36 Things From The Recent Past That The Younger Generations Get Completely Wrong

The 80’s was not day glow. The 80’s was brown and grey with a dash of pastel towards the end.

A lot of people sound like they think we lived in silent bubbles because we didn't have smartphones and computers weren't common.

On the contrary, we talked a *lot*. Like, A LOT. If you had questions you talked. Then you went to the library. And then you talked some more.

And wrote letters. And passed notes like crazy. The chatter never f*****g stopped. People would scold women for gossiping and make jokes about it, but the men were just the same.

Everyone is like, kids these days have no privacy, but you couldn't kiss your boyfriend on the street without hearing about it from every f*****g rando in the neighborhood.

Maybe not everyone’s experience but for me there was casual violence everywhere. Smacking kids was not only tolerated but expected. Hit by parents, friends parents, random adults in the neighborhood, teachers etc. Then you’d get beat for making the teacher hit you. “What will the neighbors think” was real

Young people today think it's normal to carry a water bottle or other drink with them everywhere. My teenaged neice and her friends apparently can't be out of the house for more than 5 minutes without having a drink in hand lest they suddenly die of dehydration. She can't comprehend that we used to walk a half hour (another rant for another time) to school without having something to drink the entire way, or that the school simply did not allow any drinks in the classroom (and many employers didn't allow drinks at your desk either).

My mom had to request a non-smoking hospital room when I was born.

I remember having to call stores to ask them if they had something in stock before actually making the trip to get it.

Netflix really DID come in the mail at first

Probably under estimating how few choices there were.

today, it seems like everything imaginable is available in a variety of sizes, delivered to your door overnight.

catalogs and mail order, with 4-6 week delivery

Malls were the best thing ever. all the stores in 1 place, and not downtown.

My grandmother smoked basically every second she was awake from age 13-75. She loved it and said she would rather die than stop. She smoked in her house and car. Even in bed. I used to stay with her a lot. I went to a strict private school for High School, they were on campus off campus, which meant you had to conduct yourself the same way at home as at school. My parents went out of town for 2 weeks, I had to stay with my grandparents. I was about 15 and knew i smelled like an ashtray- what could I do? I had to stay with her. Even my hair smelled like it. So I’m at school and I get called out of class and sent to the principal. He explained to me that several teachers had complained that I smell like smoke and he knows I have been smoking before I come to school. I told them I was staying at my grandparents and my grandmother smoked nonstop and that’s why. They said that was not true because my hair smelled like smoke and that only happens if you smoke. So they’re about to suspend me, they call my parents. My parents had to tell them I was staying with my grandparents and that’s why. I was so embarrassed and self conscious until my parents got back and I got to go home. Also when we moved my grandparents to another house, we took down everything from the wall. Realized the walls are yellow from smoke, where something had hung the walls were bright white. I often wondered what my grandmother lungs looked like after this

TV used to be incredibly important. It wasn’t just a thing to do if you were bored. There were certain TV shows that nearly everybody watched, and if you didn’t watch them you’d still have to listen to people talk about them. I hated the Dukes of Hazzard, but I could tell you the main characters’ names and sing most of the theme song.

We used radio to listen to music. A lot. There were 8 tracks, records, cassettes, etc. so you could play music whenever you wanted, but radio was where a lot of music was discovered. Much love to Queen and the Buggles for their tributes to radio.

A lot of the time you were bored s**tless. In the U.K. TV had three channels, and most houses had one TV. If someone in the house was watching something you weren’t interested in, then that entertainment avenue was gone. You had radio of course, and that was much more important in my early years. Books and comics too. But I still remember hours and hours of complete and utter boredom.

How brown the 80s was, everything furniture cars wall paneling everything was brown.

The 60s weren't *all* flower children and hippies, and the general population reviled protestors back then every much as much as they do now, for the same reason: media representation. Anti-war protestors were painted like antifa and BLM are now by the media, i.e. most made them out to be quasi-terrorists. I personally supported what they were doing as an 8 year old, but my family thought they were horrible.

There was not something like a computer or the world-wide-web. Information moved slowly and whole areas of industry were dedicated moving information around on paper.

How hard life was, and how comparatively easy and good it is now. I have had two friends who in recent months have had children born with conditions that would have resulted in death even 20 years ago, but with today's medical advances will likely live full lives. Of course, these treatments are very expensive, but obviously it's a price they will gladly pay. Young people today complain about the cost of health care as some abomination and yet totally fail to appreciate how good our medical system is.

Young people today complain about 40 hour work weeks as if it's a violation of human rights, but even when I was a kid I worked long days in high school, and my grandparents told stories about their childhood and lives in the depression where if you stopped working at 40 hours, you simply starved. My grandmother grew up with 6 siblings in a 2 bedroom apartment with a single mother. Now people with 2000 sqft homes complain because they pay so much in rent that they have to take fewer vacations.

Never before in human history have so many people enjoyed so much luxury.

How little we had and how hard the average young person had to work to get what people today take for granted. Asia hadn’t yet opened up to provide cheap goods, and most of what you needed to buy had to be produced in your own country. Like if you look at old newspaper flyers from the 80s, a sweater on sale at the discount store costs more than an average sweater today, but minimum wage is six times as much. Most kitchen stuff cost the same in 80’s dollars as today. Printers, cheap computers, TVs were easily a couple months pay. It was just really hard for people starting out because there was no “cheap” alternative for basic goods to tide you over until you could afford better. Getting dishes, cutlery, pots and pans, a mattress, basic furniture etc was all a struggle. Unless you had a wedding with well off relatives it could take years before you had enough household essentials to be comfortable.

Also, a word about comparing what people could afford then compared to now. When people compare 80s dollars to today, you gotta remember that there’s a lot of adjustments in the standard of living and the formulas for calculating costs between years is weighted heavily by housing and transportation. So all the comparisons people do about haw many years salary to buy a house then and now don’t take into account how s****y life was for people who couldn’t afford a house.