Recently, older adults of the BuzzFeed Community shared the unique but common experiences from "way back when" that are basically obsolete in today's age. Here are some stories that, depending on your age, will either have you feeling extremely nostalgic or incredibly confused:
1. "Girls and women had to wear rubber swim caps in the pool. They were hard to get on and hurt to get off. That changed in the '60s when guys started sporting longer hair."
2. "We let our dogs out whenever, and they would come home whenever. Dogs freely roamed our suburban neighborhood, so we often had to watch our step!"
3. "When I was in elementary school, I would go home for lunch. My dad, who worked the second shift, would have soup and a sandwich ready on TV trays in front of the TV. After lunch, I would just walk back to school and finish the day."
4. "Our high school recognized the opening day of deer season, so we got the day off. The guys had guns in their trucks, and no one would have ever thought about shooting up the school."
5. "We didn't have cellphones, so we had to find a pay phone to call home. We didn't have Google to ask questions for essays or book reports, either, so we went to the library to find out information."
6. "During and after WWII, some common items were in short supply. Families were issued ration books with tear-out pages. You were allowed to purchase a bag of sugar, but if you used it up before the next book came, you had to use honey. Also, you could only get one pound of butter. Margarine was also available, but it was white and in a bag with an orange dye button, which my brother and I had to squeeze and mash in the bag until it turned pale yellow. Nylon was in short supply, so ladies learned how to stitch up the runs on stockings."
—Sandy, 85, Florida
7. "We used coal to heat our home in the '50s and '60s. Most kids learned how to drive by the time they were 14."
8. "In the '50s, our refrigerator was actually an icebox. It stood upright like today's models. The ice man would come around with big blocks of ice that went to the top of the compartment."
—Donna, 74, Florida
9. "My first flight was on Northwest Orient Airlines. It was a three-hour domestic trip, and I was seated in economy. For mealtime, I had a medium rare steak, a baked potato, vegetables, a roll, and a glass of burgundy. My, how things have changed."
10. "In high school, I'd play arcade games in the school store, and there'd be a silver metal ashtray standing next to the game. I'd be playing while holding my burning cigarette. Man, the '80s were the best decade to grow up in."
11. "When I was a kid, we had drive-in movie theaters where you had to anchor the speaker by rolling up your window to hold it on. You would pay one price for an entire car full of people! As kids, we'd often go dressed in our pajamas and bring sleeping bags that we'd drape across the hood of the car. It was great fun and cheap entertainment. There are very few drive-ins now, but if there is one in or near your town, please check it out!"
12. "You had to do whatever other adults told you to do, even those you weren't related to. I remember one time, my friend and I were pretending that the curb was a tightrope. Some lady came out of her house and told us to stop it or we'd get hurt. We stopped what we were doing, no questions asked. It doesn't work that way now."
13. "At the supermarket, there was always a person at the end of the line who'd bag your groceries. It happens occasionally still today, but it was a requirement back then, and it made getting groceries a whole lot faster."
14. "If you went to Catholic mass in the '60s, women who didn't wear a hat had a tissue pinned to their heads by a nun at the door."
15. "You could go into a hospital, walk by the maternity ward, and look at all the babies through the windows. The curtains were always open; it was great!"
16. "In the mid-'60s, I went to a package liquor store in Colorado when I was 11 and told the man in the window that I wanted a pint of bourbon and a six-pack of beer for my uncle. The man asked who my uncle was, and I told him his name and the street he lived on. The man in the window simply said, 'Okay,' and I gave him the money for the alcohol."
17. "It was legal for employers to ask a woman during an interview when their last period was. It happened to me, and it didn't faze me at the time because it was considered the norm."
18. "There used to be big trucks lumbering down the streets in the late springs and summers, pumping out yellow clouds of DDT (insecticide) to kill mosquitoes. All the neighborhood kids would run through the DDT cloud like it was some big fun event."
19. "The lyrics to most songs were written on the inside sleeve when you purchased an album."
20. "I was telling some twentysomething coworkers how I saw fireflies the other night, and they didn't know what I was talking about. I guess they don't know what they are?"
21. Lastly: "At shoe stores, X-ray machines were used to look at our feet to determine shoe size. We didn't wear lead aprons or any protection. We just stood on the little platform of the machine, and it showed the bones in our feet."
Running through insecticide for fun is, um, wild. If you're an older adult, what are some common experiences from "back in the day" that younger people will never get to experience? Let us know in the comments, or you can anonymously submit your story using the form below!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.