“Back in my day, they served gourmet meals on airplanes!”
“Back in my day, you could buy a Hershey’s bar for a nickel!”
“Back in my day, everybody owned a home by the time they were 25!”
Times change rapidly, and kids today are certainly growing up in a different world than our parents did. Along with all of the innovations and cultural shifts that have happened in recent decades, certain words have even adopted new meanings as well. For example, the word luxury doesn’t mean quite as much as it used to…
Last week, Reddit user Sweet_Chick283 posed the question, “What previously normal thing is now a luxury?” and many people chimed in with things that have become less accessible over the years. From owning a home to earning a college degree, we’ve gathered some of the responses down below that might make you wish you had grown up in an earlier generation. Keep reading to also find an interview with Sweet_Chick283 to hear her thoughts on the topic and what inspired this conversation in the first place.
Be sure to upvote the replies you agree with, and feel free to sound off in the comments about anything else you’ve seen slowly turn into a luxury. Then, if you’re interested in checking out another Bored Panda article calling out how out of control inflation has gotten, look no further than right here.
#1
The right to a legal and safe abortion, apparently
Image source: sweet_chick283
#2
A single-income household that owns a home, a car, and can go on yearly family vacations
Image source: fuzzypickles999, Oleg_bf Oleg Borisov
#3
Having a reachable, reliable doctor that doesn’t make you feel like you’re wasting their time.
Image source: icarusMD, LinkedIn Sales Navigator
#4
Being able to spend $100 at the grocery store and leaving with a cart of food
Image source: deepfrieddaydream, Jack Sparrow
#5
Things built to last. Back in the day everything made was built to last. It was cheap too. Then people found plastic…
Image source: Kie723, cottonbro
#6
Being able to pay living expenses and have money left over
Image source: logyonthebeat, Karolina Grabowska
#7
Owning a home
Image source: racheljeff10, PhotoMIX Company
#8
In the UK, heating our homes for the winter. Energy prices have become unaffordable.
Image source: mykeuk, Mike Bonitz
#9
Eating healthy
Image source: Tinci072, Rob Bertholf
#10
Insulin.
Image source: eskwild, Alan Levine
#11
Products without a monthly subscription
Image source: labadee, RoseBox رز باکس
#12
In America, we used to have starter homes. A home so cheap a single young person’s salary could move him in.
Image source: HPmoni, RODNAE Productions
#13
Privacy
Image source: LilFruitSalad, cottonbro
#14
Uninterrupted videos
Image source: leylalopez92, Tim Samuel
#15
Vacations
Image source: Agile-Plane, Asad Photo Maldives
#16
8 hours of sleep, at least for me.
Edit: Id like to add, I’m not a parent, I’m just f*****g miserable.
Image source: inhaleatable, Maks Styazhkin
#17
Last week I would have said turning my heating on.
This week it’s having a government that doesn’t crash our currency and almost cause a pensions wipe-out within their first seven working days in power.
Who knows what next week will bring? Tune in for more hijinks from the self-styled party of economic competence.
Image source: Gibbonici
#18
Real wood furniture. This MDF and particle board s**t is disgusting.
We recently bought a solid hardwood dining table and some chairs. You can just tell the quality difference – the table alone weighs almost 350 lbs and is solid as all hell. We are looking forward to passing it on to our kids.
Our previous table was one of those veneered BS tables made out of compressed sawdust. It was only a few years old but was already falling apart. $500 down the drain for that.
Image source: SnowThrower3000, Cameron Smith
#19
Having a roof over your head and affording food without having a roommate or burning yourself out with three jobs
Image source: pleqtisa
#20
Retirement strategy built-in to your job.
Image source: BTCisDeadAF, Julius Yls
#21
Activities! Carnivals, parks, festivals, ect. Last time I went to a carnival it was $40 per person, more if you bought the ticket the day of. Renfaire here is over $60 for the entry fee. They were never cheap but they were affordable ways to interact with your local community and spend time with family/friends. Now there isn’t really much you can do without a steep entry fee..
Image source: Ekatsoya, Devon Rogers
#22
Stay at home spouse/partner.
Image source: usmcdocj, Andrea Piacquadio
#23
Leg room on a plane
Image source: Murder_Bird_
#24
Feeling safe in school.
Image source: Individual_Scale_639
#25
Higher Education
College tuition prices are a lot higher today.
Image source: SuvenPan, Element5 Digital
#26
Water. Oops, sorry, I thought it was 2024.
Image source: Megalopath, Pixabay
#27
Babies. Maternity leave.
Image source: Beezlbubble, Kristina Paukshtite
#28
Have a product that lasts MANY years. Not for a lack of resources of the great companies , but it is much more profitable to make a product that lasts a few years and make people go after another product of yours.
Image source: LE__guardian, Karolina Grabowska
#29
Peace and quiet.
Image source: flatline000
#30
Full product softwares and games.
Image source: Remcee0403, JESHOOTS.COM
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