Last Updated on April 23, 2025 by Matt Staff
There was something unshakably, delightfully weird about growing up during the ’80s and ’90s. The world was caught up in undergoing a radical series of changes. Whether it was something like thinking that quicksand was a literal daily threat, or just that chewing gum would take seven years to digest, our imaginations during that time could run amok. Plus, people were thoroughly convinced that they were right.
This collection of quirky beliefs serves as an entertaining series of reminders of a far more analog world, where misinformation seemed to be a mere part of growing up. We’ll now take a stroll down memory lane and revisit some of those funny, bizarre, and outright absurd things that so many of us allowed ourselves to believe.
1. If You Swallowed Gum, It Stayed in Your Stomach for 7 Years
Parents and teachers were guilty of repeating this myth. They would warn kids of the long-term consequences of gulping down wads of gum. In truth, though, this was nonsense as far as a gum having a seven-year stint in your stomach after eating it.
2. Pop Rocks and Soda Could Make You Explode
What if, though? In actuality, this is obviously not the case. The origin story for the myth itself is that it comes from the legendary “Mikey from the Life cereal commercial.” Kids actively feared the supposedly catastrophic combination of Pop Rocks as well as Coke.
3. You Could Get Sucked Into a Mall Escalator
Well, that’s just a terrifying image to wrestle with. Numerous kids would stand by frozen in crippling fear at the base of an escalator, imagining being swallowed whole if their shoelace were to get caught.
4. Your Tamagotchi Would Die If You Left It Alone for 5 Minutes
These digital pets would rule people’s lives back in the day, as well as folks’ emotional health. Were you to miss one feeding, you’d find yourself haunted by the anxiety that your poor pixelated ghost could pass away altogether from the case of neglect.
5. CDs Would Be Ruined By a Single Fingerprint
There was once a tumultuous time when people thoroughly believed that a mere smudge could result in your CD being caught in a vicious cycle of skipping your music forever. Thankfully, such is not the case.
6. “Quicksand” Was a Real, Constant Threat
There were plenty of movies and cartoons that, at one point, seemed committed to telling people that quicksand was lurking about everywhere. Many kids were then emotionally on edge, all the time, to stare down that supposed quicksand if need be.
7. The Bermuda Triangle Could Suck Up Planes and Boats Without Warning
This mysterious and magical region was thought to be an utterly unsolvable enigma that accounted for countless disappearances. The reality? It’s just a normal ocean that has a little bit of a myth tossed in.
8. Blowing Into Game Cartridges Fixed Them
Seriously, though, everyone did it. Everyone did it even after Nintendo itself said it’d probably make things far worse. Still, it felt like an act of pure magic.
9. Y2K Would End the World
Thankfully, this particular myth came and passed with no historical drama attached. Back then, though, as the clock made its steady approach toward the year 2000, people were possessed by the fear that planes would crash and computers would fail. Instead, nothing much changed at all.
10. You Had to Wait an Hour After Eating Before Swimming
This rule was passed down like it was the word of law at nearly every pool party. Fortunately, science was able to clear up the matter later on, and say that it’s not really necessary at all.
11. If a Penny Fell From a Skyscraper, It Could Kill You
There was a surprisingly common science class myth that suggested that a penny that was dropped from a tall building could end up piercing your skull. However, it turns out that this wasn’t true. It did still make plenty of city kids quite, quite nervous.
12. TV Static Was Ghosts Trying to Communicate
It seems like if we had thought this one out a bit more, we would’ve quickly realized that such a held belief was utter nonsense indeed. Thanks to plenty of horror flicks, though, kids’ dreams were stalked by nightmarish visions of ghosts trying to make themselves known through static TVs.
13. You Could Get Stuck If You Crossed Your Eyes Too Long
This classic myth took aim at preventing kids from making their favorite series of goofy faces. This one really lived rent-free in plenty of young minds out there.
14. Sitting Too Close to the TV Would Ruin Your Eyes
If you were one of those kids who grew up watching Nickelodeon inches from the screen, then the changes are that someone probably yelled at you for doing so. Eye doctors today would tell you that such a belief is complete nonsense indeed.
15. You’d Get Warts from Toads
This one comes right from the world of fairytales. However, its longevity ended up being surprisingly long. Warts actually come from a virus and not from exposure to amphibians.
16. Your Parents Were Always Right Because They Had “The Encyclopedia“
Before Google was around, parents would proceed to work at shutting down plenty of debates by just telling their children to “look it up in the encyclopedia. If whatever was being debated wasn’t in the there, the game was definitely over.
17. Only Rich Kids Had Caller ID
Back in the earlier days of landlines, caller ID was viewed as a luxury item. Everyone else would just pick up the phone and keep their fingers crossed, hoping for the best.
18. Laser Discs Were the Future
They were enormous, futuristic, and extremely expensive. Spoiler: they did not become the future.
Laser discs were truly enormous, futuristic-looking, and also featured quite an expensive price point. The reality, though, is that they didn’t become the future.
19. Pogs Would Make You Rich One Day
If only such a held belief were true. Collectors were convinced that these holographic slammers were worth potentially thousands. Nowadays, however, most are just in boxes next to Beanie Babies as well as dreams.
20. Everyone Thought “The Oregon Trail” Was a Survival Guide
Let’s be totally honest, though. So many kids were out there educating themselves on the ways of old-time Western life on the frontier through playing this iconic game.
