I keep cutting out things like social media from my lifestyle, but I’m finding it hard to fill the time. Reading can only go so far, there’s never anything on TV, and my friends all live twelve miles away.
So, before we really had social media, what did teenagers do?
- reading
- TV / movies
- video games
- listening to music (it’s important to remember that this was an active thing to do … you’d listen to an album beginning to end, digest it, read about it etc)
- playing music
- Hanging out with friends, either doing some of the above or going here and there on pushbikes.
Not gonna lie, I honestly think it was overall better. If the internet were just Wikipedia, blogs and casual non-profit social media, the world would be a better place.
Bicycle and generally playing outdoors. But it was easier when I was a kid, because I was a kid and all my kid friends lived in the same neighborhood.
I would love more non-screen, manual-work hobbies. Crafting, woodworking, etc. But these need space and equipment. Check if you have a hackerspace nearby, that would be a good place to check out. Larger hackerspaces tend to have woodworking, metalworking, electronics and other tools available, as well as some fancy laser cutters and CNC machines.
Thanks! According to the Wiki, the nearest hackerspace to me is in Middlesborough, which is about 80 km away; however, both my dad and my grandad have their fair shares of electrical, woodworking, metalworking, and masonry tools, so I’ll be able to find something to work with if I come up with a project idea.
That’s the spirit!
Here’s a crazy, far-fetched idea: there are bound to be a bunch of other people in the area that might be in a similar pickle. Maybe consider starting your own local hackerspace. 😉
I helped start one 15y and am reanimating another that has been dormant for a while. Pretty good way to meet interesting people.
That sounds like a great idea! I’m still in sixth form for the time being, but I might put out a survey and try to rent out some premises in the town when I’m older. Businesses are moving out left, right and centre (make of that what you will), so there are plenty of places that would make a good hackerspace.
I mean we still had Nintendos as kids and N64 and Playstations as teenagers. Even early Millennials probably had access to internet as teenagers be it dial up or just at school in the labs or library. But internet was consumed different then. Forums/boards, anonymous chatrooms, and straight up surfing random websites through webrings was the gist of it rather than videos, pictures, statuses, etc.
A very American thing to do was to go waste time at the mall. Even if you didn’t buy anything it provided a climate controlled people watching place.
I mean the thing that still trips me up the most is that social media and phones still takes away from other tech stuff that I’d enjoy doing more. When I was younger I used to play a lot of Game Boy Advance and then later PSP. Once I got a phone it became just that little bit more difficult to focus on just enjoying playing games!
Reading. Really. I was a huge book worm. I could have stood to have spent more time with friends, though. And I wish that I had figured out earlier that I was gay (aka not been in denial) and started dating.
Video games are fun, but I’m kind of garbage at them so that makes them less enjoyable. Phones didn’t really change entertainment that much. I use them as a more convenient music, audiobook, and podcast player. Most of my social media is Reddit and Lemmy, and those don’t lend themselves to virtual keyboards.
Listened to CDs, smoked a lot, stared at the walls, cried when appropriate. But then I’m an Xer, so…
Talked for hours with friends on the land-line
I would happily do this, but the majority of gen z prefer to text, and my friends have some weird conversations.
In order:
- Reading. So, so much reading. Lots of fantasy (
Merlinseries,Redwallseries,Harry Potterseries), quite a bit of non-fiction (How Stuff Works-type books), and foreign language stuff as well. I’d try and line up English and Spanish, English and French, and to figure out the “rules” of the other language and its vocab. - Video games. The Nintendo 64 was my first “big boy” purchase that I made with my own money. I played a bunch of
Super Mario 64,Ocarina of Time,Banjo-Kazooie(and laterBanjo-Tooie), andGoldenEye(as well as its “spiritual successor,”Perfect Dark). I also picked up aCounter-Strike 1.5/1.6habit in the early aughts. - Aggressive Inline Skating. At least until I broke my arm right before high school, and then ended up too swamped in academics to spend much time on physical activities.
- Reading. So, so much reading. Lots of fantasy (
Mostly video games, sports and chatting via Skype (both voice and text). Also image boards. Occasionally read a book. At least from a Zillenial perspective, it was not so different from now.
not so much skype, but the number of hours i spent on AOL Instant messenger (AIM) and later MSN Messenger. Trillian became a life saver when I started dating a weird Yahoo! chick.
Messenger was the only reason I had a hotmail account, and mostly just because the cute girls from school used MSN and not AIM. After Microsoft bought Skype the combined the two services and your Hotmail account was also usable as a skype handle (complete with @hotmail.com at the end) to this day I list that as my skype handle when potential employers ask for it, and I’ve often had recruiters tell me they think I put my email in the wrong field and I have to tell them they are incorrect. I hadn’t actually used that account in like 10 years, until Edge made it advantageous to do so for some of their features and now I probably use that account more than my Gmail.
Basically getting sweaty, and challenging yourself…
- tromping around in the woods,
- riding a bike,
- swimming at a pool/creek,
- playing sports (and especially inventing new sports).
Being strong and tough for its own sake.
I was a teenager in the early 2000s and social media was just becoming a thing. While I did partake in early social media like MySpace and Youtube we did do other, usually dumb, stuff. I played airsoft with friends, went spelunking in the storm water sewer system lol, watched movies with friends. I remember we found an abandoned house in the woods near a park and explored that multiple times.
Videogames. Yugioh, Magic.
Video games, slept (I lucid dream, so I always look forward to sleeping), day dreamed, drew, read books, wrote. I didn’t really have access to internet since I lived really rural.
I’d rip out the guitar tabs from guitar magazines at the store then try and learn to play them.
My mom caught me once so then I stopped.
I’ll learn an instrument! Of course!
go with nylon stringed instruments if you’re into plucked.
i had steel and electric for decades before buying a nylon and ill never go back.
im excited for a baratone ukulele that is on back order.
Nylon and virtual are all I have
oh check out musescore 4, they’ve added a ton of virtual instrument features beyond midi and then you can print it out for offline.
I already use MuseScore, although I’m still on version 2 as I’m running Debian Bullseye.
I like Ardour too. The interface takes a little getting used to but feels good once you have the hang of it.
LMMS is pretty fun for making arbitrary boops.
Listened to CD’s on Walkman, played collectible card games at the local hobby store, played role playing games with friends, etc.
