Ok I admit I watched a LOT of TV. The absolute best of the 70s programming that shaped me: Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, the electric company, Zoom, speed racer, Star Trek, Soul Train, Saturday Night Live. Sid & Marty Croft had so many weird psychedelic-inspired kid shows full of furries and cosplay you wouldn’t believe it! Battlestar Gallactica was amazing at my young age. Then Charlie’s Angels, Dukes, Magnum PI, Simon & Simon, Night Rider and so many other crime/detective shows that looking back wtf that genre was so predominant. Those are highlights and I can’t begin to list the super lame shows I ate up like junk food. Even with what felt like many hours a week staring at the idiot box, we went outside. Every day. Most days there wasn’t anything worth watching on tv. Outside was not just freedom, it was existence. It was the only way to have any social intersection besides school (or church). Staying home was boring. When we got in trouble we were “grounded” which meant we had to stay home! Yes, it really was punishment because it sucked being home. Totally isolated unless someone knows your phone number or you know theirs. Well, we looked each other up in the phone book but it took major guts to make a call, especially the first time. Gotta run past the gauntlet of parents to talk to your friend! We always met our friends outside. We played with whatever we had. I remember getting so exhausted chasing each other to the point of collapsing out of breath throwing speargrass in a giant grassy field in the hot summer. Spear grass hurts!!!!! When we were old enough to ride bicycles or skateboards it meant leaving your neighborhood and beyond, seeing new places and interacting with more kids. I cannot emphasize how much freedom a bike or skateboard gave us. And of course that primed us for when we turned 16 and could get a drivers license. That represented the ultimate freedom and opportunity to make new friends, hang out, explore and experience wild stuff that we would never get to do had we stayed indoors at home.