Things where you look back and think "that really was a different world"

[StealthPolarBear]

I am only in my early 40s so young and sprightly.
When I was even younger I had a job in a dentists office. Basically sending reminder letters out, printjng the letters, and addressing the envelopes. The dental records didn't have title on them so I asked what I should do. The response was i a woman's husband is also registered at the practice, she's a Mrs.
So I did that. Mrs for those respectable married women, and using my teenage innovation I decided any where I was unsure would be 'Ms'.
I got such a telling off. Apparently people complained as it looked like they were divorced.
There are times when the 90s seem only yesterday, and times like remembering that when they seem to have more in common with the victorian era than the present day!

Then I read Shakespeare. It was in my late teenage years. I was suddenly struck by how people had similar issues all the way back then over a hundred years ago to people of today. And I realised that deep down we don’t really change all that much do we?

I think this is the case. Underneath we are the same but societal norms change causing a change in behaviour.
When I was a teen, 60s-70s, it wasn't done to be anxious/ struggling to cope - that would result in a loss of respect, pull yourself together attitude from others. Now, thankfully, it is acceptable to admit your mental state is poor and seek help.................. but I wonder if being labelled as suffering from anxiety etc at a young age might affect your confidence in your future?

From a young age I always had an interest in shares.

Buying shares in 1980.

You had to go into the bank. Not my branch in Shaftesbury, but the regional bank in Salisbury. This meant getting public transport to another nearby town in order to get on the main train line to Salisbury. Carrying a box file with a lot of papers and share certificates inside. No appointment necessary. Turn up and go to the counter and they asked you to take a seat and they would be with you. Twenty minutes later, ushered into a small side office. A senior staff member would ask what you wanted to do and have a chat, no ID was necessary. Forms would be filled out to debit your account if buying, or to record the share certificate details if selling. Staff member would disappear and instruct another to place a phone call at HQ in London. HQ would call back with a quoted price and hang on while staff member came back into side office to say what price could be obtained and an order would be signed. Staff member went back to phone and the deal was placed. I would leave home around 10am on a day off and get home around 3pm. About two weeks later money would appear in the account or new share certificates would come in the post.

Buying shares in 2020.

Log on to a share dealing platform. Bring up my account and search for the stock I want to buy or sell. Get a quote and hit the execute button within 15 seconds. Money is transferred and the stock movement appears in my portfolio.

1980: A day trip with lunch out.

2020: 120 seconds from log in to log out.

My daughter has just started primary school and it is making me feel so old. All smart boards, not a chalk in sight! When I pick her up they are watching YouTube on the board. We watched the television at Christmas time or before the summer and it was great big thing wheeled in on a trolley with a video player. They also have tablets and computers in the classroom. I remember going to a computer room when I was at school but very rarely.

At home children’s tv was on before school and after. No Netflix to watch whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.

There was no after school or breakfast club at school. Most children were collected by their parents. A few were collected by a childminder.

Like previous posters I feel blessed to have had a childhood with little technology but was able to enjoy it when it started coming in as a teenager. I feel sorry for teenagers now. So much pressure to be social media perfect. So much is recorded and put online or shared

I have a vague recollection of being on holiday as a child late 70s early 80s and my parents being impressed that they could use a cashpoint in another part of the UK to get money out of their debit account. It seems so strange that I do wonder if its a false memory!!

Was also told recently that as I baby I was regularly left outside shops in the pram as no one took their babies in store!! Early 70s. Just wouldn't happen now.

@simitra my kids don’t differ massively today, they have honorary ‘uncles and aunties’, amuse themselves if we visit people they don’t know so well. Play out all the time. Are polite and considerate with other people. Both of them ( boy and girl) get pocket money for chores. Only difference is I don’t just teach the girl how to clean and tidy and cook but both of them. I think you will find lots of families still do these things today.

Thought of another thing. Aged 17, I wanted to be a midwife. My mother told me I'd be hopeless at it. Became a teacher..... If I was 17 now, I'd be less likely to do what my mother told me, and I like to think that she would have been more encouraging of my ambitions!

@YouAreEnough

I have a vague recollection of being on holiday as a child late 70s early 80s and my parents being impressed that they could use a cashpoint in another part of the UK to get money out of their debit account. It seems so strange that I do wonder if its a false memory!!

Was also told recently that as I baby I was regularly left outside shops in the pram as no one took their babies in store!! Early 70s. Just wouldn't happen now.

Yes definitely in pram outside then

• Going to 'secretarial college' to learn how to type on an old-fashioned typewriter. Not even an electric one, let alone a new-fangled computer.

• Travelling around Europe by Interrail, with occasional phone calls home which involved accumulating a pile of local coins which you shoved into a chute until you got cut off. This was usually quite soon, given how expensive international calls were.

• Carefully considering if it was really neccessary to take a photo, as film was expensive. Then sending it to be processed and the excitement of picking up the pics days later.

• Library catalogues which consisted of little cards in tiny drawers.

• In the pre-barcode days, check-out assistants manually keying in the cost of items. I dread to think how many errors were made!

@IcedPurple
Yes, this! And being disappointed when you opened the packet of photos and your head was cut off or the whole photo was out of focus

[quote Sweetpea1532]@IcedPurple
Yes, this! And being disappointed when you opened the packet of photos and your head was cut off or the whole photo was out of focus[/quote]
I used to send mine to York Film Labs-you got a new film back with your pictures.

- Carefully considering if it was really neccessary to take a photo, as film was expensive. Then sending it to be processed and the excitement of picking up the pics days later

Or the film had been exposed and was useless!
It used to be quite an event- I remember us trekking around relatives houses and vice versa to show off our holiday snaps! I doubt anyone were even interested to be honest, but that was what we did before facebook!

Sending airmail letters. I used to get extremely thin blue paper that was almost see through to write to penpals abroad on and write as small as I possibly could to keep the costs down. I used to love getting replies in the post and keeping the stamps.
Now I expect kids just send emails. Cheaper, faster, but not as exciting!

And later slides came in & everyone sat round in the dark while dad pulled up a big collapsible screen then put the slides one by one into a projector that threw the pictures onto a screen. Or you could get a little slide viewer.

Adults could tell off children who were not their own. Instead of the parents coming over with an attitude, they'd be very apologetic and admonish the child for embarrassing the family with their behaviour.

Whn txt mssgs cost u mre as not unlimited in plan. Now thr is a gen of ppl still mssgng in ths 'economic shorthand'.

I remember excitedly getting my holiday photos back, but they weren't mine. They were of a rather underdressed couple enjoying themselves a bit too much, that was bad enough, but I also had a letter from Snappy Snaps telling me they would prefer not to have dealings with me in the future.

@CherryRipe1

Whn txt mssgs cost u mre as not unlimited in plan. Now thr is a gen of ppl still mssgng in ths 'economic shorthand'.

Mine used to be 10p with a character limit, and when you had a top up budget of a fiver every 2 weeks, you had to really pick and choose who you messaged!

@armanted

I remember excitedly getting my holiday photos back, but they weren't mine. They were of a rather underdressed couple enjoying themselves a bit too much, that was bad enough, but I also had a letter from Snappy Snaps telling me they would prefer not to have dealings with me in the future.

Similar happened to me in a photo place. They used to open the envelope to check they were your photos, if I remember. A very frosty man opened my envelope to a topless lady. I said they weren't mine, but his attitude didn't really soften until he saw that the "right" envelope had pictures of me in!

I've loved this post and don't think I've ever checked back in on a post so much. Such nostalgia.

I was talking to my children about photographs the other day. Obviously they have grown up with camera phones and take photos every day. My youngest also has quite a good digital SLR and if we go to an event or something he takes literally hundreds of pictures and then deletes about 80%. I was trying to explain that my Dad would give me one 36 exposure roll of film for a whole holiday and that I'd try to fit it very carefully so I'd get an extra couple of pictures out of it. I chose my photo opportunities carefully and had to really think about composing a picture because I couldn't just have a quick glance, delete and try again if it was no good. Oh, and then having to wait a week or two for prints to come back in the post! I remember racing my sister downstairs with us pushing each other out of the way as we both wanted to be the first ones to open the packet when we heard it land!
My boys looked at me like I was completely mad. Living in a world where everything is photographed and everything is instant is so different - and I'm not convinced it's better.

I was born in the late 60s and eating out wasn’t a thing - there was no pub grub, Toby Carveries, Harvesters etc. Pubs in touristy areas might do a ploughman’s if you were lucky.
Holidays were self catering or guest houses, booked by sending a letter asking for their brochure, receiving it, writing to reserve a date and send a deposit - all very long winded.
Guest houses were grim - nylon sheets, no TV in the rooms, no teas or coffees in rooms, shared bathrooms, no choice or very little choice about the food.

I remember nylon sheets combined with a nylon nightie. Sparks would fly as you slid out of bed.

My parents are quite well off and yet I remember being absolutely freezing as a child. Laying in bed in a duvet sausage with fleecy pyjamas on but no heating. I had a childhood very influenced by my parents frugal 50s upbringing, so lots of darned clothes, “put an extra jumper on”, taking Tupperware on days out etc. It was good though and very unwasteful. Even though they made a lot of money they weren’t flashy with it although we never went without.

I remember finding a tin of beans in the back of the cupboard mid 80s with a 8 1/2p sticker on it. All items had stickers with their price on them!

Having to sign to pay with your card seems antiquated but I think only changed in 2006?

In guides you had to always have a 10p in your pouch as that showed you were prepared to call home in an emergency.

I remember getting a Volvo mid 80s because that was the only car with seatbelts in the back.

Getting the morning after pill used to be a right faff. Go to the GP, get a prescription then go to the chemist. It was so hard to get done in 72 hours esp over the weekend! No free condoms then either.

At uni the sought after books were on 4 hour loans only with 50p per hour fines if late. Or were reference only so you had to physically go to the library rather than online.

We got offered IT classes at induction but I said I'd never do a job that meant being in front of a screen or typing all day!!!! Is there anything that isn't now??

I'm glad there was much less slut shaming around the turn of the millennium than now. It was all ladettes and the girlie show. No one ever said anything negative to me about having one night stands. Young women now are expected to be much more sexually submissive. Everyone had a hairy vulva!

If a friend was on a different mobile network it would be too expensive to call them. Most plans only gave you 200 texts a month.

@Ozgirl75

My parents are quite well off and yet I remember being absolutely freezing as a child. Laying in bed in a duvet sausage with fleecy pyjamas on but no heating. I had a childhood very influenced by my parents frugal 50s upbringing, so lots of darned clothes, “put an extra jumper on”, taking Tupperware on days out etc. It was good though and very unwasteful. Even though they made a lot of money they weren’t flashy with it although we never went without.

I remember much of that. I think they were taught to be frugal during the second world war and it was difficult to shake off that attitude.