The past and present satire

Old days versus the shiny present.
We hear the phrase — good old days — a lot. This is funny because a few memories of my childhood scare me to death now. For example, when a family member went shopping she/he had to be off the grid for a few hours. When my dad traveled, we had to wait for his call to inform us that he reached the destination safe and sound. It sounds scary nowadays. Anyway, past and present always create a dilemma. In this post, we make a humble attempt to compare past and present days side by side. We will let readers decide the answer to the question — which one is good: past or present.

Declaration of becoming a single

In the old days, a friend carried the message to the friends of a friend that someone became a single. Nowadays, Facebook relationship status does that job well. Along with regular relationship status, Facebook has — “It’s complicated”, “In a domestic partnership”, “In an open relationship” — which allow people to express their availability in a complex manner. Life was too simple in the old days.

In the old days, friends were responsible for spreading out that someone is single. Nowadays, the Facebook relationship status does that job.

Breakup

In the old days, breaking up was quite difficult and needed preparations for weeks. It happened in a quiet place without any rush. The conversation started with, “We need to talk”. Breaking up has become easy nowadays. Just sending a few text messages is sufficient. It still starts with “We need to talk” but via technology. It only takes a few minutes to break up nowadays. Several keystrokes on the phone will be sufficient. Modern days are much more efficient compared to what people had to do in the past to break up.

Breakup of past and present times.

Baby born in old days and in present days

People usually visited parents and their newborn in the hospital. If not in the hospital, people visited when new parents brought the newborn at home. The earlier someone came to visit the more caring that person was considered. The earlier someone gives a Facebook like on the picture of the newborn the more caring that person is considered nowadays. In fact, the number of likes is what makes a newborn and its parents more important. A few days after Dear Son was born, my mother said that my niece received more Facebook likes than Dear Son. This made me a bit jealous but I accepted the failure and moved on. You cannot win every battle.

People came to the hospital when someone had a baby in the old days. Nowadays, people expect nothing more than Facebook likes.

Kids being active secretly past bedtime

In my childhood, my older siblings and I read storybooks past our bedtimes, especially during weekend nights. It was a guilty pleasure. I am pretty sure my parents knew about it because we had trouble waking up the next morning.

We used headlamps or flashlights to read books and to fool our parents by turning the main lights off. Kids of these days do not need headlamps or flashlights because they do not read storybooks past their bedtime. They play video games on their iPads and tablets, which are self-illuminating.

Kids reading or playing past their bedtimes --- old days and present times

Hairstyle

Old hairstyles were furrier than the ones of the present days. Many styles were like bird nests as if it was a crazy hair day in school. Modern styles are of a thin layer of hair. The hair is gently attached to the skin using hair gel or oil. A few carefree narrow hair locks hanging around the face are considered fashionable.

Hairstyle of good old days and present days.

Concluding remarks

We hope you enjoyed the humor. Let us know if any other past-present humor comes to your mind. It is fun to talk about such humor.

The next paragraph contains some affiliate links to Amazon. If you use any of these links to purchase anything, I will get an incentive from Amazon with NO extra cost from you.

Note: We have been asked if we use any software to draw cartoons in our blog. Sometimes we draw on papers and digitize them. Sometimes we use MS Powerpoint. Recently, we have started to use CrazyTalk Animator 3 Standard (Mac). The software has a Standard PC (Windows) version, as well as PRO Mac and PRO Windows versions.

Settle in El Paso team



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Comments

86 thoughts on “The past and present satire

  1. World changed a lot since our technology is growing so fast and and a lot of new inventions is sprouting like a plant. Nowadays, people are more preferably using android smartphones instead of using telephones to commmunicate with relatives. As you can see, our modern technology makes our life better and convinient. Just missing the old days its kinda different ( a lot of differences).

  2. In the old days, when you want to listen to music while walking on the streets you have to carry a transistor radio. Transistor radios are bulky with two speakers on the side that you sometimes have to carry it on your shoulders because carrying it could really be tiring because of it’s large size. But today, you could listen to music with just your smart phones. Very small and compact, and you could use headphones to listen to it discreetly.

    1. Haha ? Yes, movies with past context still show transistor radio on the shoulder as a symbol of past days.

      Thank you for visiting and commenting. Have a wonderful weekend.

  3. Sending letters to my friends eventhough I can drop it at their home, the post office is even more far. Reason behind is we want to be special delivery. This are the memories of the past that still put smile on my face everytime something reminds me of those days. During full moon in our village everybody stay outside their houses having their own way, adults keep on talking to each other, kids playing with native outdoor games, teenagers playing guitar while singing. I had alot of wonderful moments before gadgets had been invented. The bonding moments of neighbors, family, friends. There’s always advantages and disadvantages. But for real I miss those days and the people on that happy memorable part of my life. Life is really a constant change.

  4. I guess one them is just like carnivals and amusement parks. I remember when I was a kid, my dad always tour me in the nearest amusement park in our place every Sunday. Riding on a small carousel and one stick of cotton candy will swing my mood into happiness. But now, look on those huge amusement parks out there, extremely not safe and just ride at your own risk. From a simple roller coaster now turning into loop by loop 360 degrees ride, well, enjoy..!!

  5. I agree in this post. I also want to say that the old days are better than today in terms of all the aspects in human life. From the quality of food, air quality, socialization and peoples values which is out of whack nowadays. The best thing that we have in the present is the fast pace technology that seems like has no plans to slow down. communication is better and technology made life easier at its finest but the side effect to the majority is laziness, lack of true personal interaction and there fakes almost every where. Faking their lives thru social media. I miss the 90’s so much. I miss to be excited almost everyday for just those very simple things. Since technology advances yearly i hope soon someone invents a time machine and make it available in the public so we can go back to the real good old days.

  6. This is a good comparison between the past and the present. I am glad that I am from the present (I can announce my marriage via facebook or announce the birth of my baby via a tweet), yet I am also proud that I experienced past (no cell phone). Life in present is easy. In the early times, we had to drive for an hour to buy supplies, however, these days we have a mall in our neighborhood.

  7. We used to play outdoors, together with my pals. We do a lot of things. We explore, laughs together, role-playing, create new things, play with our toys and more. But now, you can’t see that in this generation, nowadays. The word “interaction” is an obsolete word now. Is it a good thing or not?

  8. In the past, people don’t care what you do in a day. What you eat, where you eat, what you wear, what other stuff you have, where you are and what you do. Now, people will browse and look at your Facebook or Instagram videos or photos to check on it. But have you heard that sometimes it will bring danger to your lives, you don’t know who’s watching you and have bad intentions, like for example the Burglars. If they know that you are not around, surely some of your things are missing when you’re back. So be careful what you post it may attract risk and sometimes bashers.
    Anyhow, I like the present as Eckhart Tolle quote “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the now the primary focus of your life.” Although, there’s the good side and the bad side, it’s all up to us how we handle things, we are responsible for our actions.

    1. Well said. Definitely, the information space is well covered for smart burglars.

      Thank you for visiting and commenting. Have a wonderful Friday tomorrow followed by a great weekend.

  9. In the past days, I used to play with my friends in the sand outside our homes building sand houses and all that, now it is all toys and watching TV. I really enjoyed those days. I think that technology has made so many things easier for people to do such as breaking up relationships through text and chats, putting up wedding pictures and newborn baby pictures on the social media and watching how your friends would like and comment on it.

    Sadly, technology has availed us that real face-to-face interaction and made us have to depend on using certain virtual means to reach out to others. Maybe it is good for some people, but I don’t find it interesting.

    1. Sound like you had great childhood. I agree with you that there were lot more people-interaction in our childhoods.

      Technology will evolve, no doubt. We will always need to bring the human factors back to our life to make it exciting.

      Thank you very much for your wonderful comments. Have a wonderful day.

  10. You just brought back a lot of memories. How time flies. I’ve said this before and am saying it again:”I absolutely enjoy your articles”.

    This post and it’s citations just goes to show how much time has changed and the effects it has on us now. It was just a 100 years ago man took to the air, but now we have planes/jets breaking the speed of sound. Technology seems to be the center of it all. I wonder what the above instances will produce in some 50 years to come.

  11. I can just imagine how different it was before and generation now a days. I was born in the 70’s so that would make me a part of the old school. It makes me laugh to think that a family of 5 can stay in the room without talking for number of hours because each member carry with them some gadgets to fill the gap. While before when everyone is in the room you get the chance to talk, listen and interact which is rarely experienced in an ordinary household. But that is how generations evolve so we can’t argue with that we can only reminisce the past and embrace the future. This is what technology has brought us but that does not mean we can’t live the way it use to. You still can but in a day or two just to relax and relieve your family and enjoy the real meaning of bonding with the family.

  12. There is something special about the old days we have experienced. I sometimes consider my past as glorious and happy compared to now, but we should always feel happy for the present. The past has given us a lot of things, but present is the time to live for.

  13. Oh how I wish that big hair was still in fashion haha!
    It is a bit disheartening how so many people find their value in how many “likes” they can get on a photo.
    Maybe someday we’ll look back on today and laugh that we measured our value by “likes”, and decide our own worth instead.

    1. I don’t think I agree with you on the big hair thingy because there’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll look worse than awful if I had that kind of hair, but besides from that, I’m with you. People have become more and more narcissistic nowadays that the focus have become on looks rather than attitude, but what’s worse I believe is that these social media platforms encourage us to think too much about what other’s opinions are towards us that we forget to value our own opinion about ourselves.

  14. I hate when some people saying, “of course, your daddy will tell you that their generation is the greatest of all, and when you become a daddy too, you will also tell your son that, and so on.” Untrue. I am a millenial boy, but I’m envied with dad’s generation. Their music, fashion style and art are the final stage of its evolution, the natural selection, and we are the regression.

  15. In thinking about the good old days as opposed to now, I couldn’t help but think back to what a dime used to buy me and my girl friends. My friend’s mothers and one friend’s sister used to give us money to go the corner store with. I remember this very distinctly because my mother was a bit tight with money and being sent to the corner store with a friend and being given money to go with (each of us!)was unheard of in my family. But my girlfriends mothers (and the one sister) didn’t seem to think anything of giving us each a dime to get us out of their hair for a little while (the sister even would sometimes go as far as to give us a quarter to split between us). I would go in and buy penny candy and almost always bought the two for a penny kind while my girlfriends who were used to this kind of luxury would spend it all on a single chocolate bar. Afterwards my girlfriends would always exclaim over the really good deals I would get because I would leave the store with so much candy. Now you are lucky if you can get one candy for a dime let alone a whole chocolate bar! I miss those days when every penny really did matter.

    1. Your mother is a remarkable person. It seems she taught you in your childhood how to use resources under tight budgets.

      Candy ? for a dime is rare; I don’t think even a bulk purchase will give a candy for a dime. Penny is for changes only now; nothing costs a penny anymore. Thank you for visiting and sharing the glimpses of the past. Have a wonderful weekend.

  16. There so much change this past years. The way we eat, drink, etc. even our lifestyle. I missed those good old days when playing with your neighbors and friends in the street is very common but now it is very rare to see. People nowadays were hooked by the modern technology. They can’t live without it. Things have change.

    1. Oh… good old days. Childhood memories of playing in the neighborhood with friends. I do not (yet) allow my child to go outside alone.

      Thank you for visiting and commenting. Have a wonderful weekend.

  17. I remember the good old days in the 90’s when music is at its best! The rising of the rnb genre, boybands, girl groups, and great solo singers who became superstars in their prime. The music then was so relaxing and wonderful to hear. Now it is just what the singer wants to sing not minding the musicality and such. The modern music is just very different way back then.

    1. I miss the days when singers can really sing and perform live on stage, not just relying on auto tune and lip singing. In regards to music, sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong century. Don’t get me wrong, I like EDM and party music, but what I feel when I listen to classical music or those stuff in the 80’s is just totally different. The lyrics were much more thought out, captivating, and had more feeling than what we have now. What also tends to upset me is when songs with nonsense lyrics but has a good beat becomes popular and becomes such a trend. I just can’t imagine how other people see those as music. How I wish that just like back in the day when all singers can actually sing.

  18. There was so much about the olden days that were great. I would have to say that most of the music back then was much better as well although there are still a few great songs here and there nowadays. The breakup thing is probably the biggest change and I’m sure a lot of people are probably happy about it to be fair. No more awkward conversations with the person you want to break up with.

  19. This is true comparison. I am a millennial but I am really feel sad somehow seeing the differences from the old days and nowadays. The world now is different and I must say, the old days are more fun than nowadays. Courting in old days: go to the front of the house of the girl and serenade them with guitar. Courting nowadays: Hey? Can I get your number? 🙁

    1. That’s one of the things that has really changed that makes me really sad. Relationships are becoming more and more just for convenience, losing its real essence. Sometimes when I remember this, it makes me wish I lived back when people were more serious about these kind of things. I’m not saying the quality of how people loved back then is better than now because we can’t really measure that in any way, we can only assume. What I’m pointing out though is that people nowadays tend to forget the importance of real love and affection.

  20. I completly agree with you. Life is very much easier in the past. Nowadys, cellphone is becoming like our third hand 🙂 We can’t do anything without our mobile.

    As technology reaches higher and higher phase, human relations are vanishing.

    1. How about we re phrase it. Life before is much more simpler than what it is today. I may not have to elaborate that but this is the future and the only way we can survive is to embrace technology. Learn to appreciate what we have today and reminisce what used to be. If asked to choose which is my preference life before or today. I would still prefer to live in the past which I guess will never be the same again.

      1. No doubt. Past holds the sweetest memories of childhood. Everyone misses those days. We have to make the present days of our children memorable so that they treasure their childhood.

        Thank you for visiting and commenting.

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