Remember When? 15 Ways the Good Old Days Were Actually Better
Millennials and Generation Z collectively roll their eyes when they hear a Baby Boomer or Generation Xer talk about how good things used to be back in the day. That doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s true!
Life in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s was simpler. We weren’t living in the Stone Age like The Flintstones, but our lives weren’t dominated by technology.
The things that made life better back then may be foreign to the younger generations, but they were good times, no less. Step into this virtual time machine for some of the ways life was better than it is now.
1. Ticket Prices
There was a time when concert tickets were affordable – selling for less than $25 in the 1980s – to see the hottest musical acts of the day. Amusement park and movie theater tickets were also sold at reasonable prices.
Today, concert tickets to see the top acts can easily run from several hundred to thousands of dollars. Amusement park and movie theater tickets aren’t cheap, either. You shouldn’t have to take out a second mortgage on your house for entertainment.
2. Landline Phones
Years ago, everyone had a landline with a dial-up or Princess phone in their house. Voicemails and answering machines didn’t exist, so if someone called and you weren’t home, they had to call back. You weren’t tethered to your phone.
There wasn’t a caller ID, so you didn’t know who was calling until you picked up. When someone did call, and you answered, you actually talked to the other person instead of texting or directly messaging them. Imagine that.
3. No Home Computers
This isn’t a knock on desktop and laptop computers. They’re a key part of our lives, whether they’re used for work from home or entertainment purposes. For all their benefits, those devices can take up so much of your time that you forget there’s an outside world to enjoy.
If kids of the 60s, 70s, and 80s wanted to have fun, they’d play board games for hours at a time. Or they’d go outside and jump rope or play games like hopscotch, tag, kickball, and hide and seek. Kids actually interacted with their peers in person.
4. Affordable Housing
Unless you’re fortunate enough to live in rent-controlled housing, rental costs are going up faster than incomes are increasing. If you’re trying to buy a house, the prices for new construction and existing homes are higher than many can afford.
Rents in previous decades were manageable and home prices weren’t inflated as they are today. People are quickly being priced out of the housing market, regardless if they’re renting or buying. Housing wasn’t a luxury as it seems to be today.
5. Gasoline Prices
This is a “back in my day, things were better” topic drivers of all generations can relate to gasoline prices. Pain at the pump isn’t just a catchphrase; it’s painful to see that dollar amount go up and up when you’re filling your gas tank.
In 2022, the average price of gas was $4.90 a gallon. Compare that to a national average of $1.22 a gallon in 1982, 36 cents a gallon in 1972, and 31 cents a gallon in 1962. It’s hard to argue about that being better back in the day.
6. Family Dinners
Sitting at the dinner table as a family and interacting with each other used to be a daily occurrence. It was a time to relax and catch up on what’s going on with each other. Today, family dinners seem to be the exception rather than the norm.
Parents and kids alike have hectic schedules nearly every day of the week. Grabbing a quick meal on the go or putting something in the microwave is easier than coordinating everyone’s schedule to eat at the same time.
7. Sunday Best
For churchgoers, wearing their Sunday best for worship services was an absolute must. Even nicer outfits were required for major holidays like Easter and Christmas. Going to church was like going to a fashion show in some respects.
Now, parishioners wear even the most casual of clothes to church, like sweatpants, jeans, and sneakers. What you wear isn’t the focal point of celebrating one’s religion, but it was nice to see everyone dressed up.
8. Quality Products
So many products, from cars to home appliances, were made with a level of quality that made them more durable than many products made today. In many cases, especially in the case of appliances, they were made to last for decades.
You’ve more than likely heard the stories or read an online review from someone who spent $4,000 on a brand-new refrigerator only to have persistent issues with it or have it break down within a relatively short period of time. In themeanwhile, the fridge their grandparents bought in the 1960s is still going strong.
9. Restful Weekends
Unless you were a doctor who was on call for the weekend, back in the day, most professional workers could leave the office on Friday afternoon and not have to think about work or be in touch with the job until Monday morning.
Weekends were truly free from the workplace. Today, work follows you home, so you’re always connected to work at all hours of the day and night, including weekends. Workers no longer have the opportunity to decompress like they used to.
10. No Smartphones
Smartphones didn’t exist in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and that made life easier in many ways. You didn’t have to sit through a dinner with people scrolling through their phones instead of engaging in conversation, and people weren’t taking photos of their dishes. They actually talked to each other.
Another plus of not having smartphones? You didn’t have to worry about someone photographing or recording you without your knowledge or consent. There was a respect for personal boundaries that have gotten lost in the Digital Age.
11. Food Delivery Options
When I was growing up, the only places that delivered food to your house or workplace were Chinese restaurants and pizza parlors. Having food delivered to your house was a special treat because it happened so rarely.
Today, food delivery services are not only commonplace, they deliver food from restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, and even hardware stores. It’s taken something that used to be special and made it into an ordinary activity.
12. Showing Grace
Human beings make mistakes. There used to be a time when someone could make a mistake, sincerely apologize, be forgiven, and continue on with their lives. There was the capacity to show grace to those who have erred.
Today, cancel culture has taken over. A person could make this slightest misstep and find their careers and lives derailed. There’s little to no opportunity for forgiveness, and there isn’t a lot of nuance when it comes to addressing the transgression. Everyone is punished equally harshly.
13. Feeling Safer
Communities in earlier decades felt safer than they do today. It wasn’t unusual for people to leave their doors unlocked while they were sleeping or weren’t home. They believed no one would illegally enter their homes without permission.
Communities where people don’t lock their doors today are few and far between. The threat of being the victim of a crime in their homes is frightening and very real. It’s a sad sign of the times when people need home security systems to feel protected.
14. More Neighborly
Neighbors used to be almost like extended family. They knew and socialized with each other and were actually good friends. They’d have dinner at each other’s homes, and their kids played together. They took the time to get to know each other.
Some neighbors have continued these traditions, but others haven’t. Whether people aren’t as sociable as they once were, are too busy, or just aren’t interested in expanding their circle of friends, the chance to build communities is slipping away.
15. Cheaper Television Costs
Cable companies provide customers access to hundreds of channels – for a price. Streaming services provide access to thousands of movies and programs, but even those platforms are getting more expensive.
Before cable, televisions used rabbit ears to broadcast the three main networks. You could watch a fourth channel if you got lucky. Cable TV offered more channels but nothing like today’s overwhelming lineup. Sometimes less is more.
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