The Silicon Alley Insider posted an article, 21 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade. These are some of the things from their list that I won't miss:
- Glad to see the stylus go. The finger is so superior!
- Since I lived by Emory University in Decatur, I was able to get rid of dial up in the mid 90's! It's hard to remember those days. The sound alone was so annoying.
- Developing film: I would never, ever have developed the over 35,000 pictures I've shot since 2003! Ever!!
- I can't believe using a paper map inside a moving car was ever even legal!
- I ditched the landline back in the Decatur days as well. Remember paying a premium for all of those "features" just to get caller ID and call waiting. God I hate AT&T. And then there was/is the constant spamming sales/solicitation calling. Pay more to block it. Spammers, you can pay even more to get through the block... Evil!
- VHS tapes! I was always afraid my VCR would eat them, though I don't recall it ever did.
- Phone books, dictionaries, encyclopedias... I'm getting a cold and had 2 prescriptions here at the house: one was a decongestant, the other an antibiotic. But which was which? I don't recall. So just tonight I had to look it up on the internet. I wondered to myself, "How did I live before search engines?!"
- I hated paying for 411! What a ripoff!! And then I would be driving and not be able to remember the stupid number to dial while driving the car!! I don't remember the last time I used 411. God, the iPhone is so awesome! Search, phone numbers, maps, touch to call...
- I hated buying whole CDs (for insane amounts of money: $14.95 - 24.95.and that was 10 - 15 years ago!) when all I wanted was that one track!
- Backing up your data on floppies or CDs? I adore BackBlaze--affordable, automatic, off offsite backups! Never worry. Just click "restore" in any browser, anywhere, anytime.
- Paying paper bills? Does anyone still use a stamp for those?? I hated paying bills!!!
They say the use of paper is on life support. I'm not so sure about that one. I've seen too many printers and copy machines about to burst into flames from over use. Maybe they are referring to newspapers, magazines, books: as a corporate business model, yes, probably. But I suspect we are making up for that decline in paper use on a personal level.
Photo credit: René Elhardt
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