Things I miss

The world before online hookups and apps, where people still had manners and could have a conversation that didn't boil down to: INTO? HUNG? HOST?

What's "Operators"?

a restful mind without the 24-hour news cycle

not having to text to make an appt. to chat on the phone

Helmet-free and carefree bike rides

Sammy Davis, Jr.

College

"Handing a credit card to a grocery clerk."

Yes, I remember many a heart-warming moment when I handed my credit card to a grocery clerk. There I would be.. in my acid wash jeans, wearing a scrunchie in my hair... buying a six pack of Zima and some Jolly Ranchers, getting ready for a marathon of Beavis and Butthead on MTV...

being unavailable to people once and a while

going to the beach where folks listened to the radio to relax

spending time outdoors and feeling safe doing so

being single and just having to worry about me

being in a relationship where a partner is not into porn and other men

Mailboxes. You know the big blue ones that used to be outside every store and on every street corner. The other day I found myself with a card to mail and it wouldn't fit in my tiny mailbox. Had to look up where the nearest post office was just to mail it.

Luise Rainer

The datalounge of the late 1990s

My 18-38 yo old body.

My bladder being up where it belongs...

fruit and vegetables available only in their seasons and tasting delicious

elaborate baroque spun sugar easter eggs

dinky but identifiable "little x" districts. "little italy" "little germany" "chinatown". oh we have to get the roles in the "german" bakery or the pastries in the "portuguese" bakery.

run-down bohemian neighbourhoods in major cities

I voted R9 W&W.

Brunch

Telephone booths Local Customer Service Being able to quit a job and find another within a couple of weeks

I think most of the respondents so far have hit the nail on the head. Conversation, civility, manners, just having good old class. I know the feeling [R10]. I miss having the 18-38 year old body. Now my body falls apart faster than my car. Now I can relate to Sophia Petrillo.

coat hanger abortions

college tearooms

Colto

Dr. Laura's radio programme.

Quiet movie theatres

[quote]Mailboxes.

They're everywhere.

[quote]Had to look up where the nearest post office was just to mail it.

You sound like a real idiot.

Operators?

Four channels?

OP, I miss none of the things you listed.

Locker rooms with communal showers where even the young and handsome had no problem being naked and soaping up in front of other men.

-A much less crowded Rehoboth Beach

-StarTac flip phone

-AOL chatrooms

-my dog I got from a rescue

R25, was it a rescue?

Walking into the apartment and immediately going to the table that had the phone and the answering machines on it to see how many messages I had.

The type of table the phone sat no longer exists. It was specifically made to be a sofa table and a phone table. It held a lamp, a phone, an answering machine and a Rolodex. Underneath was a shelf to hold the telphone book.. I stored my takeout menus next to the phone book. I guess some people would store an address book down there.

Technology wow'd me when I bought a Casio calculator watch that could be programmed to hold phone numbers. Awesome! It was cumbersome to use the little tiny alpha numeric keys to type in all of my phone numbers, but I did it because it just blew my mind that I could carry everyone's number with me. If I called my answering machine from a pay phone or from work to get my messages and you'd left a message but didn't leave your number, I could just look up your number on my watch and call you right back. Amazing!

haha R26, I see what you are saying. I didn't know about the drill down of the word 'rescue.' I did not run into a burning building to save him, pull him from a burning car or save him from a riptide.

Goofily earnest American patriotism. We've devolved into a homogenized hipster matrix, where everything is already curated for people and no one has to think.

I idolized Gen X so much, that by the time it was my turn to take their place, everything became soulless and vanilla. No one sits around at coffee shops, banters and debates, like how it always happened in 90's movies. I thought we had terrible, college graduate employment. Unemployed college graduates have a moral obligation to sit around in coffee shops and bitch about society.

Having my change counted BACK to me properly by the cashier!

Put the receipt in the fucking bag, you don't need to HAND it to me!

I miss the old adult bookstores and being hit on by scraggly, toothless drug addicts. Those were the days!

my knees

I want them to hand me the receipt, R30. And I always have to ask. They're never going to count the money. I'm happy if they can manage to put the coins in my hand before the bills.

When people still wore hats.

Midol

[quote]Put the receipt in the fucking bag, you don't need to HAND it to me!

There's nothing wrong with that. Some people need to keep track of receipts.

I like being handed the receipt.

Underground art/music/etc. movements.

Everything gets discovered, disssected, and discarded before it has a chance to become interesting or mature into the mainstream.

There are a million things I miss because I am getting old (48) and I hate it. I needed candles and did a search on Amazon: these days you need to specify "tapered candles" because "candles" will yield a million tea, votive, spell, organic, aromatherapeutic and other alternative versions except the just plain regular candles you put in a candlestick.

When I went to my accountant for taxes, I paid as usual with a check and they didn't know what to do with it. They finally figured it out and charged me $20 check charge. When they were running around, trying to figure out how to process the check, I offered my credit card. They said, "We can handle this." WTF?

The German Democratic Republic

[quote]Conversation, civility, manners, just having good old class

Ah yes the good days, when people were polite and had manners, men held doors for ladies, children were seen but not often heard, gas station attendents wore uniforms and pumped your gas and checked the oil, wear people dressed up to go shopping downtown on Main St or out to a restaurant, Doctors made housecalls and didn't charge a fortune, no homeless people bothering you for change etc etc ...

Ah yes the good old days , when the negroes knew their place and weren't so uppity, when men could skap a gal on her ass as a compliment and there was no such thing as rape, unruly children were beaten by parents and teachers alike, and child abuse was unheard of, darkies were happy to serve your food , pump your gas and grin ear to ear with a friendly "yas Massah" and "feets do yo stuff", wear people dressed up to go out, then drove home blind drunk, which was perfectly legal, people would go to church on Sunday ad hear about the wrath of God towardshomosexuals were going to hell for their depravity, where doctors treated homosexuals as mentally ill and cured them with electroshock and prescribed cigarettes and speed for nervous housewives, mental defectives, lunatics, retards, mongoloids, and people suffering from "nerves" were safely locked away for life in mental asylums

So for every rose colored Norman Rockwell moments you old farts get misty about in the past , there was an equally horrible part of society to balance it out that your senility has conviently skipped over.

R41, are you a college freshman? Look up "false equivalence."

Things I miss?

Masculine men.

Men are being emasculated like crazy in our sick world today by the crazies.

V05

Sales Associates and Servers who respond to "Thank you" with "You're welcome," instead of "No problem."

Remember when it was an event to eat at a restaurant, or fly on a plane?

Remember when people took one vacation a year, if they were lucky? Now, you're expected to take a vacation with each season.

Five cent candy bars.

Ten cent fountain cokes.

3/$1 Greek dogs, burgers, and chili.

Ten cent bus rides.

Sunday matinees @ my neighborhood theater, two movies/thirty five cents.

Most of all, My Grampa.

Finger bowls in restaurants.

Telephone exchange names. You could tell where someone lived.

Movie stars that are actually talented

The Kaiser. Things were better under him.

The ABC 4:30 movie

That first coffee with a cigarette in the morning

Liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats

Dressing up to go to church.

Bonneville convertibles

Bomino Turkish taffy

Tower Records

1 - 4 screen movie theaters (and waiting in line for the previous audience to clear out)

Infomercial-free television--thanks Reagan, you asshole.

70s-era DeNiro, Pacino, and Nicholson

Finding Steak Diane on nearly every fancy menu.

Quo Vadis (that was one of 'em).

Real food without having to pay a fortune for organic that may or may not be organic.

The chance to use this again!

Quisp cereal. I loved that shit.

Getting real letters in the mail. Handwritten, by friends. Often containing small baggies of pot or coke which they didn't look for at the time.

Mix tapes for your crushes.

Fondue.

Jiffy-pop popcorn.

London without the skyscrapers.

[quote]I needed candles and did a search on Amazon: these days you need to specify "tapered candles" because "candles" will yield a million tea, votive, spell, organic, aromatherapeutic and other alternative versions except the just plain regular candles you put in a candlestick.

What an odd thing to bitch about. It's a serious effort to type in a second word? Are you for real?

Real cars? Today's cars are soooo much better in every way.

Most is better- social media and 24 hour information have made public discourse more stupid- but most else is better. Would be much better if young people got out and voted. We did and helped create a more progressive nation. Since the Reagan era young people have stopped voting and turned the govt over to special interests and money in general in an alliance with older and angry adults. So I guess I wished young people in the U.S. voted at the levels their counterparts in Europe do.

I'm 61.

I just went to Amazon and typed in candles and hit search. The screen that comes up gives you a link at the left for taper candles.

This is not rocket science.

When a TV program like the "Who shot J.R.?" episode of "Dallas" was actually an event that everyone would talk about the next day ay work.

The June Taylor Dancers.

My daughter.

I too miss good manners.

Today I ran into an old acquaintance at the gym. I made eye contact, called him by name, and said hello. He said hello back but kept moving and acted like he didn't know me.

Where I come from, that's rude. I was taught to acknowledge people, even if you don't like them. And if you don't remember them, you say, "I'm sorry, have we met?"

Operator assisted person-to-person phone calls.

A pre Third World country.

My tight cherry

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Good manners

Politeness

Thing I miss?

Yoko Ono

Six inches to the right and I'd be a national hero

What are "person-to-person" calls?

I just thought searching for candles would be less involved. I didn't even know I needed to be looking for "taper candles."

Rhodesia

The Belgian Congo

German South West Africa

Dutch Guiana

British Honduras

French North Africa

those ungrateful natives never new how good they had it .

Jobs that only required 40 hours a week and paid a middle class salary that enabled one to have discretionary spending.

Being able to quit anytime and move somewhere new, confident that you could find employment.

R73, in the olden days there were 2 types of long distance phone calls: Station to station and person to person.

Station to station phone were cheaper. You got charged a per minute charge no matter who picked up the phone on the other end of your phone call----even if the person you wanted to speak to was out of the house.

Operator assisted person to person phone calls meant you dialed an operator and request to have the phone call put through directly to a named person. The operator would make that call, ask for that person, and you were charged only if that person was there and able to answer the phone. It was a much more expensive type of phone call.

That's why, in the olden days, parents would RUN to the phone when there kid screamed, "Mom! Dad! It's LONG DISTANCE!!!" Long distance phone calls were as rare as snow in July back then.

R73 Back in the day when long distance (on landlines, of course) was expensive, and you wanted to make sure the person you wanted to speak with was actually there, you paid extra to have the operator make a "person-to-person call." If the designated call recipient wasn't available, you didn't get charged for the call.

The Old Times Square

No telemarketing No long phone waiting to speak to customer service or make an appointment. No automated 'help' lines that can't resolve an issue. People didn't drive texting and talking on cell phones. No strip malls. Political parties/Congress tried to find common ground. Neighbors visited and were nice. Schools were better. Cars with distinction.

Negros had their own schools.

Bonomo, R54.

[quote]Quisp cereal. I loved that shit.

You don't have to miss it; you can order it through Amazon, though it may be slightly re-formulated from the original:

[quote] Quisp cereal. I loved that shit.

Quenting Quisp too.

Yes R80, New York is greatly diminished by the current day lack of muggers, hookers and XXX cinemas where you could jerk off under your Botany 500 raincoat. Plus pick-up a drunken lonely sailor, popcorn with real melted butter , soda and kaposi's sarcoma all for under $5

R86 Don't forget The Gaiety!

I've never done this before, but tonight I must. R86 sounds like a Republican.

Howdy Doody

Informed and helpful salespeople at department stores.

Reading without reading glasses

My body 5 years ago

All the money my ex lost

John (who now engaged to that whore)

Everything closed on Sundays.

I miss the fact that Times Square in the 70s and 80s was still a New York neighborhood despite its' seediness.

Now it has all the personality of a foodcourt in a suburban mall. And is to be equally avoided.

Give it back to the Indians.

thank you R24 and R80

also, calling a business and having an actual person answer instead of getting dragged through an 11-dimensional chess game of "press one for..."

old cruising hunting grounds: Golden Gate Park windmills, Dore Alley, Noe Street, Collingwood Park

the old Muscle Systems gym in San Francisco's Hayes Valley

When I was 25, ever cologne I wore smelled great. All my suits looked perfect. Every haircut I got was a success.

I was so thin and cool I could stand on a subway platform in August and barely break a sweat.

When I was 25 I could wear white bucks, searsucker, bowties, grossgrain belts, babyblue linen suits, high water old school brooks brothers suits, dark grey chesterfield overcoats, vintage skinny tuxedos from sulk and saks 5th avenue and oxxford and chip, suspenders, all that shit, I could wear it and it was cute, sexy and age appropriate. People got hard looking at me.

People who maintain eye contact during conversations of over a minute's duration.

Discussions that were pleasant exchanges of information rather than life/death struggles to be right.

The quiet and calm of public transport and public parks before mobile phones.

When travelling was an exciting adventure into the unknown rather than a nightmare of security checks, unruly, aggro passengers and cultural sameness.

I love you, R96. Come live with me. We could be less miserable together in the 21st century.

R30 et al

I read something once by some famous guy (don't remember who) about his pre-fame life. He was a cashier at a bookstore where a bank of cashiers would serve a single line of customers; the sort of deal where the customer at the head of the line would go to the next available cashier.

He and the other cashiers would play a game where, if they saw a cute girl in line, they would try to time things so that they would be the next available cashier when it was that girl's turn to pay.

So, under normal circumstances, he would hand each customer their receipt and wish them a good day or whatever. BUT, if he wanted to speed things up and get a customer out of the way to make sure he was free for Ms. Cute, he would just throw the receipt in the bag and say buh-bye.

Ever since reading that, every time a cashier puts my receipt in the bag instead of handing it to me I look to see who else is in line...

www (also missed) for R96

add: when the only people walking alone and talking loudly were the mentally ill

R95, you poseur and loser. All your "stuff" and you still chose to use the subway.

No r42 I have had a similar response from Black friends and colleagues anytime a discussion about "good ole days" happens or anything about going back in time. For the Black community and women those aren't wonderful topics for obvious reasons.

There's nothing wrong with riding the subway in a big city.

R97 You are magnificent! But I'm not miserable, just miss people who prize good conversation and a less technology-centered lifestyle, who are curious about the world around them and enjoying speaking as well as listening. They're out there and a joy to meet, but their numbers are dwindling rapidly.

I, too, miss R10's 18 to 38 year old body!

[quote]For the Black community and women those aren't wonderful topics for obvious reasons.

Not for us either.

oh fuck off '' afraid some other group might co-opt your scheme?

r101 I've heard AAs discuss these times with nostalgia, just like the OP describes.

Obviously not for the outside evil perpetrated against them, but for the sense of community within black cities, towns, etc.

Many black retirees have moved back to the South in order to experience the black small town, country life without Jim Crow.

[quote]Every fucking oppression is about you, , OK?

As long as there are shit stains like R106, uh yeah.

The Hollywood Palace

The Brown Derby

Halvah

[quote]So for every rose colored Norman Rockwell moments you old farts get misty about in the past , there was an equally horrible part of society to balance it out that your senility has conviently skipped over.

:::patting hand:::

Yes, dear. Though I may be in my dotage, my rheumy eyes still can read the title of this thread, which is "Things I MISS."

If you'd like to start a thread titled "Things I DON'T miss," you're welcome to do so. If not, I suppose I could (since I paid my subscription with my Social Security check) and manage to begin one for you with my palsied hand.

Push button transmission

My Caddy with the 472 cubic inch V-8 engine

Oh, R2 and all of you other residents of Loserville:

You can't miss what you've never had. Blame it on the divestiture, and eat your hearts out, anyway, right, Phoenicia? (Snort, snort!)

Saturday morning cartoons.

My body at age 20 when I thought I was fat.

My friends, my lovers, my relevance.

Awwww....That was SAD R117!

PSA - Pacific Southwest Airways

Chris*Craft wooden inboard ski boats

My '62 Lincoln Continental

R29, if you miss goofy, honest American patriotism, then you need to go to a rodeo. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

When hashtag was called a pound sign and it was only on your phone with no real purpose.

People like R69 are fine with racism of the past, but so help you if you're a homophobe, too.

Buzzby's

The Pier

No taxi TVs.

[quote]So for every rose colored Norman Rockwell moments you old farts get misty about in the past , there was an equally horrible part of society to balance it out that your senility has conviently skipped over.

A‒fucking‒men.

And the most laughable part is these "civility" assholes are fine with hating people based on race or religion, but don't you dare remind these queens that they would've been considered abnormal degenerates worthy of a mental institution or electroshock therapy by the very "civilized" people for whom they wax nostalgic.

Small Dairy Queen cone for 10 cents, 15 cents if dipped in chocolate

Seattle before it was ruined by Amazon and the bicyclists, all of whom I wish would just go back to California where they belong

Turning on the radio and wondering what new mind blowing song they'd be playing

My dad's 1972 Electra 225 convertible with the 454 cu in V-8

Evening newspapers. Hell, any decent newspaper

Liberals who weren't just as obnoxious as right wingers, and could actually deal with someone who didn't agree with everything they said

When TV shows and advertisements weren't so ridiculously aggressive

Political leaders who I respect, regardless of whether or not I agree with them

Economic security, a solid middle class, and the sense that things were getting a little better for just about everyone

Journalism that fairly presents both sides of an argument

Entertainment aimed at a "general audience"

Quiet hospital rooms

Drug stores with a lunch counter and a soda fountain

The ability to pay for a full load of groceries with a $20 bill

Regular gas for 29.9 cents a gallon

"Reasonable & Proper" speed limits in much of the West

When California drivers were a cut or two above all the rest

Airplane rides that were actually fun

Writing to NASA for color photographs of the Gemini and Apollo missions, and eagerly awaiting a moon landing

People today are more politically correct but less liberal in the true sense. I would much rather go back to the reverse.

Oh, and good ole TV theme songs.

When people like R124 kept that shit to themselves

Classic DataLounge. I'm unimpressed with the beta version.

Woodward and Lothrop

Lawry's California Center

Local newscasts that were only a half hour and contained only actual news

No security checks at airports

Carl's Jr. California Roast Beef Sandwich

Woolworth's

The Nut Tree

The City of Paris

Marineland

The Magic Pan

Robinson's

Bullocks-Wilshire

Playland at the Beach

Paraiso Marriott Acapulco

OP, why don't you just jump in your grave right now?

R133 oh I'll second the Magic Pan this second!!! And the Magic Garden for that matter.

Also, when certain chains, I'm thinking Pizzzeria UNO specifically, actually were really good - before they got totally bought out. Same goes for Legal Seafood.

Checker cabs that were actually Checker Marathon tanks, 5 mpg

My dad's cigars

A certain cowboy

When it would've been bizarre to worry about a boy bringing his cap gun to school

Computers being items of great mystery

The excitement of getting a second-hand color TV

Eagerly anticipating the new car models this fall

Little Joe Cartwright

Slide rules

Pre-hippie male hairstyles (men were never sexier than they were in 1962)

Troy Donahue

Roch and roll on Ed Sullivan

DVDs and CDs.

Mildred's

howdy doody time, ovaltene, ZOOM box 350 boston mass 02134 send it to zoom. bewitched, captain kangaroo, TANG, Sundry Stores, NeHi orange soda, Tab, Little House, Texas Ranger, Matlock. 1adam12, Chips, melrose place, baywatch, buck rogers staring col. wilma deering, tweekie, and dr. theopolus and that other grey haired dr., battlestar galactica with apollo and starbuck and the robut bear, Land of the Lost marshall will and holly, on a routine expedition.

[quote]Playland at the Beach

And the laughing fat lady in front of the Fun House. And Fleischhaker Pool.

Thanx for the reminisce R133.

Going to see Madonna in concert for the face value price of $14!

Camping out all night for concert tickets.

Getting to wait for friends and family at the gate at the airport and smiling when you'd see them appear down the hall.

The excitement of the drumroll when Casey Casem would announce the #1 song.

Who could possibly miss sliderules?

I couldn't believe we were supposed to line up lines that may or may not have been badly printed hunks of plastic to come up with an accurate calculation.

When Time magazine really mattered

Broadway was a cultural force

Johnny Carson

The Wild Wild West, and Robert Conrad's tight pants

Walking to school

Coke bottle from a vending machine, 10 cents

Penny candy

Hershey chocolate bar, a nickel. Same for M&Ms

Pack of baseball cards including a flat piece of gum, a nickel

My older brother's best friend who was so good looking, and always smiled at me

Named phone exchanges -- so much easier to remember a number

"See the USA in Your Chevrolet" commercials

General admission grandstand kids' major league baseball ticket, 50 cents. Scheduled double headers on Sundays, and a triple-header rain makeup at least once a year

ABC Wide World of Sports -- "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat"

R143, I thought a slide rule was the most amazing thing, almost like magic.

The General Cinema opener with the film projector and the snare drum...

The feeling of excitement when CBS would play it's bumper before The Charlie Brown Christmas Special.

Going over to your friends house and knocking on the door and asking if they could come out and "play"

The feeling of getting to go out to eat after enduring church.

Looking at the list of your classmates on the first day of elementary school.

Walking into class and seeing the film projector set up.

R141 I think the Laughing Fat Lady from Playland is on display at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

And speaking of the Boardwalk-- the indoor salt water pool ("The Plunge") into which I fell when I was around four or five. Now it's an indoor miniature golf course.

My 7th grade homeroom teacher, what a hunk

My first favorite song: "Puff the Magic Dragon." I had no idea there were any marijuana references, and neither did my parents

The two-tone (red and white, was there any other?) 1963 Corvette that I passed on my walk to school, and looking in at the speedometer than went to 160 mph. Wow!

Vent windows on cars, and rear-facing seats in station wagons

No one cared if you drank beer in high school, and adults would buy it for you

Things I miss:

Getting hit on.

Making out with another guy.

Having sex with another guy.

Cuddling with another guy.

Bireley's Orange Soda

Laura Scudder Potato Chips

Lindy Ballpoint Pens

The smell of Ditto fluid

My dorm friends from my freshman year of college

Going to my grandmother's house for dinner most Sundays

Runaway Love

R148:

PUFF.

MAGIC.

Jackie PAPER.

Not to mention the fantastical story itself.

Peter, Paul, and the late, great Mary all insisted no hallucinogens figured in the tune. Still seems kinda Lewis Carroll to me.

R152 when I went to Kauai I realized that Hanalei was in the song. The whole thing was about smoking Hawaiian pot, but I was five years old and it was 1963. Much more innocent times.

Because he hasn't had you yet, R135 (g)

Yes, The City of Paris, and that Christmas tree. Sundaes at Gumps, and dinner at Polo's. Chicken Caccitore, please!

San Francisco in the 70s owns this thread.

KSAN, KMPX

Playland at the Beach.

By four channels, do you mean quadraphonic audio equipment, OP? It never really caught on..in those days , people would spend a month's pay for a TV set, but a pittance on a stereo rig. Most people didn't even listen to FM radio back then, it was considered the dominion of longhairs (in the very old sense) and weirdoes. Fat chance Joe & Jill were going to peg out for decent audio equipment, let alone doubling the cost by going quad.

Hearing this on KSFO, late at night, in our '62 convertible Coupe De Ville coming back from vacation.

Being forced to go down on Lyle and Eric Menedez while their papi watched.

This time baby

Shame

KABL

Windows on the World

How could I forget Laughing Sal? Didn't she get "kidnapped" from a store front at some point? Sal was your final warning before you entered the Funhouse. It would terrify most modern kids, with their nerf-y playsets and safe-as-milk ball cages. I loved that house of horrors.

Named exchanges, oh god. I remember my Gran' always saying "that's Montrose4-XXXX"

Funnily enough, the VoIP service I use has lists of available phone numbers for the 415 that that are still linked to the named exchanges. Montroe-Evergreen, Juniper, Central, etc.

I'll see you JValdez, and raise ya' one!

Concorde

Ford Pinto

Impromptu conceptual diving art shows in San Francisco.

Stationery stores where you'd go for erasers

#2 pencils

Pro sports teams where the players signed autographs for kids before boarding the team bus

The punt, pass & kick contests

The guy who had me keep my cowboy hat on while I fucked him

Metal baseball spikes

My typewriter

My optimism about race relations when Obama was elected

The Democrats standing up for working people, and the Republicans competing for their votes

My mom's VW Beetle

You made me laugh, R162!

Anonymous hook-ups before the internet. There was a sense of discovery. With the internet, you know everything to expect, not a surprise anymore.

Hit and Run

Ah, those were the days my friend....

My old dogs.

Soda with real sugar, not HFCS or aspartame. Being able to buy food items like spaghetti sauce and yogurt without having to check the ingredients for HFCS.

Short shorts on a nice body, back when obesity was rare and not the norm.

MTV in its heyday, when they had actual music videos & groundbreaking tv shows.

No SJWs and no FOX News

Popcorn movies that were actually entertaining, cleverly written, & didn't cater to the lowest common denominator.

Real rock bands & rock stars instead of the kind of pussified whiny dreck that passes for "rock" today (Coldplay and their ilk).

Saturday morning cartoons with hand-drawn animation, no CGI.

Video stores, not that they were better than Netflix in terms of price/convenience, but I loved browsing the covers with cool artwork. Ditto for record stores.

Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet

Al Parker

Made-for-tv-movies that weren't on Lifetime

The Golden Girls (esp. the ones that passed away)

The days when tattoos were not so ubiquitous (I don't mind a few tattoos, but I hate the ones that look ugly and/or tacky - tribal armbands, tramp stamps, giant hideous designs on young people who will surely regret them someday, anything on the neck, etc.)

Never Can Say Goodbye

Record stores! Going in, browsing, seeing posters on the wall for a band's next single 'coming soon' (when physical singles actually sold and featured B-sides and rarities), listening to new releases with those big chunky headphones. Magazines, posters, MTV playing live music and clips and Daria + Beavis & Butthead.

Being able to listen to every single genre on mainstream radio, I remember when you'd be able to hear a Madonna song followed by a Pearl Jam song, and then Faith Hill and the Notorious B.I.G, then Bjork, then Janet Jackson then Blur then Luther Vandross then Deee Lite then Savage Garden then Jeff Buckley then Lauryn Hill then Nirvana then Cher, then No Doubt then Shaniah Twain then D'Angelo then Celine Dion, U2 then TLC then Garbage then Lenny Kravitz, the Spice Girls then Lil' Kim then Radiohead then Erykah Badu... you might not have liked it all but you got a huge variety, not just dance / pop / electronica.

The Top Model / Flava Flav / Anna Nicole / The Simple Life era of reality TV.

Actually being out in the sun with friends (doesn't seem to happen much any more).

Hollywood studios making mid budget movies for adults, not just franchise blockbusters. Dramas only get made now to win Oscars, the comedies are just trying to out-vulgar each other (would be fine if they were actually funny) and there's nothing romantic about modern romance films. In fact I just watched Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline in one last night from the 90s that was smart, funny, mature and breathtakingly romantic. Also, a thriving indie cinema: I miss the Parker Posey, Lili Taylor, Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, Gael Garcia Bernal, Natasha Lyonne, Billy Crudup, Christina Ricci years!

Staying up for Tales From the Dark Side

The annual showing of The Wizard of Oz each fall on network TV. It was an event.

Disney's Halloween Treat cartoon special each October.

The dirt road I grew up on - now it's a paved surburbia.

Awkward photos.

The hole in the ozone layer.

Don't Leave me This Way

you make me feel (mighty real)

Ummm...JValdez....it's getting late.

Bathhouses... when there were hot guys there and they were both sexual and social. Lots of fun.

Now they're ghost-towns, or just old icky guys who can't hook up via Grindr or whatever.

For the real old San Francisco hands:

KMEL

KEWB

KYA

Good movies

cars on the road that don't look and handle like cheap toys

being carefree

"Apple Bar" and "Dicks Deja Disco" bars in downtown Austin

"The Garage" bar in downtown Columbus, OH

"Tracks" disco/club in Washington DC

I miss feeling optimistic about the future.

KMEL Jams!

Good help.

R160 I still have the actual 45RPM record of KSFO's "Sound of the City." IIRC, my mother had to send away for it. She and my father were avid KSFO listeners back in the '60s.

R183 Don't forget KFRC.

MTV's "House of Style" and MTV programs with people on them who didn't look like they were 12. "Loveline". Supermodels who were actually beautiful.

I do NOT miss obnoxious New York Telephone operators.

The Korvette's record department at 46th and Fifth!

The Korvette's record department in Watchung, NJ.

Nirvana.

Earrings...caftans...

The San Francisco ultimate:

Beatnik Al Jazzbo Collins on KSFO and KGO.

OP - what is preventing you from handing a grocery store clerk a credit card?

Salespeople who knew their merchandise. Now everyone is just a clerk.

People who say 'you're welcome instead of 'no problem'.

[quote] OP - what is preventing you from handing a grocery store clerk a credit card?

The credit card screen you have to slide your card through, sometimes add a fucking pin number to and then wait for the signature screen .

What irks me is when I have to hit "Amount: yes or no?" and wait for a signature screen to sign for a $5 purchase. Bitches, get with the times and don't make me go through multiple screens for a $5 purchase.

R136 who owns Legal Seafood? They used to be so good, now they are slop. Disgusting salads and potato side dishes and old fish.

I miss the short workout shorts and basketball shorts we used to have. Cheap thrills seeing hot hairy legged men.

Going to a movie theater, and people actually watched the movie instead of talking and texting on their cell phones.

I was at a store the other day and dutifully swiped my card and the machine told me it didn't work. Tried again--same thing. Then the clerk told me that with their new machines, swiping is disabled if the card has a chip, like most new ones do. So I had to insert the card into a different reader in the bottom of the machine. Sigh. Another level of complexity!

I miss having a TV channel where you could watch all the latest and greatest music videos.

provocative mid-budget American movies

R-Rated comedies and R=Rated sci-fi/thrillers

The test pattern when television signed off for the night.

good hip hop

I remember when I was going to Radio city when I was very young and it still showed movies and I'd be sitting in the orchestra and it would be filled with thousands of people actually watching the screen.

That could ever happen again.

In the 50's

Coney Island

Jake's Italian ice

Knock hockey at the local park

In the 60's

Mc Coy's bar in greenwich village

St Vincent's hospital in greenwich village

I can think of at least a dozen gorgeous cocks I'll never have again. And 1/2 dozen asses. And some pretty lips. Especially at college, some very very pretty lips.

I miss when they were predicting an ice age instead of global warming. Mister Freeze was so sexy!

Lunch at the downtown St. Louis Famous Barr.

(rolling eyes at R211)

I miss when fringe tin-hat conspiracy theories weren't mainstream Republican politics.

The 1970s were full of ice age predictions from the same people and organizations that are now predicting doom from global warming. I liked Mister Freeze better.

The days when something didn't hurt. Not sure when the last time was that something didn't hurt somewhere.

33 1/3 rpm record albums that opened up, and had great cover art and copious liner notes, esp original Bway cast albums. Theater organ, although I have some on DVDs.

And...magazines. I hate to say it, but I miss having big thick copies of magazines. I used to love starting a weekend with all new issues of Esquire; Spy; National Lampoon; After Dark; GQ; the New Yorker, even Playboy back in the day used to be about three inches thick and had all kinds of good content. Even stuff like Movieline; Rolling Stone' Apartment Life all had their merits. And most of the fashion and home mags were slick and outsized. I see them at flea markets from time to time and it makes me sad.

R129- So many of your items resonate. I'm a little younger because I can't remember gas cheaper than 34.9 cents/gallon.

To everyone who disparages posters responding to the original topic...fondly remembering people, places and things from your past doesn't equate to agreeing with the politics/racism/homophobia, etc of that time. It's just a way of connecting with one's past and with others who came share the same memories.

Yesterday, I was the 26 year old that all of the guys at the bar were hitting on. Today, I'm the 56 year old smiling at some of the posts.

Several people have mentioned missing reliable news sources. What I don't miss is that news sources, like Time and Newsweek weren't reliable and there were few alternatives.

This global cooling craze is a perfect example. If we had the internet back then quick searches would have showed there was no consensus on global cooling. As a a matter of fact more climatologists were predicting increasing global temperatures if CO2 levels continued to rise.

[quote]I like being handed the receipt.

What I meant was, don't count UP to the amount the cash register tells you my change is, and then stack the receipt, paper bills and coins in one pile which you slid onto my palm, leaving me struggling to make order of it, with a hearty and idiotic "Here's your change!".

I usually say, "I hope so!" They never get it.

[quote]Men are being emasculated like crazy in our sick world today by the crazies.

Thank you Laura Ingraham.

That kooky right wing myth that straight, white masculine men are in some sort of peril is the most retarded thing ever concocted.

Have you EVER tried to tell a guy like that what to do?

At the same time NO other group falls apart as quickly and entirely when inconvenienced for even a moment. "Waaahhh! The world is supposed to be set up to please me at all times! Waaaah!"

Mail. That's what I miss most. Wondering if the reason why we order presents for ourselves is because we no longer receive letters from our friends.

Getting to know people in casual situations. This just doesn't happen anymore.

Went to dinner with my gf, her parents and her brother. Everyone except her father took their phones out at one moment or other, mostly to take pictures of food. Her brother checked his phone. I had to fight it not to check mine. I did take it out though. This would have been unthinkable 20 years ago.

My 48 year old brother pulls out his phone to text his girlfriend, seated next to him.

So r140, are you 51, or 52 years old. Am I close?

I was and am an avid cd collector(yes I know it's 2015. I don't care I still like them.)

I thought I would miss browsing and shopping in Tower and J and R. I don't at all. I find shopping on Amazon great. They keep giving you other suggestions which actually turn out sometimes to be worthwhile. Even the reviews can be very helpful. And you just click a button and it's in your mailbox in a few days.

That click is brilliance. Just think of all the extra money we are spending that we wouldn't have spent before. Also their customer service is beyond anything you could have expected from stores in the past. I don't miss crabby managers and surly sales clerks when you have a complaint.

I don't know R224.

Whether it was shopping for vinyl or CDs - I miss the social aspect of the record store.

Same thing with bookstores.

I use Amazon now for a couple of reasons. I appreciate that digital content is more environmentally friendly than a printed book or record. Although to be clear I never buy a print book from Amazon. If the library has it on the shelf on on the way - I go with them over digital. But there isn't a local source for music.

Amazon's algorithms don't match a good employee at a record store or bookstore who knows how to hand sell product. Not to mention it pisses me off when I check out a conservative author on Amazon to see how the book is performing and I then get a list of recommended books that embarrass me.

Worst was when I searched for information on a Holocaust denier. Second worse was when I searched for books by a gun rights advocates. Both those caused recommendations for the next month that made me sick.

Let's not forget the obvious here. Bookstores and record stores were great spots to cruise men.

i miss kim kardashian when she was dating that black baller and was obviously in such love.

Doing ecstasy at the Starck Club during the summer of 1985.

parties, restaurants, raves and after hours events at which bringing out a camera device was considered a serious faux pas

[quote]Handing a credit card to a grocery clerk

I don't get how that's a thing of the past. I still use my credit card and/or debit card at the grocery store. In fact, most people do. I rarely see anyone use cash or checks unless they're really old.

Cashing a check at 7-11 and the limit was $5 AND THAT WAS ENOUGH:-)

R229 I think the point is that you used to HAND the card to the cashier, and he/she would process it. Nearly all stores today have terminals where you swipe the card yourself; the cashier never needs to touch it.

I miss my 22 year old self even though people tell my all the time that I look 25-26 years old. I'm 59. Carefree and no responsibility.

Do any of you "tap" your card?

I set a 100$ limit, per "tap" for "tapping" on all my "tappable" cards - VISA, MasterCard, debit cards.

Some can't do it and you have insert card and type your PIN

I never, EVER use a debit card except at the ATM. You get points with your credit card, and you have more protection if there's a problem. And if you pay your bill in full every month, it doesn't cost anything.

r232 i think you must be confused honey, they are sayin you look like you're 25 AND 26 yo which adds up to 51, and since you shaved the ages of those yers you didn't like it's really. 32 and 33 yo which adds to 65. which is older than you really are. -- too sad for you papa

I really do miss my 30s. I was fit, I got laid, I had fun.

I'm completely out of shape now, body failing, and haven't had sex in years and likely never will again.

Sigh.

The Kaiser

Before plugging my entire brain into google and having it all archived, searchable for perpetuity.

R221 needs a penpal. Or someone to send him chain letters.

All my friends who died in the 80s & 90s.

Names of commenters (rather than "anonymous") on message boards so members can easily remember that Frank is an idiot or Zeus is a freak based on their comments.

I'm going to trolldar myself to see if I wrote R240. No, it can't be me. I would have used apostrophes.

And you would be wrong to use them in that usage, R242. R240's post is grammatically correct.

Nope. '80s/'90s.

Apostrophes would be correct IN FRONT OF 80s and 90s, but not between the zero and the "s".

'80s

'90s

I hate what smartphone "culture" has done to this world. We're a population of zombies walking around staring at hand-held devices, while oblivious to everyone and everything right in front of them. This is especially apparent when in the audience of a live music performance. A huge percentage of people don't even look at the stage! Instead they point their phones in the direction of the stage and watch everything from their phone. WTF?!!

I, too, miss my friends from the '80s and '90s.

Before women and professional victims grabbed control of sex. Before, we had no expectation that men would follow the rules and steeled ourselves for that. Now, we are the first to be forced to follow the rules, while the men who were dangerous before have co-opted the victim meme for themselves, with no argument from the professional victims.

Could you really get a cart full of groceries for $20 or is that an exaggeration?

Peculiar, clean, affordable vegetarian health food stores owned and operated by very healthy looking women with great skin, the occasional white turban, gentle, stoned bearded staff stocking shelves in slow motion zen rituals, with chimes and strange ululations on the stereo.

Now, it's all uberperky Whole Foods yoganazis, glutenfraus and environmentally damaged children.

It's just not as pleasant or interesting an experience.

I so prefer WF to the experience you miss, R250. Going in those stores made me want to cry. They smelled and sounded awful, and some of the food looked poisonous.

lol R251, I mean the CLEAN ones, with obsessive compulsive stoners cleaning every surface. They were just more idiosyncratic and personal.

I've never been to one, I guess, R252. I've been shopping at WF since it was Fresh Fields (Washington, DC), circa 1990, before which I hardly ever tried to be vegetarian. The one store I remember, on P St. near 22/23, was just nasty. Nasty, nasty, nasty. I went home and cried, because my doctor told me I had to give up meat, sugar, and flour. Thankfully, I found Fresh Fields in Bethesda and (eventually) Glover Park.

I miss the days when people actually did the job they were paid to do. Our HR department constantlyintroduces new systems that mean we all have to sort out our own leave, sick days and company expenses. It takes a up 25% of my time while these idiots attend work fundraisers or hold motivational seminars.

The marketing team also doesn't do any marketing. Apparently they pay someone else to do that.

And while I'm at it. I miss they days when people went to university because they were actually interested in the course and had some talent for it. Now every parent wants their kid to get a tertiary education even if their skill/mindset is suited to something completely different.

R41 But the thread is "Things I miss" not "shameful parts of our history that everyone says is awful but I miss".

Do you really have a problem with that poster missing good manners, rather than all the bad stuff? why can't we keep the good stuff and dump the garbage?

Dutch Apple Pop-Tarts.

Being a kid.

The dirt road where the Cape Cod cottage we rented every summer was.

When the Olympics had amateur athletes.

Being excited to read the newest comic book that came out.

OP mentioned having only four TV stations. The thing I liked about TV in the 70s and 80s is that there were so few channels everyone watched the same shows, and you could talk about them at school the next day. And nobody knew what a "spoiler" was.

People who actually listen to the opinions of others. Nowadays everyone thinks he is an expert, even though the general level of expertise has never been lower among voters, students, and professionals of all kinds. We have contractors building buildings who don't know how they stand up. We have pilots flying planes who cannot function without the computer telling them what to do. We have people who believe whatever result popped up first on Google without considering the source and whether it is probable, a hoax, or even conceivable. And people are so addicting to defining themselves by their choices that they have derision and scorn for everyone else's. God forbid they meet a gay man who sews. They become agitated and dismissive instead of curious, as though it were an offensive waste of time to even be exposed to such a person.

I don't take this too far, though. I'm sure the person who said people are "politically correct" but misses the spirit of liberalism is wrong. The spirit of liberalism has always been a small minority. There may have been a lot of political liberals in olden times, but when I let a homeless man sleep on my floor a couple nights, you'd have thought I brought a bomb on campus. The spirit of liberality, generosity and tolerance has always been something embraced by only a few.

Kevin Williams creamy ass.

The point

Being a child/parasite. Those were good times.

The French Revolution

I miss in-depth journalism and actual, real news.

I miss The Fairness Doctrine and Glass-Steagall.

R246 Absolutely, makes me so sad.

The fact that there are so few people like R257. But then there always were.

Well put, R246

Having money.

My old La Pavoni espresso machine.

mild weather patterns

activities I used to be able to do full out gung ho effortlessly: skiing, biking, hiking, fucking,

running up stairs just because

smoking

sunbathing

peppy simple basic stick-shift cars

the world before ubiquitous global brands

Life before reality shows.

Cars without computers.

......days before answer machines. Someone called. You weren't home. They called you back.

....no call waiting...as goofy kids we would call the operator to make as "emergency breakthrough" Sometimes operators were pissed. We just laughed and laughed

seeing The Beatles at Dodger Stadium and Hollywood Bowl. The day my best friend so seriously told me that Paul was dead

Does anyone from LA remember the Helms Man? He drove a pristine clean trolley around; sold bread and cakes

when "gang wars" were two guys duking it out; maybe someone pulls out a knife

when you never even thought about death and the finality of it; now i think about it all the time

the Teenage Fair in LA

going to college on France in 1973; trains still looked like trains;

,believing in living happily ever after, trusting ,ok., i'll just shoot myself now

1. being able to smoke a cigarette in a stand alone bar without a restaurant environment

2. people smiling and saying "good morning" and "have a nice day" and REALLY MEANING IT!

Velocipedes

Zoopraxiscopes

Hansom cabs

OP, thank you for remembering the legion of "Heddo" girls who were plugging away for decades, until our cord boards went to switchboard heaven in the 80s.

I remember when you bought an item and could open the packaging without ripping your hand to shreds and maybe ruining a kitchen knife. Talking about almonds and hairbrushes as well as electronics and batteries.

Rodney Dangerfield. Actors and actresses who had real talent.

Movies that were first runs, not these remakes of remakes to be re made yet again in 5 years time.

You could knock on a friend's door without scheduling in advance and not expect them to accuse you of stalking and file a restraining order.

Police officers who actually served the community and didn't think beating the shit out of you was their first option.

Small family owned grocery stores and butcher shops.

Spending a summer day off just driving around and listening to the radio.

Conservatives who weren't batshit crazy.

When rudeness was chastised rather than encouraged.

Parents who disciplined their children because they were parents, not their child's "friend".

The slower pace. Everything moves so fast now that I pity seniors.

Knowing all my neighbors. I know the people across the street because we've lived on this street for over 10 years. But almost everyone else on the street is new and I don't know any of them. I'm lucky to get a hello or good morning from the people next door and they moved in two years ago.

Job isn't good? I can find a better one.

Not feeling well? Doctor can see me this afternoon.

Need a new used car? I can save up for a few months and buy a good quality used car.

Apartment building is shit? I can move next week and get a nicer place for the same money.

But what I really miss is having hope. Life today is so fucking dismal it feels impossible to find any joy.

I miss being able to visit flea markets, antique shops, garage sales, etc and finding interesting things for good prices. Today every person selling something goes online and thinks they have the Mona Lisa and charges accordingly.

Everything was cheaper. Food was cheaper, gas was cheaper, clothing was cheaper. Even Rolex watches were cheaper. Everything fun is so fucking expensive today.

street hockey games being able to run without looking like I need serious medical attention four seasons the absolutely certain that things were only gonna get better for myself for my country and for the world

with no technology judt being able to go freely about my day, work or play, without receiving calls and texts....people expect on the spot availability.. i try to sometimes put phone on silent but i allwsys look

[quote] being unavailable to people once and a while

Easy: don't take your cellphone everywhere.

When you're job ended at the end of your shift. It's Saturday night and I've received 12 work related texts since Friday afternoon.

People seem to be either missing things that aren't gone or never were in the first place.

The Bullock's Wilshire Tea Room Making eye contact and sometimes nodding or smiling at the driver who pulled up to a red light next to me. Today they all pull out an electronic device of some kind and text or talk on the phone while waiting for the light to change.

R295 I remember the Bullocks Wilshire Tea Room, It was an adventure to go shopping with my mom. We didn't go very often. People in stores looked at you and talked to you. People were present in the moment. Sometimes we went to Van de Kamps restaurant for lunch which was nearby.

I miss believing that the US was really a great country. Now, not so much.

I miss believing that everything really would work out. I miss believing that if I worked hard and always tried to do the right thing I would somehow be rewarded. I miss believing that most Americans didn't hate me simply because I am Jewish

Good manners.

People being present at the moment.

I miss when my city was really ethnic; lots of Europeans--Portuguese, Italians, Greeks. The city has been overrun with all the white bread from Toronto and their shitty WASP attitudes.

I definitely miss people seeming to enjoy being in the moment. I watch people walking their dogs or baby in a stroller, while gabbing away on their cell phone or texting, rather than enjoying the experience of the walk or noticing how beautiful the sky might seem for a particular instant. In my hometown perfect strangers would nod or say hello just because they too were enjoying the moment without distractions.

I miss getting the LA Times when it was still a real newspaper

I miss going to the beach as a teenager. We took a bus and met at a certain "station." Do they still have stations?

We jumped in the waves at the shore. We made up names for the waves depending on how high, low they were. We used phrases from Beach Boy songs to describe them ("two girls for every boy" for example")

When I didn't know American democracy was a sham and we are living under a military dictatorship. Really it's been true all my life but I didn't know. Now that I know it's something one can't un-know.

I had lower expectations about the things I needed to purchase to make my life convenient. I now realize that my real inconveniences are rather few. I do like the internet though.

Everything had price options, and often it was perfectly fine to go with the cheapest. Now it seems there are two price points for everything "Slightly more than anyone expects to pay", and "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

When nobody knew what a Kardashian was.

When Bill Cosby was considered America's favorite Dad.

Big, giant, clunky, over sized mobile phones.

Plymouth/Pontiac/Oldsmobile/Mercury

Full size cars that were reasonably priced. When the Ford Crown Vic was discontinued the last of the real American full sized cars died.

Chest hair. This shaved body trend sucks. Mustaches, I miss those, too.

Feeling reasonably safe just about everywhere I went.

My grandmother's and Mom's home-cooked meals.

The friendliness of neighbors. Even in my small town people are fake polite but not genuinely friendly. You get the sense that they could care less if you dropped dead in front of them. But maybe it's just my town.

Compassion and kindness. I guess kids were raised that in order to get ahead you have to be rude, and sadly that seems to be true. It seems like people are much colder in general than they were 20 - 30 years ago, even 15.

Good tv shows and movies.

Even with all I said above there are still good people. even some good kids nowadays lol.

^^ R310

I miss newspaper delivery, French Vanilla cookies, reading without glasses, neighbors being friendlier and having regular get-togethers, but most of all my parents and their best friends who were like family to me. Shit I really miss them.

I miss never seeing things described as "iconic".

Pot laws. Seriously.

Walking through the park yesterday there was a group of twenty-somethings sitting under a tree smoking weed at 11AM like it was no big deal.

Windows XP...mainly for the start-up and shutdown sounds...

[quote]Feeling reasonably safe just about everywhere I went.

It's Incredible How Much Safer America Has Become In The Past 20 Years Despite mass shootings, drug cartels, gangs, under-policed cities, and other stories that get big play in the media, America is actually much safer than it used to be in the 1980s and early '90s.

I miss when Girl Scouts actually went door to door with a cardboard briefcase like loaded with cookies. Sometimes moms let girls go alone. Only two tupes of cookies, the black and whites (oreo type) and this crunchy chocolate one (like a fiddle faddle)

Ordering cookies now is like girl scouts have gone starbucks. When we moved my daughter could not be a Brownie because the troop was "full"

R313 - Same here. In the neighborhood I grew up in, everyone looked out for everyone's kids, so it was like an extended family. My parents were best friends with our neighbors, even taking vacations with them, and the neighborhood BBQ's and parties were epic. Face to face kindness and socialization has diminished due to technology. I don't think the younger generations who grew up with internet and smart phones even know how to socialize face to face, because they don't have to.

outhouses

pre antebellum surgical techniques

shoes with no left right designation

dirt roads

lead paint

asbestos

That's amazing R317 that it is safer. You wouldn't know it by listening to the news. I think the mass shootings in theatres, malls, schools, etc. and constant reporting of it makes one feel less safe than 20 or 30 years ago.

If It Bleeds, It Leads: Understanding Fear-Based Media

[quote]News is a money making industry. One that doesn't always make the goal to report the facts accurately. Gone are the days of tuning in to be informed straightforwardly about local and national issues. In truth, watching the news can be a psychologically risky pursuit, which could undermine your mental and physical health.

[quote]Fear-based news stories prey on the anxieties we all have and then hold us hostage. Being glued to the television, reading the paper or surfing the Internet increases ratings and market shares - but it also raises the probability of depression relapse. In previous decades, the journalistic mission was to report the news as it actually happened, with fairness, balance, and integrity. However, capitalistic motives associated with journalism have forced much of today's television news to look to the spectacular, the stirring, and the controversial as news stories. It's no longer a race to break the story first or get the facts right. Instead, it's to acquire good ratings in order to get advertisers, so that profits soar.

[quote]News programming uses a hierarchy if it bleeds, it leads. Fear-based news programming has two aims. The first is to grab the viewer's attention. In the news media, this is called the teaser. The second aim is to persuade the viewer that the solution for reducing the identified fear will be in the news story. If a teaser asks, "What's in your tap water that YOU need to know about?" a viewer will likely tune in to get the up-to-date information to ensure safety. The success of fear-based news relies on presenting dramatic anecdotes in place of scientific evidence, promoting isolated events as trends, depicting categories of people as dangerous and replacing optimism with fatalistic thinking. News conglomerates who want to achieve this use media logic, by tweaking the rhythm, grammar, and presentation format of news stories to elicit the greatest impact. Did you know that some news stations work with consultants who offer fear-based topics that are pre-scripted, outlined with point-of-view shots, and have experts at-the-ready? This practice is known as stunting or just-add-water reporting. Often, these practices present misleading information and promote anxiety in the viewer.

[quote]Another pattern in newscasts is that the breaking news story doesn't go beyond a surface level. The need to get-the-story-to-get-the-ratings often causes reporters to bypass thorough fact-checking. As the first story develops to a second level in later reports, the reporter corrects the inaccuracies and missing elements. As the process of fact-finding continually changes, so does the news story. What journalists first reported with intense emotion or sensationalism is no longer accurate. What occurs psychologically for the viewer is a fragmented sense of knowing what's real, which sets off feelings of hopelessness and helplessness - experiences known to worsen depression.

[quote]An additional practice that heightens anxiety and depression is the news station's use of the crawl, the scrolling headline ticker that appears at the bottom of the television, communicating "breaking news." Individuals who watch news-based programming are likely to see one, two, or even three crawls scroll across the screen. The multitasking required to read the crawls and comprehend the actual newscast comes easy to some viewers, whereas others report feeling over-stimulated. One could easily change the channel to interrupt the transmission of such information. However, crawls are not relegated to just news channels. Unlike the viewing experience of the past, crawls are now more prominent during entertainment programs and often serve as commercials for nightly newscasts or the upcoming weekly news magazine show. The crawls frequently contain fear-driven material, broad-siding an unsuspecting viewer.

[quote]It's been said that fear-based media has become a staple of popular culture. The distressing fall-out from this trend is that children and adults who are exposed to media are more likely than others to

[quote](a) feel that their neighborhoods and communities are unsafe

[quote](b) believe that crime rates are rising

[quote](c) overestimate their odds of becoming a victim, and

[quote](d) consider the world to be a dangerous place.

[quote]News media needs to return to a sense of proportion, conscience, and, most important, truth-telling. Until that happens, help inoculate yourself against feeling overwhelmed by doing the following:

[quote]Consider limiting your exposure to media. Give yourself a set time once or twice a day to check in on local and global happenings.

[quote]Consider choosing print media for your information gathering rather than visual media. This can reduce the likelihood that you get exposed to emotionally laden material. Home pages on the internet can give you an overall sense of what's going on, as can headline news channels that update stories on the hour.

[quote]Remember that you have the power to turn off the remote, link out of a website or change the radio station. Don't let yourself be passive when you feel media is overwhelming you. Know that other people will have a different tolerance for media stories and their details. If someone is expressing too much of a story for your own comfort, walk away or communicate your distress. Consider having an electronic-free day, and let your senses take in the simpler things in life.

I miss how my parents were when I was growing up. I miss family BBQ's . I couldn't fAthom that one day they woukd all be dead like they are now.

Disney movies on Sunday night network TV and theatrical reissues every seven or so years

Neighborhood barbecues and pool parties

Parody movies that were actually funny

Saturday night on NBC when both [italic]The Facts of Life[/italic] and [italic]The Golden Girls[/italic] were on the same night

The Scholastic book mini-catalog they used to give out at school once a month

My grandfather and my relatives of that generation

TV Guide — and somebody needs to write a book on why and how they fucked it up as badly as they did

Sitting in the back seat of a station wagon and watching the cars behind you

T-shirts that changed colors

Sitcom stars in one-hour solo musical specials

The lean/slightly hairy male body type: sexy, natural and attainable

Foods not laden with HFCS

[italic]Peanuts[/italic] and [italic]Garfield[/italic] specials sponsored by fast food companies

Big-budget children's film musicals that look like they were conceived under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol

Yes, the fear based media stuff is also known as "mean world syndrome." Lots of academic stuff on that.

24 hour news + talk shows only showing the most dysfunctional people + shows like Cops & Judge Judy + reality shows + an overwhelming abundance of darkness in media, especially film and TV, where procedural crime shows and dead bodies are heavily featured = a person who shrieks with fear if anyone or anything breaks into their bubble.

I miss never even thinking of the word suicide.

I miss the protests against the Vietnam War. Not the war itself. Today's youth don"t know about Vietnam.

I miss when JFK was President. I was a little kid. I wrote him a letter. I received a letter back a signed picture and a typewritten sheet with his schedule. RIP JFK

Most of all I miss believing that the world was a safe place and people were mostly good

Common sense

Movie double features

"It's been said that fear-based media has become a staple of popular culture."

More Israelization of America -- they aren't content with the freedom to feel their usual cultural paranoia -- everyone else has to feel it, too.

R330 Bigoted scum feeling his paranoia.

Big family BBQs. Every summer we'd fire up the grill every weekend and the entire family--over20 people--would come over to my parent's house and we'd eat, listen to music, drink and have fun.

The neighbors would come over and hang out and everyone knew everyone.

But then around 1989 bitterness and resentment settled in amongst my siblings and fewer of them would show up until we finally abandoned the big parties around 1992.

My brothers are dead now, my sisters never show up for visits, the neighbors died or moved and it's just pretty much my parents and me by ourselves.

That happened in our family too, r332 -- after my grandmother died, the aunts and uncles tried to keep things going, but then they started to die, too and it was the cousins who had the bitterness and resentment, so the parties died despite a couple attempts by the (oddly) nicest and meanest of the cousins to keep them going.

Getting answers in a timely fashion. Technology was suppose to speed up everything yet I still have to wait weeks for an email reply, or a doctors report.

I also miss the days before caller ID. Now someone doesn't want to talk to you they see your name and just ignore you.

Knobs on pre-digital car radios, when taking a call with a guest present was considered rude, and Post Fortified Oat Flakes.

When tech geeks weren't douches.

Choosing to take drugs rather than having to take meds.

Well groomed pubic hair, beautiful, tat-free skin.

Natural testosterone muscles that came from surfing or a summer job roofing, rather than working out and 'roids.

Men that were knew how to fix stuff or build a deck and weren't helpless without immigrants.

Middle class people washing their cars and mowing their own lawns on the weekend.

Rain.

[quote]I miss newspaper delivery

Where can you not get newspaper delivery?

Saw this in an interview with astronaut Ron Evans widow, Janet:

"You never knew what a day would bring. When Ron was home on a Saturday, he would load up his Suburban with 10 or 12 neighborhood children and take them to the local dump, where they could pick out whatever treasured thing they wanted to take home with them. The neighborhood children all have fond memories of him."

He couldn't do this now...

My dad used to take us to the dump so we could see the bears eating the garbage.

Newspaper boys. They got up at the break of dawn and delivered the papers. Then, they would come by once a week to collect. He would get paid, and then punch a card to show we were up to date. If I recall correctly, they were very reliable and always showed up.

R41, this is about what people miss, not what they don't miss.

Being able to talk with people who knew more than you did for advice. After my dad died, I had a question about something mundane, like a yard issue, and I realized I could no longer call him up and ask him. From that point on, the number of people I could find to provide needed advice dwindled gradually to the point where it is a crap shoot to find anyone who knows about what I want to know. And google just isn't the same.

[quote]My dad used to take us to the dump so we could see the bears eating the garbage.

And now you're into a totally different kind of "bear."

OP obviously misses being able to change his own underwear (versus the adult diaper he wears now).

R218 made me think of something I really miss. The internet of the 90's and early 2000's when I could do a search and come up with all sorts of interesting pages, individual web pages, stories, websites. And page after search page of different sites. Now with Google and their ilk having taken over searches, you get the same thing over and over and most of it is websites trying to sell you something unless you have a specific url. I hate it.

R284, when I visited NYC in the 80's, we came across police officers patrolling the lower east side on foot. We asked for direction and chatted a few minutes. They were quite friendly and low key.

Lots of great comments.

My dad used to take us to the dump too. One time I found an old pocket watch that I still have.

R341 me too. I had to get some cement work done last summer and I used to talk to my father or brother about this. My brother died and my father has Alzheimers so I didn't have anyone to turn to and I also realized my pool of knowledgeable people has dwindled to none.

R344 I used to find great pages from fellow Canadians about almost any subject. I even found a guy in my small city who had a GeoCities page about local hauntings. As you wrote with Google monopolizing searches it's the same old shit over and over.

For Chicagoans and those from suburban Cook County:

Kiddieland on North Avenue.

Seeing my cock without requiring the use of a mirror

Not being inundated with news and politics 24 hours a day. I had a few days off work and turned off my phone, my computer and the TV and just read and watched movies on DVD. It was bliss.

When I was a kid if someone had an issue with a city worker, or garbageman or anyone like that there was courtesy and politeness in their dealings. A few weeks ago I saw an angry neighbor telling the sanitation worker to stop leaving his bins in the street and the guy shouted "go fuck yourself asshole" as he drove off on the back of the truck. When there's no fear of losing your job there's no incentive to do a good job.

I miss the when we weren't so conscious of dust mites.

[quote]Handing a credit card to a grocery clerk

That's an odd one, because I think it's only really in the past, maybe, 15 years that CCs have become ubiquitous. NEVER in a grocery store, or for any other relatively small purchase. A CC entailed a paper receipt and hand "imprinter," very possibly a live phone call to verify the card.

Can't say I miss carrying around a fist full of store account cards, oil company cards and other single purpose account cards. Not to mention the monthly statements from, and payments to, each.

I miss when my city had lots of free things to do during the summer. Today everything is centered around children and their parents with very little for childless grown-ups.

As a kid, then a teen, then a 20-something there were always free city activities to do. Today everything is either for kids or costs money and I have neither.

Being independent and not having to take care of my parents. I know that sounds horrible, and I do love my parents and don't really mind taking care of them, but my life used to be my own and now it revolves around my parents needs.

Independent bookstores, especially the gay ones, instead of the chain stores. I'm sure they still exist, but it's mostly Chapters where I live. There was a place in Toronto called Another Man's Poison that I loved going to. Long gone.

Going out any time of the day and not having to worry about gun violence.

The ability to get lost in fictional books. I was a total bookworm as a child, now I think I have adult ADD, and I can never find novels that appeal to me anyway. Mostly, it seems like adult fiction is either self-indulgent postmodern literary crap, or horribly written, cliched, lowest-common-denominator crap like Nicholas Sparks or James Patterson.

Talk shows with interesting everyday people (before they all became totally sensationalized) - like Donahue, early Oprah and Sally Jessy Raphael

Less traffic and less sprawl everywhere

Minimum standards of decency for going out to stores, restaurants, etc. I'm not talking about the suit and dress days, just the pre-"People of Walmart" days, when it wasn't common to see people in pajama bottoms or saggy pants that look like the person took a dump in them.

Amazon seemed like a good idea before we learned that "nothing personal" was actually a million times more personal than the brick and mortar stores ever were -- different people did not get charged different prices at old style stores unless something illegal and or immoral was going on.

People actually answering the phone rather than it going directly to voice mail or clicking ignore on their cell phones.

R344 I miss that too, but I blame social media for it.