10 Things Gen X Kids Did Growing Up That Would Make Gen Z Cry
It was a different world for Gen Xers.
MAYA LAB | Shutterstock Gen Xers grew up in a very different world than the one we live in now. As kids, they were often called "latch-key kids" and were left to fend for themselves, whether that meant spending hours in front of the TV or roaming the neighborhood with their friends.
Gen Xers were raised to believe in their own self-reliance. A lot of the things Gen X did growing up would make Gen Z cry, highlighting how incomparable their childhoods are.
Gen Zers are digital natives, meaning they were raised with high-speed internet, smartphones, and social media. Gen Zers are incredibly tech-oriented, which makes the way their Gen X parents grew up seem foreign and far-away.
Here are 10 things Gen X kids did growing up that would make Gen Z cry
1. Use payphones
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Before the invention of cell phones, back when smartphones were just a glimmer in Steve Jobs' mind, getting in touch with people was a whole different experience.
Gen Xers spent hours sitting by their family's phone, twisting the cord around their fingers as they talked to their friends. If they left the house and had to get in touch with someone, they did something Gen Zers don't have any access to today: they used a payphone.
They stood in a phone booth on the street corner and slipped a dime or quarter into the coin slot. If no one picked up on the other line, they'd have to wait and call again. In dire situations, like telling their mom they weren't coming home for dinner, they would call collect, which meant the person receiving the call had to pay for it. Usually, the payphone itself was decorated with wads of chewed-up gum, and the connection was almost always fuzzy, so it was hard to actually have a coherent conversation.
Unlike Gen Z, Gen Xers couldn't get in touch with people whenever they wanted in seconds flat. If they were bored or lonely, they couldn't text or scroll TikTok. They just sat with their boredom without any technological distractions, something that would make Gen Z cry.
2. Rent videos from the store
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Another analog activity that Gen X kids did growing up that would make Gen Z cry is renting VHS tapes from the video store.
There was no such thing as streaming. If Gen X wanted to binge-watch their favorite movies, they had to physically acquire video tapes, put them into the VCR, and pray that the reel, an actual strip of film, didn't get tangled up in itself.
Video stores commonly only had a couple copies of each movie, which meant that if someone else borrowed what they wanted to watch, they were out of luck until they returned it. Once it got returned, they had to pray that the other person hit the rewind button and put the movie back to the beginning.
The sheer lack of streamlined tech, along with the labor it took to get access to a movie at home, would make Gen Z cry with utter frustration.
3. Record songs off the radio
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While Gen Zers have playlists, Gen Xers had something similar, but not quite the same: mixtapes. Yet making a mixtape wasn't as easy as swiping their finger across the screen and digitally compiling a collection of songs. It took grit, concentration, and a lot of time.
Gen X kids hovered over the stereo or sat at high alert with their boombox, ready to catch the song they wanted for their mixtape on the radio. When the song came on, they had to hit the record button as fast as possible, or they'd miss the intro.
Usually, the sound was scratchy and the transitions were rough, which wouldn't land well with Gen Z, who are accustomed to high production value on everything they listen to.
The art of making a mixtape was serious work. It could take hours for a Gen X kid's favorite song to come on the radio, and they'd just have to sit there with their finger on the button, ready to press record. Mixtapes could take weeks or months to make. They were an exercise in patience and perseverance.
Gen Zers are used to having anything they want play through a screen over and over, which is why recording songs off the radio would make them cry.
4. Call to hear the weather
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Once upon a time, when Gen Xers were kids, there was no such thing as a weather app. If they wanted to know what the weather was before they got dressed in the morning, they had to call the weather line. They'd listen to an automated voice recite the daily temperature and predict if there was rain in the forecast.
On snowy winter mornings, Gen X kids called the weather with bated breath, hoping to hear that school was canceled. Snow day cancellations were read in alphabetical order, so they had to wait until their school's name was announced. If they got distracted or missed what was said, they had to call back and do it all over again.
The idea of calling for the weather is completely antiquated now. While it was a totally normal practice for Gen X kids, doing something so old-fashioned would make Gen Z cry.
5. Hang out at the mall
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Gen X kids grew up at the height of mall culture in the 80s and 90s. Going to the mall was an event to see and be seen, hence the term "mall hair" to indicate a certain extra-voluminous hairstyle, finished off with a shellac of hairspray.
Gen Xers didn't go to the mall solely to shop. Rather, they wandered around, sipping an Orange Julius and munching Cinnabons. The mall experience was an in-person version of social media. Gen X kids didn't slide into anyone's DMs; they had to ask their crushes out, face to face, often in front of their giggling friends.
By the 2000s, malls had lost their luster. In fact, 2007 was the first year since the 1950s that a new mall hadn't been constructed. By 2008, the Great Recession was in full swing. By 2009, 400 of the biggest malls in the U.S. closed. The rise of the internet also meant the rise of online shopping, which is what Gen Z grew up with.
According to a 2024 study from the journal "Economic Research," Gen Z make up more than 32% of the world's population, and they're classified as the largest growing online consumer group. Gen Z has access to any article of clothing they want with the tap of a finger, yet they're highly aware of how the fast-fashion industry causes societal and environmental harm.
In the fast-fashion business model, clothes are manufactured in countries with emerging economies, made by factory workers who are paid low wages in unsafe conditions. High demand for new trends means high turnover, so clothes cost less, but are made with poor-quality materials.
A 2024 sociological study pointed out that the production of fashion goods doubled between 2000 and 2014, which has done irreversible damage to the environment. Fast fashion fuels the fires of climate change, in a literal sense. The textile industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions. Around 20% of clothes are recycled, while the leftover 80% is dumped in landfills or incinerated.
Having grown up online makes Gen Zers extremely aware about how the world works. Their attitude toward consumption is markedly different from Gen X kids. Concerns over climate change and financial instability have led many Gen Zers to push back against overconsumption by adopting the aptly-named "underconsumption-core."
They buy clothes from thrift stores and pay close attention to their spending habits. They aim to save money by avoiding unnecessary purchases and reusing what they can. Because Gen Zers are so conscious of how and why they shop, the way Gen X kids defined themselves as "mall rats" would make them cry.
6. Stand in line for concert tickets
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Another striking difference in the way Gen X kids lived compared to Gen Zers comes down to how they accessed live music.
When their favorite band announced their tour schedule, Gen X kids had to wait until tickets went on sale at a literal box office. They stood in long lines for hours, sometimes even days, just to snag a spot for a show. Ticketmaster had yet to be invented, along with the plethora of problems that the online ticketing system created.
Buying concert tickets was first-come, first-serve. If Gen X kids got to the box office late on the day that tickets were released, they were stuck at the back of the line, and often got to the front only to hear the show was sold-out.
The time and energy that it took Gen X kids to access concerts would annoy Gen Zers, and the fact that tickets were affordable would make them shed tears.
7. Sit in the non-smoking section
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Imagine that you go out to eat with your family, and right before the host seats you, she asks a crucial question: Smoking or non-smoking?
Gen X kids grew up in a world where smoking cigarettes inside was the norm. And it wasn't just in restaurants or bars; in fact, smoking was allowed in offices, airplanes, even hospitals. Shockingly, Congress didn't pass a ban on in-flight smoking until 1990, and that was just for domestic airlines. You might think air travel is the stuff of nightmares now, but picture sitting in an enclosed cabin full of second-hand smoke.
In 1995, California became the first state to pass a law banning indoor smoking. By 2009, 30 states had followed suit. According to the American Lung Association, smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S.
Gen Z is significantly more conscious of their mental health and physical health than past generations. They can't ignore information about the extreme harm that cigarettes bring, which is why the thought of a smoking section would make Gen Z totally distressed.
8. Read encyclopedias for school assignments
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Another relic of a bygone era is the way Gen X kids did research for school projects.
Without the internet, they relied on encyclopedias to gather information. They pored over those massive, musty books, flipping page after page, squinting at the tiny text. If their parents didn't have a set of encyclopedias, Gen X kids went to the library and copied facts and figures onto actual pads of paper.
In contrast, Gen Zers were raised solidly online. They can find what they need to know in seconds flat, without the very particular pain of getting paper cuts. Gen Zers would be shocked with the way Gen X kids had such limited access to information. They're so accustomed to convenience and instant gratification that the old-fashioned way of working on school assignments would make them cry.
9. Change the TV channel without a remote
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Yet another thing that Gen X kids did growing up that would make Gen Z cry with the absolute inefficiency of it all was changing the TV channels without a remote.
If Gen X kids wanted to watch a different cartoon or skip the afternoon-special, they had to stand up from the couch, walk across the room, and stand in front of the TV to physically turn a knob, click-click-clicking until they found a show they liked. Besides the fact that there were basically only two channels to choose from, TV remotes were considered a luxury until the 1980s, which made the TV-watching experience a cardio event.
If Gen X kids were lucky, they could force their younger sibling to make the long trek across the living room to change the channel; otherwise, they were out of luck, stuck watching Jim Lehrer drone on about current events, which was way less cool than watching "Thundercats."
Now, Gen Zers can turn the TV on and off with their phones, highlighting how streamlined access to tech has become. They would absolutely weep at the very thought of changing the channel manually, which was just one thing on a long list of things that Gen X kids had to do.
10. Wait for photos to be developed
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The way we take pictures nowadays is one more example of the way that changes in technology have made certain parts of life much easier. If we're watching the sunset and decide we want to capture its beauty, all we have to do is take out our phones, then look at the screen to see the photo.
For Gen X kids, taking photos was more of an ordeal. Disposable cameras weren't available until the 1980s, and even then, actually getting the photos themselves was a hassle. Once Gen X kids filled up their roll of film, they brought it to be developed, which could take up to a week, if not more.
They had no idea how their photos came out until they were holding them in their hands. If a picture was blurry or off-center, there was no way to fix it. Gen X kids just had to accept imperfect photos, which is the exact opposite of what Gen Zers do.
Gen Zers can snap a pic with their phones and instantly see the image they've captured. They can edit the picture by changing its dimensions and adding filters, until they've reached the heights of perfection. Instead of sitting side-by-side with their friends and flipping through photo albums, Gen Zers use Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat to share pics.
While almost half of Gen Zers wish that social media didn't exist, it's hard to imagine life without it. Yet Gen Xers did live without it, and they even survived to tell the tale.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.