What Was Life Really Like in 1950's America?

lol the eighties seemed good in comparison with today.
cellphones were the size of a brick.
Madonna was singing about teen pregancy. AIDS was rampant.
Everyone was scared the world was gonna burn up or blow up.
hmm not much different just the hair was bigger. There was aerobics/jazzercise but now we have Zumba.

Cosby show was on tv but off tv Bill Cosby was not really the family man you thought he was.
Neither was Michael Jackson.

of course being a child of the 80s you never thought about such things really as long as you had food in your belly and a roof over your head it didnt matter if the muppet show didnt reflect reality.

Oh those memories!

remembering on my years as a pre-teen, will stop here, = they were in-sufferable', and yet
He must have had me always in His remembering , else, I wouldn't be here right now,
speaking to you all...

I think that instead of parents hiding from kids (children were seen and not heard), now kids hide from parents, self isolating in their rooms. I grew up in the 70's and there was a LOT of "plastic" that went on. I had no idea that all that I was experiencing (and not experiencing) at home was not loving until I was in high school. Even my grandma didn't want to admit that anyone was in pain, or had a bad day. I didn't see failure modeled. There wasn't acceptance of a learning process, growing was not cherished.
These days there is still fake. The younger generation hides behind anorexic bodies, going with the crowd, trying to fake 'fine'... just the same as we did in the past. It seems like it still isn't generally accepted to share true feelings that aren't happy or positive. Many people are uncomfortable with grief and sadness. Anger seems more acceptable though even though it has roots in grief and loss.
Wow, this is an amazing thread. Still alive after all this time!

same here. I always was aware of GOD's presence and HIS hand on my life. I should be dead at least 4 times over that I know of, maybe more. HIS hand was moving me towards my wife of almost 50 years. Seriously, GOD only knows for sure what I'd have been without her.
But I do have an idea and it ain't pretty. I'm tired of all the uglyness in this world

AMEN, Old...
we both have much in common with your witness!!!

gotcha

Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember, not the ones you were told about. Ratings at the bottom.

1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Chewable Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with table side juke boxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive-6933)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&H Green Stamps
16. Burma-Shave signs
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19 Blue flashbulb
20. Packard's
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!

"I might be older than dirt but those memories are the best part of my life...
believe it!

( yes, this too happened )

And people wonder why those our age didn't have weight problems!

I saw this ad on tv about a thing which you pedal while you are staring at a computer screen. a lady was was trying to flog it off to people (showing closeup of her feet in high heels shoes pedalling furiously) who can afford such gadgets. apparently its very good for people trying to lose weight.
I thought lady, you in the wrong line of work. How about working a real job where you on your feet all day.

note to self...tv gives you are warped version of reality.

some of those 50s things are collectors items now. People pay a lot of money for them.
I dont know if there are any collectors things from the 80s and beyond as its all recycled or broken and beyond repair now things arent made to last.

1950s american memoir.,,Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson.

thing is you might not like Bill Bryson much after you read it as he does ramble on and on about how priveliged he was.

The other book you could read is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, although am warning you not if you are prone to depression.

I didn't get to be a teen in the 50's &60's and feel like I have been cheated.

I love the music,full of love,romance and fun.

I love the clothes, full poodle skirts,saddleoxfords,pencil skirts and sweaters.

Seemed as if life was simpler,families ate together,and went to church as a whole.

Kids were active outside jumping rope,playing ball,hanging out at the beach just having fun.

Time was the rules were meant to be obeyed not broken.

DooWop was smooth and music was clear.

😭😭😭😭 How I truly feel being born in my time!

it was after the war...evrything seemed bright and shiny and new if you were young at the time it would have been like being in a candy store. Although being a child in general in peace time is fun...whoever wasnt having fun in their childhood probably was either deprived or being seriously abused.

for a couple of years after the second world war people thought it would end all wars, but actually that wasnt the case. People call that generation the baby boomers and certainly they are a priveliged cohort.
you think about the previous or even next generation what losses they had with schooling disrupted and no benefits.

the shame is that this baby boom generation dont really understand what life is like for the next generation who cant count on everything that theyve grown up with or taken for granted. But then they had this thing where you sprayed DDT on everything which was thought to be good till years later people start dying of cancer and other strange illnesses. DDT and other herbicides were the leftover chemicals used in the holocaust.

That is another version of what i always say, open and honest communication.