If someone from the 1950's arrived here...

I think that showing them even the mundane (to us) large flat screen Hi Def color TV with 200 channels coming in on satellite dish would shock them.

They didn't have color TV until the sixties. all shows were low def B&W with snowy, in-and-out antenna reception on small screen but bulky TVs that showed 3 channels LOL

Portable telephones.

@divegeester
In the 50's we thought we'd have flying cars, jet packs, robots to do our housework,and colonies on Mars by now.

@drewnogal said
Interest free credit and the crippling amount of debt that some people are encouraged to get into.

Yes. Used to be, "Pay for what you need, save for what you want", I was around in the 40s and 50s and still ascribe to that.

@great-big-stees said
Yes. Used to be, "Pay for what you need, save for what you want", I was around in the 40s and 50s and still ascribe to that.

That's a good thought. Don't take money for granted.

@torunn said
That's a good thought. Don't take money for granted.

And don't forget, "put money away for 'a rainy' day AKA emergency fund".

@Earl-of-Trumps
I saw the beginnings of color TV though. 1953, I was like 10 or so and was in a local supermarket and RCA had a contraption that did produce real color, a huge color wheel maybe 3 feet across with red green and blue filters that ran in front of a small tv screen. It had to be sync'd to a similar arrangement on the TV camera in the studio and so when the say, red filter was in front of the camera, the red filter was also in front of the TV screen.
It gave startlingly good color, while it lasted.
I watched and was amazed at how good the picture looked but about 2 minutes in the set lost filter sync and the whole thing went wacko.
They shut it down and that was the end of THAT experiment.

@great-big-stees said
And don't forget, "put money away for 'a rainy' day AKA emergency fund".

Also a good thought - different accounts for different savings. When we were young, in the 50-60's, we used envelopes that we marked 'vacation', 'clothes' etc. Bank accounts were only used for saving longterm.

@torunn said
Also a good thought - different accounts for different savings. When we were young, in the 50-60's, we used envelopes that we marked 'vacation', 'clothes' etc. Bank accounts were only used for saving longterm.

The average salary in 1950 was $65 a week. There wasn't much for the envelopes.

@handyandy said
The average salary in 1950 was $65 a week. There wasn't much for the envelopes.

The first job I had as shorthand-typist in the early 60's gave 600 SEK a month, and then, after 3 months, I had a raise to SEK 625. 🙂 I lived with my parents and had no heavy expenses.

Edit: I was 16 at the time. If I had been 18, my salary would have been 800 SEK.

@Torunn
What would that be in Rubles? No, I mean Dollars😉

@sonhouse said
@Torunn
What would that be in Rubles? No, I mean Dollars😉

You will have to check it up. 🙂

@handyandy said
The average salary in 1950 was $65 a week. There wasn't much for the envelopes.

I found your post interesting Andy so found out what would be needed today to equal that amount.
Search Results
Featured snippet from the web
In other words, $65 in 1950 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $693.71 in 2020, a difference of $628.71 over 70 years. The 1950 inflation rate was 1.26%. The current inflation rate (2019 to 2020) is now 2.05% 1. If this number holds, $65 today will be equivalent in buying power to $66.33 next year.

-VR

Maybe the Science Fiction reader of the 50's would be disappointed after noticing he was in 2020 about the Technology:
No flying cars, no small home-operated nuclear reactors, no moonbase (let alone Mars or Venus), no robotic agriculture, no machines which would just make everything by aksing them,...

@very-rusty said
People who would strap explosives to themeselves then blow themselves up in a crowd of people.

-VR

Martyrs are far from new ...