The generation of Baby Boomers grew up in an era where smartphones, streaming, social media and on-demand entertainment did not exist, or were just beginning to emerge, so in their free time they used their imagination and talked with their friends, rather than spending their free time in front of a screen. We will reveal the hobbies according to the National Museum of American History, and the Library of Congress, that Boomers developed decades ago and that younger generations will never understand!
Disappearing Outside Until Dinner
When Baby Boomers were young, they used to be children who spent the day outside their home. After breakfast some Boomers went to school, but on leaving it, they could spend hours wandering around the neighborhood without adult supervision. The contrast with today’s expectations around child safety is significant, children usually played outside until nightfall without an adult is relevant.
Playing Stickball in the Street
With just a few elements like a broom handle, a rubber ball, and a quiet street, children could transform it into a baseball field. The young people had their own rules, such as pausing the game if a car was about to pass, covering the storm drains, or even incorporating buildings into the playing field. Those stickball games, a favorite Baby Boomers hobby, didn’t need technology or fancy balls.
Riding Bikes Everywhere Without Calling Home
Baby Boomers had much more freedom when they were young than children today. They had bicycles that they used to get to the store or school or simply ride around with friends. In turn, some of the Boomers customized their bicycles with banana seats, baseball cards in spokes and even could leave them on the front lawn of the house where they arrived, without worrying if it would be there when they returned.
Spending the Afternoon at the Record Store
Listening to music was quite an event in that decade when Baby Boomers were young. If they wanted to listen to music or buy a vinyl record, they had to go to the record store, where they could listen to music for hours, looking for their favorite artist’s album or just talking to employees as part of the experience. It is normal that young people currently do not understand this experience, since by pressing two or three buttons they already access any music they like.
Making Mixtapes From the Radio
Long before digital playlists existed, Baby Boomers had to wait for their favorite song to be played on the radio, and there they tried to record it from the very second it started and they had to be on the lookout to cut the recording when the song ended. That required the Baby Boomers to sit by the radio with their finger on the record button and then write down the song on a piece of paper, so they knew they had it.
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Hanging Out at the Mall with No Real Plan
People’s heads weren’t constantly focused on what they should do next or planning their next activity, they were experiencing the present. Baby Boomers gathered at the mall without having a concrete plan. The malls were more than a shopping destination, people ate in the food court, could go to the record store or arcades, among other activities.
Going Roller Skating on Friday Night
Going to a roller rink was an activity where Baby Boomers had a place to be sociable with other children. Those places played music, you could buy snacks, and it was where everyone wanted to impress their friends. The atmosphere of colored lights, having to rent the skates and cling to the wall when you weren’t able to balance was a whole experience that young people enjoyed decades ago.
Watching Whatever Happened to Be on TV
There wasn’t the wide variety of programs, series, and films available on hundreds of platforms as it is today, so Baby Boomers’ families would gather to watch TV, whatever they were showing. If you wanted to watch a specific show, you had to be at your house and at that exact time in front of the TV, you couldn’t watch a recording of it, on YouTube or the following week, because there were no such methods.
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Calling Friends on the Family Phone
The houses had a landline, and it used to be in a shared area of the house, such as the living room. The vast majority of the Baby Boomers had to speak from the landline in front of their relatives, there was no intimacy in the conversation, and often your friend might even have to answer the phone on the other end, but first you had to talk to a family member, and that could make many young people nervous.
Building Forts From Scrap Wood and Whatever Was Lying Around
A way for the Baby Boomers to have fun was to build forts with whatever they had at hand, from cardboards, blankets and discarded materials to backyard wood. That construction for fun could take an entire summer, and you always needed imagination to continue the project forward. The young people’s imaginations played a pivotal role as they envisioned potential threats and constructed the fort accordingly.
Collecting Bottles for Deposit Money
Decades ago, Baby Boomers collected bottles to earn a few dollars. The returnable glass soda bottles could be delivered to a supermarket and they would receive money for them, but not every state or community had the same bottle-return system. The children spent all afternoon looking for discarded bottles and carrying a wagon full of them to the store. That’s how they could buy their own candy, comics, or soda.
Reading Comic Books at the Drugstore
The comic book stores were a great place for young people to get together years ago. Baby Boomers used to spend several hours looking for their favorite comic book, reading some pages of it and deciding which one to buy. Drugstores, newsstands, and corner shops were full of inexpensive comics, books and magazines.
Spending Hours with Model Kits
As they did not have screens at hand, Baby Boomers had to entertain themselves with model kits when they were young. From cars and airplanes to ships and military vehicles, these kits came in plastic boxes. To assemble the models you had to rely on glue, paint, and a lot of patience, because completing the model took days of effort in many cases. The tiny paint bottles and the model glue didn’t always fit perfectly.
Bowling in a Weekly League
When young people decide not to go to the skate rink, they could choose to go bowling, and could even join a weekly league. Bowling was a routine sport for many families, couples, neighborhood groups and even coworkers. When forming a team, the Baby Boomers usually rent shoes, get matching shirts to identify themselves as a team and write down the scores on a piece of paper.
Sitting on the Porch and Watching the Neighborhood
The way of entertaining decades ago was quite simple and often did not require doing an activity. Families used to sit on the porch of their house and simply watch neighbors passing by, talk to them, or look at cars passing by and usually wave at them even if they didn’t know each other. Some Baby Boomers could sit in their folding chairs, with an iced tea nearby, the radio on and take in the view of the neighborhood.
Looking Through Family Slide Shows
Taking a photograph in those years really represented capturing a special situation and that you wanted to remember. Family photos, whether holiday or birthday, were taken as photographic slides and played by a projector while the whole family gathered to see them in the room. Some projectors could take several minutes to calibrate, and the slides had to be focused meticulously so that they looked good, without the quality that exists today or anywhere near it.
Conclusion
Hobbies decades ago were unstructured, plans could be made from one moment to the next and people were not so busy. Dealing with boredom didn’t necessarily mean starting a planned activity, but sitting quietly to observe life was already taken as entertainment. The vast majority of young people would not understand many of these hobbies nowadays.
