19. Photo Developing Took DAYS (Or Weeks)
Taking photos in the 1970s was a completely different experience. You couldn’t see your pictures immediately—you had to wait.
The process:
- Take photos with your film camera (usually 24 or 36 exposures per roll)
- Wait until you finished the entire roll
- Take the film to a store to be developed
- Wait several days (or weeks during holidays)
- Pay to develop the film AND print the photos
- Get your prints back and discover that half of them were blurry, overexposed, or had someone’s thumb in them
No do-overs: If the photos didn’t turn out, too bad. You couldn’t retake them.
Special occasions: Holiday photos taken in December might not be developed until January.
Today’s reality: Now we take hundreds of digital photos, see them instantly, delete the bad ones, edit them, and share them worldwide in seconds. Film cameras are mostly nostalgia items.
20. People Actually Talked To Each Other
Perhaps the biggest difference: in the 1970s, face-to-face conversation was the primary form of communication because there were no other options.
How we communicated:
- Talked in person
- Called on the home phone (and talked to whoever answered)
- Wrote letters
- That was pretty much it
Social situations:
- At restaurants, people talked—no phones to scroll through
- At parties, people mingled and conversed
- Waiting rooms: people read magazines or talked to strangers
- Kids played together instead of playing separate games on devices
- Family dinners meant actual conversation
The dinner table: No phones, no TV (in most families), just conversation about the day.
Today’s reality: Now, we’re “connected” 24/7 but often isolated. We text instead of call. We scroll instead of talk. We’re physically together but mentally distant.
What we lost: The art of conversation, the comfort with silence, and the ability to be truly present with others.
The Bottom Line: A Different Time
Looking back at the 1970s, it’s clear we lived in a radically different world. Some things were better—more freedom, more independence, more face-to-face connection. Some things were worse—more dangerous, less safe, less informed.
We survived things that would horrify modern parents: riding without seatbelts, playing on dangerous equipment, staying out unsupervised for hours. Some of us still have scars from those years—literal and figurative!
But those experiences shaped us. We learned resilience, independence, and resourcefulness. We know what it’s like to be truly unreachable, to figure things out without Google, to entertain ourselves without screens.
The world has changed dramatically. In many ways, it’s changed for the better—cars are safer, information is accessible, and we’re more aware of dangers. But something was lost too: the freedom, the simplicity, and the sense that childhood was a time for exploration and risk-taking.
For those of us who lived through the ’70s: We have stories that seem unbelievable to younger generations. We lived through a unique time that’s never coming back.
And you know what? We turned out just fine!
(Mostly.)
Share your favorite ’70s memory in the comments! What else was “normal” back then that seems crazy now?
How Many Did You Experience?
Count up how many of these you remember:
☐ Rode in car without seatbelt ☐ Was surrounded by cigarette smoke everywhere ☐ Played outside unsupervised all day ☐ Never wore a bike helmet ☐ Only had a few TV channels ☐ Had a doctor make a house call ☐ Used pay phones regularly ☐ Drank from the garden hose ☐ Played on dangerous playgrounds ☐ Saw people hitchhiking regularly ☐ Had shag carpet in your bathroom ☐ Rode in the back of a pickup truck ☐ Considered fast food a special treat ☐ Experienced corporal punishment at school ☐ Never got a participation trophy ☐ Used encyclopedias for research ☐ Walked to school alone ☐ Took aspirin for everything ☐ Waited weeks for photos to be developed ☐ Actually talked to people face-to-face regularly
Your Score:
- 15-20: You’re a true ’70s kid! You lived it all.
- 10-14: You definitely remember the decade well.
- 5-9: You caught some of the ’70s experience.
- 0-4: You might be too young, or you had unusually cautious parents!