To think people looked and felt better back in the old days vs now?

[wildernesswild]

Currently watching videos of Olivia Newton-John (rest in peace ) and I always notice people born years and years ago, maybe in the 60s/70s/80s look amazing then and now, no fakeness, I'm always told by my grandparents nobody really back in the day was majorly obese or had any mental health issues. Even the men groomed themselves and dressed amazingly.

What do we think contributes to our issues these days? Is it social media, processed food, unrealistic standards? I'd love to hear everyone's opinion

I was born in 1980. As a child I can’t really remember ever eating a lot of fast food type stuff. We stayed at home a lot more. If we did eat out it was a posh dinner out somewhere, not McDonald’s or whatever (I’m not knocking McDonald’s btw, I love a Big Mac as much as the next person but I think the whole attitude to fast food has changed - it’s normal now for families to eat fast food a couple of times a week)!

We didn’t have tons of snacks in the fridge. We did a lot more walking everywhere. Most normal families wouldn’t have more than one car, and usually the dad would have it for work so the Mum would be walking herself and the kids all over. (We lived in london so got the bus a lot too).

I read a lot and listened to music a lot. I think of all the things my kids have now like iPads and internet and whatever else and it seems like a different world!

Of course they were you idiot. Tattoos date back to before 3000 BC.

Cameras had less resolution and film processing ironed out a lot of wrinkles and imperfections. Everything is in HD now and you can see everything, warts and all. Also there was soft focus, which smoothed out things a lot.

Clothes were smaller though. I saw a vintage size 14 skirt on Vinted the other day, St Michael (M&S) - 28 inch waist! It's up to 34 now for a size 14.

I was going to say this too.

And not just teenagers. The mums and dads at school pick up are always in tracksuits, leggings, baggy old T-shirts, etc.

The middle aged people around here are dressed well.
(And also talking, manners, not swearing- I imagine the younger are the children of the older ones but they look like they come from different worlds).

I was born in 1969. I can assure you that most of us looked as little like ONJ and JT than current people in the street look like the beautiful stars of today.
We had far less help for one thing. Poorer hair dressing, clothes very expensive compared to now. Less tools and products. Poor dental care. No help from fake eyelashes, nails, hair extensions. In those days, you were basically either good looking or your weren't. There really wasn't the options to elevate your appearance that we can take advantage of today, and as a result, most average looking people probably looked worse than the average person today who 'makes an effort'.
The main difference, which I do think is very significant, is that far fewer of us were overweight.

The tattoo thing is interesting though. I am tattooed - dh is so heavily tattooed you literally can’t see any “clear” skin apart from his face and hands (!) so I’m certainly not anti tattoo but it’s definitely become more mainstream in the last 20 years. In the 80s people might have one or two dodgy tattoos hidden on their arm or something that they got at a seaside tattoo place (yep I’m totally generalising) but most women wouldn’t have them, it was considered a bit “rough” and masculine, and it wasn’t the huge fashion and culture that it is now. Tattoos have been around for 0000s of years but their popularity in the U.K. in particular has definitely elevated and changed.

This is rose-tinted spectacles.

People in this age range were probably marginally less likely to be overweight than now. Aside from that they were probably a lot less healthy.

For one thing a lot of people smoked and drank too much. Fewer people exercised. People knew far less about skin damage from the sun than they do now. It's now (or it was until recently) easier to buy nice clothes affordably than it was then. Clothing in the late 70s/early 80s was pretty hideous unless you were wealthy - there was no nice fast fashion.

Is a child of the early 70s I'm a bit over this endless nostalgia for the early 80s. So over-rated as a decade. Yes there were a few OK chart hits but the way people bang on about it you'd think it was the start of a Renaissance.

But not in the mainstream.
Then, you would only see tattoos on a few, usually men. Usually people coming out the forces, with a few dockers and Hells Angels making up the numbers.

OP YABVVVVU to call the 1980s "the old days".
Of course one, particularly attractive celebrity doesn't reflect society generally, but YANBU to think "society as a whole" is moving in a rather worrying direction. The obesity crisis is HUGE (no pun intended). What people think of as 'normal' and 'acceptable' now would be considered quite worrying 40 years ago. The think with all the excess weight is that it isn't just about what we look like but it impacts on health hugely.

I mean none of these make me sigh in despair because it's a by gone era.

film stars always look good! Are people fatter now? Yes. Less exercise, more processed food, more consumption of televisual and filmed content, mobile phones, less housework. But mental health, clean air, smoking, drinking? Impossible to say

Those are brilliant pictures!

Well back in the 'Olden days'😂 things were very different, it was simpler times.

People ate what was available and affordable, it was breakfast, school lunch, dinner and a slice of bread in the evening with a glass of milk. You didn't get take aways, if you did you shared with everyone and they were only bought on special occasions. There was no treats, a bar of chocolate may be shared at the weekend but it was mainly birthday parties or Christmas and Easter that there was chocolate.

We walked everywhere, if a family had/could afford a car the Father usually drove it to work, everyone else walked. We played out every day no matter what the weather was, you had chores at home and could not go out until they were done, same with homework.

You washed in a handbasin with a face cloth and a bar of soap, there wasn't cleansers and moisturisers and every cream under the sun, at the weekend you had your weekly bath.

Men wore suits more, women wore makeup and had their hair nice, nothing over the top, it was subtle.

Mental health was very much present as was Special needs, unfortunately it was brushed under the carpet. If you had special needs you were called 'Slow' 'Not all there' and much worse, you were made keep up with your peers and if you had a physical disability you were kept at home and pretty much hidden from society. People with mental health were called 'Mad' ' Insane' 'Not right in the head', people just avoided you and you basically sat at home crying at the walls.

Things have progressed a lot some for the better some not. With regards to foods, they seem to now all just have so much added sugar. Healthy foods are much more expensive than cheaper not so good for you foods, so it's easy to fall in that trap of eating bad foods. People eat out more, get take aways and eat more snacks. There are more birthday parties as it's nearly the whole class that goes rather than a couple of your friends and cousins.

People drive more, most homes have 2 cars, people will drive short distances rather than walk, children are driven to activities, there's not really the playing out anymore because children are off at an activity, party or inside.

There are so many things now for your skin from creams, makeup etc, then you have the surgeries, botox, fillers etc then you have the photo filters which make anyone who has self esteem issues huge. You have celebrities faking photos making themselves look completely different, so many youngsters and more mature people look up to these people and all they are thrashing out is fake. Everyone ensuring their eyebrows are done, eyelashes and makeup that looks like an artist has done their face. Teeth whitened and many with veneers , then taking many photos to see what they look like, having to post online to get acceptance from their friends and this is all before they go out the door.

Thankfully we've moved forward a small bit regarding special needs and mental health, we've still a long way to go but it's definitely moving in the right direction.

The Internet has a lot to answer for, we are getting a view of the whole world in seconds, we can be who we want online. SM like facebook, twitter, instagram etc is only showing the good side of people, someone can post something and it can affect another person instantly. The good side is, we can get answers quickly online book things and shop and bank and communicate with family abroad much easier.

Aah the nostalgia of photos 2 & 3 @ldontWanna

I agree with the OP. I found a class photo of my form from the 70s and there was only one child who was obese. In my DS's last class photo, over half his classmates were clearly obese. Must be lack of exercise and ease of processed foods/takeaways.

Also watching 70s/80s programs like TOTP, the audiences looked a lot smarter. People made more of an effort. Likewise with my memories of discos around that time.

The alcohol abuse, the cigarettes, the manual labour, the starvation, the domestic violence, the being locked away in an 'institution' if you were mentally unwell or so fucking tired you were considered 'hysterical'; yeah, it really was great on the old physical health.

Expectations were so much lower, there was no opportunity for most to change their lives for the better, now women have more money and more opportunities but I cant say they are happier

I totally agree with you OP.

Obesity rates have doubled in the last 30 years so that is a factual difference. I am not convinced about other measures, there were some very scruffy punks in the late 70's

Obesity was rare because the standard of food in Britain in the mid 20th century was poor- fairly unappealing and tasteless.

Grooming and dressing is a personal choice thing - I think the 80s fashions look stupid myself

Obesity has got much worse

Mental health is more talked about now but was a problem especially for men

Ancient isn't a word I've used, so I'm not sure why people keep saying I'm making them feel that way. To me, the old days is something before when I was born. I would say the early 90s is "old days" because I wasn't born then. Same as late 90s, I was just a baby, it wasn't modern times as modern is known to me now!

I really don't think it's that deep, and can't understand why people are being so sensitive. You're implying ageing is not good by saying I'm making you feel "ancient" as if it's a bad thing? Ageing is normal and beautiful.

Haha, same and I thought the same thing!

Obesity definitely is much more common now.

People in the 60s/70s/80s didn't snack. 3 meals a day.

Now from 6 months upwards we eat all day long.

Plus all the processed 'food' must be damaging us horrendously in more ways than we're already aware I'm sure.

(I say this as I sit here drinking a Coke Zero and eating flavoured peanuts so I'm a fine one to talk )

Mental health issues though - that's totally different.

Just couldn't talk about them/deal with them. Abuse was swept under the rug. Victims too ashamed to talk up. Gay people just had to live a lie.

I think in that respect things are much better now.

Tasty calories are so easy to come by now. I could get a cheese and onion pasty from the garage for a quid or a massive chicken korma from the takeaway for a few quid. Both pretty basic an unsophisticated foodstuffs are tastier and more interesting than almost anything on offer in Britain up to the 1990s for most people. The garlic bread anecdote by Peter Kay is funny because it's true.

I was born in 1975, I didn't have an Indian takeaway until the early 90s. My daughters had "Indian food" - my attempts to replicate it at home anyway- practically as soon as they were eating solids.