"I Had To Explain To Him That Phones Don't Have Buttons Anymore And Nobody Really Calls Anyone": 18 Culture Shocks That Former Prisoners Experienced After Being Released From Long Sentences

Life and technology move so fast that most of the time we don't even realize all the changes that are going on around us. Like, for example, our ability to be online all the time through our phones has only really happened over the last decade. That had me thinking about what it must be like to be somewhere removed from everything, unable to experience the changes along with everyone else.

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And that's how I came across these two Reddit threads from 2013 and 2020, where former prisoners who had served many, many years in prison, spoke about the biggest and most shocking changes they experienced after being released.

I rounded up the replies from both threads. And here are some of the top and best comments:

1."First day out, I went to McDonald's and they changed the soda fountains to touch screen and let you add flavors and stuff. That blew my mind!"

2."Buddy of mine was in for 10 years. The biggest changes he noticed when he was released were cell phones and the internet. There was no Facebook at the time he went in and the cell phones were crappy (Sony Ericsson anyone?). He spent days on Facebook using a friend's touchscreen phone and looking at porn. Never seen a guy so happy in my life."

3."Worked with a guy that became obsessed with the electronics in new vehicles after he got out; like he was impressed with the stock radio in my work truck. When he got a car a couple of the guys helped install a radio with OnStar in it."

4."What happened with LEGO? They used to be simple. Oh c'mon, I know you know what I'm talking about: LEGOS were simple? Something happened out here while I was inside... Harry Potter LEGO, Star Wars LEGO, complicated kits, tiny little blocks. I mean, I'm not saying it's bad, I just wanna know what happened."

5."A long time ago my dad was in prison for 11 years. One of the first things he did after getting out was ruin my grandma's microwave by cooking soup still in the can in it. I'm sure he had better stories too, but that's the only one that comes to mind."

6."When I got out of prison I looked forward to logging into my Myspace account SOOO bad... I was very heartbroken when I learned Facebook had taken everything over. Haha, but seriously though, that was only after two years. I couldn't imagine 10."

7."I interviewed a dude who had been wrongly convicted for rape and murder in the early '80s and was released a few years ago because of DNA testing. It wasn't cell phones or the internet that threw him, he knew about that stuff pretty well. It was the cars. He was a mechanic before he was sentenced and he said cars now are so different and have so much electronics."

8."I work at a global fast food chain, and one guy and a woman entered, the guy was covered with tattoos. I was at the register taking orders and overheard the guy say, 'What the hell is this?' Referring to the electronic kiosk. He and the woman ended up ordering from me and not the kiosk. The dude said to me, 'You go away for a while and everything changes. It's crazy!' He was a really nice dude and it was kind of wholesome to see the woman teaching him about new technology."

9."Not me, but a girl that I work with. She spent seven years in prison. She said that when she was picked up from prison, her parents stopped at a gas station and she spent forever looking at all the products that she had never seen before. While she was in, the energy drink craze began and she had no idea what those big, colorful cans were. Plus, all these funky flavored potato chips that have came out."

10."Not a prisoner, but my dad was previously incarcerated for 16 years. The first thing he told me was that he wasn’t at all used to riding in a car. He was so used to walking around that being in a car, made him uneasy."

11."My brother-in-law did six years. There were lots of time travel type weirdness, but the funniest was his new GF was talking on her house phone and needed to text a friend on her cell phone, while also putting on makeup. She hands the cell to my BIL and says, 'Text her back for me.' He stares at it for like five minutes before tapping her on the shoulder and says, 'Um, I have no idea what I am doing.'"

12."Not me, but my cousin was recently in for drugs and I believe and a bunch of other minor charges — but when he got out he was shocked that things like Google Home talked back to you."

13."My brother-in-law went in from around 2008–14. I had to explain to him that phones don't have buttons anymore and nobody really calls anyone."

14."The dishwasher at my old job served 26 years. He was 21 when he went in, came out to a completely different world. I remember him constantly asking me questions to look up on my smartphone, and I never got why. Finally, I convinced him to get one and spent hours walking him through it. Then I realized he thought my phone's sole functionality was to look up info and was taken aback at how much other stuff smartphones can do. Nicest man in the world, still keep up with him to this day."

15."My cousin went to jail in 2010 and came out in September. He was amazed with smartphones. To be more specific, with Pokémon Go. He was blown away by the fact that a game required GPS and internet for a good experience."

16."A friend's brother went away for about 10 years. He was pretty shocked by everything smartphone apps could do. While he knew about this stuff because he was in a low security prison, he had really hard time adjusting to actually using it. Seeing and hearing about this stuff second-hand is a huge difference to actually using it. His mind was blown by Tinder and Uber. He had a hard time grasping touch screens or couldn't really see why they were better than buttons. He lost it when he saw people tapping their phones to pay for stuff. Also, I think he really struggled applying to jobs online."

17."Streaming services were another thing that kinda blew me away. Before I went in, Netflix was seen as kind of a luxury. Why would you pay for that when there's live TV? If you wanted to watch an older TV show you went to the library or Blockbuster... I feel old, LOL."

—trapmitch

18.Lastly: "Not me, but some guy I was listening to said the money had changed so much in appearance he didn't believe it was real money when he was released."

You can read the full threads of responses on Reddit, here and here.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.