17 '80s Kids Share What It Was Like Growing Up In The Greatest Decade To Be A Kid

    Now those were the days.

    Mike Spohr
    by Mike Spohr

    BuzzFeed Staff

    As an '80s kid myself, I was recently looking through some Reddit threads reminiscing about what it was like to grow up back then (you can find them here and here). If you grew up in the '80s like me, these things will be instantly familiar:

    1. Being beyond excited to get up on Saturday mornings so you could run to the TV and watch all of the cartoons.

    CBS, NBC

    "Saturday morning cartoons. It started with The Smurfs and kept going for a few hours."

    —u/IoSonCalaf

    "The old Garfield and Friends cartoon!"

    —u/welcomeramen

    2. Of course, there was also that feeling of despair at noon when the cartoons ended and the adult programming kicked in.

    Warner Bros.

    "There was nothing more depressing than seeing the Soul Train intro, or the one for Bewitched. That meant cartoons were over."

    —u/LorenzoStomp

    "LOL! Soul Train came on at noon where I lived, too!"

    —u/Mcheetah

    3. We also had lots of incredible cartoons to watch after school from like, 3-5 p.m. (that is if your mom wasn't using the TV to watch Oprah and The Phil Donahue Show).

    Lorimar

    "He-Man, Transformers, Thundercats, GI Joe. Those were my go-to shows after school."

    —u/Ralph-Hinkley

    4. In the '80s we would play outside a lot...sometimes all day long.

    5. Now that our parents aren't listening, we can admit we did dangerous stuff outside we really shouldn't have.

    Sam @Kaleidiscopeeye

    Riding the playground carousel at the speed of vomit. #DidAsAChildButDangerousNow

    Reply Retweet Favorite

    "Doing dangerous things with no adult supervision. Like building a jump out of snow on the biggest hill in the neighborhood and launching each other off of it on sleds. The broken bones and stitches were good life lessons."

    —u/tmth17

    "I used to love playing in construction sites. One time my friends and I were climbing on some houses that had just been framed, having a great time, when the contractor saw us and called my dad about me being on the roofing frame of a two-story house."

    —u/bouncerwithneckrolls

    6. In our defense, safety was not the concern it is today.

    u/thisisanendtable / Via old.reddit.com

    "Your dad has a pickup truck? EVERYONE PILE IN THE BACK!

    No one wore a bike helmet. What are you some kind of nerd, trying to protect your precious brain?

    Seat belts were totally optional. And every kid was allowed to use fireworks and shoot them off around the 4th of July."

    —u/SuperJew113

    7. We loved going to arcades to play the games...and just hang out.

    Netflix

    "Playing video games in a real arcade, saving up your quarters (read: stealing quarters from dad's change dish on his dresser), getting so good at a game you attracted spectators. Good memories."

    —u/SixOutOfTenBud

    8. Playing video games at home — whether it was on the Atari 2600, Coleco, Sega, or Nintendo — was also the best.

    9. I know you remember taping songs off the radio and calling stations to request songs you needed for your mix tapes.

    10. The excitement of learning about the new TV shows all at once, right before they premiered, was also a rush.

    NBC

    "In August and September the major networks would start promoting their Fall line-ups, including Saturday cartoons. They'd usually run a promotional primetime special like a week before everything premiered, with previews and clips and such. There were no social media campaigns months in advance, no YouTube trailers for the next season of your favorite show. There were ads and the Fall Preview Night, and that was it."

    —u/paleo2002

    11. Then there was the agony and ecstasy of trying to get your hands on the most popular toys — like Cabbage Patch Kids and Transformers — before they sold out immediately.

    ABC

    "I miss the smell of opening a new Transformers action figure and that odd plastic smell that came out of it."

    —u/tommygunz007

    12. Talking on the phone with your friends was a big deal in those pre-cell phone days.

    20th Century Fox

    "It's funny, I absolutely hate talking on the phone now, but back then calling/getting calls from your friends was a huge deal. Especially because you had to worry about trying to stretch the phone cord just far enough around the corner/into the closet/onto the porch so that your mom couldn't eavesdrop (even though she was probably secretly listening on the other line)."

    —u/SJane3384

    "Once I️ talked to this girl l liked for nine hours. Not sure what we talked about, but my mom was pissed. No calls were able to come through because of the busy line."

    —u/JBronson5

    13. And the phones — like the football phone and see-through phone — had personality.

    jayfor80s / Via instagram.com

    "Remember the clear plastic ones? Or hamburger phones?"

    —u/hamdinger125

    "I had a Michael Jordan one that was half a basketball and when it would ring it opened into a stadium with someone announcing Michael Jordan like it was a live game."

    —u/siegewolf

    "I had an R2-D2 phone. The handset was one of his legs and the ring was him making all the noises and his head lightning up and moving. That was my first phone in my room."

    —u/the_jak

    14. MTV was an important part of our lives, and kids today wouldn't get it with Spotify, YouTube, and the rest.

    Epic / CBS

    "They had MUSIC on MTV. All day and night."

    —u/UpYourAli

    "I fell in love with Men At Work, Duran Duran, and The Cars through MTV. I loved the videos so much. It gave me imagery to go with the music I would listen to on my little radio at night. Some of the videos were absolutely amazing to me! MTV is the moment I found my own style of music to enjoy. It let me discover bands I liked, rather than just bands my parents liked."

    —u/Waffuru

    15. There's a good chance you got a Columbia House Record and Tape Club membership and lived in fear (like I did) that the FBI was going to break down your door for past dues. Sure, the first tapes were practically free, but the ones they auto-sent you after that were full price!

    Columbia

    "Columbia House Record Club. One cent got you a dozen or more tapes/albums as long as you bought 1-3 at regular price over the next year. But as an under age kid, sue me! I got all my friends to use their names and addresses. I had hundreds of albums."

    —u/mottld

    16. You probably (make that almost definitely) have great memories of riding your bike around with your pals.

    Warner Bros.

    "Riding bikes and playing outside with your friends til the streetlights came on."

    —u/anthony_of_detroit

    17. In those days, we had to learn how to entertain ourselves.

    Martin Thomas / Via bit.ly

    "When I was bored as a kid, I found a ball, took it outside, and threw it at the house for hours on end. Or I went across the street and hung out with my friend. Or I got on my bike and rode to some random place where the only thing to do was look around and then go back home. There were no iPhones. There were no iPads. There was only imagination."

    —u/boogog

    It would be fun to go back for a day to see it and all of your old friends once again, wouldn't it?

    Netflix

    Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.