Talking 'Bout My Generation

[+ purplekow]

I remember when the only way to silence your phone was to take the handset off the hook.

Your rotary wall phone did not have a ring value control at the bottom? It did not silence the ring but qjuieted it so as to no disturb sleeping children. Though no one really called after 8PM, much too late to call. LOL

[Guy Fawkes]

But you had to dial the first 3 number of the exchange to avoid the off hook tone! My telephone company actually made provision for this so that it wouldn't tie up the then common cross-bar switches.

 

I remember when the only way to silence your phone was to take the handset off the hook.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Guy Fawkes

[+ bashful]

Your rotary wall phone did not have a ring value control at the bottom? It did not silence the ring but qjuieted it so as to no disturb sleeping children. Though no one really called after 8PM, much too late to call. LOL

 

But you had to dial the first 3 number of the exchange to avoid the off hook tone! My telephone company actually made provision for this so that it wouldn't tie up the then common cross-bar switches.

 

When I was a kid, we had a "party line". One line shared by two homes. Each party or home had a separate phone number, but only one home could be on the line. It was cheaper than having a private line. You didn't use the phone a lot back then, so you seldom ever heard the other party on the line if you picked up the phone. I suppose, if someone called you, and the other party was on the line, they would get a busy signal. One day, I picked up the phone, and it turned out, the other party was our next door neighbor.

[+ oldNbusted]

Your rotary wall phone did not have a ring value control at the bottom? It did not silence the ring but qjuieted it so as to no disturb sleeping children. Though no one really called after 8PM, much too late to call. LOL

 

I never found that worked very well, it wasn't that quiet. My understanding was that silence wasn't available because Ma Bell didn't want anyone to get the idea that not answering the phone was even an option.

[mike carey]

Boomer here (according to the charts).

Phone When I left home for uni we still had manual phones, i.e. pick up the receiver and wait for the operator. Our number was Tumut 745. By 1975 (late in my uni course) I could call home by dialling a town code from Canberra (where dial phones were a thing) and ask for my mum's number, then feed in coins rather than call through the Canberra operator. Dial phones (gasp) arrived in 1976 or 1977.

 

The first house I remember living in (when I was about three) was in the bush (about 2km from the nearest other farm house) and had a party line with five or six other houses on the same number. You wound a handle on the phone and the operator would come on the line. And anyone else on the same party line could pick up their phone and listen, as they would have heard the ringing from the winding of the handle. One day mum was at home with my sister and I (dad was a teacher at a small school some distance away) and a red-bellied black snake went in under the house (she had almost picked it up thinking it was the garden hose). Mum got on the party line and within 20 minutes two or three farmers from nearby properties were there to help, and left her with a .22 rifle should the snake come out.

 

TV Like others above, only two stations, one ABC and one commercial, and black and white. Colour only came in 1975 and regional affiliates of the three metropolitan commercial networks (and hence a total of five stations) only came in 1989 (the 5th was a second public broadcast 'multicultural' station).

Edited March 1, 2020 by mike carey

[+ poolboy48220]

At the start of pushbutton phones, they charged extra for the service. My father was one of the last two people I knew who stuck with rotary because he wouldn't pay the extra.

[mike carey]

At the start of pushbutton phones, they charged extra for the service. My father was one of the last two people I knew who stuck with rotary because he wouldn't pay the extra.

That's amusing. For most of my life the phone company was government run and part of your phone bill was a handset rental. Only later was it possible to buy a phone and plug into the network. The move from rotary dialling to push-button was simply part of the progression of what was the 'standard phone' that they rented to you, so it didn't cost any more to switch.

 

What they did continue to charge for was called number display. That was free from the start on mobile phones but not on landlines. Landlines here are now a thing of the past, what was a phone line is now an internet connection and 'landlines' are VOIP, and called number display is free (and having a 'landline' is simply part of your internet connection). (Landline to landline calls in Australia on my plan are 15 cents flat unlimited time.)

[+ RJD]

late boomer here....

 

anybody remember, while a kid in the early-mid 70s.......

 

Pop Rocks, Wacky Packages, POW bracelets, Vampire blood, long lines at gas stations, bean bag chairs, heels on guys' dress shoes, OP corduroy shorts, AM radio, 8-track tapes, everybody watching Roots.......gotta be more - that's it for now

 

OMG...Wacky Packages. I got in so much trouble for putting them on the door to my nightstand when I was young. And the guys’ dress shoes with heels, we would peel the rubber from the bottom so they made more noise when we walked down the hallways at school. My older brother had a “hi-fi” with an 8-track player. I remember listening to The Beach Boys and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Only problem was you could only fast forward and if you overshot your mark you had to fast-forward through all the tracks again.

[+ RJD]

At the start of pushbutton phones, they charged extra for the service. My father was one of the last two people I knew who stuck with rotary because he wouldn't pay the extra.

 

Did you ever try winning a “first to call in with the correct answer” radio station contest on a rotary phone? It never happened.

[Rockey]

Boomer here. I remember chasing the mosquito truck. Good times.

http://fabulousover60.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/130902ddtkids.jpg

[+ poolboy48220]

That's amusing. For most of my life the phone company was government run and part of your phone bill was a handset rental. Only later was it possible to buy a phone and plug into the network.

Same here. It was the early 80's (or maybe late 70's) when we were first able to purchase our own phones.

[+ Autumnal]

Early, small town, Boomer. Had to go through the operator until high school (the operators new everything that went on in town!). No tv till I was 5. Left the keys in the car 24/7 so they didn't get lost! Never locked the house even if we went away for vacation.

[+ pitman]

The Greatest Generation is the same as the G.I. Generation, not the Silent Generation. First used by Tom Brokaw to describe the generation that came of age in the Great Depression and fought WW2.

 

My 98 year old mother is the only remaining member of this cohort that I know. I'm a Boomer to the core.

[+ pitman]

When I was a kid, we had a "party line". One line shared by two homes. Each party or home had a separate phone number, but only one home could be on the line. It was cheaper than having a private line. You didn't use the phone a lot back then, so you seldom ever heard the other party on the line if you picked up the phone. I suppose, if someone called you, and the other party was on the line, they would get a busy signal. One day, I picked up the phone, and it turned out, the other party was our next door neighbor.

We had a party line shared by six families. Nosy people often listened to their neighbors' conversations, and sometimes complained to each other about one particular neighbor who often tied up the line with long pointless calls (I'm looking at you Velma!).

[+ RJD]

We had a party line shared by six families. Nosy people often listened to their neighbors' conversations, and sometimes complained to each other about one particular neighbor who often tied up the line with long pointless calls (I'm looking at you Velma!).

 

I’m not quite old enough to remember party lines, but my mom would tell us about a neighborhood teenager whose family shared one with mine. He would be on the phone singing Elvis’ Love Me Tender to his girlfriend every time she tried to use the phone. It was challenging enough in the pre-mobile phone days to use the “house phone.” I can’t imagine having to accommodate other households.

[Old Blue]

Silent Generation here. Grew up on the edge of a cotton field in the South with no air conditioning or TV until age 13. Consequently grew up largely outdoors and loved it. My job during the war was to jump up and down on empty cans and flatten them out to later be collected and somehow used in the war effort. I also remember the red dot package in oleomargarine that had to be massaged into the finished product. When VJ Day (Victory over Japan) came, everyone got in cars and drove around honking and celebrating. I celebrated by collecting all the flattened cans I had and throwing them in the river as we drove over the bridge.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I'm a boomer. I remember the size of the cars - in college we would roadtrip with four in the front (bench) seat and four in the back.

[+ oldNbusted]

I'm a boomer. I remember the size of the cars - in college we would roadtrip with four in the front (bench) seat and four in the back.

 

The cars got narrower and the people got wider? :cool:

[Islesguy]

Depending on the cutoff, I'm either a Gen X or a Gen Y, but definitely act more like a Gen Xer. My great-uncle is still alive at 102.

 

As for technology, I have probably used everything from the 50s forward because family members took decades to upgrade their stuff. It's also probably what made me a nostalgic. That and growing up on oldies music and the Golden age of TV.

 

I still have a turntable with 33s, 45s and 78s. About a decade ago, I bought a phonograph and records for it and one old Edison record that I have no way of hearing. I have old Polaroid cameras, adding machines, typewriters, etc. Still use my Intellivision console. I could go on and on. I was definitely born way too late lol

[+ purplekow]

Depending on the cutoff, I'm either a Gen X or a Gen Y, but definitely act more like a Gen Xer. My great-uncle is still alive at 102.

 

As for technology, I have probably used everything from the 50s forward because family members took decades to upgrade their stuff. It's also probably what made me a nostalgic. That and growing up on oldies music and the Golden age of TV.

 

I still have a turntable with 33s, 45s and 78s. About a decade ago, I bought a phonograph and records for it and one old Edison record that I have no way of hearing. I have old Polaroid cameras, adding machines, typewriters, etc. Still use my Intellivision console. I could go on and on. I was definitely born way too late lol

I bought Intellivion when it was the hot thing on the market. Never played it enough to be worth the investment and I have no idea where it went.

[+ azdr0710]

check out Joey Heatherton's moves at 2:57 for a 1973 Serta commercial......

 

[BabyBoomer]

My name says it all. I remember back in the 50's the guy who went door to door who sharpened knives & scissors. The truck that stopped on my block selling fresh fruits & vegetables.

 

~Boomer~

[+ bashful]

[Beancounter]

Anyone remember the milkman delivering milk and putting it in your milk box? Cloth diapers and the foul smelling diaper pail?

[+ RJD]

Anyone remember the milkman delivering milk and putting it in your milk box?

 

Yes, in glass bottles and you placed your empties in the milk box the night before. We also had a guy with a pushcart who repaired umbrellas, another who sharpened knives, and one who sold soft pretzels. There was also the “egg man,” and the huckster who sold fresh fruits and vegetables from the bed of a pickup truck.