Common Things That Are Newer Than You’d Think
Time is consistently hard to conceptualize in your own daily life—if I had a nickel for every time I got the day of the week wrong—but it’s often even harder to imagine how long ago things happened. I mean, I can’t even remember exactly what life was like before the internet.
Here are things that are newer than most people think, and they’re making my brain hurt.
The Incan Civilization Isn’t As Ancient As You Thought
“Machu Picchu isn’t nearly as old as most people think. In fact, the Tower of London pre-dates it by almost 400 years, having been built in the 1070s, while Machu Picchu was created in the 15th century.”
I Doubt Any Woman Would Let You Not Get A Ring Now, Though…
“Diamond rings being an engagement gesture only arose in the 1940s as part of a marketing campaign because diamonds were becoming less valuable and the suppliers needed to see more of them.”
We Really Kept Our Lives Hard For No Reason
“Wheels weren’t added to luggage until the 1970s. We literally landed on the moon before thinking of adding wheels to heavy cases we had to lug around, which is incredible to think about.”
New Zealand Is Just A Baby
“New Zealand was inhabited for much less time than most other countries. Its indigenous population only arrived there about 800 years ago, despite Australia just across the Tasman having been inhabited for 75,000 plus years.”
We Were All Just Struggling With Fluorescents Until Then?
“White LED lights, which were only made possible when Japanese scientists worked out how to make blue light-emitting LEDs in the early 1990s. So the blue LEDs that you now see everywhere from cars to PC rigs are also that new.”
Never Thought I’d Hear Sharks Compared To Saturn’s Rings
“Recent research has shown that Saturn’s rings are less than 100 million years old or so, which is pretty crazy when you realize the solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago! For context, sharks have been around four times longer than Saturn’s rings.”
To Be Brief…
“Boxer briefs are fairly new to the underwear scene, only becoming popular in the 1990s. Before then, your typical boxers and the traditional tighty-whitey style were the main available options.”
Imagine Having To Wait To Hear News…
“In the internet age, it can be hard to believe that 24-hour news is a pretty new commodity. CNN was the first 24-hour news station in 1980, and even then, most people didn’t have cable to watch it, so they only got TV news in the morning, noon, 5-6ish, and after prime time.”
We Really Were Just Running Around With No Idea How The World Worked, Huh?
“The theory of plate tectonics.”
“It pretty much makes up the entire backbone of modern geology, yet it wasn’t actually accepted until the 1960s. Alfred Wegener proposed his theory of continental drift in 1915 but couldn’t explain the mechanism behind it so his theory was dismissed. Over the next few decades, the evidence of crustal movement became undeniable and plate tectonics developed as a theory.”
“It’s just crazy to me that geologists were pretty much completely clueless until around 60 years ago.”
Wow, I Had No Idea…
“Democrats being blue and Republicans being red only dates back to around the year 2000. Prior to that, the parties used to alternate ‘ownership’ of each color for each presidential election.”
I Guess Matches Are Technically More Complex…
“They aren’t super new, but most people don’t know that the match was invented after the lighter. The match was invented by mistake in 1826 by John Walker whereas the lighter was invented in 1823.”
His Name Was Rover?!!!?!
“Pluto, the celestial body, wasn’t truly discovered until 1930. Only one year later, Mickey Mouse’s dog was renamed from Rover to Pluto—likely to capitalize on the hype around this new planet, but there are no sources to confirm this.”
C’est Incroyable!
“The ciabatta bread was first created in 1982 in Rovigo, Veneto, Italy, and baguettes are from the 1920s. These classic types of bread aren’t as historical as most people think.”
I Don’t Know Why I Thought These Always Existed
High fives date from 1977. One of the most common ways of congratulating someone didn’t even exist 50 years ago. What did they do? Just kiss the homies all the time?
Off With Their Heads!
The last execution by guillotine happened the year they released Star Wars: Episode IV in movie theaters—1977. It wasn’t officially removed as a form of execution until 1981 in France.”
A Meteor Actually Sounds More Humane
“When you watch Fantasia (1940) and see the Rite of Spring sequence, wherein you witness the extinction of the dinosaurs, you see that it’s portrayed as a great draught which was followed by a series of massive earthquakes. That’s because, at that time, this was the most accepted idea of what caused the mass extinction.”
The theory of the dinosaurs being killed off by a meteor strike (or the effects of the strike on the planet, rather) is called The Alvarez Theory, and it was first proposed by Luis and Walter Alvarez in the year 1980.
The Lack Of Privacy People Must Of Had
“Hallways weren’t widely used until the 1800s.” Prior to then, rooms would just open into the next room and you’d have to travel through each one to get to a specific room.
Mamma Mia!
“Tomatoes are actually a new world crop. When you associate Italy with pasta sauce, you’re actually thinking of Italy, post-Columbian Exchange (the mid-1500s). And actually, tomato sauce wasn’t even integrated into Italian cuisine until the late 19th century, so go figure.”
Modern Medicine Truly Is Incredible
Insulin for diabetics was researched and discovered by Canadian scientist Frederick Banting from 1920-22 and was first used in 1922. Prior to this, a diabetes diagnosis was a death sentence.
Maybe We Should Stop Complaining About One-Ply
“Toilet paper that was free of wood splinters didn’t exist until the 1920s.”
In fact, having your product be “splinter-free” was a huge marketing point in the 1930s. The soft, fluffy, white toilet paper we know is a pretty new concept.
…What Did They Do Before For Emergencies?
Calling 911 to get emergency help only started in 1968. Furthermore, many places didn’t have a 911 service until the late 1980s/early ’90s. In order to reach emergency services in many small towns, there was just a regular 7-digit phone number.
Indoor Plumbing Is A True Miracle
“Indoor toilets. My house (London, UK) was built in 1937. It was the first generation of houses to be built with indoor toilets. Before then, the toilets were in outside rooms. The house I grew up in had an outside loo, and all the schools I went to as a kid had outside toilets.”
I Showed Up To Class In Pajamas On Occasion
Wearing whatever you want in college wasn’t normal until about 60 years ago. Before the 1960’s everyone was required to wear suits and ties and other formal clothing to class.
At Least We Know It Now!
“The knowledge that it’s bad to drink when pregnant only became widely known in the 1980s.”
It’s kind of crazy to think about how drinking could affect their child and they were probably devastated when they found out it was dangerous after the fact.
This Sounds So Horrifically Chaotic
Standardized paper sizes are a fairly new concept. Before the 1900s, documents would come in all shapes and sizes. In fact, the 8.5″ x 11″ page was only made the official size for U.S. federal forms in the ’80s.
Girls Just Wanna Buy Homes
A single woman wasn’t able to buy a house on her own 50 years ago. Banks would almost never give a loan to a woman who didn’t have a husband. It wasn’t until the 1970s that this changed.
I Can’t Slice Bread Straight To Save My Life
Sliced bread. Iconic actress Betty White is older than store-bought sliced bread. Before then, people would buy loaves at the bakery and use a knife to individually cut each slice.
Well, That’s Terrifying To Think About
401k retirement planning accounts didn’t start until about 1980, which means we have yet to see an entire generation actually retire with a 401k to understand if they really work.
What Were Kids Obsessed With Before That?
Knowledge of the existence of dinosaurs is about two centuries old. They were first discovered in 1819. Wild to think that George Washington lived his entire life without knowing of their existence.
The Timeline Of History Makes My Head Hurt
Cleopatra is often thought of as this super ancient queen, but she was closer in time to seeing the iPhone than she was to seeing the Pyramids being built—which just goes to show how old the pyramids are
