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At Thanksgiving my ~60 year old parents were telling us that they didn’t have a microwave growing up and it blew my mind. Wikipedia says only 25% of households

At Thanksgiving my ~60 year old parents were telling us that they didn’t have a microwave growing up and it blew my mind. Wikipedia says only 25% of households had a microwave in 1986 and my whole life I just assumed they’d been a staple kitchen appliance since the 1960s. Then we had fun looking up a bunch of old TV show kitchens to see if they had a microwave. The earliest we found was Season 2 of Boy Meets World (1993) though there was a lively debate about whether the early seasons of Married with Children had a microwave or a toaster oven. Better than debating politics at least.

thaumasiotes 7y ago
> Wikipedia says only 25% of households had a microwave in 1986 and my whole life I just assumed they’d been a staple kitchen appliance since the 1960s. In That 70s Show, there is an episode in which the Foremans get a microwave.
Cthulhu_ 7y ago
And that's already a somewhat advanced and not really required luxury; my parents mentioned how they still had an outhouse instead of a toilet indoors, and a friend of mine lived in a rental house, not even THAT old, that didn't have central heating (just a big gas heater in the living room, they made do with electric heaters in the bedrooms). And of course my dad (in his 60's) still remembers the time when there was no sewer and some people still had barrels of sewage that were picked up once a week.
- RealityVoid 7y ago
  > And that's already a somewhat advanced and not really required luxury; my parents mentioned how they still had an outhouse instead of a toilet indoors This is still the norm in some (many) places. In my home country about 27% of the population only has an outhouse. Mainly in the rural areas.
martopix 7y ago
I'm 30, and I didn't grow up with a microwave. My parents got one about 10 years ago, I think, and they don't use a kettle. I think it's the same for many people where I grew up. Not a poor country, but different cooking habits :)
dev_north_east 7y ago
I was born in '85 and grew up without a microwave. My parents still don't have one. I only got one a couple of years ago, still seems pretty new and I don't fully trust/know a lot of the functions!
Rerarom 7y ago
I started using a microwave in 2005.
devnonymous 7y ago
I'm 42 and I think a lot of people here would find it surprising that my life just 20-25 years ago was radically different than it is today. To give an example -- then, the only way to contact me when I was not at home was to leave a message with anyone who answered the phone at home. If nobody was home, tough luck, try back sometime you think someone would be home (ie: no answering machine, no cell phone). Email ...meh once a week when I'd go to the cyber cafe to browse the net, chat with strangers online ..etc. ...and if that is surprising, the more surprising thing is a lot of people still live this way in large parts of the world. There's always a long lead time between technology becoming available and becoming ubiquitous the world over.

thaumasiotes 7y ago

> Wikipedia says only 25% of households had a microwave in 1986 and my whole life I just assumed they’d been a staple kitchen appliance since the 1960s. In That 70s Show, there is an episode in which the Foremans get a microwave.

Cthulhu_ 7y ago

And that's already a somewhat advanced and not really required luxury; my parents mentioned how they still had an outhouse instead of a toilet indoors, and a friend of mine lived in a rental house, not even THAT old, that didn't have central heating (just a big gas heater in the living room, they made do with electric heaters in the bedrooms). And of course my dad (in his 60's) still remembers the time when there was no sewer and some people still had barrels of sewage that were picked up once a week.

RealityVoid 7y ago
> And that's already a somewhat advanced and not really required luxury; my parents mentioned how they still had an outhouse instead of a toilet indoors This is still the norm in some (many) places. In my home country about 27% of the population only has an outhouse. Mainly in the rural areas.

martopix 7y ago

I'm 30, and I didn't grow up with a microwave. My parents got one about 10 years ago, I think, and they don't use a kettle. I think it's the same for many people where I grew up. Not a poor country, but different cooking habits :)

dev_north_east 7y ago

I was born in '85 and grew up without a microwave. My parents still don't have one. I only got one a couple of years ago, still seems pretty new and I don't fully trust/know a lot of the functions!

Rerarom 7y ago

I started using a microwave in 2005.

devnonymous 7y ago

I'm 42 and I think a lot of people here would find it surprising that my life just 20-25 years ago was radically different than it is today. To give an example -- then, the only way to contact me when I was not at home was to leave a message with anyone who answered the phone at home. If nobody was home, tough luck, try back sometime you think someone would be home (ie: no answering machine, no cell phone). Email ...meh once a week when I'd go to the cyber cafe to browse the net, chat with strangers online ..etc. ...and if that is surprising, the more surprising thing is a lot of people still live this way in large parts of the world. There's always a long lead time between technology becoming available and becoming ubiquitous the world over.