To wish camera phones had been about when I was a lass?

[teaforbreakfast]

Lighthearted!

I did quite a lot of fun and exciting things as a youngster but unfortunately have no record of them whatsoever.

Now, I am not suggesting the other extreme of videoing every concert and uploading a thousand images onto Facebook are positive things in any way but just the same, there are NO pictures of me between the ages of 16 and 28! and I'm sure I was quite nice looking then!

Or AIBU?

I don't!

I'm glad camera phones weren't about when I was in my teens. I looked horrific and when I come across the very few pictures of me that exist from then they get destroyed.

Ooh yes. I would have got some fab selfies with a certain 80s group rather than just memories.

But I am so glad FB was not a thing. I was bullied really badly at school.

I'm glad they weren't! I was a very self conscious teenager and a drunkard in my early 20s! (Not really just a typical lass of that age.) I would be mortified if there were loads of pics.

I am forever glad that they didn't exist when I was younger, especially around 18-21!

I'm glad they weren't and I was the last generation before facebook etc (It came out when I was a 20 yr old student) I looked horrific when younger!

YABU - I still miss the excitement of taking films to be developed and getting the pictures back to find you look crap in most of them and the one you spent ages composing hasn't come out properly .

I'm sad about PPs saying they looked awful when younger and one saying she destroys photos.
I wish I had more photos of student life too. YANBU.

I definitely did the ugly duckling thing around 15/16 and even though I say so myself (and 80s clothing aside) I think I looked quite good. Would love to have more pics but didn't take a camera on a night out.

I'd have loved them to be around in my late teens/early 20's, I was really photogenic then.
Now I just look like a troll.

I'm conflicted. I wish I had more photographic evidence of how slim and toned I was even though then I was convinced I was massive. But my 'more was more' approach to make up would be best forgotten

You couldnt beat a few layers of bright blue mascara back on the day.

I'm glad they weren't. Everyone is entitled to be young and stupid, now if you're young and stupid you've probably gone viral.

I would've like them, not for selfies. I used to take photos in my mind of things I didn't want to forget, think field of poppies at the back of my house.

Whilst walking in the snow on the industrial estate I witnessed a large tank of water explode, the water shot into the air and froze. The result was like an ice sculpture willow tree 20 ft tall. it was absolutely beautiful.

I'm pleased they weren't. Mostly because of my eyebrows.

sparkling blue Miners mascara!

Agree with mrsmorton, young and stupid without camera phones was better.

I'm in my early 50s now and I so wish they had been around in the 80s!
I was thin, nice looking and had a great time with my mates in my teenage years.
No hard copies. My mates just didn't seem to do photos then.

I'm so glad they weren't. Not every second of life needs to be documented.

Same here, I'm in my early fifties too...I have three photos that someone took of me in a nightclub we always went to in my hometown in the early 80s. Wish I had more, especially as I'm always banging on about how great those times were to my older DD. She has millions of photos on her phone of every occasion!! It feels like another lifetime when I think back to those great times

Thank god we didn't - those old polaroids are hopefully all burnt or forgotten somewhere...

You know that feeling when you see an old photo of yourself?
That, 'Sweet zombie jeebus, what was I wearing? Look at my hair!' Etc.
Imagine that only 1000times over because instead of one dusty picture from 1994 there are 1000s of them at the click of a button for everyman and his dog to find.

I swear, 20 years time, all these 20yo instagrammers will have kids that have found their fish pout selfies and will be laughing and sharing them. Generation of mortification.

Until the law caught up with the filming of sex acts etc and their distribution, then it would of been life destroying (coupled with the Sexism of that era).

Also if you thought you looked awful without airbrushed photos everywhere, imagine how bad you'd have really felt.

Hell no, feel very sorry for the youngsters of today not being able to have fun & make a complete & utter arse of yourself without there being a permanent reminder of it thanks to a 'friend' with a camera phone.

Meh. Only last year i got a phone that would take a proper photo. Beore that it was all shitty. However, always owned some sort of camera and had it handy at any memorable events. There was no need nor wish to take photos of everyday life at school, or photograph toddlers mucky eating