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.

This! I'd totally forgotten about this! And you could even smoke in the pub while having these endless debates!

Love this thread! I turned 13 in 1980. Great decade. We did so much. None of your endless internet scrolling. I agree with @bellinisurge and everyone. I remember taping the top 40 every Sunday. We lived fairly rurally and i used to walk miles with the dog on my own. My friends used to go into town all day on Saturday but I wasn't into that so much. My first Saturday job in a little shop at 14. I read way more books than I do now. Long phone calls with my friend and she always seemed to ring at dinner time and I'd have to put my dinner in the oven to keep it warm. Cheaper phone calls after 6pm but dad shouting to end call if we went on too long. Was day pupil at boarding school and we were expected to stay till 6 to do activities (officially optional) Often stayed late to do homework as well in the library with friends. First job away from home at 17, and used to call home from a phone box and write to my friends. I still have some of those letters 💕 First kiss 1984. At a barn dance in an actual barn! Happy days. Mum taught me only boring people get bored. I think she was right and I told my children that too.

I‘m in a fairly new relationship and my BF grew up in a different country from me (but the country I now live in). We have been reminiscing about things we did as teenagers in the late 80s, early 90s. No phones, out all day until the street lights went on. Fixing our bikes ourselves with no YouTube, making modifications to skateboards etc.
but then the special British things - yes, top of the pops on a Thursday evening. Waiting for Smash Hits to come out to see the lyrics of the latest songs.
none of this getting tarted up at 13, I was out in jeans or shorts all day playing with all the local kids.

My main memories of the 80s are of the crippling work ethic. Leaving the office on time was virtually a sackable offence.

We were always out playing with the other kids from the street on our bikes. Used to put playing cards between the spokes so it made a clacking sound (not sure why we thought that was so great!).

Your experience is very different to mine then. 3rd year (current yr 9) was a constant battle between girls and staff over make up and skirt length and whether a very short ra ra skirt and tied up shirt really met the uniform rules, even if it was the right colour 😆

People used to meet in person so much more than they do now. You'd socialise a lot more and meet lots of different people. It was way easier to date as you'd meet your mates cousins and their friends.

Also you'd be outside a lot more. It was only rain that kept us in really. And then we would read. I don't read anywhere near as much as I used to these days.

Must have been lovely for parents not having kids or teens under their feet all day. I think on the whole people were less stressed and happier.

You used to be allowed to knock on a door without an appointment. In fact, for many people it was the only way to contact the unless you could wait for a letter to be delivered and returned. 😆

Not really, I was a child and other than Sunday afternoon’s we had lots to do, going to town and library, reading the paper and lots of books as well as hobbies and the tv. The internet has not improved life the way people think it has. Now we need to be engaged in something, anything constantly which is not healthy. I, as standard would leave my phone at home for holidays as it was a holiday-that’s unheard of now.

@Sulusu Totally agree with your post.

I was a teenager/early 20s in the 80s and it was such a great time. There was so much creativity (music, fashion, art etc) and we had so much more freedom and were more outward looking than today's children and teens seem to be.

I also think that because we didn't have a constant bombardment of information coming at us we were more resilient to having to find or make our own entertainment or to just sit and be. Being bored isn't necessarily always a bad thing.

I love the internet but I can quite happily switch off whereas I think the younger generations find it much more difficult because they use it for everything.

All this for sure!

You are right in that the internet has changed our lives, although not always in a good way.

The 1980s was a grand time to be a late teen/young adult, despite all of the issue that the decade brought especially unemployment, mega interest rates etc. Women didn’t have the same rights as they do today, but more than they’d had previously. In a lot of ways the 80s probably were not that much different to the the 60s and 70s, but there were more TV channels.

Shops closing on a Sunday was fabulous as it provided enforced rest/switching off, it gave time to catch up on jobs, participate in sport, prepare for the week ahead and there was also the Top 40 on the radio; what had made it to number one was a highlight of the week for younger folk.

In a lot of ways children had more freedom to go out and play/roam, but for many childhood ended as soon as they left school at 16. Some would go straight into work as an apprentice/YTS/employee. Only a small proportion went on to university, although a lot would go to college until 18.

I think people had greater/deeper connections to each other pre internet days, we spoke to each other or wrote letters, spent time talking without the distraction of phones or a tv being on constantly. Families frequently sat at the table to eat together.

I would have loved a little pocket TV when I was a kid and the ability to watch pretty much anything at any time - Sundays were soooo boring as a kid, if you were stuck at home. And equally, I would have loved the internet as a student - it's easy to forget how hard it was, sharing limited resources with other students and the mature students getting out everything useful from the library before you. It was a total pita having to go a reference library on the train to access information as a sixth former.
But there was freedom in not being constantly accessible and we didn't appreciate how precious that was until we gave it away. If I didn't answer my phone now, my mum would have the police out! But back in the day, it was normal not to hear from your student kids for days at a time. We have given up our concentration spans and the ability to give our entire focus to one task or to a person, without distractions. While the internet is massively useful, mobile phones are the ruin of humans.

Yes, I was sometimes bored. But being bored occasionally is good for us - it motivates us to find things that stimulate and entertain our minds. Sometimes, with my constant (and addictive) scrolling, I feel like my brain is turning to mush!

As an 80s child and 90's young woman I actually had a pretty good life. There was music and booked and shopping and mad, spontaneous nights out with friends. There was freedom!

As a young teen there was nothing better than a pile of new books from the library, the new copies of Mizz and Just 17, a bag of sweets and the top 40 taped off the radio! Bliss!

I was in my 20s in the 80s. It wasn't boring, it was much more social. You went out and met people and talked face to face or on the phone rather than communicating with little messages.
We travelled a lot, it was much more exciting than now.
The music and fashion were fun.

I was a child in the 60s and 70s and we had vastly more freedom than today's children. People track their children's every move. We went out to play unsupervised for the whole day.

I’d never have read so many great books if I’d had the internet! Plus music was such a big part of mine and my friends lives.we have probably had far better attention spans than todays youngsters and had a lot more physical freedom. I remember cycling about with an older child at age 6 to catch frogs in the pond. Screens are very overrated.

Not at all! We listened to music, spent time with our friends, went to the cinema, wrote long letters. Things were so exciting in fashion & music, the economy was booming. When you're young life is never boring!

People here seem to forget that the Eighties was a time of mass unemployment.

No of course it wasn't boring. Certain things took longer of course. But we had better attention downs, read a lot more and figured out how to entertain ourselves. My parents even refused the TV during the summer. Sure we got bored occasionally, but soon figured out a new game to play or activity.

If life now is so great why are you watching reruns of Brookside?

Comparing it to my teenagers...we went out more and our parents generally had no idea what were up to. Lots of underage drinking.

I think your experience of the 80s is different if you were working versus being a teen. The 80s were the decade of 'lunch is for wimps', 'greed is good' and you were totally fucked if you were a miner!
But tbh you are still fucked if you are poor. Just with the additional problems that constant access to social media has brought.

As a child/young woman in the 80's/90s, I never wondered if an ambulance would turn up, should I need to call one. 2 hours in A&E seemed like a long time, it felt like the world was improving.

Far from boring. I could go back to my home town meet up with mates in the pub and we would have loads of news to swap, now there is no new news to swap, we have read it all on faceook.

Best decade ever. I turned 21 in 1982. The music, the fashions, no 24 hour drinking culture, very rarely heard of anyone with mental health issues. No gangs of feral teenagers roaming around intimidating people.
Less car ownership, less takeaway shops, very little obesity,
And the very best of all, no camera phones and no social media!!

It was different, not boring. You don't miss what you haven't had. You used the landline phone or went in to speak to people. We sometimes went miles to buy something we'd seen advertised. I remember renting a TV and video recorder. There wasn't the rolling news coverage there is now.

Today people want to do things without human interaction or just instantly with minimal effort.

Both old and new have pluses and minuses.

80s and 90s were soooo much better than now. The internet and social media has turned us into a society of unpleasant bullies with endless mental health issues. Not good on any level 😢.