To Want To Go Back To 1983?

[GondolaQueen]

Just seen some video clips from the time that made me nostalgic.

Surely it’s not so far away that we can’t just reach out and grab it ?

I was 16 in 1983 - I was leaving school with barely anything to show for it; really scared of the future; no idea what to do. If I could go back, it’d be as a tourist in a time travel sort of way so that I could enjoy the music and fashion and have the kind of fun 16-year-olds should have instead of feeling worn out by life before it had even got started.

1983? Thatcher, mass unemployment….

Respectfully, I disagree. I'm not talking specifically about the threat of nuclear war, but about war and terrorism in general. We see images now 24/7 that before we might have seen a handful of on a news programme for a limited amount of time per day. I think it's perfectly normal to become desensitised to things, to feel less emotion about them, the more you experience them. That's how we learn to cope better with difficult situations as we get older - it's not just maturity, it's exposure.

And I'm not saying we are completely desensitised - I said that we are desensitised compared to the 80s, when we didn't have nearly the same amount of exposure to the realities of war.

It's the aural equivalent of one of those awful Facebook posts bemoaning how everything used to be better when we all had Chopper bikes, meat and two veg for tea and ricketts.

1995 for me! I was 17 and feeling the beginnings of freedom.
Studying what I wanted, not what I had to. Working and earning money.
Beginnings of dating and boys (went to an all girls school so late starter!).
The Blur/Oasis rivalry.
Vanilla Impulse!

Sorry you didn't like it, can you not see what a clever song it is? Oh well, we all like different things, but it's exactly what this thread is about!

Exactly, look up Abel Archer, it was only years later that the public was made aware of his close we came to war, we were working with the military in Germany and were briefed for evacuation.

I would not want to go back to childhood. I might think about it if I can go back with my current level of insight and maturity, just so I can stick it to some adults who deserve it. I'd make sure I had a voice.

Late 90s for me

I wonder if in 40 years time they'll be complaining that 2024 was all grey? At learning in 1983 they didn't beige everything, fences and the outside walls too!

I had just started my first year at music college. If I could go back even for one day, I would be there in a heartbeat.

Not sure about 1983. It was grim in the valleys of South Wales! Also, the threat of nuclear war -protect and survive-rabies, the arrival of AIDS.

I was early 20s. I'd like to be that age again when anything seemed possible but not sure I'd actually want to be back in the 80s. They were exciting and fun for me because of the age I was - not sure there were other reasons in particular

I remember the very early 60s, a new group had been on People and Places, the Granada TV news program and everyone was talking about them at school. It was the Beatles first TV performance.
I think I preferred the excitement of waiting for 'the next episode' rather than being able to stream all of them.

I was in my 20s in the 80s and happy, despite some difficult times. I don’t think this is childish nostalgia, I believe it was genuinely a time when people were more optimistic and positive, and there was less nastiness than there is now. Everything seems dirtier and more in decay now, including the way people think.

Clothes wise the 70s and late 90s were brown central. Friends is full of brown clothes. As was half my wardrobe (brown, khaki, or beige) so weird I forgot that until I re watched Friends with my teens. My prom "dress" was a brown slip.

Yes you might have something there! I was just starting my final year at University. The rest of the 80s were pretty good for me on the whole. Starting my career, meeting and marrying DH, plenty of disposable income, fun and adventure to be had with no parental responsibility yet.

I can see where the OP is coming from though. I sometimes see TV from then and it feels more optimistic and light hearted somehow.

But, yeah, you are right we do have rose tinted spectacles for our youth.

I am the youngest child in our family by several years, my older two DSis having been born quite close together. As a child I remember hearing my Mum being nostalgic about the time when my two DSis were small, for example, "Oh Christmases were better then, they have spoilt it now".

I would sometimes feel quite hurt by this, though I never said. It was as though my childhood was second best and not as enjoyable to her as when my sisters were small. I guess though it was just she was younger then, still in her 20s,and probably had more energy and everything about parenthood was still a novelty. By the time I came along they had been there, done that and were starting to venture in to bringing up teenagers

I loved 1983.
We'd just moved house, meaning I was attending a vaguely reasonably school at last having had a completely miserable time in a really terrible one before that. I was 16, going on 17, in lower 6th which I think is the best year of school anyway as you are treated more like a grown up but there's no public exams and I was so happy. For the first time ever I wasn't being bullied, I had friends, some of whom could drive, meaning freedom, and I was madly in love with my first ever boyfriend- one of the cool lads in Upper 6th no less.
Put on any song from ABC's album The Lexicon of Love and I am right back in the 6th form common room feeling very grown up but with none of the stresses of being an actual adult. I loved it.

People smoked a lot; pubs, restaurants, public transport. You could hardly breathe for the passive smoke.

I often think about this. Especially if I’m watching nostalgic Christmas Tik Toks etc. Would love to go back to the 80’s. Firstly, my Dad would still be alive ❤️ so that would be awesome. I’d also love to go back to being sheltered from grown up problems by my parents and my biggest concern being what to wear or what to play with.
Then I always feel bad because I wouldn’t want to wish away my lovely DH and my lovely children. So, I guess I’ll keep muddling through the 2020’s trying to keep life as simple for them as it was for me xxx Also my DD (4) has developed an obsession with Labyrinth so I’m almost there 😂

That moved me.

The last two sentences resonate. Hugs.

Maybe I just had more exposure than you in the 80s. I was quite political and my partner was in the military. It was a constant.

Awwww that's a lovely post, I can picture that. But you have lovely memories, hold those close.

It would be 1984 for me.

But not sure I'd want to go back to teachers strikes although it meant no chance of detention.

I was a teenager in the 80s, it was a bit of a mixed bag really. I agree the nuclear threat felt very real, and there was a lot of poverty and unemployment, also the Falklands war in 82, and a whole decade of bloody Thatcher. But the music was good, the clothes were fun, and it was an interesting time to be young. I was in NI though so it got a bit too interesting at times with the Troubles being an ongoing threat. I reckon the 90s were better, but that might be because I was a young adult living in London earning lots of money, partying hard and meeting my husband in 1992. And getting the Tories out in 97 was probably the optimistic high point, although Tony Blair turned out to be a total shit unfortunately. I do feel very lucky to have been young in the 80s and 90s, but I wouldn't go back. I'd love to be young again, but my life is better now.