30 Facts From The ’70s And ’80s That Seem Unbelievable Now, Shared In This Online Thread

Yay! This! It’s like Stranger Things

Trawling through the library index first to find the right encyclopedia / reference publication then building your footnotes / bibliography to support your submission. Roughly 30 minutes for per reference...

well then...

We made those for our dads, for mom we made potholders.

I remember when there was only BBC and ITV

This was "normal" in the UK in the 80s and 90s. Uniform was a skirt for the girls. In winter they simply wore woolly tights, which was also part of the uniform and had to be a certain colour. Boys wore trousers and it was only if it was really hot we could wear shorts and very occasionally it would be declared a "no tie" day.

You think that's bad. When I was a university, I didn't have a phone and used the public call boxes at the end of the street. Doesn't sound too bad until I say that I lived in the red light district and got propositioned whilst on the phone to my mother! LOL

The amount of times I would burn my hands on the monkey bars from the hot Aussie sun 😤 the blisters! But my god was it fun!!!

My English teacher could have thrown a board rubber for the olympics

Ha. There was one bus stop in the entire village. Apart from the one and only school bus, the remainder of the bus service flipped between one an hour to two busses a week! I walked to primary school, including on my own from about aged 7 or 8, and cycled to secondary school which was 3 miles away in the nearest town. This is probably why I have such little patience with the Chelsea tractors (SUVs) doing the "school run".

Smoking “sections” on airplanes!!

Exploring outside for hours on end was the best.

The one I remember was mostly a toy: molded plastic seat, one inch plastic strap with a buckle, and a plastic steering wheel with a squeeky horn button.

My mom relied on The Flying Arm of Steel. Because she had lightning-fast reflexes, I spent a significant amount of my childhood going, "whoomppff.

When I was a kid, nobody had car seats. I can remember being 3 or 4, and on long drives, I used to climb up and lie down in the back window, watching the stars.

I've seen worse. On my classic there was a child seat that straddled the propshaft tunnel. Perfect for yeeting toddlers and babies out the car when you stop overquickly.

What car seat? I sat on Dad s lap, grabbed the wheel and told the car to go faster.

And the plastic steering wheel! I made a hard right turn one day and ripped it off.

We didn't even have them. Or seat belts in the back. I was carsick so I would lie down and try to sleep.

And, if your car was a two door, the front seats just folded forward. No catch of any sort to stop that from happening.

dont remember having baby/kids car seats

No children’s car seats in my day and no seat belts either

I had one like that. I think it was floral patterned though and not as cushiony

The plastic and metal ones hurt like a b**** if you were sitting next to it and it pinched your arm!

And if the car was a two door there weren't any sort of catches to lock the car seat in an upright position - it just folded forward if you pushed on it.

What are these “car seats” you speak of? Dad drove with me and my sisters all crammed together in the front seat. How I miss those bench seats!

Yeah, we brought our daughter home in a seat that looked like a toy. So did her stroller.

The one I had for my son, he could unblock or and climb out. It made for fun drives on the freeway during rush hour!

I don't remember these, but we had a scout, with just the lap belts. and beer coozies in the glovebox, u know, for the weekend

Who here remembers riding in a car before seatbelts were a thing? Or when seatbelts were optional?

Our car seat was "Mom's Arm"

You had a car seat? Our safety restraint system was Mom's arm when ever slowing down or coming to a stop.

Car seats? We didn't even have seat belts.

I remember sitting in the back cargo part (no seats) of our old Holden, sucking in exhaust fumes that came in through the back window.

Wouldn't it be safer to just sit on the seat?

You had a car seat?

If you had a car seat at all!

Ah yes, I believe there’s a picture of me in one of these!

That was a student prank. Our chemistry teacher had some mercury in a beaker and we stuck our hands in it. Not sure that touching it is a big deal, but you don't want to ingest it.

Thank god!

Hamburger jail was awesome!

AND you could pick up the phone and listen in on their conversations!

Probably because they were hunting rifles, used for hunting and not assault rifles, used for God knows what.

Whiskey on teething baby’s gums

Omg the warning notice is full on

Wow! Look at the leg room.

" I Thought He/She Was With YOU ! "

There is one of these near my sisters, in a park, it is 3 feet wide. Spin on that fast and you will vomit and feel ill for the rest of the day.

Fortunately, the jet injectors do no use a needle, but instead use a high pressure spray that penetrates the top layers of skin to deliver the vaccine. They used to be used for mass vaccinations, but now only a fraction of people in the States use it for insulin.

Well at least the nurse tried to calm her down, though a newborn should not be near smoking!

Buying smokes for my grandpa. 43 cents a pack! Now almost $20 here.

"most" :-(

We had Nitty Nora the head explorer. You were treated then and there. The shame of going back to class was dreadful.

I'm also from Raleigh. My second grade teacher's wooden paddle was made by her husband and he'd even done fancy burn in lettering to put her name on it. Good times