diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 1741136dfe0..89a9238ffa0 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -32,12 +32,12 @@ repos:
     rev: v2.6.0
     hooks:
     -   id: reorder-python-imports
-        args: ['--application-directories=.:src', --py36-plus]
+        args: ['--application-directories=.:src', --py37-plus]
 -   repo: https://github.com/asottile/pyupgrade
     rev: v2.29.1
     hooks:
     -   id: pyupgrade
-        args: [--py36-plus]
+        args: [--py37-plus]
 -   repo: https://github.com/asottile/setup-cfg-fmt
     rev: v1.20.0
     hooks:
diff --git a/doc/en/how-to/skipping.rst b/doc/en/how-to/skipping.rst
index 9b74628d59f..d95e194107d 100644
--- a/doc/en/how-to/skipping.rst
+++ b/doc/en/how-to/skipping.rst
@@ -84,14 +84,14 @@ It is also possible to skip the whole module using
 
 If you wish to skip something conditionally then you can use ``skipif`` instead.
 Here is an example of marking a test function to be skipped
-when run on an interpreter earlier than Python3.6:
+when run on an interpreter earlier than Python3.7:
 
 .. code-block:: python
 
     import sys
 
 
-    @pytest.mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires python3.7 or higher")
+    @pytest.mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 8), reason="requires python3.8 or higher")
     def test_function():
         ...
 
diff --git a/src/_pytest/assertion/rewrite.py b/src/_pytest/assertion/rewrite.py
index 50b367e25ef..cacbe359b0c 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/assertion/rewrite.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/assertion/rewrite.py
@@ -293,9 +293,8 @@ def _write_pyc_fp(
     # import. However, there's little reason to deviate.
     fp.write(importlib.util.MAGIC_NUMBER)
     # https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0552/
-    if sys.version_info >= (3, 7):
-        flags = b"\x00\x00\x00\x00"
-        fp.write(flags)
+    flags = b"\x00\x00\x00\x00"
+    fp.write(flags)
     # as of now, bytecode header expects 32-bit numbers for size and mtime (#4903)
     mtime = int(source_stat.st_mtime) & 0xFFFFFFFF
     size = source_stat.st_size & 0xFFFFFFFF
diff --git a/src/_pytest/compat.py b/src/_pytest/compat.py
index 5af01eb7d95..3193a9a2293 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/compat.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/compat.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 import inspect
 import os
 import sys
-from contextlib import contextmanager
+from contextlib import nullcontext as nullcontext  # noqa: F401
 from inspect import Parameter
 from inspect import signature
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -186,16 +186,6 @@ def getfuncargnames(
     return arg_names
 
 
-if sys.version_info < (3, 7):
-
-    @contextmanager
-    def nullcontext():
-        yield
-
-else:
-    from contextlib import nullcontext as nullcontext  # noqa: F401
-
-
 def get_default_arg_names(function: Callable[..., Any]) -> Tuple[str, ...]:
     # Note: this code intentionally mirrors the code at the beginning of
     # getfuncargnames, to get the arguments which were excluded from its result
diff --git a/src/_pytest/logging.py b/src/_pytest/logging.py
index 31ad8301076..c99d3aaa05b 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/logging.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/logging.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 import logging
 import os
 import re
-import sys
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from io import StringIO
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -622,16 +621,7 @@ def set_log_path(self, fname: str) -> None:
             fpath.parent.mkdir(exist_ok=True, parents=True)
 
         stream = fpath.open(mode="w", encoding="UTF-8")
-        if sys.version_info >= (3, 7):
-            old_stream = self.log_file_handler.setStream(stream)
-        else:
-            old_stream = self.log_file_handler.stream
-            self.log_file_handler.acquire()
-            try:
-                self.log_file_handler.flush()
-                self.log_file_handler.stream = stream
-            finally:
-                self.log_file_handler.release()
+        old_stream = self.log_file_handler.setStream(stream)
         if old_stream:
             # https://github.com/python/typeshed/pull/5663
             old_stream.close()  # type:ignore[attr-defined]
diff --git a/src/_pytest/pytester.py b/src/_pytest/pytester.py
index 42e71ff917e..38eaef2fcc6 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/pytester.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/pytester.py
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ def get_open_files(self) -> List[Tuple[str, str]]:
             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
             stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
             check=True,
-            universal_newlines=True,
+            text=True,
         ).stdout
 
         def isopen(line: str) -> bool:
diff --git a/testing/test_debugging.py b/testing/test_debugging.py
index a822bb57f58..f3c271710d2 100644
--- a/testing/test_debugging.py
+++ b/testing/test_debugging.py
@@ -913,8 +913,7 @@ def test_foo():
 class TestDebuggingBreakpoints:
     def test_supports_breakpoint_module_global(self) -> None:
         """Test that supports breakpoint global marks on Python 3.7+."""
-        if sys.version_info >= (3, 7):
-            assert SUPPORTS_BREAKPOINT_BUILTIN is True
+        assert SUPPORTS_BREAKPOINT_BUILTIN is True
 
     @pytest.mark.skipif(
         not SUPPORTS_BREAKPOINT_BUILTIN, reason="Requires breakpoint() builtin"
diff --git a/testing/test_parseopt.py b/testing/test_parseopt.py
index 28529d04378..992f49bc53c 100644
--- a/testing/test_parseopt.py
+++ b/testing/test_parseopt.py
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ def test_argcomplete(pytester: Pytester, monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch) -> None:
             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
             stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
             check=True,
-            universal_newlines=True,
+            text=True,
         ).stdout
     except (OSError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
         pytest.skip("bash is not available")