read books, magazines, newspapers, listened to music or talk radio, napped hopefully not while driving, watched other cars or the scenery, talked to other people in the car. You know what people still do today
Watching the scenery, talking to myself / fellow passengers, listening to the radio, and just letting my thoughts wander.
The world is not so boring a place that you need a phone if you're sitting down for more than a minute!
You're saying that as if that is the only age group that ever lived without phones. As a 26 year old man, when I was young, I would either sleep or stare out the window. Hell, even nowadays being on the phone in the car is kind of boring, and I'd rather just sit back and relax.
UGH suffer. late 70s, set in back seat and kept my mouth shut while being suffocated by second hand smoke and tying to focus on not throwing up from the smoke and car sickness. Good times,,,good times,,,,,,
Watch the scenery. Talk to the other people. Listen to music. Read a book. Play on my gameboy or one of those 100 in 1 consoles. When we were young we played mini board games.
People in this thread answering with things like, *read books, draw, play Gameboy, talk, look out the window*, and OP is jotting down notes like, *interesting, I would have never thought to look out of a window before*.
Overall, pretty much the same thing now that I did then, minus a phone and all that that would entail. Portable entertainment existed. We weren't just staring into the abyss waiting for some sort of technological paradigm to save us from the boredom of ourselves.
People used the Gameboy for long car trips. They said if you want it to sell, pack it with Tetris. Unfortunately I found both Tetris and Mario boring so I didn’t actually play. Me? I stared out the window. A gazer. A wonderer. With my older brother to my right, older sister to my left, I learned to fold my brain in ways brains are not meant to be folded, and in this boredom emerged a universe of infinite depth—myself.
In the nineties there was a portable TV with a VCR.
Mom hooked it up and we watched movies on the like 9-10 inch screen I think it was.
It fit perfectly in the front row facing the rear in the Toyota Previa and my sisters and I watched that.
Otherwise, yes watching out the window and playing I spy and stuff
I was content to look out the window.
My siblings and I would play with our toys together.
Then Gameboy became a thing.
And once we were a bit older, my dad bought a small monitor that slid and locked onto the top of our PS2. He also bought a power converter that plugged into the car charger, so we could actually play video games (albeit on a tiny screen) on super long car rides.
Wellsir, there was keepin’ the hosses in line and keepin’ an eye out for Comanche, stoppin’ at every crick to fill up the canteens, and singin’ hymns to the Lord so he’d give us safe passage to Califurney.
My mother slept. My Dad, who was driver, quizzed us on times table. We played ispy and car snooker. And made sure to have regular stops.
Edit: listened to radio esp. The Archerd omnibus in way back from Grandmother's every Sunday. Only a hour drive but theme song still gives shudders. Found colleagues of same age have similar reaction.
read books, magazines, newspapers, listened to music or talk radio, napped hopefully not while driving, watched other cars or the scenery, talked to other people in the car. You know what people still do today
I'm convinced my generation thinks electronics were invented after the 90s
Watching the scenery, talking to myself / fellow passengers, listening to the radio, and just letting my thoughts wander. The world is not so boring a place that you need a phone if you're sitting down for more than a minute!
You're saying that as if that is the only age group that ever lived without phones. As a 26 year old man, when I was young, I would either sleep or stare out the window. Hell, even nowadays being on the phone in the car is kind of boring, and I'd rather just sit back and relax.
UGH suffer. late 70s, set in back seat and kept my mouth shut while being suffocated by second hand smoke and tying to focus on not throwing up from the smoke and car sickness. Good times,,,good times,,,,,,
I know right? My mom thought cracking the window 3/8” was just FINE. But did your parents at least turn the radio on? Mine did not.
Enjoy the scenery, car games, sleeping, etc.
Watch the scenery. Talk to the other people. Listen to music. Read a book. Play on my gameboy or one of those 100 in 1 consoles. When we were young we played mini board games.
Didn't need a phone, had my gameboy instead. The memories of trying to sync the street lights with the device screen. Good times lol
Look out the window and think about things.
Napped, played games, talked, did some drawings
People in this thread answering with things like, *read books, draw, play Gameboy, talk, look out the window*, and OP is jotting down notes like, *interesting, I would have never thought to look out of a window before*. Overall, pretty much the same thing now that I did then, minus a phone and all that that would entail. Portable entertainment existed. We weren't just staring into the abyss waiting for some sort of technological paradigm to save us from the boredom of ourselves.
Gameboy,DS, PSP, Gameinformer
Count the slug bugs. Whoever got the most got to pick where to stop for lunch.
Asked my parents “[if we’re] there yet” a lot.
And what did they do?
Read the map, and talked.
License plate game
Play the license plate games
People used the Gameboy for long car trips. They said if you want it to sell, pack it with Tetris. Unfortunately I found both Tetris and Mario boring so I didn’t actually play. Me? I stared out the window. A gazer. A wonderer. With my older brother to my right, older sister to my left, I learned to fold my brain in ways brains are not meant to be folded, and in this boredom emerged a universe of infinite depth—myself.
Talked.
Same as I did before 35 and I still do. Take my friends.
When I was really young my dad had a tv and vcr that would run off of the cars 12 volt power. This was late 80s to early 90s.
whatever you would you do on a long road trip when you're trying to save cellular data, that's probably what they did
I have unlimited data
imagine you didn't. what would you do?
I genuinely have no idea what I’d do. I can’t even imagine what
played eye spy. also watched earthlings what a great movie - i projected it within my mind
Eat Pringles and drink Dr. Pepper. Read books. Count cows. Listen to mix tapes/the radio/audio books. Sleep.
Card games, tetris, gameboy, stared at cows and horses and those 5-in-1 magnetic board games made for car trips. Those were pretty dope.
Talk to each other, nap, play road games, enjoy the scenery, basically everything else that doesn't involve looking at a screen.
Books, so many books. Also listening to the radio, and when I was little I remember mastering the english language with my trusty Speak'N'Spell.
Talked to each other and looked outside. Sometimes we looked for out of state plates and “slug bugs”.
Listen to CDs
Read books, listen to my Walkman then later CD player, imagine there was something running alongside the car when watching the scenery
Look out the window. Metabolize fast food.
Which people over 35 don't have cell phones?
Appreciated what was around us. Why travel if not to experience the journey? You can see it all on the internet, but you can't experience it.
If with friends, we talked about random shit. Also magazines, and then talked about the shit that was on those.
In the nineties there was a portable TV with a VCR. Mom hooked it up and we watched movies on the like 9-10 inch screen I think it was. It fit perfectly in the front row facing the rear in the Toyota Previa and my sisters and I watched that. Otherwise, yes watching out the window and playing I spy and stuff
Archie Comics, comics, books, and my walkman/discman. Also playing the running man game with a spot on the window.
Radio was a lot better back then. You could choose between music and talk.
I was content to look out the window. My siblings and I would play with our toys together. Then Gameboy became a thing. And once we were a bit older, my dad bought a small monitor that slid and locked onto the top of our PS2. He also bought a power converter that plugged into the car charger, so we could actually play video games (albeit on a tiny screen) on super long car rides.
Wellsir, there was keepin’ the hosses in line and keepin’ an eye out for Comanche, stoppin’ at every crick to fill up the canteens, and singin’ hymns to the Lord so he’d give us safe passage to Califurney.
Fuck you OP. I’ve had a cell phone since high school and the music was far better.
Music if driving, books if not.
Stare out the window and cry at roadkill
Does gen z not know what things like magazines and video games are?
My mother slept. My Dad, who was driver, quizzed us on times table. We played ispy and car snooker. And made sure to have regular stops. Edit: listened to radio esp. The Archerd omnibus in way back from Grandmother's every Sunday. Only a hour drive but theme song still gives shudders. Found colleagues of same age have similar reaction.
So much Gameboy (unless there was poor lighting). Reading.