23 Shocking Misconceptions Younger Generations Have About Recent History Revealed
Up until video rental stores in the early 80’s, at school the next day every kid was talking about what was on TV the night before, as every single family was watching tv together every single night. With some exceptions, most people watched the same thing as their schoolmates or co-workers, just to be a part of the conversation.
That it was incredibly common to just not have pictures of events or other things we see as important now. Not only did we have entire vacations where no pictures were taken, we could go months without a single picture being taken of any member of our family unless it was particularly notable. A trip to St Louis? No pictures. A trip to Disney land? Maybe a picture at the entry gate or one of the souvenir pictures of us with a character. A trip to zoo? No pictures. An average day? Forget about it! Frequently, the only pictures taken were at major holidays like Christmas or on someone’s birthday.
Landline telephones had seriously great audio quality. Better than anything for remote conversation today, in my opinion. I distinctly remember being a teenager and just talking on the phone with someone late into the night, hearing them breathe and sigh, hearing their every little sound. There wasn’t the lag and the noise canceling and the high compression that ruins telephony today. It was a much purer way to feel like you were closer to someone than anything we have today.
how common drinking & driving was. Until MADD came along, people did this routinely. It’s where “one for the road” originated.
Maybe not everyone’s experience but for me there was casual violence everywhere. Smacking kids was not only tolerated but expected. Hit by parents, friends parents, random adults in the neighborhood, teachers etc. Then you’d get beat for making the teacher hit you. “What will the neighbors think” was real
Young people today think it’s normal to carry a water bottle or other drink with them everywhere. My teenaged neice and her friends apparently can’t be out of the house for more than 5 minutes without having a drink in hand lest they suddenly die of dehydration. She can’t comprehend that we used to walk a half hour (another rant for another time) to school without having something to drink the entire way, or that the school simply did not allow any drinks in the classroom (and many employers didn’t allow drinks at your desk either).
I remember having to call stores to ask them if they had something in stock before actually making the trip to get it.
My grandmother smoked basically every second she was awake from age 13-75. She loved it and said she would rather die than stop. She smoked in her house and car. Even in bed. I used to stay with her a lot. I went to a strict private school for High School, they were on campus off campus, which meant you had to conduct yourself the same way at home as at school. My parents went out of town for 2 weeks, I had to stay with my grandparents. I was about 15 and knew i smelled like an ashtray- what could I do? I had to stay with her. Even my hair smelled like it. So I’m at school and I get called out of class and sent to the principal. He explained to me that several teachers had complained that I smell like smoke and he knows I have been smoking before I come to school. I told them I was staying at my grandparents and my grandmother smoked nonstop and that’s why. They said that was not true because my hair smelled like smoke and that only happens if you smoke. So they’re about to suspend me, they call my parents. My parents had to tell them I was staying with my grandparents and that’s why. I was so embarrassed and self conscious until my parents got back and I got to go home. Also when we moved my grandparents to another house, we took down everything from the wall. Realized the walls are yellow from smoke, where something had hung the walls were bright white. I often wondered what my grandmother lungs looked like after this
The 60s weren’t *all* flower children and hippies, and the general population reviled protestors back then every much as much as they do now, for the same reason: media representation. Anti-war protestors were painted like antifa and BLM are now by the media, i.e. most made them out to be quasi-terrorists. I personally supported what they were doing as an 8 year old, but my family thought they were horrible.
