People Break Down The Most F**ked Up Things Society Totally Accepted 20 Years Ago

"I was knocked out cold..."

"No care or concern for concussions in sports. I was knocked out cold for two minutes on the football field, nobody told me, and when I came to we just resumed the game like nothing had happened."

"I didn’t even know I was out for those two minutes until a year later when people were telling football stories. I thought I had just gotten knocked down and got back up right away. I thought it was weird everyone was making such a big deal about it."

"My first ever depressive episode started almost immediately after that game."

ElbowStrike

Thankfully, knowledge about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is much more widespread.

"That Oxycontin..."

"That Oxycontin wasn’t habit forming and it was a miracle drug."

jm6398

Required reading: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, in case you want to feel even more enraged about the ongoing opioid crisis.

"My high school..."

"My high school had an area that we were allowed to smoke. A designated smoking area for kids under 18."

Blitz-99

Ha! That would absolutely be met with shock and horror these days.

"Being at home..."

"Being at home at your TV at a certain time to catch a show, and expecting everyone to leave you alone so you could watch it with no interruptions."

"You could be out with friends and you'd look and say, "Oh, it's 7:30 I got to get home to catch my show!" And nobody looked at you like a strange social outcast."

prelegalalien

Ah, those were the days. The way we had to plan for all of these things, actually plan! Remember TVGuide?

"People dying..."

"People dying of Chronic Myloid Leukemia. 20 years ago it was 100% fatal in less than five years. Now it's treated with a once a day pill with no side effects for most people... miracle science right there."

Mandorrisem

Modern medicine is indeed amazing–and changes lives!

"Female celebrities..."

"Female celebrities and actresses with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. It's less prevalent now, but dang was it brutal back then."

spicedshrub

These Actors Were Perfectly Cast In Their Roles | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Karen Carpenter, anyone?

Talk about an emotionally devastating story.

"There's still a lot of trouble..."

"25 years ago, I had a gym teacher who did not think asthma was a thing and wouldn't let me have my inhaler at hand in class. I walked every mile because I didn't want to die."

"There's still a lot of trouble for the undiagnosed, but tons of physical and mental health issues that were downplayed or outright ignored at least have some kind of support system or protocol now. It's not perfect, but at least we know they're real and are starting to do something."

Pookajuice

A teacher who would have the nerve to mock a student for their disability or health problems today is in for a real wake-up call.

"Nobody said anything..."

"In middle school a student dressed up like an SS Nazi for halloween. Nobody said anything until my choir teacher told him that some people may find it offensive. Teacher was Jewish."

ExplicitTech

Yeah... that sounds like something that would warrant an immediate expulsion.

"I worked in restaurants back then..."

"Sexual harassment in the workplace. It was just starting to become a topic of conversation around the early 2000s but very little progress had been made."

"I worked in restaurants back then and the amount of harassment I and my other female coworkers endured was unreal by today’s standards. We all just learned to laugh it off because no one took it seriously."

dsw1219

Grateful to see the culture change for the better where this is concerned, though there is still so much work to be done.

"People would go to carnivals..."

"People would go in carnivals and shove their face in the same water barrel to grab an apple with their mouth. Completely bonkers in 2021."

iaml3roux

If COVID-19 had a Facebook, it would love, love, LOVE this.

For any of you reading... 2001 was 20 years ago. Take some pills for your back. It might hurt.

Have some observations of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!