To think it literally was a different planet ?

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I’m exactly the same age today as my mum was in January 1984.

I can’t get my head round this.

January 1984 seems like a different planet from today - anyone agree? I’m nostalgic for the TV programmes and general lifestyle around then

My brother trained to be a lawyer and was with a load of colleagues who were reminiscing about particular programmes on TV; he thought he must be a lot younger than them as he had no memory but then he realised our TV didn’t get BBC2!

There was an innocence then that is twisted and horrible these days. I feel like Pandoras Box has been opened and the Bad Shit can never be locked up again.

Wasn't that just you being young and optimistic? A quick Google for 1984 tells me Indira Ghandi was assassinated that year, the Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the LA Olympics, there was a monumental industrial/environmental disaster in Bhopal, in the UK the miners were striking and getting beaten up by the police, and the IRA blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton and killed five people. Plenty of Bad Shit all over the place. And Good Shit too of course, as ever.

I don't particularly disagree with your post, but it's literally the same planet, so yabu.

Is it really the different though? Lots of big changes, sure, but people are still living their lives, having children, growing older, having much the same problems. Plus ca change, etc etc

I've always thought this about nostalgia. It stems from people wanting to feel secure, and for anyone who grew up in a stable and relatively comfortable home, that time is likely to have been childhood or early adulthood.

I have a relative who thinks things were better in the 60s and they enjoy watching TV shows like Call the Midwife specifically because 'things were simpler then'. I find it interesting that it's all viewed through rose-tinted glasses - they don't see any of the problems that their parents would have had, because they were shielded from them.

What gets me is that for George Orwell 1984 was the future, for us now it's history but his predictions were scarily accurate, even if some came later than he thought they would.

Ah, the dear old days of the AIDS crisis

I think you've blanked out the existence of Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Understandable- it's a pretty traumatic memory.

I tho l about how much older people looked - my lovely Nan looked about 60 from her 40s until she was 93! I see photos of my grandparents’ generation and they all looked middle aged from around 30. I am 45 in a couple of months and look younger than they did at 30! I think a lot of it is clothes and hairstyles

In 1984 “pop” music had been around for 30 years. It’s now been around for 70 years so back then there was a much smaller “catelogue” of music, and probably more genuinely new ideas

also, we look back on music and select/remember only the good stuff. There was a lot of dross then too, we just don’t remember it so much

What is this comment 🤣 are you ok hun?

OP, do you feel a lot younger now than you think your mother felt then?

I’m 42 and think I appear and act relatively young- I’m fit (ish), keep on top of grooming, keep my grey roots in check, dress for my age.

By comparison, by lovely mum looked like a much older woman by the time she was 40. Even in photos of her from that time, she looks so much older than I do now. She had let her hair so completely grey, lot a weekly wash and set, never left the house without tights and a skirt etc. Her mobility had started to deteriorate even then as she never took care of herself (always bending, lifting, never relaxed for a moment).

I find ageing so interesting. I look at 18 year olds now and many of them look about 25 whereas I see 45 year olds that look 35.

Probably some sort of biased blindness on my part!

I just finished watching rivals. I thought it captured a lot off the 80s really well. The hair, the smoking, we were poor so not the massive piles though.

Innocence? I mean, I understand what you’re saying but men were abusing children in plain sight and being covered up in 1984, which is pretty twisted. Many household names from that time, more uncovered all the time.

Men leering after girls was totally normal. The boundary between adults and children was blurred to say the least. Of course, nowadays that’s become normalised in the hyper-sexualisation of girls at ever-younger ages, so it’s still there but in different form.

😂😂😂ugh yeah!

Agree, I think styling has a lot to do with it. Look at Bruce Forsyth in the 70s, he looked younger 30 years later when he did Strictly!

Oh, and Bullseye - it's on late night TV at the moment - the 20-something competitors look to be in their 30s or even 40s.

Hard lives, bad hair. But you could win a hostess trolley.

The most awful thing to come out of the 80’s was the mullet.

And now it’s back complete with ‘tache.

Like Brookside.

One of the things I think about is food (TBF Im usually thinking about food!LOL).
When I was a kid the most exotic freezer food you could get was Findus Crispy Pancakes and a Viennetta! Other then that is was just burgers, sausages and your choice of ice cream (vanilla, strawberry, choc or neopolitan....block or tub!).

I think that stands for alot of things. We have so much choice these days...and most of it is unnecessary!

I remember the 80s and lol at the idea there wasn’t also a hell of a lot of self entitlement and narcissism back then!

To be fair I would love a hostess trolley. My parents had one and love messing about with it. It was gold and, as I thought, rather fancy!

It was definitely mostly the styling - my Nan had short, curly hair a la Sophia from the Golden Girls. But they had more manual work - we have loads of gadgets and items to save time.

It literally wasn’t a different planet. Just evolving attitudes, mindsets.