Reddit Asks, “What Was Great Advice 20 Years Ago But Definitely Isn’t Now?”
Louise Peralta
I’m sure some of us have encountered a relative that is a self-proclaimed family advisor. For our family, it’s our grandmother. She gives the best advice, really. But given her old age, some of the things she says can sometimes sound a little bit… sexist or even misogynistic. Since she grew up with the typical notion that females should let the boys in the house do all the hard work and the females should stick to housework and blah blah blah.
Anyway! This is a great segue to our question of the day!
A Redditor posted this question on r/AskReddit, and it got over 30k upvotes and almost 14k comments. I’ll be listing some of the answers here, and I’ll let you decide if you think it’s best to leave it in the past or if it still holds up.
Applying For Work
Apparently, people were told in school that it’s best to apply for work in person as no one takes online applications seriously.
The internet was a scary concept for people back then, I guess?
Show You Have Dedication
This one is kind of timely since burnout has been a hot topic recently. In order to show that you’re committed to your job, never take a vacation day.
Big oof on this one. This advice should definitely stay in the past.
Memorize This And That
Oh! This one goes to the past students out there. I still remember the smell of chalk and the coughing fits I would get whenever my teacher erased the chalkboard. Good times. Good times.
Back then, info was kept in notebooks or journals. There was no technology back then that was capable of storing notes, PowerPoint, or videos. The only way you could pass a test was to study your own notes and memorize your teacher’s lesson. Your brain, your hard drive.
Battery Life Knowledge
I heard this advice when I was still young, and we had brick phones back then, and the advice seems to still be alive today. We were told that it’s better to let the phone die at 0% battery before charging it back to 100%, because it prolongs your battery life.
All this techy talk from the past is false. Smartphones nowadays work best if their battery is kept at 25-85%, or so some experts say, because lithium-ion batteries can be stressed at the extremes.
Online Relationships?!
This one piece of advice has been long left in the past. People were scoffed at when they said that they found “the one” on the internet before. As another user commented, “I remember when people were ashamed to admit that they met someone online. Now if you met anywhere else, people act like you've churned your own butter.”
The birth of dating apps is a testament that online relationships can be successful, long-lasting or not. The bottom line is that it works.
Internet Is Not Profitable
Since we’re already talking about being online, popular advice from parents in the early 2000s was not to stay in front of the computer too long.
I’ve heard this one many, many times before. I remember being fascinated by computers ever since we got one when I was still a kid, and my parents always made sure to monitor the time I spent on the computer. But look at me now. Still in front of the computer and working.
Online networking and e-commerce also boomed during the pandemic, so this advice is definitely from 20 years ago.
So what did you think about all this advice from the past? Check out the original post above to read more advice from the past!
