It's a different generation wordwiz, big time. I'm probably in the same neighborhood age wise as you and can dig what you're saying. I played ball, rode my bike everywhere, walked places, worked as a teenager and got up early on Saturdays to watch a couple of hours of cartoons before hitting the door. No internet, video games to steal our time or attention. Had one or two fat kids in the entire neighborhood and that was it.
I always wonder what I would have done if the web and video games were around in my youth. Kind of glad I missed that stuff.