This is what kids did for fun before smartphones — but these apps could make them even better

Boy, do we have a #TBT treat for you. Huffington Post has found some pretty amazing photos spanning from the 1800s to the 1970s. Seriously, these pictures are super cool and super old school. Not only are they all black and white (and not because they’ve been filtered to look like that), but there isn’t a smartphone in sight.

But, pictures like these have a tendency to get older generations grumbling. You know the drill: “Back in MY day we didn’t have those wheelydealy smartphones you kids use. We didn’t chat with snaps, or crush candy. We looked at each other, we used our imagination and we loved it.” Or you know, insert whatever your parents and grandparents like to say when they talk about the “good old days.” The point is, we get it; there is a lot we can learn from simpler times and yeah, of course people got by and had tons of fun before the iPhone took over. BUT, why can’t both the past and the present be awesome? Here’s what we think is great about these pictures back then, and the apps we think those kids would totally love now!

Ok, we admit it. This looks more fun than Skyping. We should all get out and play more, and this actually makes leaving the house look fun. Still, we think the kids in this pic could benefit from Snapchat — it wouldn’t take more than 10 seconds of looking at this pic to convince their other friends to come play.

Aww! Even if we’ve outgrown them, we all remember playing with dolls when we were kids. These cutiepies should absolutely WeHeartIt this picture.

This kid is doing it right. This beats spin class any day of the week. Is this a horse or a bike? Either way, we say yes, please! If this kid’s friends had iPhones, they would all Wanelo that!

Is that a flower pot as a camera? This girl is crazy clever and proves that imagination is the birthplace of everything! With this obsession for photography, these girls would absolutely LOVE Instagram.

Okay, this looks like a blast! This little guy looks like a dare-devil-in-the-making and we bet he would love GoPro‘ing his adventures, if only he had the tech available.

Hmm, you’re into jumping around, over and over again… almost in a loop? We think these guys would be pros at Vine.

We can’t tell who’s winning this old-timey lamp post game, but we have a hunch this competitive crew would kill at TriviaCrack.

Will you please look at this future jet setter? We think this little smartie would enlighten us all with the GeoReader app.