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1118 NOVEMBER
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in every issue the l ast word my
teen
s have it better than i did in the 80s by cheryl maguire ? i ?m so jealous of you!? that was me speaking, not my
teen
. we signed up for a music subscription service, and within minutes, she had all the latest hits on her i
phone
. i was in awe but also jealous of her easy access to music. as a
teen
growing up in the 80s, i would have loved to have the ability to listen to any
song
within seconds. even though technology can have its downfalls, i?m envious of all the ways my
teen
will have it better than i did growing up. music me in the 80s: i loved all types of music. one of my favorite things to do was create a mixtape. using my dual cassette boombox, i recorded a mix of
song
s onto a cassette tape to later play on my walkman. it would take over a week just to make one mixtape. if i didn?t own the album, i waited for the
song
to come on the radio and recorded it onto the cassette tape, which often had the dj introducing the
song
or the
song
cut off in the end. if i wanted to change a
song
, i would have to rewind the tape and record over it with the new
song
. it was such an elaborate process that by the time you were done making a mixtape, you were sick of most of the
song
s and ready to make another one. my
teen
now: in under a minute, she downloads 20
song
s onto a playlist onto her
phone
which she can bring with her anywhere. if she becomes tired of a
song
, she can delete it or forward to the next
song
without trying to figure out how long to fast forward until the
song
is over. writing research reports me in the 80s: thumbing through the library card catalog, i found a book related to my research paper. i then searched through the library for it and checked it out. usually, i needed at least three or four books which meant repeating the process. i then had to handwrite the paper and use my mother as a spell checker. my
teen
now: a quick google search reveals over a hundred different links related to her research topic. she then types her paper in a google doc using spell check. making a
phone
call me in the 80s: after i finished shopping at the mall with my friends, i needed to find a pay
phone
(along with a quarter) to ask my mom to pick us up. she gabbed away for over three minutes which required me to feed the pay
phone
another quarter since she went over the time limit. i thought to myself, i should have used the collect call trick: when they ask for my name, say, ?pickup mall.? my
teen
now: she sends a quick text from her
phone
, ?please pick me up now,? without needing any quarters, searching for a pay
phone
, or having to use the collect call trick. communicating with friends me in the 80s: one
phone
in the house with me, my two sisters, and my mom was not a good combination since we always seemed to want to use it at the same time. if you wanted to make a
phone
call outside of our town, you would be charged per minute. my
teen
now: everyone has their own
phone
line and can easily make unlimited
phone
calls (or facetime) without paying additional fees. although she hardly ever makes ?real?
phone
calls, she mostly uses text messages or social media. i doubt she has ever heard a busy signal or understands how great it was when call waiting was introduced. she probably doesn?t even know what that is either. taking a picture me in the 80s: i loved taking pictures, but similar to the mixtapes, it involved many steps. you had to buy film, use it up by taking 24 pictures, and develop it by bringing it to the store. my
teen
now: she snaps pictures of her friends, her sister, or the wall without costing anything, and she gets to see them instantly. the next time your
teen
says, ?i?m bored,? you can wow them with your stories about how you created mixtapes, needed a pay
phone
to call home, or used a library card catalog. i recently did this with my niece who said, ?i know, and you didn?t even have electricity,? which made me laugh since she really thought that was true. if nothing else, it will ensure you don?t hear the phrase ?i?m bored,? ever again. ? 8 4 b r p a r e n t s . c o m | n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 8
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