Older adults from the BuzzFeed Community reminisced about their unique past experiences that younger generations might find confusing. These include shorter holiday seasons, stricter forms of physical discipline in schools, and the casual presence of firearms among high school students in the 1960s. Many mentioned simpler pastimes, like poring over weekly TV guides for programming, and the freedom to roam outside unsupervised. Their stories reveal significant generational contrasts in lifestyle, customs, and cultural norms.
‘Holiday seasons were much shorter. There were no Christmas displays until after Thanksgiving, and back-to-school, Halloween, Easter, and Valentine's Day displays ran for only about two weeks before the actual day. There weren't any laws or rules; it was just a custom that everyone followed.’
‘I grew up in the '60s in Tennessee. It wasn't unusual for the teacher to put a kid over their knee and paddle them for misbehaving.’ -Lauren, 69, Ohio
‘I'm not that old, but my dad would tell me stories from the '60s saying it was perfectly normal for the high schoolers who owned trucks to keep their shotguns in there so they could go hunting after school. Could you imagine if a high schooler now showed up to the school parking lot with a gun rack with a few guns on it?’ -Anonymous
‘We'd have to go through the new TV Guide each week to see what was coming up. We'd say things like, 'Oh, if I can stay awake until midnight on Saturday, Dracula is on!' And we'd dance to all the music shows.’
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