7. Pay Phones Were EVERYWHERE (And You Had To Memorize Numbers)
Before cell phones, if you needed to make a call while out, you found a pay phone—and they were everywhere.
The pay phone era:
- Every corner store, gas station, and public building had pay phones
- Calls cost 10 cents (a dime!)
- You had to memorize important phone numbers—there was no contacts list
- If you were running late, you had to find a pay phone to call home
- Long-distance calls were expensive, so you talked fast
- Collect calls were a thing: “You have a collect call from ‘Mom come pick me up.’ Will you accept the charges?”
The phone book:
- Every home had a giant phone book (Yellow Pages and White Pages)
- You looked up numbers by hand
- If you didn’t know someone’s number, you had to look it up or call information (411)
Today’s reality: Pay phones have almost completely disappeared. Nobody memorizes numbers anymore—they’re all stored in our phones. We’re accessible 24/7, which has its pros and cons.
What we lost: The experience of being truly unreachable. Once you left the house, you were free until you came home. No one could call, text, or track you.
8. Kids Drank From The Garden Hose
On hot summer days, when you were thirsty, you didn’t go inside for water—you drank straight from the garden hose.
How it was:
- Hose water tasted like rubber and minerals, but we didn’t care
- We’d spray each other with the hose to cool off
- The first spray of hot water from the hose sitting in the sun? Pure torture!
- Sometimes we’d fill up old margarine containers or drink from questionable outdoor spigots
- No one worried about bacteria, chemicals, or whether the hose was “food safe”
Today’s reality: Now, parents carry reusable water bottles everywhere. Drinking from the hose? That’s practically child abuse by today’s standards! We worry about lead, chemicals leaching from hoses, and water quality.
The funny part: We all survived drinking that nasty hose water. In fact, many people swear it tasted better than bottled water!
9. Playgrounds Were ACTUALLY Dangerous
If you survived a 1970s playground, you survived some genuinely dangerous equipment that would never pass safety standards today.
Playground equipment included:
- Metal slides: That got scorching hot in summer and froze your legs to them in winter
- Merry-go-rounds: That spun so fast kids flew off regularly
- Tall metal jungle gyms: Over concrete or packed dirt (not soft rubber surfaces)
- Seesaws: That would slam you into the ground if your friend jumped off
- Metal swing sets: With hard metal seats that could knock you unconscious
- Giant metal slides: Built into hillsides, probably 20 feet tall
No safety features:
- No soft landing surfaces—just concrete, dirt, or gravel
- No safety railings on high structures
- Equipment was often rusty or broken
- Splinters from old wooden structures were guaranteed
Today’s reality: Modern playgrounds have soft rubber surfaces, age-appropriate equipment with safety features, and regular inspections. Everything is designed to prevent injury.
What we remember: The thrill of danger made playgrounds more fun! The risk of flying off the merry-go-round or burning your legs on the slide somehow added to the excitement.
10. Hitchhiking Was Considered Normal
This one is wild by today’s standards: in the 1970s, hitchhiking was a legitimate form of transportation, and picking up hitchhikers was considered neighborly.
How it worked:
- People would stick out their thumb on the side of the road
- Drivers would pull over and give them a ride
- Teenagers hitchhiked to get around without worrying much about danger
- It was seen as helpful and community-oriented
- Some college students hitchhiked across the country!
Today’s reality: Now, picking up (or being) a hitchhiker is seen as extremely dangerous. We’ve had too many true crime documentaries! Rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft have replaced hitchhiking with a safer (and trackable) alternative.
What changed: Society became more aware of the dangers, and highly publicized crimes involving hitchhiking made it culturally unacceptable.
11. Everyone Had Shag Carpet (Including The BATHROOM)
Ah, shag carpet—the defining home decor choice of the 1970s. And we put it EVERYWHERE.
Where we had carpet:
- Living rooms (okay, normal)
- Bedrooms (fine)
- Bathrooms (wait, what?!)
- Kitchens (seriously?!)
- Even around the TOILET (I can’t even…)
The colors:
- Avocado green
- Burnt orange
- Harvest gold
- Brown (so much brown)
The reality: Shag carpet in bathrooms was a breeding ground for mold, mildew, and bacteria. It was nearly impossible to clean. Water splashed everywhere. But in the ’70s, it was considered luxurious and stylish!
Today: Now we understand that bathrooms need waterproof, easily cleanable surfaces. The idea of carpet around a toilet makes people physically recoil.
12. You Could Ride In The Back Of Pickup Trucks
One of the most common sights in the 1970s: kids (and adults) riding in the open bed of pickup trucks, wind in their hair, holding on for dear life.
How it was:
- Families would load kids into the truck bed for trips to the lake, store, or anywhere
- Sometimes people would sit on the wheel wells or tailgate
- On bumpy roads, you’d bounce around like popcorn
- Highway speeds? No problem!
- Adults would ride back there too, especially at parades or football games
Why it was normal: Pickup trucks were work vehicles that doubled as family transportation. Nobody thought twice about it.
Today’s reality: In most states, riding in truck beds is now illegal, or heavily restricted. It’s considered extremely dangerous—which it absolutely was.
The memory: The feeling of riding in a truck bed on a summer evening, watching the world go by, was actually magical. Dangerous, but magical.