Sometimes you wo n’t even discover what ’s missing — until someone points it out .
You ever suddenly realize something’s just… gone? Not in a dramatic, breaking news way — but more like in a quietly slipped out the back door while you weren’t looking kind of way. From video stores to waiting to tune in to your favorite radio station at a particular time so that you could hear the premiere of one of your favorite artists' new singles, there are so many things that have slowly vanished over the last couple of decades, and you probably didn’t even notice.
Recently, Reddit usersAdityamishrxaandPerfect_Cap_3868both had that on their minds when they put out similarquestionsaskingwhat things disappeared little by little over the last 10–20 years without people paying attention.
Both threads got hundreds of replies — so I decided to combine them. Below are the top, best, and most often repeated little habits, behaviors, objects, and experiences that people said have slipped away without anyone really noticing:
1.“Quality control. Not just on products but in the service sector as well. I miss when businesses and employees cared enough.”
— dukesinatra
" I blame corporations . eternal rapacity has result to employees not being able-bodied to make a living , so they take it out on the customer . "
— MooshuCat
2.“Perpetual licenses instead of paying monthly for every single thing”
— SatansGothestFemboy
" I 100 % agree . You used to own software — now you ’re basically hire everything eternally . And if you stop paying ? Boom , access gone . Feels like we ’re losing more mastery over what we buy . "
— Sweety_di
3.“Regular ass movies. The only movies that seem to exist now are related to larger IPs or superhero stories.”
— HoraceGrantGlasses
4.“Gauges in cars. They’re all 16:9 wide screens now.”
— Pionnier1313
5.“Stores open past 11 p.m.”
— ChillGargoyle
" Damn justly , COVID shoot down them off in my town . Now , all we have is a yoke of accelerator pedal stations that stay capable all night . No more Walmarts or grocery store or pharmacies opened late night . “—dirtgoathangover
6.“People talking to each other over the phone instead of texting.”
— beware_the_water _
7.“Someone posted, ‘[finding] coins in parking lots or on the sidewalk’ in a post similar to this a while back, and that hit hard.”
— Electronic - Square-75
8.“Bugs. You remember the front of cars being covered in dead bugs? And how, in the summers, you would have a constant pitter-patter of bugs on the windshield? When was the last time you saw a ladybug or butterfly vs. how often you saw them when you were younger? When did you last see a firefly? Bug populations have plummeted in the last few decades —70%since 1950.”
— bastugubbar
9.“Payphones. I feel like the only one who notices/gives a fuck. Maybe just because I used them a lot growing up, but I’m sad to see them go.”
— Wide_Cow7653
" come here to say this . I remember as a teen in the late ' 90s or early ' 00s , if I went out with friends I ’d always have some coin on me to make a telephone set call if needed . Payphones were everywhere in the city .
Now I rarely see them ever . "
— ImMalteserMan
10.“Basic good manners. Not inconveniencing others, especially in public. So many people think being obnoxious is some kind of cool trait.”
— trulycantbearsed
11.“The ability to read and then comprehend anything more complicated thana Dick & Janebook.”
— inferni_advocatvs
12.“Owning physical copies of media.”
— JustMeAndMyKnickas
" The fact that this happened flop as we got to a pointedness where Brobdingnagian 4 atomic number 19 TVs are so much flashy than they were is maddening . So many the great unwashed just proceed , eh , no need to buy movies anymore . I ’ll just stream an inferior reading that can be taken away at any metre . "
— Timmah73
13.“People getting together just to hang out.”
— Oiggamed
" Seriously . What happened to just like posture on somebody ’s porch for hours at a fourth dimension ? Order some pizza , get some beer , and talk about nothing in special . "
— GargantuanCake
14.“Eye contact”
— Jedibri81
" This one is huge , IMO . "
— ptvt
15.“God, this one hurts so much. Just knocking on a friend’s door to see if they’re home to hang out, then you guys just figure your day out on the fly.”
— mcbeardsauce
" That was the best during summertime . You had your list of friends and just criticize on doors to see who was home . "
— Zoozoo95
16.“The feeling of being unreachable. Twenty years ago, if you missed a call, that was it. You’d come home to a blinking light on the answering machine or nothing at all. You could vanish for an afternoon and do whatever you wanted. Just existing without anyone knowing where you were. Now, silence is suspicious.”
— phoenicia_townie
" People will literally call back you dribble dead and panic . Friends and family will be worried . The idea is so funny to me how some hubby could just knock off for the afternoon , and no one batted an eye , and now we practically file a missing persons write up , haha . "
— Parking_Country_61
17.Lastly, “Privacy. We’re so quick to share everything about our lives, from what we had for dinner to what someone said to us at a store, and we’ve given up all of it for convenience and likes on social media.”
— kenssmith
You can read the original Reddit threadshereandhere.
Note : Some responses have been edited for distance and/or clearness .
