As if we 50s peeps should all be gone by now, and if we were miraculously re-animated, we'd walk around marveling at the jet packs on people, and everyone's telekinetic abilities, brought to you from birth by the Government of the … Country Living editors select each product featured. The 1950s were a decade marked by the post-World War II boom, the dawn of the Cold War and the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Pollock would drop paint onto a canvas. Someone would ask what life was like back in the Dark Ages of my childhood, before there was air, dirt, and water, and what I think of these fast times. Dec 10, 2019 Getty Images. The world has changed a lot over the years—mostly for the better. Divorce carried a stigma. For starters, The Beatles were still a band. More about us. Life starts out great, gets worse some time in your late 40s and early 50s, then gets better again. The after-effects of the Second World War were still ongoing, for instance many … Why? The painter Jackson Pollock represented a spirit of rebellion in art. Was life easier, harder, or the same for families in the 1950s, compared to today? To them, much of life in nineteen-fifties America was empty and meaningless. Divorce was not a common thing. … Both a Mom and a Dad. People left their door unlocked at night, kids respected their elders and a guy who lived above his best friend’s garage could still be cool so long as he owned a leather jacket. Societal pressure for one thing. By Maria Carter and Charlotte Chilton. These photos, including some never-published shots taken for Look Magazine, transport you back in time. 1950s Family life was very much a family affair. You were supposed to get married and stay married, regardless of how miserable you were. Whippersnappers. Children in the 1950s had very different lives to young people today. Well, turns out The Fonz didn’t lie: despite the racism, homophobia and extra racism, the fifties were a pretty good time to be alive—thanks to things like: If Happy Days taught us anything, it’s that life was better in the fifties. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Most left school much earlier, with many starting work at 14, and far fewer people had the chance to go on to further education. For starters, most probably it was a two a parent household. What Life Was Like 50 Years Ago Compared to Now.