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Original poster

If this had happened 40-50 years ago...

559 replies

Swissrollypoly · 28/12/2020 23:03

Do you think things would be different? Do you think we’d just have to get on with things as we wouldn’t have the means to work from home or communicate via Zoom or Microsoft teams etc.
Social media didn’t exist, so there wouldn’t be as much panic and scaremongering.
I just wonder how different it would all be, had it happened in another time period.

OP posts:
PMcGintysGoat · 31/12/2020 20:44

borntohula and alectrevelyan

Do you see that this virus is going to easily exceed 80,000 excess deaths and that's with all the measures being taken? You can surely see that without the measures it would be very substantially worse?

How many people would need to die for you to think it was worse than flu? (Genuinely interested.)

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 31/12/2020 20:58

I certainly worked from home in the early 2000s. I think it was Citrix. Had a work mobile and I'm sure there were telephone conferences then too.

Skype has been around ages.

ancientgran · 31/12/2020 21:06

There is an interesting article about the Asian flu in the 60s here. So 20,000 people died in a year in the UK without lockdowns, mask wearing, social distancing. In less than a year we have had over 70,000 die despite lockdowns, mask wearing, social distancing. Not the same thing was it.

ancientgran · 31/12/2020 21:12

After watching The Crown, I looked up the Great Smog of 1952 and discovered that people wore masks both inside and outside during it so I don't see why masks wouldn't have been worn in the 70s/80s had a pandemic occured then. I loved the smog, walking along in a world of your own, you couldn't see your hand in front of you, the bus conductor walking along in front of the bus trying to figure out where he was and if it was clear in front and signalling with his torch to the driver. The scary bit was the footsteps, you couldn't see who it was and the footsteps got closer and you held your breath and then they passed and you breathed again. Funny what kids like, I'd hate it now.

ancientgran · 31/12/2020 21:18

I don't think people had such a sense of individual rights and self-expression.

In the 1970s and 80s?

There was quite a bit of self expression going on in the 60s, I think the Teddy boys in the 50s were quite assertive about their rights as well.

ancientgran · 31/12/2020 21:21

I certainly worked from home in the early 2000s. I did work at home in the 70s, accounts that I'd go and collect, take home, do the magic and take them back. I knew women who did packing at home, sewing at home. Go back another hundred years and there was loads of working at home in the black country, chain making, nail making etc. Whole families working together.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 31/12/2020 21:23

Yes gran but I probably should have said I was connected to a work network.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 31/12/2020 21:42

I could connect to our network in the early 2000s. However, as I only worked from home once in a way, I took a belt and braces approach and emailed key documents to myself. Not sure I would have wanted to rely on a network connection at that point.

Nanny0gg · 31/12/2020 21:58

@the80sweregreat

Smogs were terrible in the 50s. My dad had to commute to work and was held up for hours on the trains. My poor mum thought he'd had an accident he was so long getting back from work one night. She used to tell me the stories of how bad they were in London. Literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face, I was told.
This is true, you couldn't.

Even 'ordinary' fogs were bad and far more frequent than now.

Grenlei · 31/12/2020 22:14

Obviously I can't speak for all organisations but in my industries (legal/ insurance) we only started the move to paperless working 10 years ago and indeed are not fully paperless even now. Prior to that people would have had to take 200+ claims files home to be able to work which would be unmanageable!

Courts etc have only embraced e-filing within the past 10 years, likewise being able to email lay clients is very much a recent thing, 10 years ago everything in out area was still letter based and faxes!

As to remote working, I was one of the first in our dept to get this - 3 years ago. Everyone else got theirs after lockdown this year (and this was not without difficulty as we had a significant number of people who don't own a laptop or PC or have reasonable speed broadband at home... I'm sure those numbers would have been even higher 10-15 years ago).

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 31/12/2020 22:59

Gaspode I was working on servers so no choice especially doing 24/7 support.

AldiAisleofCrap · 31/12/2020 23:05

We could have easily closed schools. So many extra lives lost because women a generation ago wanted to “have it all” and now it’s hard for many people to live on one income. Houses are now rarely affordable on one income .
Far from empowering women 80’s feminists have made life much harder for single parents and made being at home with your child a luxury.
It angers me that schools are open primarily for childcare.

HerculesMuligan · 31/12/2020 23:25

@AldiAisleofCrap So many extra lives lost because women a generation ago wanted to “have it all” and now it’s hard for many people to live on one income.

Seriously? Lives lost during this pandemic is due to those women who dared to want to work and have some independence. Did you actually mean to write that?!

AldiAisleofCrap · 01/01/2021 00:32

Not current women , most have no choice , but yes in the past. If more women were saying schools would have only needed to be open for key worker and vulnerable children.

AldiAisleofCrap · 01/01/2021 00:32

*were sahm’s

Etulosba · 01/01/2021 02:46

I'm nitpicking but if this had happened 10-15 years ago I could have done my job from home in much the same way I've been doing over the last 10 months.

Same here. I worked from home part of the week back in 2000. I've had a smartphone since 2002, although I rarely used it for work purposes.

TheKeatingFive · 01/01/2021 03:01

So many extra lives lost because women a generation ago wanted to “have it all” and now it’s hard for many people to live on one income. Houses are now rarely affordable on one income

Well there’s a new way of bashing working mothers, got to hand it to you. Hmm

TheAlphaandtheOmega · 01/01/2021 05:48

The broadband and phone wasn't it 2g, there was no 3g 20 years ago was very slow iirc, so a few people could have wfh but not half the country, in the late 90s it was mainly dial up internet and those Nokia phones.

Puzzledtenant · 01/01/2021 08:05

@AldiAisleofCrap

We could have easily closed schools. So many extra lives lost because women a generation ago wanted to “have it all” and now it’s hard for many people to live on one income. Houses are now rarely affordable on one income . Far from empowering women 80’s feminists have made life much harder for single parents and made being at home with your child a luxury. It angers me that schools are open primarily for childcare.
Er, I think you'll find the CEOs/boards of most companies deciding wages, paying themselves loads and driving down the wages of the lowest paid are mainly men. Most MPs, failing to tax the rich enough to fund public workers to be paid well, are mainly men. How is not earning enough to live on one wage women's fault again?
Etulosba · 01/01/2021 08:54

How is not earning enough to live on one wage women's fault again?

It's not women's fault, but you could argue that the extra buying power of two wages led to a rapid increase in what most families could and would pay for a house. Before long, having two wages was an absolute necessity to pay a mortgage.

wowfudge · 01/01/2021 08:58

Let's not forget that fifty years ago women couldn't get a mortgage in their own name/their earnings didn't count when a couple applied for a mortgage.

UnmentionedElephantDildo · 01/01/2021 09:03

Well there’s a new way of bashing working mothers, got to hand it to you

It's really not new

Puzzledtenant · 01/01/2021 10:07

@Etulosba

How is not earning enough to live on one wage women's fault again?

It's not women's fault, but you could argue that the extra buying power of two wages led to a rapid increase in what most families could and would pay for a house. Before long, having two wages was an absolute necessity to pay a mortgage.

Granted, and there's lots that could and arguably should have been done to ease that but the previous posters argument was that it was down to feminists and women wanting to work, I'd say if anything men controlled the changes far more.
TheKeatingFive · 01/01/2021 10:10

It's really not new

That they’re responsible for people dying of Covid? (albeit the ones from 40 years ago)

You’ve heard that before? Seriously?

Puzzledtenant · 01/01/2021 10:17

@TheKeatingFive

So many extra lives lost because women a generation ago wanted to “have it all” and now it’s hard for many people to live on one income. Houses are now rarely affordable on one income

Well there’s a new way of bashing working mothers, got to hand it to you. Hmm

At least it's the generations who kicked off the trend of women going to work that are now old and having some of the higher covid death rates so at least they're getting their just desserts. (Obviously sarcasm, in case that doesn't come across. Blaming women who dared to want to have an equal life to men for deaths and illness now which is affecting them heavily is disgusting)
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