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We precocious asked what things were truthful communal successful the 1970s that would beryllium considered ace weird by today's standards, and wow...y'all grew up similar this?! Here are immoderate of the things considered mean backmost past that blew my 2026 mind:
1. "In the '70s, nary 1 batted an oculus astatine 8-year-old maine buying cigarettes for my mom. At the pharmacy. The '70s were so weird."
2. "I had a one-speed 25-pound bicycle to get astir municipality successful the '70s. Once home, I ne'er utilized the kickstand. I cruised up the driveway and laid my motorcycle connected its broadside until the adjacent day, not worrying astir anyone stealing it."
3. "All the autobus drivers were juniors oregon seniors astatine the precocious school. That was wholly mean backmost then!"
4. "Having regular weaponry drills each done simple school."
5. "Back successful the '70s determination were nary communal household computers, printers, oregon compartment phones. So erstwhile you were assigned homework successful school, it often progressive probe astatine the room followed by a 3–15 leafage report. And you wrote it by hand, utilizing cursive writing, which you learned by 2nd grade. I besides wrote 3 pages of notes during a people each day. I went done truthful galore collegiate lined notebooks then."
6. "Driving from Miami Beach to Philadelphia successful a Toyota Celica, and lone spending $17 successful state for the full trip!"
—Anonymous, 76
7. "Airplanes utilized to person ashtrays successful the armrest due to the fact that you were allowed to fume connected the plane. And it was mean to bash so."
8. "I'd often spell to a friend’s location connected Friday oregon Saturday night, and we'd bid pizza and brew for delivery. When the transportation idiosyncratic arrived and asked for the big who ordered the beer, the feline with the deepest dependable would beryllium upstairs with the ablution moving (so helium couldn’t travel to the door) and outcry down that it was good for 'his kid' to judge the beer. It worked each time."
—Anonymous, 76, Male, Ohio
9. "'Momnet.' Your champion friend's parent had the aforesaid powerfulness and authorization implicit you erstwhile you were nether her roof. If your friend's begetter had to telephone your begetter astir anything, you were successful deep, deep, trouble."
"My friends’ moms each had support to spank me. Good times."
10. "It was communal to tan with babe lipid mixed with iodine, but I preferred different way. When I was a teen, my grandpa worked for the candy conglomerate Mars Corp. and would bring location bags of cocoa butter. I would drawback a ziplock container full, and my friends and I would caput to the excavation to fry ourselves."
11. "If I was sick, the doc would halt astatine my location connected their mode to the office. That was the norm."
12. "When astatine my 2nd occupation retired of assemblage successful 1978, I told my brag I was large (married for 2 years astatine the time). I was told that meant I would nary longer beryllium considered for the promotion I was owed due to the fact that I wouldn’t beryllium capable to grip the responsibilities. Well, I ne'er went backmost to that spot aft our babe was born."
—Anonymous, 70, Female, Mid-Atlantic
13. "My dada smoked these tiny cigars called De Nobili cigars. They looked similar acheronian brown, shriveled Chihuahua canine turds. If smoked successful an enclosed area, the bluish fume from those cigars caused flies buzzing astir the country to land, flip over, and die."
14. "Because we didn't person stroke dryers for our hair, my sister would crook the AC on, past tally extracurricular and blow-dry her hairsbreadth arsenic the lukewarm aerial blew retired of the ample AC portion successful our backyard. My parent would get truthful aggravated with her due to the fact that it wasn't blistery outside, it was 7 a.m., and the dependable of the AC turning connected woke her up. She was huffy that our electrical measure would beryllium high. But oh, our agelong hairsbreadth would get adust rapidly and look fantastic!"
—Anonymous, 68, Female, Michigan
15. "It was modular to formal ceremonial for flying. Women would perceive heels and dresses portion men donned suits oregon astatine the precise least, a sports coat."
16. "Taking the chalkboard erasers extracurricular and banging them unneurotic to cleanable them for the teacher."
17. "I started teaching successful 1971. For Halloween successful my fifth-grade class, we would carve pumpkins successful people with existent knives. We did the enactment for 10 years with nary issues."
18. "It was precise mean to hold successful enactment for newsstands to unfastened to drawback 1 of the papers aboriginal on. I’d hold astatine a newsstand successful either Queens oregon Manhattan for the aboriginal variation of The New York Times truthful I could bash the crossword puzzle erstwhile I got location from socializing."
19. "It existed overmuch longer, but successful the '70s, it was perfectly mean and truthful communal to enactment things connected layaway. If you don't cognize what layaway it is, you'd fundamentally wage for thing implicit clip successful installments with nary interest."
20. "Having 10 oregon 15 antithetic telephone numbers memorized!"
—Anonymous, 68, Male, New York City
21. "Draft lottery fig drawings during the Vietnam War. Yikes!"
22. "Race riots astatine schoolhouse were common. There would beryllium school-wide fights astatine lunchtime astatine my simple school, wherever boys would squad up by contention and conscionable commencement brawling until adults got it nether control. There was besides a disposable beingness of the KKK successful San Bernardino County, who regularly committed hatred crimes."
23. "Our precocious schoolhouse had an extracurricular smoking area."
24. "I'd often thrust shotgun successful the car portion my dada openly drank cans of Coors brew — nary seatbelts, speeding down the highway, smoking, openly drinking, windows rolled down."
"He ne'er got stopped."
—Anonymous, 59, Male, Los Angeles
25. "I worked for NAC, a recognition paper company, starting successful the '60s. I would enactment successful a country the size of a 4th of a shot field, with files afloat of thousands of scale card-like recognition info connected our clients. When a store called for a recognition acquisition approval, I had to RUN to that record drawer, marque a judgement telephone connected the approval, enactment a gaffe successful the file, and tally backmost to archer the cashier whether that recognition acquisition was approved! Just ideate being successful enactment astatine Korvette’s waiting for that approval!"
26. "If you couldn't get a clasp of a person due to the fact that the telephone enactment was busy, you called the relation to interruption into the line, telling her it was an emergency."
—Anonymous, 65, Female, Texas
27. "Instead of Facebook, we had Slam Books. They were passed astir and you could work and adhd a 'slam' connected different person."
—Anonymous, 65, Female, Texas
28. "Randomly walking extracurricular and uncovering a person to play with. No call, nary place, conscionable consecutive up uncovering them."
29. "Getting retired of the car to unfastened the dense store door."
—Anonymous, 65
30. "I grew up successful agrarian Kansas. Boys who had vehicles often had shotguns oregon rifles connected a weapon rack oregon successful the trunk of their car connected schoolhouse property. Nearly each lad carried a pouch weapon astatine school."
31. "When I was a baby, I rode successful a cardboard container with a broad nether the beforehand dashboard of the car. As the youngest of 5 children, we often had 7 radical successful an mean sedan."
32. "Summer camp, 1970. I was 13 years old. No internet, nary compartment phones. 60 kids, 4 weeks distant from home. Five of the kids were from the United Nations International School successful New York and from respective countries each implicit the world. There were arts and crafts, sports of each kinds, mentally stimulating classes, chill counselors, impermanent speakers, and tract trips. There were nary parents for a month, but connected Family Day. It was 1 of the champion experiences of my life! I privation much kids contiguous could bask this."
33. "When flying, you got unthinkable meals. Even connected abbreviated trips."
34. "My lad was calved successful 1970, and I wanted his begetter to beryllium with maine during the delivery. I contacted each infirmary and obstetrician successful the area, and they each said it was impossible. Fathers had to enactment successful the waiting room. The lone different prime was a location birth, which I didn’t privation to do. Now, the full household makes a enactment of it, with small kids even."
—Anonymous, 80, Female, Oklahoma City
35. "Back successful the '70s successful precocious school, you'd person to beryllium absent possibly 2 oregon 3 weeks successful a enactment earlier the schoolhouse would yet nonstop idiosyncratic to your location to find retired why."
—Anonymous, 63, Male, Texas
36. "Not being capable to get the publication you needed for a study due to the fact that the lone transcript had been checked retired was a communal experience. Encyclopedias helped arsenic agelong arsenic the taxable you needed was successful them. If you needed much than 1 reference, it was disconnected to the library."
37. "Patients were allowed to fume successful their infirmary room. As agelong arsenic you oregon your roommates weren’t utilizing oxygen, you could smoke. The caregiver would adjacent supply you with an ashtray!"
38. "I retrieve I had an corruption successful my finger. Almost mislaid the extremity of it. Our household doc drained the infection. For aftercare, I had to get this peculiar medicine pick from a drugstore. It was $20! That was an unheard-of,' high' terms due to the fact that backmost then, the mean medicine outgo was astir $1 to $2."
—Anonymous, Pennsylvania
39. "Quaaludes were 50 cents, acerb was a lone $1, and cookware outgo $20 an ounce for Colombian."
40. "I asked the Personnel Director for a rise based connected the magnitude of enactment I accomplished and was told not to interest astir wealth due to the fact that I 'was cute and would beryllium marrying soon truthful my hubby would instrumentality attraction of things.'"
—Anonymous, 69, Female, Richmond, IL
41. And finally: "I worked astatine a afloat work state presumption successful inferior high. In the men's room, it was communal to person the dispenser filled with condoms, the Spanish alert machine, and the 'instant p*ssy machine' — you could bargain a batch for a quarter!"
What are things from yesteryear successful the '70s that were wholly considered mean backmost past that would marque idiosyncratic malfunction today? Share your experiences successful the comments oregon the anonymous signifier below!
Note: Submissions person been edited for magnitude and/or clarity.
English (US) ·