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Right between the traditional baby boomers and tech-savvy millennials is the often overlooked Gen X. Known as the “Forgotten Generation,” these are the people who came of age at the height of MTV and before the digital age took over the world.
Gen Xers today are in their 40s to 60s, and many of them miss the glory days of their era. Some expressed their nostalgic sentiments in a Reddit thread, where they fondly looked back on the time when you could ride bikes for hours, disconnected from the world, or slam the phone down out of frustration.
If you were born between 1965 and 1980, many of these responses may hit home. For the younger readers, this could be your quick history lesson about the recent past.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Buying something and owning it forever instead of paying an endless monthly or annual subscription.
RELATED:
#3
Just getting on your bike and being GONE for six or seven hours.
Can't reach me, I'm with friends doing WHATEVER.
The freedom of not being tethered.
David 3 days ago
IF ONLY BICYCLES STILL EXISTED IN THE 2020s! /S Seriously, every one of these sorts of threads have some version of the "I wish I wasn't tethered to social media" type posts. Put your d**n phone in airplane mode and enjoy your bike ride. A cell phone is a tool and you can use it or not use it.
#4
I miss the not putting your trauma/b******t all over TikTok/Instagram/social media. Kinda sick of all the overshares for the sake of "like" endorphins.
I'm also heavily sick of influencers.
GreatWhiteNorth 2 days ago
Omg the over shares and the snot cry videos. Most are so pathetic. I have seen videos of people violently crying, snot running down their face because someone was rude to them in a store. It is so ick. The stuff people post is stuff we used to only tell our closest relatives or friends.
#5
You paying for your market research? I’d bring back the buying power and stability of the middle class. I’d bring back strong labor unions. I’d bring back affordable housing. I’d bring back a full cart of groceries for $80.
#6
I miss skinny-dipping in a Great Lake under a star lit sky with only the light of a beach bonfire exposing our vulnerabilities and the kisses and conversations had while sharing sips of Bartles and Jaymes snuck from a parent’s fridge.
I miss having a local radio station that tallies call-in votes for a top 8 at 8 show.
I miss late night comedy and horror movies that were interrupted by commentary from Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear and Elvira.
I miss New York Seltzer Water and Clearly Canadian.
I miss tent sleeper overs in backyards and playing games like light as a feather/stiff as a board, using Ouija Boards, and telling ghost stories.
I miss bike riding on dirt trails that were created as new streets and houses were being built. Related, I miss hanging out in “the woods,” which in reality were just small patches of trees between new neighborhoods.
I miss roller or ice skating on Friday nights.
I miss being dropped off at the mall at noon on Saturday to see a movie, go to McDonalds, read Fangoria magazine on the floor of the bookstore, and hitting the arcades until being picked up before dinner.
I miss camping out in a parking lot and forming a line the night before concert tickets went on sale.
I miss HBO’s series, Dream On, and sneaking episodes of Real S*x.
I miss capturing life on a hand held camcorder and being amazed at special effects such as strobe, sepia tone, and black and white.
I miss sleeping over at my grandparents house. I miss the stacks of The National Enquirer and Weekly World News in my grandparents’ bathroom.
I miss making mix tapes.
I miss band buttons on jean jackets.
I miss Mexican Baja hoodies, Skidz, and Jams.
I miss meatball omelets at 2:30 am in a locally owned 24 hour dinor.
I miss wanting to stay out past midnight.
#8
My good knees.
Roshan Kassan 2 days ago
Add in my back, my shoulders, my carpal tunnel - getting old isn't for everyone
#10
Politics being mundane as s**t, and not teeth-grindingly insane and divisive.
I know things were just as f****d back then, but it wasn't shoved up our a******s sideways with hot sauce in a 24 hour news cycle.
Bacon Tentacles 3 days ago
I miss the fact that a politician could be actually ashamed enough to drop out of a race when being called out on doing something incredibly s****y. Gone forever.
#11
I miss a world without plastic surgery and a world that doesn't treat aging like disease. I'm not saying I was easy on my grandma or aging family members, but jeebus, the younger generations act like wrinkles are the plague. So much so that they are injecting themselves with TOXINS so they don't look 30?!
Forrest Hobbs 3 days ago
Modern plastic surgery was developed to repair the mutiliated appearance of soldiers wounded in the two 20th century world wars. It was a wonderful medical advance that gave ao many their lives back. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_surgery#Development_of_modern_techniques
#12
Saturday morning cartoon-fest.
Geoffrey Scott 2 days ago
And most were 'all ages' toons. My folks laughed like crazy at Bugs, Coyote, and others that did sly adult references on our times. We didn't necessarily get it, but as we aged, we sure did.
#13
I miss being feral children, I miss running into other bands of feral children, and shenaniganing...all f*****g day.
I miss taking that chance and hanging out with cool a*s people, that you'd never think was f*****g cool.
I miss the kindnesses that we used to show each other.
Roshan Kassan 2 days ago
I miss walking in the rain and encourage my kid to do it - some traditions should never change
#14
I genuinely miss the original MTV. I discovered countless bands from various shows/segments that I never once heard on local radio stations. 120 Minutes and Headbanger's Ball were like crack to me.
Michael P. 3 days ago
If MTV goes under for whatever reason, they should at least play "Video Killed the Radio Star" in its final moments, a nice bookend to MTV.
#15
I wish my kid could have the Original, Patented, Small City, Sixth Grade Mall Experience™️
— Pick up friend, mom drops you both off. Mom mumbles something unnecessary about strangers but whatever.
— Proceed directly to the food court.
— Eat absolute c**p.
— Go to the first book store. Think about sneaking look at the Naughty Magazines. Chicken out.
— Look at a bunch of clothes you won’t buy.
— Second bookstore. Discover they don’t have The Naughty Magazines, which is fine because they *do* have The Joy of S*x and a bored clerk who doesn’t care what you’re giggling about.
— Use allowance to buy one amazing thing you’ve been saving for. In my case it was a big, fluffy bow for my hair. I was very sophisticated about it.
— Go to the store named something like Chinese Pagoda Trading Inc and look at all the cool things you’ll definitely buy for your first apartment because you will have Money and Taste.
— Go to the Cookie Company and eat a cookie.
— Notice the cute boy/girl/dog and listen to friend talk for at least five minutes about how cute they are.
— Sneak a Coke from the vending machine nobody knows is broken yet.
— Wait for mom to pick you up again and when she’s ten minutes late you call…nobody. You aren’t wasting a coin on a pay phone when she’s not even going to answer because she’s already on her way. People don’t need to worry about it.
— Be silently embarrassed mom listens to 70s easy listening the whole way home.
Ron Man 3 days ago
lol this is a great explanation! Malls were great. They were the first taste of the freedom of adulthood we had as kids. No supervision, a few dollars in your pocket, hanging with your friends at the arcade, hanging with your friends at the food court, walking around checking out stores, deciding to go to the movies... You were safe there, nobody worried that you were at the mall... because it was the mall.
#17
I miss not being watched 24/7 and having photo, video evidence for everything.
LauraDragonWench 3 days ago
Remember when you could do stupid s**t and only have to relive it in your head? Now, the stupid is out there for all and sundry.
#19
I miss dedicated record stores. I loved flipping through all the albums, talking to the employees who knew their stuff - “if you like this band, try this other one”. And, as crazy as it sounds, I miss lining up for concert tickets. I had some of my best times lining up outside of Coconuts Records & Tapes (our local ticket seller) with friends and getting those tickets in my hands. Then hiding them at a friends house so my stepsister couldn’t steal them. Good times!
#20
That smell of a freshly opened cassette tape that was clear.
#21
I miss 24 hour diners that didn’t serve the same corporate b/s food available everywhere else.
Darius S. (he/him) cis/grey 2 days ago
It was sad seeing only one diner left in my hometown.. Those existed for a couple generations before I came around..Being up all night, coffee and cigarettes, waiting for the next band of friends came in and see what they were up to..joining them or staying, free refills of 1$ coffee.. using your quarters at the cigarette machine..walking home at dawn listening to the robins, killdeer, wrens, cardinals, mockingbirds, and lawn sprinklers , buying a 35cent hot , fresh, bagel at the bagel store... summer vacation, suburban punk
#22
UNorganized sports.
Used to be we played wiffle ball, threw nerf footballs, fumble rumble, throwing frisbees, riding a bike or walking to the school grounds after hours or on weekends and finding a bunch of kids playing team ditch, playing “butts up” against a wall or making a dirt bike trail with a jump.
Head to the local YMCA to play shuffleboard, carroms, pool, ping pong…
Everywhere you went kids just playing UNorganized sports.
Now by 8th grade if you’re not competitive in a league you simply don’t play sports or games anymore. Even worse kids now practice and play a single sport all year. See so many kids with serious soft tissue injuries by the time they’re 15 from over training a single event. We used to twist ankles, now they tear rotator cuffs.
I remember we used to have the more talented kids have to play dodge ball on their knees so everyone could have fun. What a crazy idea for the better kids to make it fun for the less capable kids because… sports are supposed to be fun!
Having to be the best at sports has really been a huge change.
#23
Sears catalog at Christmas time.
#24
Hope.
Petra Peitsch 2 days ago
Growing up in an eastern-european country under a commnunist regim, I have to say, there was not much hope.
#25
I miss a time when the internet and smart phones didn't exist. Life was, just, simpler and less stressful.
axnyslie 2 days ago
This is Nostalgia Mandela Effect. What you really miss being young, but for the most part the pre-Internet past was much less convenient. Banking, paying bills, niche shopping, scheduling appointments, GPS maps, planning vacations, booking flights, selling used goods, fact-checking information, developing photos, etc... Every time I solo travel around the world I am reminded this would have been extremely hard or impossible or just plain dangerous 30-40 years ago.
#26
Cost of living. My family was poor back then, I can't imagine having to factor in internet, phone, subscription services.
Owning things, vs digital copies. Making mix tapes. Affordable movies ($2 Tuesdays, anyone?). Non franchise movies. More independent stores, fewer chains.
Geoffrey Scott 2 days ago
Told Dish to pound sand. Bought an OTA antenna for the cost of one month's subscription. The amount of OTA programming is incredible. Used to be 4 or 5, now 30 channels.
#27
Civility, common sense, friendly neighbors.
Beak Hookage 3 days ago
My neighbour has been a jerk since the good ole days of the 90s, and if anything has gotten worse.
#28
Arcades. Real independent arcades with cabinet video games, pinball, foosball, and pool tables. A place where you could safely hang out with your friends (or by yourself) and keep yourself entertained (and fed with a snack) for $2-4. I miss those places.
#29
Paper maps.
Loves Baby Soft
Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific
Encyclopedias
Phone books
MTV with only music
School House Rock, even though you can still get it I’m sure it could use a lot more episodes
After School Specials
Edit; Adding malls. Big malls with multiple levels, Hot Dog on a Stick in the food court.
Beth Wheeler 2 days ago
I was given a bottle of Love's Baby Soft for Christmas by my 2nd Mama. I very rarely wear perfume because of allergies & have to have light scents like it. She saw it in Walmart and remembered that I used to wear it & hadn't seen it in a long time
#31
Television specials that everyone watched at the same time. You'd get all keyed up because some movie or made-for-TV thing would be aired on a certain day at a certain time. Then there was a special intro graphic, maybe even a song, to let you know it was time to gather 'round. Not just stuff like Rudolph or Charlie Brown but also "the network television premiere of ___" or the yearly airing of The Wizard of Oz.
#32
Hyperpartisanism makes me crazy. Nobody is accepting of different opinions anymore and are actively attacking others who don’t think like them. It’s so stressful. Where did the middle go?
Luke Branwen 2 days ago
Sorry but I'm not going to "accept a different opinion" if that "opinion" involves stripping certain groups of their rights, advocating genocide, controlling women's bodies etc. The ones in the middle always support the perpetrator, not the victims.
#33
Anticipation: The instantaneous world of streaming, on-demand media means we rarely have to “wait” for the next show or song etc. My kids have no idea HOW EXCITING Saturday morning cartoons were because that was the ONLY time we could watch them.
Radio programs like King Biscuit Power Hour or the individual DJs, who played a wide variety of music.
The word of mouth for parties. Like, we somehow just knew where to be when we were supposed to be there without cell phones or social media. I feel like we were more responsible because we didn’t have the option of texting someone five minutes before an event and canceling on them.
GreatWhiteNorth 2 days ago
I miss t.v programs . Everyone waited for the next episode and it was hot topic the next day at work or school. Fans were all watching on the same night so we were all in on it together. Now people just stream everything whenever they want to. No one is actively watching together. Entire families can be in the same room but each will have their own devices
#34
My dad giving me $5 at the pool hall to buy two beers for him and my godfather, a pack of smokes from the machine and still having change left to play space invaders
Hell, just being allowed to buy two beers at the bar and the tender trusting that I would bring them to my dad and not sue them is a bygone era.
#35
I miss no one talking about or giving a f**k about politics.
Marat Singh Farout 2 days ago
We didn't have convicted felons as president back then, corrupt and maybe headed to prison, but not someone that really should be in jail but isn't because he's rich and has even richer backers
#36
I miss reading the newspaper.
#37
Neighbor kids knocking on the front door to see if I could play. I almost always could, as long as I was home when the street lights came on.
My kids have never had this experience. These days, the norm is for pre-arranged play dates set up by the parents. Spontaneity and independence are so absent from childhood these days. It makes me sad.
#38
I miss being disconnected. Having the world's collected information at my fingertips is nice, but f**k- there is a camera and a recording device and a performing g*****n monkey EVERYWHERE these days. Used to be you could sometimes just go somewhere and be cool. Now everything is on the internet.
martin734 2 days ago
Being constantly connected is a choice. If you have become so dependent on technology that you cannot function without it, that is a choice you have made. Turn your dam*ed phone off and do what you want to do for a few hours. Get out of the town or city and go somewhere fun.
#39
Most of all I miss that we all had great hope in the future. Hope that we could make things better for everyone. Before being hit with the reality of just how outnumbered we are and how nobody wanted anything to change.
Forrest Hobbs 3 days ago
Gen X here. I grew up being pretty sure nuclear war was going to get me. Hope? I had none. Try watching: https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20190925-was-threads-the-scariest-tv-show-ever-made
#40
I miss renting movies from a store. I miss the excitement of grabbing a new release off the shelf before all copies got checked out. I miss making friends with the people who worked there and having them hold the first returned copy so you can come get it without waiting. I miss standing there, reading the back of the display copy to see if it was a movie you wanted to watch.
I miss really catchy ad jingles like the ones for Big Red and Double Mint Gum and Coke’s “I’d like to teach the world to sing…”
I miss catching lightning bugs to try and make a lantern.
I miss talking on the phone because cell phones and texting didn’t exist.
Beak Hookage 3 days ago
The guy who worked at my local video hire joint was such a champ he not only helped me pick good movies but also saved my dog!
#41
I miss the library and how you would need to work for knowledge. You would wonder something and it would take time and work to find the answer. I love google but before google I was google. And people respected me for it.
Marat Singh Farout 2 days ago
They have movies on disc, books on pads, and books tons of books. Use them before trump totally defunds them
#43
1. Truth in advertising and news
2. Malls
3. Being able to actually survive on a single minimum wage job
4. Anonymity.
#44
Playing outside instead of kids always busy with their phones. Less information about what happened every second of the world made it (looking back) less stressful. Better quality of education, less quality regarding healthcare.
#45
I miss not knowing every d**n thing from every "celebrity" I never cared about to begin with.
Also, and I might get c**p for this, but I worked in Toys R Us and Sam Goody. I took those places for granted but still had fun but thinking back, those were awesome places.
#46
Zines, mix tapes, talking on the phone, cheaper gas, high school friends, better music.
#47
Perms. I hate my straight hair. Getting perms weren’t fun, but I enjoyed having some body to my hair (not talking about teeny tiny frizzy curls).
My body. Oh, to be as “fat” as I was back then as what I thought I was.
#48
I miss sitting at a bar where people who don’t know each other actually make eye contact and have a conversation.
#50
Pension plans.
Michael Largey 2 days ago
My dad worked for a major corporation and then died suddenly, leaving a wife and five young children. The corporation told my mother "Sorry, ma'am, but you have to live to collect a pension" and just put the money in its pocket. How did we survive? Not well and not happily.
What do you think ?
Leslie Victor 3 days ago
I think my generation was the last free spirited generation and i miss it all...i am not biased, i like computers as a tool, but i would give it up for a time machine...
Wendy Miller 2 days ago
I miss the dollar theaters. The ones where you got to see movies for like a $1 or $2. Under 18 dance clubs. The disconnect from all the BS.
Leslie Victor 3 days ago
I think my generation was the last free spirited generation and i miss it all...i am not biased, i like computers as a tool, but i would give it up for a time machine...
Wendy Miller 2 days ago
I miss the dollar theaters. The ones where you got to see movies for like a $1 or $2. Under 18 dance clubs. The disconnect from all the BS.
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