Hilarious home video from 1978 proves why Gen X is tougher than other generations

It might be the age of millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, but people need to remember that Gen X was built differently. Before the dawn of the internet, Gen X only had television, radio and some now-questionable toys and outdoor activities to keep themselves entertained. Their weekends were not about scrolling through social media or going to clubs. It was a lot more idyllic but fun. A home video shared by @shoopes on TikTok demonstrates what a typical weekend looked like for kids growing up in the '70s.

The grainy footage from 1978 shows the TikToker's childhood and she provides funny voiceover narrations over the video to explain what the viewers are witnessing. "Why are Gen X so tough?" she says at the beginning of the video. "You have heard all the stories about drinking out of the hose and being left at home alone the whole day. You just have to see it to get it." The footage features a typical Saturday in 1978, where the woman's dad and uncle are building an addition to her grandma's house. "That's what you did," she jokes in voiceover. "You didn't hire people. You did it all by yourself."

Back in the '70s, kids tagged along with adults everywhere and kept themselves busy while their parents did whatever they had to do. She humorously comments that as a kid, their only job was not to die or get kidnapped. "There is my uncle Larry, working on the electricals," she says about a man in the video. "There is my cousin, Mike, at the top of the ladder, not trying not to die." She then diverts people's attention towards her younger self "looking cute," as her aunt Donna does a little sweeping and her grandma hangs out at the site.

Just then, her cousin Mike climbs down the ladder and she claims, "he is acting like he fell down," but the surprising thing is, nobody cared and continued doing their respective work. She points out that no adult on the site cared about Mike falling down, but the kids did and she being one of those kids, imitated his fall. But all she got was a face full of dust from Aunt Donna's broom as she was still busy sweeping. Then her cousin Jerry can be seen picking up the hammer as he pretends to hit another kid on the head with it. "Try not to die kids," the woman narrating the video concludes.

TikTok users who watched the video with amusement jumped in to share stories from their lives in the '70s, which are more or less similar to the video shared by the woman. @montywolfe joked, "Life was about the grown-ups and you just went along. That sums it up. And I had kinda forgotten. You watched the TV they watched, everything." @cindylou557 recalled, "I got lost in Sears. Got smacked on the head for embarrassing my mom when they called her to pick me up." @carly.hanks_ mentioned, "You forgot about stepping on nails that went through your flip flop and screaming about wasted time to get another tetanus shot on the way to the dump."

@somethingaboutrosie wrote, "When I was 14 my parents went on a cruise and left my 16-year-old sister in charge. I don't think they called once." @shugarlmo quipped, "This sums up my childhood but we are Mexican so there were more cousins and laughing at each other when someone got hurt. Good times!" @chaoticfoundations shared, "Fighting in the car got us left on the median strip and told to stay there while mom grocery shopping. She picked us up when she finished." @johnnybarfield2 added, "I remember getting hit by a car on my bike and being more worried about the bent-up bike than the road rash. No cops called. I carried the bike home."

You can follow @shoopes on TikTok for more funny videos from the Gen X childhood era.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 18, 2024. It has since been updated.