April 19, 2024 at 2:38 am

People Talk About Things That Disappeared… And No One Seemed To Notice

by Matthew Gilligan

Source: Reddit/AskReddit

Do you remember Hypercolor t-shirts?

They were all the rage when I was a kid and then suddenly…THEY WERE GONE!

Sometimes, that’s just the way things work.

Let’s hear what AskReddit users had to say about this.

It’s true.

“Our need to know who our neighbors are.

I listened to a podcast about human interaction recently and the host said that the internet slowly made it possible to live without knowing who the people are next door.

It used to be that we would hang out with people in our street or attend dinners, birthdays, and whatnot. Now, everyone seems to have no need to even so much as introduce themselves.

The only time we do get to know each other is if we have a complaint.”

Bummer.

“CD/DVD drives in laptops.

I found out about this a month ago. I don’t own a laptop or computer thats usable. I have a Lenovo I haven’t booted up in four years. I was really surprised when my friends who play PC games told me that.

When I didn’t have wifi I’d put in my Ernest Goes to Jail DVD and fall asleep watching it on the floor of my old apartment.

Good times.”

I see it.

“Longevity in careers – this is a big one nobody seems to have said.

Longevity in careers has largely gone away. People used to get a job and after being there for decades reap the benefits of being seasoned employees (higher salaries and better perks).

Maybe it’s because I work in the entertainment industry, but I feel that longevity in careers has gone away. Meaning, people can be amazing at a job, but after 5+ years the employers start wondering if they could be doing better with a younger/cheaper candidate for the job.

I understand if you ever want to move up in a works place they expect you to bring your A-game, but 30+ years of being incredible is hard. Some years will be better than others, and if employers don’t have loyalty to their employees anymore, it is likely the good employee will be fired or let go at some point.

I feel like in recent decades this has forced many people who normally wouldn’t, to switch careers. Can someone work successfully up the ladder at any job without having to shift to another company for a promotion?

A combination of employers halting upward movement of their staff while they look for new employees to fill higher roles, and the fact that they “get bored” of their seasoned employees has largely killed the idea of anyone having a single career.”

Where’d he go?

“Ronald McDonald.

You remember the old clown everywhere in and around McDonald’s commercials and stores?

Gone.

Phased out when that “clown scare” prank trend was going around.”

That’s kinda sad.

“Having many Family photographs in homes.

Not completely gone, but homes used to be plastered in them.

The only times I really notice them is in homes of older people.”

What happened?

“Plasma TVs.

I had one and it broke after we all watched an Intervention marathon during COVID. TV repair shops, now that you mention it.

It used to be a guy behind a counter with electronic guts all over the place.

He’d give you a ticket and you had to listen to the radio for a week or two.”

I remember…

“Fireflies aka *lightning bugs.

I live rural and I used to see hundreds on a warm summer night. Now I get excited if I see just one.

I mentioned it to other people who live in the same area as I do and they were just like “Huh. Yeah. You’re right!””

Bummer.

“Postcards.

And not just in the usual places, like museum gift shops and tourist traps.

There was once a time when you could buy at any truck stop or roadside motel a postcard of the small town you were driving through. But not anymore.

No point when you can just text your friends a photo.”

Old school.

“Grandfather clocks.

It was almost a must-have decor.

My company in the ’80s gave it as a gift to employees for their 10th anniversary.”

Steep.

Good value for price at restaurants.

Restaurants have quietly reduced portion sizes since COVID without restoring them.

Noodles and Company (along with many others) advertise large portions like pre-pandemic but only give to-go sizes even when dining in.

All for a higher price.”

It happened pretty fast.

“A common pop culture (in the US, at least).

Until at least the ’80s, most people watched the same TV shows, saw the save movies, listened to the same music, could recite the same commercial slogans or jingles, bought into the same fads.

I don’t know when it happened, but now we are all siloed into highly specific subcultures.”

Ugh.

“Color from the world.

Everything is becoming gray scale.

Look at commercial buildings and fast food buildings.

McDonald’s used to look fun and exciting, now they’re all gray and boring.”

Thoughts on this one?

Panama/Paradise papers.

Loads of high profile people were discovered funneling their taxes through offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands.

I can’t believe this isn’t the main thing we hear about every day in MSM. The culture wars are a distraction from the top .0001% robbing the world blind.”

Yes!

“Audio cassette tape pulled out and tangled in the shrubs of a strip mall.

It was the gold standard parking lot decoration of the ’90s.”

It is what it is…

“Honesty and integrity in politics.

If politicians were caught lying, they would apologize. If they lost, they would congratulate the winner. Now if they’re caught in a blatant lie it’s just “fake news” and they move on.

If they lost, the election was “stolen” like it’s somehow rightfully theirs. There’s no integrity left in politics, not that there was much to begin with.”

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.