Every generation has its "you just had to be there" moments. Looking back, it's wild how many everyday experiences have completely disappeared.

User Severe-Day-9428 on Reddit asked, "What’s something every Gen Xer experienced that younger generations will never truly understand?"

1. "Young people will never know the fun of the early internet, from bulletin boards to primitive websites to blogs. It was the Wild West — largely noncommercial — and a really good time. Social media hasn't been able to replace the BBS and blogging communities we had."

–nakedonmygoat

2. "The lovely laziness of the Sunday paper. Six or eight full-color pages of comic strips, the entertainment section, the op-eds, sports, lifestyle puff pieces, a full-page crossword puzzle, and actual news stories written with facts and information. I miss that a lot. The whole family would take different sections and trade them throughout the day. There was always a late breakfast involved."

–rozlinski

3. "The level of freedom we had was wild. My bestie and I were bad girls in the nerdiest way — we'd cut school, take the bus into NYC, and sneak into Broadway plays at intermission. They had standing-room-only tickets back then, and no one ever questioned us if we stood next to proper adults."

–Apr1ISn0w

4. "Buying magazines. You'd get ones covering computer and video game reviews (including demo discs), hobbies (skateboarding, aquariums, cars, etc.), kids and educational (Ranger Rick, Highlights, National Geographic), general (Reader's Digest), fashion, entertainment and music — all sorts of themes. Also, pulling posters out of magazines to hang on your bedroom wall."

–woeful_haichi

5. "Calling someone’s house and having to explain why you were calling to their parents before they'd hand over the phone."

–OwlPelletCrunch

6. "Just driving to some town with no GPS or plan, getting there, and finding out there’s some festival going on that you had no clue existed. Like, 'Wow, they're having a parade for the pumpernickel bread festival."

–Other_Asparagus872

7. "Politics before everything became so hyperpartisan that peoplestarted cutting off family and friends."

–marythegr8

8. "Not being in constant contact with others. If you were out and needed to get in touch with someone quickly, your only option was a pay phone and hoping someone on the other end would pick up. If you wanted to meet someone somewhere, you had to trust they’d show up at the right time and place."

–Eastern-Finish-1251

9. "Younger people will never understand a true fresh start was like. When you went to college, started a new school, or got a new job, you could completely change how people saw you. You could try different clothes, a new hairstyle, whatever. Today, young people have a digital photographic history whether they want one or not. I'm so glad I didn't have to deal with that."

–bknyguy15

10. "Making prank calls on a Saturday night. 'Hello, this is electric company checking on reports of power outages in your area. Could you check your refrigerator for us? Is your refrigerator running? You better catch it!'"

–ElderberryReal4022

11. "The complete inability to verify information in real time. You'd be at a bar arguing with someone about some random fact, and that was just the end of it. You'd both leave thinking you were right and might never find out who actually was. No one could pull out a phone and settle it. Arguments just hung in the air unresolved forever."

–Ramwhore18

12. "The random people you could meet and chat with in chat rooms, before all the apps and websites that made meeting people so organized."

–bluebirdofhappy

13. "Having to physically go to the record store (The Wherehouse) to buy $15 concert tickets."

–Amazing-Level-6659

15. "The intimacy of a long conversation over a landline phone with crystal-clear audio. You could hear every breath and rustle on the other end. No audio dropouts, no distortion, no wondering whether the other person heard you. And by intimate, I don't just mean romantic. I mean those long conversations with friends where you'd ramble from topic to topic and solve all the world's problems over the course of an hour."

–Mindless_Log2009

16. "Parking without a rearview camera."

–EnKogNeedo

17. "Christmas catalogs as a kid."

–prfsvugi

19. "People today will never know how expensive long-distance calls were. Calling another country was practically unheard of. I'm still amazed by today's technology."

–AZPeakBagger

22. "People only took your picture a few times a year at most. It was expensive."

–GenXClub

24. "Being bored and finding new, creative things to do because of it."

–catdude142

25. "Being able to legally drink at 18."

–Leskatwri

Gen X'ers: What's something you experienced that the younger generations will never understand? Let us know in the comments or via this anonymous form!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.