Let’s get one thing straight: kids today don’t know the true meaning of waiting.
We live in an era of instant gratification. Tap a screen, and a game loads in seconds. Swap from Netflix to YouTube to Fortnite without even standing up. And yet—kids still complain. “Ugh, the Wi-Fi’s slow.” “This game takes forever to install.” “Why do I have to change the disc?”
Oh, sweet summer children… you have no idea what slow is.
Back in the day—when floppy disks actually flopped—we were pioneers of patience. If you grew up in the ’80s or early ’90s, you probably remember the slow, symphonic screech of a cassette tape loading a game. We’re talking 10, 15, even 20 minutes of high-pitched whines and blinking loading bars… only for the game to crash at the very end because you bumped the cassette deck or the volume wasn’t just right.
And don’t even get me started on the Commodore Amiga. Sure, it felt cutting-edge at the time, but if you wanted to play a graphic adventure game like Monkey Island or Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, you better clear your schedule. Some of those games came on 11 floppy disks—ELEVEN! You’d play for five minutes, and then get hit with “Please insert Disk 4.” Then Disk 6. Then Disk 2 again. It was like a full-body workout for your disk-swapping hand.
We didn’t complain (much). We didn’t rage-quit (well, not always). We just dealt with it—because the games were worth it, and honestly, we didn’t know any different. That was gaming. That was the grind.
Now? One update takes an extra two minutes to install and it’s the end of the world.
So next time a kid complains about switching a Blu-ray disc or waiting for a game to patch, do us all a favor. Sit them down and give them the full retro experience: a cassette tape game loading on a ZX Spectrum, or a 12-disk Amiga epic. Let them hear the squeal, see the flashing bars, and live the glorious frustration we endured.
Who knows? They might just come out of it with a newfound appreciation—and a bit more patience.
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