With time racing at the pace of a hadron collider, it’s easy to remain oblivious to the passing years. Only after a while, years, if not decades, do we notice how much things have changed around us, ourselves included.
It’s when we press pause on the present and look right back into the past. What do we see there? Well, it’s no secret that most humans have a strong sense of nostalgia that puts the years gone by in an exceptionally positive light.
This thread from Ask Reddit may also give us some answers by showing what things people thought were simpler, more accessible and efficient, and overall way better in the past. And now we can all decide whether it’s true or it’s our sentimental longing speaking. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
#1
Prices vs earnings.
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#2
The environment.
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#3
Certain dog breeds. Imagine, pugs used to have a nose they could breath through and eyes that didn't get infected every time they almost bulged out of their heads...Same with shitzu's. And imagine English bulldogs that didn't collapse in exhaustion by even hearing the word walkies
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#4
Christmas…. I don’t know how to explain it. We didn’t have much money so it wasn’t because of the presents. We actually used to wrap our own toys and give them to each other for Christmas. But there was always just this feeling that I can’t explain. Sometimes when I watch the 90’s Christmas movies I can feel it again for a moment, but then it’s gone. It’s just the happiest, most peaceful feeling. It just felt like magic.
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#5
Weird to say, but inconvenience and boredom. I kinda miss being like, “whelp, there’s nothing on TV, I’m gonna go walk the neighborhood and knock on my friends doors”.I primarily text and talk to friends on the phone now, it seems like an event to actually meet up. Even friends who are less than a mile away.
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#6
People's attention spans.
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#7
The sky. Light pollution has destroyed one of the most beautiful sights that humans had gazed upon for thousands of years.
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#8
Airports.
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#9
Saturday Morning Cartoons.The late 80's/ early 90's heyday.
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#10
Freetime... life was more slowly and you had more time for yourself and your hobbies.
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#11
Privacy
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#12
Being a kid…I don’t think kids today get to have as much freedom and fun as previous generations did
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#13
Flying in general.More seat space, meals included (and a choice of meals), actual metal utensils, luggage included, no need to get to the airport 2 hours before your flight...
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#14
Being a criminal. If there was a security camera, it was too low resolution to make your face very identifiable.
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#15
Psh. Try childcare. Our childcare cost for two children is more than our mortgage. When I was the same age, it cost my parents about $50/week. Today that would be roughly $135/week per kid. We’re paying $500/wk and still don’t have full time care for both kids. S**t’s crazy.
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#16
When you could write letters and not have to reply for days at a time to now we feel obliged to keep in 24/7 contact with people.
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#17
Smart phones too, Reddit is the only social media I use and still I stare at this f**king thing 5 hours a day. I know I’m addicted to it and I’d love to punt it but unfortunately it’s also my phone, my map, my camera, my tape measure, my dictaphone, my Walkman etc. etc.
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#18
I miss the days before social media was a big thing. Everyone would just hangout and be focused on the interactions we were currently having.
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#19
my knees/ankles/back...
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#20
Being a kid without technology.
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#21
Fruit and corn. They have been bred to be sweeter and harder for transport, and have lost much of the subtle fruit/corn flavor they used to have.
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#22
Cost of living
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#23
The future
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#24
Shopping Malls
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#25
Also DNA analysis and fingerprinting wasn't as good, no Internet to track you.
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#26
Music!#27
A job had a clear purpose.So much useless "Pseudo-work" done today compared to back in the day
#28
Home appliances. Old ones could be dropped out of a plane and still work well. New ones break because someone looked at it funny#29
I didn't experience it personally, just second hand, but I believe working.. you had set hours and then no one could reach you after. It irritates me sometimes how normal it is to still reply to messages or send emails during off time and weekends or vacations.I wonder what would happen sometimes if I just fully ignored my phone and shut it off the moment I'm off but it would really just be more stressful, and besides you can save yourself some later effort by tackling things right away. But in the past, everyone was off at the same times, everyone was out of reach, so it's not like you'd come back tomorrow to 50 emails and messages either. It was just over when it's over.
My parents and their friends seemed to have so much uninterrupted time.
#30
MTV.#31
The weather.I remember playing outside every morning during summer vacation.
This summer, even 5 minutes spent sitting in the early morning sunlight that came in through the window was enough to give me headaches.
I live in south India- and no matter what climate change deniers say, it’s been getting steadily hotter year after year in my part of the world.
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#32
Coke with real sugar#33
Cartoons, when I was younger there were a lot of good cartoons while rn everytime I come across one on the TV, the art style is bad and it seems really boring#34
Internet. It was new, more friendly and funny#35
It used to be that it was possible for someone to commit a serious crime, move across the country, and never be caught. As communications technology has improved, that’s no longer feasible.
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#36
Fast Food. No, it has not always sucked a*s.
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#37
In the 90s airport security took half as long.#38
Gas prices.
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#39
Housing prices#40
Friend groups, now you usually cant find kids hanging out in the neighborhoods like they used to, not they only play at school when they have nothing else to do#41
School cafeteria pizza#42
Easier to be happy. They didn’t have too much, and most people were grateful for what they had#43
The block buster experience. The movies. Maybe in the meta verse that'll be a thing or someone will be crazy enough to invent some kind of modern day cafe/ theater for pop culture movie / tv buffs where it's a curated experience and ppl can interact with each other. Someone get on that. Streaming is cool and there's a community for everything but eh.Edit: Watch Parties. Remember the walking Dead and breaking bad. Omg the hype. Watch parties were fun back in the days during seasonal premiers.
#44
The value of a car#45
Air quality.#46
Video games.I literally still have my original N64 and controller. It still goes strong. You just turn the game on and play it. No 60 GB downloads. No loading screens. No ads. No updates. No pay to play.
#47
McDonalds fries, done in rendered beef fat ?#48
Insects, more than 40% of total have disappeared over the past decades.#49
Mobile Games. I miss subway surfers, PvZ, jetpack joyride, angry birds. Now it's all "***99.99999999% CAN'T FIND PINK***"#50
RainX washer fluid. I used to put a gallon in my car and it would last forever. Never had to use the wipers because rain, snow, road grime, and salt would all bead right off. Then one day it seemed like it never worked the same. Not sure if it was done for their bottom line purposes or environmental reasons(because there's no way even the new stuff is good for the environment) but it worked better in the past for sure.
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#51
If you’re British, travel and moving abroad was way easier before Brexit#52
Lightbulbs. They developed the technology for one that would never burn out but then the bulb companies decided planned obsolescence was the way to go. There is a very neat veritasium video on it on YT.#53
You didn't need to mortgage your house and sell your children to get into GW's games.#54
Vegetables#55
Manners and respect.#56
burger king fries. they used to be delicious, but they slowly got worse and worse and now they actually taste kind of bad. same with their burgers, i used to like them quite a bit. but now they're by far the worst of the big fast food places.#57
Toasters. If you need a toaster, buy an old one. New toasters are ten times the price (yes, inflation included) and the planned obsolescence is brutal.#58
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