To having been born in the 1970s and see how much the world has changed?

[Deeperthantheocean]

Yes, so a '70s child so have lived through everything beyond the days of MN world, with advice and experiences of parents and grandparents.

I feel so fortunate to have embraced technology. I am in awe of how the world has been revolutionised it as mostly to the greater good of mankind in many ways.

Just from a personal perspective, I feel it's so sad that the school playgrounds we used to go to to play the sports with our friends are all now barricaded, the youth clubs we went to and had a 10p drink and 12p bag of crisps for a night our aged 13, also the innocent early 1980s school discos we did just dance and had fun with our dowdy outfits. My Mum made me a rara skirt from an old skirt to look more modern, amazing talent among so many others.

So, back to my title, oh boy the works has changed so much! My generation knows how much our parents' generation had it hard and those before then so much harder. Poverty was working to be able to work and buy food on rations, that was women also.

Now we do generally have to work as parents but please don't forget our Mums and grandmother's also did, but after looking after children. Unsociable hours, after hours, basically anytime husbands were home to listen out for anything.

I was born in 1973 and i m guessing I'm a couple of years older than you
I agree the 90 s waa the best decade but I think that, s because I was young and care free and had no responsibility.

But on the other hand, there were far tighter restrictions on the kind of content deemed offensive then, to which attitudes have now relaxed. Think of the scandal when Johnny Rotten said the word 'fuck' on TV. Explicit sexual content was far rarer. Now, swearing and sex are commonplace on TV, yet there are still people who'd be offended by that content.

In 50 years' time I expect people will be talking about how offensive the TV of 2024 was (I leave it to your imagination what might be unacceptable by then).

The moral compass is not fixed - it swings with the majority. The fact that 70s TV aligned with what the majority thought was acceptable at the time doesn't make it bad TV.

I was born in the early 70s. My mum stayed at home until I went to school and worked part time until she died! I also did the same (apart from the dying part 😉). My dad changed my nappies as did dh change our DCs - the only thing my dad didn’t do was cook, but he washed up and hoovered. I’d say the division of Labour was much the same.
Obviously prices have rocketed, and it’s harder to get on the housing ladder. But more people now are educated, my DPs and PIL’s education was disrupted by WW2 whereas Dh and I have degrees and our DCs are students.
Re music - I have no idea what’s going on these days but myDCs love music - gigs are live and kicking - it’s def not a homogenous mess (maybe that’s mainstream but they’re not in to mainstream).
Internet / has its good and bad points.

I'm not sure about the restrictions on content being tighter, they were just different. Sure, The Sex Pistols saying "fuck" offended many people, but it didn't dehumanise whole classes of people the way that the rampant racism, sexism and homophobia did.

If I had to choose between my DCs watching Sex Education or Bernard Manning, I'm not going to choose the racist.

@Sethera

The moral compass is not fixed - it swings with the majority. The fact that 70s TV aligned with what the majority thought was acceptable at the time doesn't make it bad TV.

Nail on the head. I fully agree with that.

Naturally you would, as would most people in 2024. What I'm saying is that in 1974, the majority opinion would have been different.

I think one good thing of the 70s (and 80s) was adult education. "Adults" had a massive choice of local college/Poly courses, not just for trades, but also hobbies/crafts, professions, office work, sports, etc. Evening classes, day release, etc was very common and available to all. Lots of courses were heavily discounted and often in numerous locations making them accessible.

I studied for my O levels, A levels and chartered accountancy qualification between our local college of FE (within a mile of home), a Poly just 30 minutes away and another college about an hour away (for my accountancy finals).

My OH did extra O levels to allow him to change careers in his 30's by evening classes.

My mother studied and qualified as a teacher by doing evening classes at a local college (again within a mile of her home!), in her 30s after having children.

Thinking back, in our small seaside town, we had three colleges doing adult education courses, and the nearby small city also had 3 or 4 colleges. There were also adult education courses in other places (mostly for hobby/craft/sports) in places like school/church halls, local school sports centres/swimming pools, etc.

We'd get a booklet twice a year prepared by the local council with a full list of adult education courses, with timings/duration, cost, location, etc. It was really pushed and encouraged.

With the advent of Blair's 50% stupidity, all educational resources are now thrown at 16-21 year olds, whether university, apprenticeships, or basic life skills learnings. Yes, there are "some" things that adults can participate in, but they're now very limited.

Such a shame that a, literally, World leading adult education system was just flushed down the toilet in the 90s and 00s! And boy, are we feeling the repercussions now!

Why be so rude? You could have disagreed politely.

I was born early 60s and although the technology is clearly very different, it's still a recognisable world. Caught myself moaning about having to do something on the smart tv and remembered the absolute nightmare of 60s tellies! Stopped moaning.

My grandfather was born in the early 1890s on a rural farm that was lit by oil lamps and candles and totally horse powered. He lived to see men walk on the moon, loved it all, found it amazing (he was quite tech though as he started driving in about 1909) That is big change in a lifetime.

There were lots of great things, the summer of '76, the community feel, the Maypole dancing, the pubs annual vegetable growing competition, the village sports day and procession of floats, the village hall where you could do brownies, ballet, drama, badminton, "Young Wives", playgroup AND go to the doctor in the surgery at the end of the building, the playing out, the fact that every village had pubs, butcher, baker, grocer, post office, banks, hair dresser, everyone watching TV at the same time, some amazing music and TV, free milk at school and every school having its own proper kitchen and dinner ladies!

BUT

• the food was rubbish - this was before the foodie revolution in the 80s
• sheets and blankets not duvets
• baths not showers
• generally much less compassionate response to kids - clip round the ear etc
• general poor emotional intelligence
• kids who were not bright or who acted out at school or dyslexic or autistic - all just labelled as stupid and naughty by the staff and bullied by kids
• the misogyny on tv
• creepy men - much harder to call them out on it - dodgy old guys, everyone knew who they were
• the SMALLNESS of the world. I grew up in a rural area - and I now live here again with my own kids. But we have two cars and the internet - my kids are tapped into the wider world in a way that I just was not. I went to a local beauty spot the other day with the kids - totally ordinary for us now but when I was a kid it was a big treat to go there (four mile trip!)
• no internet. If you wanted to book a holiday cottage, apply to university, arrange insurance - do ANYTHING - you had to write off for a leaflet or a form. Nowadays we are so much more appraised of possibilities and opportunities out there and life is so much easier.

Actually yes.

I think you make a good point here.

Same in my social circle. It was normal back then for a guy in his late 20s to be picking a 15 year old up for a date

Theres a lot of suppressed trauma

Great points yes

I remember the youth clubs and the crisps were less 10p lol. 5p for an orange squash.

My mother worked full time in the 70s so hardly reliant on a man.

I was born in the 70s. There was definitely more of a drugs problem when I was a teenager than my three teens are experiencing now. It's probably area specific though.

Born mid 60s. Playgrounds made with proper hard cement. None of this bouncy rubbish. Broken arms and concussions all round!
I know what people say about TV then but I watched Porridge on BBC archive for old people recently, wow, it was good. Tiny bit of sexism but nothing horrifying. And it was actually anti racist in places! And it wasn't homophobic, Christopher Biggins cast as a gay man.
I read Ronnie Barker recorded a guide to real prisons on audio tape or tape as we used to say, for first time prisoners in the 1980s which cut the rate of suicide and self harm amongst prisoners a lot.
I nearly died of sun burn that summer in the 1970s, anyone else?

Hmm I was born in 71. We didn't have a tv at all never mind only 3 channels No home phone until I was much older either.

But I don't remember being bored Used to play out for hours , or do heaps of reading if it was wet. Also crab fishing in the river or tadpoles in the pond Ride bikes to see people ,-although if my aunt caught any of us misbehaving we would get a stern telling off.

If I did complain about boredom then my dad would find jobs for me to do

Sundays was Sunday school then lunch then possibly out for a walk or off to visit someone

I know what you mean, OP. It's odd and also interesting to have seen half a century and mull over what has changed for both the better and worse. I don't feel I've seen the changes my parents and particularly my grandparents did, though. Nothing like.

Definitely area specific - I don't remember ever coming into contact with any drugs apart from the odd older person that smoked weed.

Until we moved to London I didn't see any either

You've encapsulated my childhood too. I do remember being bored, especially those rainy wet Saturdays where only the football results and the wrestling was on the TV, but it also lead me to become a prolific reader, read all the old classics as there was nothing much else to do to fill the time.

See the 90s was when I was bringing up young kids.

Oh I loved The Persuaders!

I was brought up in a place that is considered an ‘abject shithole’ (just googled and that’s what came up 😁) and not once did I ever come across drugs (1970s). Not at parties, or clubs or friends or colleagues. I didn’t actually come across them until the 1990s when I lived for a short while in a very ‘naice’ olde worlde village😯

When I was a teenager in the 80s in north Kent, cannabis (particularly resin) was everywhere. Admittedly it wasn't great quality but it was easy to get hold of. Speed was also available but a bit harder to find. We'd heard about cocaine, but only in the same way we'd heard about nouvelle cuisine - it was a London rich boy thing.

Marital rape was made illegal in 1992 I believe.