Life 50 years ago.. for better or worse

[frugal-one]

I was 13 back then. Housework was a f.t. job. We had no dryer so hung clothes in basement in Wi in the winter. It took my Mom an entire day to iron. You had to iron the sheets because the material was so wrinkled it would be uncomfortable to sleep on it. I remember when my mom went back to work and we got a dryer and then a dishwasher. You took really good care of things because you couldn't afford to replace because the cost was so high.

If you live in the north.... as we do... you still put your clothes in the basement to dry! We don't dry clothes many clothes all the way and then hang the rest to dry.

[Tybee]

I used to hang clothes in the basement to dry but I gave in and use my dryer. I see the point, but still it hurts to go up and down the stairs and it would take multiple trips to do the wash, so I just use the dryer, which is out in the garage.

[pinkytoe]

I miss some things and not others. I know my life as a child and teen was a whole lot simpler and less stressful (in different ways) than it is for today's kids. In the hood I grew up in, I was the only kid with a single parent. Moms were home. We walked to school (about six blocks) which just doesn't happen much now. There was a lot more creative play since we didn't have gadgets. I recall spending hours with Barbie dolls - inventing clothes with scraps of fabrics. Or hours spent drawing. Roaming outside with neighborhood friends. Everyone was about the same economic class except for the Mexicans who had their own hoods nearby. Looking back, I got caught between the time of scripted roles (someday my prince will come) and liberation movements of the 60s. I guess there is much more awareness of bigotry and injustices now but somehow our culture seems to be growing more coarse and violent as time goes by.

[Teacher Terry]

I have a small drying rack for the few things that do not go in the dryer. No way would I give up using my clothes dryer. Once my Mom go one she never looked back)

[LDAHL]

Imagine going back to 1968 and saying something like “Do you think the #MeToo movement jumped the shark with the Aziz Ansari kerfuffle?”

[ToomuchStuff]

Imagine going back to 1968 and saying something like “Do you think the #MeToo movement jumped the shark with the Aziz Ansari kerfuffle?”

You would get a look and possibly be escorted off for a mental evaluation. No idea what hash tags are, or any clue about a Happy days reference, and wonder what countries news you were talking about with that name.

[oldhat]

Imagine going back to 1968 and saying something like “Do you think the #MeToo movement jumped the shark with the Aziz Ansari kerfuffle?”

I only just heard about this absurd business, after stumbling across an article about it.

Flanagan gets it about right. If you're interested in reading a bunch of philosophical claptrap about the same incident (and from the same magazine), try this.

A cheap con man is in the White House, and a celebrity is being pilloried for assuming he'd have sex with a groupie who voluntarily took off her clothes in his apartment. We truly live in bizzaro world.

[thomasd]

50 years ago there were only around 2.5 billion people in the world - I guess from this point it must have been a bit better. Everyone who has visited major European capitals in summer will know what I mean, when I say way too many people in the world now!

[Teacher Terry]

We always go to Europe in the off season for that reason)

[Summer]

Nice, life was much simple back then, and much nicer too as I recall.