These days, we've all kinds of crazy HD video options that allow us to see in vivid detail every pore, wrinkle, or blemish that a celebrity is sporting. And if you've been watching TV since the 1950s, then my how things have changed!
1953 was the year of the first commercial broadcast in color on TV, but it would be years before black and white stopped being the norm. Well into the 1960s it wasn't unusual to see some programs still airing sans color.
We've got more frozen food than ever these days, but only baby boomers will remember classic TV dinners. And we're pretty sure they'd forget those bland meals if they could!
From the aluminum trays to the alleged "food" those trays held, these TV dinners just scream retro. It might not be the tastiest meal you'd ever had, but at least it would keep you alive long enough to enjoy your favorite show!
When is the last time you dialed a number at all, much less on a rotary phone? These days, it's easier than ever to get in touch with someone without needing their digits.
But that wasn't always the case. Back in the day, you had to manually input numbers into the phone via a rotary dial. This wasn't the fastest way to get in touch with someone--especially if they had a bunch of 9s in their phone number!
If you try to let your kid walk to school these days, you're likely to have your parental rights taken away before you finish your morning coffee. But there was a time when parents weren't so likely to see danger lurking around every corner.
Walking to school by yourself was once a common occurrence. And more than that, it was also a rite of passage--what kid didn't want to escape the all-seeing gaze of their parents?
With as fast as technology is progressing, it wouldn't surprise us if we're soon able to change channels with our thoughts. And that probably sounds especially convenient to baby boomers who know what a struggle switching stations used to be.
Before TV remotes became the norm (or even technologically possible), you're only recourse for a bad TV show was to hoist yourself off the couch and manually change the channel on the TV. That's obviously not the worst thing in the world, but we don't miss the journey at all!
Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man have been unemployed for decades--the United States officially banned cigarette advertising on TV and the radio in 1970. But before then, it was just about as common to see cigarette commercials as any other kind.
It's probably for the best that cigarette ads have been relegated to magazines, because who even reads those anymore? But some folks still remember a time when that wasn't the case!
If you thought plain ole cigarette ads were bad enough, prepare to be even more shocked. There was a time when doctors weren't telling to avoid all cigarettes--just the wrong brands.
Yes, that's right--if you go back far enough, you'll find tons of delightfully horrifying ads of doctors (or alleged doctors) recommending a particular brand of cigarette. Unfortunately, consumers don't have the same brand options when it comes to lung cancer; there's just the one kind.
There was a time when you put on your Sunday best to take a trip by airplane. And fat chance of this trend ever coming back in style!
Maybe suits, ties, dresses, and pearls take things a little too far, but we've all seen airline passengers who could stand to put on another layer or two of clothing. I don't think it's asking to much to expect people to not look like they rolled out of bed and directly onto the airplane.
Only the oldest Baby Boomers will remember this one, but it's true! The United States Post Office used to deliver mail twice a day.
This practice was ended in 1950, and at this point, we don't see it making a return. Thankfully, we've got plenty of options for bugging people these days that don't involve snail mail.
It's 1960 and you've fallen asleep in front of the TV, and then when you wake up a couple hours later, you hear the US national anthem playing. What's going on?
Why, the TV station is simply going off the air for the night, of course! It might seem quaint in our era of 24-hour news and on-demand streaming, but there was a time in history where you couldn't watch TV even if you wanted to.
Even though it seems like online shopping is the primary cause of shopping addiction, that's not the case. It was still plenty possible to make lots of useless purchases back in the day--it just required a little more patience.
Instead of mindlessly browsing a store website for hours, we used to aimlessly browse physical catalogs instead. Let's just hope you write down the correct product number on your order form!
Vinyl might be making a comeback these days, but it's nowhere nearly as popular as when it was the modern, high-tech way to record and listen to songs.
While music fans these days worry about things like internet outages and rising subscription prices, folks who had a vinyl collection were more concerned with worn-out needles and dust on their records. But all that trouble was worth it--vinyl really does sound better!
This is one trend we won't feel bad about if the entire world forgets it forever. As weird as it sounds, gelatin played a much bigger (and more disgusting) role in cuisine than it does today.
If you've ever seen one of these retro, savory Jell-O dishes and wondered, "Why?" we've got some bad news--there are no good answers to this monstrosity.
Considering how easy it is for fans to be too attached to a celebrity these days, Beatlemania almost seems quaint. But it's true, young'uns! We used to lose our minds over four goofy-looking British dudes with bad bowl haircuts.
As with fanaticism these days, Beatlemania involved a TON of hysteric screaming and crying. Let's just be glad social media wasn't a thing back then.
Avoiding an annoying phone call used to be much harder back in the day. Without caller ID, anyone could be on the other end of the line!
Especially in the days before answering machines, you had to roll the dice and pick up the phone to see who was calling. You could always hang up on them, but that's much ruder than seeing their number on caller ID and politely ignoring them.
Putting a baseball card in your bike spokes does literally nothing to the bike, but that's besides the point. Kids weren't doing it to be practical.
Instead, they were doing it simply because it sounded cool when they rode. And that sounds like a good enough reason to do something if I've ever heard one!
Drive-in movies seem to be on the rise again in 2020, and, aside from the circumstances, we'd couldn't be happier. This retro way of seeing movies is far superior to the movie theater model.
Baby Boomers were clearly on to something when they came up with drive-ins. What's better than enjoying the latest film without leaving the comfort of your car--and without the pushy seatmates who won't give up the armrest?
Looking up a fact these days is as simple as doing a Google search, but even in the pre-internet days, you still had options for finding out what you needed to know. They just happened to be much heavier, more expensive options.
Gone are the days of a family encyclopedia set, and to them we say, "Good riddance!" Encyclopedias might have been the most convenient way of looking something up back in the day, but they just can't compete with the power of the internet, even with its many flaws.
Ham radio enthusiasts definitely still exist today, but this method of communication is nowhere near as popular as it once was. And unlike some unpleasant trends on this list, that's a shame.
Before the advent of social media, amateur radio was your best bet for coming into contact with interesting strangers. You never knew who might be listening to your broadcast, and honestly, that was half the fun!
When phonebooks were around, finding someone's information was simultaneously both easier and much harder. Assuming you knew their name (and assuming that name wasn't John Smith or Jane Doe), it was frighteningly easy to look up a stranger's phone number.
But these days, if we have someone's name, their phone number is basically irrelevant. We can just plug that into Google and see their many social media profiles.
It's debatable whether movies are getting longer these days, but one thing is for sure--they feel longer. And that could have something to do with a noticable lack of intermissions during modern movies.
Since most of us watch movies at home these days, there's nothing stopping you from pausing one at any time you like. But when movies had a designated intermission, you knew that you could hit pause without interrupting the flow of the action.
Having trouble with your TV reception? These days, we're likely to call the cable company and beg them to work some of their digital magic. But back in the day, you could take your video quality into your own hands.
The antenna on top of your TV could be your best friend or worst enemy. On good days, you didn't have to think about it all. But when things went wrong, it seemed like no amount of fiddling or aluminum foil could improve your picture quality.
Making a phone call is bad enough as it is, but back in the day, you had to get a third person involved if you wanted to talk. We've never been more grateful for texting.
Telephone operators served an important function, though. They and their giant switchboards made sure that calls made it to the right recipient.
While it's no longer the case these days, seatbelts used to be more of a friendly suggestion than a law. And while that might feel like a distant memory, mandatory seatbelt laws are more recent than you may realize.
The first federal seatbelt law was passed in 1968--mandating that all vehicles except buses be equipped with them. However, the first law mandating seatbelt use by vehicle occupants didn't show up until 1984 in New York. And as of this writing, New Hampshire still has no mandatory seatbelt law on the books!
Back in 1969, it was one giant leap for mankind. And it's also one giant leap we haven't experienced again in decades.
While there were several manned moon landings after that iconic first one, none have occurred since 1972. And that means that Baby Boomers are currently the only ones to experience that wonder firsthand.
Obtaining and keeping milk used to be a lot harder than it is now. And while he's mostly a forgotten relic these days, the milkman used to be an important person in that process.
Before refrigeration techniques at the grocery store and in homes helped extend milk's shelf life, daily deliveries were the norm. But as those increased, the milkman's presence began to decrease.
These days, you can open up a fresh Word document and fiddle around with what you're writing as much as you want. But if you remember the days of typewriters, you already know this wasn't always the case.
While some newer, advanced typewriters came with ability to correct small errors, you had no such luck with classic models. You better hope you're not out of White-Out or you're going to have to type that page all over again!
This is one thing that everyone, not just Baby Boomers, would like to forget. While polio has largely been eradicated, that was not always the case.
The introduction of a vaccine meant that this disease was brought under control by the 1970s, but that's not as long ago as you might think. There are absolutely people alive today who still remember firsthand what a toll polio could take.
Before everyone had a tiny supercomputer in their pockets, making a phone call on the go was a bit more difficult than it is now. Sure, you might find a sympathetic shop owner who would let you use their line for free, but more often than not, you had to pay up.
While they might seem quaint and outdated now, pay phones were a convenient godsend when they were at the peak of their popularity. Let's just hope you're carrying a quarter when you need to make a call!
As crazy as it might sound today, this was absolutely a thing. As recently as the 1980s, smoking sections in public high schools weren't an uncommon occurrence.
While this trend has severely dropped off since then, some internet commenters have remarked about smoking sections at school as recently as 2014. So perhaps this isn't something that only Baby Boomers remember after all!
