83 Cringeworthy That Aged So Poorly, We Can’t Help But Laugh At Them

No matter how often people try to predict the future, life will always find a way to humble us. If you had plans to get married in 2020, there’s a good chance that your wedding had to be delayed. And if you had plans to spend 2020 traveling the world, you likely got stuck at home for the entire year. 

There are certain things that we can expect, as we all know that history repeats itself, but overall, life has an amazing way of surprising us. That’s why it’s so important to be careful about what we say online or get tattooed on our bodies. Because you never know how well it’s going to age…

As far as why some things end up aging poorly, this is inevitable to some degree. Humans are constantly learning more about the world and ourselves, and scientific advancements are always changing our lives for the better. Ads from the 1950s for cigarettes seem insane today, but at the time, most people had no idea how harmful smoking was. 

It’s also common for fashion and internet trends to become outdated over time. Most people will look back on what they were wearing 20 years ago and cringe, but at the time, they might have been considered extremely fashionable. It’s all about perspective and context. So just because something you said or did aged poorly doesn’t mean that you did anything wrong.

However, some things age poorly because we now realize just how problematic they were. A very common example of this is when you watch a film or TV show from a few decades ago that contains “jokes” that definitely are not funny today. Have you ever rewatched the iconic 80s film 16 Candles? It was a huge hit at the time, but today, the racism and misogyny present in the movie make modern audiences extremely uncomfortable. 

Unsurprisingly, there are also plenty of television shows that aged poorly. And some of them aren’t even that old! Even the iconic 90s classic Friends is now being criticized for featuring some homophobic storylines. Remember when Chandler was fixated on finding out why everyone assumed that he was gay? And his father being a drag queen was often used as a punchline. There was also plenty of fatphobia in the show, as Monica being overweight in the past was supposed to be hilarious to audiences too.  

Unfortunately, something else that history has taught us time and time again is that we should never idolize celebrities or wealthy people. Because it’s often only a matter of time before they’re exposed for inappropriate or illegal activity. I mean, Bill Cosby was once extremely beloved, as were Michael Jackson and Jimmy Savile. We have to remember that we don't really know these people. And we probably don't want to.

Another group of people that is often scrutinized for saying things that aged poorly is politicians. The Rolling Stones even has a list of the worst decisions American politicians have ever made that definitely aged like milk. Coming in at number one was President Nixon’s decision to keep extremely detailed records of every conversation he had in the Oval Office. He wanted these meetings recorded, so he could use them in future memoirs and in his private archives. But they came back to bite him when they had ample evidence of his illegal activities, along with his bigoted views.