# What would you be doing now in the 80's? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2017, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678 "2017-08-03T06:35:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/1 "2017-08-03T06:35:48Z")
It’s a simple question. You’re the same age as you are now. No internet. No smartphones. You probably don’t have a PC and there may be a local BBS if you do. This is about your personal time while you’re not working. You only have satellite TV if you have a 12’ dish in your back yard, otherwise you have 3 channels to chose from and maybe 2 UHF channels if you’re lucky. Bottom line. It’s your leisure time and there’s no SDMB, what are you doing? ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/2 "2017-08-03T06:51:37Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > It’s a simple question. You’re the same age as you are now. No internet. No smartphones. You probably don’t have a PC and there may be a local BBS if you do. > > This is about your personal time while you’re not working. You only have satellite TV if you have a 12’ dish in your back yard, otherwise you have 3 channels to chose from and maybe 2 UHF channels if you’re lucky. > > Bottom line. It’s your leisure time and there’s no SDMB, what are you doing? Watching cable TV, playing guitar, or reading books/magizines about guitars, motorcycles,cars etc. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/3 "2017-08-03T07:05:36Z")
Medieval reenactment, roleplaying, rockhounding, painting, reading …pretty much the same as it is now. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/4 "2017-08-03T07:08:45Z")
Read. Go to the video store and rent a movie (on VHS). ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/5 "2017-08-03T07:37:38Z")
On Compuserve. Using my Kaypro. Hopefully I’ve discovered a thing so you can download fast and not incur a lot of connection charges. Or maybe I’m playing Ladder on it. Or…I don’t know why you think I only have three channels or a dish. There was cable in the '80s. HBO, Cinemax. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/6 "2017-08-03T07:46:55Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > otherwise you have 3 channels to chose from and maybe 2 UHF channels if you’re lucky. um, no, we had cable in the '80s. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/7 "2017-08-03T07:50:05Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > um, no, we had cable in the '80s. We even had cable in the 70’s, I remember getting cable in Miramar FL in 1979.😃 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/8 "2017-08-03T10:52:08Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > It’s a simple question. You’re the same age as you are now. No internet. No smartphones. You probably don’t have a PC and there may be a local BBS if you do. Easy. I spend my free time on the [minitel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel), chatting, trying to pick up, arguing and playing games. Pretty much what I actually did in the 80’s, in fact. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/9 "2017-08-03T11:03:53Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Medieval reenactment, roleplaying, rockhounding, painting, reading …pretty much the same as it is now. In aparthied South Africa? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/10 "2017-08-03T11:09:40Z")
I watched a lot of TV in the '80s, cable or no cable. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/11 "2017-08-03T11:28:07Z")
hmmm…1980’s, no internet. Wow, it’s hard to imagine what we did for entertainment… Ah! now I remember!!! . … … … … … … … … …We read the “letters” to Penthouse. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/12 "2017-08-03T11:31:15Z")
In the cinema watching _Wonder Woman_, as it’s just come out this week because we always get everything way after the US ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/13 "2017-08-03T12:03:31Z")
Having devoted as much time to meaningful projects as the future **TokyoBayer** wastes on the net, I have: [ul]found a cure for cancer[/ul] [ul]brought about word peace[/ul] [ul]eliminated hunger[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/14 "2017-08-03T12:12:14Z")
I remember teaching myself code back in those days. Then Windows and the internet came along and simplified everything and I quickly lost interest. Probably still be big into video games. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/15 "2017-08-03T12:14:49Z")
On my Commodore 128 using Quantum Link, or given that I’m at my current age and would presumably have a comparable job, my Mac Plus using Prodigy. Q-Link became AOL which is where this forum originates, so maybe I’d lobby Cecil version 2.0 or 3.0 or whichever he was then to host a Q-Link or Prodigy board. I’d definitely be developing my career, because it cost 6 cents per minute to connect back then, plus zone fees if it were an inter-LATA call. And remember, all of this at 300 to 2400 bps most of the decade. Actually, assuming an income comparable today’s, I’d probably have an Amiga 4000 and Video Toaster and would be a pioneer in home-hobby video production and 3D modelling. Pity that there would be no place to upload my work, though, because of the aforementioned slow speeds and lack of efficient video compression. I figure that I’d still be a bicyclist. Most of the TV at the time kind of sucked. There was Doctor Who on PBS, Cheers on NBC, and not much else, so I wouldn’t worry about satellite dishes or cable. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/16 "2017-08-03T12:17:00Z")
30 years ago there was FidoNet and UseNet and there were offline readers. I remember using SLMR and then OLX. And I’d be playing Bridge and Croquet much as I do these days. I’d spend more time reading newspapers and books, going to my club, and going to concerts. 35 years ago, it would be Bridge, Croquet, newspapers, books, club, and concerts. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/17 "2017-08-03T12:22:22Z")
Bowling and playing tennis. Probably a whole lot of both without a computer around to distract me. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/18 "2017-08-03T12:29:35Z")
MTV, before it became Empty-V. Riding my bike, fishing, reading, dreaming. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/19 "2017-08-03T12:53:17Z")
Our household had cable TV in Canada in the very early 1970s. I don’t really recall NOT having cable. In the 1980s we certainly rented VHS movies; it was a huge and growing industry. In the early part of the decade you rented the VCR too, because they were prohibitively expensive to purchase. By the latter part of the decade you could buy one for, like 400 bucks, or about $750 today. After going to the video arcade and playing Galaxian, Galaga, Defender, and Pole Position, we would go for a few beers at the bar and then come home and play Donkey Kong on my Atari 800XL home computer while continuing to drink. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678/20 "2017-08-03T13:16:35Z")
Spend a great deal of time in the library reading all sorts of stuff. Watching over the air or cable TV. Now I do neither. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-be-doing-now-in-the-80s/792678.md?page=2)