If you ask me, the 80s were just about 20 years ago.
Don’t you dare try to tell me again that they were 40 years ago, but if that were true, I suppose that would explain just has much has changed in the interim – like these 16 things people used to do every day, and that would now raise some serious eyebrows.
16. Only bad guys make gay jokes, too.
Gay jokes on TV.
Implying a character was gay was a constant joke for years.
Yeah, that’s not a thing anymore.
15. That’s definitely going to come back to haunt them in the age of the internet.
Halloween is coming.
Some guys in my high school dressed as KKK members with their black friend as a slave in chains.
A picture of them was in the yearbook.
I sh%t you not.
14. They’re of age.
Smoking areas for kids at high school.
I mean… what?!
13. All of the smoking.
Smoking at your desk at work. Smoking on airplanes.
Taking clients to strip clubs for lunch or dinner or, as I experienced at one company, having a ‘lingerie show’ at the office for the executives.
Working out in a leotard.
The short, tight ‘gym uniforms’ girls wore for school gym classes.
Pastel picture frames.
Men with huge, permed hairdos wearing neon spandex pants. (hair bands)
12. This is a downer.
Getting a job right out of high school.
Manufacturing industry used to be one of the better career options: Job security and growth, union wages, trained on the job, etc.
Since manufacturing fell out, you now need a college degree to do anything…
11. No harm no foul?
Whenever I fell asleep in the car my family would just leave me in there while they did whatever and let me sleep whether it was 100 degrees or if it was winter.
Sometimes they’d expect me to meet them where they were when I woke up, like in the store or in the house from the garage. That would 100% not fly today
10. It gave you time to get in from the kitchen.
TV-Shows with three minute long intros introducing the cast with a full fledged theme song and maybe a summary what happened at the last episode.
9. I still think this is ok.
Allowing your kids 8-12 years old to go play in the woods by themselves and just ringing a dinner bell when you need them home.
8. Ah, the old “rights” argument.
I had to take all my calculus exams with smokers on either side of me and one in front of me in assigned auditorium seating.
The worst thing was that they didn’t actually smoke them, mostly just lit them and let them smolder in the built in ash trays in the seats, which makes way more noxious smoke than if they inhale it and then exhale.
We weren’t allowed to complain about it because we were expected to understand that the exam was stressful and smoking helped them calm down.
No concerns at all for how it made us non-smokers feel – we were told to shut up and not complain because it was their right to smoke
7. The horror.
Answering the phone with no idea who’s calling.
6. So much cringe.
Sexual assault used as slapstick comedy in movies.
5. From the p*rn fairy, obvs.
Finding old p*rn mags hidden in the woods behind your buddy’s house.
4. I remember that!
Being asked “Do you want Regular or Unleaded”?
3. Sweet summer children.
No seatbelts!
I remember being a young kid sitting on my knees in the front seat because I couldn’t see out of the window, no seatbelt.
But I remember when my parents started using the seatbelt and having me always wear one.
I’m very conscious of wearing a seatbelt and following the recommendations for car/booster seats for my kid.
But I do think it’s sad she’ll never have the front seat experience I did.
Also, putting your kid on your lap while driving seemed common to me.
I remember when Britney Spears was blasted for doing that, only then did I realize how stupid it was.
2. We were all living on the edge.
Unhealthy school lunches. My school lunches would consist of a mini-sip, bologna sandwich on white bread and a Vachon cake.
Smoking around kids. Adults smoked in the car and the house all the time.
Letting kids hurt themselves while playing. We had some dangerous toys (lawn darts, metal swings). Kids would also build their own bridges and ramps for our bikes that we rode without helmets.
Unbelted kids in vehicles. Kids would be in the back seat without car seats or safety belts. Riding in the back of a pickup truck was normal.
1. It’s a sad loss.
Free Range parenting.
From about the age of 8-13, my parents had no idea where I was unless it was school. The only requirement was to not be late for dinner, and to return home when the street lights came on.
I would be off on Tom Sawyer adventures with my friends. We would ride our bikes straight out of town sometimes. Sometimes we would find a bike or walking trail through the woods and just follow it to see where it went. Finding a new creek, pond, bmx bike trail, treehouse, or pr0n stash in the woods was like finding money.
School buses were a lot less common in the 80’s. Most kids just walked home. You’d see kids as young as 6 or 7 walking by themselves home from school. It’s just crazy to think about. Now, society isn’t trusted to allow a 10 or 12 year old to walk by themselves home. School buses are everywhere.
I suppose it could be the development of the area, but I get the impression it is a societal change.
Some of these I definitely miss, but the smoking in public thing, definitely not.
Did we miss something big? Share what you recall about the 80s and 90s down in the comments!
