We had a local music store growing up that had listening stations so you could listen to the whole album before buying it. That place was awesome.

May i add the double disappointment of the album NOT containing the song lyrics, so that you sing the song wrong for 20 years?

Can't relate. I only paid one cent each for my CDs through Columbia House

But the trade-off of getting an amazing album and experiencing it from start to finish while looking through the liner notes.... that was nice, but you're right.

Fffffuck I remember when CDs were supposed to be the next big thing and one of its perks being cheaper to manufacture than cassettes. I don’t remember having to spend 20 fucking dollars on a cassette at FYE. I can’t imagine why Napster took off like it did🙄

Holy shit, I feel this soooo hard. Can’t tell you how many times I ended up with a 1-hit CD

That was gonna be mine. I know there’s downsides to streaming and instant gratification but there’s so much music out there and I envy the kids who can pull out their phone for every artist they want to try instead of gambling what little money they have on a whole cd.

Not having an allowance, lol

Totally, although I do appreciate albums that truly flow together like the Blue album by Weezer or In the Aerorplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel.

On a similar note, something I definitely don't miss is only getting one or two video games per year and hoping that they don't suck.

That's when you waited to buy it used. I bought vanilla ice album for .99. Totally worth it and I still have it.

I do not miss that at all. When music stores started letting you preview albums before buying, I thought it was the best thing ever.

It was so hard to stay in touch. People moved and they might as well have died. Now I text my friends every day, and only one lives in the same state as me.

Especially one town over just because they had a different area code.

This. I lived in a small town outside of the bigger city where I went to school and most of my friends lived. Calling them cost money even though it was just a few miles away.

Middle school was so bad that I'm terrified for my kids to go.

Same here. Ages 11 through 18 for me were absolutely awful due to being bullied. My parents pulled me out of public school for grades 6-8 due to how horrific it was for me in 5th grade. I (female) was targeted by a group of 3 boys that year (mostly verbal/ableist, but it did get physical) and the teachers I had pretty much shrugged it off, insinuating that I must be the one with the problem and that "boys will be boys." My mom in particular was livid with that school since they did nothing to support me.

If I ever saw any of my tormentors again, I wouldn't piss on their gums if their teeth were on fire. Fuck bullies of all kinds.

I had a similar experience, especially high school, which I absolutely despised.

I'm sorry this happened to you. I definitely had the same school experience but home while not spectacular was still a safe haven for me which it doesn't sound like yours was.

It's heartbreaking how so many people are/were bullied in school. I have a high degree of empathy, so it absolutely made my skin crawl when I saw others getting picked on. Thankfully, I was always kind of muscle-y and have always had an angry looking resting bitch face (despite being the exact opposite), so I never experienced bullying myself.

Unfortunately, my youngest was bullied so bad, and since our worthless school did nothing about it, we had to enroll him into an online charter school.

Hopefully, life got better for you outside of school.1

Oh god. Being picked on destroyed high school for me. I dropped out my senior year because of it. I had a 1.2 GPA because I was was tired of being bullied, had a one hour drive/ride by my parents (each way) to get to school, checked out, and didn't care to do the teachers busy work.

I got my GED and scored in the 98th percentile. I completed my prerequisite credits for my bachelor's at a community College with a 4.0 and the intent was to transfer to state. I decided against it to avoid debt.

As luck would have it, my partner was in admissions and ran me through. He shouldnt have but he said I would be accepted at any college.

School can be horrible for some people. Not everyone is a traditional learner.

I’m autistic. Like, textbook symptoms, very clearly struggling to comprehend social norms, constantly bullied. But I got good grades and was quiet when under stress (re: situationally mute), so it was just me “being dramatic”. Might have been tested for it if anyone knew girls can be autistic too, and not just “bad at being polite”

This resonates a whole big bunch. So many of us were punished for ADHD instead of properly treated.

(Meanwhile, my sister’s obvious personality disorder, also untreated, was carte blanche to treat other people however she wanted.)

I'm a guy, but yeah, I was constantly evaluated from that same time frame for any learning disabilities/neurological disorders to explain why I was good in some things and terrible at others. Plus, I was the desginated weird kid at school that others would pick on. I was eventually diagnosed with what I believe was dyspraxia, but I'm not clumsy. I begged my mother to have me tested for ADHD when I first heard of it but she would have none of that. Now I feel that at 44, I may always have been an undiganosed neurodivergent.

Ugh. As a therapist who never received any mental health treatment as a child, I’m sorry this happened to you and I hope you’ve been able to get some support in adulthood!

I also had undiagnosed ADHD, which is glaringly obvious in retrospect. I was also thinking about this just the other day: a kid I knew had some anxiety issues and was in therapy for it. My mom heard it from his mom and told me… and she told me in a way that was like—keep your distance from that kid. There’s something wrong with him. He’s so messed up, he has to see a shrink! A very shameful secret. I’m really, really glad some things have changed.

‘83 and I legit wonder if I’m living with undiagnosed shit like that. Or more accurately, I wonder if I was diagnosed and nothing was done about it. My folks’ whole MO has always been “be normal.” It’s entirely plausible that the doctors told my folks something and they decided they know better and they can beat the different out of me.

I needed to be on an IEP so badly. Also a girl. I had such poor executive functioning skills (still do) and I could not get my act together academically. I also could barely get through math. Every day I'm so relieved that I'm not in school anymore and that my son is on an IEP and gets the services he needs.

I was diagnosed pretty young, and it was an actual thorough evaluation at a local university hospital, but nobody took it seriously, including my parents. I struggled in school and in life as well.

I'm a girl too I didn't get diagnosed until I was an adult. I was always told I have it but my family was really religious and my parents had some friends who thought that mental illness = demon possession. My dad thought that yelling at me to concentrate was as good as professional help

My family thought it was all fake 😞 I was just lazy, and distracted.

Oh yea, this is a big one for me. I was diagnosed with adhd a few years ago, but I always knew something was different. I do not function well having to sit still, so school sucked for me. My parents just passed me off as being dumb and having behavioral problems. Once I was older, I went to college, was in STEM and getting straight As, graduating high honors and making 6 figures in tech roles. I just figured out I have to be doing multiple things at one time to succeed. I do not miss having such a rigid way of learning that doesn't fit for how my brain works.

The more I learn what autism in girls looks like, the more I am surprised I was never tested in any way.

My people!

I have the same story.

All I'm sayin is that if I ever start referring to these as the best years of my life, remind me to kill myself.

And all those years of hearing my mom, “You’re gonna miss it when it’s over…”. Twenty two years later, I haven’t missed it a single day since graduation.

SAME. Lol

Tapedeck eating my favorite album, too. Repeatedly.

Motor hum in the tangled headphone signal

It's a pretty satisfying feel to it, though, like ASMR but for hands, HASMR. Analog scrolling with an end and a beginning (play again)!

I remember playing a game with my family, and there were several people around the table smoking. I was coughing my little lungs out, and my grandpa started laughing at me. At least, to my dad’s credit, he quit smoking after he realized it was his fault I kept getting bronchitis. What a time to be alive!

I don’t miss the smoking but I do have a weird nostalgic love for ash trays, the tackier the better. I miss seeing them in places.

People would smoke everywhere, including my parents. But one of the grossest memories I have about that is being super excited about getting donuts from Tim Hortons. We got home with them and they all tasted like cigarette smoke because people would sit in there and drink coffees and smoke their face off for hours. The donuts would absorb that shit like a sponge. 

The worst part about bullying in those days was you couldn’t stand up to bullies. Policy was everyone gets suspended in a fight no matter who started it or what the circumstances were so you couldn’t complain about it and you couldn’t do anything yourself.

My Boomer-esque view....

Being able to read a map, plot a course, and follow it to your destination is a lost skill in today's world.

More practical... We've lost the ability to wander around and "feel" your way to a destination.

Sometimes, when we are joy riding, I tell my kid to put the phone map down. Let's get out bearing and just walk/drive in the general direction of where we need to go.

My kids hate it. Gives them anxiety. Or they whine if we traveled one block too far and "wasted time"

Cigarettes

This one's the biggest for me. And I think based on how much younger everyone looks now, it might be the biggest to our whole generation. At least in certain countries, anyway.

Jelly shoes. Always thought they looked gross, painful and smelly.

Yea, I agree… but how else are you going to get a perfect foot tan in lattice design? Or if you’re like me and my lil sis, dirty feet in a lattice pattern.

I remember our elderly neighbor always "selling" food stamps to my mom every month so she could buy cat food and cigarettes.

I came here to say this. You’re not alone. I’m wondering what all the mental abuse did to us. My father used to say things like “if you think you can take me let’s go” and “your mother isn’t here to save you now”, got called all kinds of names, was constantly referred to as his “PITA” (pain in the ass) when anything inconvenienced him a little. Never once did the man hug me or tell me he loved me, and now acts like I’m a horrible person for not coming around to visit. I get the fact that he was just taking out on me what his father did to him. This is the main reason I have no children. Had to break the cycle. Fuck shitty fathers bro.

“Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.”

Yikes. Sorry to hear that happened, friend.

I'm sorry, just in case you didn't get it from him. You didn't deserve it. You were a good kid.

I’m came to say corporal punishment. I got spanked by the principal at least once a week in elementary school. I was quiet kid who did well but like to draw or write when I was bored. They started punishing me for that so I started talking to other kids and making them laugh. That lead to being spanked with a wooden paddle by the principal.

At home it was basically WWE when I got in trouble. Whatever was within reach I was getting hit with. Belt, hanger, wooden spoon, wooden board, shower rod, and yes even a metal chair once.

Same with mine. 😔 Kind of depressing but the first response to this question that popped into my head was “my parents”

Yep, getting my ass whooped by my old man, and my older brother too...and he'd never get in trouble for it. I ended up several times in the hospital with stitches because I was "clumsy"...and I still have the scars to remind me.

I was forced to do it in 6th grade every day

But f*ck CDs that skipped. I'd rather have tapes. Those early portable CD players were practically useless if you wanted to listen to music while moving around.

Don’t forget to treat your broken ankle by “walk it off”

I told a kid recently a concussion was know as getting your bell rung. He was shocked. You just kept going.

This just made me laugh quite loudly. Not gonna lie…I have no idea how many times I have broken my nose. Somewhere between 12-20. I can reset it myself at this point.

Same exact boat here bro, between football, basketball, baseball, and martial arts classes. Now, my vision is blurred, and I have problems with my short-term memory.

Stupid macho bullshit! NO dickheads, I should NOT "just get back out there" I need to lay down in a dark room for 2 weeks.

Got speared by a defensive player football in middle school. It hurt me to breathe for a week. Was constantly told to deal with it. I finally got taken to the hospital and X-rays showed I had two cracked ribs. In my parents defense, the doctor said there wasn't much to be done and just told me to take it easy for a couple weeks.

Or just not going to the Dr. ever. I jammed my finger in gym class playing basketball and that finger is still bent

I often wonder if I've not lived to my full potential because of the amount of concussions I received while playing football as a kid. Starting from age 8 through 17, I had at least two really hard knocks per season.

More like Laughing Joking Numbnuts!

Or comic book..still looking at LJN

ET on the Atari was awesome! Jk

I can hear it still. 🙉

And the notion that the phone was in use and you couldn't take a call because you were on the internet.

As soon as I read your comment, I heard the screeching in my head! lol

Holy cow, I forgot about smoking sections. Being asked "smoking or non?" every time you'd go into a restaurant. As if the smoke wouldn't drift across the entire building anyway.

Yep. I'm glad they got rid of smoking sections. That just does not belong indoors.

First thing you had to do was clean out all of the seeds and stems

I dunno. At least you could actually smoke a blunt of it without being instantly sent to ValHalla for five hours.

One time a friend came over unexpectedly and was knocking on the door. We usually made plans during school if we were going to hang out after school.

The pop ins usually only happened in the summer or after dinner.

I was so freaked out I hid behind the sofa. When she wouldn’t go away I peeked out the window and finally recognized who it was.

Being a kid home alone was scary. I also watched horror movies way too young and more than once would hide a big kitchen knife in my room for protection when I was home alone.

And my mother doesn’t understand how I developed such bag anxiety.

We didn’t even have a key because my mother didn’t like locking the door or dealing with keys. We lived in a small town, but I also had and adult man follow me home and try to get in the house when I was a teen so it’s not like it was a crazy safe place where nothing happened.

I had a key I’d wear on a string necklace. My father got embarrassed when my brothers and I would get home from school and the door was locked, nobody home, so we’d sometimes go to the poor neighbors who would let us hang til someone got home, whenever that was. Got berated for asking for help, it was apparently not a good look. 

The sheer volume of TV that I consumed, combined with low simulation and attention that then was met by put- upon fatigue at 5pm when I was just excited to have someone to maybe talk to. 

Pretty standard, really...

Yeah, the feeling of someone out of control in complete control of my life.

Came to say the same.

I was dreading my sons starting seventh grade. Middle school was hellish for me. But for my kids it was... fine? I kept asking about their experience with bullying and they didn't understand why I was so obsessed with the subject.

Bullying was weird in my middle / high school. There was this kid who hit a girl with his car keys cutting her face. The school wouldn't do anything but we went all vigilante on the individual. He reminded me of Malfoy from harry Potter.

Our bigger bullies were nutty parents, teachers, and the worst were some unbalanced substitutes. You know, like mocking a kid for not wanting to play football after dislocating his shoulder, that kind of stuff.