The world has changed in the past 30 years. Technology has considerably improved not only the lives of students but also of teachers and parents alike. If back in the 90s the combination of students with smartphones didn’t exist, nowadays you can’t find a student without a smartphone.
Smartphones rule our lives. They are essentially a tiny computers which can take amazing photographs and also connect to the internet. If you are a student nowadays and you find yourself bored between lessons, you surely just grab your smartphone and scroll your social media feed.
But things were pretty different back in the 90s and students saved the breaks between lessons for other activities. Below you will find a list of 6 common things that students did back then when they weren’t distracted by a smartphone. Who knows, it might even inspire you to put your phone away.
1. Switch Tables
In some classes, you just wanted to stay near your friends. Maybe the teacher was more permissive and you were allowed to talk for the whole class. Or maybe you wanted to work in the same writing group as your fellow friends. So, what did students do between lessons?
They switched tables with the hope that they will be closer to their friends. Unfortunately, some teachers did not allow these table switches, so many students were asked to return to their original places. But it was worth the shot, as some teachers had not even noticed the changes.
2. Copy the Homework and Not Buy an Assignment Online
Back then, when the internet was just developing, you couldn’t write on a forum to get answers to your Math problem. Or, you couldn’t search on Wikipedia for some information about a historical figure. All the information you could ever find was in books and libraries, so many students struggled to find time to do all their homework.
So, what did they do between lessons? They copied the homework off someone else. Sometimes that became a skill in itself if the homework was long and you had to finish copying it before the start of the lesson.
Things are pretty different nowadays. Even though the college and teacher’s expectations are higher than before, college students can still meet them. If they need to write an essay or assignment on a specific topic, one thing they can do is just buy an assignment and relax. The era of copying information on the internet ended, as now it is easier for teachers to identify those who did this. Why? Because assignments were similar as students got their inspiration from the same sources. Now, there are writing services with expert writers, ready to support students in their academic pursuits.
3. Gossip
If nowadays you can gossip online, as there are many message applications, in the 90s things were different. You could write the message on a piece of paper and send it to your target friends. But until that piece of paper reached them, it sometimes had to go through the hands of many other classmates, some of whom even attempted to read it.
So, when the teacher was out of class, students gathered for gossip. They talked about that new couple in the school or news and updates on their favorite actors or singers. The excitement was real.
4. Sleep
What do you do when you need to attend classes but you didn’t get enough sleep last night? You try to sleep between lessons. Even though it may seem odd, this may be among the habits that nowadays students have kept. You can still see some of them trying to sleep between lessons. And if you manage to fall asleep, it may turn out to be that power nap you were looking for. Just be careful that no-one does anything to you while you are asleep, such as drawing on your face or sticking something to your back.
5. Have a Snack
Food supplies you with the energy you need. And when you are a student, you need a lot of energy to focus on the lessons and gain new knowledge. But breaks between lessons were not for that back in the 90s. They were for 90s snacks. Students shared snacks and some of them even continued munching on them during lessons. Because when the teacher is not paying attention, you could eat something and hope you won’t get noticed.
6. Go to the Toilet
Even though this might seem obvious, back in the 90s teachers had a more obsolete view on how education should be done. So, even though a student might ask for permission to go to the bathroom during classes, they were often not allowed to. So some people might always rush to the toilet when the bell went.
Conclusion
Things are different with smartphones, including the activities students engage in between lessons. Back in the 90s, real interaction with colleagues and friends was what ruled the breaks.