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There are some very cool videos on YouTube of people from the late 1800's and early 1900's describing the experience, and worth listening to.
As for myself, life in the 80's and 90's was an adventure every fucking day. I grew up on county land with a huge forest behind it, and my brothers and friends and I were there so often that there were trails we'd made from walking so much. If we weren't in the woods we were on bikes zooming around the neighborhood or up to the gas station for snacks and drinks. I gained a love of reading and spent a lot of time at the school and local library picking up books and having more adventures in my head. We had huge video game arcades where you could spend hours with your friends too. We watched plenty of TV and movies, but you actually had to commit to it because streaming didn't exist. (Though VCR's later mitigated this somewhat.) Lots of us have great memories of video stores though, and yeah, I miss them. And without phones feeding you constant dopamine, it was easier to focus on these things and you enjoyed them more.
Most of us had very few rules and weren't as closely-minded by our parents as kids are now. We just had to be home by sundown. We took care of ourselves and figured shit out for ourselves, partly why GenX and elder millenials aren't complainers by nature now.
The downside is, when your friends moved away, they were just gone. You might exchange addresses or phone numbers, but you basically just never stayed in touch because you made new friends to replace the old ones. Long-distance calls were expensive and letters took too long to write when you had shit to do, and with such a big, wide world to explore as a kid, you always had shit to do.
For me, the best way to describe it was that it was just quieter and much more peaceful. It was really nice not being able to read everyone's mind all the time and not knowing everything that was going on in the world. If someone hated certain types of people, they actually had to say it, and most people weren't willing to translate their personal biases and hatred into action without the veil of anonymity.
Most of what you said was true for me as well. However I wasn’t able to provide that for my kids. Part of it is personal electronics, part societal as it is frowned on, but also economic since I have to live where the jobs are and that is not where the land is.
And I’m reminded just last week: ticks. We’re were out in the woods all the time and rarely worried about ticks. Now my kid gets one playing frisbee
Yeah. :(
I don't visit my childhood home anymore because much of that forest gave way to new roads and homes and it just makes me sad to think about how little of it is still there.
Yeah I don’t visit either, but it’s because it’s the land that time forgot. Our major employer left and the town never recovered. It’s exactly the same but a lot more worn and run down.
I last went back for a reunion, and discovered the same with the people. The few who are still in town never moved on from their high school selves