"My Teenage Grandson Didn't Believe Me": 21 Normal Practices And Routines From "Way Back When" That Younger Generations Will Never Get To Experience

Recently, BuzzFeed Community members shared the everyday experiences from "back in the day" that have practically become obsolete over time, and as a Gen Z'er, I'm quite fascinated. Here are some unique but common experiences from the past that, depending on your age, will have you feeling completely nostalgic or genuinely perplexed:

1. "I really miss full-service gas stations. The attendants would fill your car, wash the windshield, and check the tires."

2. "I'm 83, and schools are so different nowadays. Before, we could go in and out of school, as could our parents. We could share food and bring whatever with us. My friends and I could go off anywhere, and as long as we were back in time for class, no one really gave a hoot. Now, my seven-year-old granddaughter can't even bring homemade cupcakes to share with her friends in class, and my teenage grandson has to go through a security checkpoint. I tried telling him what it was like back in our day, and it's sad he didn't believe me."

—Anonymous

3. "When I was very young, a truck would drive by every so often spraying a large DDT fog to kill mosquitos. All the kids in the neighborhood (including me) would jump on bikes and follow the truck, pretending to be flying in the clouds. I'm surprised I don't have cancer at this point."

4. "Not only did we have to type on a typewriter, but we had to use carbon paper to make copies. If you'd made a typo, it was a big pain having to erase the original AND all the copies. Then, you had to get everything lined up again before resuming typing! I don't miss this 'antique' method at all."

—Anonymous

5. "We had a party line in the late '50s. My father was a doctor, and our phone number was in the telephone book like everyone else's. He got calls all through the night. I shudder to think of the personal health information that was out there for anyone to listen in on. We were the first to get a private line when more lines became available. Bet the neighbors were happy!"

6. "When looking for full-time jobs, we had to read the local newspaper 'wanted' ads. If we wanted a student summer job, we had to walk to every single potential location and hand them our resumes!"

—Carvin, 50s, Canada

7. "Every morning in public school, we'd pledge allegiance to the flag, sing a patriotic song, then pray. We'd then practice drills if a foreign country attacked. Each student would get under their desk and hold their hands around their heads. That was a wild time."

8. "When I lived in Virginia, your social security number was your driver's license number. And when I was in the military, if you wanted to make a purchase in the post exchange with a check, you had to put your SSN on it. To save some time, some soldiers got their checks printed with their SSN on them."

— ginnyjensen

9. "The teacher lounges from elementary to high school were so smoky from cigarettes that you could barely see who you were looking for when tasked to find someone. In high school, there was a large designated area outside for the student smokers."

10. "In eleventh-grade chemistry class, we learned to use a slide rule to multiply and divide. It was my primary arithmetic tool through a PhD in engineering in 1969. A slide rule is three side-by-side sticks arranged where the middle one can slide in grooves cut in the two outer ones. There are numbers from 1 to 10 scribed on each stick, and the distances between the numbers are proportional to the logarithms of the numbers. They work by adding or subtracting the logs (actually the distances on the sticks) to multiply or divide. And if there are decimal points, you have to keep track of them in your head!"

—David, Texas

11. "I grew up in the '60s. We had dry cleaning delivered each week. Plus, every summer, a produce truck drove through the neighborhood. We also had meat and milk deliveries."

12. "In the 1950s and '60s (and probably before my time), hems on girls' dresses and skirts were made extra wide so, as you grew, the hem could be lowered and re-sewn to keep it at a modest length. Hand-me-downs would sometimes have a visible line where the fabric was worn out a bit at different lengths."

—Anonymous

13. "Growing up in the South, it was common for kids to bring their rifles and bows to school during hunting season since many of them went straight to hunt after school. As long as the kids checked in with the main office about how many weapons they had, the guns and bows could stay in their vehicles in the school parking lot. I remember walking to class and seeing gun racks full of weapons. Later on, those who brought weapons to school had to bring them into the main office to hold until after school."

14. "I remember going to the supermarket, and grocery boys would bag all our purchases, push the cart, walk back with us to the car, and load the groceries in the trunk!"

— glitteryking76

15. "I had a teacher hit the entire class on the hand with a ruler because we were talking too much. She used full force and really went in with those swings. This was in the mid-'90s."

16. "I went to school in England during WWII. The school was about a mile-and-a-half from home, so we had to walk to school carrying our gas masks. My brother and I changed schools when we were seven, and the new school was about three or four miles away from home, and we'd just walk."

—Peter, 86, New Jersey

17. "I'm 47, and I remember how accessible cigarettes were to us as kids. My buddy and I couldn't have been more than six or seven, and his mother would send us to the convenience store to get her a pack of cigarettes and candy bars for us. There was also a glass jar of 'loosies' at the register, where you could buy just one smoke. ANYONE could buy one. I even remember the old cigarette vending machines that were at bus stops and stuff. We were told smoking was bad for us, but literally anyone, at any age, could get cigarettes."

18. "I'm 80, and in the '50s, we'd keep meat in a central frozen locker in town. Every day or so, we'd go get meat out for dinner."

—Anonymous

19. "I was born in the mid-'80s and grew up in the '90s. I'm not that old, but it was still a time before everyone had cell phones. This meant that whenever you wanted to contact someone you had a crush on, you had to call their home phone and muster up the courage to ask their parents if they could talk. I feel like this really built character in kids at a young age. It was also very innocent. We didn't have the ability to just secretly text or Snapchat a school crush (which, to me, feels like the 'easy route' now). It doesn't build character and can lead to nefarious things."

20. "In the '60s, we lived in Southern California. Every girl took home economics in seventh grade. When it came to sewing, half of us would use a Singer electric, and the other half used a Singer treadle."

—Janet, 70

21. Lastly: "We would always play outside, even if it was dark. We had no worries playing late outside. Our doors were never locked or closed at night, and we'd play hopscotch, marbles, and jacks. When we were thirsty, we'd drink water from the garden hose, and it'd be the best-tasting water ever — especially on a hot summer day. My grandmother had a little mom-and-pop market. I would always walk from my grandma's house to this market to buy my favorite bubblegum grape-flavored and an ice cream bullet. I think I paid 50 cents for both at the time. Those were the days!"

If you're an older adult, what experiences from "back then" do you think younger generations would find strange or confusing? Share with us in the comments, or you can submit your story anonymously using this form!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.