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34 Common Household Items From 25 Years Ago That Are Now Gone
I loved those nostalgic fact sheets like "What the World Was Like 25 Years Ago"... you know, with young Joe Montana, Miami Vice on TV, Police Academy and Terminator on VHS, Ronald Reagan in the White House - right up until I realized that, [darn] it, this wasn’t a quarter of a century ago!
Yeah, 25 years ago is 1999. Yes, I understand that many of you, dear readers, were not even born at that time, but for me personally, it was so recently, it seems like, no, not yesterday, but at least like last week. But it turns out that two and a half decades have passed, and people in nostalgic online threads like this one remember all the good things that happened then. Let's remember too...
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#2
AN ABSOLUTELY BONKERS YEAR FOR MOVIES. The Matrix Dogma Fight Club American Beauty American Pie Green Mile The Mummy The Sixth Sense Office Space Boondock Saints Varsity Blues Blair Witch Project And f*****g more! Not reboots, remakes or sequels. Just fresh f*****g content and original stories.
So, year 1999: the last year of Bill Clinton's presidency, in the UK folks are seriously thinking about what life will be like for the country after Queen Elizabeth (naive peeps, ha ha...), Michael Jordan has just retired for the second time, and Steve Jobs has just recently returned to his office at Apple headquarters, and is already hatching grandiose plans.
The music world is captivated by Cher’s triumphant return, and Steven Spielberg recently received his second director's Oscar for Saving Private Ryan. Just recently Windows 98 was released, and millions of users around the world are cautiously opening a new internet search product called Google - through Internet Explorer, of course...
#5
A "stereo system" in the living room. Edit: Look man, if yours doesn't have a squeaky-a*s turntable, tape-to-tape deck and a shiny "metal-style" plastic carapace, we're not talking about the same thing. Get out of here with your Bose, you hipster muso snobs. Shoo! Shoo! 🧹🧹.
Do you want more? Okay, Jeff Bezos becomes Time's Person of the Year, Albert Einstein is recognized as the Person of the Century, and the whole world is afraid of the terrible upcoming “Error 2000", which will allegedly render millions of computers around the world unusable. Britney Spears releases her debut album Baby One More Time, and John Elway wins the Super Bowl for the second time in a row, going from greatest loser to two-time champion in just two years.
Sony announces the start of development of the PlayStation 2, with the new Walkman model trying to spread the minidisc format throughout the world. Among the new video games, Silent Hill, Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena stand out. Humanity sees off the penultimate year of the 20th century with nostalgia and looks forward to the new millennium with optimism...
#9
The *need* to be home at a certain time on a certain day to watch the next episode of your favorite show. Unapologetic suntans. (Edit: haven't you guys ever heard of slathering yourself in baby oil before going to lie in the sun? We all did it back then.) A cassette deck in their new car.
“The real question is actually not how good it was 25 years ago compared to now,” says Valery Bolgan, a historian and editor-in-chief of Intent News Agency from Ukraine, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment here. “People in general tend to be nostalgic about the past, and the years that have passed since then only smooth out all the negativity that took place then, leaving only warmest memories. This is the specificity of human memory.”
“Yes, in 1999, and I remember it quite well, there were many wonderful things and phenomena left, but at the same time I am almost sure that when in another quarter of a century you and I remember the year 2024, we will also talk about it with extraordinary warmth and nostalgia: about TikTok, Reddit and Taylor Swift. Simply because this is also part of our life and our memory," Valery summarizes.
#12
My dad who passed away on June 18, 1999, at the age of 71, the same age I am now. "Everyone" didn't know him, but I sure as h**l did. I held his hand until he let go. **Miss ya big time dad**. Till we meet again.
In this collection you will find both wonderful old-school things, which, however, today have been replaced by much more convenient ones, as well as simple human feelings and people who, alas, have left us. So just feel free to scroll this list to the end, put your likes under the best submissions, and once again either remember 1999 yourself or simply discover the past. After all, as old good Frank Sinatra used to sing, “it was a very good year!”
#17
Land lines. Mom still has hers, but all the phones are cordless. The days of a handset connected to the receiver with a 25 foot cord are long gone. Scrolling through comments, yup Mom has an Answering machine connected to her landline. Edit #1: Mom is in her middle 70's. Edit #2: Supporting documentation
#20
Cameras with film, posh people had digital ones Dial up Internet Discmans Minidisc players Floppy discs.
#28
The ability to get on an airplane without spending 20 minutes going through TSA. The ability to navigate around town without a GPS or phone. A nintendo 64.
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