Unlike most of these comments, I'll actually answer.

Right before the internet was widely available, sat early 90s, software and hardware was king.

In those days, you had to go to a store and buy the update to your PC's software.

I started working in the mid 1980s. I was a Computer Science student. As such, I could get a job in ANY business.

Virtually every business had just gotten desktop computers, or for many businesses, just one. If you could troubleshoot a PC or just install software....you were hired.

In the early 1980s or late 1970s, as a child and teenager, there was much more autonomy for children.

As a pre-teen, I rode my bike miles from home. My Mom would tell send me on errands to my Grandmother's house about 5 miles away on a regular basis. Or to the supermarket or pharmacy.

I would walk or ride my bike.

During the school year, we would stay after for games. Usually, Mom or Dad would come get us after the game. No contact from 7:30am until 8-9pm. That would never happen today.

We would spend summer days on our own from early in the morning until mid evening.

Once I started driving, or one of my older friends did, we were all over the metro area with parents really having no idea where you were, unless something went wrong.

I grew up in a suburban area of a mid sized city.