MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > How do and did people live, have fun, en...

How do and did people live, have fun, entertain themselves without toys and gadgets?

posted 2 years ago by TheMan18 (12644)
21 replies | jump to latest

These days and in the last 20 years or so many young people can't live without them. Toys, gadgets, video games, various flashy bits and pieces. Without them, they're bored. David Thewlis' character even mentions this in Mike Leigh's 1993 film "Naked" when he says "that's the trouble with everybody you're all so bored" and then states "no matter how tawdry or vacuous something is, as long as its new, as long as it bleeps and flashes in colours" etc (I wonder what he'll make of today's technology like smartphones and tablets and all that, not to mention drones and RC vehicles).

But then how do and how did people live a fine and even fun life without them by being young themselves and why are some parents reluctant, besides financial issues, to entertain their kids with all that stuff?

Also, back to that film and Thewlis' character. Firstly, who is and how does HE get to determine what constitutes "tawdry and vacuous" and if people enjoy various toys and gadgets and find them entertaining and not choose to study and become geniuses, why is that such a huge problem to him? Not to mention, it didn't prevent his from committing one particular terrible deed at the beginning of the film - I bet as he regretted it, maybe he wished he'd have fun by playing Nintendo or SEGA Mega Drive even as man in his nearly 30s?

And secondly, don't we ALL like to play with toys as kids and various more adult gadgets as teens and young and otherwise adults? Without them all, life would be kinda dull and empty and not everyone is in a constant mindset of only studying, working and doing the right thing or holidaying etc as part of fun.

Anyways, what do we think? Toys, gadgets, video games, smartphones and tablets, drones and other RC vehicles etc etc and having fun to fill life, thanks.

[–] GypsyMike (282) 2 years ago

When I was a kid the worst thing one could do was a punishment that made me stay indoors.
My kids, “Get outside! Stay out there all day, you are punished.”
I would gaze out the window and they would sit there moping. Begging to go to the bathroom. lol
Child abuse?
Nah, not like the razor strap that my old man used on me.
“Go down to the creek and piss! If you need to take a shit, don’t wipe with the three leaf plants.”

[–] moviechatterer (13747) 2 years ago

books

[–] actionkamen (23176) 2 years ago

They shag the neighbours.

[–] samoanjoes (52129) 2 years ago

There's only one way:
https://i.redd.it/7a9x6sow6hg41.jpg

[–] AndyKing1967 (34615) 2 years ago

5 knuckle shuffle

[–] samoanjoes (52129) 2 years ago

You use your knuckles?

[–] AndyKing1967 (34615) 2 years ago

Handy shandy

[–] samoanjoes (52129) 2 years ago

Stop with the cockney rhyming slang. It's confusing.

[–] AndyKing1967 (34615) 2 years ago

Beating the bishop.

[–] samoanjoes (52129) 2 years ago

I don't know, I don't play chess.

[–] AndyKing1967 (34615) 2 years ago

Choking the chicken.

[–] samoanjoes (52129) 2 years ago

I'm not much of a chef. Usually I get them already dead.

[–] 102000 (6148) 2 years ago

Lots of things to do with kids that don't involve toys, gadgets, electronics, but they require parents/grandparents to be an active participant rather than passively letting their kids be entertained by something else.

I take my grandson to amusement parks, children's theater, craft classes, etc. and when he is at my house, he infrequently plays with his tablet.

[–] GypsyMike (282) 2 years ago

Rainy days in 1970.
We grew up playing 2/3 games of baseball on any giving day. Basketball. Football. Etc. When the rain came, and we were forced to play indoors,
Pinochle Canasta Pitch...the card games.
Risk Monopoly Chess Scrabble...the board games.
Inventing silly games of thought and competition.
Drawing, paint by numbers, building models.
We weren’t afraid of breaking a bone or getting stitched up. That was just a part of growing up.
When it snowed, building igloos, snow-ball fights. Hell, we even had dirt clog battles with chunks of dirt!
Luckily, there was a huge patch of woods nearby, building forts, tree houses, rope swings that launched you into the water. Chicken fights. Running from sunrise to sunset!
I’m glad I grew up when I did!
Our childhood was amazing.
Never bored. Always into something.
Fence walking as a sport. lol
At night, under the dim glow of street lights, Red Line! Run down and capture and imprison the opposition!
Later on reckless stuff like BB gun fights, until Crossman and Daisy invented the pump BB gun.
Risk and chances.
Success or failure.
Active and rambunctious!
Mud and dirt was not a deterrent, nothing like a pickup football game slopping around in the mud!
Kids being kids!
Before all the gadgets? We were living, as active kids enjoying our blue collar existence.
Pampers and pampering are for infants and people my age in assisted living!
Boy do I feel sorry for all the little snowflakes and whiners that fill the earth today. Obese and uncoordinated!
Mountain Dew and a box of Goldfish with a controller in their hands, pushing buttons all day.
I don’t blame you little angels. I blame your parents and grandparents for thinking your are a fragile little thing that breaks and snaps in a stiff breeze.

[–] Gubbio (3893) 2 years ago

Rodney Dangerfield: "I was so poor growing up ... if I wasn't a boy ... I'd have had nothing to play with." 😲

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 2 years ago

I don't think you are being genuine. You know.

[–] masamihaga (20) 2 years ago

As for me, I print out coloring sheets from coloring-for-kids.com since it's really convenient and relaxes the nerves, it really helps to forget about some little worries I have.

[–] GypsyMike (282) 2 years ago

[deleted]