The 19th century brought people the industrial revolution and a new way of life. The railways, for example, completely transformed travel and those born towards the end of the Napoleonic wars (in another kind of baby boom) grew up to be much more reform-minded.
But these changes were much harder for the older generation. However, they just kept coming.
There's an obvious parallel with today: technology is reshaping the world, forcing us to constantly keep up, adapt, and leave the past for the history books.
Interested in the gaps formed by the latest developments, Redditor u/Bagolyvagymi asked this question: "What's something that newer generations will never understand?" And users flooded the post with answers. As of this article, it has 4.9K comments. Here are some of the most upvoted ones.
#1
Having to rewind the tape before returning it to the video store or else incurring a fee.
Image credits: slapsmcgee23
#2
Meeting up with a friend at the movies and having no way to communicate once you’ve left the house. Your friend doesn’t show. Is he coming? Should I continue to wait and stand at the precise spot we agreed on? Has he died? Did he forget? I’ll call home using a pay phone and hope my mom is there to tell me whether he left a message on the answering machine.
Image credits: chihuahua-mama
#3
Having to buy the entire album to get one song you liked, or else wait for it to come on the radio and record it. Missing any part of the song was unacceptable, and you had to wait until it was played again.
Image credits: hanginonwith2fingers
#4
Taking pictures and then waiting for them to be developed to see if they turned out okay.
Image credits: Cautious_Emotion9839
#5
'Let’s all meet back here at 6:00.' *Looks at watch.* 'I’ve got 4:35. What time do you have?'
Image credits: mr_funnypuns
#6
How we got around without GPS navigation.
Image credits: Convincing_Potato
#7
Parents not knowing where their kids are and trusting them not to get into trouble.
Image credits: malamalinka
#8
Not being able to binge a show unless you literally recorded a bunch of episodes from TV onto a bunch of VHS tapes.
Image credits: TheRealOcsiban
#9
Slamming down the receiver on a landline telephone. Pushing the red button is not nearly as satisfying.
Image credits: iamwalldoh
#10
Why we say "hang up" the phone
Image credits: RynoLasVegas
#11
Cranking the rear window in a car by hand
Image credits: TorontoMaples
#12
“Can so-and-so come out to play?”
Image credits: mewmewx2
#13
Making plans to meet friends and having to commit because you didn't have mobile phones to ask where they were, how far, and if they were still coming.
Image credits: GiantMonkeyBall
#14
The street lamps means it’s time to go home.
Image credits: These-State-6555
#15
Not being able to watch whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. We actually had to look up the shows schedule in a TV guide and be available when it came on.
Image credits: togotfury1983
#16
That there used to be nine planets in the solar system.
Image credits: Lilylivered_Flashman
#17
MTV played music videos, had music discussion shows, and had news about music 24 hours a day at one point.
Image credits: senorchaos718
#18
Saturday morning cartoons. I miss sitting in front of the TV and eating a bowl of cereal while Tale Spin, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or whatever Saturday morning cartoon series played. Then getting on my bike once they ended around 10 a.m. and riding over to my friend's house to play till sunset.
Image credits: asportate
#19
The glory of playing and enjoying snake on a brick phone.
Image credits: FlappyDeFlapJack
#20
A thing called encyclopedias
Image credits: safeword-is-harder
#21
Getting lost in your car and just having to figure it out
Image credits: doot_doot
#22
Having to properly time getting a drink and snack before the ad break on TV finished. I still sweat thinking about it.
Image credits: heyitssunny_
#23
Having a three-ring binder of CDs for road trips.
Image credits: DarthTrafford
#24
The frustration of cassette tapes getting mangled.
Image credits: BornToHulaToro
#25
How great Myspace was. It was a million times better than Facebook. You could choose top friends, music, cursors, backgrounds, and images. It was awesome until everyone transitioned over to FB.
Image credits: mdsoccerx9
#26
Being able to be an idiot in your formative years and not worry about it being filmed and/or put on the internet forever#27
Going to the arcade and playing games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. This is my childhood.
Image credits: Ujou_Danjin_Ken
#28
Circling pictures of toys in the Sears catalog as a Christmas list. My brother and my cousin would do this every year at my grandma's house. We also put our initials so our parents knew who wanted what toy.
Image credits: fabes_ohoulihan
#29
Having to say BRB to all your friends on MSN because your mom wanted to make a call, and then having to disconnect from the internet and dial back up when she was done.
Image credits: emzyyx
#30
Checking the pay phone change return for any forgotten coins.#31
How to use the card catalog in the library — the ones with the cards in the drawers.
Image credits: pixel_ate_it
#32
The difficulty of not being able to instantly find the answer to questions.
Image credits: McDunky
#33
As a kid I read my favorite books more than a hundred times.#34
hows about not knowing who was calling...... was it your crush? your grandma? a telemarketer??? It's like a game show every time the phone rings#35
Turning the dial on the TV to change the channel.#36
Blockbuster.#37
Privacy.#38
"Insert Disk #3 and press Return to continue..."#39
There was a time when we felt the world was getting better, not worse.#40
Texting without looking at your phone because -> abc def ghi jkl mno pqrs tuv wxyz#41
Maybe not universal. But how to entertain yourself with your mind and nothing else.I've noticed something about my friends/people i know in parenting culture where it's now a crime for a child to be bored. When I was a kid my parents laughed and told me to go away when I said I was bored.