"If You Missed Them, You Had To Wait For The Summer": 36 Totally Normal Things From The '70s That Would Send The People Of 2026 Into A Full-On Tizzy, And It's Actually Wild How Much Things Have Changed

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Times, they are A-changin', and changin' beauteous rapidly if you inquire me. What was socially acceptable 1 time is wholly unheard of the next, and we look back, thinking, "How was that ever normal??"

1. "When you were done drinking a tin of soda, a vessel of beer, oregon eating a candy bar, you'd conscionable propulsion the trash retired the car model oregon connected the crushed connected the broadside of the roadworthy oregon successful the woods oregon connected the street, wherever you were. Kind of hard to judge we each did that."

—jackstraw_65

2. "Socially acceptable alcoholism was everywhere, and due to the fact that of that, truthful was drunk driving. It is precise unusual however agelong it took for drunk driving to get connected instrumentality enforcement's radar. I'll ne'er hide I was (stupidly) a rider successful a drunk buddy's conveyance and we were stopped by the cops. My person exited the vehicle, and the archetypal happening helium said was, 'Ossifer, was I exspeeding the effect limit?'' Literally. Exact quote. Both cops burst retired laughing, and 1 of them looked astatine maine and said, 'Can you drive, oregon are you drunk, too?' I said, ' Yes, I tin drive,' and the bull said, 'Get him location and don't fto america spot you retired again tonight.'"

—mikemflash

3. "We would heap up each the leaves from your gait successful the autumn and acceptable them connected fire. There were piles of smoldering leaves everyplace successful the neighborhood; they’d pain for days. Plus, everyone had a pain tube successful the backyard, and that’s however we 'recycled' paper, etc."

—69-GTO

4. "Streaking! People would get the urge, undress, and tally similar hellhole from 1 determination to another! Even astatine my precocious school, portion classes were successful session! Ha, radical conscionable wanted to consciousness free!! 🏃🏃‍♀️"

—Elektrik_Man_077

5. "Attitudes toward intelligence health, sex roles, and privateness were precise different. Therapy carried a beardown stigma, galore workplaces openly favored men for promotions, and idiosyncratic accusation was often handled with acold little confidentiality than radical expect now."

—TheManWithTheEsky

6. "The outgo of long-distance telephone calls. It was long-distance for my sister to telephone my parents, but not long-distance for my parents to telephone my sister. So erstwhile the telephone would ringing lone once, my ma would instantly telephone my sister back. That was our concealed code."

—Local_Bobcat_2000

7. "Not lone did we person a rotary phone, but we had a enactment line, meaning astir 10 residences connected our thoroughfare shared a carnal telephone connection. Sometimes you would prime up the telephone and your neighbour would beryllium talking to idiosyncratic else. Then if idiosyncratic got impatient with however agelong your telephone was taking, they would prime up and bent up astir 50 times successful a row! I truly hated that!"

—Browncoat4Life

8. "Children usually wandered astir free-range connected their ain without a attraction successful the world. No 1 disquieted they were mislaid unless they were nether 5 years aged oregon so. Then we’d inquire them the eternally cosmopolitan question, 'Do you cognize wherever your mommy is?'"

—Alarming-Cheetah-144

9. "All the waiting. You'd hold for days for photos to beryllium developed. When you ordered from a catalog, you had to hold 2 oregon 3 weeks for the point to beryllium delivered. When you watched your favourite show, it was different week earlier the adjacent occurrence aired. To perceive a definite song, you had to hold for it to travel connected the radio. Everything was truthful antithetic from however it is now."

—danathepaina

10. "There was a smoking lounge successful my precocious school... for students."

—Joey690

"We had 1 betwixt the wings of the buildings. It was staggering however overmuch cause was sold there. You could get thing you wanted."

—Soggy-Journalist2951

11. "Women couldn’t get recognition cards without their husband’s permission. If you were a azygous woman, adjacent an employed azygous pistillate with a bully career, you were inactive beauteous overmuch shit-outta-luck connected purchasing thing utilizing credit."

—Open_Confidence_9349

12. "The odor of traffic. Almost everything was carburetted, and determination were astir nary catalytic converters. If you got stuck successful a jam, the odor of exhaust gases was precise beardown — and leaded."

—InspectorGadget76

13. "No, determination virtually wasn't thing connected TV aft midnight, and they played 'The Star-Spangled Banner' astatine the extremity of the broadcast each day."

—McDWarner

14. "Politicians utilized to resign if they were recovered retired for their corruption oregon erstwhile they had nationalist enactment scandals. Now, not truthful much."

—BeigeGraffiti

15. "There was truthful overmuch pubic hair. I know. Sorry to beryllium crass, sincerely, but it’s true."

—Fabulous_Log844

16. "When you pulled into a state station, a doorbell would ring, past an attendant would travel out, pump your gas, cleanable your windshield, and cheque your oil. They would adjacent adhd a quart if you were low."

—Whistlin_Booger

17. "Stores utilized to fto kids bargain cigarettes for their parents — nary note, nary nothing, conscionable currency successful hand. My dada would nonstop maine retired with capable other wealth for chips and a soda. I inactive retrieve his preferred marque 50+ years later: Benson & Hedges Multifilters."

—OldGreyWriter

18. "When you'd spell to bargain shoes, determination was a antheral who would measurement your foot, spell to the backmost country to find your size, and past you'd beryllium connected a small stool portion helium slipped them connected your feet."

—WedgwoodBlue55

19. "There was astir nary respect for information erstwhile it came to cars and seatbelts. We were rolling astir successful the backmost of my mom's presumption wagon similar escaped bowling pins."

—1jfish57

20. "You could bargain cigarettes for $0.50 a pack, state for $0.59 a gallon, and candy bars for $0.10. Also, kids' cereal utilized to travel with toys wrong the box."

—mojotramp

21. "Young children walking to schoolhouse without big supervision. I had to transverse engaged streets, but determination were ever crossing guards to power traffic. The crossing guards were elder citizens who volunteered to bash it without pay. Today, those elder citizens are astir apt inactive moving existent jobs to marque ends meet."

—rogun64

22. "School formal codes: girls were required to deterioration a skirt/dress (no slacks), and boys were required to deterioration formal pants and a collared garment (no jeans oregon T-shirts). Also, boys' hairsbreadth could not beryllium implicit their ears oregon scope the extremity of their nose."

—Dirk_Pitt_1

23. "There were lone 30 minutes of quality connected TV per time crossed conscionable 4 channels."

—jpom45000

24. "We utilized to hitchhike agelong distances without fearfulness oregon paranoia. Crazy to deliberation astir that now."

—db7112

25. "We didn't person instant/digital photos. You'd instrumentality pictures astatine Christmas, but mightiness not usage the movie up until February. By the clip you took the movie successful to beryllium developed and picked up the pictures a fewer days later, you got to relive the past with a spot of wonderment and a small spot of embarrassment."

—MyDogGoldi

26. "There was a clip erstwhile you conscionable didn't prime up your dog’s poop. No 1 walked astir with small integrative bags."

—TrainingWoodpecker77

27. "In the '70s, I telephone it 'The House of One.' One bath to beryllium shared by aggregate people, 1 telephone with a precise agelong cord, 1 TV with an antenna, 1 car that was shared if determination was a teen who had passed driver's ed. There wasn’t overmuch disposable income, truthful we relied connected the powerfulness of one. And these essentials were treated with respect due to the fact that we couldn’t spend a replacement if thing happened to them."

—Top-Change9851

28. "You utilized to person to work the TV Guide (the existent printed magazine) to marque a database of your favourite shows truthful you would cognize erstwhile you had to beryllium location to ticker them. If you missed them, you had to hold for the summertime and anticipation that they appeared successful the rerun schedule."

—Accomplished_Tart_96

29. "When you handed your recognition paper to the salesperson, they would spot it successful a instrumentality that virtually took an content of it by pressing it into c paper."

—SnooDogs4864

30. "We didn't adjacent person answering machines. If you wanted to get ahold of someone, you conscionable had to telephone backmost later."

—WinterMedical

31. "People utilized to get dressed up to fly. There was nary wearing pajamas to the airport."

—FormalTotal9684

32. "We utilized to person to telephone a dedicated fig to get the nonstop time. 'At the tone, the clip volition be…' I loved The Time Lady."

—whome90125

33. "You would person to telephone the movie theatre to perceive to the 10-minute signaling that listed the showtimes portion penning them down truthful you could get implicit an hr earlier the movie started to basal successful enactment with your friends to bargain tickets."

—Plenty-Tree4736

34. "You utilized to get long, handwritten (in illegible cursive) snail message letters alternatively of texts oregon emails."

—0MNIR0N

35. "It wasn't weird to grin astatine a alien successful nationalist and onslaught up a conversation; it was encouraged even."

—RetroMetroShow

36. And finally, "You weren’t bombarded with insanity from the President virtually each day. You mightiness spell days without adjacent reasoning astir politics."

—No_Repair_782

If you grew up successful the '70s oregon earlier, what different things were socially acceptable backmost past that would look wholly chaotic by today's standards? Let maine cognize successful the comments oregon archer maine utilizing the anonymous signifier below. Your effect whitethorn beryllium featured successful an upcoming BuzzFeed article!

Note: Responses person been edited for length/clarity.

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