Recently, I was in the car driving my daughter to her gymnastics practice. It was a typical ride, boring even…then suddenly, my beautiful 7 year-old hits me with an innocent question that has sent me on a minor tailspin ever since:
“Hey Daddy, when you were a kid, which did you like better: Netflix or YouTube?”
Initially, nothing of the thoughtful inquiry affected my well-being and I and answered matter-of-factly:
“Actually Sweetie, neither of those were even around when I was a kid.”
And then I just went about my day, momentarily, as she pondered the response in her booster seat behind me. If I were a betting man, I’m sure in that moment, I likely delivered a brief profanity-laden declaration towards a fellow driver who wasn’t driving efficiently enough for my standards. Then, my daughter came back with a simple response:
“Oof, how did you live!”
She then went about her day, blissfully unaware of the verbal atomic bomb she just dropped on her poor father. Jesus, how did I live? I mean, don’t get me wrong. I am by no means Mr. Innovative Technology Guy. Quite the opposite, in fact. But still, in this day and age, I fully take advantage of the wonders of streaming services. My family are HUGE TV watchers…so much so that I literally cannot fathom what people do who “don’t really watch TV”. Like seriously, what do you people do? If you’re one of those, please comment below or email me – I’m genuinely curious. So, having access to hundreds of thousands of hours of movies and classic and current television on streaming services like Netflix is amazing.
And YouTube! Where else would provide me with a rabbit hole of timeless gems of entertainment like old Nickelodeon commercials (“Nick Nick Nick Nick Nick Nick Nick! Nickelodeeeeeeooooonnnn…Nickelodeon!”), classic unedited WWE wrestling shows from Saturday and Sunday mornings as they aired, and, of course, HumorBagel fart prank videos. Access to so many childhood memories and moments of, “Holy shit, I forgot about that!” all just a quick search away.
Like my YouTube exploits, my daughters’ question sent me down a rabbit hole of thinking about the world, not too long ago in fact, where Netflix and YouTube didn’t exist. YouTube was invented in 2005 (my senior year of high school) and Netflix burst into our lives in…shit, 1997?! I just did a quick Google search and apparently it was invented in 1997, but come on, the Netflix that my daughter is referring to didn’t come around until 2008-2009 range or so. So, let’s see how much the world of technology and entertainment has changed just in the past 20 years! Warning: it may be a total mind blow…
SD to HD cameras on TV
Camera quality for TV viewership has increased exponentially in the last decade or so, going from standard definition to high definition. Without getting too technical and boring (frame rates, pixels, letterbox, etc.) I explained to my daughter how the quality of picture is so much better in her lifetime than what I grew up with. Everything is much more clear nowadays which can be a both a blessing, if you’re watching a Tiffany Stratton entrance on SmackDown for instance…or a curse if an ugly SOB is on screen. Everything is crisper and my daughter couldn’t believe that “old shows” were “blurry”.
VHS (and now DVD’s too!) have gone by the wayside
I was born in 1987 and I’ve personally already lived through two separate mediums becoming as extinct as an anklyosaurus. VHS tapes, once the preeminent source of non-live home viewership were replaced with the fancier, slicker DVDs. These new shiny discs could hold more hours of footage on them and just looked overall cooler. They were thought to be the highest point until blu-ray discs came along! Even crisper, and able to hold even more footage, it seemed like with blu-ray DVDs, we reached the peak of home entertainment.
Then, of course, streaming services came into play (literally, “play”) and physical media fell by the wayside forever…unless you’re a collector. An extension of losing VHS and DVDs was one of my childhood favorite memories: going to my local Blockbuster or video store and browsing for something great to watch that night! It’s so strange that my daughter will never know what it means to “make it a Blockbuster night”.
CD’s gone in favor of IPods…then IPods ‘out’ in favor of Apple Music/Spotify
You can essentially replace VHS with record and DVD with CD and copy/paste the above section right here. At 36 years, I’ve lived through records and CDs becoming extinct in favor of iPods in the early 2000’s. iPods gave you the power of adding hundreds of songs from various artists onto one small device to listen to at your convenience. I’ve never been the biggest music guy so I actually never owned an iPod but I can definitely see its merits, especially during my high school era in the early 2000’s.
I mean those CD holder book things were fun and all but physical media can be such a space burden. iPods would eventually be replaced with the audio streaming conduits, Apple Music and Spotify. Those (and I’m sure other brands that I’m not familiar with) are very popular in today’s culture and the only source of music that my daughter is aware of.
BONUS: Some computer downloading programs that my daughter will never need to experience: Napster, Limewire, Morpheus, and others. Who, above the age of 20, doesn’t remember waiting hours to download songs, shows, movies, and more…and often loading virus malware directly onto your homes’ desktop computer? Great times!
Text/email blasts for school districts, public emergencies, etc.
My daughter’s school district is always in constant contact with text and email blasts for parents. This is a really positive newer technological change. For instance, there was apparently a bear sighting near her school and I received a text in the middle of the day to inform me of the critters’ presence. There was nothing I could do, obviously, but it was nice to see that the school was taking whatever proper precautions come with a bear sighting. There is one downside to these blasts though in my opinion. If they’re informing parents of f’ing bear sightings, then of course we’ll be alerted when it comes to school closings or two-hour delays and such.
While convenient, it does take the exciting luster of waking up as a kid and throwing on the local news station and patiently awaiting your school districts’ name on the bottom scrolling ticker to find out if you had a delay or snow day. I remember the genuine jubilation of the days where my district had a snow day…and also the occasions where we ran on a regular schedule and my cousins’ district gave them off. Those days would elicit the same reaction that Adam Sandler had when he found out that McDonald’s stopped serving breakfast at 10:30AM.
Rise of social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Myspace, TikTok, etc.)
Social Media has obviously exploded in the last 20 years, causing more drama than societally necessary. MySpace got the ball rolling creating dramatics with the addition of segregating your “top 8” from the rest of your friends. And the addition of Facebook (initially meant to be a college online social space) took the picture sharing and comment delivering to a whole new level. X, Instagram, TikTok, and a bunch of other social outlets have been created in the last decade or so and have probably contributed to more dissension…but good things too,
I’ll admit. My feelings towards social media is generally how Michael Scott feels about Toby Flenderson in a lot of ways…if Michael could bring himself to acknowledge the positives of Toby in his workplace. The bottom line is social media is so rampant these days, it’s impossible for children like my daughter to imagine a world without it. Poor generation…