Everything used to be better. For some things that is correct, other things have been improved. Were you a kid in the 80s? Then you probably recognize these typical eighties things. 8 Things that were only possible in the 80s.
In the 1980s, children grew up very differently than they do today. It was a time without a mobile phone, limited TV channels and the internet was unknown. A time when everything was different. Also a time when things happened that you would now disapprove of. How about smoking that was allowed everywhere, including the plane? Or sitting in the back of the car without a seat belt on. But there was much more. Nice things that are no longer possible or no longer in use today.
Growing up in the eighties was a world of difference to how children grow up today. Whether you were a child yourself in the 80s or just curious about what it was like back then, these are 8 things that were only possible in the 80s.
If you wanted to make calls, you had to do so from home with a landline telephone with a rotary dial. Just walking around or doing something while you were on the phone was not one of them. The telephones often had a limited cable length, so you had to sit in the same place during the entire telephone conversation. The telephone was usually in a central place with a chair or sofa next to it.
Did you have to call on the way? Then you used a pay phone. For this you had to have coins in your pocket. In all other cases, you simply couldn't be reached unless you had a walkie-talkie as a child.
Something that is unimaginable today, but in the 80s there were no seat belts in the back seat. That way, smuggling with the number of people in the car was a lot easier. By the way, driving was a lot more relaxed. Child on your lap while parking? No problem… Learned something with young, old done 😉
You didn't get any pocket money, so if you wanted something extra, you had to work for it. Of course there was no child labour, but there was something like heytje for a job. Children went door to door to do small chores. From washing the car to sweeping the porch stairs, the job was solved for a quarter. And that money came in handy when you walked past the candy store again.
Well, what do you do in a time when there is no cell phone yet? You are then not available to your parents. Not everyone had a watch either, so they only told you that you had to be home before dark. It was late in the summer and very early in the winter. And if you were not at home, your father or mother could go looking or someone from the neighbors knew where you were hanging out.
Smoking was not so unhealthy in the eighties (we thought). So there was heavy smoking everywhere. Whether that was at home, in the car, a restaurant or the plane. And so you smoked as a child and as a non-smoker whether you wanted to or not.
Nowadays you can watch movies, listen to music and much more via the internet. As a kid in the 80s you had to go to a video store for certain movies. There you got a videotape with the film on it. At home you put it in the VCR and hope the tape was okay. It was not possible to flip through, you could at most fast forward or backward.
You listened to music via an LP, the radio and a cassette tape. You put this in a cassette player and then you could listen to music, but also record from the radio. Sometimes things went wrong and the ribbon got stuck. You could open everything again and in the worst case you had to stick the ribbon. Then you lost a piece of music. To get the ribbon back in, you used a pencil.
If you are now a child or teenager (fortunately) it is no longer so easy to drink and cigarettes, in the eighties they had never heard of 18+ control (unless you wanted to get a certain genre of video tape). But booze and cigarettes could simply be obtained by children.
As far as upbringing was concerned, there was a vast difference with what is happening now. Children were given a corrective tap if necessary (which, incidentally, has not made anyone any worse). And if your mother had to go to the store, she would leave you in the car. Boredom could set in there, but oh well, look at other cars, draw or just hang out the window and you passed your time.
Did you grow up in the 1980s? And which of the above do you remember well?
