10 Childhood Struggles Kids Today Couldn’t Handle

You know you’ve turned into your parents when you find yourself saying, “Kids these days will never understand..”

I’m guilty of using that phrase way more than I probably should be using it, but it’s true! As a mom to a teenager, I always wonder if he would've made it without a cell phone because back in my day, cell phones didn’t exist!

Someone on TikTok asked a group of people to spill on the stuff we grew up with that would emotionally destroy kids today. And honestly? They’re not wrong. 

Buzzfeed created a list of 66 things that kids today will never understand! Here are the top 10 things that made us tough… or traumatized, depending on how you look at it.

10 Things We Survived as Kids That Would Emotionally Wreck Today’s Youth

1. Dodgeball in gym class. This wasn’t a “fun game.” It was The Hunger Games: Playground Edition.

2. Writing drafts by hand. First draft, second draft, final draft—all handwritten. Carpal tunnel before age 15.

3. Bullying that never stopped. Teachers’ advice? “Ignore it.” Spoiler: That didn’t help.

4. Babysitting infants at 12. Forget babysitting apps—your neighbor handed you their actual baby and $5 for the night.

5. Being bored. No iPads, no TikTok. Just staring at the ceiling, contemplating existence.

6. Going a whole day without a water bottle. Your hydration strategy? One lukewarm sip at the hallway fountain.

7. Dial-up internet. The screeching modem. Mom yelling “Get off, I need the phone!” Pure pain.

8. Just not knowing stuff. If the encyclopedia didn’t have it? You lived in ignorance forever.

9. Car rides with smoking parents. Windows up. Nicotine sauna. No escape.

10. Nothing on-demand. If you missed your favorite show? That was it. No reruns, no streaming. Goodbye forever.

So yeah, kids today will never understand the emotional resilience that came from surviving dial-up tones and secondhand smoke.

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