What did people do in the 1970s, before the internet?

[stickygirl]

I've always been interested in life before the internet. I've read that people drank cloudy beer, polished their shoes and kept quiet on Sundays. Did my Dad have a chopper bicycle, turned up jeans and throws stones at steam trains with his chums? I don't how people thrived in the Cold War years, or how people died in coal mines or unwanted babies got 'put up for adoption'. Tell us about the 1970s - what did you do in your leisure time... did you have any?


Road-bowling 1978 Video link
In a small village in County Tyrone near the County Armagh border - to watch a traditional road bowling contest. Road Bowling is an ancient sport, where contestants take turns to hurl an iron ball (called a bullet) along country roads. The bowler who reaches the end of the course in the fewest throws is the victor. Spectators line the route, and need to keep a close eye on the action in order to stay clear of the hurtling iron "bullets".

 

[stickygirl]

Knur and Spell Day
features Yorkshire men shouting at each other then hitting a small ball in a field

 

[Sixfoot4again]

Threw stones at the telegraph (phone) wires to make a ping sound interrupting the conversation.
Cycled all day with no money, food, water or helmet.

 

[Pabiporffor]

I don't think it's anything to joke about. Thousands suffered terribly because of the attitudes of the era. Here's a link to how babies were chucked into mass graves for the crime of being born out of wedlock
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwqnwrkd1go

As for mining, the Aberfan disaster of 66 where a school was wiped out is well documented. The 60s and 70s were terrible times, arguably the 80s little better. We should all be grateful to be living in more enlightened times.

 

[Sixfoot4again]

Traded sexual knowledge, or more likely mythology, in the woods, with 'demonstrations'....

 

[OralAllOver]

A lor of voyeurism/peeping tom stuff

 

[EmmAgain]

My grandmother was a teenager in the 70s. She always said that she read a lot, used the library to look stuff up, and sneaked off to discos behind her parents’ backs. She learned to drive stick and, when she graduated high school in 1975-ish, she basically hung out til she was married. (This was Mexico after all!)

I’d love to experience every single era! That’s my greatest fantasy.

 

[stickygirl]

I don't think it's anything to joke about. Thousands suffered terribly because of the attitudes of the era. Here's a link to how babies were chucked into mass graves for the crime of being born out of wedlock
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwqnwrkd1go

As for mining, the Aberfan disaster of 66 where a school was wiped out is well documented. The 60s and 70s were terrible times, arguably the 80s little better. We should all be grateful to be living in more enlightened times.

I wouldn't joke about it and yes, life appeared to be cheap. Abuse, rape, beatings - all met with a shrug. At least the antibiotics worked.

 

[pace_purr]

We went to the pub, dances or friends places we danced,talked and got to know people, unlike today we didn’t believe that men could be women and feelings weren’t offended by anything and everything. We didn’t hate someone who didn’t vote the same way we did and we could disagree with someone and still be friends. All in all it was a better and simpler life tougher in some ways but with friends and family we still enjoyed it.

 

[Paradox]

I wouldn't joke about it and yes, life appeared to be cheap. Abuse, rape, beatings - all met with a shrug. At least the antibiotics worked.

Did horrible things happen? Of course, just as they have throughout time up to an including today. Was it common? Of course not. Every era has positives and negatives and every generation thinks they are so much wiser and enlightened than those who came before.

I reached adulthood in 1970. The Vietnam war was in full swing. Race relations in the U.S. were pretty terrible. Abortion wasn't legal, but no one was throwing babies into mass graves. We had fun with our friends. I had a car with a huge V8 engine that got about 6 miles to the gallon of gas that cost me about 35 cents a gallon, and I enjoyed drag racing on country roads. Large groups of us would gather in an empty parking lot after dark to talk, listen to music, drink beer, and flirt with each other. We didn't have LBGTQ +, we had gay and they were all still in the closet, and I did not know anyone who admitted to it.

See, good and bad. Just like today but different. Would I want to go back to that time? No, but we've got plenty of shit going on in our current time.

 

[cadman7777]

I don't think it's anything to joke about. Thousands suffered terribly because of the attitudes of the era. Here's a link to how babies were chucked into mass graves for the crime of being born out of wedlock
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwqnwrkd1go

As for mining, the Aberfan disaster of 66 where a school was wiped out is well documented. The 60s and 70s were terrible times, arguably the 80s little better. We should all be grateful to be living in more enlightened times.

I'm sure they were terrible in some places but not everywhere.....heck there are places today that are terrible too........the 70's were a great time for some

 

[cadman7777]

I was a disco guy in the 70's and we certainly didn't wear condoms. I still love most all the 70's music

 

[FataMorgana]

I don't think it's anything to joke about. Thousands suffered terribly because of the attitudes of the era. Here's a link to how babies were chucked into mass graves for the crime of being born out of wedlock
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwqnwrkd1go

As for mining, the Aberfan disaster of 66 where a school was wiped out is well documented. The 60s and 70s were terrible times, arguably the 80s little better. We should all be grateful to be living in more enlightened times.

Yeah but flares?

 

[ILikeIt]

We went to the pub, dances or friends places we danced,talked and got to know people, unlike today we didn’t believe that men could be women and feelings weren’t offended by anything and everything. We didn’t hate someone who didn’t vote the same way we did and we could disagree with someone and still be friends. All in all it was a better and simpler life tougher in some ways but with friends and family we still enjoyed it.

"we didn’t believe that men could be women", but they were always there they just had to stay in hiding.

 

[gtnlynn]

I spent a lot of free time outside, fishing, hiking, etc. I read a lot when inside. For communication, I called people or wrote letters. During four years of college and one year of grad school, my girlfriend and I wrote letters to each other every day during the school year.

 

[richfun]

Cricket or football in the park. Porn wise, magazines like Mayfair, Penthouse, Knave, I think it was called. Also the odd steamy book, well thumbed !

 

[stickygirl]

Yeah but flares?

Strange... when I hear the word flares, I think of the flame on top of refineries!

 

[Shaglus_Ziegler]

I've always been interested in life before the internet. I've read that people drank cloudy beer, polished their shoes and kept quiet on Sundays. Did my Dad have a chopper bicycle, turned up jeans and throws stones at steam trains with his chums? I don't how people thrived in the Cold War years, or how people died in coal mines or unwanted babies got 'put up for adoption'. Tell us about the 1970s - what did you do in your leisure time... did you have any?


Road-bowling 1978 Video link
In a small village in County Tyrone near the County Armagh border - to watch a traditional road bowling contest. Road Bowling is an ancient sport, where contestants take turns to hurl an iron ball (called a bullet) along country roads. The bowler who reaches the end of the course in the fewest throws is the victor. Spectators line the route, and need to keep a close eye on the action in order to stay clear of the hurtling iron "bullets".

Lived life??

 

[stickygirl]

Lived life??

Cool dude. You danced to the Beatles and Beach Boys, dreamed of nuclear annihilation and shagged like bunnies because no hiv and antibiotics still worked. You even vaccinated kids for measles and mumps! Not all bad.

 

[AG31]

I wouldn't joke about it and yes, life appeared to be cheap. Abuse, rape, beatings - all met with a shrug. At least the antibiotics worked.

Where in the world did you get that picture of life before the internet????? It's not accurate.

 

[stickygirl]

Where in the world did you get that picture of life before the internet????? It's not accurate.

The bloke up there ^^
I don’t mean god either.
Pleased to hear it wasn’t that bad but what about mullets? I mean jeez

 

[billrokra]

I was a kid in a working-class area in England in the 70s. You read books, bought comics, played with your mates in the street - football, rounders, usually - until it got dark, built dens, climbed trees, went to the sweet shop. My older siblings listened to vinyl records or cassettes. Saturday morning television was a thing because that when you got all of the TV programmes intended for kids. Sundays were dead - everywhere closed and TV was boring stuff for adults. Video recorders only really became widespread at the end of the 1970s, so if something was on TV and you missed it, that was it - there was just no mechanism for seeing it again, which meant certain programmes were the highlights of the week, like Doctor Who and Top of the Pops.

Obviously the 70s were an entire decade which changed as it progressed, and experiences were different, as they are now, depending on your individual circumstances.

 

[stickygirl]

I was a kid in a working-class area in England in the 70s. You read books, bought comics, played with your mates in the street - football, rounders, usually - until it got dark, built dens, climbed trees, went to the sweet shop. My older siblings listened to vinyl records or cassettes. Saturday morning television was a thing because that when you got all of the TV programmes intended for kids. Sundays were dead - everywhere closed and TV was boring stuff for adults. Video recorders only really became widespread at the end of the 1970s, so if something was on TV and you missed it, that was it - there was just no mechanism for seeing it again, which meant certain programmes were the highlights of the week, like Doctor Who and Top of the Pops.

Obviously the 70s were an entire decade which changed as it progressed, and experiences were different, as they are now, depending on your individual circumstances.

That’s more like it vinyl, shops closed on Sunday and DrWho.

 

[Bathtubbill]

I've always been interested in life before the internet. I've read that people drank cloudy beer, polished their shoes and kept quiet on Sundays. Did my Dad have a chopper bicycle, turned up jeans and throws stones at steam trains with his chums? I don't how people thrived in the Cold War years, or how people died in coal mines or unwanted babies got 'put up for adoption'. Tell us about the 1970s - what did you do in your leisure time... did you have any?


Road-bowling 1978 Video link
In a small village in County Tyrone near the County Armagh border - to watch a traditional road bowling contest. Road Bowling is an ancient sport, where contestants take turns to hurl an iron ball (called a bullet) along country roads. The bowler who reaches the end of the course in the fewest throws is the victor. Spectators line the route, and need to keep a close eye on the action in order to stay clear of the hurtling iron "bullets".

People still playing bullets today, lots of gambling on it

 

[SigmaJay]

For me as a kid in the 1980s:
Played in video arcades and Atari gaming consoles at home. Messed around on computers: TRS80, 8088 PC, Commodore 64.
Hung out at the mall. Watched movies at the cinema.
Listened to music on my stereo, radio and Walkman.
Rented VHS videos, broadcast & cable television and watched them with friends.
Rode our BMX style bikes all over the place.
Hung out with other neighbor kids (boys and girls).
Worked paper route & yard work.
With my work money I built and flew RC airplanes.
I dabbled in Dungeons and Dragons, played Little League baseball & occasionally other athletic type games with neighbors.