/r/AskOldPeople

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We are not a personal advice, health, or mental health sub.

Please only respond directly to posts if you were born on or before 1980. If you are younger, please restrict your activity to asking questions and responding to existing comments.

This is not an advice forum.


About

We are not a personal advice, health, or mental health sub.

Please only respond directly to posts if you were born in or before 1980. If you are younger, please restrict your activity to asking questions and responding to existing comments.


Rules

1. Respondents to posts must be "old": Born 1980 or prior

2. Please do not seek personal advice or emotional support here.

3. Posts must be 300 characters or less

4. No surveys or homework help

5. Be cool to one another

6. Maximum three questions per user per week, one per day

7. Questions should be topical for the subreddit and its audience

8. Questions about current politics are banned until Inauguration Day, 2025

9. Health questions belong in other subreddits


Links

Advice subreddits:

Related subreddits:

/r/AskOldPeople

769,835 Subscribers

5

Ppl who quit the rat race, what was your life like?

Pros, cons? How far into the race were you when you quit? How old were you when you quit? What made you quit? In hindsight, how do would you evaluate your decision?

9 Comments
2024/12/01
06:13 UTC

1

How has technology changed the way people treat each other?

15 Comments
2024/12/01
05:38 UTC

42

what's the dumbest thing you've ever seen someone do?

108 Comments
2024/12/01
03:39 UTC

9

What happened to cuff links?

31 Comments
2024/12/01
02:25 UTC

12

What was the craziest, weirdest, saddest, most awkward, or most heartwarming thing you ever saw at a Thanksgiving dinner?

51 Comments
2024/12/01
01:44 UTC

247

How common was it to go on a drive for fun?

I’ve seen in shows, movies, and books, that cruising around was a thing to do with friends. I’m wondering how common it was and was it really just driving around aimlessly?

399 Comments
2024/12/01
00:16 UTC

10

Worst inventions of all time

Did you ever look at X-ray of your feet with a shoe-fitting fluoroscope?

39 Comments
2024/12/01
00:02 UTC

309

Have you ever seen someone die?

Kinda morbid I know. What happened and how did it affect your life if it did at all?

1074 Comments
2024/11/30
22:25 UTC

0

Fellow oldsters, did you ever cry or faint at a Michael Jackson concert?

16 Comments
2024/11/30
20:33 UTC

35

How was airline travel different in the 1970s and 1980s than today?

I have vague memories of flying in the relatively low-tech era of the early '90s, but I'm curious what it was like before

291 Comments
2024/11/30
20:17 UTC

4

How knowledgeable was the average person on sports back then?

24 Comments
2024/11/30
19:45 UTC

58

Is college really the best time of your life?

Everyone always tells me something along the lines of “enjoy it while you can - only downhill from here”. Do I have anything to look forward to post grad?

277 Comments
2024/11/30
19:07 UTC

67

Did you parent the way you were parented or did you make significant changes

We receive very little training to become a parent and I’m curious if you parented the way you were raised or if you made significant changes and if so, what were they?

274 Comments
2024/11/30
19:03 UTC

15

If you could sum up the latter half of the 20th century for the purpose of contrasting it with present day, what would you say there was more of and less of?

76 Comments
2024/11/30
15:53 UTC

156

When did cigarette smoking become rude?

Everyone smoked when I was a kid, but when was the first time that cigarette smoke was widely regarded as offensive?

680 Comments
2024/11/30
14:02 UTC

12

Was "Black Friday" as chaotic in the 1970s (and earlier) as it became in later decades?

141 Comments
2024/11/30
06:57 UTC

72

When Did You See Your Hard Work Pay Off In Your Children?

Just back from Thanksgiving, I caught myself cleaning the whole place before leaving—a habit my mom drilled into me, though we never agreed on what "clean" meant. It hit me how much her lessons stuck. Parents, when did you realize your efforts truly paid off with your kids?

96 Comments
2024/11/30
04:13 UTC

11

When did people start washing fruit?

My MIL acts like this is an insane thing to do and is genuinely baffled that there would be an extra step before eating it.

118 Comments
2024/11/29
22:24 UTC

38

Have you done and volunteer work ?

I have found that since I retired that I need things to stimulate me and me out of the house. Doing volunteer work has done that and I find it very rewarding.

85 Comments
2024/11/29
23:33 UTC

135

How much meat did you eat growing up?

Where were you, what decades, how much meat did you eat relative to other food?

561 Comments
2024/11/29
22:16 UTC

10

People with acne scars, does it still affect you?

Do you still have that feeling of thinking you're uglier just because you have some acne scars? Did you get over it yet?

37 Comments
2024/11/29
21:28 UTC

16

Do you ever feel like younger people, family or friends, ever overstep any boundaries to help you with things you don't need help with to try and "take care of you" just because you're older? Does it get on your nerves or is it a nice gesture?

53 Comments
2024/11/29
20:34 UTC

19

What type of games did you play on the playground?

147 Comments
2024/11/29
20:32 UTC

6

Think back: Did Papa Smurf wear a shirt?

3/4 adults in my living room just answered incorrectly. I am one of them.

46 Comments
2024/11/29
18:19 UTC

104

Whatever happened to TV trays?

There was always a rack of these small folding tables in every living room, back in the day.

224 Comments
2024/11/29
13:33 UTC

71

What did you save money for first?

A house? A car? A dream trip?

333 Comments
2024/11/29
13:10 UTC

26

How did you calm the rebel down?

How did you come over the way you live yor life and your job? I kind of enjoy the easiness of my office job. I am physically well enough. But the rebel in me... how did you calm that dude down?

117 Comments
2024/11/29
09:18 UTC

4

Do you think smartphones have been a net positive or net negative for society?

95 Comments
2024/11/29
02:25 UTC

14

When is the last time you had a sleep over?

Do you have any stories to share?

67 Comments
2024/11/28
23:50 UTC

92

At Christmas, did you teach your kids to hang the tinsel on the tree "just 1 strand at a time"...and not to tear the wrapping paper when opening gifts? :)

166 Comments
2024/11/28
22:31 UTC

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