We Don't Miss These 'Good Old Days'

Remember when we thought the good old days were better?

Well... we changed our minds.

In this episode of Sherapy with Sheri & Randy, we're looking at 10 things that are actually better today than when we were growing up. From GPS replacing paper maps and streaming music replacing stacks of records, to video calls, modern healthcare, online banking, and instant access to information, some changes have made life easier, safer, and more connected.

Along the way, we share memories of pay phones, Fotomats, deposit slips, long telephone cords, record stores, and all the little things that made growing up in the 70s and 80s memorable.

This is a fun, nostalgic conversation about what we've gained, what we've lost, and why maybe—just maybe—not everything was better back then.

Grab a cup of coffee and join us for a trip down memory lane.

Sherapy with Sheri & Randy
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Theme music by: Sheri Todd and MakeBestMusic

Written & hosted by: Sheri Todd

 Recorded somewhere between healing and humor.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

The first 45 that I ever bought, mom made me take it back.

SPEAKER_04 0:05

Well, I gotta do SpaceTime and I can still see her. Oh man, it's so awesome.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Life a little stay a while. Retired life still makes a smile.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Shelly Wandy cruising along. Welcome to Sherry, where you belong.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

So guess what we're gonna talk about today, y'all? We're talking about things that are actually better today than they were when we were kids.

SPEAKER_04 0:37

Did you do the intro?

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Welcome to Sherry. I'm Sherry. This is Randy. We are brother and sister. We are not married. So let's talk about. I got like 10 things here and we're gonna talk about. So we'll talk about the first one, GPS. Remember? GPS.

SPEAKER_04 0:53

Very much so.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

GPS is so much better now. I mean, you it's just on a phone. You need to know it go anywhere, and you just look on your phone, and it'll take you right there. I use GPS all the time.

SPEAKER_04 1:04

Well I use GPS too.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

But remember GPS you had to pay for the thing? It was like a little I think it was Garmin or something, and you had to pay for the.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

Oh, the Groman thing, yeah. Yeah. And now it's on your phone.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Google. You don't have to even worry about it.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

That was a big thing when that came out. When Groman came out with that? Everybody had a Groman.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

But now it's just back in the day you had to use you had to go to a gas station. Remember gas stations to get directions, or get on the phone, find a phone booth and call somebody. Or use the paper, you know, paper map.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

Just another thing that we it was different back then too. Which is much better now.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

So number two, access to music.

SPEAKER_04 1:40

Yes. Oh, huge.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

You loved a song by an artist and you wanted their album, you had to literally go to the record store and buy it. And then take it home, and then take it out, and then play it. And then the bad part about it was a cassette player or a CD.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

Yeah, and then sometimes the the record would scratch. And that was the end of that.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

The only good song that was on there was the song that was the hit, and all the other 12 songs, 11 songs were sucky.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

And now, today, we don't we don't have to wait at all. No. Yeah. Apple Music, Spotify, whatever. You can whatever song you love, you can make your playlist.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

And it's not just the new music, it's the old music, too.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

Yeah, you can get anything you want instantly. That's it. And that to me is awesome. What was the first record you ever bought? Or 45. Okay. 45. It'll be a 45.

SPEAKER_04 2:40

I think the first one I bought was, I'm not sure of this, but I think it was a Neil Diamond. And it was um Sweet Caroline.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

Sweet Caroline. The first 45 that I ever bought, because 45s were cheaper than albums.

SPEAKER_04 2:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

Mom made me take it back.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

Why?

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Because it was My Dingling.

SPEAKER_04 3:02

My Dingling. By Chuck Berry. Did you really?

SPEAKER_03 3:04

I did. I bought that. I loved that song. It was the live version. That was the hit, the live version. And mom heard me playing it and she got so mad she made me take it back. It was funny. It was it was a funny, cute song. I mean, I didn't think anything bad about it, but mom, oh mom, she made me take it back. Back. Those were good days, huh? Now, taking photos. Remember those? Remember you had to take the photos, and you had to hope that one of them was good out of the 12 or 24 that you had in there. And most of them came back with, you know, pictures of somebody's somebody's foot, your thumb, you know, picture of yourself. It was, yeah, it was just horrible. You you and then you'd have to wait. You couldn't get it right away. You had to wait, drop it off, wait, get maybe back in three days, maybe a week. I don't know. And you were so excited when pictures are in, and everybody would run to go get them to look at the pictures, and then you get so disappointed.

SPEAKER_04 4:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

Pictures are so bad. Now you got like a million of them on your phone. You can do whatever you yeah. And you don't have to wait. Just take a picture and you look right away. Almost like a polar ray. So number four, E.T., call home.

SPEAKER_04 4:19

How many times did I stop at a telephone booth?

SPEAKER_03 4:21

And call somebody.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

And make sure I had change on me.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

And you got out of those quarters. Yeah. Or depending on how old you were. A nickel. Nickels. Yeah. You had to have that call. Yeah. And you had to carry change. Long distance phone calls cost money. They weren't free.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

They weren't free.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

And that and long distance doesn't mean like three minutes. Yeah, and it doesn't mean long distance, you know, in the next state. It could be long distance was like in the next county.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

Ten mil, ten miles.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:48

It's the long distance.

SPEAKER_03 4:49

It was long distance. But when you got mad at somebody, boom.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

Boom. Down.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

Best feeling in the world to slam that phone down when you're mad. It's not the same as throwing a phone across the room. Just slamming that phone down. Because then you just waste, you just threw a thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_04 5:02

And they were just plastic phones, so we tossed those fuckers, man.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

And they were cheap to get. They weren't expensive.

SPEAKER_04 5:08

Also, remember looking for the longest cord we could find. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

So we could walk around the house with a phone or hide in the bedroom or in the closet and do your private phone calls.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

Yeah. Yeah. We could call, text, FaceTime, which I think is great. Yeah. Because back in the day it was like you had to It was a hassle making a phone call back in the day. Number five, watching TV. Much better now than it was then. Much better now. Watching TV back in the day, you had like what, four channels? Four or five? Five? And then you had PBS. Well, I had to watch Sesame Street.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Now you have hundreds and I mean hundreds of channels now.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

Yeah, streaming. It lets you streaming lets you watch whenever you want to watch at any time. You know, like for instance, Randy and I right now, we love Dutton Ranch. Only streaming. But it comes out on Friday. And Randy every day, Friday night, Dutton Ranch, Sherry, you're gonna watch it. I go, Randy, what's the big I can watch it anytime I want? He's like all excited, like three o'clock, six o'clock, Dutton Ranch.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

You know what's weird about that? I know it's on Friday night to get excited. I end up watching it four days later.

SPEAKER_03 6:14

Yeah, well, you can though.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

I know.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

Back in the day, if you missed, I mean, everybody would run, everybody would run home, I remember, and watch More and Mindy. Yeah, more commendy, everybody loved it. It was the funniest show ever. And everybody had to be home to watch more commandy. We can watch thousands of movies too. Yeah. We don't even have to wait. We can see movies that are in the theater right now. Right now.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

All the convenience of home.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Yeah. I mean, I think that's better now. A lot of people will argue that going to a movie is more fun, you know, than staying home. But you know I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 6:49

I'd rather have I'd rather still be home than even go to a movie, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

So would I, because you know, it's it's so expensive.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

Especially we got the big TVs like we got and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 6:59

I mean, it yeah, it it was fun when I was younger. It was exciting to go to the movies because you were seeing a big thing on screen, you were seeing a movie that you knew that whether you weren't gonna see again ever, because videos hadn't been invented yet.

SPEAKER_04 7:14

Right.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

So that was great and it was exciting, but now it it's not it's but it is it as exciting? I don't know, but is it more convenient?

SPEAKER_04 7:23

Yeah, yeah, a lot more convenient.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Last time I went to the movie was with Connie, your wife, and there was a lady that came over and sat next to me and kept talking the whole time. Every time something funny happened, she goes, and I'm like, uh-huh, uh-huh. The whole time. And I felt kind of bad for her because it sucks, yeah. She was old and I know, but that still sucks.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

I know.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

And at one point there was weird noises coming over there, and I'm like, is she dying, sleeping? What's going on over there? But yeah. Number six, medical care. I think it's better now than it was then. Because a lot of uh illnesses that we have now back in the day would have been serious. Now, not so much. With all the medical technologies and and medicine that have come up, things are are better.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

It's a whole lot different. A whole lot better.

SPEAKER_03 8:17

But yeah, but with with medical, you know, I mean, you can get, I mean, back in our day, you couldn't just research things. I mean, you could. You go to a library, look up a medical book, and then you're like totally confused. You have a another dictionary to understand what was being said. But now you don't have to worry about that.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

No, you can call a nurse online now, and I can get a hold of my doctor. All you gotta do is send her a text, and then she'll reply back to me.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

But I love the part that you can do now is people can access information and advocate for themselves, which I'm a big believer that you have to advocate for yourself.

SPEAKER_04 8:51

I do too.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

And yeah, so that's pretty cool. Number seven, shopping.

SPEAKER_04 8:57

A lot easier.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

A lot easier. I don't know, not for you, Randy, but for me, it's a lot easier. Randy loves to shop. I do not. And I love the fact that I don't have to get in my car and drive to the store. I don't like I love the fact that I don't have to go Christmas shopping. Remember? Those were the days. Gotta go Christmas. And that took one day didn't do it. You had to go more days, and you had to go from store to store to store. Sales from sales to sell. Yeah. Amazon just got in my cart. You know, it's just uh I mean, there's some things you have to go to the store, you know. But people, I used to say you have to go to the store to try and clothes, but people still buy it.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

I love going to the store. To me, it's therapeutic. So I've always enjoyed going to the store.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

But do you miss shopping malls? Not really. Really? You used to hang out then when we were. We didn't shop, we just hung out there.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

Yeah, but that was when we were kids. You don't see kids hang out there too many children.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

I know. I mean, I used to like going. I mean, I used to take mom to the mall and we would go. You know, we'd meet up at the Brea Mall.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

Yeah, we don't have lunch. Mom used to like to do that.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

Yeah, and sit there and people watch.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Believe that's been 20 years.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Yeah. And Brea Mall's still there. And number eight is banking.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

Much easier.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

Do you ever balance a checkbook?

SPEAKER_04 10:17

Yes, I have.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Don't have to now.

SPEAKER_04 10:20

Kids don't have to.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

You don't even have to worry about banking hours.

SPEAKER_04 10:23

Parents, kids are never gonna have to experience that moment of banking.

SPEAKER_03 10:26

That's why you don't really need to balance a checkbook.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

No, not today, you don't. It doesn't.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

You don't have to go and deposit checks because either if someone gives you a check, you just take a picture of it on your phone and goes in. Or most sell you money, or and you get direct deposits. So really, the only time you need to go to the bank is if there's a problem or you're you know closing it out. You can even do that online, really.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

So number six, I think, is better today than yesterday when we were kids, is finding information. You yeah, when you were young, you had to go to the library and you had to look through encyclopedias, and research would take hours. Take fore hours now forever. I don't have to wait hours. It's so much easier today.

SPEAKER_04 11:13

It's unbelievable how much easier it is.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

Do you think information today is better?

SPEAKER_04 11:19

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

And then and faster?

SPEAKER_04 11:22

Oh yes, by far.

SPEAKER_03 11:23

Too much information. Too much. And how do you know what is real and it's not real?

SPEAKER_04 11:27

That's you gotta research and find out. So you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 11:33

And number 10, which is a really important thing that's really changed a lot, staying connected with family. It's so much easier. I think we touched on a little bit with the phones. You can stay in touch so easy with family now, because of phones. Um, you can text every day, you can send pictures, you can um FaceTime. Back then you'd have to write a letter. Remember? How many letters did you write, Randy, when you were in baseball?

SPEAKER_04 12:01

Oh, a lot. A whole bunch.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

Yeah, you don't have to now, you just call somebody.

SPEAKER_04 12:05

Well, what's cool now, like with Candy living in Idaho, all I have to do is FaceTimer. Your daughter. My daughter, yeah. All I gotta do is FaceTime, and I can still see her. Got him. Oh man, it's so awesome. I mean, it's not like being there, but it's it's not bad.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

It's better than the alternative back in the day.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

It was just totally different, man. It was different lifestyle. These kids today wouldn't have no clue. Period.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

They probably sound we sound like we did when we were young, and we used to hear our parents talk about the good old days, and we're like, oh god.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

I know.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

But really, you know, I mean, my niece, I'm not gonna call out her name, my niece could not look at an analog clock and tell me what time it was. A digital clock she was fine with. An analog clock she would look at and go, I meant to.

SPEAKER_04 12:56

She do it backwards.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

No, it was just they just couldn't figure it out.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

It's just funny how different it is for generations.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

All the phone numbers that we remembered.

SPEAKER_04 13:05

Oh, God.

SPEAKER_03 13:05

We remembered everybody's phone number.

SPEAKER_04 13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

I don't know anybody's phone number now. I haven't since since cell phones have come out because it's all in there. I don't uh it took me years before I even learned my own phone number. So, what's the one thing that you would like to bring back from the good old days? Comment below and let us know.

SPEAKER_04 13:25

Subscribe.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

Please subscribe while you're commenting.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

Everybody, thank you for joining us. Hope you have a nice uh rest of your nice day. Hope you have a hope the rest of your day is very nice. I'm not drunk. Hope the rest of your day is great. Your weekend coming up being great. And um take care. And what do you always say, Sherry?

SPEAKER_03 13:46

And always remember to subscribe. I mean, always remember to embrace your voice.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Always see you next time. See you later, guys. Hey, thanks for hanging out with us for a bit. If this felt like your kind of conversation, go ahead and subscribe and follow. We'd love to have you back.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Still takes a smile. Shall we?