30 Things That Might Shock People In 2025 But People Remember How Normal They Once Were

Armac

Armac

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

Premium

Premium user. Get details.

When the street lights came on it was time to go home.

A trip down memory lane....

Outside all day, with zero protection from UV rays, mosquitoes, or rusty playground equipment

And how the treatment for your melanoma coming along?

I'm way over 50 and remember my parents warning against my generation getting square-eyed from watching TV and reminiscing how they'd always been out playing, etc. And in 20 years time, Gen Z will be saying the exact same thing to the next generation... It's part of getting old.

When I was a teen we managed to 7 of us into a Ford Fiesta. One of us was a big guy as well. We were sitting at traffic lights and the police pulled up next to us. One of them looked at us, just shook his head and drove off.

To this day, when I hear "New Kid In Town" by The Eagles, I am in the back of my grandparent's station wagon with my brother and my aunt who is the the same age as my brother, and all the plants my mom and grandma, and the other aunts bought...back when that song was brand new.

My parents used to drive on semi-long road trips (maybe 40 or 50 miles) with me, my brother and sister in the bed of the Ford pickup we had at the time. No camper shell. I remember once my dad had to swerve to avoid something and I got thrown from one side of the truck bed to the other. Probably very lucky I didn't get thrown out.

When I was a kid, i and my two brothers would be in the back of a Volkswagen Beetle for tip. Dad let the back seat down and we were off...

My parents did this they would put us to sleep in the car the night before a long road trip so all they had to do is wake up and go .

That should have stayed so.

A shoe salesman could afford a house, imagine that ;)

I think two things happened that kept the public from protesting earlier. (1) When things got tight, women went to work. (2) It got much easier to get credit cards (although they stopped people from claiming the interest on their taxes & raised the limit on interest charged.

In much of the world they still can, the USA seem to be the outlier here.

Plumbers, electricians, bricklayers,, etc still make a fortune.

Happened to a lot of us in Gen-X. The pantry was stocked and I knew how to cook. I had an afterschool job at Pizza Hut. I knew how to do laundry and anything else. NBD.

My mom denies she did this to me, but I know I was left alone for days while she went off to her boyfriend's. I wouldn't always know when she came back. That was only for a few months until she got back with her husband. They just separated. I don't understand this mindset.

I once left my 3 kids home alone overnight so my husband could have shoulder surgery in Philadelphia. One was in high school, one in middle school, and one in primary school, all 2 years apart. Everything went well, and we were back the next day.

Why would it? You were obviously able to take care of yourself and you were at an age where it was legal to leave you alone

My mom left me at 16 with my 2 younger sisters, 13 & 9, for the weekend for the first time & called several times to keep up. I didn't sneak out, but did invite my friends to hang out by my window. I had to stop my youngest sister from going out the window. Many of my friends had working parents, but they weren't allowed outside until their parents got home. It's amazing that it's almost the same, some parents did, and some didn't.

I was still doing that into the 2000s. Just pop in with a six pack and a joint.

Yeah, when the doorbell rang, you'd think, "I wonder who that could be?" Now, if the doorbell rings and you're not expecting food, you think, "be very quiet and avoid the windows."

I don't miss this

This is something I miss when you could just drop in. The door was always open, the kettle was always on, nobody was too busy to have a chat. These days everything is on social media and I feel like I'm an inconvenience if I just pop round to somebody’s house on a whim.

I hated that even then. My mum was disorganised at the best of times, but if someone dropped in, the whole day would be a wash. We might get nicer biscuits or something to snack on if there were some in the cupboard though.

and you seldom took selfies and no one ever thought about making dxxxkpics,cause you didn't want this kind of pic developed by a dude that knows you or worse your mom

Digital cameras are fantastic. I remember the days of film and having to be careful what you took photos of because you had limited exposures. These days you just take thousands of photos, you can instantly see if your settings are correct, and you're bound to get something good from the many you take.

Red eye! That phenomenon is all but gone now.

And came back with a sticker on the photo saying out of focus or underexposed…

Part of them would be bad in one way or another.

I remember some stations just went all staticky or had the coloured bars. No song or anything else. Then infomercials started filling in the overnight slots.

I remember when they also said 'It's 10 pm. do you know where your children are?'

They went off the air and there wasn't even a test pattern, just "snow."

...until morning? In Germany in the 70s, TV started 17:00 (5 PM).

Ours rolled over to a loud penetrating droning tone. It was how we knew to wake up and go to bed.

When I think of all the stuff said to me in the 70s when I was a young teen that we just brushed off. We learned to not complain and just accept it. If we did complain we were considered trouble makers who were over reacting. My neighbor regularly beat his wife and no one said or did anything. I am so glad women now are fighting to change that.