I am writing a paper discussing how culture has changed throughout the years. I am to interview people from different decades... 60's 50's 40's 30's and my silly teacher thinks I can do this... haha she's silly. I have social phobia therefore I cannot interview people so I thought I would come here.
Please take your time to answer my questions and if you do, Santa, might come to visit you Oh yeah your age would be nice too. All these questions make reference to your childhood.

-How common were electronics such as stereos, television sets, and computers in your home?

-What household chores did you have?

-Was it common for teens to have jobs?

-Did your mother work or stay at home?

-Was teen sex and pregnancy a big deal as it is today?

-How did you get along with your neighbors?

-Did you sit at the table with your family at supper?

Interesting questions - I'll be curious as to the differences you get. I wonder if may have a geographical slant to it as well as the era itself. Oh - and for informational purposes - I am female and 40.

-How common were electronics such as stereos, television sets, and computers in your home?

We had a rather large stereo that was more of a piece of oak furniture than just an electronic device - it was a turntable and radio encased w/the speakers in a big piece. I got my first stereo when I was about 14 I think - an 8-track/turntable/radio. We had one television set until I was in my mid-teens and then got a second one. Computers??? How about a "manual" typewriter - does that count? Bumped up to an electric typewriter for highschool graduation!!LOL

-What household chores did you have?
I was responsible for setting the table for breakfast and for dinner as well as clearing the table afterwards. I was supposed to clean my room, but since I never did it to Mom's liking - she basically took care of that. I NEVER did laundry when I lived at home EVER (I didn't even know how to until I went to college). My only other responsibility/chore was to feed the dog and take her for walks.

-Was it common for teens to have jobs?
Outside of babysitting, teens rarely had jobs until after they turned 16. I didn't get my first job until I was 17 (outside of a couple of very bad babysitting experiences!)

-Did your mother work or stay at home?
My Mom stayed home with my brother and I.

-Was teen sex and pregnancy a big deal as it is today?
Gosh no - and if it happened, it was very hush-hush - there was one girl at highschool who was pregnant and she didn't finish senior year.

-How did you get along with your neighbors?
Extremely well, my parents were friendly with the neighbors they met as were all of the children. Oftentimes there were neighborhood activities that the families participated in as well as the Coffee/Tea mom's had in many of the afternoons.

-Did you sit at the table with your family at supper?
Every night - like clockwork.

-Age?
-I'm nearly 51 years old.

-How common were electronics such as stereos, television sets, and computers in your home?
-Originally we had one big TV. My sister had a record player.
In my teens, we had a couple of portable TV's and I got a cabinet-style stereo: Record player and radio.

-What household chores did you have?
-None, actually - which was pretty bad for me in the long run.

-Was it common for teens to have jobs?
-Younger teens rarely had jobs; but older ones often did.
Also in my school they had DE (Distributive Education) - a student would work half of the school day as part of the class.
(Of course, I participated in none of this - again, not good for me.)

-Did your mother work or stay at home?
-My parents were divorced, so my mother worked.
My grandmother lived with us and took care of me while she was at work. Child care was a rarity - and didn't exist as we know it today.

-Was teen sex and pregnancy a big deal as it is today?
-No. It happened, but not nearly so often. Girls who "did it" were "bad girls." And when pregnancy occurred, it usually resulted in a "shotgun wedding." Abortions were illegal and rare.

-How did you get along with your neighbors?
-I got along OK I guess - most of them were older, so they were just..neighbors. We didn't visit.
I did have some friends within walking distance that I'd visit now and then.

-Did you sit at the table with your family at supper?
-At first, yes.
After it was just me and Mama (I was 19), we began to eat in her bedroom in front of the portable TV.

Thanks for letting me be a part of your survey!

Do you want my experiences? I'm a 23-year-old female...

-How common were electronics such as stereos, television sets, and computers in your home?
We've had at least one TV as long as I can remember, although I never had one of my own until my senior year in college. We got a VCR (I think it was a beta!) when I was about five and have had at least one ever since. We had a word processor for a long time, and got our first computer when I was in maybe ninth or tenth grade. We've had a microwave pretty much since they came out.
Currently, my parents have three TVs, four VCRs, a DVD player, one computer and a full stereo system. They also have a fax machine, two phone lines and six telephones. Yeeehaww.
I have two TVs, two VCRs, two computers, one stereo system, one portable stereo and a Playstation2 (that's our DVD player). We have one phone line and not call-waiting, even. If it's busy, you call back.

-What household chores did you have?
Sighhh... I cleaned the whole house, emptied the dishwasher, mowed the lawn, cleaned the pool, raked, bagged and lugged leaves to the curb in the fall, shoveled in the winter, set the table, did the dishes with my mother, set up the coffee maker (even though I didn't drink coffee)...

-Was it common for teens to have jobs?
A lot of my friends had jobs but I never did. I made the choice of work or school and I decided to study my rear end off instead of getting a job. My parents paid me for some of the chores I did (like the cleaning of the house) to compensate for my lack of income.

-Did your mother work or stay at home?
My mother has always worked. When we lived in France, my father was Mr. Mom, but both of them have pretty much always held jobs. When I was a baby, my mother worked days as a teacher and my father worked nights as a waiter so there was always someone at home with me.

-Was teen sex and pregnancy a big deal as it is today?
Hmmmm, my mother gave me the sex talk when I was a junior in college. Thanks, Mom.
Yeah, it was a big deal. Some people just don't think.

-How did you get along with your neighbors?
My parents have always known their neighbors and spent time with them and gotten along with them, but this seems to be rare. Most of my friends don't know their neighbors, and for the most part everyone just complains.

-Did you sit at the table with your family at supper?
Yes. When my father used to work nights, it was just me and my mother, but we always ate together. It was a big huge deal and we always ate together, right up until I moved out.

I'm an 80 year old male.
How common were electronics? The semi-conductor hadn't been invented yet, so I built our first radio using a catwhisker and galena crystal. I didn't have earphones so I borrowed the receiver from the hall telephone. My mother was dumfounded when she heard music from the telephone receiver and afraid we'd be in big trouble if she got a telephone call. Our first 'store-bought' radio was a big console hunk of furniture.
Household chores? Mine was splitting kindling wood for the coal furnace and taking out ashes and garbage.
How common were teen jobs? They were scarce as hen's teeth because unemployment was rampant and you were lucky if your father had a job. From 1929 until late in the thirties we had a "Great Depression" in much of the world.
Mother stayed home as did most mothers due to the scarcity of jobs, except for the occasional domestic type employment - usually part time and very poorly paid.
Teen age pregancy/sex. Very hush-hush and scandalous. For Yelena's benefit: shotgun-wedding was the usual response to unmarried girls who became pregnant. The baby's father was threatened with murder unless he married the girl. The pill hadn't been invented yet either and abortion being illegal often resulted in tragedy.
We got along with our neighbors because we were all in the same financial boat, so there was a lot of sharing and improvising.
Sitting around the dining room table with the family was the norm. Sundays and holidays, dinner was often a very lengthy social event, discussions were wide-ranging and entertaining. Television hadn't come along yet to put a damper on conversation. And there was no such thing as 'fast' food, or microwaved frozen food.

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Originally posted by unautresaccade:
I am writing a paper discussing how culture has changed throughout the years. I am to interview people from different decades... 60's 50's 40's 30's and my silly teacher thinks I can do this... haha she's silly. I have social phobia therefore I cannot interview people so I thought I would come here.
Please take your time to answer my questions and if you do, Santa, might come to visit you Oh yeah your age would be nice too. All these questions make reference to your childhood.

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I am a 36 years old female American (to put into context my answers)

-How common were electronics such as stereos, television sets, and computers in your home?

We had one stereo, one television and no computer (I grew up in the 70's and early 80's)

-What household chores did you have?

I cooked, cleaned, did dishes, did laundry, (even my mom agrees now that I had too many chores). As a kid I couldn't wait until my sister and brother were "Old enough" to do some of the work... they never ended up being old enough. I can remember being responsible for Major dish-washing for whole meals at.. let me think... 9 years to 10 years old.

-Was it common for teens to have jobs?

If you mean, like work at stores and such, I grew up in VERY isolated areas, there were no jobs for teens anyway.

-Did your mother work or stay at home?

My mom worked much of my childhood.. in the most formative of my memories, 2 different jobs at the same time.

-Was teen sex and pregnancy a big deal as it is today?

Again, I was in very isolated areas, it rarely happened, and in fact, I never even THOUGHT about having sex as a teen (I dreamed my erotic dreams, but I never had the remotest thought at DOING anything). There was one young girl that got pregnant in my class in 10th grade, she dropped out that year (we only had like 36 people in my class in our very isolated rural community)

-How did you get along with your neighbors?

When we HAD neighbors, it was a situation of tolerance not friendship

-Did you sit at the table with your family at supper?

We ALWAYS ate dinner as a family.