Growing up during the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s was a special time. There were no smartphones (or even cell phones for most of these generations), so kids were forced to touch grass. Gen X (born 1965-1980) and Millennials (1981-1996) spent their youth playing stickball on the streets, going to roller skating rinks, and waiting to hear their favorite songs on the local radio station.

Movies were watched either in the theater or at home with a VHS tape that you had to rewind to be kind. And fads were huge with these generations. Little play animals kept us occupied when we couldn’t have the real thing, and our snack options were questionable.

Now that we’re way past that stage, it’s fun to reminisce about the things that sparked joy in our childhood. The younger generations may not get it, but we need to keep these memories alive, just like how our forefathers loved to remind us how they trudged five miles in the snow to get to school.

1. Eating Kraft Singles as a snack

There was hardly an easier after-school snack than these individually packaged slices of orange mystery cheese. It’s not technically even considered “real cheese” by the FDA, but did we care? Absolutely not, and neither did our parents. Also, peeling that layer of plastic was so satisfying. IYKYN.

2. Portable CD players and Walkmans

Before music could be magically streamed at a touch of your finger, there were these things called Walkmans. You had to go to Sam Goody, or something similar, buy a cassette tape, jam it into the player, and then listen to the latest Debbie Gibson single.

When CD players came around, it was a technological revolution, but then you found yourself with a bulky case of scratched polycarbonate plastic that you were afraid to leave in your car lest someone broke in and stole your music collection. Ah, those were the days.

3. Tamagotchis prepared us for parenthood (not really)

Back when we didn’t even know how to care for a goldfish, Tamagotchis taught us a semblance of responsibility. This Japanese ’90s phenomenon had us feeding a virtual pet and taking care of it during sick times, all through a handheld pixelated device. The caveat? If you neglected it, your digital companion perished, but thankfully, you could reset it.

4. Shopping mall hangouts were so rad

Malls? With stores? With people who actually met in person, regularly? Yes, believe it or not, it was a thing. Summer evenings weren’t complete without ice cream at your local mall while checking out your crushes. Bonus if you had enough allowance money to buy trinkets at Claire’s.

5. Friday night Blockbuster trips

The quintessential Friday night for Gen X and Millennials was pizza and a Blockbuster run to peruse the latest rentals. Some of the fun was watching little siblings become frightened over horror movie video covers. We’d make tubs of buttery popcorn like we were at the movies and rewatch the rentals all weekend to get our money’s worth.

6. Having a family computer

Gen Z and Alpha will never know the struggle Millennials and Gen X went through. Forget individual laptops. We had ONE family computer that was located in the living room or “computer room,” with the screen facing the door so everyone saw what you were doing.

Each family member had their own desktop profile featuring an avatar of a flower or another ubiquitous digital image. Oh, and you had to be quick, because dial-up internet meant no calls in or out while in use. (Someone was always mad about that).

7. Using pay phones and rotary phones

Cell phones were invented in 1973 by Motorola, but they weren’t widely used until the ’90s. Even then, the older generations knew to keep a quarter on them at all times just for emergencies. We had to locate a pay phone, slip in 25 cents, and dial our parents to come pick us up.

If that wasn’t enough to wrap Gen Alpha’s heads around, imagine getting them to use a rotary phone. Hey, Siri, how does this old-timey thing work?

8. Lisa Frank school supplies

If you wanted to stand out in the ’80s, you came prepared with Lisa Frank school supplies. All the girly girls in school had these vibrant folders, pencils, stickers, and more. It was almost impossible to resist the ultra-colorful, maximal designs featuring super-cute graphic tigers, dolphins, pandas, and unicorns against rainbow animal-print backgrounds. Or was it more so impossible to miss?

The notebooks, folders, pencils, and holographic stickers were adorned with the most distracting designs possible, and we loved Lisa Frank because of it.

9. Cereal box toys

The most exciting moment of eating sugary breakfast cereal wasn’t the flavor, or the crunch, or the marshmallows: it was the toy nestled at the very bottom of the box.

While the folks heading the cereal companies probably envisioned kids receiving a “treat” for finishing their cereal, which was reminiscent of dessert anyway, no one waited for that moment. The instant a new box was opened, siblings fought for the chance to cram an arm in there, crunching precious cereal along the way, and claim their prize. It never got old.

10. OG MTV

Growing up with Music Television was absolutely defining for Millennials and Gen X-ers. The channel aired hours of music videos from our favorite artists, which essentially bookended our school days. We’d get dressed for school with an eclectic assortment of artists like Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna, Backstreet Boys, and Eminem playing in the background, and return home to TRL (Total Request Live), which played the top 10 music videos of the day.

And let’s not forget, MTV also pioneered reality TV with The Real World, which impressively ran for 33 seasons. So, if we grew tired of music videos, which we never did, there was variation sprinkled in. It was truly one of the best parts of growing up in the ’90s and early 2000s.

11. AOL chat rooms

Dial-up internet was revolutionized with AOL chat rooms, where you’d join public forums to talk to friends and questionable strangers. If you’re a Gen X or Millennial, chances are you had some sort of cutesy moniker, like Bunniexoxo or MustangRob. And you would type your sentences LiKe tHiS fOr sOme ReAsOn eVeN tHo iT toOk fOrEvEr.

12. Saturdays always began with cartoons

Even though you never wanted to wake up early for school, Saturdays somehow found you up at 8:00 am to watch your favorite morning cartoons. Thundercats, Looney Tunes, He-Man, She-Ra … the lineup didn’t get any better than that, especially with a bowl of your favorite cereal.

13. McDonald’s playgrounds

When you were a kid, you couldn’t pass by a McDonald’s without begging your parents to let you play in their playgrounds. Their bright colors and cartoonish feel were the perfect recipe to draw in customers who then had to spend money on Happy Meals.

14. Prank calls were our source of entertainment

No sleepovers were complete without tying up our house’s landline with a series of prank calls. Whether it was to your crush or the local pizza place, annoying others via phone was one way to incite a fit of giggles with your besties.

15. Burning CDs was a painstaking process

The younger generations will never understand the sweat and tears it took for Gen X and Millennials to burn a CD full of your favorite songs. You first had to buy blank CDs, insert one into your computer, and then burn your music using special software. It was a slow and tedious process that didn’t always work, especially if there was a corrupt file, hence all the piles of discarded CDs in your garbage can.