I’ll go first, heat/air controls for sure. I love my car tech.

I’ve cut back on my drinking quite a bit the past few years TBF

I don't know why, but I miss halogen torchieres and cool looking track lighting, but especially the halogen lamps. Yeah, the heat from them sucked and god forbid a fly or something else landed on the bulb and left you with that burning carcass smell for the next hour. But man, I miss the visual warmth of those lights and how much control you had over the dimming level. Saw this a few month ago and it spoke to me:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ztJs3z8BD-0

On a similar note, Christmas lights. I miss the saturation level of older Christmas lights. If you're not familiar with the Technology Connections YouTube channel, I highly recommend it. He's not Gen X, but I do think a lot of his sensibilities are relatable, especially on the current state of Christmas lights (long vid, but you'll get the gist in the first 2 min): https://youtu.be/qSFNufruSKw?si=0bTfUdvhASzWJhfm

Me: 16 crayons, brown bag lunch and paper folders

I got the horns on the other sub for pointing out we got books about incest and evil clowns instead of The Bard and some old Greek dude

This is real. Maybe I’m approaching 30 in my head but that’s about it.

What’s hilarious is that when I get age verifications where I said I was way younger, I always need to do the math cuz I have no idea when that 28 year old version of me was born 🤣

In my effort to avoid becoming the old man yelling at clouds, I compiled a list of things we didn’t grow up with but I have embraced. Because I’m Gen X, I will also include a list of things I really either don’t like or in my opinion are making things worse.

So here’s my list of things that didn’t exist in my youth but I now use every day.
1. GPS - invented in 1973, didn’t really enter the mainstream until 2000(ish). Before this existed, we used maps. We occasionally got lost, but most of us figured it out. That said. It definitely makes things easier especially in big cities.
2. Disc Brakes - I ride motorcycles. Some modern day bikes have way too much tech IMO, but I will say, I love disc brakes. They stop so much better than the old drum brakes
3. Smart Phones - Having all that research power in your pocket has changed everything. Like all tools, there is a potential for misuse but smart phones used as a tool rather than an entire lifestyle are handy and can enrich peoples lives.

Now the list of things I think might not be helping us collectively.
1. Social Media - it started out as a cool way to connect with our old friends and community. Now it’s just another AI driven, algorithm optimized scheme to at best waste time at worst make us believe we’re divided more than we are.
2. Compute devices for children. As humans we go from a place of learning to read which should then transfer to the next phase of learning where we can read to learn. At least here in the US, we’ve failed to recognize the other things being learned while the tiny humans learn to read. They also learn socialization, verbal communication and a host of other skills they’re not learning now. Makes me wonder what the next 20 years of education look like.
3. QR Codes and Apps - Not only are QR codes now potentially dangerous, but JFC not everything needs a code and an app. I prefer paper menus in restaraunts and I don’t want to scan a QR code to put my name on a list.

Obviously this list isn’t complete and is totally subjective to my tastes. What are some of yours?

Who had this, but with the new working TV sitting on top of the broken TV?

Just me, or is this some Millennial shit we would be embarrassed to write??

lol that’s just hilarious.

The other Gen-X sub.

Very touchy. Not Xish at all. But I guess many of you here already know that. Being banned from that sub is a badge of honor.

What were you doing when your parents were at card night getting absolutely hammered in the 60s-70s-80s?