We're just not whipping out the banjo like we used to. Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images Summer has officially begun. Summer vacation these days looks quite different from how it did in the 1920s. Kids used to play sports in the streets, explore on bikes, or play on "dangerous" playgrounds. Summer vacation used to mean two months of freedom: pools, playgrounds, and hours spent hanging out with your friends. But for Gen Alpha and the youngest members of Gen Z, summer is starting to look a little different. Changing technology, safety standards, more cautious parents, and social media have all changed how summer looks. Imagine explaining a unicorn pool float to a Victorian child — it'd send them into a tailspin. These photos show how summer vacation has changed over the last century. In the early 1900s, school used to be centered on crops, and summer wasn't a vacation — it was a time for hard work. Portrait of eight year old Peula Amava, carrying cranberries and tending the baby between times, while working at a berry farm in Cannon, DE, May 1910. Lewis W. Hine/Buyenlarge/Getty Images Before child labor laws were adopted in the first half of the 20th century, an 1890 United States Census report showed that 20% of kids ages 10 to 15 were workers, or over 1.5 million children. A decade later, that went up to 1.75 million gainfully employed kids, according to The Social Welfare History Project. Bathing suits used to be a little more elaborate. 1st July 1909: Young bathers paddling in the sea at Ostend Hulton Archive/Getty Images Bathing suits have come a long way over the past century. Kids didn't need any fancy technology; a stick and a hoop used to be more than enough to keep everyone entertained. 1930s GIRL OUTDOORS ROLLING A HOOP PLAYING HOOP AND STICK GAME H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images Officially, this was called hoop rolling or hoop trundling. It's been around since the 1600s and lives on today in a different fashion: the hula hoop. Stickball was the sport of choice, especially when there was no grass to be found. A group of boys play stickball on the street, Cincinnati, Ohio, ca.1930s Cincinnati Museum Center/Getty Images Stickball has been around since the 1800s and is still played now, but many parents are wary of the potential dangers of playing a sport in the middle of the street. Who doesn't remember sliding down a burning hot metal slide in the dog days of summer? Children enjoying a slide in a playground in Fleetwood, circa 1950 Popperfoto/Getty Images Playgrounds used to play fast and loose with kids' safety … which was half the fun anyway. They're considerably safer today, although some anthropologists argue there are developmental benefits to playing on challenging structures, like those of the past. "Generally, researchers have found that risky play helps children build resilience and confidence, skills that resonate throughout life," said Zane Thayer, an associate professor of anthropology at Dartmouth College, in a 2024 report from the school. Over time, metal was replaced by wood and wood chips, which still wasn't great. Remember all the splinters? DOYLESTOWN, PA - JULY 18: Grayson Goga, 6, plays at Kid's Castle at Central Park Playground, which is made from pressure-treated wood, July 18, 2002, in Doylestown, Pa. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a voluntary decision by manufacturers of treated wood to discontinue consumer sales of lumber treated with chromated copper arsenate, a preservative that contains arsenic, by December 31, 2003 William Thomas Cain/Getty Images That's pretty much the only downside of them, though. Kids used to have to meet up with each other just by biking around the neighborhood and seeing who was available. 1960s 1970s GROUP CHILDREN RIDING BIKES DOWN SUBURBAN STREET H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images It's rare now to see a pack of young kids biking around without a chaperone. Pool floats were a lot simpler. 1980s FAMILY MOM DAD BABY SWIMMING TOGETHER IN BACKYARD SUBURBAN SWIMMING POOL D. Corson/ClassicStock/Getty Images In general, most things were simpler. There were no Instagram or TikTok followers to show off for. Arcades eventually became the entertainment of choice, with games like "Pac-Man" and "Asteroids" taking over. A young girl is photographed June 1, 1982 playing Pac-Man at a video arcade in Times Square, New York City. Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images After "Asteroids" was released in 1979, it reportedly became Atari's best-selling arcade game. "Pac-Man" was also at its peak in the early 1980s, after its US release in 1980. Now, in 2026, arcades are something of a dying institution — you can play all your favorite video games in the comfort of your own home. The only arcades left are the big chains like Dave and Buster's, or bars like Barcade that are for adults, not kids. But before '80s kids even had video games, they had comic strips and crosswords. Do kids even read comic strips anymore? Hulton Archive/Getty Images Kids and adults would crack open the daily newspaper and play the games, whether it was a crossword, a word scramble, or a word search. And, of course, you can't forget about the comics section — Charlie Brown was just as famous as Bluey or the pups of Paw Patrol. Sometimes, all you needed for a fun time was a tarp, soap, and a hose — voila! A makeshift slip-and-slide. Kyle Jones,11, keeps cool with a makeshift slip and slide provided by the summer camp councilors at Borchard Park during the Heat Wave. 1998 Carlos Chavez/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Never mind that sticks, rocks, and anything else on the ground could rip the tarp and cut up your arms and legs. That was part of the fun. And it didn't matter if there was nothing to stop your momentum — sliding into your friends and knocking them over was the whole point. Ideal summer jobs were lifeguarding or being a camp counselor. Teammates for City of Thornton Recreation cheer for their teammate during the lifeguard Medley Relay at Hyland Hill's Water World "Surf's Up" wave pool. An estimated 700 lifeguards from across Colorado compete to sharpen their skills, improve physical fitness, build teamwork, and just have fun. This is the 7th consecutive year for the Colorado Parks and Recreation Association Annual Lifeguard Games at Water World. Thornton placed first for this heat of the Medley Relay. Kathryn Osler/The Denver Post via Getty Images Even though working teenagers are in high demand and could be making good money, the labor force participation of teens is much lower than it used to be. In 2024, 5.7 million 16-to-19-year-olds worked over the summer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's a five-year high, but nothing compared to the 8.3 million teens who worked during the summer of 1978. Now, bathing suits look a little different. KRASNODAR TERRITORY, RUSSIA - JUNE 30, 2018: Teenagers bathe in the sea at Orlyonok, a children's resort on the Black Sea coast in Krasnodar Territory, Russia. Malgavko/TAS Sergei Malgavko\TASS via Getty Images Vintage-style bathing suits are coming back, though, like the '80s-era high-cut one-pieces or belted bathing suits of the '70s. For kids with access to virtual-reality games, the devices mean they don't even have to go outside to get the summer experience. PARIS EXPO, PARIS, ILE DE FRANCE, FRANCE - 2017/11/01: A child seen testing out a game at the games fair. The 2017 Paris Games Week is open to public from 1st November to 5th of November. The Games Week is a trade fair of video games held annually in Paris. Thierry Le Fouille/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images According to a Florida Atlantic University study in 2024, one in three kids has access to a VR headset. But even if a kid doesn't have access to an Oculus or an Apple Vision Pro, they might have a tablet or some type of video game system. "In our research, we found that kids were spending a lot less time outside," Ruslan Slutsky, an education professor at the University of Toledo, told Vox. "They were spending a lot less time in traditional forms of play because they were playing with devices." Playgrounds are so safe that some kids have forsaken them altogether. Children on playground at Rise School, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2010. Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images A study conducted in 2012 published by Pediatrics Digest found that kids aren't using playgrounds anymore because they're not stimulated enough. The Atlantic reported that lead researcher Kristen Copeland found that "some participants said that overly strict safety standards made much of the climbing equipment uninteresting, thus reducing children's physical activity." Per a 2024 report by the World Playground Research Institute, not much has changed in the intervening 12 years. In the UK, 27% of kids reported playing outside regularly. Teens and tweens make plans via text, and even when they're together, phones still compete for their attention. Teenage Girls Using Phones at Skating Rink, Wellsville, New York, USA. Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images In 2018, Common Sense Media found 54% of surveyed teens agreed that social media "often distracts me when I should be paying attention to the people I'm with." When it came to their preferred ways of communicating with friends, texting ranked top at 35%, ahead of in-person communication at 32%. Now, a pool can't be seen without a gigantic float. Amanda St. Pierre, front left, Kameron Mowry, and Adam Mowry, ride a floating unicorn down the Saco River at Bar Mills in Buxton, Maine, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. A Good Samaritan gave them a tow after they discovered the raft was being pushed upriver by the wind. Temperatures are expected to hover around the 90s for the next few days, making for the possibility of a heat wave in the week before Labor Day Robert F. Bukaty/AP Images There's an overwhelming amount of pool floats to pick from in 2026. Sports are well-organized these days and significantly less dangerous. MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 23: Children play games of cricket during the Indian Summer Festival Family Day at Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 23, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. Scott Barbour - CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images Though it's probably a good thing that kids aren't allowed to roam the streets without being able to call home, or play sports in the street, or play on potentially dangerous playgrounds, it's just not the same. Even slip-and-slides have been commodified into giant events. That looks like a long way down. Slide the City, is a traveling 1,000-foot-long slip-and-slide that was on University Hill on Saturday. Cliff Grassmick/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images Slide the City was a cool event while it lasted — a giant slip-and-slide took over a few blocks of your city — but it was not the same as getting covered in dish soap with your friends. However, in 2026, there's an emerging trend toward play habits of the past, especially as some families seek to reduce their use of tech. A boy enjoyed playing at a new park in Denver, Colorado, inMay 2026. Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post/Getty Images Some families are attempting to replace devices with more outside play, as well as unstructured play, for their young children. Surveys, including a Pew Research Center survey released in October 2025, show that many parents are trying to manage their children's screen time through household rules and by offering alternate entertainment. That shift echoes a broader interest among some Gen Z members in seeking out more analog experiences. Read the original article on Business Insider
We're just not whipping out the banjo like we used to.Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images Summer has officially begun. Summer vacation these days looks quite different from how it did in the 1920s. Kids used to play sports in the streets, explore on bikes, or play on "dangerous" playgrounds. Summer vacation used to mean two months of freedom: pools, playgrounds, and hours spent hanging out with your friends. But for Gen Alpha and the youngest members of Gen Z, summer is starting to look a little different. Changing technology, safety standards, more cautious parents, and social media have all changed how summer looks. Imagine explaining a unicorn pool float to a Victorian child — it'd send them into a tailspin. These photos show how summer vacation has changed over the last century. In the early 1900s, school used to be centered on crops, and summer wasn't a vacation — it was a time for hard work. Portrait of eight year old Peula Amava, carrying cranberries and tending the baby between times, while working at a berry farm in Cannon, DE, May 1910.Lewis W. Hine/Buyenlarge/Getty Images Before child labor laws were adopted in the first half of the 20th century, an 1890 United States Census report showed that 20% of kids ages 10 to 15 were workers, or over 1.5 million children. A decade later, that went up to 1.75 million gainfully employed kids, according to The Social Welfare History Project. Bathing suits used to be a little more elaborate. 1st July 1909: Young bathers paddling in the sea at OstendHulton Archive/Getty Images Bathing suits have come a long way over the past century. Kids didn't need any fancy technology; a stick and a hoop used to be more than enough to keep everyone entertained. 1930s GIRL OUTDOORS ROLLING A HOOP PLAYING HOOP AND STICK GAMEH. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images Officially, this was called hoop rolling or hoop trundling. It's been around since the 1600s and lives on today in a different fashion: the hula hoop. Stickball was the sport of choice, especially when there was no grass to be found. A group of boys play stickball on the street, Cincinnati, Ohio, ca.1930sCincinnati Museum Center/Getty Images Stickball has been around since the 1800s and is still played now, but many parents are wary of the potential dangers of playing a sport in the middle of the street. Who doesn't remember sliding down a burning hot metal slide in the dog days of summer? Children enjoying a slide in a playground in Fleetwood, circa 1950Popperfoto/Getty Images Playgrounds used to play fast and loose with kids' safety … which was half the fun anyway. They're considerably safer today, although some anthropologists argue there are developmental benefits to playing on challenging structures, like those of the past. "Generally, researchers have found that risky play helps children build resilience and confidence, skills that resonate throughout life," said Zane Thayer, an associate professor of anthropology at Dartmouth College, in a 2024 report from the school. Over time, metal was replaced by wood and wood chips, which still wasn't great. Remember all the splinters? DOYLESTOWN, PA - JULY 18: Grayson Goga, 6, plays at Kid's Castle at Central Park Playground, which is made from pressure-treated wood, July 18, 2002, in Doylestown, Pa. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a voluntary decision by manufacturers of treated wood to discontinue consumer sales of lumber treated with chromated copper arsenate, a preservative that contains arsenic, by December 31, 2003William Thomas Cain/Getty Images That's pretty much the only downside of them, though. Kids used to have to meet up with each other just by biking around the neighborhood and seeing who was available. 1960s 1970s GROUP CHILDREN RIDING BIKES DOWN SUBURBAN STREETH. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images It's rare now to see a pack of young kids biking around without a chaperone. Pool floats were a lot simpler. 1980s FAMILY MOM DAD BABY SWIMMING TOGETHER IN BACKYARD SUBURBAN SWIMMING POOLD. Corson/ClassicStock/Getty Images In general, most things were simpler. There were no Instagram or TikTok followers to show off for. Arcades eventually became the entertainment of choice, with games like "Pac-Man" and "Asteroids" taking over. A young girl is photographed June 1, 1982 playing Pac-Man at a video arcade in Times Square, New York City.Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images After "Asteroids" was released in 1979, it reportedly became Atari's best-selling arcade game. "Pac-Man" was also at its peak in the early 1980s, after its US release in 1980. Now, in 2026, arcades are something of a dying institution — you can play all your favorite video games in the comfort of your own home. The only arcades left are the big chains like Dave and Buster's, or bars like Barcade that are for adults, not kids. But before '80s kids even had video games, they had comic strips and crosswords. Do kids even read comic strips anymore?Hulton Archive/Getty Images Kids and adults would crack open the daily newspaper and play the games, whether it was a crossword, a word scramble, or a word search. And, of course, you can't forget about the comics section — Charlie Brown was just as famous as Bluey or the pups of Paw Patrol. Sometimes, all you needed for a fun time was a tarp, soap, and a hose — voila! A makeshift slip-and-slide. Kyle Jones,11, keeps cool with a makeshift slip and slide provided by the summer camp councilors at Borchard Park during the Heat Wave. 1998Carlos Chavez/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Never mind that sticks, rocks, and anything else on the ground could rip the tarp and cut up your arms and legs. That was part of the fun. And it didn't matter if there was nothing to stop your momentum — sliding into your friends and knocking them over was the whole point. Ideal summer jobs were lifeguarding or being a camp counselor. Teammates for City of Thornton Recreation cheer for their teammate during the lifeguard Medley Relay at Hyland Hill's Water World "Surf's Up" wave pool. An estimated 700 lifeguards from across Colorado compete to sharpen their skills, improve physical fitness, build teamwork, and just have fun. This is the 7th consecutive year for the Colorado Parks and Recreation Association Annual Lifeguard Games at Water World. Thornton placed first for this heat of the Medley Relay.Kathryn Osler/The Denver Post via Getty Images Even though working teenagers are in high demand and could be making good money, the labor force participation of teens is much lower than it used to be. In 2024, 5.7 million 16-to-19-year-olds worked over the summer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's a five-year high, but nothing compared to the 8.3 million teens who worked during the summer of 1978. Now, bathing suits look a little different. KRASNODAR TERRITORY, RUSSIA - JUNE 30, 2018: Teenagers bathe in the sea at Orlyonok, a children's resort on the Black Sea coast in Krasnodar Territory, Russia. Malgavko/TASSergei Malgavko\TASS via Getty Images Vintage-style bathing suits are coming back, though, like the '80s-era high-cut one-pieces or belted bathing suits of the '70s. For kids with access to virtual-reality games, the devices mean they don't even have to go outside to get the summer experience. PARIS EXPO, PARIS, ILE DE FRANCE, FRANCE - 2017/11/01: A child seen testing out a game at the games fair. The 2017 Paris Games Week is open to public from 1st November to 5th of November. The Games Week is a trade fair of video games held annually in Paris.Thierry Le Fouille/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images According to a Florida Atlantic University study in 2024, one in three kids has access to a VR headset. But even if a kid doesn't have access to an Oculus or an Apple Vision Pro, they might have a tablet or some type of video game system. "In our research, we found that kids were spending a lot less time outside," Ruslan Slutsky, an education professor at the University of Toledo, told Vox. "They were spending a lot less time in traditional forms of play because they were playing with devices." Playgrounds are so safe that some kids have forsaken them altogether. Children on playground at Rise School, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2010.Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images A study conducted in 2012 published by Pediatrics Digest found that kids aren't using playgrounds anymore because they're not stimulated enough. The Atlantic reported that lead researcher Kristen Copeland found that "some participants said that overly strict safety standards made much of the climbing equipment uninteresting, thus reducing children's physical activity." Per a 2024 report by the World Playground Research Institute, not much has changed in the intervening 12 years. In the UK, 27% of kids reported playing outside regularly. Teens and tweens make plans via text, and even when they're together, phones still compete for their attention. Teenage Girls Using Phones at Skating Rink, Wellsville, New York, USA.Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images In 2018, Common Sense Media found 54% of surveyed teens agreed that social media "often distracts me when I should be paying attention to the people I'm with." When it came to their preferred ways of communicating with friends, texting ranked top at 35%, ahead of in-person communication at 32%. Now, a pool can't be seen without a gigantic float. Amanda St. Pierre, front left, Kameron Mowry, and Adam Mowry, ride a floating unicorn down the Saco River at Bar Mills in Buxton, Maine, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. A Good Samaritan gave them a tow after they discovered the raft was being pushed upriver by the wind. Temperatures are expected to hover around the 90s for the next few days, making for the possibility of a heat wave in the week before Labor DayRobert F. Bukaty/AP Images There's an overwhelming amount of pool floats to pick from in 2026. Sports are well-organized these days and significantly less dangerous. MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 23: Children play games of cricket during the Indian Summer Festival Family Day at Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 23, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia.Scott Barbour - CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images Though it's probably a good thing that kids aren't allowed to roam the streets without being able to call home, or play sports in the street, or play on potentially dangerous playgrounds, it's just not the same. Even slip-and-slides have been commodified into giant events. That looks like a long way down. Slide the City, is a traveling 1,000-foot-long slip-and-slide that was on University Hill on Saturday.Cliff Grassmick/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images Slide the City was a cool event while it lasted — a giant slip-and-slide took over a few blocks of your city — but it was not the same as getting covered in dish soap with your friends. However, in 2026, there's an emerging trend toward play habits of the past, especially as some families seek to reduce their use of tech. A boy enjoyed playing at a new park in Denver, Colorado, inMay 2026.Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post/Getty Images Some families are attempting to replace devices with more outside play, as well as unstructured play, for their young children. Surveys, including a Pew Research Center survey released in October 2025, show that many parents are trying to manage their children's screen time through household rules and by offering alternate entertainment. That shift echoes a broader interest among some Gen Z members in seeking out more analog experiences. Read the original article on Business Insider
