The Teenage Life Then and Now
- Rebecca Kay
- Aug 24, 2016
- 3 min read
A long, long time ago, our parents were teenagers too! Yea I know, hard to imagine right?
Well, as weird as it is, it's true, and it's time to see how teenage hood has changed since then. Way back in the 80's.
Firstly, fashion. For women, were talking skin tight everything, neon, denim, and tights. Miniskirts, mesh crops, leg warmers, and heels. You know what they say, "Go big or go home!"
As for the guys out there. Lots of high waisted jeans, denim, leather, and big black sunglasses. Boots, belts, sneakers, tight tanks and button down shirts, maybe a few buttons too far, if you know what I mean.
Back then, girls were involved in more poofy, big hairstyles, including perms and loads of hairspray. In the case of what we see as a regular ponytail, they "held" it together with big and bright scrunchies, just to tie the look together.
Guys, on the other hand, enjoyed the use of hair gel. Gel, gel and more gel as well as
longer, fuller hair pulled back to cascade down their shoulders. Basically, you needed to have hair and lots of it.
So, what kind of music do you listen to? Pop, Rock, Heavy Metal, Blues? Who sings it?
Well, in the 1980's, music was slightly different. There was the "King of Pop" Michael Jackson, who was known for his crazy dance moves and talented, high singing voice. Next up we have Madonna, a singer famous since forever and still a very popular icon among all ages. Thirdly, there's Cyndi Lauper, who was basically the Lady Gaga of the 80's. Along with the previously listed artists were Elton John, Prince, David Bowie, U2, Olivia Newton-John, Sting, AC/DC and so, so many more.
What does you car look like? Is it small, medium, large, monster? Is it red, blue, green, white, black, or some crazy other color? Picture your car in your head right now. Is it there? Now look at this car from the 1980's.
Different right? This car was not only from the 1980's but was also very new and advanced. It was called the Cadillac Eldorado. This is what this car looks like now.
Hard to believe isn't it? It is so crazy how far cars have come since the 80's. In fact, it's crazy how far cars have come since the first car. Almost mind boggling.
Finally, teenagers in the 80's were not constantly worried about how many likes they could get on Instagram or Facebook. They weren't constantly trying to get the perfect selfie or the perfect amount of followers. Do you know why? Because social media DID NOT EXIST.
Back then, the closest thing they had to a cell phone was a large rectangular box with a speaker, dial, and tiny screen. No games, apps, internet... just a telephone antenna to talk to someone on the other line.
Teenagers were not constantly looking down into a tiny screen because they didn't have one. Instead, the socialized with the people around them all the time, and enjoyed life in the outside world to the fullest.
I am not saying the social media is bad, or cell phones are bad. In fact, I love them both, but I do think that teenagers today spend way to much time on the phones and need to lay off a little and enjoy the world around them more. This is something I certainly need to work on as well.
So, so much has changed since the 1980's, and what I wrote in this blog was barely the beginning. I had so much fun writing it and I learned so much about my parents past as well as the rest of the parents around the world's teenage life. I loved comparing and contrasting the 80's to the 2016's and I even learned some new things.
I hope you learned tons of fun things about the 80's too!
May this everyday blog written by an everyday teenager make your day 1 in a million.
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