If you were alive 30 years ago, what did you think life would be like in the 21st century?

Answer 1

i was alive 30 years ago and believe me, things were tough enough then that I didn't want to know......and still don't 30 years later....my instincts wee correct...life was so much simpler then......the complications of war, avarice (greed), and more of a headway into a society fraught with the unknown and changes in society have made it far more difficult to deal with......though i love cable television, DVD's, and the Internet....still and all it was so much simpler then...I read 8 books a day and loved it. it set a precedent for becoming a Writer....and a published one at that.
however, i have seen money turn the heads of people that i knew then and it saddens me.
the idea of the jetsons was far more what I had on my mind......and i have come to lose some of my family now and I miss them dearly....as well as friends.
John Lennon's being shot didn't do me any favours either.....each time thee is such a crime, i wonder where he innocence has gone.
Well fortunately it still resides in me.....to some degree.
Tradition seems to have flown out the window in so many areas.....and I would love to see the space programme smashed.
Those are my feelings....why do i say that about space? well you could feed the nation on what they spend on a botched job.

Answer 2

I was 14yo 30 years ago.

As many have said - we thought flying cars, nuclear war, lots more gadgets.

I tell you one thing very few people EVER thought of - Information Technology. A few movies included "supermind" & artificial intelligences. But no-one really hinted at the web.

I started writing software in 1979 & there was none of the integration hardware (between computers and or people). I did an MMI course in college - it was insanely dull & talked about batch access of mainframes with paper tape & acoustic couplers were about the only modems, punched cards etc. There were a few home computers that were cool - the greatest ever was the Commodore PET :-) Wish I still had mine.

Answer 3

Absolutely not. Dating for women and men has both changed. Women used to stay home more vs. entering the workplace so they tended to marry young. With the movement of women's rights and so on, more and more go to college and have thier own life before settling down. A lot of men tend not to court women anymore. Ever hear of the Tom Licus (sp?) saying "If women don't give it up within the 3rd date, dump them." He has a whole slew of rules that I see a lot of men following. I am not saying all men are this way, but just as with advertising, sex sells. What one woman won't give up, another will. It has become more competative now. Women are no longer considered an old maid if they are not married by 25 so people just date casually to have fun while they discover themselves. Just another perspective.

Answer 4

I was sixteen 30 years ago. I, too, thought things would be kind of like on the Jetson's. Flying cars and moving sidewalks, ha ha! I didn't think too much about it though. I was in the midst of high school, boyfriends, and going to the roller rink to skate to the latest Bee Gee's songs.

Answer 5

Here are some of the things I wish hadn't changed.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the
1930s '40s, '50s, '60s and ‘70s!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.


They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.


Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright- colored, lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.


As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.


Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.


We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.


We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and NO ONE actually died from this.


We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!


We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.


No one was able to reach us all day. And we were okay.


We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes! After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.


We did not have Play stations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video-tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS, and we went outside and found them!


We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.


We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.


We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!


Little League had tryouts, and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!


The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!


This generation has produced some of the best risk takers, problem solvers, and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.


We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

I miss those times, I never thought people would become as unfriendly as they are today.

Answer 6

I was five thirty years ago, and I remember thinking how cool it would be when we all started wersing those silvery jumpsuits and flying into orbit for field trips. Well if I had 20 million I could do the orbit thing, I'm still waiting for the powers that be to issue out the jumpsuits.

Answer 7

i was alive 30 years ago .. and i had no idea what the 21st century could have been like then .. i was more worried about my long straight hair, my wide tooth comb, and my next pair of HASH jeans

Answer 8

I was 12 years old 30 years ago. I honestly thought we would be a lot more like the Jetsons than we are. LOL

Answer 9

Never dreamed it would be anything like this in some respects. I knew the cost of living would continue to rise. But I never dreamed that our system would ever be taken over to the point it has been. We live in historic times.

Answer 10

We all thought there would be robots and flying cars.

Also, when I was growing up, we were still in the midsts of the "cold war". We thought the Russians were going to blow us up! Everyone was paranoid, to an extent, that we were going to be involved in a nuclear war!