We Think These Things Were Better Back In The Day. Do You Agree?
Some things were just better back in the day. They were built to last and weren't as easily replaceable as many things are today. Let's examine some of the best things from "back in the day" that used to be way better than their modern replacements.
Toys
Back in the day, toys weren't all made of plastic and didn't break as easily. Remember some of these vintage toys? They were well-built, relatively inexpensive, and provided many more hours of fun than the toys of today. In contrast, today's toys will break with a hard stare and just aren't as engaging as those of yesteryear.
Trogain, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Kids' TV Shows
Do you remember the kids' TV shows you used to watch? We're talking Thomas & Friends (1984), Fraggle Rock (1983),Sesame Street (1969), and much more. They were engaging without being addictive and didn't bombard our children with lights, colors, and sounds that left them craving more.
Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday, Jericho Perez
Music
Without trying to sound like a grumpy old man, the music of the 1980s, 70s, and 60s was better than the music of today. It was less about ear-piercing sound and more about rhythm. Less about vocal manipulation and more about raw talent. Modern music is far too synthesized. What was your favorite song from the era before sound manipulation took over the industry?
Koh Hasebe; Distributed by Elektra Records, Wikimedia Commons
Appliances That Were Built To Last
Today, you're unlikely to find an appliance that will last you decades. This wasn't so in the 80s and 90s, which is why so many older people have homes filled with still-functioning appliances from the 90s. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Right?
GodeNehler, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The Flying Experience
Long before Emirates Air was giving the best first-class luxury experience in flying, airlines weren't all about the money and charging you exorbitantly for every bag, food item, or drink they could. Flying seemed to be more relaxing, people weren't so aggressive and there seemed to be more room on the aircraft for everyone.
Televisions
Ever wonder how that old RCA big box TV from the 1980s that's still in your parent's bedroom still works when you turn it on? Because it was built to last. Sure, the picture might not be in 4K (your eyes can't even see in 4K), and it might be 50 million inches wide, but it still works, even if there aren't 4,000 channels to choose from. "Keep it simple," as they say.
Daniel Christensen, Wikimedia Commons
The Cars Of Yesteryear
Of course, the cars of today are more high-tech with better steering, better reliability, and cheaper to run, thanks to things like EVs and hybrid technology. But there's just something about the look and feel of an older car. We're talking 1960s Ford Mustangs and 1970s Chevelles, and even the supercars from the 1980s, like the Lamborghini Miura—they all offer a better driving experience than today's cars. They're also much easier to repair!
Kroelleboelle, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Vacuums
Sure, the vacuums of the previous few decades actually required you to, you know, vacuum, rather than have a robot do it for you. But they weren't as expensive as today's stand-up vacuums and offered better crumb-crunching performance. There's a reason why your parents still have their old vacuum from the 1980s.
Tnarik Innael from London, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
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Video Games
Do you remember waiting all day to get home and play Call of Duty? Or maybe you attended the release of one of the Call of Duty games from the mid-2010s? If so, you weren't alone. While that era was great for video games, the video games of the 1990s revolutionized the industry. We played them endlessly and seemingly never got bored. Can you remember the last time you were so excited for a video game release since 2018?
patrick janicek, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Chocolate Bars
Back in the 1980s and 90s, it may surprise you to know that chocolate bars were actually made with (mostly) real chocolate. Today, they're all made from high-fructose corn syrup and chocolate substitutes. Compared to their predecessors of decades past, chocolate bars today taste like paper.
Sannse, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Fruits & Vegetables
Unfortunately, commercialism hasn't just hit the chocolate industry. Fruits and vegetables seem to have lost their edge too. Massive factory farming practices brought on by food demand has meant that the quality of fruit and veg you see in the grocery stores has decreased significantly—the days of the local farms have long disappeared.
Russell Lee, Wikimedia Commons
Customer Service At Bookstores
Remember when your favorite big-chain bookstore used to have a little reading nook? Not only have those gone the way of the Dodo, but so too has real customer service. They're not staffed by bookworms anymore. And don't even get us started on virtual, digital books versus real paper books.
Tichnor Brothers, Publisher, Wikimedia Commons
The Seasons
If you're not lucky enough somewhere where all four seasons definitely exist, we're sorry. There's something quite magical about having four definitive seasons. However, with climate change hitting us hard, we're getting weather extremes that mean winters are shorter and/or nonexistent, summers are unbearably hot, and spring seems to occur for one day, usually on a Thursday, sometime in April.
Jože Kološa, Wikimedia Commons
Meeting New People Was Easier
It was definitely easier to meet new people back in the day. Sure, it meant not using your cell phone to communicate everything, but people were generally more approachable because their heads weren't buried in their phones.
Low-Cost Entertainment
Sure, your TV didn't come with 1,000 channels and we didn't have Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, TSN, Sportsnet, and all of the sports league channels. But, our TVs weren't subscription-based and we didn't have to pay exorbitantly for cable either. Entertainment was low-cost because there were few options, but life was simpler.
Affordable Post-Secondary Education
It's no secret that student loan debt in the United States is extraordinarily high, totalling an astonishing $1.777 trillion. Since 1963, the cost of post-secondary education in the United States has increased more than 125% across all types of post-secondary schooling. Post-secondary used to be an affordable option that didn't saddle you with debt for a good chunk of your adulthood.
Pyrex Dishes
Have you ever accidentally shattered a non-Pyrex dish? Of course you have, because new glass dishes seem to crack with a hard stare. Not Pyrex. Back in the day, Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass, which is glass that's mixed with boron and silica to create an extra-hard dish that's almost unbreakable.
Internet Archive Book Images, Wikimedia Commons
Small Businesses
Back in the day, towns were filled with small businesses. Today, they've been overtaken by giant corporations that swoop in and drive competition out, killing off many, many profitable small businesses and the towns that they serve in the process. It's capitalism on steroids and it's not good, favoring cheap and accessible over high-quality, often handmade, products.
Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Photographs That Make You Remember
Gone are the days of flipping through a photo album for memories. Now, almost all of your photographic memories of the past are stored on social media or in the cloud. Sure, it's great that they're so accessible, but almost nothing is printed anymore and photo albums are now something you'll find on Facebook rather than in a box in the house.
Arcades
Very few arcades still exist. All the rage in the 1980s and 1990s, arcades were places where dozens of kids could be found on any given weekend. Now, there have been restaurants and bars with a single arcade game tucked away in the corner. If you're lucky enough to find a real arcade, you have to pay upfront for a certain number of goes on a set of games, or a time limit. No more taking all your quarters to the counter and seeing how far that would get you. And tickets being worth something? Not anymore. It's a sad, sad state of affairs.
George Hotelling, Wikimedia Commons
Customer Service
Do you remember when you could call a customer service line and talk to an actual human being? Rather than having to wait 15 minutes, after having spent the first five minutes on the phone to some automated voice giving you 40 choices to get to where you need to go. Heaven forbid you accidentally select the wrong option and have to listen to the whole spiel all over again.
brandstaetter images, Getty Images
Shared Popular Culture
We don't seem to share too much of our lives with each other anymore. Sure, there's the odd Game of Thrones moment (looking at you, Red Wedding) that encapsulates an entire nation and everyone at work or school is talking about it, but in general, there's very little by way of shared pop culture experiences. When was the last time you and your coworkers watched the exact same show at the same time the night before?
Concert Tickets Being Available And Affordable
Before there was Ticketmaster, there were affordable concert tickets and things were first come, first serve. Now, not only do you pay triple the price because of Ticketmaster's brokerage fees, you're more susceptible to scams and the chances of you getting a ticket to a concert are almost zero.
Fairfax Media Archives, Getty Images
What Do You Miss The Most About The Olden Days?
Do you agree with our list of things that were better "back in the day"? What else have we missed? Let us know what you're nostalgic for in the comments!
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