Is 1985 as far away for us as 1955 was in 1985?

I was born in 1986 and frankly things have changed. When I was around 6 years old our computer not only was not only not able to connect to the internet, but it did not have a CD ROM drive. Just a disc and floppy disc drive. It was also an IBM computer. A company that has since become less popular. It also had only 640 megabites of memory. My parents didn't even get the internet in our home til around 2000. And it was dial up internet so no watching things online. Watching movies and shows on the internet was a foreign concept til about 10 or so years ago. Also on the first 2 generations of game consoles, the developers of many games did not give you the ability to save your game.

That did not become a standard thing til the N64, PS1, and Dream Cast systems came out. And cellphones with text messaging did not become affordable til 10 years ago either. Also arcades for kids were popular in the 90s but these days most arcades are in bars so kids cannot play on them.

Definately. I grew up in the 80's and 90's.

The Sixties didnt even register as close never mind the 50s.

The boom of video games, the blockbuster movies, VCRs, walkmans, action/sci-fi/horror movies that still hold up today with the practical effects boom are some of the reasons why its fondly looked upon and feels closer.

the everyday life was much different in 1985 though. people had to socialize in their sparetime instead of typing on the phone.
also you would miss the abundance of information. imagine going to a library to "google sth"

also ussr was still a thing, which had a huge impact on people in europe

its kinda said to read about how games changed and VOD is the metric for ones life, but well. SNES always had savegames btw.
i think the point is. the 80s had consoles and tvs already, but the 50s hadnt. also the 70s revolution changed society fundamentally. nothing like this happened in between 85 and now. we are in the middle of the next revolution though, so ask again in 10yrs how life has changed. im pretty sure 2030 will be as far from 00 as 85/55

There was a much bigger culture shift between the 1950s and the 1980s, especially from all the tumult of the 60s and 70s, stuff like civil rights, free love, the Vietnam War, etc. We haven't really had another "sixties" to shake things up between the 1980s and 2020.

On the surface, the 80s doesn't look that far away because men don't dress all that differently today.

Women's fashion has changed a lot.

I remember watching a documentary about the skaters of the 80s and I thought 'they don't look any different to skaterboys today.' The fashion is still good. But the women? The hairstyles were terrible so it actually looked like young men with their moms. You know women in their 40s who have kept their big hair from the 80s? That look.

Also, the way I dress, if I were to time travel to the 80s, I don't think anyone would be like 'what the hell?'

As for adjusting to 80s life, I lived through the 80s so I could slip back into it.

A teenager of today would struggle to use rotary phones, a map, maybe even a VHS player. It would actually be interesting to see a fish out of water movie about a teenager of today trying to survive in the 80s.

Someone travelling back to 1985 (even from now, 2021) would not be as fish-out-of-water as Marty was going back to 1955.

"Give me a Tab" and "give a me a Pepsi free" jokes wouldn't play and I don't think we have an equivalent gag.

And teens today have much more exposure through instant media like Netflix, Prime Video, Youtube, etc... to be far more aware of the culture.

Also, things have reached a homogenized plateau in pop culture for the last 20 years. There are many pop songs from the 90s that sound just like anything released today. The difference between music and fashion from 2000 to 2021 is almost negligible. But the difference between decades in music and fashion from 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s was significant.

Sure, there would be some culture shock, with the lack of technology and internet and "that 80's sound" but my 19 year old could go back to 1985 and fit in just fine.

No way, Jose. In 1985 the personal computer was available to consumers, and not only that, but the internet actually existed back then, albeit in a far more exclusive and rudimentary form.

Hell, in terms of filmmaking, 1985 had a movie that featured the first-ever CGI character in a live-action movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB9KoJ79tGY