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What We Missed out on In Jr High

Mark Oestreicher posted a really great part of a book that he is writing about Middle Schoolers. He and I must be a similar age, because I really identify with this stuff. Makes me feel old when I think about all that has happened in my lifetime. Enjoy the list...

scott rubin and i need a little help from you for our middle school
ministry book. in the “middle school culture” chapter, we have a list of things
that didn’t exist when we were in middle school (well, at least when i was in
middle school, in the mid-70s). here’s what we have:
- Cell phones
- The internet (meaning, websites and buying stuff online and everything
else that is so completely normal today)
- Text Messages
- IM
- Hybrid Cars
- Social Networking
- “Friends with benefits”
- “Bi-Curious”
- Cable TV
- Digital Video Recording (or TiVo)
- Mp3s and downloadable music
- DVDs
- Hi-Def
- Satellite Radio
- Xboxes and Wiis and other amazing gaming systems (“Pong” was introduced
when I, Marko, was a young teen, and “Space Invaders” had just showed up in the
commons of a local community college).
- Email
- Spam (the email variety – we had the stuff in the can, made of
humans).
- Any kind of camera, video or still, that didn’t need developing.
- Cordless phones
- In-ear headphones
- Ringtones
- Call waiting
- iChat or other video conferencing
- snowboards and wakeboards
- rollerblades
- an African American president and a female Secretary of State- Airport
Security (and National Security levels, and Terrorist threats)
- Internet porn
- snowboards and wakeboards
- rollerblades
- Starbucks
- Viagra
- Plastic Pop Bottles
- X Games
- Energy Drinks
- Home Theaters (?)
- The Simpsons, Spongebob, American Idol and a host of other dependable TV
staples
- Reality TV
- Crack Cocaine
- Minivans
- GPS
- Disposable Cameras
- Disposable Contacts
- Abortion Pill
- Doppler Radar
- Space Shuttle
- USA Today
- HIV
- Paintball and Airsoft
- Laser Tag
- ESPN
- iPods
- MTV (could be in the “started and faded away” list…)
- DNA fingerprinting
- Artificial Heart
- Fantasy Sports Teams (which are still lame)
- Cloning animals
- The SuperBowl as a kind of National Holiday (I’m reaching)
- Cutting (?)
- “Walkman” came & went — remember that!
- Suitcases with wheels on the bottom (seriously …. Nobody had em!)
- most piercings… Besides ears…
- McDonalds Playlands

this second list is things that didn’t exist when we were in middle school,
then came on the scene in a major way, and have already faded:
- Fax
machines
- CDs (seriously – who buys CDs anymore? They’re the betamax cartridge of
this generation.)
- Video tapes
- Internet chat rooms
- Really, we could put email on this list, since teenagers don’t use email
anymore, except to communicate with parents or teachers.
- Music videos played on MTV
- The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
- The Walkman (pre-mp3 cassette and CD players)

what are we missing?? would love to hear as many additional ideas as you
have…

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