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I was watching 80s music videos on VH1, I was born in the early 90s so obviously I can't remember the 80s though im not too far off from them either i can remember the earlier part of the 90s which must have been pretty similar. Overall the world didn't seem too different from how I remember it in the 90s. and the 90s weren't all that different from today in terms of what it felt like to be alive.
Aside from the lack of Internet and personal computers, did people act differently in the 80s? Did people have more manners, cuss less? I know for a fact the 80s had more crime than today, but I also know youth violence wasn't as bad then, it was mostly due to cocaine.
It seems like the 80s are seen as marginally 'old' now. I mean 1980 is 31 years ago. Even to an 80 year old, that's a pretty long time ago (they were only 49 then!). '89 still seems almost recent though.
From my perspective they were very different. I was in High school in the first half of the 80's, but in my 30s-40s in 2000-2009. I can't see them from the same perspective. One difference I see is that school, at least the schools my kids go to compared to the ones I went to, are more diverse. My schools were all white, with a few Asians and Blacks. Kids don't go out and play in the street like we did. My oldest is thinking college (since the 10th grade- now in 11th), while I didn't worry about that until I graduated. Back then I was writing computer programs (or trying to) while my kids just play games or type their homework on them. It was easy then to go out and buy a $500 car and fix it yourself. Not so easy today. HBO was something only a few had, and Cable TV was something new, now we have hundreds of channels to choose from. Landline phones were all that existed. If you were out you needed to use a pay phone, which were on every corner. The music back then was far and away better than the 2000s. Back then (1980-85 for me) musicians actually knew how to play and sing live. Today it seems all lip synched. I loved movies back then! In the 2000s, meh. I could go on, but these were the first things I thought of.
I was busy watching He-Man and peddling my BMX bike all over creation during most of the 80's so I may be little bit off, but honestly I don't think the world is too terribly different now than it was then. The only big difference is internet, the clothing/hair styles and the quality of movie special effects. Otherwise, everyone lived in the 'burbs, drove cars, went to work and back, got their food in colorful packages at the supermarket, watched too much TV, ect. Porn was readily available in magazine form, movies were still ulta-violent and brainless and the government was still staffed with pretty but crooked used car salesmen types.
One good thing that I do notice is that pollution controls on cars make it so you don't have to smell so much exhaust stink while stuck in traffic.
Again, it may be because I was a kid, but I remember the decade fondly. It seems the general attitude was more postive and people looked forward to the future, unlike today. Watch Back to the Future, part 2 (the scenes in 2015); that's how people in the 80's honestly thought we'd be living today. I remember my elementary school teachers telling me there was a great chance I'd be working in space when I was an adult and we were all gonna drive flying cars too! Ha! turns out the future was not so shiny after all.
Again, it may be because I was a kid, but I remember the decade fondly. It seems the general attitude was more postive and people looked forward to the future, unlike today. Watch Back to the Future, part 2 (the scenes in 2015); that's how people in the 80's honestly thought we'd be living today. I remember my elementary school teachers telling me there was a great chance I'd be working in space when I was an adult and we were all gonna drive flying cars too! Ha! turns out the future was not so shiny after all.
Good post... As I was a kid in the 80s as well, I can relate.
On the topic of Back to the Future 2's vision of 2015, this article sums up that in a way some of their predictions weren't that far off.
I mean, except for the flying cars and hover boards obviously. Kind of funny...
What a hoot! I just realized that my teen years are now falling under the "history" headline!
Different??? I think people spend less on hairspray. Yet, more on video games. I remember when the game pong became available and was hooked. Then again I remember watching the very first ever MTV premiere!!! Wow, I was in a friends converted garage/bedroom and we were glued to that darn tv! But, there weren't enough videos so we kept the soundd off, stereo on and watched music.... wait! We had stereos! I guess I could go on and on
Not as much diversity, especially in culture and fashion. MTV did help diversify things musically, introduced me to music I would have never heard in the middle of the country.
Looking at my old high school yearbook, every guy pretty much had the same haircut, parted down the middle, feathered back. The druggies kept it long, the clean cut guys kept it at their collar. Kids at my high school listened to one of three radio stations, Top 40, Rock and Soft Rock. By the mid-80's punk and new wave started drifting into our high school but you really had to search hard to find any albums of that genre.
Couple of other things that are different. Our high school had a smoking section for students and you could buy beer at 18. My friends and I got busted a couple of times for driving around with a 12 pack of beer by the police and the worst thing that happened was we got a stern lecture, were made to dump the beer out and promised to drive straight home. Doubt that would happen now.
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