1. Back then life was eerie. When the wall mounted phone rang, whoever went to answer it had no idea who or what might be on the line.
2. Getting up off the couch, or even worse the bean bag, to change the channel on the television was hell.
3. Our parents were really hardcore. They didn't think we were all gifted and they did not gasp with amazement at all the 'clever' things we said. The self esteem issues and anxiety we still harbour from this today is indescribable.
4. There were very few coffee shops in the olden days. Hardly any.
5. When we spoke disrespectfully to older people they would look at us with a face akin to a stunned emoji. The terrifying thing was that the face was live, not screen. Many of us are still suffering flashbacks.
6. If you were a woman after 2nd wave feminism you were not allowed to ask for help from men regarding gender specific roles. The blokes said, 'you want equal rights, change the tyres yourself'. This was before Google and YouTube. It required rigorous research in libraries, garages and in some cases having to perform sexual favours. Harrowing stuff.
7. When you rented a dwelling the convention was to clean it yourself. There was no vacate clean 'industry' at that time. If hippies had been previous tenants we cleaned for weeks. Our parents told us we were sooks if we complained.
8. Elders weren't much interested in our 'feedback'. They told us feelings were not opinions. They said they would listen when we had some real experience.
9. If we would have used catch phrases like 'first world problems', our University lecturers, some of them barefooted, would have marched us out of the room.
10. We have heard about 'safe rooms' in Universities into which today's students can retreat if the material they study is going to hurt their feelings or make them cry. To this we have absolutely NOTHING to say. *stunned emoji, blinking*.
Kids, it was spooky.
Be glad you weren't there.