the mid-Fifties... She was out there cleaning the 'rich peoples' houses, dressmaking and alterations, stuff like that, for the three of us to survive daily.

Thankfully, she met, fell in Love, then married our new Stepfather. He had a full-time job at Vauxhall and before long, we had step-siblings- another sister in 56, then twin brother and sister in 62...

I count myself VERY lucky to have lived during this period. I've seen Christopher Cockerell invent the Hovercraft back in 1956. Alex Issigonis designing the Mini in 1959. NASA sending man to the Moon on 20 July 1969 in Apollo 11...

Not to mention Concord, Space Shuttles, Hubbell Space Telescope, ISS, Hungarian fix for quenching oil field blazes in Kuwait (Gulf War 1), plus IBM for inventing the PC back in 1980!

Overall, in these past few decades, I think we need to make special mention of Tim Berners-Lee, the clever guy that actually invented the http INTERNET back in 1989! Where would we all be without this fabulous resource today, on our PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets?

Cheers- AL

[Maverick]

I had a crystal set to try and pick up Radio Luxembourg - tell that to a modern teenager they wouldn't know what you were talking about.

Radio Luxembourg...

[Firefly]

The world hasn't changed, but I think that people have.

We could go out for the day on our bikes, a bottle of pop and a sandwich in the saddle bag, got home in time for tea. No TV, just the radio which normally Dad had on for the news and cricket. No computers, no mobile phones or tablets, we played outside, or if wet, inside with board games. We read books and went to the library to change them. Went to dancing classes, ballroom was best. We actually talked to friends, walked a mile to school, back home for lunch, and back again.

The children now have far too much money spent on them and too much for themselves. It's a 'must have' generation where they have to have the latest I-phone, or tablet, and no-one says no. Exercise is not enjoyed and rarely done, as someone else says, car to and from the door, mum's taxi. We didn't have a car, we walked. They rarely do jobs around the house, and spend hours texting friends. Parents now too lax, if I didn't do as I was told, Heaven help me.

No I'm not a kill joy, but I'm glad I had my childhood, I wouldn't want it now. Then the sixties, that's another story.........

[Maggie B]

One of my Grandsons is 7 years old. He plays shinty once a week for 3 hours, football twice a week for 2 hours, swimming lessons once a week and trains in athletics for his school 2/3 times a week. These are only his training sessions. He also plays for HOURS and HOURS outside with his ball, and also at the park.

He has all sorts of electronic devices (which would pickle your brain) , and are only allowed for a certain amount of time each day. He has a bike which he cycles for miles on, a scooter, and all things wheel related SO, all in all, I don't think there's anything coming over him.

Oops, . . . . . . . . .except for his five year old wee sister!!!! She nutted him yesterday and he is now 'sporting' a VERY black eye.

I think it was an accident?

Maggie B

[Firefly]

Maggie

Well done to your Grandson, obviously going places sports wise.

Jackie

[Dominic]

The world hasn't changed, but I think that people have.

We could go out for the day on our bikes, a bottle of pop and a sandwich in the saddle bag, got home in time for tea. No TV, just the radio which normally Dad had on for the news and cricket. No computers, no mobile phones or tablets, we played outside, or if wet, inside with board games. We read books and went to the library to change them. Went to dancing classes, ballroom was best. We actually talked to friends, walked a mile to school, back home for lunch, and back again.

The children now have far too much money spent on them and too much for themselves. It's a 'must have' generation where they have to have the latest I-phone, or tablet, and no-one says no. Exercise is not enjoyed and rarely done, as someone else says, car to and from the door, mum's taxi. We didn't have a car, we walked. They rarely do jobs around the house, and spend hours texting friends. Parents now too lax, if I didn't do as I was told, Heaven help me.

No I'm not a kill joy, but I'm glad I had my childhood, I wouldn't want it now. Then the sixties, that's another story.........

This is not true at all. Kids love playing outside for a start.

[Maggie B]

Maggie

Well done to your Grandson, obviously going places sports wise.

Jackie

Jackie, who knows? To me, he is just a typical wee boy who loves playing sport of any kind. He ALSO loves his X Box (Well, I think that's what it is???).

My other grandson (from my sons side) who is 12 yrs old is absolutely obsessed with clay pigeon shooting and going out Loch fishing with his dad on his his small boat, or kayaking up and down the loch where they live. He tòo loves his X Box and also has to be reigned in on the hours he uses it in a week.

Surely it's all about balance?

MB

[Dominic]

Yes, our daughter trains three times a week at the Arena, when the weather is cooler. She loves her computer too though. But you shouldn't automatically assume the computer or tablet is a bad thing. It is just different. She saved up for ages (literally, years) and bought a posh drawing tablet. It is essentially a huge tablet which acts as a screen, and you draw on it with a special pen. So she can do all her artwork without using any paper. She uses Scratch, and an art forum. She would spend hours at a time doing it, if I let her. But as Maggie said, it's all about balance.

But how is using a drawing tablet or kindle any different from drawing a picture in a sketch book or reading a book?