Things that make up and shape our daily lives seem a natural part of it. And while these circumstances might seem to be changing faster nowadays, it is enough to hear about such experiences as “sitting by the radio and waiting for one’s new favorite song to come on, so one could record it on a cassette tape” or “being on the home phone when all of a sudden someone in the house picks up another phone and tells you to ‘get off’” from people who lived them and one might feel time slowing down, as if one has been transported back in time when certain things were and felt different. These people are sharing exactly these kinds of experiences from the recent past by answering one Redditor’s question: “What was a perfectly normal situation for you in the ’80s-’90s that the younger generations just can’t relate to?”
More info: Reddit
#1
Sitting by the radio waiting for your favorite new song to come on so you could record it onto a cassette tape. And hoping the jack**s DJ didn’t talk over the first 45 seconds. (Spoiler alert: He always did!)
Image source: Wishyouamerry, cottonbro studio
#2
Parents kicked you out of the house and telling you to be home when the lamp posts came on. They had no clue where we were or what we were doing. My brother and I would play on the train tracks and under a bridge. I think about my kids doing the same and it stresses me tf out.
Edit to add, Saturday morning cartoons. I’m sad for my kiddos to not have the experience of getting up early to not miss cartoons before getting kicked out of the house for the day.
Image source: Stardro, MI PHAM
#3
Calling someone’s house and having to speak with their parent before talking with them.
Image source: teawithhoneyplease, KoolShooters
#4
That TV just stopped broadcasting late at night.
My kids still can’t comprehend this one
Image source: -GTPlus-, ALLAN FRANCA CARMO
#5
Going with your parents to Blockbuster to rent a movie and hoping a copy (VHS tape) was still available and not completely rented out.
Image source: ItsNotMe_ItsU, Travis Wise
#6
Going to a restaurant and being asked “would you like to sit in Smoking or Non-smoking”?
There were smoking sections *on airplanes*.
Image source: VictorBlimpmuscle, MART PRODUCTION
#7
Getting a new “TV Guide” each sunday with the newspaper and obsessing over it for hours highlighting what shows/movies you wanted to watch Calling the movie theater to get showtimes Shopping at Sears
Image source: L4rgo1229, Scouse Smurf
#8
Watching the news to see if your school scrolled across the bottom was cancelled because of inclement weather.
Image source: dahopppa, Juan Ordonez
#9
Having to stop at a gas station and ask for directions and pay attention to what the clerk is saying.
Bonus: waiting to call long distance after 9pm because it was free. Then getting very excited when they dropped it to 7pm.
Image source: TonkaButt, Piccinng
#10
Being on a phone call with someone using the home phone when all of sudden someone in the house picks up another phone and tells you to get off
Image source: EllywickBeren, RDNE Stock project
#11
Writing and receiving letters by post.
Image source: biscuits_n_wafers, Suzy Hazelwood
#12
Not having a camera all the time.
PRIVACY
Image source: anon, cottonbro studio
#13
Going out as a kid from dawn til dusk without your parents being able to contact you or know where you are. Then knowing you have to go home when the street lights come on.
Image source: tricks_23, RDNE Stock project
#14
Dedicating songs on your local radio station.
Image source: anon, ANTONI SHKRABA production
#15
Someone calling the landline and disconnecting the internet
Image source: kiyosakir, Buse Doa
#16
Riding your bike around town with no destination, looking for a pile of your friends bikes so you can hang out.
Having your friends’ phone numbers memorized
Image source: M0ck_duck, Nhi Dam
#17
Having to wait or be somewhere you don’t want to be like visiting your mom’s friend’s house or at the bank with NOTHING to distract you but your own mind. My parents never bought me a handheld game nor did she have room in her handbag for my books. So I just had to BE in the moment.
Image source: cautiouslyadventurou, 100 files
#18
Going out into the world with no cell, a map in hand, hoping to find the new address you’ve never been to, and then in addition to that, hoping the people you were going to meet up would get there.
If you got there and your friends weren’t there, the most you could do was ask the business to lend you their phone or walk to a pay phone and call your friends house phones to see if they picked up. If they didn’t, you had no way of knowing if they were late, selling you out, or dead.
Image source: Les_Les_Les_Les, Francesco Paggiaro
#19
This is more 90’s-early 00’s but the ability to just… not be reached sometimes? And that was okay?
It stresses me out that there’s this social pressure to be available at all times, and people get upset with you if you don’t respond to a text fast enough etc. but as a kid we’d call each other on the home phone sometimes and if you didn’t pick up it was just assumed you were busy and nobody was actually UPSET with you over it. Obviously I love being able to keep in contact with friends on a more regular basis, but the constant pressure to be accessible to people 24/7 or you’re some kind of bad friend is too much and it really does a number on my anxiety. I miss being able to call/text/message someone back at my leisure and not have to have a “good enough” explanation ready as to why I was “ignoring” that person.
Image source: prospekkt, Ron Lach
#20
I was thinking the other day about how I applied for out-of-state college (1989.) How did I even do that? Did I write to them and ask for an application, the fill it out and mail it back? When I applied to graduate school (1993) how did I even know which schools had my program? Did I go to the library or something?
Sitting here in 2020 imagining doing those things with no Internet, it seems impossible. But since I don’t even remember how I accomplished it, it must have been pretty mundane at the time. Sounds like a f*****g hassle if you ask me!
Image source: Wishyouamerry, Andrea Piacquadio
#21
Calling collect and saying your message really quickly instead of your name so the other person doesn’t have to accept the call
Image source: notweirdifitworks, Jakob Owens
#22
Having arguments about factual information and having absolutely no way of determining who is correct.
Image source: Repo_co, RDNE Stock project
#23
Hanging out at the high school after school was out with no supervision. I was floored to learn kids can’t do that now. I spent hours sitting on the floor in some back hallway with friends, not wanting to go home, doing my homework, waiting for my ride to get out of practice.
Image source: BearGrowlARRR, RDNE Stock project
#24
Going through catalogues (remember Lillian Vernon?) to find things you like, then filling out the order form, mailing it with a check, and waiting 6 weeks to get your stuff. And during that 6 weeks you have no idea if they even received your order or not!
Image source: Wishyouamerry, micheile henderson
#25
I feel like kids today will never know boredom like I experienced when I was a kid. We were poor and didn’t have any videogames, there was no Candy Crush on your phone, no Netflix, if your friends were busy you’d just have to make up your own game or watch one of the 5 videos you actually owned for the 347th time, but even that wasn’t always possible if your parent/s wanted you out of the house for a while. So you’d just walk around hoping to run into some kids you knew.
I also remember my sister and I would watch MTV, wait for our favourite music video to come on, then record it on VHS. We had two tapes full of music videos. I wish I had those tapes now, there were some bangers on it.
Image source: miasabine, August de Richelieu
#26
Having to spend hours in the library to look up information you needed. I had to write a 10 page paper on the industrial revolution for school, it took days to find what would take moments now.
Image source: eyegocrazy, Bruna Araujo
#27
Being out and realizing you’re going to miss the beginning of whatever tv show you wanted to watch.
Image source: jdleonard2187
#28
Turn on the Game Boy with the cartridge in.
Did the game start?
Yes. Enjoy
(2) No. Pull cartridge out, blow into the contacts like a f*****g mad harmonica player
Put in back in and turn on the Game Boy.
Did the game start?
Yes. Enjoy
No. Try Again (2)
Edit: Thanks for the Award! First time ever to get one! Little me didn’t know how contacts work so I just copied what other kids back then did lol. I wonder when did that myth started…
Image source: hyperjump01, Nik
#29
Convincing your sibling to get up to change the channel
Image source: AgnesIsAPhysicist, Huỳnh Đạt
#30
I grew up in a very rural part of Ontario, Canada. Since there were so few households in the area, it was not profitable for the telephone company to give each home a private line. Instead, our community had a “party line”. Every household was on the same telephone line and you could pick up the phone receiver and hear Betty from down the road having a conversation with her sister. You would have to ask to have the line and you would have to listen for the “click” to know if Betty left or if she was still listening to your conversation. I remember more than once, asking in the middle of my conversation, “Betty can you please leave?” and having her respond “Oops, sorry” and then hang up her phone.
Image source: MsQcontinuum, RDNE Stock project
#31
I was born in the mid-70’s and have my clearest childhood memories during the 80’s, graduated HS and college in the 90’s. Here are a few of my favorites:
1. Requiring a landline to talk on the phone, even pre-cordless landline phones. Think long-a*s coil cords to take the phone to your bedroom for a private conversation.
2. Downloading files, online gaming, or faxing to be disconnected cuz mom decided to make a call.
3. Using a paper map to go places or relying on dubious directions like “turn left at the second or third light, I can’t remember which”
4. Going to a theater to see movie trailers… like they didn’t even show them on TV.
5. 4 local TV channels that could only be tuned via antenna.
6. a 20” 4:3 ratio TV being considered large.
7. Getting pissed that there wasn’t any leaded gasoline available and you need to use that s****y unleaded c**p.
8. Arguing the virtues of seat belts and motorcycle helmets. Also, cars still on the road that didn’t have seat belts.
9. smoking sections on airplanes being a new thing that people were pissed about. Used to be you could smoke anywhere on the plane.
10. Smoking literally everywhere. Restaurants being hazy with smoke.
11. Needing an encyclopedia set to verify facts.
12. Phones only being used for voice communication.
13. Cell phones costing hundreds of dollars per month. Making a mistake and falling asleep talking to your SO on your cell phone and getting an $800+ bill for the month.
14. Cell phones weighed in pounds. Think 2 lbs strapped to your belt.
15. Hardwired Cell phones in your call so you didn’t need to haul a heavy-a*s phone around with a crappy antenna. If you knew a real estate agent in the 80’s they probably had one. My mom did.
16. Needing a pager and a cellphone for work. Page to make sure someone is available so you didn‘t waste your minutes.
17. Minutes being something you regularly budgeted for and managed.
18. Russia being the bad guys and fear of nuclear war being a regular topic of conversation.
19. the world seeming A LOT more mysterious and interesting… I can’t over stress this.
20. Hanging out in music stores looking for hidden gems and picking up girls.
To name a few
Image source: cac73, Tima Miroshnichenko
#32
Calling your bf or gf house and hoping that they pick up instead of their parents.
Image source: mook1178, Andy Vult
#33
There being nothing on television.
I watched the weather network for longer than I should when I was younger because it was better than soaps and sometimes nothing was on.
With streaming services and even YouTube / shorter videos like tic tok you can be watching new content 24/7.
Little overwhelming!
Image source: ZennMD, aj_aaaab
#34
Spending $15-20 on a CD as well as spending entire days combing thrift shops, p**n shops and flea markets looking for CDs and cassettes on the cheap
Image source: anon, cottonbro studio
#35
Standing in line with quarters in hand to play a video game
Image source: Goodgoogleegoo, cottonbro studio
#36
Video games had no dlc and you unlocked everything through mere grinding. Good times.
Image source: anon, Alex Haney
#37
Snow days. The school didn’t text or email you, no one called.
What did you do? Sat there watching the news with basically a stock ticker going across the bottom and if you missed your school…oh well time to spend another 20 minutes or take the trip and see if the doors are open. This was made worse because some schools (like mine) would wait until the last possible minute meaning you could be at the bus stop waiting because the ‘call’ was made 5 minutes before the buses start their route. If you were lucky someone’s parent would drive by to say there was a delay, other times you basically stood there for 20 minutes (in the snow) before deciding it had to be delayed…but wait the bus could just be slow (which also wasn’t unheard of) now 45 minutes late everyone is convinced it must be a delay.
so you go home and yes
Image source: skaliton
#38
Wondering who invented the hot dog and being unable to find out
Image source: Jfonzy, Ball Park Brand
#39
Raves. Real ones. Calling an info line which gave you the location of a map point where a guy in a car gave you the location of the party. Then driving around in the worst parts of Detroit with the windows down listening for the bass thump until you found the party.
Image source: Beckylately
#40
Long-distance phone calls.
Image source: anon
#41
Not mine but my sister
“You have a collect call from *momi’matthemoviespickmeupat5please*, would you like to accept the charges?”
Image source: L_Rayquaza, Erik Mclean
#42
Meeting at the arcade
Image source: Dajerts
Follow Us
