Oh to be 17 again...
 

Seems more and more threads here are longing for the good old days. How do you think it would be for you today if you were 17 again living in this modern world?

What would you do differently this time around? And where do you think you’d be in 30 years?

I'd tell myself to have even MORE fun.

I feel sorry for 17 year olds these days.

Why?

I would go into business for myself mowing or painting or somethin that didn't cost alot to get into.....screw that working for minimum wage flipping burgers. I would be much more forward with the girls and see how many condoms I could use in a year.

I did both painting and mowing all through my teens and early twenties. There is something to be said for being inside and out of the elements during the hot summer months. Cutting tall sloped hillsides off-balance with a weedwacker, grass up to you knees, covered with ticks and spiders...not to mention snakes. Getting covered with small flecks of paint EVERYWHERE. Having paint chips everywhere when you scrape. Not to mention the sound of a paint scrapper on wood clapboards sounding like fingernails slowly scrapping down a chalkboard. I made some money for college painting and cutting grass, but it was neither easy or all that fun. :eek:

One of my wife's nephew's kids is a 16 year old boy that gives me hope for the future of the country. He had a used pickup picked out and paid for before he turned 16. He has a real drive to make money and understands study and college is the path to a real professional career.

He was just accepted into an advanced high school of math and science.

Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I would not mind being 17 physically again but no way do I want to go back to the ignorant greenhorn I back then.

Run more.
Work less.
Have kids earlier.

And buy as many Apple shares as I could afford in 1982 (@ 20 cents/share)

Oddly enough, I would seriously consider completing a two or maybe four year college program and going into a branch of the military. I would choose/train in something I could travel around the globe doing and could make a living at if/after I got out. I might be doing the same thing in 30 years or have branched out into something else as life unfolded. This time around I would be more serious and thoughtful about creating a life & career plan to follow.

No thanks. Life is good, I have no desire to go backwards.

If I were 17 today, I would be packing my gear for California!! In 30 years I would be looking back at the awesome career in music that I had achieved.

Sadly, I did graduate 30 years ago and I have NOT lived out my dream of being a professional drummer.

Couldn't agree more.


Several reasons, but I imagine growing up with smartphones/social media/instant information/the obtrusiveness of technology in general would make for a less enjoyable coming of age than what I was fortunate enough to experience.

I wouldn't go back either, but the question is: would things turn out differently if we had the resources seventeen year-olds have today? Information at your fingertips. Technology to help simplify and enhance our lives. IPHONES. :)

More of a philosophical question. I wouldn't trade my life today for anything. :)

Sarc, I agree with you for the most part. The social media is out of control but to me technology of today does have its benefits, specifically the access to instant information. The viral video of some poor bride falling on her face walking down the aisle on her wedding day. Not so much.

Different? Nah, I'd probably still be a drunk.:)

It's 2 different questions really...
#1 pertains to "in this modern world". I think it'd be harder for me. I'd have a tough time not becoming a video games junkie with the quality of current games, online and off...Plus all the Iphone social media crap... and I probably would do worse at school and socially as a result ;)

#2 is more "if I could talk to my 17y old self".. Aside from stock or real estate picks, I'd be way more careful which sports I pick and take better care of my joints/ligaments/teeth... Avoid rock-climbing (all it did was wreck my hands and shoulders), fix my tennis serve motion earlier (again shoulder), not bust my knees... And not sweat school so much, shoot for Bs instead of As, only the last diploma seems to count ;-)

I agree that this is a tremendous resource, but I'm concerned that it has trained our brains, elevating our expectations that everything should also be instant.
I would have loved to have worked in the pre-email era, but then I would have probably complained about the secondhand smoke.

Above all else, I'm saddened at what tech has done to conversation and small talk. I went to lunch with 3 colleagues the other day to a nice Italian cafe. It was (finally) a fabulous 72 degrees without a cloud in the sky and there we were on the "Chef's Deck" off the back of the kitchen overlooking a meandering stream. The 3 of them couldn't put their damn phone down and enjoy the moment. Then the food came out and it turned into a 5 minute photo-session (and they're all much older than me).
At least I could hear the stream since there was no chit chat.

I'm certainly concerned what this all means for my little ones (4/6) as they grow up in this world, but with so many Pelicans on here with teenagers turning out ok, I think we'll be ok. :cool:

The competition for a 17 year old is much less than it was back then.

Today it's easy to shine when most of the other 17 year olds are blithering idiots who can't see or think past their iphone.

This.

I will say that technology seems to have made it much easier to get laid. So there's that....

Travel. I graduated in '77. The golden age of cheap Continental travel. Backpack, trains, youth hostels.