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Here’s a reality check nobody asked for: the beginning of the ‘80s is as far away in time as is the year 2068. Yeah, time flies when we’re doom-scrolling cat memes.

So, why not celebrate it with a trip down memory lane with the help of Totally Awesome 80s, an Instagram page that shares all things ‘80s (with a little bit of ‘70s and ‘90s sprinkled in between).

So, Totally Awesome 80s is an Instagram page (Facebook as well) dedicated to celebrating one of the most iconic decades of the last century—the awesome '80s, mixed in with a little bit of the '70s and the '90s.

The page was created back in mid 2018 and has since then posted nearly 8,000 bits of content and amassed a following of 325,000 people.

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Tabitha
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, we had yards to play in, but the street was a nice hard flat surface that was much better for some sports than grass. Just the way it is when you’re a kid.

S Bow
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unless you grew up like I did, way out in the country on a ranch where there were no streets, but we had endless miles of empty land to explore, ride horses and bikes wherever we wanted. Just come home for dinner when mom rang dinner bell. Freedom

3 Trash Pandas (She/They)
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes!!! I’m borderline Gen Z/Alpha but the town I lived in for Elementary school was small and rural enough that we could safely play in our cul-de-sac most of the time. However I do remember doing this the rare times a car came through!

TheBlueBitterfly
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I grew up on a dead end road on a hill. No street games. 😔 But we did play in the woods in the old coal mine ruins!

Lynn Morello
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Didn't have that problem, we played in a Cul-De-Sac or Closed Road, so the only cars coming in and out were residents going to and from work.

Ormond Otvos
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Navy kid. I used to steal Norden bombsights from junkyard planes in Patuxent MD. Top secret in WWII.Like a ten pound watch.

Marlene Kent
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We painted bases and home plate in our cul de sac for our kids (35 years ago) to play kick ball. I would love to go back to see if we can still see it. The “kids” are now in their 30’s and 40’s

CharliAnn Olney
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No sidewalks where I currently live. Have to walk my puppy through the parking lot to get to the dag area. I taught him to go straight to the nearest parking spot when I say CAR

Batwench
Community Member
Premium
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In our street, we sti have kids that play outside and still do this.

xolitaire
Community Member
9 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or, if you grew up in a rural area, you left the house after lunch to go play outside and only re-emerged when someone shouted "DINNER"

Franz The Cat
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Happy to say in our street kids (including my son), still do this today :)

D J At Daycare
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We lived on a dead-end so didn't get the kind of traffic a regular street did.

LadyManx
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sorry, we just that the other evening. My husband and I like to play "Worse-miinton" at twilight in the intersection. "Worsemitten" is for those of us who are truly terrible at badminton, don't dare play w/ actual players, but we still hitting the shuttle and laughing at how terrible we are. A successful game for us is a volley of 4 or more hits combined! We've got light up shuttlecocks so we can see them in the dark under the street light and we don't even a net~

robin aldrich
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the car wasn't texting while speeding, so you had less of a risk of being run over.

Stormblessed
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This isn't always in the 80's. As a teen, I can confirm that we still do this.

Mike F
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yup, 3rd base was the sewer cover in front of my house.

Bell-icose
Community Member
Premium
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, there are so few cars on the road these days...

stella rossa
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

oh, yes! No cars in the streets of my neighborhood! Athens 1958!!!!!!!!

Riley Quinn
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's where you played ball, Double Dutch, or had homemade soap box cars trial runs. Usually the youngest kids were the lookouts on either end, but they tended to get distracted and wander off.

cerinamroth
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We lived in the countryside, so we shouted COMBINE HARVESTER! but to be fair you could hear them coming some way off and you had time to get off the road.

The Queen
Community Member
9 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My crew were like the Goonies. I, unfortunately, was Data. Lol

Frances Mooney
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also had a treehouse....(I built it. Dad said, don't you nail into the tree. So I tied the first boards on and he left me alone...I had a swing, trap door. Great fun for 3-4 years.)

Shannon Hawks
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

had to pull the street hockey net to the side of the road often

Kimbowa
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Then waiting impatiently on the side of the street with the bat or ball in your hand. And sometimes, just seconds later, another car!

Dr. Skulhamr (Skulhamr)
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

37th Street was our playground in the daytime and at night, we gathered under the street lights in pools of illumination made just for us.

keyboardtek
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Playing touch football in the street. Thee was always one bully who would purposely push you so hard or trip you so you crashed into the pavement and came up with bloody hands.

Anxious Aardvark
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There was a school playground a few blocks away. But living on a cul-de-sac meant that spontaneous games could start with friends without having to ask permission to go to the park.

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Dragons Exist
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So I had a bad childhood because I didn't play outside or in the street?

A. Starhawk Hunt
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In some ways, yes. There was more freedom back then. I could (and was allowed) just ride my bike the 5 miles to my friends house, or, just randomly wander to see what trouble I’d survive that day…. So, in some ways, yes.

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Andy Frobig
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What if this was the only break you got from being bullied at school and beaten at home? What if you came down with cancer when you were 10 but still remember yelling "car" when you were 9? Anybody who picks one experience and says it means you had an awesome childhood, probably has a hard time putting on Velcro shoes

Amo Mazzuchelli
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Footy(AFL) and cricket were the main ones. Sometimes hidey in the dark

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Totally-Awesome-80s-Memes-Pics

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James016
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I went for Ulysses 31 and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors when I was a kid.

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It’s hard to explain what made the '80s such an iconic time period.

On an objective level, it was the decade that gave the world MTV and CNN, some of the first instances of personal home computing with IBM and Apple, and the first mobile phone, Motorola DynaTAC 8000X.

It was also a decade of great tragedy with the NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and the explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor #4.

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But the thing folks talk about the most is the sound of the '80s—its music scene.

Many consider the nostalgia that '80s music creates to be the strongest out there with numerous artists coming back to cover popular songs and sounds from the decade.

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One commenter speculated that the '80s was a careless and fun decade. Considering modern day stresses imposed upon new generations, looking back to a decade whose fashion and music sound carefree, it becomes a nice escape for the younger generations.

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ninjaTrashPandaBoom
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Taking a break from riding all over the place eating Ding Dongs that came wrapped in aluminum foil, drinking Tang and battling tanks on Atari 2600 before taking off on another adventure!

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Tucker Cahooter
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I show my age by confessing that I knew the names of all the songs these lines came from straight away

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There’s also the idea of having parents who listen a lot to '80s music, instilling an interesting sense of nostalgia for their kids as well, even if they didn’t live through it.

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Others speculated that it could just be history doing its cyclical thing again. Those who grew up in the '80s are now becoming primary producers of pop culture. Considering all the '80s franchise reboots, Stranger Things and the like, they all come from people who grew up in that era for the people who grew up in that era.

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This idea of revivals is further supported by another commenter, who explained that the '70s saw a huge '50s revival with the TV show Happy Days and the movie Grease. Then there was a '60s revival in the '80s with The Doors, The Who, and the like filling entire stadiums. Apply the paradigm far enough and you might just be able to explain why “old” things are hip again.

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Poppy
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have a photo of my mum who was very visibly pregnant with me smoking a cigarette.

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But that’s just music. Think of the remaining part of pop culture that happened back in the '80s: the Master System, NES. and Atari 7800 all came out in the early part of the decade; Polaroid reached peak popularity during this time; shows like Full House, The Transformers and Duck Tales were huge back then; movies like Back To The Future debuted during the '80s. The list goes on.

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ninjaTrashPandaBoom
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Your momma is so stupid/fat/lazy...[insert random offensive insult here]...battle it out, everyone laughs, and we all play dodgeball or G.I. Joe until the street lights came on.

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martin734
Community Member
9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember watching Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet on one of these in our English literature class. Olivia Hussey was hot!

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Well, that’s that. If you enjoyed this article, we have plenty more where that came from. Well, not there per se, but the '80s! And you can always check out the Instagram page.

And if you don’t feel like going back in time any more, then why not stay in the present and share your takes and stories in the comment section below!

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#32

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#33

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Mandy
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or a girl and her bike! I loved my bike...the whole neighborhood had bikes and we were outside all day and everyday we could!

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SCamp
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When it’s a school day but Frankie’s vig’s due and he may need some persuasion

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Tiggy Darling
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Time Magazine: "The Red Brick Road is supposed to lead travellers from Quadling Country to the great Emerald City. However, in the movie, the road is shown ending up at…Munchkin City Hall."

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GoGo LaTata
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I watched Sesame Street before there even was an Elmo... And Oscar was orange!

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SarCaustic
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The hole in the ozone layer thanks you for your contribution, hair spray.

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Super70sSports Report

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beautiful plumage
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

anyone else try to find adult content no matter how scrambled the picture was? you got super excited when you thought you sorta kinda saw something.

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#46

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's a Honda ATC 90. Fun as hell but basically banned after too many people kept dying on them.

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martin734
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9 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For those who don't know, the yellow plug carried the video signal and the red and white plugs carried the stereo audio, red for right and white for left.

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