What was life like in the 1980's?

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^ That was the exception, not the rule.

A flat screen was something you put on your window to keep the flies out.

Everything we wore was neon splashed or pastel colored.

Adults said video games were a waste of time and would rot our brains (some things never change)

Some even people thought the Sony Walkman would make everyone antisocial because they'd be too busy listening to their *gasp* music!

It was still perfectly acceptable for parents to give syrup of ipecac to a child who had ingested something poisonous.

Phones, TV sets, and most household appliances were actually built to last more than a few years.

Photo cameras were HUGE. I still remember the Polaroid camera my parents once had where you could see the photo slowly develop after it was taken. It must have weighed 10 pounds. The camera, I mean.

When we got our first VCR it came with a remote attached with a cord and it would make all kinds of weird grinding and clicking sounds.

You didn't have to use self-service at the gas station, there were actually people who would do it for you.

It depends on the state. I had an Internet girlfriend once who lived in Long Island and didn't even know how to pump her own gas.

I heard one state recently made self-service legal, and there was a bit of a commotion over it. Was it Oregon?

Oregon it was but it is not widespread so far. anyways, PG-13 got its start at the suggestion of producer Steven Spielberg, in 1984. a side-node, Spielberg was doing his own voluntary for of pg-13 as early as 1975, with his movie "jaws" where he persuaded the CARA of MPAA to add a note to its PG rating, saying "may be too intense for pre-teenagers."

Apparently pumping your own gas and paying first are very divisive issues in the U.S. When I was a kid, most gas stations in my state still had full serve and they would pump you gas, check your tire pressure, check your oil, and clean your windshield. Then it was reduced to pumping the gas and cleaning the windshield. These days, at most gas stations in my area, full serve has disappeared completely. All of the gas stations in my area are pay first...I don't recall if they were ever pump first during my lifetime. I recall in one state a few years back, when gas prices started rising, they switched from pump first to pay first and it caused a big uproar. I thought that was silly because for most of the goods people buy, they pay first. Why should gasoline be any different?

I do know in some states it's illegal to pump your own gas.

Yes, it was. The reasons given for the outrage were quite humorous and probably in jest, with the exception of those concerned about being attacked by transients.

Never seen anyone pump gas for a customer at a station. Here, you either did it yourself - or you never get out of the gas station.

Credit card payment systems became more common in the 90s, but in the 80s i remember dad going in to the station to pay for gas, having to stand in line with other people buying soda, crisps and newspapers.

Felt like forever every time.

I have a vague recollection of my mom going to full-service stations when I was little, but I'm not sure. We do have a lot of stations with "SELF SERVICE" signs, but I don't think I've seen any that weren't.

I can understand their reasoning for wanting you to pay first, because it makes it much harder to steal gas, but it's annoying for me. I only pay with cash, so I have to guess how much gas I might need, and then pre-pay and hope that I didn't over-estimate. I know my tank is 13 gallons, so $30 into an empty tank is usually fine, but my indicator is kind of busted, so I get nervous and I've just been putting in $25 instead, since my gas station started enforcing "pay first". </rant>

It seems to be required for people to have their gas pumped in New Jersey by a gas station attendant. I heard it was for "insurance reasons" or something like that.

Almost all New York State gas stations are "self-serve."

People were at least as cynical in the 1980s as they are in the 2010s. They don't call it the "Me Decade" for nothing. See the movie "Wall Street," from 1987. It brings this cynicism to focus.

Saying this, it does seem like people are nostalgic for the times when they were children. I didn't have such a great childhood---but I still have fond memories of the 1960s, and some of the 1970s (even though Watergate ended the "idealism" of the 1960s-1970s).

I am, it was the time when family held together and didn't fight, we met with our peers for large family sized events like birthdays and Christmas, having a large pile of presents under the tree, and me hoping that everyone of them were for me. We used to visit relatives far away and drive for hours, the grownups talking and having a good time with wine and food, us kids playing around with toys or computers (like C64s).

I had a great childhood, it was overly protective living in a socialist democracy, looking back at it it feels a bit scary, almost communist, but we did have democracy with free elections and could voice our opinions. It felt like living in a very comfortable closet while gasping for fresh air.

Later on i found out about how "socialist" we really were, Olof Palme, the great social democrat leader as he was perceived to be by many who liked waving a red flag around, was secretly extremely USA friendly and had worked in the intelligence community. There were even contingency plans for the Swedish government to continue to operate from Washington in the event of a war. We were socialists, yes, but we were not idiots who saw Soviet (Russia) as a peaceful force of salvation.

People were much more positive about the economy and America in the 80’s then they are today. Technology was considered new and exciting not ubiquitous and invasive.

Like today there was fear of a trigger happy president vaporizing the world. A nuclear freeze demonstration in New York drew 1 million people way bigger then any anti vietnam war demonstration and possibly with the exception of the womens march the largest political demonstration in US history. Despite the 80s image as YUPPIE and you had Live Aid, Farm Aid, Hands Across America demos. Dispite the image of the 80s as a backlash against the “perversion” of the prevoius two decades “gender bending” pop acts topped the charts.

Sure, there were things like Live-Aid, Band-Aid, etc. These sort of things happen in the 2010's, too.

Sure, there began to be more toleration of alternative sexuality. One could talk about homosexuality at the dinner table in the 1980s, but not in the 1970s.

Sure, the United States had a much better image amongst ourselves, and internationally, in the 1980s.

Perhaps, I feel the 1980s were cynical because the 1970s were not so cynical.

However, I see many parallels between what people said then, and what people say now as pertains the view of their futures, and their view of other people.

The Movie list forgot War Games I think. Also the TV show Max Headroom is considered an 80s icon.

There were still places where you pumped gas, then paid, even around 2000.

This happened on an episode of COPS when somebody pumped, then didn’t pay.

peoples still ordered stuff from paper catalogs back then.

I graduated high school in ‘89. I lived in a really small town an hour outside of Philly that was its own universe in many ways. I remember:

We could tune in three FM radio stations - thankfully one was pretty good, because the other two were all Madonna and Duran Duran all the time.

We didn’t have a remote for the TV until I was in high school. Dad would yell out for one of us kids to come stand next to the set and push the twelve channel buttons one at a time until he picked a show.

The local public channel showed Doctor Who late, late Saturday nights. David Tennant is my Doctor, but I have fond memories of watching Tom Baker with my brother.

The only fast food chain restaurants in the area were the downtown Pizza Hut, and the McDs two towns over.

There were multiple bookstores in the mall, and no coffee shops. Only old men drank coffee.

Lord of the Rings was so obscure, you had to be introduced to the series by another fan. Same with Dune.

Fashion trends were regimental for girls, we all had to have the same poufy hair with the claw bangs and a scrungie or banana clip.

Politics... sigh. I still have my Dukakis for pres sign packed away somewhere in my garage. The left side of the spectrum kind of went underground during the Reagan years. It was definitely not widely socially acceptable to be a liberal, or to follow the news in any detail (especially if you’re a girl!)

The atmosphere was weird. Society as a whole seemed so cofident and optimistic and relentlessly happy, while at the same time we were fully aware because of local industry we were a second-strike nuclear target. All of the public buildings including schools contained fallout shelters.