A lot has changed since the 1970s. If you took a 20-year-old from 2024 and put them in a time machine back to 1974, they’d have a hard time figuring out how to use a telephone, get a good picture on the television set with rabbit ears, or buy tickets for the Pink Floyd or Jackson 5 concert.
They’d also probably be appalled by the number of people who smoke, the massive amount of litter on the streets, and the general lack of concern for the safety of children. In certain cities, they’d also be blown away by the amount of smog in the air.
A Reddit user directing a production that takes place in the '70s wanted to learn what life was like in the “Me Decade,” so they asked the AkkReddit forum for “some behaviors from that time that have disappeared,” and he received over 2,400 responses.
Some were bittersweet remembrances of a carefree and unsupervised childhood. At the same time, others recalled a time when children were often the targets of abuse and subject to many traumatic experiences that they were discouraged from speaking about.
We looked at the thread and chose the 17 best responses to behaviors from the ‘70s that “have disappeared.”
1. Playing with the phone cord
"Fidgeting with the long coiled cord while talking on the phone—like twirling your finger into the coil."
"We had a long cord that you could swing like a jump rope."
"Answering every phone call with some variation of '<last name> residence, <first name> speaking.'"
2. Smelling cigarette smoke
"Smoking everywhere all the time."
"I remember the teachers lounge in my grammar school oozing smoke."
"4 hour drives to see Nannie, all windows closed, both mom and dad smoking. Think of it, three 3 small kids getting poisioned from the 2nd hand smoke, pleading to stop or open the window and Dad saying 'get used to it, the world smokes' andMom saying the cracked open wi dow was 'too noisy'. Breathing through our coat sleeves with the arms opening under their car seats, where the fresh air came out. Four hours of constant nausea and illness that lingerd for 30 min after."
3. Soda cans for candy
"Returning soda bottles to the store and getting enough money back to buy a candy bar."
"Yes, having work and save up for the candy bar or pack of gum. Or being lucky enough to find a penny for the gum ball machine outside the grocery store. "
4. Clothes lasted forever
"The lengths everyone went to make things last, all our clothes were patched or sewn up and handed down. New clothes shopping was maybe once a year. Or whenever the Sears catalog came out."
5. Payphones
"Checking the change slot in the phone booths in case people forgot their coins. I also remember when phone calls were a dime!"
6. Calling the Time Lady
"367-1234. At the time the time will be 11:22 and 20 seconds — beep”
7. Playing outside all day
"When being sent outside to play meant you were given a radius to stay in like 'our neighboorhood,' and a time to be home was 'when the street lights come on.'"
8. TV was appointment viewing
"Reading TV Guide for program times."
"There was no way to record a show until VCRs came came out, so you watched a show when it was scheduled to be broadcast, and missed it if you didn’t turn it on at the time it started. So, families had to negotiate if there was more than one show on that people wanted to watch. Prime time was a big deal because that was when the three networks played their top shows."
9. Rabbit ears
"Wrapping tin foil squares on 'rabbit ear' antennas."
"When the picture got fuzzy, slapping the side of the TV set to correct the picture."
10. The phone book had many uses
"That big phone book was the booster seat for the youngest kid at the table."
11. CB radios
"References the cb radio culture during normal conversations. Everyone understood."
"Ten four"
"Breaker, breaker"
"You got that right, good buddy."
12. Long distance was pricey
"Making local calls vs long distance calls. Had to keep calls short to relatives because they were long distance. Making collect calls."
"Right, and you might add the cost of long distance calls was X amount per minute. Also, moving into a new place required a call to the telephone company to have a phone installed in various rooms and you had to preorder the types and colors."
"If you wanted to make an overseas call, you had to call the international operator at least a couple of hours before the call to schedule it."
13. Fake collect calls
"Making fake collect calls to your parents to come pick you up. 'You have received a collect call from … ‘we’re done and out front!’… do you wish to accept the call? Nope. Already got the message."
14. Before scrolling, we read
"Reading. Reading the newspaper. Reading the cereal boxes at breakfast. Reading on the toilet. Doing crosswords and word games. Before phones, you had to engage more with what was around."
"If there was no Reader’s Digest in the bathroom, you had to read the shampoo ingredients. Sodium laurel sulfate, etc."
15. The bank line
"When Friday rolled around, and you needed money for the weekend, you went to the bank, stood in line and made a withdrawal."
"We took our checks to the bank on Friday to be cashed, some for the checking account and some for spending cause everything was paid for with cash."
16. Unsafe seating in trucks
"No seatbelts, but drivers could get in trouble if car was overfilled, so a mom would yell 'duck' if she saw a cop. This would be a Volkswagen Bug with 7-8 kids piled up going to the beach or park. Totally normal to pile kids in the bed of a pickup truck - sometimes with folding chairs. Also common to grab the back of a car while you were skateboarding (there was a word for this I don't remember)."
17. Staring at the sky
"Laying down in the grass and looking at the sky. Leisure time died when portable entertainment became a thing, particularly nobile phones. The level of disconnection that's required to just stare at clouds or stars (and be happy doing it) is sorely missing nowadays. At least I miss it."
Students taking a STEM field tripPhoto courtesy of UScellular
Kids learning about cell towers from Cheryl Dennard, Senior Manager of Core Services Engineering at UScellularPhoto courtesy of UScellular
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