The 1980s
Do you want to frolic in a field of flowers, or dance all night at a disco? Maybe you daydream about a time way before the ’60s or ’70s (and likewise, far beyond the modern United States). Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live in a completely different country, and in a totally different time period…?
It begs the question of whether you could have been just as happy, or even happier in another time. Should you have been born in another time? People everywhere have asked themselves this same question, and many have given a lot of thought to which time period they belong in the most, as well as which time period was truly the best to be alive in. Check out some of these interesting responses from people from all over…
Pre- Or Post-WWI In Europe
The ’80s; almost all of the advantages of today but without social media and social media attention seekers. Also, the fashion was so exaggerated. The hair was tall and the colors were bright. The music was awesome, and Michael Jackson was at his prime with Madonna and Prince. Kids were still kids and didn’t have iPads to keep them entertained, they had real toys.
Personally speaking, romance in the modern age sucks, but in the ’80s, things just seemed so much more romantic. Do you like a girl? You ask her out instead of DMing her. Reddit User: -Harley-Chomp5
My Great Grandma Saw It All
Pre- or post-WWI Europe/Britain. Or the US from about the 1890s onwards. I’d probably go to Europe and Britain because there are more countries/locations to experience. Pre-WWI Britain and then post-WWI Europe. I’d avoid Italy and Spain because of the political climate. But that still leaves interwar France and Germany. No TV or internet. But that still leaves radio, movie theaters, and all kinds of cultural activities.
Stuff like the 1936 Olympics, boxing matches, famous car races, and whatever else. It would be a chance to experience the earliest years of aviation and automotive development. Reddit User: OB1_kenobi
The Old West
My great grandma’s era. She lived from 1899 to 1980. When she was born, most people traveled by horse; even by train it could take a couple of weeks to get from the east coast to the west. When she died, you could fly across the country in 4-5 hours, everyone drove cars, there was TV and radio, and men had walked on the moon.
It was an incredible time period to have lived in. In the history of man, I don’t think there is any other time period that can compare. Think of all the things she saw! Reddit User: DBH114
That ‘70s Lifestyle
I’d definitely go with the Old West. I grew up in CA and always loved the stories about outlaws and life before all the states were created. I always found it hard to imagine a life where I lived pre-cars and freeways. I’d love to see the big open skies and untouched land.
But it wouldn’t be great for me seeing as how I’m a girl, but I’d live with it for the chance to make a new life. Maybe practice taking care of myself only using the land around me. Reddit User: compositionnotebook1
The Silent Generation
The ‘70s because the hippie era would be fun to live in. I’ve always wanted to try out that van life, and from my romanticized view of the ‘70s, they always seemed into that kind of free-living lifestyle. And the music scene and the style seemed the most laid back, but I would definitely still have to shower and not be gross.
So maybe just now, but with the ‘70s vibe and lifestyle to a point. Now you just have to worry about affording a place to live, and I feel like back then it was so much more easy-going. Reddit User: Ames-jackalope
I Would Be Born In 1840
The Silent Generation. Born in the early ’20s-’40s (too young to fight). A teen/young adult in the ’50s (economy boom, secure jobs, awesome music). An adult in the ’60-’80s (buy home and car before inflation, Social Security, groovy music, good work ethic). An elder in the ’90s-today (retired nice and early, living it up before the dom-com bubble, stagnating wages, and the housing market collapse).
Except for Vietnam and dealing with parents that did the whole Great Depression thing. That would suck, but the rest just seems nice and fulfilling. Reddit User: readlovegrow
The UK 1860-1930
I would be born about 1840, come through the Civil War intact, join the westward expansion with the Army, retire about the time the frontier closes in 1890, and live a comfortable life as a gentleman farmer in the Midwest, but go rogue and tool around Mexico as a member of a Wild Bunch-style gang and die around 1914, just as the world is changing again.
Or live in the late 5th-century Gaul and watch the western empire die around me. That’d be cool. I just wish I could do something cool like this stuff now. Reddit User: [redacted]
The Urbanist
I would say the period between 1860-1930, as it is probably one of the most interesting places one could live, and of the places I could live, I would say the UK. Pretty much every major historic event within this period had at least a hint of British involvement in it.
Plus, this was the time of the great social and political movements that set the stage for the world we live in now: nationalism, communism, anarchism, socialism, fascism, and the conflicts they created. Reddit User: bigbupkis
Pre-1800s China
As an urbanist, I’d like to have been born in 1866 in either a big city in the Northeast, Chicago, or San Francisco. The Civil War would have been behind me, and Reconstruction was a desperate time, but it wouldn’t have affected me much in my adolescence and my geographic location.
The prime of my life would have started in Victorian America, when architecture was at its aesthetic height. I’d be too old for the draft of WW1. My late prime would have been the Roaring ’20s. Reddit User: combuchan
200 AD West Mexico
I was just thinking about this the other day. My current answer would be sometime in pre-1800s China. I’m always astounded by the longevity and continuity of their pre-modern society. I think the Song Dynasty is considered the Golden Age, but I’d love to be in Xi’an in the 640s. The Tang dynasty is only a few decades old and the Buddhist sutras are being carried back from India.
I imagine it would have been an exciting time to be alive, were my situation privileged enough. Reddit User: louissullivan
French Coureur Des Bois
Probably 200 AD West Mexico. I can check out the guachimontones being built by the Teuchitlan culture, figure out what language they spoke, what their beliefs actually were, why they made hollow ceramic figures, and what kinds of food they ate. And if I get bored, I can just head east along the Central Mexican plateau and go see Teotihuacan and see how dense the city actually was.
Also, I’d find out who ruled the city, where their leaders were buried, and what language they spoke. Reddit User: Mictlantecuhtli
Modern Plumbing
I adore my modern conveniences, but just for fun, I would love to be a French Coureur des Bois, tramping around the woodlands of the Great Lakes, maybe settling down with a nice piece of land somewhere near Detroit. It would be a radically different North America than we are used to now, particularly as a Michigander who grew up in this time period.
But I’d want to be dead before the French and Indian War. I don’t want to live during the fall of my empire, just the “good times.” Reddit User: mtrugger2
Sengoku Jidai
I’m quite partial to modern plumbing. You know, having hot water without having to carry it up from the creek and heat it over a fire. Also electricity; I could do without TV if I had to, but I’d hate to give up my refrigerator. Women of my grandmother’s generation talked about “my first family” and “my second family,” and I can do without that. Also dying of infections because there are no antibiotics.
Also women having no legal rights. Probably a few other things. Mostly modern plumbing. Reddit User: BigSisterof5
The Last Music Movement
Japan during Sengoku Jidai, about the 16-17th century, the era that was warring states, with samurai dominant in politics. If I were born into a samurai family, then I would work for the daimyo as best I could, accepting trades from foreigners. If the daimyo was a tyrant, then I would expel him and make myself the leader of my own clan, then unite all Japan under my rule and make people happy.
This is also coming from someone that has dedicated their life to knowing all I can about Japan, though. Reddit User: LordofWarN02
Rome During The Republican Era
The ’90s because that was kind of the last music movement in the country. It was the Seattle Rock scene, like Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, and Sound Garden; LA punk rock was getting big with Green Day, Yellow Card, Blink 182, and Weezer. It was when we started to have technology but before it took over.
Kids got to grow up the “old fashioned” way of playing outside, and it seemed like there was less contention or stress, and people liked each other more then. Reddit User: artillion-35__
The 1960s Financial Power Era
Today, obviously, we have so many things that make our lives so much easier and just comfy, but aside from that, if I had to choose another era, it would probably be Rome during the Republican Era, ideally as some form of low nobility or equestrian. Representative democracy, the Roman baths, Italian food, running water and plumbing; what’s not to love?
The art was also perfection. I mean, medical technology wasn’t awesome, but it was better than what came after it. Reddit User: samuelmelcher
The Fashionable 1970s
The 1960s. The US at the peak of financial power. Hippies, counter-culture, free love before AIDs. LBJ and Great Society, the Civil Rights Act. Things weren’t perfect, but I don’t really think they ever were. It would have been nice to witness all that was happening. Easy to get decent jobs and benefits without much education. Usually buy a house for two times your annual income or less.
Jet travel made the world more available for travel adventures. Wow, I just made myself depressed to live in today’s time. Reddit User: oldgeezerhippie1
No Time Like Today
I would love to spend some time in the ’70s because of the amazing fashion, the free love/hippie movement, the disco culture, the television and movies, the excitement as the world gradually became more connected, and yet, the simplicity of not yet having Internet and cellphones. I would love to spend a day or two just seeing what daily life was like.
I’m sure I would like to come back to the present time. My mom was in her 20s during the 1970s and always talks about how fun and carefree it was. Reddit User: [redacted]
The 2010s
Now. When I think about what opportunities my mother had when she was growing up (she was born in the late 1920s), she (the daughter of a miner) could be a teacher or a nurse and would be made to leave the nursing profession if she got married. My grandmother used to scare her into studying by saying that if she didn’t pass her exams, she’d have to go into service and become a maid.
Mum became a teacher. We have come so far that there’s no way I’d want to give up any of the freedoms I have now. Reddit User: [redacted]
The 1950s Culture
I would say the 2010s because many diseases have been eliminated, and all the information/music/art/culture ever is accessible from any computer or phone. Cars are better, and you can travel almost to any place on the globe in less than a week. Average intelligence is higher than at any other time, and now people mostly won’t automatically kill you because you don’t look like they do.
Also, I love being able to read people’s answers to questions like this on the internet, and this is pretty much the only time in history that you can do that… yet! Reddit User: [redacted]
The 1940s
Part of me wants to say the ’50s-’60s for the culture, the music, the economy, and a few other things, but then I would have to pick what I’d like to get beat up for, such as liking soccer, liking men, or a few other things probably. Plus then I’d get to actually live through the AIDS epidemic, and that’d suck.
Part of me says ancient Greece/Rome, but my language skills aren’t that great, and I’d probably either give them some disease from today or catch one from back then or both! Reddit User: RandomPotato
1985-1995 Grunge
The 1940s. In the 1940s, women were empowered when they started going to work for the war effort. Women started to be featured in movies as the protagonist and as a working woman. They were treated like a lady, and they were treated with respect as a professional. When men came back from the war and wanted their jobs back, the backlash towards women who were celebrated for carrying on production during the war must have been demoralizing.
The movies changed after that; women were portrayed as objects whose desires were centered around men. Reddit User: [redacted]
Between The ‘50s And ‘90s
I would say like the 1985-1995 grunge/rock era. I was born in ’88, and my mom was a grunge rock club show chick, and I remember just being little and watching her and her friends get ready to go out. I love the outfits and the music and the “just do your own thing” lifestyle.
I am super into a lot of music from back then, and I wish I was old enough to have hung out with them and been a part of that era. Reddit User: yourbiggest_fan
1940, Specifically
I’d be comfortable anywhere between the ’50s and ’90s as an adult. I’d actually love to be about 10 years older than I am now and have been born in the early ’70s instead of the early ’80s. I’d experience the first big video game boom, the early Saturday morning cartoons, etc. I feel like childhood reached its peak in the early to mid-’80s.
Today, kids just have fake childhoods, it seems. They just have crap cartoons with bright colors, online toys, and the looming inevitability of social media. Reddit User: [redacted]
Right Now
I’d move to New York and try to get on with FDNY. Then I’d try to get stationed in the Bronx or Upper Manhattan. During the late ‘60s and into the ‘70s, the city of New York would have over 250,000 alarms per year. Most houses fought between 2 and 5 high rise fires a day for years on end while the department had to cut people due to budget drawbacks.
They were called the War Years. Think about how cool it would be to fight fires and save lives all the time. Reddit User: FlashoverPhantom
The Late ‘90s To Early 2000s
With the knowledge of life as it exists today in the developed world, everyone who says they’d rather be living in the past is blowing smoke up our collective butts. Why do so many people romanticize past eras? It’s the best time to be alive anywhere, period. Less crime, less war, less hunger, and less disease. By every measurable metric, this is the best time to be alive.
Don’t kid yourselves, today (and the future) will be the best time to live in. Unless there’s an unforeseen disaster, then in that case scrap this post entirely. Reddit User: yyxxww
David Attenborough
I would want to live in the late ’90s-early 2000s in my teens. It was all the good of modern-day without the stress of comparing yourself to everyone on social media. Also, it would have been nice to see what it would have been like to be an adult before 9/11. That really shaped how we do things now.
Not to mention all of the cute fashion trends that went on during that time and the best chick flicks. Reddit User: plaid_monkeygilbert
Edwardian England
I would have loved to live around the time that David Attenborough was just starting out. He literally created nature programs, and I would have loved to be a part of that journey with him. Now he is so famous and basically a naturalist god, but it would have been cool to be there with him and learn from him in the beginning when he had the idea to take nature shows outside.
To see that transition in nature documentaries and to find a way to be a part of it would have been amazing. Now it’s so hard to break into that world. Reddit User: BarnaClip
The 1890s
I would want to live in Edwardian England because you could get front row seats to terrifying surgeries in both Edwardian and Victorian England. The clothes and hairstyles were so awesome, and European Feminism was kind of taking off with a lot of discussion around women. Also, Downton Abbey is one of my favorite shows, this is also why.
If not that time period, it would have been cool to live in the 1300s to witness the Black Plague. I would just want to see the creepy masks. I may be deranged. Reddit User: darklord19933343
The American Revolution
Probably the 1890s. By ten years old, I would be living through the Industrial Revolution. My teenage years, the style and art is amazing, and by my 30s, I could experience the roaring 20s. With the Great Depression around the corner, that would be awful, but I would get through it, and then in the ’40s there was so much cultural change happening that it would be amazing to witness.
By the ‘60s, I would have lived through and seen the Civil Rights movement and then die by partying too hard in the ‘70s. Reddit User: idiotpancake1439
The Bronze Age
Being a man, I think the 1750s would be the best time to live if you were in America. There was so much happening. Political movements that thrust America into the American Revolution would be an interesting time to live in. It was a really pivotal time for politics, and I could have been involved in that process.
I wouldn’t want to have a family, because I wouldn’t want my daughters to deal with the misogyny, but for me, I think it would be cool. Reddit User: 80GRIPPA_80
Roanoke Colony
The Bronze Age. One time I saw some peat bog bodies in a museum from the Bronze Age Period, and this particular person had been murdered. The cause: He COULD have been king. In that culture, you had to have nipples to be king. And then your subjects would do things to them. I wish I could remember what the culture’s name was. Weird, right?
But they killed him and took his nipples. Living in a time where it was lawless, creating language, tools, and technology would be crazy to see. Scary, but amazing. Reddit User: porridgecreator7
Netflix And Complaining
I know this is very specific, but this was the time of the Roanoke Colony. The entire colony disappears. No one knows what happens to them, and all that is left behind is the word “CROATOAN” on a tree. How cool would it be to figure out what happened to them by being a part of them? Sure there are stories that they were brutally murdered, but I want to know the real story.
Plus, this time was the early days in the New World. I have always wanted to homestead. Reddit User: Launder_BasketCase32
Ancient Greece
During the current period, because we have modern dentistry and indoor plumbing. Think about it… today is the best time period to live in because we can sit at home and binge-watch Netflix, we can all get upset over whatever is going on on social media, and we can complain about it openly and widely. Even 15 years ago, that was difficult.
When we have surgeries, we can have anesthesia, and to feel better, we have medicine that we can trust. You can’t convince me otherwise. Reddit User: Zinkyregul89
The Renaissance Period
I think if I were to live at any time other than now, it would be around Ancient Greece, when their myths had an explanation for everything. What a wonderful time filled with nymphs, gods, and goddesses that filled every mysterious crevice in life. This would have been a double-edged sword, of course, because they could kill you at any time, but with the stories of Achilles, Odysseus, and a few others, it would have been totally worth it.
Also, it just seems like a romantic time to live. Plus the architecture and stuff is awesome. Reddit User: TheRealMichalloScotty
Meso-America
The Renaissance would be my time period of choice. It’s a 300 year time period, so it’s pretty broad. I would probably want to be in the middle of it, so I could soak in all the early Renaissance art but look forward to what is to come. At the same time as all that beauty, there was so much political corruption and chaos.
It would be an astounding time to see all of that mushed together. The Catholic Church was super corrupt. All of Europe was a huge power struggle. Reddit User: Crime–Stopper696
The Ming Dynasty
Meso-America would have been cool to live through. Specifically Mayan culture. First of all, they were surrounded by a beautiful landscape that was completely untouched, the architecture was fantastic, and we are still discovering things about their society. They had complicated systems of hieroglyphs including poetry and monuments. Europeans burned so much of their writings. I would have liked to know what was said before it was destroyed.
To witness that entire culture in person, figure out what they meant by the whole end of the world astrology thing, would be pretty amazing. Reddit User: Sneaker_oiu084
Carthage
During the Ming Dynasty, traditional China, 1490 would have been amazing. The art and culture were booming. During this time, explorers were setting out to explore the world, so trade opportunities were expanded during this time, and it would have been sweet to watch that happen. It was the best that traditional China had to offer before colonialism. The Ming Dynasty was renowned for its drama, art, literature, and porcelain.
The Great Wall of China would have already been built, so I could see that. I would have to deal with Mongols, but eh. Reddit User: Kellynot_Clarkson7310
Look To The Future
Around 200 BC. Carthage was this North African hub full of gold, silver, and copper textiles. It would have been a luxurious and amazing thing to see. One of the only places of its time to rival Rome during the Punic War, but it would have been awesome to see the history being made and just how true materialism came to be.
They only lasted 100 years after the war, but I wouldn’t have lived to be 100 anyway, so that’s fine; I would just want to live it up there for that time. Reddit User: ionionduoooo
I think now, because modern medicine, the rights that people have, and the direction that we are moving with technology are so cool. We can look back and see all of the cool things that we have done and move forward instead of focusing on the past. I think we often look at the past through rose-colored glasses when really it was a struggle back then too.
Not to mention all of the scientific discoveries we have made and continue to make each day; it would be awesome to see what the future is like, if anything. Not the past. Reddit User: [redacted]