Gen X'ers Are Sharing The Disproved And Useless Things They Were Told Growing Up — And Some People Still Believe Today

    "The safest place to be during a nuclear strike is under your desk."

    Brian Galindo
    by Brian Galindo

    BuzzFeed Staff

    I think we all heard growing up that you shouldn't swim for at least 30 minutes after eating. Well, that fact has been proved false. Needless to say, there are a lot of other things we were told growing up that turned out to be false.

    Two kids swimming underwater with goggles
    Imgorthand / Getty Images

    And a few months ago, Reddit user u/monsterpupper was curious about which things Gen X'ers were told growing up that ended up being untrue when they asked, “What would some of our disproven facts be?”

    Man holding up a "Time for Facts" label
    Gustavofrazao / Getty Images/iStockphoto

    Well, thousands of Gen X'ers shared the big myths they were told. And here are some of the top and best comments:

    1. "I thought we were going to be offered drugs by strangers a whole lot more."

    A "Say no to crack and other drugs" PSA
    Smith Collection / Getty Images

    —u/BrockVegas

    "I've never once found a free eddie in my halloween candy, and I'm greatly disappointed."
    —u/AllBadAnswers

    2. "The food pyramid is a healthy way to eat."

    The food pyramid, showing "fats, oils, and sweets" at the top (use sparingly), then dairy (2–3 servings), protein (2–3 servings), fruit (2–4 servings), veggies (3–5 servings), and bread, cereal, rice, and pasta at the bottom (6–11 servings)
    Beth Keiser / Corbis via Getty Images

    —u/cobra2814

    "Before that was just the four food groups."

    —u/human743

    3. "You won’t always walk around with a calculator in your pocket."

    A Little Professor calculator
    Science & Society Picture Librar / SSPL via Getty Images

    —u/aging_genxer

    "Yes! Suck it, eighth-grade math teacher! In the future, we all walk around with a calculator!!!"

    —u/[deleted]

    4. "The safest place to be during a nuclear strike is under your desk."

    Black-and-white photo of children crouched under their school desks
    Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

    —u/s-willoughby

    5. "I took my son to a dinosaur exhibit; literally everything I learned about dinosaurs is now wrong, including names of dinosaurs."

    Teacher holding up a book about dinosaurs in class of young kids
    Denver Post / Denver Post via Getty Images

    —u/urstillatroll

    "I still remember reading books that the dinosaurs evolved into modern-day reptiles, only to be taught again many years later that dinosaurs are actually modern-day birds."

    —u/671sjk

    6. "Eggs are bad for you. No, wait, they are good for you…hang on, are they bad again?"

    A cartoon egg holding a tray of food including an egg, toast, milk, and fruit
    California Egg Council / ClaymationKid / Via youtube.com

    —KnightArrogant

    7. "Your child is hyperactive solely because of sugar."

    Close-up of sugary fruit-shaped and other candy
    Fcafotodigital / Getty Images/iStockphoto

    —u/fragbert66

    "I wasn't allowed to have orange juice as a kid because of this."

    —u/Kodiak01

    8. "If I swallow gum, it will take seven years to digest."

    Close-up of Bubble Yum grape bubble gum
    ebay.com

    —u/roninthe31

    9. "Not on fire as much as I thought I would be. So much 'Stop, drop, and roll' growing up."

    TBS

    —u/-Economist-

    "I recently discovered that my niece and nephew haven't been taught about 'Stop, drop, and roll' in school. They looked at me like I was crazy when I explained it to them!"

    —u/NoodleNeedles

    10. "Don't sit too close to the TV or you'll go blind! Then computers came and we would have to spend eight-plus hours at work with a screen 5 inches from our eyes."

    Child lying on their stomach on the floor and watching a small TV about 5 inches from their face
    Fuse / Getty Images

    —u/xantub

    11. "Acid rain wasn’t an actual threat to the extent it was touted. Oh, and killer bees!!! 😆"

    A man holding an "acid rain umbrella" and wearing a "stop acid rain" sticker in a crowd of protesters
    Diana Walker / Getty Images

    —u/HairsprayHalo

    12. "The tongue has a map of different taste buds that taste different things."

    Five illustrations showing, sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami sections of the tongue
    Peterhermesfurian / Getty Images/iStockphoto

    —u/umKatorMissKath

    "The tongue map being debunked was one of those 'I fucking knew it!' moments when I started reading about how they BS'd us with this one."

    —u/TakeTheThirdStep

    13. "Japanese cars are poor quality and unreliable."

    A Honda car on a gravel road
    Heritage Images / National Motor Museum/Heritage Images via Getty Images

    —u/bigredthesnorer

    14. "Slightly foolish but true, LOL: that quicksand would be a real-life problem"

    A hand sticking up out of the sand
    Motortion / Getty Images/iStockphoto

    —u/TwoforFlinching613

    "Dude, it was quicksand and amnesia for me — like, I was ready for that shit, and nothing. But it seems it was more cartoon narrative tropes than anything. Oh well."

    —u/granitebudget1

    15. "You will have to write in cursive for the rest of your life."

    A man writing on a piece of paper on a table
    Johnce / Getty Images

    —u/LazyYogurtcloset7387

    16. "Plastic bags will save the Earth because we won't have to kill as many trees to make brown paper bags to carry groceries."

    A plastic "Thank you for shopping with us" shopping bag
    Shana Novak / Getty Images

    —u/i-touched-morrissey


    "OMG, I think about this every time I go shopping."

    —u/shallottmirror

    17. "The United States will be using the metric system by 1983."

    Metric vs imperial rulers
    Ievgenii Volyk / Getty Images/iStockphoto

    —u/amalgaman

    18. "Technology would give us so much free time in the future that we'd only have to work 5–10 hours a week. And we'd be able to do it from home, and employers would be on board with it. That one still hurts."

    "The Jetsons" cartoon mom and dad sitting and relaxing
    Hanna-Barbera

    —u/Exotic_Zucchini

    19. And last: "Mikey didn't die after eating Pop Rocks while drinking a Coca-Cola."

    Close-up of Mikey eating Life cereal
    FM1156/ Quaker Oats / Via youtube.com

    —u/letcherkildren

    "So you're saying he had a.......Life."

    —u/Detritus_AMCW

    You can read the full thread of responses on Reddit.

    Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.