10 things kids born after year 2000 will never understand but you will

Ah, the perks of being the generation that straddles the days with and without the existence of the Internet.

Jonathan Lim| October 13, 05:36 PM

Today we connect with people over vast distances using Facebook, search for things on our phone via Google, hail a cab before even stepping out of the house; and in the future, the Smart Nation initiative will be dreaming up new ways to improve our lives in Singapore using technology.

Thinking back to our younger days like the 80s or 90s, it was probably hard for us to imagine a world with all the conveniences that technology provided us with today.

But before we look way ahead into the future, let's celebrate how we managed to survive our younger years without technology and how kids these days have no idea of the struggle:

1. Kids today will never experience the anguish of IRC-ing/ICQ-ing your crush and the connection gets cut because someone called your house phone

register-icq

So instead of hearing the cute 'Uh-oh' sound when your crush messages you, you get to spend up to a minute listening to this lovely tune:

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Kids these days will never understand the challenge of having to hunt down your crush on IRC or ICQ because everyone was almost near-anonymous with nicks (yes nicks, not usernames) like IcEGurlz82 or X1a0qianGz80.

 

2. They will also not appreciate that taking photographs used to be mini leaps of faith

preview film camera

No cropping, no filters, no 美图秀秀, no regrets. That's how we used to roll with the film rolls. Unless everyone gets the evil red eyes, then that's quite sian.

 

3. Once upon a time the most important thing you look for in a new country is a map/hot water kettle/closest convenience store.

Now it is ...

wifi

I guess most people want to stay connected to the world they are trying to escape from?

 

4. Having to thumb through a physical dictionary / encyclopedia

Do kids today still learn how to find words in a dictionary? Especially the Chinese ones - that requires some real skills with knowing how to count the number of strokes in a character.

wikipedia 1.0

Will kids ever know the struggle we had when all the knowledge in the world was at the library and we didn't have a smart phone, computer, and Wikipedia (Praise the powers to be for Wikipedia!) to look for answers immediately?

 

5. Using a hardcopy maps to find directions

Kids will never understand why it is even necessary to find out where North is when they have their GPS telling them to "Turn left onto the slip road".

gpf

But we know that even if we get lost somewhere without GPS, so long as we have a map, we can find our way. Or we can turn to our last resort which strikes fear in most men - asking people for directions.

 

6. Actually having to be home at a specific time to catch the show you like

Aside from having to check the newspapers or 8 Days/i-Weekly for TV show timings, young people will never understand that once you miss a show, there's no such thing as catch-up TV.

Kids today be like:

pause

 

7. Kids will never understand how old they make us feel when we show them this:

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And they say:

save button

 

8. When solving problems was not as simple as saying 'Just Google/YouTube it'

Need to learn to cook a new dish? Hunt for recipe books at the bookstore/library or beg your Mother/Grandmother to teach you. Gordon Ramsay isn't available to teach you how to make steak in a two-minute YouTube video.

Want to find out whether this restaurant you are planning to bring your date to serves good food? Better ask your friends or, *gasp*, go anyway without reading any reviews or star ratings. What are food bloggers? Is that a new food group?

Favourite artist just released a new song? Time to camp in front of the radio till they play it. What's Spotify/iTunes?

 

9. Having to memorise phone numbers

There was a time when people said that Singapore had to memorise important phone numbers and keep an address/phone book.

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Kids these days will look at that picture above and go, "Hey they printed out a physical version of our phone contacts! Eeeyer no search function though."

Let's wait a few more years before people also need their smart phone to help them remember their own names.

 

10. When 'online shopping' meant mailing money in physical envelopes to sellers and hoping for the best

Before there was Amazon.com and Paypal, people tried to do mail order shopping. You sent cheques or money along with your order and prayed that: 1) Your mail didn't get lost; 2) Their mail back to you didn't get lost; 3) You didn't just send money to a scam. 4) The postman today, in 2015, still screws up your order by stuffing your purchases into the mail box.

 

Want to reminisce more about technology in Singapore?

Check out Singapore’s tech development from the 1980s till today at this online feature.

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