Top 20 Things From the 1980s We Will NEVER Do Again

#20: Buy a Wood Panel Television

Televisions these days are generally made up of plastics, OLEDs, LCDs, and other acronyms. However, the 1980s were one of the last decades to see TV sets constructed with wood or wood grain. Wooden panels on the side of televisions or TVs permanently built into massive cabinets were still all the rage in the ‘80s. However, as technology has evolved, TVs have become less part of the furniture, and other materials are also cheaper to use. While a few people like the look, particularly for those nostalgic for the time period, wooden or wood panel TVs are forever retro at this point.

#19: Buy a TV Guide for TV Listings

It used to be that knowing what was on TV and when was a matter of flipping through the channels and getting lucky. That is, unless you had a TV Guide. These handy miniature magazines were stuffed with TV listings, as well as some entertainment news and interviews. You could get them delivered every week or buy them at the grocery store (usually at checkout). While TV Guide does still exist, in the form of a television channel, media network, and a magazine, the days of needing the last of these to find out what’s on and when are long gone.

#18: Permit Latchkey Kids

Children of the ‘80s and before were often left to their own devices without supervision. Maybe their parents or guardians all worked and they couldn’t afford a babysitter. Regardless of the reasons, these latchkey kids were left home alone and basically had to figure things out for themselves. This may have created a generation of fiercely independent and resourceful adults, but it also put them in a ton of danger from themselves and everyday appliances that they didn’t fully grasp, like gas stoves. Today, parents are incredibly clued in on where their kids are and what they’re doing. Some of them are older latchkey kids who didn’t want their offspring to go through what they did.

#17: Play with Lawn Darts

When it comes to the most dangerous children’s games, lawn darts has to be a contender for one of the top spots. Having kids toss a footlong, metal-tipped dart around their yards sounds bad on paper, but in practice, it was an accident waiting to happen. And happen they did! Thousands of accidental injuries and multiple deaths resulting from lawn darts eventually got them banned in the late 1980s. While a blunted version of the game is still played in Europe, those of us in North America have probably tossed our last lawn darts, aside from the odd collector of vintage playthings.

#16: Tape Something on TV

Home video of TV shows and other media became more common towards the end of the 20th century. But back in the ‘80s, the only affordable way to watch your favorite show or the movie of the week or the big game was to videotape it on TV. It could be a major hassle, particularly if you didn’t get the timing right. However, as things like DVDs became more common, and later streaming and DVR, recording or obtaining recordings of things that air on television became much easier, while videotapes in general have become obsolete to all but the most dedicated retro enthusiasts.

#15: Hitchhike

The ‘80s saw plenty of unsafe vehicular practices. Although we do want to shoutout riding in the back of a truck without a seatbelt, [xref] a more common activity was hitchhiking. During this decade and before, the easiest way to get a ride if you were stranded was to stick out your thumb on the road. In the years since, we’ve become more reluctant about getting into strangers’ cars and letting strangers into our cars - if we’re not getting paid for it, at least. The increase in cell phones, and these days ride sharing apps, has made hitchhiking mostly unnecessary…unless your phone battery dies or you can’t get reception.

#14: Call a Hotline to Talk to a Cartoon Character

900 numbers were big in the ‘80s. Hotlines that charged by the minute were a quick way to rake in the dough for those that ran them. Perhaps the scummiest of these were the ones marketed towards kids, offering children the opportunity to talk to their favorite cartoon characters with the promise of toys and other enticements. While usually captioned with the caveat that the kids ask their parents first before calling, they had to have known that very few would do that - leading to kids racking up huge phone bills. Hotlines in general have become less prevalent, and these predatory ones even more so.

#13: Buying Stuff from Huge Catalogues

If you wanted to shop from home during the ‘80s, then you probably used a catalogue. These often enormous magazines were loaded with photos and descriptions of products. You could then place an order over the phone or with a form included with the catalogue to have what you wanted delivered to your home. Major department stores like J.C. Penney and Sears made even more money with their catalogues, while specialty clothing lines like Lands’ End or Victoria’s Secret practically built their business models around them. However, these days, ordering online has basically made catalogues redundant and a waste of paper.

#12: Use an Early Personal Computer

While computers for personal use had been around for a while, it was during the 1980s that they finally became affordable for the average consumer. Many of the familiar aspects of PC usage, like the desktop interface and windowing operating systems were popularized during this decade. Users could type up documents digitally instead of on a typewriter, more complex computer games were developed, and color monitors became the standard. However, as computers have improved over time, their graphical and memory capacities have far outstripped these early PCs, so there’s often very little reason to return to them, beyond novelty.

#11: Smoke Anywhere

Smoking in general has gone through a major cultural shift since the ‘80s. Puffing away usually requires that you do so outside and often in designated areas. This is a far cry from the smoking sections in the ‘80s, which were inside (even on airplanes) - as if that made any difference! [xref] Back then, despite all the evidence on smoking’s negative effects, you could still light up pretty much anywhere. It wasn’t until the following decade that local laws began a domino effect that pushed smoking outdoors or into private residences and out of most popular media.

#10: Get Glamour Shots

Glamour photography has been around a long time. In the 80s, young women would pop into the glamour studio at the mall and have an extra fancy photo session. There was typically at least one shot with some stylish hat, and the same recognizable backgrounds used for almost every customer. Clients were often accessorized with heavy makeup, and clothes far too extravagant for them to wear on a daily basis. Throw in a feather boa and some gloves, and you’ve ticked off every glamour box from the 1980s. Glamorous pictures are still taken today, just minus the 80s accessories and massive hair!

#9: Watch Videos on MTV After School

On August 1st, 1981, Music Television, or MTV for short, launched on the airwaves. Music channels had been tried before, but MTV found its niche with younger audiences. Kids would come home from school, flip on the TV, and watch countless music videos of bands they had heard on the radio. Soon, it became every musician’s goal to have their newest videos shown on the network. The format was copied time and time again by other countries, but MTV was definitely at it’s heyday in the 80s. Music videos are now mainly seen on YouTube, while MTV-style stations run more reality style shows.

#8: Go to a Video Rental Store

Video might have killed the radio star, but it didn’t take too long for streaming to obliterate the video store. The 1980s saw the VCR land in countless homes across the globe. And with it, video rental outlets began thriving. Not only could you rent the latest films, but kids had access to dozens of video games they could try at home. It was a welcome surprise, although at first, movie studios opposed the entire concept of at-home viewing. Despite their decline, it’s important to remember that if these stores hadn’t existed, companies like Netflix may have never been born. After all, they started as a DVD rental company!

#7: Do Jazzercise

While visiting the aforementioned video store, you might’ve picked up a Jazzercise tape. Workout fitness videos were all the rage during the 80s. Jane Fonda had her own series, as did Richard Simmons. A lesser known name might be that of Judi Sheppard Missett, who founded the Jazzercise franchise in the late 1960s. While teaching dance, she learned that her students cared more about looking good than dancing well. That’s when she had her proverbial lightbulb moment. She franchised the concept in the ‘80s, which meant the workouts became available across the US. Like many other fitness fads, Jazzercise is still around — but it’s long past its peak.

#6: Make a Mixtape

If you dig around your house, you might be able to find one of these. It’s hard to fathom now, but mixtapes were pretty important back in the 1980s. At the time, people had to buy entire albums. So they’d often end up with dozens of tapes that only had a few songs they really liked. Music lovers would therefore record their favorite tracks onto their mix. After some waiting, they’d have the best collection of tunes from their catalog all in one place. And making someone a mixtape was just about the most romantic thing you could do! Yet with the introduction of single song purchases - and eventually streaming services - playlists took over.

#5: Attend Chickenpox Parties

They’re far less common now, and certainly highly frowned upon. But there was a time when this was a real thing. Normally, chickenpox runs through your system and you never get it again. So the logic was to catch it as a child, when it’s far less dangerous. Parents would take never infected kids and put them in the same room as someone with the pox, in hopes that everyone would get sick. This practice fell out of favor in the mid-90s, when a vaccine for the disease became available. But although pox parties are a thing of the past, some families still have such gatherings for other viruses.

#4: Wear Shoulder Pads in Clothes

Football players have been sporting shoulder pads for ages. The fashionable version was born in the 1930s. Although the trend continued here and there, the 1980s saw the square shoulder look for women make a huge comeback. It was thought to create a more outlined shape, and helped define the business suit look of the time. Popular TV shows like “Dynasty” showcased high-class women wearing the notable look, making it all the more desirable. But much like parachute pants, it’s a clothing trend that later died off. We’ll still catch glimpses of shoulder pads from time to time, but they certainly don’t carry the same weight as before.

#3: Get Cassettes From Columbia House

When Columbia House first came along, they changed the music buying game. For just a penny, they’d send you roughly eight albums if you joined their “club”. It seemed like a revolutionary, cheap and easy way to get lots of music very quickly. But things soured just as fast. Members didn’t necessarily realize that they’d signed up to automatically be sent cassettes they didn’t want. And they were on the hook to pay higher than retail value for them if they didn’t opt out in time. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before the company’s billing tactics caught up with them!

#2: Skip Seatbelts

In most parts of the world today, people automatically put their seatbelts on when entering a car. They’ve been proven to save lives time and time again. Yet in the 1980s, buckling up wasn’t as commonplace. Many boomers and generation Xers have stories of riding around town without having to put theirs on. It was a time when safety laws were far less strict, and consumers had a bit more choice as to how safe they could be. Even the requirement for bike helmets didn’t come into play until many years later. As the decade moved along, seatbelts became the norm, and are now a standard part of our driving routine.

#1: Buy Cigarettes with a Note From Your Parents

In the 21st century, you can expect to get carded when buying cigarettes. But if you roll the calendar back to the 1980s, all you needed to make such a purchase was a note from your parents. It sounds baffling today, but it’s true. Crossing the street and going into the gas station, kids simply had to show a slip to the cashier that said they had permission to get the product. Often, the workers would know the families, so sales were made all too easily. Obviously, this practice is now long gone, as far tighter restrictions have been put in place.

Is there something from the ‘80s you don’t think you’ll ever do that we forgot? Share your radical picks in the comments!