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Post by compeateropeator on Sept 25, 2022 0:18:22 GMT
We just had a 100th birthday party for my grandmother today and that was a big topic of conversation… how much she has seen and all the societal changes in addition to the history that she has lived through. I think about what has happened in my 58 years and can’t even imagine living through 100 years and the history that she has seen.
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Post by babybuttoneyes on Sept 25, 2022 0:57:26 GMT
Yes, I’m 46 and I think about what big world events I’ve lived through. I experienced a life without an internet or cel phones and experienced the birth of the internet, death of a monarch, a pandemic, wars. It’s interesting to be a person and everyone has their “era” of experiencing a world and what’s happened in its history of existence.
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Post by sabrinae on Sept 25, 2022 1:52:45 GMT
I do. But, even more I think about what my grandmother has lived through and the changes she has seen. She was born in 1929 and is still alive. From no indoor plumbing and coal burning cook stoves to the Great Depression and WWII. Infant siblings dying from Scarlett fever. To television, computers, the internet and smart phones. She also didn’t get married until she was 26 and lived with a friend and worked for a dr as a nurse from the time she was 18 until she got married. She also worked after my grandfather had heart attacks that made it impossible for him to work and retired as a post master from the post office. It always amazes me what she has lived through and what she did at times when it wasn’t very accepted for women to do those things.
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Post by ~summer~ on Sept 25, 2022 2:12:39 GMT
I was an engineering major and always feel like my history knowledge isn’t great but I’ve discussed this with my super smart history major kid and in my 49 years the top ones could be:
Fall of Russia
Rise of internet (and I’d add the invention of the touch screen)
Covid
Financial crises
Election of trump (?)
War in Ukraine could end up being much more significant than 9/11 (?)
Eta - one of our “fun family dinner conversations” used to be - name the top 5 threats to humankind - and one of them was always global pandemic (plus AI, species extinction, meteor, nuclear war - at least those are what I think we came up with lol)
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Post by lisae on Sept 25, 2022 12:11:46 GMT
One of my early memories is watching the moon landing with my grandfather. It does make me feel a bit old to think of Watergate, tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the first female Secretary of State (Albright), 9/11 and the housing economic crisis as history. We've just lived through Covid which accelerated the pace of so many trends. What things are we living through now that will be the tip off for some major historical event?
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 19:36:38 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2022 12:25:59 GMT
Before TV, automatic transmissions in cars. Somehow my grandmother had an automatic Bendix washing machine in the forties, but I then had to learn how to use the wringer machine. I remember grandma’s wringer washer and an ironing machine with rollers as well. I like progress so I’m not wistful for the good old days. |
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Post by papersilly on Sept 25, 2022 17:53:38 GMT
Yes, I can say i was around when:
-Elizabeth was queen and Charles was king. Hopefully I will see William ascend the throne too.
-Elvis, the Rat pack, Michael Jackson, Beatles and Rolling Stones were around too
-the first black President and first black Vice President were elected
-computers and cell phones became part of normal life
-the internet was born
-9/11
-electric cars
-artificial intelligence started getting as smart, if not smarter, than humans
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Post by AngieJoy on Sept 26, 2022 3:36:22 GMT
On the topic of the internet….
I remember the first time I saw a tv commercial where the company included their website in the screen. I commented to my dh how smart I thought that was….and it totally stands out in my memory as a big moment of change.
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Sue
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,266 
Location: SE of Portland, Oregon
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Post by Sue on Sept 26, 2022 6:15:52 GMT
At 75, I've lived through almost everything that has been mentioned here in posts already. Just today, my husband and I had one of those "remember when" conversations. While driving into town, it started with him saying something about being grateful that we didn't have to physically roll our car windows up and down anymore like we used to do. And I said, "remember when there weren't any turn signals in cars and you had to stick your arm out of the window to signal that you were turning?" Rain, snow, or shine, you had to roll down your window and stick your arm out. Straight out signaled that you were turning right, elbow bent and arm pointed up meant a left turn, arm straight down meant you were slowing down. I doubt many people on the road today would know what those arm signals meant if they saw them. And we mentioned that when we were kids most of our cars had dimmer switches on the floor that you stepped on to dim your headlights. And for a really big change, before I started school, my grandparents still drove an old, old car that they had to crank to start!
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Post by Embri on Sept 26, 2022 7:14:25 GMT
Straight out signaled that you were turning right, elbow bent and arm pointed up meant a left turn, arm straight down meant you were slowing down. I doubt many people on the road today would know what those arm signals meant if they saw them. You'd be surprised - the same hand signals are used by cyclists even in modern times! I learned those as a child when I got my first proper bicycle.
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Post by lesserknownpea on Sept 26, 2022 8:44:42 GMT
I very often think about how our everyday tech would have been the stuff of comic book characters when I was a child.
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Chinagirl828
Drama Llama
Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 7,010
Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
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Post by Chinagirl828 on Sept 26, 2022 9:39:56 GMT
I've had this conversation with my Dad more than once, sometimes about the changes he has seen in his lifetime, and sometimes the changes he knows his parents saw. I'm another one who majored in history, Dad didn't but has always had an interest in it, which is why I think this is something we've spoken about.
I find it fascinating when we know we're living through the moments that will be significant in the future. One of my teachers changed our curriculum to have us learn about what was happening in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 protests and massacre while there was still a lot of media coverage. It is remarkable to think about how much has changed just in my lifetime.
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wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,203
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Sept 26, 2022 10:29:03 GMT
We haven't even mentioned the medical advances, heart and other body parts transplants, ivf, vaccines, sequencing dna.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Sept 26, 2022 13:04:01 GMT
Before TV, automatic transmissions in cars. Somehow my grandmother had an automatic Bendix washing machine in the forties, but I then had to learn how to use the wringer machine. I have the vaguest of memories of my mom still having a wringer washer that she used to wash my baby brother’s cloth diapers. We moved from that house when I was 4. I like telling my kid that we didn’t have cell phones, computers or internet when we were kids, and that we didn’t get a home video game console until I was in high school! We only had a corded phone in our house and it had a 25’ long cord. Now we don’t even have a land line. These days she mostly communicates with her friends via FaceTime or Discord chats or text messages, she doesn’t ever actually talk on her phone. I think the most defining historic moments in my life would be 9/11, Obama getting elected and the Covid pandemic. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Sept 26, 2022 13:07:44 GMT
I very often think about how our everyday tech would have been the stuff of comic book characters when I was a child. Or the Jetsons! |
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Gem Girl
Pearl Clutcher
......
Posts: 2,686
Jun 29, 2014 19:29:52 GMT
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Post by Gem Girl on Sept 26, 2022 13:56:23 GMT
Straight out signaled that you were turning right, elbow bent and arm pointed up meant a left turn, arm straight down meant you were slowing down. I doubt many people on the road today would know what those arm signals meant if they saw them. You'd be surprised - the same hand signals are used by cyclists even in modern times! I learned those as a child when I got my first proper bicycle.
It's also on the driver's license test in my state. One should know the hand signals in case of a malfunctioning turn signal. |
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scrappinmama
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,672
Jun 26, 2014 12:54:09 GMT
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Post by scrappinmama on Sept 26, 2022 13:56:52 GMT
Yes all of the time! Dh and I will have "remember when" conversations in front of our kids. When Reagan was shot, the Iran kidnapping incident, the gas crisis in the 1970's, when the Space Shuttles exploded, 9/11. My mom is 92 and her long term memory is great. She has told me so many fascinating stories about life around pivotal moments in history.. I think it's so important to discuss history in front of our children. Pass those stories on and keep history alive.
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Post by grammadee on Sept 26, 2022 14:09:09 GMT
As far as world events, as a baby boomer, I "missed" the two world wars and don't remember much about the Korean War. But the Cold War I remember: I remember as a child lying frozen in bed hearing the morning news, and panicking as I heard a plane overhead, wondering if we were going to get bombed.
But as to lifestyle, I could have lived through ages. As a child, we had no electricity, no running water, only REAL horse power on our farm. My mother's new wringer washer had a gasoline motor and the wringer was cranked by hand, but I remember her washing clothes in a tub, scrubbing them by hand with a washboard. Our daily routine would not have been a surprise to people hundreds of years before our time.
When I tell my dgk's about how we lived, their eyes get big and they just can't understand how we could have filled our days with no TV, no electronics, no telephone, very few toys. They think THEIR parents grew up in "the olden days" (the 70's and 80's) LOL.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 26, 2022 14:49:04 GMT
You'd be surprised - the same hand signals are used by cyclists even in modern times! I learned those as a child when I got my first proper bicycle.
It's also on the driver's license test in my state. One should know the hand signals in case of a malfunctioning turn signal. Hand signal didn't impress the cop who gave me ticket for a light out!! |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Sept 26, 2022 15:08:32 GMT
I’m 70, so all of the above. I have a very clear recollection of life without computers, cable TV, internet and cell phones. And at the risk of sounding like I am going to shout “Get off my lawn” momentarily, I’m not sure that life wasn’t better then in a lot of ways. But yeah, I’m old (and I do like my internet…) ^^^ I'm 53, so I was in... let's see- high school, when the neighbors (not us, lol) got cable tv. I remember life before the internet, cable tv, mobile phones, etc. but since I was a kid, I think my youth colors my opinion / memories of it as well. (I do think the 'connectedness' we have now is a good AND a bad thing, though, for sure.) I sometimes think about how much 'history' I've lived through, but other than 9/11 and the pandemic, I guess maybe it didn't seem so "historical" to me at the time it was happening? (If that makes any sense?) |
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Post by workingclassdog on Sept 26, 2022 16:47:02 GMT
I often think about what if a favorite historical character (since I was a child, I've pictured Laura Ingalls) came to our future and you had to show her everything new. Can you imagine? And she herself lived through enormous changes! That's how I have always pictured history.. through her eyes. She literally was in that covered wagon and then there were planes! I would LOVE to have someone (especially Laura) came to us and see what is all new since she died. I feel she was very accepting of progress. THEN I think my mom was alive when Laura was alive (she died in 1957). My mom could have met her at some point (mom lived in Kansas).. I think how cool would that have been if it happened..lol. My mom would have been 18 when Laura died. |
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Rhondito
Pearl Clutcher
MississipPea
Posts: 4,950
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Post by Rhondito on Sept 26, 2022 19:44:35 GMT
I often think about what if a favorite historical character (since I was a child, I've pictured Laura Ingalls) came to our future and you had to show her everything new. Can you imagine? And she herself lived through enormous changes! I DO THE SAME THING WITH THE INGLALLS FAMILY!  I always think what if all of the sudden, a car just drove past their house, or someone in Walnut Grove pulled out a cellphone, or showed up in modern clothes. |
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Post by needmysanity on Sept 26, 2022 19:57:54 GMT
Another history major - I geek out over all things history.
I remember living in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. I got to go to the wall and watch it with my own eyes. I was only 20 and thought I would never live through anything so incredible ever again. I was obviously wrong....
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 26, 2022 20:47:18 GMT
I just realized my first experience of glued to the TV was when John F Kennedy was shot. Everything just stopped. I remember that day well. In the morning I had taken pictures of my DS, age 2, for Christmas cards, never before and not after.
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Post by pelirroja on Sept 30, 2022 11:52:29 GMT
My grandmother was born in 1914 before women were legally able to vote. When she was 92 years old I asked her what she thought the biggest most revolutionary thing was that she had experienced in her decades. Travel to the moon? Presidential assassinations? Cold War? Women entering the workforce and military? Medical advancements in instrumentation and pharmaceuticals? She had experienced so many amazing events and opportunities. . .
Her answer: the invention of the microwave. Wha? She said that it wasn't so much that the mediocre microwave was life-changing but the fact that it changed people's perspective of how long a minute is. She was highly intelligent and wickedly funny but that was so not the answer I was expecting!
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Post by bratkar on Sept 30, 2022 12:49:39 GMT
I have been thinking about this a lot lately as well. I wondered on the aspect of what is the greatest and worst inventions of our lifetime.
It really it amazing to look back at all that we have lived through so far
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