English Topics - Free Time Before Facebook

Alisha: Hi, everybody! My name is Alisha and today I'm joined in the studio by…

Michael: Michael. Hello!

Alisha: And, today's topic for discussion is “Free Time before Facebook.”

So, these are the things that we did before Facebook, maybe before we even had the Internet

in our household.

I'm very interested to compare our life experiences.

You always have stories about the evil things that you do when you were a kid.

So, I remember a true...

well, maybe not evil.

Anyway, let's get into it.

Would you like to go first?

What is your first thing you did before Facebook?

Michael: Alright, speaking of evil.

You read my mind, I got into trouble.

So, for me, the internet got really big in my life around junior year in high school,

so maybe I was 17.

Before that, we didn't go to parties, we didn't drink a lot and there was no internet.

So, what we did, there’s no huge social media presence on the internet, so we would

just wander around and climb buildings and stuff.

Young adolescent males.

You have all this energy, you're like a little puppy and we would just kind of break things

and nothing too bad.

It’ll be like sticks and beat trash, just like go behind a building and like, you know…

Like “Lord of the Flies,” pretty much.

For me, that's what I did without Facebook.

Alisha: See, I've never understood that appeal.

There were boys in my school as well who also like to break and kick things and I can understand

the appeal of sword fighting with a fluorescent light bulb because I sword fought with my

brother with a vacuum cleaner extension.

One day, my uncle yelled at me loudly and I haven't forgotten that.

But I've always wondered what the appeal was like kicking bushes and things.

Michael: Testosterone, I don't know.

That’s my answer.

Alisha: That’s my answer?

Okay.

Good answer.

Michael: Yeah, what did you do?

Alisha: Gosh, mine seemed very tame now I'm going to go with the absolute antithesis,

the absolute opposite of what you've just said.

“Barbie fashion shows.”

Did you do this?

Michael: No, no.

Alisha: I assume not.

Okay.

I put Barbie in parentheses here because Barbie is a very, very popular toy.

Maybe it still is, at least when I was little it was a popular toy.

It's just a doll.

It's a doll and there's tons of clothes and shoes and you can do things with their hair,

you can cut off their heads if you're one of those types of kids, whatever.

But anyway, I would make my brother play this with me.

We'd get Barbie and there were some Ken.

I had some Ken dolls, too.

Barbie's boyfriend is named Ken.

No Skipper in my household though, just a series of Barbies.

Skipper was Barbie’s friend.

Why I still have this information in my head?

I don't know.

But you just dress them up and then they would--I had like a dollhouse as well and we'd play

games in the dollhouse or we'd make them walk down—what was it?

We had a piano bench in my house and so I would use that as the catwalk.

They would have to go down and display whatever bizarre fashion I'd put on them.

But I put Barbie in parentheses here because we would also do--I thought about putting

it on my card “fashion shows,” but more commonly I think we say dress up.

My mom just gave me a box of her old dresses and things or my dad's old clothes or whatever

and then we'd put that on and act out some kind of weird game or some weird make-believe

or pretend to roleplay things.

Did you ever do like role-playing, sort of things as a kid?

Michael: Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I love role-playing.

I think the main difference--because I have a lot of friends that would actually do that

stuff as well but it's because they had a sister.

For me, I have four brothers.

So, it's all just--it gets this vicious cycle of just like eerrr.

So, we played a lot of video games, we did all that stuff, which, that's my next card.

Oh, twinsies.

Alisha: Ready?

Samesies.

Video Games!

Okay, what kind of games did you play?

Michael: I was a Nintendo kid but we had everything.

That was my life.

It was video games.

We had every single system but, again, Nintendo's for sure my favorite, Super Nintendo, N64.

Alisha: We skipped Super Nintendo for some reason in my house.

We have Nintendo, Nintendo 64, we had PlayStation.

We rented PlayStation for a while and then we ended up buying it.

We had GameCube, too.

PlayStation 2 as well.

Michael: A couple of nerds, man.

Alisha: Yeah.

Michael: That qualifies.

If you have that many, you can list them.

Alisha: Yeah.

What did you play on a regular Nintendo?

Michael: Just anything that's kind of retro, old-fashioned I guess.

Just “Mario,” all the platformers, those are my favorite.

For me, because I was the fourth brother, so I was pretty bad at video games.

I remember playing Mario and I wouldn't run.

If I ran and you hold down the B or whatever, it was too fast and I’d always die.

I would just kind of hold over and slowly walk and my brothers are so painful.

They're like, “Michael, like go, come on!”

So, they just wouldn’t let me play and I just watch and say, “Wow, this is so cool.”

Alisha: That’s the same experience with my dad because I'm the oldest I have one younger

brother and I wanted to play because my dad would play.

And, there's a picture somewhere in my household, I don't know where, of my dad sitting on the

floor intently playing a game.

But I wanted to play too and so he just gave me a controller but it's not hooked up to

anything.

It's just me, playing with my dad.

Michael: That's a memory.

I think every kid can relate to.

I have that too.

They left it unplugged and I didn't get why it didn't match what I was doing but still,

I loved it!

Alisha: Yeah.

Michael: I'd go to the arcade and there's the demo and it’s “Cruisi’n USA” racing

game and there's just the trailer for it and you just sit there, you hold the steering

wheel and you have a blast.

If you're under nine or something, you don’t need to spend your money.

Alisha: Right, it's true.

Alright.

Great.

So, we both had video games, we could talk for a long time about that.

But, let's be adults.

Okay.

I guess I'll go to my next one which is quite boring, maybe you have the same one.

I'm sorry for just like staring at your crotch.

Michael: That’s okay.

Alisha: The next thing that I picked was pretty tame, I think most kids everywhere still do

this.

“Playing sports or playing music.”

Let's see, when I was in junior high school, my dad forced my brother and I to play golf

in the summertime.

We had to get up early all during the summer and go play golf.

Played volleyball, played basketball, I was in a band.

I played saxophone, I played piano.

My parents were very activity-centric, it was good.

In “retrospect,” looking back on things, I’m glad.

But, at that time, I did not want to do it.

Did your parents make you do sports?

Michael: Um, kind of.

No, not really.

I can't lie.

I think the grass is always greener on the other side which is a proverb I know is in

other languages, too.

But it basically means no matter which side of the situation you're on, you're envious

of what other people have.

So, for me, because I never had piano lessons or was forced into band or extracurricular

activities, my parents were supportive, but it's kind of hard to handle five boys man.

So, if we didn't really want to do it, we didn't have to. and now looking back I regret

not doing it because I wish I could play an instrument or do that kind of stuff.

But, a lot of my friends who did piano and they had a really full schedule.

Me and the bad kids would say, “Hey, let's go break sticks behind a building.”

There'd be those other kids who would say, “I'm sorry, I got to go to soccer practice.”

This or that.

And at the time those kids hated it but I look back and I think they have really good

skills and stuff.

Alisha: Yeah.

Michael: You know, there's a balance.

Alisha: Yeah, I think you're right.

I think it's a “trade-off.”

There are good aspects of both sides.

This brings to mind, I don't remember who said this, someone said, it was about college.

it wasn't so much about elementary school or junior high school, but that you remember

the times that you spend out with your friends.

It's not the times that you remember studying for a test that stick in your head, it's all

those times breaking sticks with friends or whatever it is, or breaking lights.

That's the stuff that you remember.

That's actually fun spending time with people.

Okay, that was my last one.

What's your last one?

Michael: “Wandered around the mall.”

So, this was the closest thing to social media at that time.

You would go there and that's where you would bump into random people, acquaintances, meet

new people and we would never spend any money.

We were the mall rats. we would go and maybe a dollar we'd buy incense sticks or get a

soda or something like that.

But, generally, it was just to kill three hours and meet people.

Just be out of the house.

Alisha: Yeah, that's true.

Were you able to walk to your local mall?

Michael: Yeah, I mean it was a long walk.

It’s like 20 minutes or something but it was pretty much.

Alisha: Alright.

So, those are some things that we used to do before we had the internet, before we had

Facebook.

Maybe you feel the same way now, too, like I want to go not do Facebook things right

now.

I want to go do something.

I want to go make something.

Do you?

Michael: Yeah, but listening to your stories, I feel like it’s a little bit safer post-Facebook

world.

You just sit in your basement, you don't do anything.

But at least you're not starting fires and breaking things.

Alisha: But are we gaining weight?

We have to find the right balance between sitting on Facebook and starting fires maybe.

Let's be in-between there.

This show!

Michael: Yeah.

Subscribe.

Click this video right here.

Alisha: Click something.

Okay, so I think that will end the video there that seems like a good place to stop.

Thanks very much for watching.

Please share what you did before the internet, before you had Facebook and social media.

Maybe you had a few stories similar to ours.

Thanks very much for watching.

As Michael said, please subscribe so that you don't miss anything else fun that we have

to talk about or anything embarrassing we have to share.

Thanks very much for watching and we will see you again, soon. Bye.