What was life like in the 1970's and earlier?

[taro]

I know that they didn't had a lot of technology back then so, they go out a lot. What happens if you don't have a job and didn't have money to go to places? or if you're anti-social?

I thought the majority of people back then was generally more prettier. They look like they had a natural overall tan and were so fit!! Their skin was so glowy and radiant. The women's hairstyle was like a doll. Also, they didn't seem to age so bad despite the fact that they go out in the sun a lot. (This is just based on movies I've seen.)

BQ: Was there a lot of beauty products to get their skin nice? I want to get my skin nice like theirs.
early as 1950's, I meant.

[Will]

Skin, make up. Just cause a lot of people have cells and computer, doesn't mean you need them too. It's a big expense. with hard work, o will be able to buy that crap.

[Happy Hiram]

When I was young (the early 60's) we thought the 50's were like the Victorian era, but the 50's were actually very radical compared to what came before. There was an arc towards liberty and freedom that felt alternately like a fresh breeze or like the end of civilization. Just as today people thought boy bands were stupid and pop stars and celebrities were talentless fools corrupting the young.

The seventies were a very anxious time, like being in a serious war, because nobody knew where society was going. When the eighties hit and everything went back to the 1950's it was devastating to anyone who supported women, racial equality or free expression in life. The Cold War was not the shadow hanging over folks that it was in the 1940's and 50's but for most people under 30, Reagan's election was like fascism taking over.

When I was a paperboy in 1970, I had about twelve customers who were widows or spinsters and who seemed terribly terribly old (like what you now think is 80.) In retrospect, they were 30 or 35, but what is now 30 was then 22, what people are like now at 50 was then at 30 what is now 70 was then 45.

People look so healthy then because they never ate fast food and because they were YOUNG (at least the ones that were photographed.)

People hardly ever went out to eat. Dining out and fast food boomed in the eighties. People knew how to cook. Poor people ate vegetables and less meat, so they were probably healthier.

Old people were poor, and sometimes ate cat food to get a little protein. Today 80% of the wealth belongs to people over 65. Back then life expectancy was only 70. Reagan was remarkable for being ALIVE when he ran for president. Now he would be considered short lived.

Clothes in the sixties tended towards black and white. Regular folks did not start wearing colors until the seventies. Then the colors and styles were horribly tacky and out of control, just like the behavior and society was. Life seems so drab since that era ended.

The beehive hairdos and such went out in the mid-sixties. By 1965 only old ladies had that kind of hair. In the seventies the short short women's hair came into fashion.

[Browneyedgirl]

First off, if you want nice skin - don't smoke, use sunscreen, moisturize day and night. I have friends who are my age and look, seriously, 20 years older and they are all smokers. Destroys your skin like nothing else. Also, people will debate this, but we had fewer holes in the ozone back then; so even though we were out in the sun frequently, it wasn't as harmful.

With each decade you go back from the 70's, you had fewer working mothers, more families sitting down to dinner together. School lunches were REAL food, no soft drinks, not a bunch of crap. Eating out was a rare thing. So many kids today grow up eating fast food or microwave meals full of chemicals at least once a day. In my neighborhood, most of the mothers were stay-at-home moms. My mom was home when I got home from school, and yes - she usually had some warm cookies and milk. I know that sounds hokey, but it was really pretty nice. She was there to take care of me when I was out sick. I'm a single parent and I miss not being able to do those things for my kids that my mom did for me.

No cell phones, no computers, no remotes for the tv. We had 3 channels and the tv went off at like 2am, playing the National Anthem, then nothing but white noise until the morning shows. TV had a lot less violence and profanity. We didn't have parental controls for the tv - it wasn't necessary. Kids said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in school. If you had a paper to write for class, you had to look stuff up in the Encyclopedia (if your family could afford the set) or go to the library. No last minute, "I'll get on the internet and copy a bit from this website and that one", you actually had to research and handwrite. If you were lucky, your folks might have a typewriter which made it a little faster, lol.

We were always outside playing, no video games or DVD's inside. If we got thirsty, we drank from the garden hose, no bottled water. No school shootings. Kids could play outside for the whole day and parents didn't worry about pedophiles in vans scooping them up, although I'm sure they were around, just not as plentiful as today.

If you were a kid in a public place and you were being rude or disruptive, other adults thought nothing about reminding you to behave. Today, that would get you a lawsuit. I think kids today have a much harder life, not easier. There are so many pressures on them, too many adult things available to very young children - in public, on computers, on tv. It's nice that women have more choices today, but I think we have paid a terrible price for it. I'm not saying the women need to stay home with the kids, but someone does. We've reared a generation of kids who are rearing themselves and no child is that smart. I miss those days and am sorry that I can only tell my kids stories about them. They will never be able to experience the innocence of that time I am so grateful to have had.

[Dandelion Perfect]

You are basing your observations on movies. No one ages in movies. Beautiful people are what sells. of course you won't see regular folks in movies.

[Roxanne]

Makeup like foundation is not good for the skin. Just cleanse your skin, light moisturizer daily and that's it. Less is better and pays off in the late years.

[Kathy Miller]

I was born in 1951. My world was as big as a few houses down in either direction. We didn't listen to the radio and got our first black and white television when I was five. That was a very bad day. It brought the family apart. I could not concentrate on watching it, I called it the dumby box. I wish I had cut the cord on the thing. They would sit in front of it like nothing else existed. And the news would come on all about people getting killed and such, same as now probably. I was real naive. What someone didn't tell me I didn't know. I might of cared more for my aunts and uncles if they had told me they were my fathers and mothers brothers and sisters. When I was 6 they got us out of school early to see the baby my mother had. I just stood in front of the crib wondering what was the big deal. I mean our baby dolls didn't grow up to be children, how was I supposed to know that that baby would be my little sister? I think she still hates me for that look! I thought that when a woman was pregnant she swallowed a watermelon seed. lol
I started reading books when I was young. By the time I was 13 I had read every book in the children's section of our public library. I read about other people's lives and wondered if I would ever have one of my own. When I was 17 it was the height of the hippie era. I dropped out, tuned in and turned on. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, the other being my NDE. It was great to be a part of something so totally awesome. In 1970 I traveled with my car through 38 states to see the country. I slept in the car and cooked out. I did it on $360.00, gas and all. I wanted to see the country and meet the people. I talked to all kinds of people, all of them wonderful. Me and my first husband could work any minimum wage jobs and have plenty. We could even take a few months off every year to travel. But most places we went we didn't need money. We used to go hiking in the woods a lot, walk around the lakes and find really neat places to see like Watkins Glen. We went to the caverns, Carlsbad caverns has got to top the list. But mostly we stayed home, got stoned and listened to music with anyone that wanted to come over. When the movement died then it became difficult to have friends. And prices got higher and higher to the point now that your lucky if you have a place to stay, heat and some food. I don't know what people have to look forward to these days, except bring broke. I still don't watch television nor listen to the news. I do though, watch TV series and movies that are commercial free. I can't stand the subliminal for one. And when the government decided to help people get those boxes to watch TV, it sounds funky to me. Must be something in it for them, why would they care? I still have not aged. It's all in your head. People get old and sick and die because they think they have to.

[Jesere]

You can't believe movies

[Shih Tzu]

Please don't base your reality on movies and media. These things misrepresent life. People were the same then as they are now. In the 70s, if you wanted a job, there were plenty. The economy was booming. There was little technology so you had to go out if you wanted to interact. It was a highly social time. Life was good. Not all this creepy electronic stuff. BQ: No, there were actually very few beauty products; just the basic things. I think people looked better because they were outside more.