There used to be a TV series called "Beyond 2000". It aired in the 80s and 90s. People would watch it for a fascinating glimpse into the future. Sometimes it’d blow our minds. Imagine not needing a key to unlock a door, and using a card instead? A “lap” computer! Or a robot that could play chess? Just wow.
Now that we've moved two decades beyond 2000, we have biometric access systems, robotic surgery, 3D printed limbs, electric powered cars. Things certainly have progressed. Redditor u/Red_Baronnsfw found out just how much the world has changed when they asked older people: What's one thing normal at your time but is now bizarre to even think about?
From paper maps, dialing telephones, written letters from penpals, to having to flip through the Yellow Pages to find a phone number… Keep scrolling for an epic trip down memory lane. And find out what life was like for people born before 1980.
#41
Girls couldn't wear pants in elementary school. Lots of pictures of snow days and we're wearing knee socks!
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34points
#42
I was talking with a young person yesterday and asked her if she knew what a "mother's little helper" was. In the 60s, suburban housewives were taking valium. It was legal, and commonly referred to as "diet pills." You could easily get a prescription. So many pill poppers back then.
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34points
#44
The sissy test. My sibling’s peer group required you erase a patch of your skin to prove you weren’t a sissy. I am female but I was no sissy! I was an idiot, however.
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33points
#45
"Airing out water"
I grew up with my grandmother in an inpoverished area. The wealthier people (middle class) had the good water. Everyone else had water that was extremely sulfuric smelling/tasting. Think like strong eggs smell. We had to set out water overnight in open containers so the sulfur would evaporate. After a night of this then the water would taste/smell fine.
I grew up with my grandmother in an inpoverished area. The wealthier people (middle class) had the good water. Everyone else had water that was extremely sulfuric smelling/tasting. Think like strong eggs smell. We had to set out water overnight in open containers so the sulfur would evaporate. After a night of this then the water would taste/smell fine.
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33points
#46
As a child in grade school we had nuclear bomb drills. Yup. We’d all hide under our desks. Seriously! It’s kinda like TSA now - as if, what we doing, would somehow make everything alright.
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33points
#48
When I was around 14-15 years old, there was a famous pop singer/guitar player in the neighborhood who would seduce all the 13-year-old girls we wanted to kiss. He was around 30-35 at the time, according to his Wikipedia bio. We obviously hated him with a passion, but that was because he was a much more successful competitor; it never crossed our minds that there would be something morally wrong with what he did ("grooming" was what poodle owners did to their dogs, back then). After all, all he did was what we wanted to do!, or so we thought.
I still hate that guy, and his songs, and the horse he rode in.
I still hate that guy, and his songs, and the horse he rode in.
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29points
#49
Hitchhiking.
I never did it bc I was too young (in the 70s) when it was popular, and it had pretty much faded out by the time I was a teenager, but I remember hitchhikers were EVERYWHERE in the 70s.
I never did it bc I was too young (in the 70s) when it was popular, and it had pretty much faded out by the time I was a teenager, but I remember hitchhikers were EVERYWHERE in the 70s.
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28points
#50
Typing homework. And keeping citations on index cards. God help you if you dropped the cards.
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28points