For people born before 80's

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I really don't know how we survived: we used to have 2 hs naps to get some rest; headaches were cured by "waiting"; we traveled in cars without safety belts or air bags, we traveled 12-15 hs 5 people in a Fiat 600 without suffer the "turist class syndrome"; We ride bikes and bycicles without helmets; we spent hours to built "kartings" to go down a hill and just then we found out we forgot the brakes; nobody could locate us: there were no cellphones; we hurted our heads throwing us stones playing wars and we just got Mecromina and some stitches; we ate sweets, drank sodas, but we weren't fat; we could do most everything and we suffered almost everything but we are still here; we grew up like kids, normal kids; maybe we still have time to make our kids grow up like real normal kids.

 

I was born in 1980 but smoking was banned on bus's and cinemas in my lifetime (late 80's and early 90's if you can believe that).

My first computer was a ZX Spectrum 128k, the games were on cassette tapes and they cost £3.99 each! Pop music used to be great but nots its not so good.

Car's were square and bulky looking compared to todays streamlined and rounded looks.

Cartoons were great and entertaining unlike the cringeworthness of today.

No tellytubbies.

Best horror movies of all time.

Have I missed anything?

 

Back then, in the early days of this world, it was all about 'survival of the fittest'. Harsh it was, yes, but also much fun. Those of us who made it to this time and age are certainly a fine breed.

 

Well, I'll bet nobody expected ME to post in this thread.

We had only one TV in our house.
We were forced to invent our own games when playing.
We actually tried to avoid doing things that we knew were seriously wrong.
“Fast food” meant wolfing down dinner so you could get to the hockey rink quickly.
“Made in Japan” was a bad thing.
Not everything we ate or did would give us cancer or some other deadly disease.
We had to walk five miles in blinding snowstorms to get to school – uphill both ways.

 

There weren't "buy it now-call now" advertisements on tv and of course, there weren't those half hour programs about a "elongator-abdominator-musculator"...
Why you wouldn't post here Splunge?

 

@ Splunge - you forgot the "in my pajamas" part.

Well, I will add in that schoolyard fun for the boys generally involved full scale mass melees, snowball fights, contact sports, the odd fist fight etc. I just shake my head when I hear how the kids these days are expected to play.

Oh and you could actually fail a grade, I knew someone who failed grade one and grade three. There was none of this "oh you have to keep him/her with people the same age or it will hurt his/her feelings"

 

My cd's were 8 times bigger and made of vinyl

I rode my bike everywhere...Without a helmet!!

Building tree forts in the woods - raiding the local development construction site for materials...

We failed tests and were held back for lack of achievement (Not me personally, of course )

I the sun was out, we should be outside...Or we were pressed into service by our parents.

Other peoples' parents could discipline us - and we were even scared occasionally.

What the hell is sushi?

Playing "spin the bottle" wouldn't land you in juvenile court for offensive touching or sexual harrassment.

Playing cowboys and indians wasn't offensive to anyone.

Playing in general

Music and movies were not manufactured to appeal to "a demographic."

The only reality shows on TV were news shows.

You could be paddled by the principal (This did happen to me!)

I need to think of more...

 

I never once had to pass through a metal detector to enter school.

It wasn't against school rules to bring in treats that weren't made in a state-licensed kitchen - or a butter knife to cut them with.

No one got in trouble if one girl gave another some tylenol to take care of cramps.

 

A few more:

We never used to lock the doors to our house except when away on vacation. (Now we lock them even when we're home.)

My parents never got divorced.

We had manaul air conditioning (a.k.a. opening a window)

 

Instead of video games, we hit each other with sticks - and noone EVER got sued!

 

Bet life was tough before electricity.

Actually I was born in 84 we only recieved two tv stations and one was PBS. Didn't have a computer till I was a Junior in high school never had the internet till the summer after I graduated high school. Farm living.

 

My favourites (echoing some of the previous comments):
- there were no traffic jams outside schools because everybody WALKED (which is probably how we ate so much junk food and didn't get fat)
- we didn't need cellphones to communicate with each (we always turned up where and when we were supposed to)
- we built our own BMX bike track in the woods (still can't believe a bunch of 10 year olds did that with axes and shovels)
- sticks and stones could (did) break our bones
- vinyl record turntables (although I notice that these seem to be coming back in a big way if those TV home makeover shows are anything to go by 0 everyone seems to need a room to hold their "decks")
- "rap" was what happened over your knuckles
- getting a smack on the bottom when you were naughty did not scar you for life
- eating dinner at a table
- only 1 TV and no remote control!
- no internet!
- mail came only once a day and it was made of paper
- we had toy guns and didn't turn into murderers

Kids nowadays! They don't know they're born.

 

Back in my day, I would read posts about the 80's on message boards on the internet!

 

"When I was a boy..."

The internet hadn't been heard of here except as some sort of business tool.

We had 2 stations - one Government-funded with great kids shows in the morning and the other locally-run.

We only had one widely known AM radio station and the FM radio version of the abovenamed Govt-funded TV station.

We built tree forts once a week and built tents with our double-bunk beds.

Playing Doctors and Nurses was harmless fun.

No infomercials.

@Harbourboy:

and neither did being disciplined by having a wooden spoon broken over your backside!

TV didn't censor itself, yet parents actually gave a DAMN what kids watched.

 

Any player of any sport loved to play and even they played for free, just for the love to the sport.
There were rainbows.
Salaries reached the end of the month.
We collected cards: they weren't pocket-mons, they were sport celebrities, cars... I miss those cards.
Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, El Coyote, Pink Panter, Guilligan Island, Black & White, Bill Cosby...

 

You know, just because I was born in the 80's doesn't mean I had everything. Mostly everything all of you said applied to me.

Regular people only had 2 channels. If there wasn't a hurricane, you had to go outside. Getting your a$$ kicked when you did something wrong didn't scar me for life. Cartoons were good quality. A cap gun going off in class got you sent to the principal, not the counsellor. Moving around the 'turtle' in geometric shapes cool on the computers, which only existed in the computer room. Collecting hockey cards for fun and not investment was common.

It was people born after the 90's that had it so different, right gang?

 

Sorry, Jag, that just doesn't cut it. You barely knew a time before CDs, videos, and microwaves. You're just a sping chicken.