“I even remember the old cigarette vending machines that were at bus stops and stuff.
“I really miss full-service gas stations.
The attendants would fill your car, wash the windshield, and check the tires.”
“I’m 83, and schools are so different nowadays.
Before, we could go in and out of school, as could our parents.
We could share food and bring whatever with us.
Anonymous
3.
I’m surprised I don’t have cancer at this point.”
Then, you had to get everything lined up again before resuming typing!
I don’t miss this ‘antique’ method at all.”
“We had a party line in the late ’50s.
My father was a doctor, and our phone number was in the telephone book like everyone else’s.
He got calls all through the night.
I shudder to think of the personal health information that was out there for anyone to listen in on.
We were the first to get a private line when more lines became available.
Bet the neighbors were happy!”
“When looking for full-time jobs, we had to read the local newspaper ‘wanted’ ads.
Carvin, 50s, Canada
7.
We’d then practice drills if a foreign country attacked.
Each student would get under their desk and hold their hands around their heads.
That was a wild time.”
“When I lived in Virginia, your social security number was your driver’s license number.
To save some time, some soldiers got their checks printed with their SSN on them.”
ginnyjensen
9.
In high school, there was a large designated area outside for the student smokers."
“In eleventh-grade chemistry class, we learned to use a slide rule to multiply and divide.
It was my primary arithmetic tool through a PhD in engineering in 1969.
And if there are decimal points, you have to keep track of them in your head!”
David, Texas
11.
“I grew up in the ’60s.
We had dry cleaning delivered each week.
Plus, every summer, a produce truck drove through the neighborhood.
We also had meat and milk deliveries.”
Hand-me-downs would sometimes have a visible line where the fabric was worn out a bit at different lengths."
I remember walking to class and seeing gun racks full of weapons.
glitteryking76
15.
She used full force and really went in with those swings.
This was in the mid-’90s."
“I went to school in England during WWII.
Peter, 86,New Jersey
17.
“I’m 47, and I remember how accessible cigarettes were to us as kids.
ANYONE could buy one.
I even remember the old cigarette vending machines that were at bus stops and stuff.
Every day or so, we’d go get meat out for dinner.”
“I was born in the mid-’80s and grew up in the ’90s.
I’m not that old, but it was still a time before everyone had cell phones.
I feel like this really built character in kids at a young age.
It was also very innocent.
It doesn’t build character and can lead to nefarious things.”
“In the ’60s, we lived in Southern California.
Every girl took home economics in seventh grade.
Janet, 70
21.Lastly: “We would always play outside, even if it was dark.
We had no worries playing late outside.
My grandmother had a little mom-and-pop market.
I think I paid 50 cents for both at the time.
Those were the days!”
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
