I was home for the holidays a few months ago and decided to go through some of my old boxes. To my surprise, my first cell phone fell out of one of the boxes. It was small, flipped open, and had a keypad: all things my smartphone most certainly does not sport in the present day. Keep reading to see more products that have vanished from our daily lives.
1. DVD Players
When DVDs emerged in the mid-1990s, they were considered revolutionary, especially compared to the more ancient VHS tapes. Nowadays, if you come across a DVD player, it is probably on a dusty shelf.
2. Portable DVD Players
Just when DVD players couldn’t get better, electronics companies developed portable DVD players. These laptop-like devices took movie watching on the go for the first time. Hello, road trip entertainment!
3. Blu-Ray Discs
Blu-ray discs first appeared in the early 2000s. Blu-ray discs are said to have better audio and video capabilities than DVDs. Unfortunately for Blu-ray, streaming services would very quickly render them useless.
4. 3D TVs
Have you ever wanted to experience a 3D movie in your own home? If you said no, most electronics customers would agree with you. After their development in the mid-2000s, 3D TVs quickly failed in the consumer market. Unfortunately for the inventors of this product, the movie theater is an important aspect of seeing a movie in 3D.
5. VHS Tapes
VHS tapes were a revolutionary invention when they first developed in the early 1970s. It was now possible to record television shows to watch later and watch movies in your own home without a trip to the local cinema. Nowadays, it is rare to see them.
6. Radio/CD Player
The classic boomboxes we all know from romantic comedies used to only be compatible with cassette tapes. When CDs came out, you no longer had to rewind your tape before each listen. More time for serenading!
7. Portable CD Players
CDs were an advancement compared to cassette tapes, but it was somewhat inconvenient to carry a stereo around. Portable CD players have an audio port, allowing music lovers to have a private and portable music experience in their headphones. Portable CD players were popular until the development of MP3 players.
8. Desktop Computers
By the late ’90s and early 2000s, desktop computers were a staple in every household. Over the years, they became less bulky and more advanced. Despite this, laptops, tablets, and smartphones have resulted in the complete disappearance of desktop computers in most homes.
9. Phones With Keypads
It is hard to find anyone who does not have a smartphone nowadays. Smartphones are entirely button-free, with the power and volume buttons the only exception. But before the first touchscreen appeared in the mid-2000s, everyone was texting with a keypad, much like a computer keyboard. Some phones even had three letters to one button, something that would frustrate today’s smartphone users.
10. Functioning Pay Phones
Seeing someone in a phone booth making a phone call used to be typical. If you go into a phone booth in the present day, it is likely no longer operable. Since cell phones first became available to the public in the early 1980s and have only become more advanced in the years since, pay phones have been of little use to the general public.
11. Film Roll Cameras
Until recently, film rolls and disposable cameras were among the most popular forms of affordable photography. If you went to a theme park or on a family vacation any time before 2010, chances are someone brought a disposable camera. Nowadays, most people have smartphones that have a camera installed within the device, but some people still use disposable cameras as gag gifts and, believe it or not, decorations.
12. Calculators
Surprisingly enough, calculators have all but disappeared from our daily lives. While basic calculators, graphing calculators, and other adding machines may be useful in math class, most adults don’t find daily use for their advanced mathematical capabilities, especially when smartphones come equipped with basic calculator applications.
13. Postcards
When did you last receive a postcard that wasn’t a reminder from your dentist’s office? Postcards have almost completely vanished from our daily lives. With the invention of technology that allows us to communicate and share information and photos instantly, postcards have become nearly obsolete.
14. Phone Books
Another once-popular and now obsolete paper product is the phone book. These hefty tomes used to be delivered to doorsteps consistently and were the only way to search an individual’s phone number or a business’s phone numbers and addresses without calling an operator. Phone books became useless with the invention of the internet, as it was inevitable that it would be possible to search for contact information online.
15. Newspapers
With the decreasing use of paper products today, it isn’t surprising that newspapers have nearly vanished from our daily lives. With news easily accessible online and the environmental impact of using paper products, there aren’t many arguments for why a newspaper is necessary today. Even the most well-known and oldest newspapers, like The Wall Street Journal, have published their last paper issues.
Moving Forward
Technological advancement is inevitable. But even the greatest early scientists couldn’t have predicted how quickly it would progress, especially in the present day. The phrase, “In with the new, out with the old,” rings true when reading this list. While some people miss things like the feel of a real newspaper, its loss is an unavoidable part of moving forward. But you never know—your once useful product could make a great decoration now.