ADVERTISEMENT

Back in my day, we only had one computer in the whole house. And we couldn’t use it if anyone was talking on the telephone! The world around us is changing at an incredible pace, and it’s extremely easy for young generations to forget or simply be unaware of what our grandparents experienced growing up.

So to remind ourselves how different the world was back then, one Reddit user recently asked older adults to share their favorite “pieces of trivia” that people their age know but younger generations might not. Below, you’ll find some of their most fascinating responses, so enjoy scrolling through. And keep reading to find a conversation with Jean Mader and Laura Bettinger of the OK Boomer podcast!

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Phone numbers were memorized, and there was no speed dial, caller ID, or voicemail. I still remember my home # and my best friend's # from 50+ years ago.

ethottly , Kenny Eliason Report

Final score:
248points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#2

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook The world was way more colorful.

Cars were cool colors, not just gray, white or black. Like, a mall parking lot would look spectacular.


Now it seems like everywhere is just a ubiquitous, low profile, architecturally acceptable sea of blah.

robot_pirate , YoItsCapture Report

Final score:
224points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#3

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook That when you watched TV you had to watch what was on and if you wanted to watch something in particular, you had to wait for it to come on.

BreakfastBeerz , Aleks Dorohovich Report

Final score:
218points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu

To gain more insight on this topic, we reached out to Jean Mader and Laura Bettinger, co-hosts of the OK Boomer podcast. They were kind enough to provide some examples of things they remember that Gen Z might be confused or surprised by. "We all had a crush on Little Joe on Bonanza, watched in black and white," Jean revealed. "[We were] excited to get the annual big phone book and peruse the yellow pages (old books used as handy booster seat for kids)."

ADVERTISEMENT

The hosts also provided a long list of things Gen Z might not be aware of: Princess style landline phones, typing on typewriters and using whiteout, getting blue fingers from carbon paper to make copies, using World Book Encyclopedias instead of Google, giant paper roadmaps you could never properly refold, and trading Beatles cards. Jean also pointed out that men would hold doors open for women, open car doors, and walk next to curb for women. "Always!"
#4

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Not that long ago, but you no security screening at airports. You could literally walk the person to the boarding area and watch them board the plane.

LCCR_2028 , Matthew Turner Report

Final score:
212points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#5

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook When the internet first came out, you couldn't talk on the phone and be online at the same time.

LosBrad , mautkananganach Report

Final score:
205points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#6

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook My boss blew my young co-workers mind the other day when she explained that there is a special kind of black paper, that you can put between two regular pieces of paper, and when you write on the top one, it shows up on the bottom one!

mr_roborto , Kelly Sikkema Report

Final score:
205points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT

Jean also reminded us of 3.2% low alcohol beer, diets from 1980's like the Cabbage Soup diet and Grapefruit Diet, huge Hi Fidelity furniture like stereo record players, metal lunch boxes, riding in the back of station wagons facing backwards with no seatbelts, view finders, video stores, Swanson TV dinner nights, arm wrestling to settle disputes, nobody wearing sunscreen, fallout shelters and houses with coal chutes.
#7

MTV was all music.

TKERaider Report

Final score:
201points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#8

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Tv stations used to just go off at midnight. They would play a test pattern and a tone until resuming broadcasting around 6am.

shavemejesus , Denelson83 Report

Final score:
199points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#9

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook That it was normal for an entire household to share a single phone number.

AlexMango44 , Annie Spratt Report

Final score:
196points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu

We also asked the hosts if they happen to miss any of these things from the past. "Do not miss encyclopedias," Jean shared. "Google at our fingertips is amazing (although with this, we lost the ability to spell on our own). Truly thankful for GPS, but miss a map here and there to get a true perspective as to where things are. And a good arm wrestle is always fun and handy."

ADVERTISEMENT
#10

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook My 20 yo son liked this one:

When driving to anywhere new, you had to get directions or stop at the gas station and ask for them…

Or you could buy a map/atlas.

littlemissnoname- , Dominika Roseclay Report

Final score:
189points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#11

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook There were telephones EVERYWHERE. Streets, shops, sidewalk corners, etc., etc.

You paid for calls with COINS.

PawzzClawzz , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:
183points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#12

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook We used to make our Christmas or birthday wish list from looking in a Sears & Roebuck (or other store's) catalog. You could actually order and pay for things via snail mail, and it was safe to do so.

LeeAnnLongsocks , notavailable_name Report

Final score:
172points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu

And when it comes to things we do today that future generations might be shocked by, Jean predicts that because AI will take over, they may be shocked that we ever had to creatively write anything! "Will cars all be automatic and they will be shocked we used our hands to steer?" she asked. "Robots will clean our houses, and they will chuckle at the fact that we actually moved a vacuum."

ADVERTISEMENT

If you'd like to hear more from Jean and Laura about life "back in the day," be sure to check out their podcast, OK Boomer!
#13

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook My adult children and all their friends didn’t believe me when I first told them that married women weren’t allowed to have a credit card in their own name until 1974. Before that, they could only have one through their husband.

jmac94wp , CardMapr.nl Report

Final score:
171points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#14

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook There used to be a phone number you could call to get the time. It would update every 10 seconds. “At the tone the time will be…”

GshNAttck , Min An Report

Final score:
166points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#15

All of us kids, as young as toddlers, used to pile into the open bed of a pickup truck and just be driven all over hell and gone by adults who didn't even have seatbelts in the cab. No one ever questioned this. It was a perfectly legitimate method of transporting small kids.

tarot_tarot_bo_barot Report

Final score:
148points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#16

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Ashtrays everywhere. Homes, businesses, restaurants, hospitals, malls, schools (designated area), etc. Even if you didn't smoke you had ashtrays, at least on your coffee table, for guests.

oldcatsarecute , Markus Spiske Report

Final score:
147points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#17

No ATM or debit cards. You would have to withdraw enough cash to cover you for the weekend, since the banks were closed.

renushka Report

Final score:
143points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#18

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Cigarette machines pretty much everywhere, as long as you put the money in you could get a pack of smokes no matter what age you were

No_Worldliness_6803 , Arz Report

Final score:
136points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#19

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Leaving kids in the car to run into a store was no big deal.

shkilo , Sam Barber Report

Final score:
133points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#20

(M69). Gas station attendants would put gas in your car, cleaned your windshield, and check your oil as a part of buying the gas. Then you paid him through your car window without getting out of your car.

Pop / soda came in glass bottles.

Grocery stores only sold food and the stores were about a quarter of today’s sizes.

When you needed wood and such for a home project, there was no Home Depot. You went to the lumber yard for wood and anything else, a small local hardware store.

3D-ironowl Report

Final score:
128points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
Don’t want to see ads?
#21

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook At one time, Top 40 radio was comprised of real musicians and singers.

Heavy-Week5518 , Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas Report

Final score:
116points
Add photo comments
POST
leannehailes avatar
Leanne Hailes
Leanne Hailes
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Really, REALLY miss this. Also miss real music.

Vote comment up
43
43points
Vote comment down
reply
anoukt avatar
Anouk T
Anouk T
Community Member
9 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well if you know where and how to look you will find plenty - real music is still alive and well just don’t look for it in mainstream media

Vote comment up
7
7points
Vote comment down
reply
Load More Replies...
rogernehring avatar
Roger Nehring
Roger Nehring
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is such a geezer comment! I'm 77 and I have never had trouble finding good, current music.

Vote comment up
14
14points
Vote comment down
reply
marcorichter_1 avatar
Floeckchen
Floeckchen
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The best decade for music ever was your own puberty and adolescence. Always has been, always will be.

Vote comment up
10
10points
Vote comment down
reply
freyathewanderer_1 avatar
Freya the Wanderer
Freya the Wanderer
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I grew up listening to oldies thanks to my father. I agree - yesterday's music was better. Is better.

Vote comment up
4
4points
Vote comment down
reply
Load More Replies...
coreypichler avatar
CP
CP
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is today. This just sounds like someone who doesn't like new music.

Vote comment up
4
4points
Vote comment down
reply
michalpifko avatar
Michal Pifko
Michal Pifko
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Come on, this is some grumpy old man yells at cloud c**p right there. The older generation always hated new music. It was true in the 50s with the inappropriate Elvis moves, in the 60 the Yeah-yeah music (a derogatory term in some countries for Beatles like music). There was the satanic metal and punk in the 70s and let's not even talk about disco (there was literally a disco record burning event called the Disco demolition night). The 80s had a lot of electronic music, which, as we all know is not real music. The 90s had awful commertial Eurodance and manufactured boybands and girlgroups. The 2000s had autotune and in 2010s onward, everything is made by computers. I bet the next big hated thing is going to be AI music.

Vote comment up
4
4points
Vote comment down
reply
hansu_1984 avatar
hansu
hansu
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Every generation says the same "theres no real music anymore", "young people these days dont undestand..". And every generation thinks that they are the ones who did it right and nothing should change. If you are over 30 yo, you're not even supposed to like new music. Its made for young people and if you like it it's not "cool" and therefore not liked by the target audience. What I never undertood is why it is such a problem to people. Cant you just let the "kids" have their thing and you do yours.. Theres plenty of chanels to hear music for whatever your taste is. (I'm 40 yo and I get why youth orientated thing are not for me anymore. Yet imo there is good in todays music too)

Vote comment up
8
8points
Vote comment down
reply
Load More Replies...
rayceeyarayceeya avatar
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because recorded media was more limited. Wax records don't hold up like more modern vinyl. Radio stations would have studios and they'd bring in bands to play the popular music of the time.

Vote comment up
2
2points
Vote comment down
reply
acey-ace16 avatar
Ace
Ace
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think they may have been referring to the records in the charts, not just a broadcast thereof. I.e. that modern music is inherently not 'real'.

Vote comment up
2
2points
Vote comment down
reply
Load More Replies...
mandydelaforcepcgirl avatar
Mandy Delaforce (PC Girl)
Mandy Delaforce (PC Girl)
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They still are - except now it's modern music. Today's artists are no less skilled than the previous ones.

Vote comment up
1
1point
Vote comment down
reply
ralphwatkins_1 avatar
Ralph Watkins
Ralph Watkins
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a very nice digital stereo system set up. Then some one gave me a high end turntable. It would not work on a digital system so I found a high quality receiver-amp from the 80s. Ultra-wideband analog. The sound it so deep & rich. Digital sound loses so much along the edges of the various sounds & frequencies.

Vote comment up
0
0points
Vote comment down
reply
tuncer_cosar avatar
Joeshar
Joeshar
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It was a real competition which one would be the top song. So many songs competing at the same time. And the best of all; the final yearly lists.

Vote comment up
0
0points
Vote comment down
reply
kaatsje avatar
Catharina Geerts
Catharina Geerts
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I look at real musicians often LIVE on YouTube. Often on the pc, but also got the YouTube app on my smart TV, and there it's almost as if they are in my room. Like a personal concert...

Vote comment up
0
0points
Vote comment down
reply
rayneofsalt avatar
Rayne OfSalt
Rayne OfSalt
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lol, not since the 60s. There were some, sure, but there were equal amounts of electronica etc in the top 40 during the 70s, 80s and onwards.

Vote comment up
0
0points
Vote comment down
reply
dogutier6 avatar
Sharkfin6
Sharkfin6
Community Member
9 months ago

This comment has been deleted.

Vote comment up
0
0points
Vote comment down
reply
confred78 avatar
Marlowe Fitzpatrik
Marlowe Fitzpatrik
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hm, well - this post isn't totally wrong and it doesn't necessarily mean that modern music is totally carp. But it's true that a lot of pop-music (which is the stuff on the Top-lists most often) is made with computer-generated beats and uses samples. Can still be good music but it's not necessary for a successful artist to have a band on call to play the melodies much less needs to be able to play themselves.

Vote comment up
0
0points
Vote comment down
reply
shivaho avatar
Shiva Ho
Shiva Ho
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Who could actually hit the notes without stupid auto tuning

Vote comment up
-1
-1point
Vote comment down
reply
guessundheit avatar
Guess Undheit
Guess Undheit
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There ARE good new musicians making good music, but you'll never hear it on commercial radio. They want the lowest common denominator garbage "music" because they want the largest common denominations of money ($100 bills). [ ...........................................................................................] Go watch Bopflix on youtube, the playlists have enough new bands to keep you busy for a decade. [ https://www.youtube.com/@Bopflix/playlists ]

Vote comment up
-1
-1point
Vote comment down
reply
kurtdonald avatar
Kurt Donald
Kurt Donald
Community Member
9 months ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

THIS! Modern music is S**T. I'm from 2007, but I grew up with The Beatles, so

View more commentsArrow down menu
#22

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook People used to actually write letters, put a stamp on them, and mailed them to their friends and relatives! As a kid, I would write letters to my school friends over summer break just to tell them how my summer was going and most would write back telling me how things were with them.

I still remember when stamps went from 18 cents (US) to 20 cents and my Grandma complained about how outrageous that was. Today a first class stamp is 66 cents, and I only mail Christmas cards and thank you notes nowadays.

SiroccoDream , John-Mark Smith Report

Final score:
116points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#23

We had a Tylenol scare where several bottles were tampered with. Those that took them died (if I remember that correctly).

Until then, nothing was ever protected. So you could open any bottle or box from drug store items like Tylenol all the way to food and drink.

I told this to my 34 year old daughter and she was shocked that there was a time when we didn’t worry about such things.

Prior_Benefit8453 Report

Final score:
108points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#24

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook There was a room called the “coal room” in the basement of our house. We’d shovel coal from that room into a coal furnace to heat our house. The coal was delivered by a truck that had a coal chute that was inserted through a basement window in the coal room.

Logybayer , Pixabay Report

Final score:
107points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#25

We went to the moon before we put wheels on suitcases.

greenwoody2018 Report

Final score:
105points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#26

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook A 15 minute phone call coast to coast was about $12 in 1977. Equivalent to about $60 today.

timeflieswhen , Ron Lach Report

Final score:
104points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#27

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook When you went to a concert, you made sure to take a lighter — even if you didn’t smoke.

Nightmare_Gerbil , Michael Brennan Report

Final score:
103points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#28

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Drunk driving wasn't a serious crime until a group of moms got together and advocated. (MADD).

MizzGee , energepic.com Report

Final score:
96points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
Don’t want to see ads?
#29

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook I'm just old enough to remember smoking on planes. It still blows my mind that that was a thing!

Linzcro , Pascal Borener Report

Final score:
96points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#30

That "Help wanted" ads in the back of the newspaper were a good way to find jobs, and they were segregated by sex.

randycanyon Report

Final score:
94points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#31

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Houses in the same area had to share a telephone "party line". And you could listen in to their conversations.

Unless you sneezed or something...

mrxexon , Annie Spratt Report

Final score:
92points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#32

Whenever you wanted to download something online, you'd have to basically threaten everyone in the house with their lives if they picked up the phone during the amount of download time it took. It would take hours to download a game or an image, and if someone used the phone, the download would START OVER from the beginning. Plus, in the mid-'90s, you'd have to pay by the hour.

Shaydie Report

Final score:
92points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#33

There was such a thing as penny candy. A store near my school sold lots of it. Little Tootsie Rolls, many flavors of gumballs, and lots of other tasty things. A group of kids could come away with a big haul if one of them had a quarter.

newleaf9110 Report

Final score:
90points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#34

Every year I teach my students about Y2K and they think it’s hilarious.

pupsnpogonas Report

Final score:
89points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#35

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Milk was delivered to your house every week in a gallon glass bottle.

walkawaysux , No Revisions Report

Final score:
82points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
#36

Morning and evening newspapers. Mail delivered twice daily.

BabaMouse Report

Final score:
29points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#37

Drinking age was 18 in my day, but you could walk in a bar at 16 and order a drink, because nobody cared.

jefuchs Report

Final score:
24points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
Don’t want to see ads?
See Also on Bored Panda
#38

We actually grew up having face to face conversations.

TadpoleVegetable4170 Report

Final score:
24points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#39

Movie Phone. Want to go to the movies? Call Movie Phone, where the man's velvet recorded voice guided you through the movies showing that day. Push a number for the theaters, another for the movie and again for the times.

Or find the week's showings in the newspaper.

Sometimes you found out once you got there the movie time was sold out so you got to decide on seeing something you didn't know about, buy tickets for a later showing and occupy yourselves in the meantime or go find a pay phone to call Movie Phone again.

tigerlady13 Report

Final score:
23points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#40

You manually defrosted your refrigerator's freezer. Scraping the ice out.

FrauAmarylis Report

Final score:
23points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#41

Where we lived, Connecticut, all forms of birth control were illegal. The US Supreme Court overthrew the law in 1965, but the decision explicitly referred only to married people. We young people had sex, but it was illegal to do so responsibly.

Building_a_life Report

Final score:
22points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#42

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook If you misbehaved in school, the teacher could and would dish out some corporal punishment. I had a couple of teachers who absolutely loved hitting kids on the a*s with big wooden paddles made by other students in wood shop class. They had a system. The students wanted to make the most gnarly and painful looking paddles, not even thinking about WHY they are making them.

Felon73 , 2021tiger Report

Final score:
22points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#43

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook There were racks of free maps in gas stations.

Nobody bought bottled water.

The coffee was terrible.

They sold DDT infused wallpaper

You could hang up a No Pest Strip in your house and all the bugs would die

When the TV acted up (often), you took the tubes to the drugstore and tested them and bought replacements

Threw your trash out the car window

Emptied the ashtray right in the street

Piles of burning coal to thaw frozen streets for repair

Everyone burned their trash right on their property

Many buildings heated with coal, the cities were a grubby dark grey

5 Day Deoderant Pads

Saturday was Bath Day (with shared bath water)

Wuzzlehead , Julia Avamotive Report

Final score:
21points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
Don’t want to see ads?
See Also on Bored Panda
#44

Kids could leave home, and people didn't bat an eye about it. My grandfather was 8 when he left home and made his way in the world. He had no education, worked jobs for people, etc, and no one even questioned why an 8 year old was alone. He signed up for WW2 when he was 17 because no one checked for identification.

My_fair_ladies1872 Report

Final score:
20points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#45

We had a fire department call box, down the road, If your house went on fire, you run to this red box and pull the lever.

blowawaydandelion Report

Final score:
20points
Add photo comments
POST
#46

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook I remember that you couldn't know the sex of your kid until the baby was born. Apparently, there were ways to tell, though. I remember my mom's friends would hold a necklace with a weight over the woman's belly. They thought that you could tell the sex by whether the necklace swung up and down or back and forth.

Shaydie , MART PRODUCTION Report

Final score:
19points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#47

On the evening news every night they would show the Doomsday Clock. An analog clock that when it hit midnight, we would be in nuclear war. It was usually very close to midnight, like 5 minutes til midnight.

Imagine having the very real threat of nuclear war looming over your head every, single, day.

pingwing Report

Final score:
17points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#48

Fallout shelter under our Jr. High School.

rockstoneshellbone Report

Final score:
16points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#49

TV stations went “off the air” after midnight and played “The Star Spangled Banner”. Then they showed a test pattern.

Ask me what a test pattern was.

Suggest_a_User_Name Report

Final score:
15points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#50

35 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook Seat belts weren't taken seriously by most people until the 90s.

Top-Philosophy-5791 , Kelly Report

Final score:
15points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#51

"Credit scores" were invented in 1989. People who already owned their homes and cars and got their educations before then, got those loans without having their credit checked.

Digger-of-Tunnels Report

Final score:
15points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
Don’t want to see ads?
See Also on Bored Panda
#52

That breadboxes were a thing cause a loaf of bread came wrapped in paper or cellophane.

Maleficent_Scale_296 Report

Final score:
13points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#53

You could register an automobile without any insurance.

jukeboxdan86 Report

Final score:
13points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#54

Party lines.

God am I old

Sandman11x Report

Final score:
13points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#55

911 wasn’t ‘invented’ till the 70s, I think…. Before that, you’d call your local police. And they came…

littlemissnoname- Report

Final score:
12points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#56

Jim Fixx, author of the 1977 "Complete Book of Running" - every home with a jogger in the family had one of these - died of a heart attack. While jogging.

CalmCalmBelong Report

Final score:
10points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#57

I’m not that old….

But my mom said that when she gave birth (early 60s), hospitals had no AC…

littlemissnoname- Report

Final score:
10points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#58

you could dial 555-1212 to get the exact time

t1dmommy Report

Final score:
9points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#59

you were sick, and got a appointment at your village GP The same day... well you waited for 2 hours will a waiting room full of sick people, and your GP didn't believed you. but you still have your appointment the same day you called.

AlissonHarlan Report

Final score:
7points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#60

The very first Grammy Awards were in 1959.

anon Report

Final score:
2points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
Don’t want to see ads?

Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing!

Follow Bored Panda on Google News!