Question:
How did people back in the 80's do everyday stuff without technology?
?
2020-04-17 20:47:10 UTC
How did people back then work or do school work without internet? How did they pay their bills? How did they know which restaurant was the best without reading reviews etc? It would be interesting to hear from people who were alive back then. Your lives must be so much easier now compared to back then.  
75 answers:
lover
2020-04-21 23:01:38 UTC
excellent Times

listening to the radio

watching TV

attending horse racing

footbal match

talk to your neighbor

drink a cup of tea, maybe beer

fire up the grill

very exciting you can try

you are bored now
keerok
2020-04-19 12:06:43 UTC
Work? We went to wherever work was and did our thing there. We actually did more and achieved more than what guys do nowadays.



Study? Listen to teachers and read books. Whatever they do now is farce.



Bills? The places of work where those bills come from? We go there and pay them. It's a social visit. The chit-chat is sometimes worth the while.



Restaurants? I don't know why you have to know which is the best. You just go there and eat. If you like it, go back. If not, go elsewhere. Is there a contest?



Those who were ALREADY alive way back then have it so much easier nowadays because you guys stick your faces to your LCD screens while we get to enjoy everything the same old way we did way back then. 



We didn't change. You just insist you do it better. Since we're that old and the issue doesn't matter, no arguments.
2020-04-19 04:17:25 UTC
We managed to do all those things you mentioned. Paid bills by mail. Studied our textbooks to do the homework. I remember reading a lot. After the Internet came along I stopped reading books. I used to live in books. I learned a lot that way and developed a really good vocabulary etc. that way. 



A lot of the writing that I see on the Internet these days isn’t really that good in my opinion. Depends. But a lot of it just doesn’t seem to be very disciplined or really standard-driven. 



As far as knowing which restaurants to go to, it was mainly word-of-mouth or reading reviews in magazines or newspapers or whatever...Or just trial and error I guess. We still did have print media, though for reviews, etcThe Internet has done its share if destroying marriages, careers, encouraged mass shootings, suicides, caused people to lose large sums of money, and has also done some good things of course. But as somebody who grew up in an era before cellphones, personal computers or any of this stuff, I can honestly say I think life was better before any of it existed. Just more relaxed, slower-paced, less stressful, more privacy, etc.  In my own life, I can honestly say it was a major cause of the break up of my marriage and in some financial losses which I could not afford
2020-04-18 20:50:00 UTC
Life was better before the Internet. 
Christin K
2020-04-18 12:56:40 UTC
Without technology???  I had my first computer in 1981!  You're exhibiting a gross amount of ignorance of both history AND technology. 





Our lives aren't EASIER now--in fact they are vastly more complicated and tense than they were then. Technology may have improved but PEOPLE haven't. We ate at restaurants we liked--we TALKED to actual human beings instead of using chat rooms and cell phones. We paid our bills by writing checks--which we STILL DO--and mailing them in.  





More importantly, we studied history. Which you really need to do. You are extremely short-sighted.
ReneeGade
2020-04-18 06:08:12 UTC
My life is not easier! I have 200 passwords, and don't know a single phone number. In the 80s when I was in my 30s and in the Navy, I was fit, and lovely, raising my two sons and married to an abusive and absent jackass. He was in the Navy too and gone a lot.

I knew 50 or more phone numbers, I knew how to type fast, and could run several miles without breaking a sweat. I was an artist for the Navy. I loved my job.

Now, I am retired, and can't figure out how to turn on my TV without help.

Back then, I washed my dishes by hand, dried them and put them away. Done is half an hour. I ironed all our clothes, and helped my kids with their homework, and took classes at the university. 

I washed several loads of clothes a week and dried them outside on the line. It smelled wonderful.

I cooked almost everything from scratch except mac and cheese and birthday cakes. I am a great cook. Now I don't have anyone to cook for but my dogs.

I made a lot of my sons' clothes (pjs and shirts and shorts) and my husband's uniforms. I made several hand-quilted quilts a year and still do. I have made 4 small ones already this year.

We always had a big garden, all tidy and weeded. I froze tons of food but jackass just ate. 

We always had chores to do and didn't go anywhere on Saturday until the whole house had been cleaned up. I watched 2-3 hours of TV a week. mostly old movies.

 Now I watch TV and binge watch comedies. 

I Zoom meeting with my job as a newspaper writer and proofreader, and I read plays with a group of friends on Zoom, too. 

I hate talking on the phone since I spent 50 years working on the phone.

I used to write dozens of letters to family and friends, send cards, and loads of cards and presents at Xmas time. Now I send about 10 cards, and a few packages to my sons. 

Life has changed, but I still do some of what I used to do, except I don't run anymore. I had my knee replaced and it doesn't like to run. 

Not having children at home is really the biggest difference in my life, not technology. I hate video games, and Facebook, and social media. I have to read some because I write for a newspaper and have to keep up.
Richard
2020-04-18 03:06:21 UTC
             .
curtisports2
2020-04-18 01:45:02 UTC
Certain tasks were more difficult but life was easier and a lot less stressful when there wasn't so much data coming at you. Much of it conflicting and ultimately of little use in making decisions.



There was telephone banking, called 'Pay by Phone' where I lived, or the mail. Restaurant reviews were published in the local newspaper or word was spread by mouth to mouth advertising. It wasn't hard to know where the good and lousy places were, because the lousy places weren't around long.



People actually would talk to one another instead of talking at devices when both are in the same room. School work was done using textbooks, notes taken in class, or research in the school library.



When I needed a phone number for a business, I would grab the phone book and have it in thirty seconds, make the call, and ask my question and the whole thing took two minutes. Now I have to look businesses up online and wade through the crap that Google puts at the top because someone paid them for that favorable placement, call and have to listen to a stupid menu, and then invariably have to leave a callback number. That is NOT easier.
2020-04-17 21:00:56 UTC
WoW - - - - - you mean people who were alive - like over 30 years ago?  That would make them over 30 year old !!!!!!  Is that possible?????



But to answer your question, people had to know how to find the information they needed (which was enriching in itself),  had to process it themselves and apply it where needed . . . . sometimes we even had to remember it.  You'll have it easy - soon you'll have an implant and all you'll have to do is take care of your body well enough to perform the tasks the computer assigns you, ie won't being a robot be fun !!!!  Don't worry:  you'll still be allowed to play with your phone, get stoned and pay taxes.



Ever seen Fritz Lang's "Metropolis"?  Or read HG Wells "Modern Times"??    Of course not.
extremelyradicalman
2020-04-17 20:51:26 UTC
It is way easier now. We would simply try restaurants that we saw on road trips or rely on word of mouth. Word of mouth is still effective today.

I remember looking in the phone book at phone booths too.. that way if i wanted barbecue i could find it.

paying bills was with checks from bills i received in the mail.

i am really stoked to have google maps. that has restaurants and directions all built in.

Nowadays is definitely easier that is for certain.
jbkl
2020-04-22 16:33:59 UTC
People subscribed to magazines and the Sunday newspaper, just like today. There were a lot of 'how to' books. You paid bills through the USPS except power bills could be paid at certain stores. Most families took pride in an encyclopedia set displayed in the living room near the fireplace.
sarahmariah
2020-04-22 03:41:34 UTC
Lol paper mail, checks and stamps. Newspapers and magazines
?
2020-04-21 17:55:42 UTC
They had reviews, and the paid bills with something called a "cheque".  How old are you, 12, not to know this?
Dj2541
2020-04-21 09:43:07 UTC
Because  we  were  educated, intelligent, multi  skilled, Independent!!

Our  lives  were  not  ruled  by  how  many  "LIKES " that  you  had  on  FaceMoron??
Owen
2020-04-21 09:38:36 UTC
they still had tech
L
2020-04-21 04:20:22 UTC
We did just fine - in fact, better than we do today.  We had jobs, our kids did school work with the use of an Encyclopedia we bought.  We paid our bills by waiting for a bill to arrive in the mail, open it up, write a check for the amount due and send the check to the company/business.  As for restaurants..........we tried them all until we found the one we liked the best.  We didn't have cell phones - we spoke face-to-face with people or used the landline to call people and family.  Once my kids finished their homework............they went outside and played; in the yard, in the neighborhood, at a park or at a friend's house.  I only allowed them to watch TV when we were watching it and on Saturday mornings..........Warner Bros. and Disney cartoons.  We went to the movies a lot or the drive-in.  We went skating on Saturday afternoons and to the beach on Sundays.  We also spent a lot of time visiting with family and doing things together.  We were NEVER distracted with anything.
2020-04-20 21:26:42 UTC
Actually we're the ones who invented the technology used today.

As for the other questions, we left our houses.
Vahe
2020-04-20 21:11:11 UTC
They used typewriters and teachers would be annoyed by calls from close friends on the old-school telephone when they were teaching subjects.
Not Applicable
2020-04-20 18:55:43 UTC
Actually, you adapt to your circumstances and it is pretty amazing how quickly it can happen:



1) How did people back then work or do school work without internet? If you had an assignment, either from school or work, you would typically make a trip to the public library and research books and periodicals for information. If it was about an organization, sometimes you could call them up on the (landline) phone and request they send the information (all hard-copy and snail mail) to you. BTW, almost all phones were landlines, I believe that portable phones were available by the late 1980s, but they weren't very reliable and had no internet connections. 



2) How did they pay their bills? You could either send a check through the (snail) mail, or go by the vendor and pay at their (physical) site. 



3) How did they know which restaurant was the best without reading reviews etc? Either word of mouth--a friend tells you to try that new restaurant, or in some cities, the local newspaper would have Food section that would review local restaurants. Some cities even had a Food review on local news broadcasts, usually on a Friday. 



The internet has made things faster, information at your fingertips. The internet existed, but it was largely a communication venue between government and research universities which required learning bulky computer languages like COBOL or FORTRAN. There was no public access. Computers existed, but most of them were large behemoths that occupied whole floors in some companies, however there was the entrepreneurial guy named Steve Jobs who created a personal computer you could have in your home or small business (who would ever want that!) and the rest is history, as they say. 
2020-04-20 08:51:52 UTC
 I was online then, it was slower than now but still easy to use.
2020-04-20 05:28:28 UTC
Well, I was a kid in the 80's and it will of course vary from country to country, but...
Voelven
2020-04-19 14:37:11 UTC
Well, I was a kid in the 80's and it will of course vary from country to country, but...





School work? We had books, exercise books, and note books (the paper kind). I did my homework in the note books, gave them to my teachers, who'd then go over them, write comments in the margins with a pen, and grade them at the end if it was something that had to be graded. For essays we'd get two grades, one for the essay itself and one for how neatly we'd written it (yes, handwriting).



Bills arrived in the mail and were paid at the post office or at the bank.Restaurant reviews were word of mouth or reviews in newspapers.



I wouldn't say my life is "so much" easier now. There's a lot more going on now, back then it was more peaceful and compartmentalized. E.g. you wouldn't be paying bills during the weekend or take work home the same way you do now. You'd just go to a restaurant your friend had recommended instead of first spending time checking TripAdvisor, reading reviews for all restaurants in the area etc.



There was less choice. You'd turn on the TV, scroll through the few channels available, and if nothing good was on, go do something else. To be honest, I found it easier finding something to watch back then, than I do now. Now I'm going through Netflix, HBO, Viaplay etc. - sometimes for a ridiculously long time (waste of time), not really finding anything I'd like to watch because I've become so spoiled for choice.



So yes, many things have become a lot easier. If I want to talk to my cousin halfway across the world, I'll simply send her an email and not have to wait days and days for a reply (snail mail, international phone calls were EXPENSIVE back then). And yes, I like being able to do everything online: banking, renewing prescriptions, shopping and what have you.



But... it's not all for the better IMO.
Raymond L.
2020-04-19 01:20:44 UTC
anna,





I was there, it wasn't that bad, If anything, life is harder now. 



In Fact I know its harder now.
All hat
2020-04-18 19:14:24 UTC
There were newspapers and TV and radio so plenty of word got out about things like restaurants, reviews, etc. Bills came in the mail, you wrote out a check mailed it in. School was a pain - lots of time in the library.
2020-04-18 17:42:33 UTC
Ever hear the catch phrase, "stuck in the 80s" well, it was all about the fashion not so much of where to eat or the Internet. We do have fingers that can push the buttons on a landline phone, cordless phone and a pager yes, we had pagers. As for where to eat you just go to where the crowd is at and go. Back in the 80s, there wasn't a single best place to eat except for pizza. No one cared about the food it was about who had the coolest hairdo or clothing. I still live in the 80s I rarely call anyone of the cell phones and I do not do a lot internet surfing as they call it because in the 80s we just went to the beach and did some surfing.
david a
2020-04-18 12:47:13 UTC
To pay our bills we had to write checks, put them in envelops and address them. If you waited to the last minute, you had to drive to the nearest office and stand in line.





You go to the auto parts store and the guy behind the counter gets out about 5 books, and does a heavy lift, and flips through the pages looking for the specific part you need.





You want a recipe, you need a cook book. You could go to the library or the book store to get one.





You get in an argument with someone and want to look up facts? Good luck. Unless you had a private library, you had to wait for the library to open and spend hours looking up a single fact.



If you wanted a weather forecast you were better off guessing.Standing in line at the grocery store was much longer.Oh yes, and for those of us who work for a living, much of the heavy lifting now done by machines was done by hand. Not to mention much unnecessary work was done because of inadequate information.
2020-04-18 10:06:32 UTC
What nonsense and how ignorant! Of course, they did have technology. And a lot of technology nowadays would never have been possible without the technology of the 1980s! It was built on it!

And generally speaking: technology has existed already for thousands of years.
Carroll
2020-04-18 08:55:50 UTC
Tv, radio, police scanners, movies, pagers, etc.  
JuanB
2020-04-17 21:49:34 UTC
In school we didn't learn fake news from the internet.  We read textbooks and researched in the library.  Not that all the textbooks and library books were 100% accurate,  But at least to make it all the way into publication it was harder to be fake news from a wacko.



In the early 80's everyone worked.  No one lost their job to a computer.  You received your bills in the mail, wrote a cheque and brought it to the office you owed it to, or mailed it back in the envelope that came with the bill.



We didn't care what restaurant was best.  We went to our favourite restaurants, that had our favourite food served by our favourite waitresses.  No need to line up and wait an hour to get into an over priced best restaurant. 
megalomaniac
2020-04-17 20:55:22 UTC
Personal computers existed in the 80's, just not the internet.  I typed my university essays on an Apple II home computer and printed them off on a dot matrix printer with tractor feed paper.  I did the research with books.  Before that in high school in the 70's, I typed my essays on a manual typewriter.  Learning to type back then turned out to be a very useful skill and not many guys did that (it was mostly for girls who did secretarial work).  Bills were printed on paper and sent by mail and typically paid by cheque and mailed back.  There were books on restaurant reviews, and album reviews, and all kinds of things.  Some things are indeed easier now but there is something to be said for simpler times too.  Some things were actually much less frustrating.
miffy
2020-04-22 08:10:44 UTC
Studying: books,pen and paper, libraries,teachers with blackboard (not PC whiteboards!).

Restaurants: you took a chance or went by personal recommendation. 

Bills: recurring Bill's could be paid by direct debit from your bank as now..one offpayments you wrote a cheque. If in a store or restaurant  you had a cheque guarantee card to back it up. Or you could pay by debit or credit card as stores had mechanical card readers which copied the card details  and the amount on to paper which you then signed.

Work: lot of paperwork...we had typists to type official letters. Office procedures and information would be looked up in large manuals, which had to be continually amended when procedures or prices changed. Lots of communications were by mail so there was a rota to open the nail evey morning. 

Huge banks of filing cabinets to store all the paperwork...and numerous filing clerks employed just to move around and file all this paper. If you wanted a job with no stress and a regular pay check...this was for you.

We even smoked at work! By the afternoon you could barely see across the room

ALCOHOL:we regularly went to the pub at lunchtime...not so much work got done in the afternoon. Friday lunchtime was awesome most of the younger staff went the nearest pub for a pub lunch ,like shepherds pie or fish chips,and stayed for a couple of hours drinking ...even the boss was likely to be there so it was no problem if you got back late! This was a British Government office too! Lots of office romances and plenty of marriages between  colleagues

But WE GOT THE JOB DONE without having to read endless bulls##t in emails from ambitious idiots with nothing better  to do.

Great times....great friends ,where are they now.....where does the time go..



BE OBSERVANT..STAY SAFE 
I answer Dumb questions
2020-04-21 02:59:41 UTC
Lol technology was earlier, but They didn't used it
Lady
2020-04-20 17:15:35 UTC
I was born in '89. I grew up in the early 90s. There wasn't much technology then either. It was great. I played outside with other kids, climbed trees, joined the scouts, went camping and never once worried about how I looked on social media. Life was VASTLY better before technology. I miss it.
galaxy
2020-04-19 23:00:54 UTC
Life is always in flux and humans can make adjustments we will always think one generation was more challenged than another it is just a matter of being mindful of our true source and encouraging society to think on a collective basis and unifying our thoughts with a higher dimension.
Brad
2020-04-19 22:28:59 UTC
It was just a different time, many firsts came from that decade. Cable was invented,home arcade like atari 2600, debit cards and some of the best movies made. Even buying movies was brand new and you could record your favorite tv shows with a VCR. It  was new technology back then. In 30 years people may ask why there were movie theaters?
Dreamweaver
2020-04-19 22:12:56 UTC
Life was so much easier and less stressful in the 80's. People read more, communicated by talking to each other, exchanged ideas face to face, mailed their bills, wrote their love ones, and so much more. Just look at what we did in the 60's. A man on the moon using only a slide rule (google it). Technology only made it easier and faster
ffung898
2020-04-19 19:52:51 UTC
I would say our lives back then was easier than now.  It may sound BS, you have technologies and tools, things are way more advance than then. BUT you forgot those advanced tools are mostly used to handle the unnecessary need.  If you don't have TV, you don't need to pay for cable, spend time on TV, upgrade the TV, etc.  If you don't have a cellular, you don't have to spend time on it, download/upgrade programs, and worry about being hacked, etc.  If you don't have internet, you simply go to the library use index to find books.  You do your homework on paper.  You can ask yourself, how come people can survive for thousands of years without the internet or electricity?  did they all UNHAPPY about it?
2020-04-19 15:58:11 UTC
People were knuckledragers. They drew pictures on cave walls. Restaurants? They didn't even have a clue what that is. The wheel wasn't invented until 1990 & even then, it took ten years to figure out what to do with it.
W
2020-04-19 08:22:28 UTC
It's not easier now. It's different. People were more literate then. Now people write stupid things like 'ur' and 'u'. Life was slower and simpler. We sent letters to each other. We spoke to each other more. On public transport, people would look out the window, speak pleasantly with people sitting nearby and not just stare at their cellphones. People would converse in restaurants! The biggest victim is decent social discourse. People were more polite, people were more understanding. Today, with the internet's anonymity, people call each other thinks like effing, sh*t-for-brains millenial douch-bag. That would never have happened before the internet, lest you risk a fat lip. 

The news, for example, was just that - the news. News from the radio was the best. No posing, no edited sound-bites, no silly rallies with propaganda. Now - nothing but trash. The worst part of this is now I sound like my father did. So if things have gone so far down the crapper since I was in my 20s, picture what it will be like when you are in your 60s.
?
2020-04-19 05:21:36 UTC
Way back in the 80's!!! We paid bills by mail or in person. We read restaurant reviews in the newspaper, we studied with books and used the library, w spoke face to face with other people. It wasn't hard, that's the way it was. I had a computer and was doing Uni in the 80's
2020-04-19 04:37:46 UTC
The 80s was the beginning of the consumer electronics boom. Home computers. home video, portable music, portable phones. Internet wasn't available for public use, but they had everything else, just bulkier and more expensive. 



It's like somebody from 2060 with their holographic nanosuits asking what people in 2020 did "without technology"
2020-04-19 02:33:53 UTC
As much as I'd like to turn the internet off for an extended digital detox the infrastructure to go back to how things were before the net isn't there anymore, so I guess this is a fair question to ask.



Without the internet the pace of life was slower and on balance that's not a bad thing for everyday living (it's another story with advanced academia and medicine).



I don't think school was actually much different.  Teachers still curate what you research online for your lessons otherwise classes would lack focus.  In my day we went to the library and learned how to use it efficiently by making searches in the card catalogue which someone else had spent forever compiling so you could do subject searches, keyword searches, publication, and author searches.  Basically, like doing it online, but with index cards!  Archived material like old periodicals and sometimes rare books, were photographed on microfilm and microfiche in order not to take up so much space.  You needed a special machine to read them and felt like being in a James Bond film.



The library was the port of call for so much information, like finding out about community events.  It also held things like the post office registry, local business accounts (in the UK at least, it had a proper name I can't recall right now) so you could check how long a business had been going and its turnover and stability rating when you were sending out your CVs if it seemed like a promising place to work.  They also held things like directories of scholarships to apply for.  Librarians were very knowledgeable and if you were polite they could make your life so much easier.



The phone was used for SPEAKING and boy did people use it.  A lot of things you'd email or WhatsApp about now you'd call someone about.  It was good because you built up a rapport with people you interacted with often.  There were a lot of automated phone services too.  Some are still around, though they seem to cost more now.  Back then they were free or negligible.  There was the talking clock if you needed to reset your clock, the weather on a loop on another number.  Director of Enquiries to help you find a number if you couldn't locate it in the phone book (a new one came every year, well two, one for businesses and another for residents).



The bus time table for the year used to be delivered once a year at my parents' house.  You could buy extras at the post office.



If you wanted to travel further you called up the airline or train operator and someone on the other end of the line helped you plan your journey and then mailed out the tickets, but if you wanted a vacation with the works you'd make an adventure out of visiting a travel agent. 



The local press was very active, so you got to know what was going on that way. The regular local paper would carry reviews for movies, restaurants and other attractions.  They'd have the movie timetables and tv schedule too. Things like conventions coming to town would take out ads in the paper.  The paper would also carry the classifieds which was like Craig's List or Gumtree.  That's where you bought and sold second hand stuff, found rooms to rent, and dubious people to date.  On the weekends there were thick supplements.  The grocery store offers are still around, but there used to be really thick supplements with all the nice houses for sale collected from all the real estate agents in the area.  (Later local cable tv started showing houses for sale too on a loop.)  Clothes companies sometimes included thin "taster" magazines with just some of their lines if they were a little more niche.  If you liked it you could write and ask for their full catalog.



There were specialist classified magazines for people who bought and sold special collector items.  Since their reach was further they were published less frequently.  Like I said, the pace was slower.



Mail order shopping was done via catalog.  The "major" catalogs arrive twice a year with holiday supplements.  You ordered by either phoning the helpline or by sending off an order form listing the item numbers you wanted.  Everything was 6 - 8 weeks for delivery, I don't miss that part.



You paid your bills at the post office counter, the bank, or by posting a cheque.  Most people paid the utility bills quarterly if they weren't on a coin operated meter, so it wasn't like running to pay 24/7.  The period you had to pay up was longer two so many people would save up a month's worth of bills just to sit down and pay them in one session and then not have to think about it again.



The "bad" side of social media was the graffiti on toilet cubicle walls.  It's so much less creative and person now.  The bad side was more potential people to see it.  The good side was that it only lasted until painted over.



Your immediate world was smaller and more intense.  There were bad sides if you really didn't fit in, but there were good sides too.  Because you had to use your local resources people were more careful not to burn their bridges.  People were a bit better about agreeing to disagree about who to vote for as long as you didn't let your leaves blow all over your neighbor's lawn.  People talked to each other more.  You asked about how to choose a restaurant?  Well, there were reviews, but since the number of stores you shopped at were both fewer and you had to go out to buy something unless you could wait 6 - 8 weeks you start to recognize people.  Not friends exactly, but someone you're glad to see because they're familiar, and so there was, as there still is, chitchat.  If a new place opens up, you will know about it, and so too if service takes a nosedive elsewhere.  Now there's so much more information that I'm not sure it's better.  Don't you fall down the rabbit hole over researching something and end up with choice paralysis at the end of it?  I'd like those hours back, please!
lkl
2020-04-19 01:31:58 UTC
We learned by books, libraries and research at the libraries. Life was so much better back then. We used our brains instead of technology. We wrote letters and I still do. I'm afraid too much technology makes people inactive, texting all the time or listening to music walking into me. I use a computer and have a Jitterbug for emergencies and use a house phone and don't text anybody. 



Life was much better in my opinion and I am very happy to be a old fashioned lady.
TheBellJar
2020-04-18 19:01:04 UTC
How did people back then work or do school work without internet? --- We went to the library where you should probably go to use real sources for school. Gee! You still have a school library to use as well!



How did they pay their bills?----They sent checks by snail mail that had the amount on them or they walked into the bank. I don't know much about that I was too young to pay bills. But in the very early nineties I had to do stuff at the bank sometimes and copying out the whole bank account number someone gave you into a payslip thing was a real pain. In the 70s I'd go to the bank with my mother and she'd give me a pen to scribble on some bankslips while she paid bills.





How did they know which restaurant was the best without reading reviews etc?--They read reviews in newspapers and magazines and sometimes in books like a "dining out guide".





It would be interesting to hear from people who were alive back then. Your lives must be so much easier now compared to back then. 



Yes paying via internet banking is definitely way better. I have ADHD and would leave out a number when filling in a bank slip at the bank and that is really annoying it's so much better copy pasting bank account numbers into internet banking.



Also to like enroll at university and stuff like that you had to go to the university and stand in long queues and talk to all the professors and get them to sign things etc...
?
2020-04-18 15:36:38 UTC
There was plenty of technology. I was using computers to make art and my father was programming for me. My fiend and I were using synthesizers to make electronic music and we were sending cassette tapes back and forth through the mail to share stories and music. Whether you make coffee with a modern coffee machine or a percolator it is still a cup of coffee. I drove from coast to coat many times using maps instead of GPS. I always made pizza from scratch and it tasted much better than ordering even though you could use a landline telephone to order out I never did. Even before the 80's I owned a radio that did not require electricity or a batter They are called crystal sets and during the great East Coast blackout of the 60's I listened ot the news on a crystal set after my telephone went dead.
2020-04-18 07:23:10 UTC
We weren't a bunch of pampered pu$$$ies. 
jeffrey f
2020-04-18 00:58:13 UTC
People wrote checks to pay their bills.  And they read consumer magazines to see what products were the best.
2020-04-17 21:47:39 UTC
Kids had to walk to school and then they had to write things out in long hand in paper books. Children had to listen to the teacher and write things down, there was no electronic recording of lessons in those days. There were places called libraries full of physical books. You were allowed to borrow a few for a couple of weeks but they were very heavy so you could only carry a few around at a time. Pupils, for schoolchildren were called pupils in the olden times, did homework in a book and handed it in for marking. The teacher had to mark by hand ticking the correct parts then adding up for a total result. There were no calculators either, you were allowed an abacus or a slide rule. For the most part maths had to be done by long multiplication and division.

Bills were paid with cash money. You had to estimate how much cash you'd need for  a week because there were no cash machines in the street. If you were a middle class salaried employee you had to queue in a bank to withdraw any money out. Poorer workers were paid cash on a Friday, so they generally spent a lot of it in the pub, that's if the wife didn't intercept them on the way and demand most of it for housekeeping and to feed the kids. Shops didn't accept cheques to pay bills unless it was something very expensive because it was too much trouble to put it in the bank.

One knew which restaurant was the best by looking to see which had the most local people in. Anyway restaurants were very expensive in those days. There wasn't much choice either. They only made French classical cuisine, the only wine Chateau de Chassilier. There wasn't the range of different styles in those days. In the big cities some curry restaurants started but they were very mild with raisins in.

Yes, life now is very easy. No more paper bag in t'street, I live in a house now. One thing though, the wife insisted on getting a job. Well, that brings in more money I suppose, but she sure does like to spend it too. Her life is a lot easier too with an electric hoover, a washing machine and all the latest gadgets around the house.
2020-04-17 21:15:07 UTC
Those were the good ole days. I think it's nuts to pay bills or do banking on a computer, you're just asking for trouble. And if you rely on other people's opinions on which restaurants to go to, you're missing out. And a little common sense trick to find the best restaurants is to see which ones are the busiest on the weekends. 
2020-04-17 20:51:29 UTC
This is a good question, but no one is going to answer it honestly. The internet is filled with people who romanticize the 80s even though they never were alive during the 80s. You’re better off asking someone in real life who is actually from the 80s about it.
Observer
2020-04-22 23:34:48 UTC
IT was better, you WORKED and used libraries for school work.  Bills were paid in CASH or by check, Restaurants were recommended and there were things like reviews in papers.  It was actually easier back then.
2020-04-21 22:39:26 UTC
Back then, the girls had hairy bushes and were attracted to boys.  The guys liked girls and their hairy bushes. You cut the grass, did your homework on paper and watched your mouth.  Now you can have a sex change and scissor with your sister.
2020-04-20 20:29:30 UTC
Actually, you adapt to your circumstances and it is pretty amazing how quickly it can happen:





1) How did people back then work or do school work without internet? If you had an
jump e
2020-04-20 10:41:06 UTC
People from back then, did their school work on excercise note books in primary school, or lined paper sheets with hole binder folders in high school. In fourth class you would learn to start using an ink pen instead of pencil. The colours of ink were explained to you as black for admiralty law (government), blue for common law person and red for man - the teacher always marked your homework and answers in red ink. The auditor would use green ink. We would be expected to stick covers on our excercise books to protect them. To do research we went to the public library or if it was more advanced, to the university library to find reference material.



To pay a bill you would write a cheque and mail it in to the service provider.

In the 80's a lot of credit cards were being issued so the other way people paid their bills was to phone up the company you want to pay and punch in your credit card number. People still use credit cards this way today.



There were a lot more door to door salesmen too.



People worked out which restaurant was the best by word of mouth and newspaper advertising, and by socialising, ie. meeting people at the pub or a club, football game or social bowling group or church etc.



We tried to get out a lot for social activities because it was boring at home, other than sitting on the sofa watching tv which was creating a lot of couch potatoes. A lot of people would spend a hours and hours talking on a corded phone.



Technology was all the craze in the 80's everyone wanted the latest watch, or miniaturized technology, high tech was consumer electronics.

hand held mini digigames similar to nintendo machines, which ran games like trojan horse or donkey kong. They would only play one game on a black and white screen and were mostly about timing the button presses. If you had one of these you had a lot of friends in primary school, a bit like having an ipad for kids in the 2000's

We had fax machines in the 80's so we could send letters over the telephone. We also had the first home desktop computers in the 80's so we could do word processing using "wordstar" software.



Kids used to play handball for boys and elastics for girls and marbles and skipping ropes were playground toys. We would climb trees and climb monkey bars without any soft rubber underneath.



As to life being easier now. Not really - there is so much to read and see on the internet that it makes us feel our lives are being wasted looking at computers indoors instead of getting outdoors in the real world.



How can you verify what someone wrote historically when it can be digitally altered on the internet if you don't have a paper copy? Which leads me to mention filing cabinets where everything in contracts and dealings is still printed out and kept in hardcopy for evidence if needed.



Life was fast in the 80's and it still is.
james
2020-04-19 03:21:50 UTC
1957 was the year 1/2 of the farms were mechanized. 1970 was the year America changed. Before that you could make a living with a strong back & weak mind.  By 1980 you could go out & start a motor or flip a switch to move things. 1990 you could do most all setting in a office with A.C. 2000 the computer boom ended. 2010 manual labor had to move to low wage Countries like China, 2020 China shut down the world & told others not to work no more. They had the hands to do all the jobs. 2030 all who forgot how to work for China starved to death. 
2020-04-19 02:32:11 UTC
Life was better before the Internet.
Sabrina
2020-04-19 00:06:18 UTC
You can't be serious? Books have been around for centuries. You actually talked to people in person and went out to restaurants to see if they were good. You went down in person to pay bills. I'm only 20 but I wish that I lived in a time where there wasn't any internet. It's toxic. There were landlines. 
wombatfreaks
2020-04-18 23:00:27 UTC
we had to access Facebook by telegraph . I had a coal burning microwave 
techpaddle
2020-04-18 22:31:35 UTC
Back when I was a kid and needed to finish a school report, we used the internet of the day. It was found at the library and it was called the "Encyclopædia Britannica"
?
2020-04-18 18:57:27 UTC
Wow I am old.  I am glad for the technology.  I didn’t do much in school and study alot and learn a lot on the internet.  I like looking **** up quickly.  And think homeschooling using the computer and internet is the wave of the future.  We also have kids who are not racist, idiot, fear mongers who are ready to rule in this future.  They don’t need a degree from college to prove wisdom and I think it will be better in another 50 years.  

The eighties was a yuppie hell.  

We didn’t complain or leave reviews and tried things based on our own experience in the eighties so I wouldn’t use the internet for one persons bad review.  Which was one nice thing.  And you actually went out to do things.  

Hopefully in 2020-40 we can balance it and use it for the good.  Its nice to have the world opened to us all which was what Alexander the Great wanted 3000 years ago. To open the world to everyone to EXPERIENCE’

My people like hippies and younger folks pay for the experience and we actually get more out of it. I am also glad that church is no longer the only social outing place to go.  Because I am sick of hearing how horrible I am and you are.
chumley
2020-04-18 18:12:31 UTC
Um, we actually TALKED to each other and LEFT OUR HOUSES and, oh, I dunno, READ BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS. And by the way, we DID have computers back in the 80s. Not only that, my life is infinitely more complicated now with all this technology. Oh, and about this whole computers cutting down on paper use thing that people have believed for years and years - we use WAY more paper now than before computers. When I was a kid, if we needed paper we'd buy a notebook or two. Today, millions and millions of families have printers and buy paper not by the realm but by the case. Poor trees.
foxysdchic
2020-04-18 16:54:51 UTC
THIS IS HOW THE 80's WAS & WHY SO MANY LOVED IT:

Internet:

We had internet but usually computers were in the schools or in the businesses as buying them for the home was not common as most did not have one until the 90's.  They were bigger, bulky, and no one needed or wanted to use them for leisure and have them take up half a desk or more.  We did work from the office and no more when we got home.  Dial-up was loud and sucked, and if you took a phone call it interrupted your connection and kicked you off, and there was no caller ID.  I do not miss that.  



Outside was a way of life:

We spent lots of time outside and physically seeing people and connection that way.  Spending so much time outside of the house meant exploring new places.  People were healthier too and less obesity existed.  Kids got creative and learned teamwork at a young age playing together.  People came home from work or school and got a snack (kids got homework done) then they were outside until dinner, then stayed in together.



Socializing :

Social media did not exist and few emailed since few had home computers.  We wrote each other letters and enjoyed getting something in the mail.  We had pagers, payphones, big car phones, and some had big bulky cell phones towards the late 80's.  Mostly we either got called at work or at home and in between not at all which was nice because it made us focus on what we were doing or who we were with.   Because we met face to face and not through a machine, connections were more meaningful and relationships kinder. Marriages lasted longer, families were together longer. People had events all the time like barbecues, church picnics or cookouts, potluck dinners, board game nights, beach parties, camping trips as groups, etc. Obesity was less and people were more active. Few people went to the gym as we were more active as a society.  Life today is much more complex and stressful.  If we wanted to play video games we had our systems.  We would trade games at school or when socializing.  There were many systems such as Atari, Nintendo, Sega, etc.



Info:

Most people were home watching the news, and many went to church or to the park on weekends and we would chat there too about what was going on in the world.  Every read the paper or watched shows that informed or both.  It is how we got our information.  Usually at dinners, people connected about their day over a dining room table and often topics turned to world events.  Today the dining room is hardly used bu most unless there is a rare occasion of company over because people get their social needs met by the internet and social media. We also went to libraries and looked things up.  Ever use Microfiche film?  There were phone books that were huge that were sent to us at our homes and there was one attached to every corner payphone.



Life overall:

It was a happier time.  I wish life was more like the 80's now.  You could work 40hrs/week own a house, car, have kids, and money left over and you had a good economy, fresher air, less traffic, less polution, better environment, less pesticides and most foods were organic, and less problems.  Today you can have 2 people working ft and they owe on their homes, cars, and have no clue how they can ever retire, they are stressed, and few enjoy their lives really as they are just living to work not working to live.  You did you job, got a paycheck, bonuses if you did it okay or well, then you deposited into the bank, and you wrote checks (same as today).  There weren't stupid laws like your kids can't be outside playing in your yard alone or can't walk to a park or home after school or you risk them taken away by CPS or police because everyone walked or rode bikes some.  People were more independent both physically and in thinking.  They also had more patience and appreciation because they had to be creative and think then act, then wait for the results after they did the work.  Not like today.  People just press a few keys on the keyboard and they instantly get what they want or are looking for.  That feeling of instant gratification repeatedly given also gives people a sense of they want it, should get it now entitlement feeling.  This goes in work place, leisure, relationships, any time of gratification they are looking for, and because it is a few key strokes away they do not work to get things or maintain them so they don't appreciate them and overall are unhappy.



Music:  This generation killed it.  It was about being happy.  Even when there is a sad song it is somehow done in an upbeat tempo.  This is why so many think of 80's music as the best.  They had problems but they were so connected with each other and life was happier overall it didn't matter as much.  People like the music and also the feelings of memories they bring back which is why it is great music.



Clothing:

It was all over the place.  It could be sexy and classic or it could be bright and ridiculous.  You have normal looking stuff like today or you had shoulder pads, or tiny jogging shorts, or high top sneakers.  Want to see how the 80's dressed then look at some older tv shows.  They dressed profession at times but they could be a lot of fun too.  Also, there was such a thing as being sexy and not over the top sleazy.  There was classy sexy, you could be revealing but not reveal too much.  Nowadays people go too far with looks to compete for attention on social media because they do not socialize any other way and they try to compete with everyone else on social media.  You really think people live the sweet lives they portray in FB or IG all the time?  It is a lie most of the time.  They show the them they want people to see, to be envied.  Why?  They lack real relationships as they don't physically see, touch others like we used to as a society and their needs are not being met.  Sad really.
Edna
2020-04-18 16:30:33 UTC
I began using a computer every day at work in 1982. We weren't living in the Dark Ages in the 1980's - we had "technology" back then. We used computers, the internet, and e-mail in our work and for other everyday "stuff".  If we wanted to do school work, we used the internet to do research, or we used  encyclopedias or libraries.  We paid our bills by check or by our creditors auto-debiting our checking account every month, and many of us were paid by direct deposit.  We knew which restaurant was "best" by word of mouth. The internet still can't tell you which restaurant is "best". - the reviews that are posted now are nothing more than customers' opinions.
Edward B Bear
2020-04-18 13:25:27 UTC
They were inventing Technology so future generations like yourself could be dumber, lazier, fatter and more alone.
?
2020-04-18 12:38:54 UTC
We drove to work, took public transportation, or walked. We used books and libraries to do our school work, and it was actually pleasant to spend time in the library. We got our bills in the mail, wrote our checks by hand, and mailed them back. Some bills we paid with credit cards. Restaurants had reputations, or we relied on word of mouth, and there were TV advertisements as well.

Easier? More convenient, yes, and word processors are more powerful than typewriters, but almost anything you can do online I can do with a book, sometimes faster (google searches are quick but not necessarily definitive). Don't get me wrong - smart phones are amazing, but for simple phone calls, the telephones of the time worked just fine. The 80s weren't the dark ages.
2020-04-18 04:03:27 UTC
we did more without some technology



I have never owned a Mobile Phone Tablet or Laptop when I go out I am not annoyed by idiots calling me about Nothing Dont use Facebook Twitter Instagram or any other stupid social media



I actually Have a Real Life
2020-04-18 04:03:09 UTC
Technology existed in the 1980s. In fact, technology existed in the 700s. 
?
2020-04-17 22:05:37 UTC
Hmm. This question's really beginning to be one of those that attract the lost 'n' anal to answer. Funny old world......
Dave
2020-04-17 22:03:23 UTC
* We actually had to go to the library, read books, magazines and newspapers, then write notes with pencils, pens or typewriters, on sheets of paper.

* Bills were paid by writing checks and mailing them.  (However, I do recall a TV ad for a service called "Pay by Phone," which was supposedly more convenient.)

* Most restaurant chains were fast food places, like Burger Chef or Big Boy.  (Remember those, anyone?). Otherwise, people already knew which restaurants they wanted, because they were mostly local places the customers already knew.  

* As with any time period, the 1980s had its good points and bad points.  Personally, if I could have chosen where or when to live, I would have wanted to be in high School, between 1947 and 1963.  But it is what it is.
Red Fox
2020-04-17 20:50:54 UTC
How did people back then work or do school work without internet? 



Ever heard of "books"?



How did they pay their bills? 



Ever heard of real money, checks and credit cards? 



How did they know which restaurant was the best without reading reviews etc?



Ever heard of live "reviews" as in friends, family, buddies, like as in REAL live people?



Ok, then, enjoy 🙂 
Verity
2020-04-21 18:56:18 UTC
My mother grew up in a house with no indoor plumbing.



You'd be amazed at the improvisational abilities of some people.
Marvin
2020-04-20 12:20:43 UTC
Ask them there still alive to this day.
Who
2020-04-19 14:27:49 UTC
 What I think is really sad is that YOU think life is easier now than it was then (and even earlier) cos of technology



It isnt- its a hellova lot more boring now (and have used technology since long before the 80's



"How did they know which restaurant was the best without reading reviews " - Are you serious? - do you really need to be told what the best restaurant is - Ever thought of just going out and finding out for yourself?



(one of the best meals I ever had was a bag of chips with an old newspaper supporting the bag and fish - Just eaten with the fingers - not even a wooden disposable fork
2020-04-18 07:25:40 UTC
To you, technology is a mundane given.  You have become so reliant on it, I doubt you could function without it.  To those of use who grew up without it, it's still a miracle and not taken for granted.



But if the pandemic were to cause a technological breakdown, those who know how to live without it are better off than those who know of no other way to live.



Bet the young leftists wouldn't be rolling their eyes and saying "Okay, Boomer" then.  :-)
Kerri
2020-04-17 21:02:00 UTC
We did schoolwork by using the library/microfilm/encyclopedias as well as watching documentaries or films. It was tedious and boring at times but it taught us how to be resourceful. As for jobs, you applied in person, interviewed in person and if hired you were usually given a weekly schedule that you wrote down to keep track of. If there were issues, we used the phone to talk with employers. We paid bills by receiving a paper bill for say electric or water and we then wrote a check or got a money order and mailed it back to the company. We used notebooks or day planners to keep track of when and who to pay. We knew where to eat based on word of mouth from our friends or family that had already eaten there or by just trying a place and see what happened. We became well rounded adults because we had to learn how to be adults without google telling us everything. It wasn’t all necessarily hard, just different. Wouldn’t trade it for anything though. I graduated high school in 1986.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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