Computers, mouse, internet, wireless phone... those things cost like A LOT in the 80's and the proof are the movies from the 80's itselves, we don't see those devices in the 80's movies. I remember going to a friend house back in the 80's and they had a computer and this friend was REALLY rich, but in the series every ordinary family have those devices in the house
shareVery few people had computers in 1986. High schools and universities were just starting to get them in the early 80s, and they were like crummy Commodore 64s or really cheap original Macs with tiny black and white screens. I think I bought my first one in 1990, and it was like 2,000 dollars (a lot of money back then.)
shareI grew up in a small town, and the local schools didn't have much money. In 1984-85 our science textbooks still read "some day, man may even visit the moon." Yet, our computer lab had 6 or 7 Apple 2 computers. A number of my friends, none of whom were well off, had some kind of computer at home. They definitely weren't only for the rich.
In 1986 transferred to an incredibly low-budget school, where most of the students were kids who had been born in Mexico and moved to the US. Everyone there was dirt poor, and the school was incredibly impoverished as well, and even that school had 4 Apple 2s and a couple other computers.
About 8-9% of households in the US had computers in 1986. They weren't that rare, nor were they that pricey. I know my family got a computer in 1982 that was a little over 1,200. It was an Atari 800 that you had to use your TV as the monitor. By 1986 prices had come down even more. For 2,000 you could have gotten a portable computer (the precursor to the current laptop). The Apple IIGS which was color with a mouse was $999 without a monitor. It was easy to find monochrome computers running DOS for under a grand by 1986. The Macintosh you are talking about was in the early 80's and was more than 2 grand, but as I previously stated by 1986 even Apple was selling color computers for half that price.
As a young kid in the 80s, we had an Acorn Electronic computer and we were not rich at all (I'm from the U.K. and my folks worked for the NHS at the time). The computer was a Christmas present from my dad and I remember when we opened it, our neighbour came round and he and my dad were playing around on it for ages when we wanted to have a go. :-) lol Back then we used to load computer games via a cassette player. :-) lol
Our schools too had BBC computers in the late 80s. This was ordinary state schools not Private.
We didn't however, have access to the internet till the late 90s.
Idk, my grandfather had a computer in the mid 80s, and a whole bunch of games on floppy disc that my siblings and I ended up inheriting in the 90s, like King's Quest (1984) and Nightmare on Elm Street (1989). So it wasn't totally rare and he wasn't super wealthy by any means. If they were making these games in the 80s, then I'm sure they intended for kids or at least teens to use computers.
shareUm....we didn't have the internet in the 1980s. In fact, we didn't even have the earliest versions of those networks until the early 90s, and only at certain colleges and in the military. The first forms of internet didn't become available to the public until 1993.
Very few people (at least in America) had computers in their homes in the 80s. They were extremely expensive back then. The few who did were either very rich, or worked for a company where computer usage was necessary. Even in wealthy homes, there would only be one computer, and that would usually be in the office of the person who used it (like the mom or dad) or in an area everyone had access to it, so the kids could play [extremely crude] games. It wouldn't be unusual for the owner to have a big, heavy, very loud Dot Matrix printer, where all the paper had holes on the sides to allow the machine to move it through while printing papers. It was more common to see electric typewriters and possibly a fax machine in someone's home office in a setting like that. (Incidentally, typewriters by then had keyboards that resembled the QWERTY boards PC's would have later on). Computers back then also did not operate with mice. It was all done 100% by keyboard, like what you'd see in "Wargames."
What you wrote is completely untrue. Watch Wargames and tell me there was no internet in the '80s. My friend was from dirt poor family and he had an Apple 2e with an internet connection as early as 1984. It was very rudimentary, and I really didn't understand what he was doing, but he'd dial up bulletin boards and play games, etc. Plenty of poor folks had home computers in the '80s.
shareWhen I got to high school in 1990 our school had a computer class with about 30 commodore 64s. Some screens were black and white and others green. This class was already established by at least 85 and they definitely had internet for the teachers who got stuff like exam papers sent to them. This was in Cape Town, South Africa BTW.
shareIf he was connecting to the internet in Wargames, it was purely by accident because he programmed his computer to dial a range of phone numbers including ones that were unlisted. He thought he was simply connecting to a video game company's isolated network. They were 100% correct that the internet was not easily accessible by the general public until 1993 i.e. the world wide web.
shareHe made two statements, neither of which is true:
1. We didn't have the internet in the 1980s. In fact, we didn't even have the earliest versions of those networks until the early 90s, and only at certain colleges and in the military. The first forms of internet didn't become available to the public until 1993.
2. Very few people (at least in America) had computers in their homes in the 80s.
The internet existed in the '80s. It wasn't what it is now, but it die exist, and Stranger Things' portrayal of how it existed in the '80s is accurate.
A lot of American households, even poorer ones, had computers in the '80s, especially by 1986.
Not many people would define 10 to 12% of households as "a lot." And I doubt many of those computers were in places like rural Indiana.
shareNot true, but it was more a hobby than assumed everyone had them. I had a very middle-class friend that had a setup just like that, but his dad was an Uber nerd into the tech.
shareI finally was able to watch the entire season, and I realized what we were looking at.
Most of the computers we were seeing in the show, were at official places like Family Video, or at Suzie's house, or in an office of some kind. The term "internet" would have been a relatively new concept that only the hardcore tech geeks would know about, and all the networks in the 80s would have mostly been isolated, and only accessible through either physically logging in at the site of the network, or possibly remotely through a special phone line. It appears that phone thing that we saw in the film "Wargames" and in Suzie's house were an extremely crude form of dial-up. It also appears Suzie had a very cutting edge computer model, because it had a crude mouse included with it.
Again, I still maintain that computers at that time were still primitive and not widely used. You'll note there were no computers in any of the homes the main character kids lived in, not even at Mike's house, (and they were upper-middle-class too!) You will also note that the only person in the show who actually had a crude dial-up device would have been someone like Suzie or that govt. guy who brought El to the underground bunker to get her powers back. Any other time the characters logged into a network, they physically had to go to the place the network was (like at school or at Family Video) and work at a console there.
I don't disagree it was a niche thing, that's what I meant by a hobby. Mostly, because the internet wasn't very exciting back then. I remember seeing my aunt send an email on Prodigy, and got a reply in seconds. Blew my mind. I think it was more like ham radio, it was probably around more than you think, but if it wasn't your thing you didn't give it much thought.
shareWhile the internet wasn't around back then you did have BBS's all over the place. I remember at that time the police in my town had just started to integrate computers into their police station and anyone that knew the phone number could connect to the BBS and get all sorts of information that you wouldn't be able to get today because back then people were clueless and it was the wild west when it came to computers.
shareI had a Computer in 1984 but some stuff were crazy expensive to get for example modems and hard disks not to mention color monitors most people had monochrome CRTs or RF output for personal computers. Hell Compact Discs were also expensive they dropped in price in 90s.
Hollywood always exaggerates about technology.
My biggest problem is the walkie talkies they use that seem to work so well. I remembered having walkie talkies back then and unless you just a few blocks away the reception was shit. Get a mile away and unless it was a mile away on a lake or cornfield they didn't do shit. If you knew someone with a CB they could get some decent reception but walkie talkies like they are using in the show were really just a step above two tin cans and a string.
shareI dunno if cerebro or whatever is supposed to be some sort of "relay/signal amplifier" for their walkies?
shareIn '84, the only house I knew that had a computer was the family next door and it seemed primitive.
In '87 at college, I remember one student had an Apple computer.
My future husband was into computers back then and was early on CompuServe.
I think my parents got a VCR sometime mid 80's and a video camera early 90's. Before that it was a film camera, no sound.
We didn't get our cell phones until late 2000, candy bar style, never had a flip.
I’m curious why the OP put an apostrophe after “86”?
Literacy, much?
Yes. I am mocking you.
PS The Chicago Manual of Style mandates NO APOSTROPHES in the number of a year: no “‘86.” The reader understands the century. The apostrophe is superfluous. Similarly, there is no apostrophe for the years of a decade. It’s “the 1980s” and not “the 1980’s.”