What were the 80s like?

[flowerwild]

I’m nostalgic for a time I never experienced.

Brilliant. Half a cider and black was 36p ten Silk Cut was about 75p. We Used to go out to the pub (no ID required, if you looked 18 that was fine) with two quid and had enough for cider, fags, the bus home and a bag of chips.

Not having social media and phones was so liberating, a life without them was much simpler.

I remember it being dark.

I'd be out playing after dark on the streets.

People got burgled.

It wasn't safe.

There were lots of boarded up houses.

Unemployment was in the news a lot.

We stopped eating lamb. (Chernobyl)

Disasters happened quite a lot.

There was no 'support' anywhere. You swam or sank. School was harsh- bullying, races, punishments, etc.

There were lots of boarded up houses.

Sometimes there were power cuts.

The immerser switch went on once a week and you had a bath. No one had showers.

Kids watched hours of tv a day. Despite only having 4 channels. Kids watched 18s.

My parents read broadsheet newspapers every day.

Kids got slapped if they were naughty.

Girls had lots of different haircuts.

If you got pregnant you'd maybe get married but definitely get a council house. You got bigger council houses the more kids you had.

You got £2 videos from blockbuster on Friday nights.

The only Italian food was bolognaise.

The only Chinese food was sweet & sour chicken.

Schools put on cheese and wine nights for parents.

School dinners had puddings with custard.

There were no obese kids.

The only non white British people were Indian, Pakistani or Chinese.

Everyone smoked and everyone drinked & drive.

Most of the music was pretty bad if rewatching TOTP tells me anything!

I was 12 in 1980 and so teenage angst for me! My state secondary was in a good area but we had to share text books between 3-5 people, they were dated - my o level biology text book was written in 1962!

Thatcher and Thatcherism hated young people; don't be poor, don't get pregnant if you're not married, and if you're gay and get AIDS you should be cast out was the feeling from the government. Also huge amounts of hypocrisy from them. Oh and racism was subject of comedy on mainstream tv.

The world was a much more patriarchal place; young people had to respect their "elders and betters", what they thought was unimportant except, for a novelty, the rare occasions when they were asked their opinion and usually patronised.

The BBC and ITV held huge sway then, especially the BBC; quite a strong educational ethic. When Channel 4 started in 1982 it seemed very "alternative".

Also, there was very little known about neurodiversity or learning difficulties other than, maybe dyslexia. You were weird or thick.

Good things, I was becoming an adult so that was exciting. I think the culture for parents was far less involved in their kids lives; involved in the intricacies. No Life 360, no instant contact, no endless testing, and league tables for schools. You had to be quite resourceful and resilient. Even in little ways; phoning the national rail line to find out train times etc, fewer cash points, fewer bank cards, shops open less, barely any deliveries of food etc.

I always feel the 1970s were more fun tv and music wise; but then huge racism and homophobia and sexism. And kids were dismissed if they reported abuse, teachers, scout masters, relatives etc. in both 70s and 80s at least.

Also there was less choice which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. You had your school dinner and ate it! Or went hungry. And we were passengers not customers etc.

I had a great time in the 80's. It was a decade that took me from 11 to 21. I lived in a lovely place, loads of mates, great social life as I got older. Left school. Went to college and then started work. Music was great and I still listen to 80's stuff at every opportunity. Wore some horrific clothes but was completely on trend at the time. Also crispy hair. Ahh take me back!!

It was a great time.😁

15-25. Finished school, first FT job, college, driving license, travel, music, films, freedom, getting on the property ladder.
I think that most people of that era will agree that the 70's were a bit gloomy whereas in the 80's all that seemed to change.

I loved the 80s and the 90s, but I was young and got to enjoy them. There we good and bad bits but I miss so many things about those times. Not least that people spoke to each other and socialised with each other face to face and not 'online'.

I pleased I was 'young' then and not now.

Sometimes would love to take my adult dc back to the 80s in a Time Machine; just for them to experience the difference. They'd probably notice the relative lack of entertainment choices the most.

I did all my secondary school years in the 80's. Permed hair, blue mascara, no internet, only 4 channels on telly, spending ages on the phone to mates, going to knock for them, to see if they're in. Regan, Thatcher, Falklands, Madonna and Michael Jackson were HUGE stars.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

The decade of my teens, it was fun and angsty in equal measure. Music was good, clothing was questionable, transport was non existent, school was shit and exams were worse. We had Greenham Common, CND, Glasnost & Perestroika, Maggie, Reagan, Scargill & the miners strike, civil unrest, racist thugs and rioting. There was a lot going on.

Indeed, all the furniture that I had was second hand, except the bed! I'm still using some of the dining chairs, the table is long gone

I was 7-17. Fabulous music! best decade for music.

I remember a spate of teacher strikes when I was about 13. I missed a load of double German lessons, which was excellent!

Shopping was great - so much choice. Body Shop was HUGE when they opened.

Not so great heading into 90s and economic depression. Our house was repossessed so a very depressing time.

Relationships with older men/boys was perfectly acceptable and normalised.

Another thing that I remember is that there was absolutely nothing to do on a Sunday, the whole town was dead.

It felt like there was a lot to look forward to. Still some of the best music. ☺️

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain

I miss being bored, you were less tired😅Always someone contacting you or something you have to do now.

Yes this definitely… and it continued well into the 90s. I remember Sunday pub hours, waiting till 7pm when they reopened!

Just got divorced and a council house. No maintenance so worked 3 jobs, TA during the day, barmaid 3 nights a week and chambermaid at weekends. Help with childcare by my Mum and Grandad, still had no money and things were expensive.

Brother going off the the Falkland war and being worried about him. Watching it on the news every night.

Younger brother coming out as gay and being worried about him with all the homophonic and Aids.

Youngest brother being in the Police and being sent up north to Police the miners strikes. Again worried about him.

Loved the music, the fashions, the hair. I was capable of making my own clothes a lot of the time so had fun.

At the end of the 80's Mum diagnosed with breathing cancer and not having the chance to live that should would have now.

Good music, MTV, very political. Transition from an industrial economy to a services economy which created winners and losers (from "loads of money" to out of work coal miners).

Loss of secure, respected, easily accessible local working class jobs. For example many towns or areas had a large local employer that low qualified workers could get work at (often already knowing people that worked there).

The blatant and open sexism, homophobia and racism that was rife in the 70s was no longer seen as acceptable, although it still existed especially amongst older people, it just wasn't openly expressed.

7-17

lots of racism directed my way
no central heating till the late 80s, cold in the winters, gas fired heaters and condensation
children didn't talk back to adults
you'd compare your life against people in the local neighbourhood and not people on social media
used to repair things
used a landline with a phonebook, and a public phone box
lots of smoking
cbbc after school
older men hitting on you as a teenager was acceptable
the charts meant something
kids were allowed to roam and took bikes everywhere
people hadn't been reprogrammed by the big tech companies
people didn't get cancelled
your doctor actually knew who you were

No central heating, coal fire and a portable gas fire upstairs.

No phone until late 80's

Couldn't drive and had no money to learn to drive, so living in a small market town with limited bus service was restricted to what work I could do.

Shit. The attitude changed from feeling like it was OK to help others to Poor People are Scum.

Knocking for friends. A boy who fancied me at 15/16 and cycled from one side of London to see me and my family but also to see his nan. I still felt a bit bad when he asked me out but I said no. Sorry Jake!

We used to do the free short hop bus rides, no free bus rides of eg 15 mins or more and children definitely paid, no Oyster cards or babies free!

I spent ages being bored and my GCSE year (we were the guinea pig GCSE taker year) fiction for English was unbelievably depressing, especially for teenage girls. I used to practice stretching my feet and getting cramp in my big toes…

We just had fun, especially on holidays in SE England. Spent one hot night dancing the night away and having managed to buy drinks (in London it was dead easy) in front of a big pub with a stage and DJ playing La Bamba with my best mate Carole in Hastings Old Town. Then strutting our stuff Salt n Pepa’s Push It at the disco at Hastings Pier and thinking we were especially the best dancers there, as we were from London! (SE London suburbs technically!)

• breathing = breast.