What do you miss the most about the '80s and '90s?

Miss the time when we used to have a Single TV between our colony....so everyone gathered and watch the show together.Like a Movie theater.

Now have the TV for each Rooms in house...so very difficult to meet & sit together even in the same family.

That's the things changed.

Before we had streaming services on our PCs, and devices with which to stream TV shows and movies and such, people could watch TV on-the-go back in the '80s and '90s if they had Sony Watchman pocket TVs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Watchman

A model from the '80s:

A model from the '90s:


My dad had one. It was a black-and-white TV model. I don't recall if the model he had was from the '80s or the '90s. Sony did make color TV models- I think I recall seeing them somewhere.

Do you miss the days in which people interacted more with each other and they weren't glued to their PCs, laptops and/or digital devices?

Do you miss the days in which people weren't so dependent on digital tech?

As I said earlier in the thread, knowing how to use the Internet is a necessity. Businesses and companies thrive on it.

You need to know basic Internet skills, in this day and age, at least, to function.

If you don't know how to use the Internet you have to at least know how to use a computer.

I miss the effort people used to make to learn history, to understand regional differences, understand foreign relations and the fact that people read newspapers....I miss the news being delivered in a sober fashion instead of the happy patter we hear today, and I miss hearing accurate weather reports instead of the breathless delivery used when announcing a thunderstorm as if it were the equivalent of a hurricane squared tornado/earthquake all rolled up into one.

I kind of miss how back in the '80s and '90s people had high hopes and anticipations of what they thought life in the 21st century was going to be like. We thought the 21st century would be something like how it was depicted in The Jetsons or in Back To The Future 2.

The Jetsons did make tech predictions that came true:

https://www.simplemost.com/the-jetsons-technology-predictions-exist-today/
https://screenrant.com/times-the-jetsons-predicted-the-future/
https://www.littlethings.com/jetsons-predict-the-future/1
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/evaluating-smart-home-technology-from-the-jetsons/
https://www.throwbacks.com/jetsons-technology-predictions/https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245192

as did Back To The Future 2:

https://screencrush.com/back-to-the-future-2-predictions/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/back-to-the-future-day-predictions_n_56274039e4b08589ef49bf44
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-back-to-the-future-2-got-right-about-tech-2015-10#the-movie-correctly-predicted-that-fingerprint-scanning-would-become-a-popular-security-feature-it-first-became-an-everyday-technology-when-it-was-introduced-in-apples-iphone-5s-11
https://www.cbsnews.com/media/tech-predictions-back-to-the-future-part-ii-got-right/

I am still wondering where are the flying cars and teleporters we were promised.

Flying cars actually ARE being developed:

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/worlds-first-flying-car-about-to-go-on-sale

But flying cars have actually been in development since the early 20th century:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_car

I know scientists have been experimenting with teleportation, but only on a molecular scale:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_teleportation

I just learned of this:

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/object-teleport-space-successful-scientists-a7836956.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/12/scotty-can-you-beam-me-up-scientists-teleport-photons-300-miles-into-space
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608252/first-object-teleported-from-earth-to-orbit/

People still read newspapers. Actual printed papers, or newspapers online.

Do you remember Cliffs Notes?:

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CliffsNotes

I haven't been in school in over 2 decades. I assume young people today can just cheat by reading abridged versions of required readings online somewhere.

You don't have to get and use a Cliff Notes book to read an abridged version of a book anymore.

I kind of miss music variety/competition shows.

In the '80s there was Putting On The Hits:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puttin%27_on_the_Hits


And the kids' version Putting On The Kids:



I recall the '80s incarnation of The Gong Show which was hosted by Don Bleu:






I miss how popular daytime game shows were on broadcast TV. We STILL have The Price Is Right and Let's Make A Deal.

I miss game shows like Scrabble with Chuck Woolery:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble_(game_show)



Concentration with Alex Trebek:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentration_(game_show)
https://concentration.fandom.com/wiki/Alex_Trebek



I remember a game show called Couch Potatoes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couch_Potatoes_(game_show)


There were two art-related game shows I liked- Win, Lose Or Draw and Pictionary:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win,_Lose_or_Draw
https://pictionary.fandom.com/wiki/Win,_Lose_or_Draw
https://gameshows.fandom.com/wiki/Win,_Lose_or_Draw



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictionary_(1997_game_show)
https://gameshows.fandom.com/wiki/Pictionary_(2)

I also miss animated TV ads. Those were far more commonplace in the '80s and '90s.

Animated TV ads are rare now. I think the last one I ever saw was this Geico ad that featured McGruff the Crime Dog:

We still have music variety/competition shows. We have American Idol and America's Got Talent, but AGT isn't just limited to music acts.

Star Search, which was on back in the '80s and '90s, was basically a precursor to these shows:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Search


Star Search was one of the first interactive reality game shows.

Pay phones

The sound of old fashioned typewriters

The sound of keypunch cards being spit out

Metal bumpers and fenders on cars and trucks...that usually stayed on unless it was a very bad crash. The modern ones fall off if you just look at them.

I liked that program and watched it many times on Sunday nights (unless I went to a bar for a few buckets of gin and tonic).


True story, I watched because I found Ed McMahon comforting.

You miss chlamydia-infested communication vehicles? Sorry. I meant public payphones. You know. The things that steal your quarters. Have the call quality worse than two Heinz Baked Beans cans tied to the end of a string (and still are filled with beans or what you hope is beans)?

Phones that when you really need them in an emergency? Are out of service AND smell worse than the Port Authority Bus Terminal men's bathrooms?

Sure, but what about the one outside the bedroom in the home of your sworn enemy? Get that number and dial during the wee hours of the morning

I miss public payphones. Most of them have been recalled.

The only places I know of that still have public payphones are my local employment center and my local library.

A local Asian market in my neighborhood still uses landline phones.

I used their phone one evening to make an emergency call.

Are you saying most strangers are OKAY with you borrowing their phones to make a call?

Speaking of Ed McMahon I miss shows like TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV%27s_Bloopers_%26_Practical_Jokes

What I miss from the '80s can be summed up in here: (the smiles say it all)

I still watch that and NYPD Blues.

I kind of miss the days when they used to show weird ads, especially weird local ads, like this one:

The final years of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon. Plus, they finally began acknowledging the subtle comic genius of band member Tommy Newsome.

I miss the days when kids would bring Nintendo Power to school and talk about video games. They did that when I was in middle school and high school between the late '80s and early '90s.

This was the first issue ever made:



The final issue come out in 2012.

Why do I miss kids bringing the magazine to school? This was something that brought kids together. Something that kids talked about- in person.

A friend of mine knew I liked Super Mario Bros., so he gave me a copy of Mario Mania as a gift:



This was long before commercialized internet came about, and before we had things like gamefaqs and online strategy guides and gaming forums, and online videos showing you how to play and beat video games.