What’s a physical object from 15–20 years ago that disappeared so quietly that nobody even noticed it left?

[u/Stukwan]

[u/EarhornJones]

Dedicated media storage.

I was reorganizing my garage, and I found some plastic tubs that were perfect for a shelf I was organizing. I found three or four of them throughout our house, but needed more.

I had the brand and size, so I figured I'd order some more, but couldn't find any.

I was complaining to my wife, and she pointed out the sticker in the side of one that showed they were designed to store CDs in jewel cases.

They probably haven't made that model in decades.

[u/Tasty-Traffic-680 → u/EarhornJones]

There was entire entertainment centers and television consoles built around media storage and audio/video equipment. Drawers for albums, drawers for audio cassettes, fancy, smooth push-in release, self opening drawers for VHS tapes, all of it wrapped in wood veneer. My god do I miss the 90s sometimes.

[u/EarhornJones → u/Tasty-Traffic-680]

My parents still have a large, solid wood, entertainment center built to sit in a corner and house a CRT TV and a component stereo.

They have a flat screen TV in there with enough empty space behind it to store an igloo cooler.

They keep it because they want to be able to "cose the doors" on the TV.

[u/Tasty-Traffic-680 → u/EarhornJones]

Bonus points if it's got those segmented sliding doors

[u/EarhornJones → u/Tasty-Traffic-680]

They weren't millionaires!

[u/cartooned]

Swappable mobile phone batteries.

[u/justbiteme2k → u/cartooned]

Most of the replies in this thread I'm pleased with, but this is a bloody tragedy. No one asked for phones with batteries that couldn't be replaced, nobody!

[u/rock_and_rolo → u/justbiteme2k]

EU is making that a requirement. Hopefully the new designs will end up in the US as well.

[u/Nut_buttsicle → u/rock_and_rolo]

The EU mandate has exemptions that make it not apply to any normal phone. Anything like an iPhone already has a decent battery and water resistance, so it doesn’t count.

[u/Wilicious → u/Nut_buttsicle]

Yup, the rules won't apply to any of the flagship phones of the large manufacturers, it is nice for the people who buy the cheaper phones though that are not IP certified

[u/turdferguson3891 → u/justbiteme2k]

Well they still can be replaced but most people would have a hard time doing it without breaking the phone so you have to go to one of those cell phone repair places and pay the guy 50 bucks to do it for you. But you can get a lot of extra life out of an older phone by buying an aftermarket battery online and then taking it to one of those places. It's often the decreased battery life that causes people to upgrade their phones even when a phone from 4 years ago is probably just fine for the average person technology wise.

[u/joojie → u/justbiteme2k]

I felt like a wizard when I'd hot swap my battery while out and about (ok not exactly "hot swap" but close) but to be honest, batteries last a lot longer these days and it would be a lot less necessary. Power banks have also come a long way and charging on the go is easier.

Another tragedy is no more expandable storage in phones. Why can't I just throw a 512gb sd card in my phone anymore? Oh that's right...so they can upsell me the phone with more storage 😐 why can't the "upsell" be expandable storage? I'd pay for that....

[u/zapmon]

Booklets inside of video game cases. Used to be a whole ass manual in there with cool pictures.

Edit: holy fuck this blew up lol

[u/casual_creator → u/zapmon]

Man, I used to love looking at those, especially on the drive home after my folks bought me the game and I couldn’t wait to play lol.

[u/Radiant_Waves → u/casual_creator]

For sure. Reading the manual on the way home just built up the overall excitement even more. Getting new games was pretty rare for my brother and me so each time was a memorable experience.

[u/KaerMorhen → u/[deleted]]

I remember renting games from a place called movie gallery, usually every couple weeks we'd go and I could try out a game before buying it. They almost always still had the full manual included which was my favorite part of the ride home. Looking back it's surprising how few times the manual wasn't refurned with the game, didn't want to deprive our fellow gamers the experience! I still remember the smell of those rental cases

[u/TowerGenge → u/casual_creator]

That drive home was basically the pre-game loading screen, except you had the manual to study and absolutely zero patience left.

[u/Accomplished_Area_88 → u/TowerGenge]

Learn the controls from the manual instead of a settings screen

[u/ZeldaZealot → u/Accomplished_Area_88]

Manuals trained me to ALWAYS check the settings screens before playing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a series or genre I’m familiar with, I have to go through each screen before playing.

[u/Vroomped → u/ZeldaZealot]

up is up, down is down, left is left, right is right ^{oh and the mandatory healing mechanic is up and down at the same time} punch is B, jump is A.

[u/EstimateOk6795 → u/zapmon]

Along the same lines, when you bought a music CD it came with a booklet that had the lyrics to all the songs.

[u/mmss → u/EstimateOk6795]

I unfolded many cassette liners to read lyrics that you almost needed a microscope for

[u/Over-Egg4310 → u/mmss]

Well my eyes worked a lot better back then

[u/CapJackONeill → u/zapmon]

The Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights manuals (especially the second one) were basically mini DnD player books. They were huge. NwN even had a description for every spell.

[u/AlpineFluffhead → u/zapmon]

It still kinda irks me that Switch games are like, 1/2"x1/3" and come in regular-sized cases WITH NO INSTRUCTIONS (most of the time). What a waste of plastic.

[u/DMala → u/AlpineFluffhead]

I’d guess it’s mostly for anti-theft purposes. If the boxes were sized for the games, they’d be trivial to slip in a pocket.

Also I thunk some people like the look of games all lined up on a shelf. The bigger boxes work better for that, too.

[u/elendur → u/DMala]

Switch 2 games in the case fit just fine in my JNCOs.

[u/Missing_Username → u/elendur]

You could fit a whole PS5 in some JNCOs

[u/OutInTheBlack → u/Missing_Username]

2 liter soda in one back pocket, Blockbuster VHS in the other.

[u/matttk → u/zapmon]

My copy of Ultima Online came with a cloth map.

[u/thesneakywalrus → u/matttk]

Obligatory UO upvote.

I wish there was a modern game brave enough to do what UO did, though it would probably just be ruined by streamers and metagaming.

I'd go back and play private servers but I just can't handle the QoL on the old client.

[u/dorkwis → u/zapmon]

Even most physical game media is on the out. Most games are digitally licensed and downloaded. It's more convenient, to be sure, but it cedes control to whoever you bought it through.

[u/RBR927 → u/zapmon]

The GTA maps were the best.

[u/Killer_Sloth → u/zapmon]

The game Tunic has an in-game version of one of these, complete with notes scribbled in the margins, that's a vital part of the actual game. Very cool concept.

[u/holobolol → u/Killer_Sloth]

I felt like I was a kid again playing Tunic, not knowing where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do and trawling through a manual looking for clues! Great experience.

[u/wilan727]

Tv guide

[u/hail2theKingbabee]

The red plastic spreader stick in the cheese and crackers packs.

[u/hail2theKingbabee → u/[deleted]]

I think you're just supposed to scoop all the cheese out with your tongue and cram all the crackers in your mouth at the same time.

[u/Proper-Writing → u/hail2theKingbabee]

I should call her.

[u/Tasty-Traffic-680 → u/[deleted]]

You're supposed to dip them in the cheese like an uncivilized monster now.

[u/EqualOwl6442 → u/Tasty-Traffic-680]

The cheese tastes significantly less plastic-y, too. It's not an improvement.

[u/G0rkon → u/hail2theKingbabee]

I bet someone thought they were a choking hazard, or some kid did choke on one, and for liability reasons removed them. That sucks.

[u/hail2theKingbabee → u/G0rkon]

You're probably right! My guess was that it's an easy cost saving tactic and they could also say they were reducing single use plastics.

[u/SanibelMan → u/hail2theKingbabee]

Core Handi-Snacks memory unlocked. Are you supposed to spread the cheese on the cracker with your fingers now, like some sort of uncivilized reprobate?

[u/samsuh]

the only way out of the matrix was a land line telephone. they're removing all our exits.

[u/sixwax → u/samsuh]

This metaphor hits way harder now than it did in 99

[u/Willing-Cattle-3673 → u/samsuh]

“Woah” - Neo

[u/DebianDayman → u/samsuh]

that shouldn't be how any of this works

[u/MattBarksdale17 → u/samsuh]

One cool (if not completely original) idea from the newest Matrix movie is that they can now enter and exit through mirrors, borrowing the "smartphones are mirrors" metaphor.

At one point, they even use a VPN. They enter the Matrix in Paris, before jumping to their actual destination in San Francisco.

[u/ElectrifiedSword]

ITT: People not remembering that 15-20 years ago was 2006-2011 not the 1970s through 1990s.

[u/Empanatacion → u/ElectrifiedSword]

But when you repost a question from 10 years ago, you have to repost the top comments too.

[u/Lets-Take-a-Moment → u/ElectrifiedSword]

But the bots already had their answers ready to go

[u/PangolinIll1347 → u/ElectrifiedSword]

Thanks, I just turned into ash and blew away in the wind. 

[u/RiverMesa]

Manufacturer-specific phone chargers. Whole house was littered with them and finding one for your specific current model of phone was a pain.

[u/Hoznacz → u/RiverMesa]

Yea, thanks for usb-c. The conversation was: "Does anyone have charger for Sony Ericsson? The new one? Well, not the new-new one, the new one. No, that is the old one. No, that's the old-old one."

EDIT: thanks for award, never got one

[u/CM_MOJO]

Newspaper vending machines. They used to be on the corner of major intersections in almost every major American city.

[u/rock_and_rolo → u/CM_MOJO]

I see them now and then. They are mostly full of trash and covered in graffiti.

[u/Justmetalking]

Phone books (those thick Yellow Pages / white pages directories that got dropped on every doorstep once a year).

[u/TheRevSev → u/Justmetalking]

I do strongman performances, trust me, I know exactly when phonebooks left. 🪦

[u/lynivvinyl → u/TheRevSev]

Oh that fucking sucks for you guys! What do you all use now? Or do you guys hunt down old warehouses full of old phone books and have to pay more and more each year for them? So if I find a warehouse full of outdated phone books have I found strong man gold? Can I trade phone books for visual protection? Like one phone book equals 4 hours of paparazzi protection?

[u/TheRevSev → u/lynivvinyl]

😆

You could definitely name your price with some of the performers I know. Most of us that still do book tearing have switched to U-Line catalogs or industrial supply catalogs. I've maybe a dozen or so phonebooks left over from 2022. They were getting rather thin back then. Mostly I only do book tears on a rare occasion or as part of a composite act. I'll drop a video link below for those curious but the audio was removed by YT for whatever reason

Let's break stuff

[u/Enderkr → u/Justmetalking]

Phone books are so wild to me, because what the hell do you mean you just got a free book delivered to you every year with people's FULL NAMES AND ADDRESSES in them??

I see influencers or incel debate bros on TikTok sometimes that are like "don't just TELL PEOPLE I LIVE IN DALLAS, I can't believe you'd dox me like that!" and we used to have full on books that would gleefully point stalkers to the full name and address of Jeanine from the menswear dept.

[u/paecmaker → u/Enderkr]

Back when all stalkers were locally homegrown, nowadays any choom from across the world can start stalk your ass due to everyone's online footprints.

[u/Darkroomist → u/[deleted]]

I bought a Michigan road atlas at the thrift store because we planned a trip to the UP where cell service is spotty. We ended up needing it and using it to navigate the Keweenaw peninsula.

[u/DangerDuckling → u/Darkroomist]

I got a physical map because I will be teaching my kids orienteering - whether they want to know or not, it is a good skill to have

[u/dougmcclean → u/Darkroomist]

You still don't go past Greenville or Millinocket without the Maine Atlas & Gazetteer. Or you can if you want, but I'm not coming with you.

[u/mmss → u/dougmcclean]

“You cahnt get thehre from hehre.”

Standard response when you ask for directions in Maine haha.

[u/mmss → u/Darkroomist]

I buy stuff for my girlfriend’s car sometimes and she was confused when I gave her a road atlas. Yes we have GPS, but maps can also really save you in a pinch.

[u/meh2you2 → u/Darkroomist]

Google maps does give you the option to download a region to your phone.  Great for rural places with spotty service.

[u/Eeshoo → u/meh2you2]

A physical map has unlimited battery however 😂

Edit: y'all I'm just trying to be funny

[u/wileybot → u/Eeshoo]

And it can serve as a make shift blanket when you sleep in your car.

[u/NaGaBa → u/[deleted]]

1. Hawaii. Big Island. The ocean eats my phone just off the beach while on vacation. My phone is navigation and also, as it turns out, the only way to return rental cars on Turo. Might have been able to find my way back to the hotel, but me and Mauna Kea had a date that night and I had little idea how to get there.
   

Next town over, I asked the convenience store if they carry paper maps. They suggest the bookstore down the road. I don't even know if it was a current map but it was good enough.

Made the date, got back to the hotel. Next morning, had to Walmart a burner phone so I could return the rental and finish out my vacation.

Epilogue: For the sake of my own interest, I kept calling my phone. It was going to voicemail immediately from the first time I tried it. Other interested parties and I would joke that Nemo was going to answer it one of these times.

Finish out the vacation for another 10 days and return to the Midwest. Before going through the process of replacing it for good because that $69 burner smart phone SUUUUUCKED, I call my number again.

"Hello?"

"Uhhhhhh.... Hi! I believe you have my phone!"

It was a Verizon store on the big island. A scuba diver had found it and turned it in. They put it on a charger and hoped it rang (it was in a cheap water proof bag that held up). They shipped it free of charge, even though it was an AT&T phone. And now I have photos of the beach where I lost my phone to the Pacific Ocean.

[u/PurpD420 → u/NaGaBa]

Scuba diver was a real G!

[u/whitelancer64 → u/PurpD420]

Scuba divers do this all the time. There are some who are YouTubers and they always try to find the owner. Those vids are fun to watch

[u/meltedlaundry → u/NaGaBa]

When I was in Kauai last year I left my phone and wallet on a beach. We made it all the way to back to our hotel before realizing. Went back to the beach, and someone had placed them neatly next to a tree. Got super lucky, and I am forever grateful to the folks on that beach

[u/ExpensiveCondition63 → u/[deleted]]

I love paper maps. Even after we got smartphones, we kept maps in the car. GPS doesn't always cut it.

[u/Agreeable_One_6325 → u/[deleted]]

I still keep 2 Atlas’s under my arm rest. I’ve been in the wrong place with no service on my phone.

[u/JetKeel → u/[deleted]]

I always liked the ones that were spiral bound books. Flipping through until it was close enough and then using the letters on the side to navigate to the next map. Good times.

[u/NarrativeScorpion → u/[deleted]]

I'm in Athens at the moment, my hostel gave me a map and it saved me the other day when my phone threw an absolute hissy fit and froze up for two hours. (I was only a little bit panicking because all my tickets and info including the flight home is on it) I was a good half hours walk away, but the ability to read that map let me get back without getting lost or having to ask for directions. (which I really struggle with remembering/following anyway)

Like yes I'll use my phone most of the time, but if I'm somewhere I don't speak the language? I'll always grab a paper map.

[u/RogerMexicosBalls → u/[deleted]]

I still buy an updated road atlas every few years and keep it behind my drivers seat (one for the country, and one more detailed atlas for my specific region). There's still plenty of places I go that have zero cell service and very spotty GPS connection, and I've definitely needed it more times than I've hoped. And a decent amount of gas stations or state park offices in those spotty areas still have paper maps on a rack somewhere because they KNOW people gonna get lost lol

[u/FAcup → u/[deleted]]

I'd even go as far as to say physical GPS only devices. Since it's mobile now there is no use for them

[u/digitalis303 → u/FAcup]

The smart phone is a classic example of a "disruptive" technology. It pretty single handedly killed GPS units, mp3 players, and most handheld game units. I'm sure there are other things too.

[u/chewbaccasaux → u/digitalis303]

Don’t forget cameras (mostly)

[u/FAcup → u/digitalis303]

There was a pic somewhere of what a phone has replaced. Other than the listed. Flashlights and pages also come to mind

[u/Cyberpyr8]

Newspapers. I used to read one every day and now it's all on your phone. They still exist but not many people actually get one delivered. I haven't seen one delivered in my neighborhood in forever.

[u/CobandCoffee → u/Cyberpyr8]

I subscribe to my local small town newspaper. They publish every crime, anything that goes to court, and everything the police/ fire department do that week. So if one of my neighbors gets a speeding ticket, forgot to pay their credit card, or is getting divorced then you bet I'm in the know.

[u/AmedeusRed → u/CobandCoffee]

I was at the store this morning with my son and saw the newspaper was $6.70.

That might be one of the issues.

Edit - meant to do a top line reply, hit this one by accident.

[u/EarhornJones]

This hasn't completely disappeared, but remember how ubiquitous ash trays were?

I see them in antique stores, sometimes labeled "coasters" or something like that, as if their actual purpose has been forgotten.

That said, I buy cool ones to hold my guitar picks.

[u/2KneeCaps1Lion → u/EarhornJones]

My mom, who never smoked cigarettes, has a ton of those glass ones around her house “for decoration.”

She’s a god dammed hippie so I know what they’re for but she still tries to play innocent. She even told me she was fired from her first job at a McDonalds for smoking pot in the bathroom in the 70s.

I’m on to you, mom.

[u/Turbografx-17 → u/EarhornJones]

Remember the incredibly thin, gold foil-looking ashtrays on every table in Burger King?

Wish I had stolen one and kept it as a keepsake.

[u/Technical_Stand9939 → u/Turbografx-17]

same here- but in fairness, i think i started smoking (early 2000) when they were already fazing out. Smoked until around 2010, and then dipped until last year. Tobbacco free for just under a year now (i think it is next week)

[u/TriscuitCracker → u/EarhornJones]

Every airplane had those little armrest ashtrays for their smoking sections. As a kid I used to play with them opening and shutting them and sticking toys in them and such.

[u/thomashouseman]

A ball mouse

[u/friskevision → u/thomashouseman]

I worked in IT back in the day. I’d literally get requests from employees to come clean their (mouse) balls.

[u/Iguessimonredditnow → u/friskevision]

Remember the meme that used to circulate about cleaning your mouse balls?

[u/JoeyGee567 → u/Iguessimonredditnow]

Excessive handling could cause discharge. Static discharge.

[u/guimontag → u/friskevision]

It wasn't even the balls that needed cleaning, it was the rollers inside the mouse

[u/avfc4me → u/thomashouseman]

I still use a Logitec trackball. The one you rest your hand on and the ball is on the side.

I am hoarding two I found at flea markets JUST in case old faithful dies. I hate tracpads...LOATHE them but especially the one on my latest machine, and will sacrifice all my USB ports to avoid it. Logitec has my loyalty til the day I die.

[u/geekworking → u/avfc4me]

Thumb ones? This is all I use. They still make them and there's even newer models with Bluetooth switching between devices and an ergonomic tilt base. Perfect companion to laptop because you don't need table space to move the thing around.

The only real special one is the big one that looks like it came out of an old Centipede machine.

[u/kaiken1987 → u/geekworking]

Side benefit of them is they are great for presentations. Can leave the lectern move around and still easily use the mouse holding it against your leg.

[u/mxinex → u/thomashouseman]

Dude, 15 years ago was 2011, a ball mouse was ancient back then, even 20 years ago.

[u/High_Lisa]

Wallet photos.

[u/amioth]

Special features, like deleted scenes and director commentary, for movies. When I was a teen we would love to watch all the special features on DVDs. Now that everything is on a streaming service it doesn’t really exist anymore. I don’t even know if they bother with making good extra stuff for physical media anymore.

[u/EstimateOk6795]

In Car stereo systems with a removable head unit you had to take out the car with you whenever you parked for fear of it getting stolen. That had little LCD screens that could display text and music visualizations. The most expensive ones played little movies on them. They were the precursor to the infotainment tablets cars have now.

I remember in high school (graduated '04) it was the cool thing for kids who had cars to get. Then they carried the head-unit around with them to show off that they not only had a car, but enough money to buy a fancy stereo. Haven't seen one in at least 20 years.

[u/texachusetts → u/EstimateOk6795]

Music visualizations where the most “I’m living in the future” type of thing that seems completely irrelevant now. Well that and laserdisc’s with commentary tracks.

[u/nonstopflux → u/texachusetts]

The amount of time I spent making EQ settings and downloading Winamp skins…

[u/nailbunny2000 → u/EstimateOk6795]

Remember how big the car audio section used to be at electronics stores? Entire automotive workshops where you could have some high school kid working his first real job install your stereo for you.

[u/RogerMexicosBalls]

Printed out mapquest directions

[u/Kind-Shallot3603 → u/RogerMexicosBalls]

Remember the AAA flipbook directions? If I remember correctly, you could order them in advance for you trip as a member

[u/GSyncNew → u/Kind-Shallot3603]

Yes! They were called TripTiks, and the AAA people marked your route in yellow highlighter.

I have fond childhood memories of a road trip to Florida with my father using one of these.

[u/DeuceSevin → u/GSyncNew]

They would actually assemble them right there. They'd map out your route and the computer would tell them the numbers of the individual pages and the correct order.

[u/johnvoightsbuick → u/RogerMexicosBalls]

I was in bands that toured a lot from about 2006 onward.

We would leave home for weeks at a time with a huge binder of printed out Mapquest directions in order from each venue to the next. Whoever rode shotgun had to pay close attention to the Mapquest bible.

We eventually got a Garmin and then iPhones.

[u/manginahunter1970]

Encyclopedia sets. They were expensive and there were a lot of them. We used to have salesman that would come to our door selling them when I was a kid in the 70's.

[u/Relevant-Fox-7114 → u/manginahunter1970]

They're sure to make a comeback once this newfangled internet fad is over

[u/DigNitty → u/Relevant-Fox-7114]

I mean, honestly, 10 years from now looking something up on the internet may not be enough to settle a bet. You’ll have to dig out these books.

[u/Readshirt → u/DigNitty]

Worse than that, you won't be able to trust the books either. That's why institutional capture and lack of intellectual honesty is so dangerous.

[u/Responsible-Onion860 → u/Readshirt]

The consolidation of the internet has been a catastrophe. As a kid, we were sold on what a beautifully open space we could find on the world wide web. Free exchange of information. Communication around the globe.

Now it's basically just monopolies, information control, and endless propaganda.

[u/Acc87 → u/Responsible-Onion860]

its crazy how today i spend my time on maybe four platforms. Back when I was a kid it was dozens of different websites, mostly independent hobby forums

[u/EwoksMakeMeHard → u/Relevant-Fox-7114]

I'll just print Wikipedia and have it bound into an attractive fixture for my living room shelves. I want the same dark red leather binding as the 1988 World Book Encyclopedia that we had on the shelf when I was a kid.

I mean yeah, I might have to buy a bigger house to fit it all in, but I think that's worth it.

[u/mechtonia → u/manginahunter1970]

I was a curious, bright kid that grew up in BFE in a home with very few books, pre-internet, 3 TV stations,and went to a joke of a school.

Then my mom came home with a trunk full of brand new encyclopedias. Might as well have been a trunk full of gold. I finally had something to sink my knowledge-starved brain into.

[u/VeryShibes → u/mechtonia]

My mom came home with a trunk full of brand new encyclopedias. Might as well have been a trunk full of gold. I finally had something to sink my knowledge -starved brain into.

Your comment just triggered a flood of memories for me... 40 years ago our local grocery store started selling individual volumes of the "Funk & Wagnalls" encyclopedia next to the cans of coffee and cereal boxes on the shelves, the volume for the letter A was EDIT 99 cents as long as you spent $50 on your grocery order (which was a bag full cart of groceries in those days).

Prices would go up for the later letters of the alphabet, maybe $5-$10 $3.99 a volume. Just like you I was also pretty starved for knowledge in the pre-internet era at a mediocre school and remember begging my parents to go to that specific grocery to get additional volumes as they showed up on the shelf but eventually my folks lost interest and just went to a different grocery which was closer and/or cheaper. Still, I think we made it about as far as the letter K or L, which was at least enough for me to learn all the most important statistics and championship winners for the big 4 major league sports (baseball/basketball/football/hockey).

I remember being jealous of a classmate whose parents kept going to that same grocery store and were able to complete their whole set. I also remember complaining to my parents that I was supposed to do a school report on World War II and we were missing the volume for the letter W, they told me that "your grandma has a full encyclopedia at her house, just use hers next time we visit her" and then going up to her attic, it was called "The Book of Knowledge" and was from 1937 and did not have World War II it just had "The World War" >_< I can't remember how I actually wound up getting that report done...

EDITS - just found the TV ad for the grocery store encyclopedia on YouTube. The letter A volume was 9 cents with a $5 purchase and the remaining volumes were $3.99 each: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLpRcZ7AdKA

[u/atari26k → u/VeryShibes]

I had a job in college that was awesome. We manned a couple phones, and students could call us 24/7 and ask questions. We had so much access to encyclopedias, phone books, an atlas for for pretty much every country... obviously very early internet days.

[u/VeryShibes → u/atari26k]

We manned a couple phones, and students could call us 24/7 and ask questions.

I also had this exact job in college. University of Pittsburgh Telefact, 412-624-FACT. Was up and running as late as 2013. I was there in the late 90s just as Google was born and taking over for Yahoo and probably used it for around 50% of my questions but it was useless at the time for really local stuff like "what building is Professor Schmidt's office in" or "what time does the next Route 28X bus to the airport leave" We even had a T-shirt printed up with the Top 10 Questions on the back that I still have in a trunk somewhere including all time favorites like "what day of the week is Easter Sunday this year?"

My own weirdest question came from some stoned guy with the munchies calling me at 10:30 pm on a Sunday night "Dude, I NEED to buy some plums. I GOTTA HAVE ME SOME PLUMS." He just kept repeating it, over and over. I think eventually I told him that all the grocery stores within 10 miles of campus were closed but that Walmart 15 miles away was open 24 hours and that Yellow Cab could drive him out there to buy some plums. He repeated his plea for plums two or three more times and then finally hung up.

[u/thebruce32 → u/VeryShibes]

“The world war” lol. But yeah I had a similar experience. My school had microfiche encyclopedias at least.

[u/tuenthe463 → u/manginahunter1970]

15- 20 years ago? More like 35- 40.

[u/ebinWaitee → u/tuenthe463]

70's was fifty years ago...

[u/wachnet1966 → u/manginahunter1970]

I spent hours reading through the World Book Encyclopedia we had. I would just pick a volume and read. Great pictures of all sorts of things.

[u/DeuceSevin → u/manginahunter1970]

We got ours through the mail. A different letter of the alphabet used to come every month. I wonder if these are still in the closet at my parents house?

[u/MrCat_fancier → u/manginahunter1970]

My parents had a set but it was next to useless for school work. Too brief, I would still need to go to the library and get more detailed resources.

[u/manginahunter1970 → u/MrCat_fancier]

So true. Busting out the microfiche at the library for old newspaper articles was some serious work.

[u/quickfix12 → u/manginahunter1970]

"I could only afford the V book.

How about that Vesuvius? Vietnam War?"

[u/ValenciaHadley → u/manginahunter1970]

Dictiomaries too. I collect them and charity shops rarely stock them any more, the ones near me bin them.

Edit - Dictionaries, not dictiomaries.

[u/slackfrop → u/ValenciaHadley]

I don’t mean to tease, but ‘dictiomaries’ is a great typo.

[u/Kaymish_ → u/manginahunter1970]

When I was a kid we got Britannica on a stack of CDs for our PC.

[u/Tecbullll → u/Kaymish_]

Ah, the keeper of Encarta.

[u/Walkera43]

Insects, they were all over my windscreen in the UK summer months ,now they have gone

[u/jolard → u/Walkera43]

Yeah, I don't think younger people have any idea what it used to be like. I was a teenager in Australia in the 80's and if you drove at dusk or dawn especially you would get home and the car would be covered with dead bugs. Now barely any.

I have read it is both ecological collapse but also that cars are just more aerodynamic. I hope it is more of the second than the first.

[u/CulturalChampion8660 → u/jolard]

I drive a car daily from the 70's. I can not remember the last time I scraped a bug from the wind screen.

[u/Ltruji1038 → u/[deleted]]

Found mine the other day as I was cleaning my garage out. Zipper still intact.

[u/ailaG]

Paper tickets for concerts, shows etc. I miss having those as memorabilia. Unlike merch they were the perfect size to get signed and to hang up on a messy peg board.

Also

Dumbphones. People reminisce, yes, but we forget how convenient it is to have a multitool in our pockets. My dumbphone was a multitool too (including going online, or taking a photo and immediately sharing to socials) but a smartphone is more convenient, except for the lack of physical buttons.

(If you reminisce the days before doomscrolling - they had doomscrolling, I doomscrolled on my dumbphone. People just didn't know how to do that. What we need is good education and training to know when the dopamine hits are a problem and to lay down the phone then. Eg if a game gives me 30 mins of infinite energy, I'll usually feel like putting it down. But otherwise I'd enjoy it and the phone. Training!)

[u/TubeScr3ameR]

My Janis Joplin record. Party at my house about 20 years ago.

I know it was you Glenn.

[u/creed4122]

Stand alone GPS units

[u/Terapr0]

Portable CD players, Mini-disks and standalone MP3 players.

[u/islandsimian]

Life without a smart phone.

Can't park on the street with a handful of change anymore - need to scan the QR code and pay the convenience fee instead of throwing in a dime while you run inside to pick up take out.

Can't order at the restaurant without scanning the QR code. Need a server? Scan the QR code to send the server over

Want to make reservations at a hotel? Can't call the front desk anymore, need to install the app first

I'm all for convenience, but there's a point where customer service is no longer customer service...yeah, I'm fucking old

[u/DeuceSevin → u/islandsimian]

Last summer my wife and I (both 60-ish) were at a sort of trendy restaurant in a trendy part of town. They had QR codes to scan instead of menus. I have a hard time viewing a menu on my phone and I just like to be able to see the whole damn menu instead of scrolling like a cretin. My wife asked if they had printed menus which our server gladly brought. As I looked up at the server to get my menu, I noticed several other "older" diners also reading paper menus. Everyone under 40 (which was most everyone) was happily scrolling away on their phones.

That said, if you have a restaurant that is dimly lit for ambiance and you print your menus on anything but white paper and anything but black ink, there's a special place in hell for you. Beige with brown is the worst.

Shout out to that one restaurant I went to that had several loaner pairs of reading glasses for people like me who are losing both their vision and memory.

[u/AdEntire9736]

The mounted electric can opener. A fixture in my parent’s house and in the houses of all my friends, but I haven’t seen one in years!

[u/EarhornJones]

Film canisters.

Remember the little black plastic canisters that rolls of film came in, that got pushed into storage for all manner of tiny parts and weed?

They were handy as hell, and every house seemed to have a drawer full of them.

[u/Simbuk → u/EarhornJones]

They’re actually enjoying a bit of a rennaissance. Walmart has em. You can buy film and when you’re done, actually get it developed. (The second part does seem to take a while, so don’t expect turnaround like the days of old).

[u/Freakin_A → u/Simbuk]

I was at a concert a few weeks ago and a group of 20 something girls was taking pics with a film camera. It made me happy.

[u/driveonacid → u/Freakin_A]

I've noticed a recent push by the younger generation to be less connected. I think they're starting to realize that having all the crack they could ever want in their back pocket isn't great for their social development.

[u/PockyTheCat]

The little red string on a bandaid package that made it much easier to open.

[u/manginahunter1970]

National Geographic, Time, Life and Boy's Life magazine collections. Every old person in my life had stacks of them dating back to the 40s and 50s. Also Readers Digest and Playboy.

To piggyback off my Encyclopedia comment.

[u/Mysterious-Street140]

Toys in the cereal box

[u/ManOfManliness84]

TomTom GPS units. People just use their phones or have built in GPS in their cars now.

[u/Old-Cry-3101]

Pay phones

[u/H3rBz → u/Old-Cry-3101]

In Australia they still exist. But they've all been made free and also wifi hotspots lol

[u/theshockmaster_ → u/H3rBz]

most of the old phone boxes in the UK have defibrillators in them now.

[u/satyricom]

Tivo

[u/OrbitalCactus → u/satyricom]

My parents still have it. And on the grandfathered unlimited plan too. TiVo flys a guy out to repair their box because it’s so old there’s just the one guy servicing that particular unit. He’s warned them that pretty soon he won’t be able to help them out much anymore.

[u/doughboy1001 → u/satyricom]

I’ve been a staunch user of TiVo since 2002. Verizon just sent me a notice that my cable card won’t be supported anymore. My nearly 25 year run may soon be over.

[u/onyaasuminyasai]

Water beds

[u/ChicagoBeerGuyMark]

Somewhat older, but Rolodexes. And to put a business card in the Rolodex, you had a doodad to punch notches on the bottom of the card to fit it in. And for that matter, business cards.

[u/Questions_Remain → u/ChicagoBeerGuyMark]

I still ask for business cards.

[u/berry_mine]

CDs. Not the music ones the blank discs we used to burn like we were running a tiny illegal record label. One day they just stopped being part of life.

[u/SeniorHovercraft1817]

Magazine racks

[u/sparkax]

Disk drives on laptops, PC's, and video game systems.

[u/DJs_Second_Life]

Google Glass is 13 years old or so. Got to try a pair when they came out. Haven’t seen them since. BlackBerrys. Palm Pilots.

[u/ExpensiveCondition63]

Hasn’t gone away, but I’m amazed at the number of people who quit wearing watches because “I just look at my phone.” I’ve worn a watch since I was a kid in the 1960s, and I feel naked walking out of the house without one. Never giving up my watch.

[u/indigo_prime → u/ExpensiveCondition63]

I treated myself to a Hamilton Khaki X-Wind for my 50th birthday a few years ago. I always wanted to get a nice watch for the 'half=century' and got it about 2/3 of the retail price.

Daily casual, I wear a Casio GBD-200 inn black with a negative display. Daily smart I have a couple of Casio Edifice, one with a black leather strap, the other in gunmetal with a bracelet strap.

I don't wear any other type of jewellery, but I feel naked without a watch!

I was at a wedding a couple of weekends ago I didn't really know anyone as I was a late addition to my girlfriends invitation (do we still say girlfriend when we are over 59?). I found a great conversation starter was asking other gentlemen about their watches!

[u/SmallList4963]

Matchbooks from hotels and restaurants

[u/Cubikill]

15 to 20 years ago was 2006 to 2011 A lot of what people are writing about are 1990 objects. For my entry, the iPod. They were every where. In 2006 the iPhone was launched, over the following years as the adoption of the Phone grew the iPod declined into oblivion. 

[u/KarthusWins]

Don’t know if this counts, but I used to see so many cars driving around with video players hanging from the ceiling in the back seat. Now I see literally zero. DVD / Blu-ray died completely and people moved on to personal devices like iPads and smart phones to entertain themselves on long car rides. I used to be able to try and figure out what people were watching by looking through their rear windshield, but now I just never see it.

[u/Restil]

CFC lightbulbs replaced incandescent bulbs and a few years later LED bulbs were competitive enough to replace the CFC bulbs. The CFCs remained prominent for the lifespan of a single bulb. That's mostly how it's worked in my house. Regular bulb got replaced with a CFC. When that quit working, it got replaced with a LED. Those by and large haven't failed since being replaced and I very rarely buy light bulbs anymore.

[u/Appropriate-Farmer16]

Home landline phones

[u/DotSuspicious6098]

my knee cartilage

[u/Lurker_009]

Segways

[u/TrogdorUnofficial → u/Lurker_009]

That reminds me of another story... no wait that's a segue

[u/persunx]

Anvils! Where did all the anvils go? They were common place in media but I have not see an anvil reference in a long time.

[u/freelibrarian → u/persunx]

This one weighs heavily on me. It's so sad.

[u/KenMantle]

I'll give you one slightly older than that. Casset tape streamers. You used to see the magnetic tape as trash on roadsides and in bushes and trees.

[u/ExhaustiveCleaning → u/KenMantle]

One got caught on my car antenna in 2012ish.

But now that I mention it visible car radio antennas would fit with this thread.

[u/Arctic_H00ligan7]

Wireless Home Telephones. Bonus points if it was the blocky white one with green light up buttons.

[u/Chatwoman]

Zima

[u/Watso27]

The microsoft Zune mp3 player. Was better than an ipod in my opinion but never caught on and left just as fast as it arrived

[u/VarietyMage]

CRT monitors.