Remember when you had to rewind your favorite song with a pencil, or when family photo albums were actual albums and not just a camera roll? Times have changed - and so have our habits.
This “Then Vs Now” poll is a trip down memory lane mixed with a look at how we live today. For each question, you’ll pick which version you think is better: the good old days or our tech-filled present.
Some choices will be easy, others might surprise you, and a few might make you realize… maybe the old way wasn’t so bad after all.
🚀 💡 Want more or looking for something else? Head over to the Bored Panda Quizzes and explore our full collection of quizzes and trivia designed to test your knowledge, reveal hidden insights, and spark your curiosity.💡 🚀
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You're Eager To Get Home After Work But Need To Send A Relative A Large Amount Of Money.
Ok, nice for you. For some there's a lot of reasons why brick and mortar banks still exist.
Load More Replies...But it has a daily and per-transaction limit. When I was administering a fiduciary account a couple of years ago, the bank didn't *allow* access via the app. You could do a few things online, but mostly it was in-person.
Load More Replies...I couldn't go to the bank even if I wanted. They closed all their branches...
Not if they closed all the branches for over 35 miles n ur housebound out in the sticks they ain’t , I’ve been using online for last 13 yrs ,never had an issue , I do everything online food shop ligit everything I use PayPal to pay so it’s secure ,
Load More Replies...Where's the third option? Tell them you're not the bank of(insert country here) and are skint.
I would have no choice but to use the app. There aren't any banks where I live any more.
This one is easy. Go home., have dinner, mail them a check in the morning.
As much as I might like to go to the bank, I'd have to pay charges while doing the same thing with the app is free.
After A Stressful Week, There Are So Many Options Available For A Relaxing And Fun Movie Night.
I have my own video store lol. There's no option for that. I used to love going to the video store. I personally find myself scrolling way too long, or unable to find the type of movies I'm looking for. Rom coms and comedies lately have either been uncomfortably raunchy to watch with family, or not funny at all. Everything else is thrillers, suspense and action movies, which is not what I want to watch to relax. Usually I settle for the latest Dreamworks movies because I just can't with Disney anymore. I'll still watch older Disney movies, before they went off the deep end. Thank goodness for the thrift store I work at. I can find loads of old 80s, 90s and 2000s favourites. Even some TCM movies that we've enjoyed. The only thing I've subscribed to watch on Netflix is The Crown.
Yeah. I've yo ho hide myself into quite a collection! Close to 5th of tv shows and a little over 5tb of movies
Load More Replies...I cancelled Prime when they wanted MORE money for commercial free. Netflix is hit or miss with me: I liked the “Crown” and “This Is Us” then they went and cancelled “Mindhunter”! So, I bought the book. Now I hang out on YouTube premium.
I have a 50 TB NAS appliance (big box of hard drives with some network interfaces) upstairs in my server room. I have close to 1000 DVDs and Blu-Rays ripped to .ISO files on it. (Plus thousands of music CDs.) The physical disks are on shelves. This way, A) I don't have to search through the shelves for what I want (it's always down at floor level in the far back of the shelf) and B) I don't have to worry about videos in 'the cloud' unexpectedly going away. I do scroll Netflix and a few other streaming services, though.
I've got a subscription to Vet TV at the mo. If your sense of humour is darker than a black hole and you're impossible to offend or upset - their tagline is "made by Veterans for Veterans" - there's shows on there that'll have you crying with laughter.
You’ve Got A Free Day To Get Some Much-Needed Shopping Done.
Online listings can steal images from other people and lie about the product. Got a good demonstration with a cloak I was eyeballing yesterday. Hundreds of sellers using the same stolen picture of a proper EGL seller, putting the price at "too good to be true" levels, and flooding the market with bs. The original is leather and wool for about 130 USD, I dread to think what the 15 USD knockoffs are made of.
I - hate - shopping. Especially window shopping. I go in stores only if I have a specific thing to buy, then I am laser focused to buy it and get out. I remember as a young woman, shopping with a friend. She's browsing in a clothing store and says, "Oh, this is cute - think I'll buy it." I'm thinking, what? Just buy something without needing it? I blame my frugal mom.
Thank you, me too! So many of my friends love to windowshop…I just go in and buy what I need.
Load More Replies...Just had a thought, I kinda miss dressing up to go to the mall and actually take my time window shopping, and eat a Cinn-Zeo cinnamon bun and a Ms. Venelli's pizza. But if I'm actually going to do some shopping I like browsing for better deals and variety online. Music stores rarely have anything I'm looking for, or such a small selection that it's more worth it just to get it online. Even the bookstore is lacking on paranormal books. But bring me to Michaels Arts and Crafts, or Homesense, and I'm going on a spree.
"WAHHH! People keep abandoning their carts without buying!!! WAHHH!" Maybe you should make it possible for people to browse through your stuff without starting an order. (I'm looking at YOU, restaurants! WhyInHell do I need to start an order and tell you if it's pickup or delivery before you let me look at your d@mn menu???)
There are a ton of things that I still want to see/touch in person before I buy them. Fresh food. Textiles. Paint, or anything where the color matters. Etc.
Your Friends Are Inviting You On A Spontaneous Winter Road Trip, And You’re In Charge Of Navigation.
And if I get lost, I can "call from a phone booth".
Load More Replies...Neither. My only option would be to politely decline the invite :P
I am capable of getting lost, in a paper bag, with satellite navigation.
Two weeks ago, I had to give up and use my phone's navigation to find my way back to the main gate of an Air Force Base - from *inside* the base.
Load More Replies...None lol I never eave my house , or the village ,n don’t drive anymore 😂
I have a huge Rand McNally road atlas. I love it. I take it on all my road trips.
I still have a UK atlas that pre-dates motorways. I don't use it very often these days...
Load More Replies...It’s Finally Time To Start Watching That Series You’ve Been Putting Off.
Neither? I don't watch them all spaced out, but never all at once either. I'm usually working at the same time, so a few episodes will do. S/n: I have not watched a series in any sense of recent memory that is less than 12 episodes/season, so I can't comment on any of these bitesize series.
Both ha e their place. Binge watching to get up to speed is ok,but I like the anticipation of waiting for the next episode.
Binge-watching is something I'll never understand. I thought it was nice when lots of people at school watched the same series and we'd spend the week talking about the episodes and sharing theories about what's gonna happen next. It was a conversation everyone could join regardless of their popularity or wealth (because even poor people had a TV in the early 2000s)
EXACTLY. For me, the "binge" format killed TV shows. 8 episodes released all at once is no longer a show, it's an 8-hours-long movie. It's also a reason why even massively popular shows like Stranger Things or Squid Game have no cultural longevity and are pretty much forgotten after two weeks. I've actually started watching anime again to avoid this "binge" nonsense.
Load More Replies...I've binge watched the heck out of old favourite shows I've got box sets of. Watching so many episode back to back, hearing the same intro songs, my mind would lose a bit of interest and start to wander. It becomes background noise. Then I realize I'm already on Season 2 and I can't remember half of season 1. We spent about 2 months binging on Gilmore Girls that we were glad when it was over, and feeling physically nauseated through the last season. I can't watch that show ever again. It's sorta nice watching one episode, maybe one a few times a week, and allowing yourself to actually pay attention for the 20-45 minute duration.
It all depends: I was out on a job injury and binge watched “Mindhunter” and finished that entire series, then started in on “This is Us” but I got better and returned to work. I had to go back to watching the rest of the episodes whenever I had the time.
I never picked up a book and read one chapter each week until I was done. Why would I wait a week to watch the next episode if it's available already? That said, I very rarely watch more than 3 episodes in one go. One or two per day, and finish a 10 episode show in a week is more likely.
It depends. What kind of mood am I in? How much time do I have?
You’re A Seriously Heavy Sleeper.
Pee every morning at 5am. Problem is, you dont wake up until 8am.
Load More Replies...Neither. My bladder is my alarm clock and goes off at around 5am without fail. It doesn’t have a snooze button.
I have never used alarms to wake me up. I just always know when to get up.
None of The Above: I need the kind that shakes my pillow cuz I'm hard of hearing.
It's Sunday Afternoon, You've Been In And Out Of Sleep All Day And Your Body Is Demanding To Be Fed Immediately.
Yep - I rarely order food from anywhere - maybe every 6 months?
Load More Replies...wtf a takeaway 🤷♀️I live in the sticks ,no one delivers around here , I,ll cook my own from scratch thank you lol so none , n I do not do daytime sleeping ,unless I’m actually ill ,ie flu or Covid , lol
I have ARFID so I'd never order from an app. Even when I go to McDonald's, I go to the actual checkout to make sure the employee *really* noted that I want no salad in my Big Mac. For most people, it'd be an inconvenience to get salad anyway, but for me, it means I just can't eat that Big Mac without being physically sick.
Both dangerous options for being half asleep lol. I would have to make sure I don't pass out again and not hear the delivery driver calling from the buzz box.
It would be quicker to walk to my kitchen and make myself something than it would to order a takeaway.
It's Monday Morning And The Weather Is Looking Unexpectedly Gloomy After A Full Weekend Of Sunny Skies.
Me too. Once I'm at work I pretty much don't see the light of day again until 5pm.
Load More Replies...I have a weather network app on my phone. I don't need to check it every hour. I can just see the hourly forcast or look at the radar map.
NWS.gov on my desktop. Can check the expected weather for the week.
I guess management at BP has no idea that I'm on a computer at this very instant?
TV weather reports aren't known for accuracy, but every online weather app I've seen is a lot worse
Ours for uk n like my area little village in the sticks is mostly accurate,but there are times I look at the forecast then out side , n I’m like yup don’t think the sky agrees either you to day met weather 😂
Load More Replies...I don’t watch the TV news at all anymore. I don’t want to hear about Donald, and on TV, somebody is bound to mention him. The weather app will give me exactly what I need and nothing else.
I check metweather for my village when I get up, so I know if I’m getting out in garden ,or doing potting up seed sowing in the poly tunnel lol n to see if I can hang washing on line , or this year. If we are actual gonn get any bloody rain at last 😂I swear I live in the uk ,not aus or a freaking desert,ffs
You And Your Colleague Are Debating Iconic Gaming Habits, And There Are Plenty To Choose From.
I hate that I can only have half a dozen games on my 64GB phone because all games require so much memory now. How does a *backgammon* game need over 3GB of space ?!
Both, I'm from an era where downloading updates was possible but not widely spread because everything was slow BUT blowing on cartridges makes the problem worse. Game cartridges should be cleaned with a lint-free material and isopropyl alcohol. The blowing only appears to work because you're inserting and removing it frequently and the contacts just scrape away a little cleaner area until it makes a good enough electrical connection to work.
Neither. I’m not into video games. (Yes, I know I’m the only person on the whole planet who isn’t. 🤷🏻♀️)
"Downloading game.zip. Estimated time remaining: 46 days, 8 hours, 24 minutes"
But it fills up your drive something quick. I have to actually juggle installs on my PS5 on the regular. Sure I can add storage, but is it so much to ask that developers optimise stuff for the standard configurations?
Load More Replies...It’s A Boring Day In Class, And You Want To Get Some Stuff Off Your Chest.
Would love to know the demographics of typical BP commenters. I'm guessing most of us are over the age of ... 40?
I'm definitely too old to have owned a phone at high school.
Load More Replies...Risking having your phone confiscated? Or risking the teacher catching you passing notes and reading it aloud to the class? lol I'd pick the latter.
The skill was in writing notes that passed a message but sounded like gibberish if read aloud. A sort of IYKYK to thwart teachers trying that.
Load More Replies...Not going in first place !! Or if it was English which I loved ,unless we had the old man who was bizzare to say the least , we would mention little green men at the bottom of the garden ,n he would one out to teaching n spend the entire hour talking about aliens n the likes 😂😂was hilarious
Texting will get your phone confiscated for the day, then you have to go to the Principals office to retrieve.
I had a pencil case just so that I could "hide" my phone in it and be chatting on MSN all day long. (I'm using quotes because I was usually sitting on the front row, teachers obviously knew what I was doing, but they didn't care because I had fairly good grades and never caused trouble, they simply let me exist in my bubble.)
You're About To Dive Into Your Favorite Album.
Came along to say just this. Found some amazing albums this way, even though I have had to order them from like Japan or Korea.
Load More Replies...Stream it on YouTube because Spotify s*cks and treats artists like sh*t - but I don't have a CD player anymore.
Buy the CD and then rip it in a lossless audio format so I have a HQ uncompressed digital copy also.
I'm from an era where we ripped everything from external media. I even still have some old high res extractions from those obscure dvd-audio discs. I used to ask my childhood friends to bring over their whole cd binders and they would wonder how I was going to listen to all of them in a day while they visited and then why I was loading them into a computer one at a time, haha.
Surely if you're about to dive into your favourite album then that suggests you own it in some format?
Listen to it on my iPod lol got everything on there ,even if it is 21 yrs old got it same yr my youngest was born 😂don’t have a cd player , well I do but it’s to bloody powerful n if I put it on I get told off by my one of three next door neighbours lol , so I put it in the cupboard , n use iPod ,or I go on to music , or on a Sunday when I’m cooking Sunday roast I pop my sons you tube on tele n have power ballads on ,
Your Favorite Band Is Finally Coming To Town.
Also concerts are too late, I need to be in bed by 21:00
Load More Replies...I've never heard of an online queue. I can just buy a ticket if I can afford it.
If you're going to see big acts like Taylor Swift or BTS, you'll find out what an online queue is - and the concert is likely to be sold out before you even get to buy a ticket.
Load More Replies...Join the online queue because that's the only way they're available these days, even at local venues.
Neither, because I have all their albums and can listen to them at home for free on a much better sound system without screaming people around me.
I'm giving up here. None of the alternatives apply for me and it's just not interesting.
i ring a different number to buy my tickets as im registered disabled. There is rarely a queue.
I wouldn't buy a ticket. There's either a 7-foot tall person in front of me, or several 7-foot tall persons in front of me. I can't see the stage, and I can't see the screen, so why go?
You're Heading Home After A Long Day.
A little secret - having a car does not make a person an adult, let alone a 'full grown adult'.
Load More Replies...Who "hopes" the taxi will show up ?? Licensed taxis are equipped with a device that tracks their position at all time, drivers can't accept a course and then change their mind without facing serious consequences from their employer. Uber drivers can do whatever: I once watched a friend spend 2+ hours trying to find an Uber because the first driver took another course, the second decided to just go home and the third took ages to get there because his GPS sent him to a pedestrian street or something. All that trouble for just a few euros less than a real taxi.
I can't afford taxis or Uber. It's either the train (if its running), the bus (if I don't have to wait too long, or I'll walk because if I've had a particularly trying day, a walk makes me feel better.
It's The Festive Season, And You're Spreading Some Cheer.
I used to do cards, up until it started costing an arm and a leg to post them.
Not everyone I know is on Facebook, including close family. I tend to make my cards if I'm feeling creative enough.
Nope lol I can say happy Xmas to my kids in person , don’t use social media n no one else I need to say it to the beauty of having no family bar my two kids n their partners 😂n living out in the sticks well away from people ,mostly lol
Load More Replies...I'm one of the few people who still sends cards. I write to a few elderly friends and family who I don't see often as they live away and they appreciate the cards and letters. I just think it’s a nice thing to do.
I don't have a Facebook account. But I don't send people cards either. I just call them on the phone
I don’t do cards lmao , tbh I don’t do Xmas full stop ,only have done for the kids but they adults now,n even still at home , cards ain’t a thing , I do immediate neighbour ,but that’s it lol so neither
I'd love to mail Christmas cards to my relatives. But our post office has basically gone belly-up except for things like money transfers. So I have no choice but to do the online thing. (I'm not that sad about the post office because the workers were stealing from people's parcels for decades. No one uses it for parcels anymore when you have Pudo and Postnet and courier services.)
You're Ready To Get More Serious About Your Physical Health This Fall.
Yep. Love a long ride I've done a few 100 miles (160km) rides too. No longer in shape for that though
Load More Replies...Free weights at home for strength training, bike ride or 5k walk for cardio.
You're On Vacation With Your Significant Other, And You've Been Snapping Pictures All Day.
I don't retake them. I just take a couple and move on. But I do get my favourites printed by professionals because photos done that way LAST.
My bf gets puzzled if I take more than one picture of us. "Another one?!" But then I see he has one of the pictures of us as a profile picture and then I know he doesn't hate it that I take them.
When digital cameras became a thing, I had two reactions - 1) Infinitely Reusable 'Film'! Yay! and 2) This eliminates a colossal amount of chemical waste from film, developing, making prints, etc. Yay!
None cos one I don’t have a partner lol happily divorced n staying that way , n I don’t leave the house or village bar doc appointments or hospital ,n I just use my phone for pics n use free prints to get any I need printed off lol
I once had a coworker who was an absolute @$$. The sort of guy who had a PhD and insisted on being called 'Doctor', and would not EVER let you forget that he was better than you, because HE was a Scientist with a Doctorate, whereas I was a mere technician (SysAdmin), barely better than a Janitor. This was around 2000, give or take a few years. I had gotten a digital camera, and he sneered down his nose. "A nice toy, but *I* take pictures at ATOMIC resolution, because *I* use film!" I wanted *so badly* to tell this jack@ss that, 'No, you don't. You take pictures at a resolution limited by the optics in your camera and by the size of the grain particles in your farking film emulsion, which are complicated *Molecules*, far larger than *atoms*. Now go back to your farking geology, idiot!" (Sorry - you triggered a memory that still burns.)
Load More Replies...You're Looking To Make A New Connection.
I've never had a good time meeting someone. Put tge full stop there. It all feels forced.
Load More Replies...NO IM REALLY NOT LOOKING TO MAKE NEW FREINDS 😂don’t got any full stop ,n that is the way it’s staying !! End off its peaceful and just bliss
You Need To Submit A Task And Don't Have Time To Waste.
I loved Windows XP! Back in the mid-2010s, I had to buy a new laptop and asked for XP. The vendor told me it had to be 7. I hated it so much, I would've preferred Vista but they weren't selling it anymore either.
As StrangeOne said, they're both annoying. But I've been a Windows Admin for decades, and most likely I built the Windows Image I'm running. So I'm fairly confident that Windows will load soon enough. I have less faith that the WiFi will connect. BTW - 'XP'??!? WHEN was this quiz written?
You're Planning Your Best Friend's Birthday Bash.
Why go trough a full production over a birthday? Weddings? Yeah, get that. Births? I can see why. But making a whole hoo haa over a birthday?
You're Looking For Something To Binge This Weekend.
When it said "you're looking for something to binge this weekend" I was hoping to see "seven gallons of industrial strength lager and the world's supply of white rum" as one of the options...
If it's recommended to me, I've likely heard about it a million times to the point I'm no longer interested.
Online ratings and recommendations are completely worthless these days. The chances of finding any honest information are slim and none, and slim done left town. EVERYTHING I've seen in the last few years has been blatantly polluted by people pushing various agendas, not fair evaluations. "I'm a shill! You have to this, it's the greatest thing since Fire!" "I'm an Influencer, and I gain followers by saying that No, you might *think* you enjoyed this, but I'm here to tell you it's all $#!t!" Phooey to all sides. No reviews, no recommendations. I'll take a chance on something if it looks interesting, and I will make up my own d@mn mind whether I like it or not.
An hour long "show" - on sort of regular, but not really - has at least 25 mins of commercials 🤮 and/or pay ridiculous amounts of money per month for no adds 🤮
Exam Season Is Here, And It's Crunch Time.
Wasn't a lot of highlighters laying around either..
Load More Replies...Read the material, write it out in own words. If it's one of those essay exams where you get given the questions in advance and can choose which to do then focus on those that you are strongest at. Worked perfectly for me in uni.
Your first sentence is exactly what I did (and reccomend to others). Write it out, but only the kernel idea, and heavily appreviated/condensed. Then put the original text away and just read/re-read your notes in the days before the exam.
Load More Replies...both. Read the textbook, take notes and watch a Khan Academy video to explain the tough stuff.
And get a zero because you repeated the LLM claim that Ancient Greek is three different languages stolen and smushed together, which is entirely false.
Load More Replies...You've Just Made A Life-Changing Professional Contact.
Your Friend Group Lives Far Apart, But You Want To Stay Connected.
Why did you limit the choices the way you did. Most of these questions had several other options than the ones we were given.
There's an unstated assumption on these things, "If you were limited to these choices, which one would you choose?" No question about it, the choices are poorly selected, most likely to make it easy for them to come up with pithy-sounding, completely inaccurate conclusions when you're done with the test.
Load More Replies...Probably half the people here have not experienced the “olden days” options of life before internet and mobile phones. Some things are easier now, but these days I feel like I have a 20 step authentication thing I have to go through just to do anything online. I do still write myself notes with pen and paper though.
Like most of the oldsters here I've adopted tech to make life easier. But there are some things that are better done the old-fashioned way.
I've adopted a new method for BP polls and quizzes: I skim through the questions and answer options before starting to respond. Greatly reduces time waste and frustration. I highly recommend it to all.
I gave up answering the questions because my choice was 'neither of the above'.
Why did you limit the choices the way you did. Most of these questions had several other options than the ones we were given.
There's an unstated assumption on these things, "If you were limited to these choices, which one would you choose?" No question about it, the choices are poorly selected, most likely to make it easy for them to come up with pithy-sounding, completely inaccurate conclusions when you're done with the test.
Load More Replies...Probably half the people here have not experienced the “olden days” options of life before internet and mobile phones. Some things are easier now, but these days I feel like I have a 20 step authentication thing I have to go through just to do anything online. I do still write myself notes with pen and paper though.
Like most of the oldsters here I've adopted tech to make life easier. But there are some things that are better done the old-fashioned way.
I've adopted a new method for BP polls and quizzes: I skim through the questions and answer options before starting to respond. Greatly reduces time waste and frustration. I highly recommend it to all.
I gave up answering the questions because my choice was 'neither of the above'.
