Were things really boring in the 80s?

[Egyptiancottonhouse]

I was born in the 80s, grew up in the 90s but it's difficult to imagine now how things were.

I'm watching reruns of Brookside from 82 I think.

It's very nostalgic but things must have been so boring, although people didn't know any different. I don't think most of us today would cope without the Internet, TV on demand, online shopping, social media.

Being able to research anything you want in a second, look up a recipe, look at a map and street view.

The Internet really has changed our lives beyond recognition.

I'm 54 and the 80's were the best days ever. The music, the clothes, no social media, so nothing to live up to. It was so carefree and fun!

No, music was actually good then! I think people were less afraid to be themselves, to be individuals. Flamboyant clothing, for example.

Children could play in the streets and were less coddled.

it wasn't all good of course. AIDS, corporal punishment, women had fewer opportunities, nuclear war etc.

Oh, there was this thing called books. And a library. And we went out and actually talked to each other face to face. And kids played outside all day and used their imagination. And we went to an office and interacted with people there. And we went to the movies and theatre and museums. And we watched tv and as not a lot of choice meant we pretty much watched the same thing and had it to talk about, and look forward to the next episode.
So it was as boring as things are today, not more so.

I still listen to 80s /90s music and most radio stations still plays music from then. I don’t think young people in the 90s listened to 50 or 60s music..

I'm sorry Paul but this did make me laugh 😂 I hate to be the one to break it to you, but if you cared about music in 1993 you're at least 40 so...

My parents were in their 40s in the 90s and listened to Capital Gold, an old fashioned music station playing hits from their youth, that young people didn't listen to.

Different I think rather than boring.

I remember the excitement of ordering something via mail. Normally said to be "delivered within 28 days" but you didn't really worry if it got to 35 or even 42. And the anticipation of receiving it lasted ages.

Now my dc think it's ridiculous if they have to wait a week.

Dm used to do all her Christmas ordering in September to make sure it arrived in time.

No, I listened to Simon and Garfunkel, Beach Boys, Beatles etc in the 90s.

Actually ds was very into Simon and Garfunkel for ages too, and I tell him that our music was the best in the 80s/90s, what with the Chicken Song, Star Trekkin', Agadoo, YMCA (actually I think that may have ben 70s), You should be so lucky, Uptown Girl, When will I be famous... and all those wonderful songs that we still listen to and make him listen to
He used to have a phobia about Mr Blobby, mind you.

There was actually a big Motown revival in the 80s/90s - Levi ads sent the tracks they used up the charts.

Rockabilly had lots of 50s influence.

The awful Jive Bunny was 40s and 50s.

I probably wasn’t very clear. Mainstream radio stations still play 80s and 90s music. Music from 30/40 years ago.

In the 80s of course people listened to music from the 40s and 50s. I just meant I don’t think mainstream radio back then would have necessarily played music from the WW2 era.

40 years ago it was the early 80. In the early 80s, WW2 was 40 years before that.

Music in the 40s wouldn’t have appealed to alot of younger people in the 80s because it wild have sounded so old fashioned!

But there are young people now who like listening to 80s and 90s music because some of it holds up well today and has stood the test of time.

Lots of people (young people included) still listened to the Beatles in the 90s...I'm sure there was also a Beatles compilation album that came out in 1999/2000 that lots of people seemed to have at university....

No they weren’t.

I was down the Hacienda where The Smiths, New Order, Simply Red, The Stone Roses, James, The Happy Mondays used to hang out. It wasn’t boring.

l had massive backcombed hair. I was into the Sisters of Mercy, and remember crawling down Oxford Road at 8.00 am after an all nighter to the bemusement of the commuters on there.

l wouldn’t have swapped the 80’s for anything.

Pahaha. What I'd have written @mondaytosunday 😁

How was this boring?

I think it also took longer to do stuff in the past and that filled in some of the boredom gaps.
Car ownership, at least amongst my peers, wasn’t as commonplace as it is now for youngsters, so you would need to get the bus to the local library if you needed to write an essay. Walk to the local newsagent for a magazine.
I’m sure there were periods of boredom, but scrolling through the internet all the time and never going out, must get boring at times too.

Kids playing out on the estates til dusk… obviously kids still do but not like the 80s…we’d be gone for hours. I remember one buys mum said when the street lights come on it’s time to come home !..
Some of the rude rhymes we did as kids in the late 80s are still going around now I was surprised to find out !

Anyone remember the old rhyme there’s a party on the hill would you like to come ?.. bring your own cup and saucer and your own cream bun?…I remember it from the 80s but it was probably around much before that !

In terms of culture and technology, the 1980s was EXCITING!

For music, you had massive albums and tours from the likes of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Queen and so on!

This was the decade of pop culture for kids too - Action Force/GI Joe, Thundercats, He-Man, She-Ra, Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, M.A.S.K., Transformers, TMNT and more.

Then we had things like the Nintendo NES and their gaming "war" with Sega's Master System/Megadrive! Amazing games.

We had THE blockbuster films such as ET, Back To The Future, Ghostbusters and more! The effects were new and actually groundbreaking.

The future seemed full of exciting possibilities and I was in primary school at the time. Yet remember all these cultural milestones!

The last decade or so didn't seem as exciting, imo.

Although my family and I were living through the Troubles with a relative murdered by PSF/PIRA before the 1980s was over, we didn't let it stop us enjoying cultural milestones or celebrating birthdays which were always a big, exciting moment! I remember lots of Halloween parties and going round every door over two streets! Lots of sweets and money! Definitely wouldn't get that now!

Despite all of that, we had great family times in the 1980s and I think people then had more resilience than today. An important part of our resilience then was sharing so much as people, family, society - music, films, and so on could only be enjoyed as a collective!

Now, you can watch a film or listen to music at home by yourself without anyone else in the house being able to with you on devices.. Cultural moments are much more experienced in a silo as a solo pursuit. And I think that's not good for self-esteem and relationships in the long run. Kids would play outside all day until street lights came on!

Believe we as a people globally have lost something important the pre-internet society had.

Massive queues in cinemas and music shops. In Northern Ireland, we had Xtravision for VHS, video games and later dvds. In demand films could take a while to come your way. But you could select a handful of films to watch quite cheaply!
Great times!

I totally agree. I am always amazed at how familiar my kids are with 80s music, it's on all the time not just radio but YouTube, memes, cartoons and kids TV soundtracks. I always ask them if they know the song and how.

The word boring kind of made me laugh. I often see youngsters on the bus or waiting somewhere and every single one of them online and I think to myself how boring they are!

There were bouts of boredom and your mind would wander aimlessly, these days people would call it mindfulness and schedule 20 mins of it cos their app suggested it 🙄. I think the lack of this down time is extremely damaging to mental health, kids feel the need to be on all the time and don't get to process. Also idle time is what leads to creativity, people write songs, think of stories, come up with new creative ideas when doing nothing, not while on tiktok.

Please finish the rhyme, it is driving me nuts

I think there was much more socialising in the 80/90's. Everything was planned in advance and looked forward too.

I remember my parents always having people just drop in as they were passing - and then staying for hours as my mum whipped up a buffet or full on roast dinner.

Now we all freak out if the doorbell goes and spend time communicating with strangers over the internet / whatsapping friends rather than actually seeing them.

I was 6 in 1980. I was definitely bored at times but that was because we moved around a lot (army) and it took a while to make friends. Sibling 8 years younger. I did absolutely love the pop music. I was obsessed by the late 80s and borrowed albums from the library to tape. Radio 1 on constantly. Spent ages reading and mucking about with art. I wasn’t good at it but really enjoyed it. I cooked and baked as well. Mums cookbooks and Sunday supplement recipes. My mum had a binder with magazine clipping recipes I used to try.

When I wanted to know something I looked in the library. I was a very imaginative and resourceful child/teen. My teens frustrate me at times as despite all the resources available they seem a lot less able to solve problems and queries than I did. I was in many ways more content then. Less pressure to be a certain way or own things. Less aggro between tribes.

That’s as much as I remember! He he.

I do remember this one - ip ,dip, dog shit , fucking bastard, silly git, you are not it ! When playing a game ! I don’t think that’s spelt correctly BTW! Excuse the swear words but definitely was an 80s kids rude rhyme and I’ve absolutely no idea where it came from…!

In the 80s we lived on an army married quarters estate for service families in Hampshire, on a new build estate. Lots of little parks scattered around the areas…

Kids knocking on the doors asking to if you could play out, sometimes the parents would come over looking for their kids to get them home !