Who wants in? We can talk about what is was like to write a letter to your grandma or having no other way to ask someone out other than by calling them on the phone. Or checking out movies at Blockbuster or whatever your national equivalent was (we usually checked out videos at the grocery store, actually).

We’re cool because we can actually remember the USSR and “East” Germany. Although not as cool, I can remember when homophobia and transphobia was so much more widely accepted and the “default” position for most Americans. Not as cool.

  • ratboy [they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Adding to the nostalgia pile BECAUSE memory unlocked: used to be obsessed with talking on the phone in middle school. The LANDLINE phone. 3 way calling the homies to watch old Van Damme movies and Iron Chef and prank call people. I'd be on the phone for like 4 hours at a time. 10pm was the cut off but you bet your ass I snuck the corded phone into my bedroom...then my dad would wake up to go to the bathroom and see the phone cable trailing into my bedroom. Never got grounded buy boy did I get a talkin' to.

    • star_wraith [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      The funny thing is, I’m not nostalgic AT ALL for phone conversations. I think being able to text people is so awesome, I really wish I was able to do that growing up instead of awkward phone conversations.

      • SerLava [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Oh my god I hated the phone as a kid, absolutely the worst

      • john_browns_beard [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        I was a very socially awkward kid, calling my friends' houses and having to ask their parents if I could speak to them was awful. Say what you will about smart phones, but personal cell phones in general were a lifesaver for quiet nerds like myself.

    • CantaloupeAss [comrade/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      lmao yeah I used to prank call people from the phonebook on my house's landline phone. It's not like they could ever find out who it was

      • ratboy [they/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        We uses to use Arnold Schwarzenegger sounds boards. Danny DeVito too, I think lol. Any memorable pranks from your youth?

        • CantaloupeAss [comrade/them]
          ·
          1 year ago

          omg I completely forgot about the existence of soundboards but yes we did that too! Putting the phone up to the computer speaker hahaha

          • ratboy [they/them]
            ·
            1 year ago

            lolll loved that so much. Okay, now my moomer identity is intensifying, caught myself being like "man, that shit was so fun and definitely something zoomers are missing out on". Oof. Although I guess they do hella prank tiktoks now so maybe the method has just sublimated lol