I suppose it would be mostly practical skills, cooking, fixing things. Usually had to be done by people themselves.
Maybe also mental things like navigating (with or without paper map) and remembering their daily and weekly agendas.
What other things would be a big difference with the people today?
Apparently recognizing and handling fascists.
1975 is a weird place for that, actually. During and right after WWII motivations for fighting it were mixed. Obviously most white Southerners shipping off to Europe weren’t anti-racist. Obviously Einstein was. The sanitised, mythologised version that people think back to today really got going in the 80’s.
I remember last rememberance day in Canada, our public broadcaster did a live interview with a veteran. He was an actor involved in recruiting, and just casually mentioned it was a blackface act.
Navigating a paper map.
You want to drive to a suburb of a big city. You have an address. The internet doesn’t exist.
How do you get there? Well. You use a map. Almost every glove box would have a local and state map, if not a full map book like a Thomas brothers.
Even more scarce is the ability to navigate a city by simply understanding it’s road system. Give me an address in my home city (a labyrinthine nightmare to visitors) and I can just drive there without looking at a map. It’s practically a party trick now that I can tell where people live by just hearing their address. Which sounds absurd until you realize they no one ever needs to do that anymore.
You should become a cabbie in London. They all have to memorise 320 routes, 25,000 streets and 20,000 places of interest, e.g. hotels, stations, tourist attractions and so on. It’s called The Knowledge. There’s some evidence that mastering The Knowledge actually alters the structure of the brain!
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Road networks in most cities in my country are like someone just dropped a pot of spaghetti. The oldest urban areas here are at most 150 years old too, so it’s not like we can blame the Romans.
I was so confused by this comment until I remembered that US-american streets are planned and numbered. Because while I grew up in a village in the 90s, I wouldn’t be able to tell you where the “Primrosestreet” or the “Blackbird street” is unless I had friends who lived there.
I used to do this when I delivered pizza.bMy phone wasn’t playing well with the GPS because I had put a custom ROM on it that happened to be too much for the thing, plus aging, but the ROM was too good in every other aspect. So I just studied the map on the same computer we clicked through orders on, remembered my route, and in a couple of weeks I didn’t even need to look at the map before going around our zone.
Still helps me navigate cities to this day, even now that I don’t drive at all.
Although living in a post-Soviet country helps with city/road design, making it rather predictable in ways lol
I still have a London A to Z!
Actually a much better way was to use a street directory if you know your way around the town even a bit.
Better even, and how we actually did it was giving instructions. “200m after the large tree by the field, drive on for about 400m, there’s 2 junctions before and mines the third one.”
But I also know orienteering ofc as a Finn
“You wanna go down Three Oak lane, I forget what its ‘proper’ name is, but there used to be a farm there called Three Oak Farm, so that’s what we all call the lane round here. 'Course the farm’s gone. And so have the oaks. Anyway, go along there until you get to the field where the unexploded bomb was found back in '68, and turn right. Then left past the field where the cows got sick last year. If you reach shagger’s hill, you’ve gone too far. Now there’s a ford down that way, so you can’t miss it. Except, I suppose, in this weather since it hasn’t rained in a month and the ford’s probably dried up. Most important thing though, you don’t want to start from here.”
Swede here, how would using a street directory help you navigate without a map?
Sure, I know that at least here in Stockholm and it’s suburbs that when a new area is being developed, they name the streets after a similar theme.
But knowing that Sommarvägen in Täby is located within the district of Hägernäs doesn’t get you very far.
Ugh I hate those new suburbs with themed street names. They are always a maze and I get turned around in them. My mate Martin used to live in one of those where all of the streets were some variation of grass. We would be in the car and ask amongst ourselves: “Where does Martin live again? What was the street? Wasn’t it grass something or other?”. Only to get to that suburb and get really confused as all of those streets were named grass something and then we really couldn’t remember.
But back then before GPS was a common thing and before we had cellphones, we had a sort of vibe navigation system. Getting to the correct city was easy, even if you didn’t know where it was, there would always be signs. But then when we got near our destination, you’d sorta drive in a direction that felt right. You’d be amazed how often we just found the right place like that. Only rarely did we have to check our navigation book tucked under the seat or fold out a big map on the dash. Never did we need to ask for directions, that simply wasn’t done.
You look up a street name. That entry tells you which street it begins from. If you don’t know that, then you look up one further. And repeat until you get to such a main road you’d know it even after looking at a map.
So basically you’d look up the street and then browse back and after you’d have a sort of gps like instructions. “main road until you see X street, then turn there, then drive until you see Y road” etc.
I had several in the car I drove, for all the nearby cities/towns. Many in same covers. So it’d cover the main city and outlying towns. Never had to use a map. (Although again, I can if needed.)
I don’t think I have ever even seen a street directory like that, only a street register showing the placement on a map.
Actually a much better way was to use a street directory if you know your way around the town even a bit.
You generally only had a street directory of your OWN town, outside of specific professional settings.
I wonder if it took quite a bit longer for people to reach their destination. Because not everyone would be as good at reading maps (compared to simply following gps instructions) Maybe that made it more common for people to arrive at different times. or plan longer trips because the driving would take up a bigger part of it.
Also, when driving alone, I can’t imagine holding your map. So you would still have to stop from time to time for long trips. And actually memorize the big lines of how to get to your destination.
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As someone who travelled for work before and after smartphones, absolutely. You couldn’t just open Google Maps, search a business and go there, the problem wasn’t going city to city, but finding a specific place in or outside a city. If you got a request to go to X business either you already knew how to get there, or it would take some planning.
Nowadays my company can receive a request from a customer in another country, and in 1 hour they can plan the trip, reserve the rental car, book a plane, book an hotel for the night. That just wasn’t possible in the past.
I wonder if it took quite a bit longer for people to reach their destination. Because not everyone would be as good at reading maps (compared to simply following gps instructions) Maybe that made it more common for people to arrive at different times. or plan longer trips because the driving would take up a bigger part of it.
Oh it absolutely did. You would regularly have to stop (often after a turn or if you felt like you missed one) and reconsult the map. You just accounted for that additional time. Longer trips are often less of an issue, because its usually, you get to a big main highway and its cruise most of the rest of the way.
And plenty of times, you might get lost/ not be able to find yourself on the map. You’d have to pull over and ask for help/ directions. You might write the directions down on a piece of paper, but that doesn’t do you much good if you missed a turn and didn’t know it.
Meeting up with people, no phone. You arrange a place and a time, and you show up, if the other person isn’t there… You wait.
It was super important not to leave people hanging
Recently I have started having to ask hours before a plan is meant to execute, whether the other parties are still attending. Three times out of four I’ve been cancelled on - forgot, too busy, whatever the reasons were.
When was I meant to find out? When I called you asking how far away you are, only to find you’re not coming at all?
Basically, those people were not going with you. I wouldn’t consider them your friends. Friends would at least tell you they are bailing so you don’t go
Sometimes I’ll be getting myself ready to do the thing, but if someone reaches out and gives me an out… Yeah I might just take them up on it. I’m big on canceling plans
Reading analog clocks
i read that as reloading analog clocks and i think that fits too.
I grew up reading analog clocks and it only clicked in the last year what top (the hour) and bottom (half) of the hour meant.
Memorizing phone numbers
We didn’t memorise numbers! We just remembered them after having to manually dial them a hundred times.
That’s memorization in action
I feel like it’s still important to remember the numbers of some important contacts, so you can actually call them using somebody elses phone if yours dies or breaks. But I suppose not many people would bother
Lol, not only do I memorize phone numbers of family members, I did my parents taxes so often, I can memorize the social security numbers of all my household members and all their birthdates.
Also I still remember addresses I used to live in.
Same here. I even still remember my phone number from 40 years ago, living as a child in Tehran, Iran. Numbers just stick in my brain.
Mmmm, interesting, can you list off that data along with your mother’s maiden name? It’s uh for a friend…
Eh even before the Internet people had other tools to help with this. Physical books with people’s addresses and phone numbers. Specialized holders for various business cards. Yellow pages and white pages. I suppose a lot of incidental memorization is lost but I don’t think it’s really a skill lost so much as the tool changed.
And those tools pre-date the invention of the telephone, so it’s not like people spent hundreds of years memorizing phone numbers before writing was invented.
That skill morphed into remembering user names and passwords.
Writing in cursive
This is such a good thing. Whenever I look at cursive writing it’s indecipherable. It being included in school curriculums really feels like someone went “no I’m good at writing! Cursive writing is good! Children need to learn it, in fact.”
At this point it’s actually kind of useful as a mild coded writing that excludes idiots.
Do you mean that you can’t read it at all? It’s really close to lettering, it’s just got swoopies attached to most letters. There are only around 4 that you have to know how they’re different, but the rest are super similar.
Capital letters:
F, R, and z
This is definitely dependent on the person writing. Some cursive is illegible, others is totally fine.
I mean, some non-cursive is totally illegible. My print is pretty bad, but my cursive is fine
That’s true. I learned cursive first, but never really properly. Then learned print instead. Now my writing is a mashup of cursive and print, with the same letter in a single sentence sometimes using different writing styles. Great!
There’s a bunch of different systems that vary how close they are to standard print
If you knew how to drive, you most likely knew how to use a manual transmission.
Almost every adult in the UK learns on manual - I’ve known about three people in my life who learned on automatic and are only licensed to drive automatics - but with the rise of electric cars (and an increase in automatics generally) I wonder if my kids will learn.
What I never learned, but which my parents did was exactly when and to use the choke on a car. I know fuel injection made chokes unnecessary and I’ve never driven a car that had one.
Did u ever use a different kind of motor with one?
I don’t think so. Oh, wait, I have a petrol strimmer / bushcutter that has a choke! So, yes!
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This one depends on where you live, I suppose. In some european countries it’s still quite common to learn to drive with a manual.
Quite common as in, I’ve only met one person here in my life who can only drive automatic. Electric cars being more mainstream means many more people are driving automatic, but if you do your licence in an automatic you are not allowed to drive a manual car. So I’d wager over 99% of people can drive a manual. This is in Belgium btw.
Lots of semi truck drivers know how to drive a manual and semi truck driver is one of the most common occupations in the US. Everyone at my company’s location knows how even though we have an all automatic fleet.
Edit: Just to address the premise of the question only a couple of us were driving 50 years ago.
Is it really?
How scary is it to drive down a big hill?
Yeah it really is. Most everyone trained before the last 15 years were likely trained on an asynchronous manual transmission.
In good weather? Only the first few times. In bad weather? I’m on high alert like a dog who knows the mailman is delivering a vacuum cleaner. Take it slow, make sure the brakes work, and know where the runaway ramps are. A manual transmission is usually preferable for mountains for better control or for at least the illusion.
Stay safe out there! Godspeed!
You likely already know this but if anybody else reading is interested, this is because if you test for your commercial license in an automatic then you’re restricted to only automatics. The schools are still teaching manual, so it doesn’t make any sense to learn that then test in an automatic and get that restriction.
Navigation. You used to remember the way to all these places. Now it’s just on the phone.
Worst fear is phone dying while driving.
Want to say general automotive competency. As in you had to deal with carburetors on cold days so you had to adjust intake, spray starting fluid into it, know about oil pressure and warming it up, etc. Some people are barely able to conceptualize putting gas into the thing now.
Knowing the prices of typical appliances and such. Example, modern The Price is Right compared to the 80s and before. 50 years ago, people were more likely to know the prices for a multitude of reasons, one being there were more home owners in those generations who might be looking at replacements or upgrades. Now, home ownership is less and I couldn’t begin to tell you the price of a washing machine being a renter.
Also, there were like 3 washing machines on sale. Now you have 50/manufacturer.
Mending clothing, basic auto repair and woodworking.
Using a rotary phone. looking up a book in a card catalog. The ability to solve your own problems.
The ability to solve your own problems.
IMO, critical thinking is the single most important skill a human can learn. Teach a man to fish and all that.
They don’t/cant learn that in today’s world. They have abandoned learning and switched it out with answers to everything.
@grok can u explane wat bro sed in inglish plees
Was with you untill the solve your own probles thing. I know of way many people who did not solve their own problems 50 yrs ago, passing their problems to their children instead.
When I was very young around 50 years ago I built a small flashlight using a plastic tick tack box, paper clips,a flashlight bulb and two AAA batteries. No one showed me how I just figured it out. So just because you couldn’t see the problem solvers among you doesn’t mean they were not there.
Yep, and that is still true. I was thinking more of the what to make of your life, family and mental health problems solving though.
I don’t know if you are asking a question about my life choices but I see a therapist regularly. My children answer the phone when I call and when something breaks people come to me for a fix. I’m fine, better than most.
Oh, I meant it in general, wasn’t talking about you specifically, I can see how my use of “you” could lead to confusion though. Anyway, it’s nice to hear you’re doing well :)
I wish I was better at solving my own problems. But also depends on what you consider solving your own problems is, exactly.
I learned early not to rely on other people, so I tended to look up everything I need in books and online.But some problems are not solved with research, or suggestions from others online.
Some problems are only solved by giving yourself time to process them yourself.This is something I’m still lacking in, perhaps because I always searched outside of myself for solutions.
I’m amazed by the solutions some people can come up with without having access to information from books/online.It sounds like you are better at it than most kids these days. I look up solutions all the time. No sense reinventing the wheel. I’ve also spent days on some problem without looking elsewhere for a solution. The dopamine from solving a problem myself is excellent.
People got more practice solving their own problems, anyway. Education to use for that was unambiguously lower, though, and there was plenty of people not salving problems.
Uhh… not that I’m any good at it, but tying knots.
Bowline is a very cool and useful knot
I only know some basic knots. What I do know are some shoelace knots, like this fastest shoe knot. (this website in general has a lot of interesting information on shoelacing)
Here’s how to tie another one:
Well, now I know what I’m going to do during the weekend :)
That might be fast, but it doesn’t look very secure… the surgeon’s knot seems better for actually staying up.
It actually holds up perfectly fine. Have been using it for more than 20 years, no issues.
Good to know!
Idling away the time, being bored.
Doing nothing. That might be the biggest loss in the last decades.
There is just this overtone of restlessness and tension that didn’t seem to be present prior.Also connection with your local community. 50 years ago, it was basically a given. It was part of life.
Now, not so much.
Threading reel to reel tape.
Social Skills. Navigation. Do it yourself. Touching Grass.
If you consider them to be inversely proportional to social disorder, social skills would be at a nadir in 1975. But, there’s other ways to look at it, of course.
