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This is a question Modern Life

Modern life is Rubbish, suggested Damian Allbran of Pulp
He might have had a point. What was better about the good old days, or conversely do you believe the modern world to be the zenith of civilisation?

(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 10:46)
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I'm no Luddite, but there's a few things I miss
Non-smart phones: As in, you could contact people, but you couldn't, for example, settle an argument by going on Wikipedia from the pub, or keep checking your Facebook whilst in the middle of a conversation with someone. Because those things have become universal and they're really annoying.

Reading a map/asking people for directions: I actually quite enjoy managing to negotiate my way around new places, working out how to get from A to B, etc. I also like feeling like a helpful and knowledgeable local when someone who's lost asks me how to get somewhere. Phones and Sat navs have ruined it a bit. Also, you don't get the sort of conversations middle-aged men at parties used to really enjoy, about whether you should take the third or first junction off the A3009 if you were trying to avoid roadworks near Trumpington whilst taking a short cut between Ribblesthwaite and Upper Shittingly.

Under-age drinking: I feel a bit sorry for the younger generation nowadays with a lot of shops and pubs cracking down, and all the ID-ing everyone under 25 nonsense. When I were a lad, you had about a 50:50 chance of being able to buy a 1.5 litre bottle of Strongbow and 20 Silk Cut if you went into the Spar when you were 17 and just tried to act nonchalant. I can't help but feel it was a happier time.

Proper news: I don't want to read a rolling live blog about the latest EU Crisis Conference telling me Angela Merkel's nipped out for a dump during the break. I don't want an update every 15 minutes via Sky News from a reporter standing outside a hospital, telling me there's no news as yet on whether the royal baby's been born. I want to consume my news in a convenient format, where they explain what's happened in one go and the sum total of what we know so far, at a single point every day.
(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 12:41, 14 replies)
I like this.
See also: the fact that you now can't remember anyone's number, so if you lose your phone, you're stuffed.

Sat navs have not necessarily been the death knell to middle-aged traffic wallahs; I hear the question "Which way did yours tell you to go? Mine said to go via North Taintborough because of the roadworks in Gruntlington-le-Hever" on a semi-regular basis.

You could be right about the underage drinking though: never once in my life have I been carded, not even when I used to buy cider from Tesco's when I was 15.

That rolling news thing brings back memories of the Iraq War coverage on the telly, where the news reports for an entire sodding year were "People today shot at each other in a sandy environment."
(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 13:08, closed)
Yes
I suppose you're right in that Sat Navs give traffic bores another topic of conversation.

On the ID-ing front, I occasionally get asked for ID nowadays (in my thirties), and yet it was a seriously rare thing when I was in my early twenties. A lot of chain pubs and supermarkets just seem to have become incredibly zealous about it.
(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 14:34, closed)
We used to book a taxi to pick us up from the back car park of school at lunchtime
Take the taxi to the off licence, do our coats up over our uniform, buy booze and take it back to school.

Those were the days! Mind you, my kids will probably know how to make their own by the time they're 13
(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 13:12, closed)
They won't, but they'll know how to search Google for the formula.

(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 13:35, closed)
Why would you take the booze back to school?

(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 14:28, closed)
To drink it before the afternoons lessons of course. Don't want to get caught skiving.

(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 14:52, closed)
At one point
in Sixth Form, we had a sympathetic form tutor at school (a friend's mum) who used to mark us at present in the register so long as we texted her to let her know we were still finishing our pints in Wetherspoons.
(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 14:30, closed)
We had a great teacher who bought us beer for our Duke of Edinburgh camps when we were 15-16
He died in a hit and run which still makes me feel very sad.
(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 14:54, closed)
Maybe you should have stopped then

(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 16:42, closed)
Consider yourself groomed.

(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 18:31, closed)
Couldn't agree more
Only recently through an unfortunate mixture of water + concrete + work requirements did I replace my dumb phone with a smart one. Have been a slave to it ever since.

For maps also see arranging stuff in advance. "I'll see you by the junction of x and y at 8" has become "Yeah, I'm just round the corner...I'm walking up to you....I'm waving...I'm here"

Under age drinking: we used to be regulars at one particular pub when we were 16, in our school tracksuits, on a Friday afternoon instead of double games. Six or seven of us would drive there (one 17 y. old already) have chicken in a basket and a pint of Bass each then go back to school for the end of the day. Never caused any trouble and used to help out behind the bar and occasionally DJ or even man the door when they were a bit short of staff. Several of us celebrated our 18ths there which was slightly surreal.

I like to think that rolling news does more to generate trouble than it does to inform.
(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 18:31, closed)
Celebrating 18th
I remember the pub being open on a late licence the night before my birthday. Which meant they were still serving at midnight. Great fun in walking up to the bar at 00:01 and ordering a round with the cheeky comment - "can finally legally pay for this now"

Most comical thing was that in our drinking group was also a six foot tall guy of only 14 years old. And a four foot six inch girl of 21 years old. So guess who was always the one being asked for her age... much to her annoyance as she was always the oldest one there
(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 20:14, closed)
Six foot at fourteen?
Blimey. He probably shops at High and Mighty by now.
(, Fri 17 Jul 2015, 21:06, closed)

Did the midget let you all finger her on the bins round the back of the pub?
(, Sun 19 Jul 2015, 18:42, closed)

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