Our world moves at a staggeringly quick pace. Just think of how far humanity has come and how much we’ve all achieved in the last few decades alone. Whether it’s the slew of devices and gadgets or new fads, techniques, and patterns that seep into our day-to-day lives, it’s simply fascinating to watch how innovation unfolds right in front of our eyes.
But as we all know, time is a cruel creature. While we feel amazed by many technologically updated trends that make everything easier, this also means we have to say goodbye to some common everyday activities that were once a thing but not anymore, for better or worse. So one person who goes by pachungulo on Reddit decided to take a trip down memory lane and asked fellow community members: "What are we no longer in the golden age of?" And the thread immediately became a hit.
Thousands of people jumped at the chance to share what heydays we’ve left behind us. From nostalgic memories that warm our sentiment-addled hearts to obsolete things we already wish to forget, Bored Panda has gathered some of the most interesting examples to share with you all. So continue scrolling to enjoy the list, upvote your favorite entries, and be sure to share your own insights below in the comments!
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Reason, we are quickly devolving back into the Dark Ages where superstitions ran wild and the clergy dictated what is “truth”
Ownership.
I feel like we all just rent, borrow, stream, digital download, or straight up just consume and rebuy low quality products.
When was the last time you listened to a cassette tape? Or rented a movie at a video store? Or did Halloween trick or treating, like in the good old days? It doesn't matter what decade you were born into, everyone feels a certain longing for the common, everyday activities we used to do in the past. Feeling sentimental for the times when people were nicer, life was easier, and the world seemed like (arguably) a better place than it is now is something that unites us all.
Reminiscing about the "golden ages" we’ve left behind us is also a thing that triggers our nostalgia response — a common, universal, and highly social-emotional experience. Seeing how certain objects or trends are fading into history inevitably makes us revisit personally meaningful memories and events we shared with loved ones.
But as Dr. Jesse Matthews, Psy.D., a licensed clinical psychologist based in Chester Springs, PA, told us in an email, we humans are not necessarily hardwired to feel these emotions, "but in many cultures nostalgia is certainly a thing."
Shopping Malls, they are super dead and getting a little deader every day
This is probably regional though. We have one that is always busy and even crazier during the holidays. I’d say it’s more the big department stores in the malls that are the issue. If Sears is an anchor store for the mall and it closes, chances are the mall won’t do well either.
Journalism.
The 24/7 news cycle was the beginning of the end and the advent of the web accelerated the decline. There is still good journalism out there but the signal to noise ratio is terrible.
Dr. Matthews explained that when we grow older, there is much less time for us to try out and enjoy doing activities that we like, particularly in a spontaneous way.
"When we’re young, much of our focus is on having fun, whether it’s playing with toys, hanging out with friends, or doing whatever it is that we want to do. But as we get older, most of us take on more responsibilities like careers, serious relationships, raising children, and having more bills."
"We can get very bogged down as well in the work and responsibility of life that we can even forget how to have fun," the psychologist added. This is why so many of us long for simpler times or days when things were more enjoyable. "I believe we all do this to some extent, recalling either 'the good old days' or particular things like places, people, and things like music, shows, and so forth."
Streaming. There was a blissful 10 years where basically everything was on one or two platforms. Now we've more or less re-invented television with the fracturing of media platforms (but on demand, which is still an improvement but come on, it was so nice for a while there).
Democracy/Governance
Government for the people by the people has slowly slipped away thanks to money/power in politics. Elections don't matter anymore, because the system is set up to corrupt whoever is in power.
Nostalgia is a powerful tool that usually helps us feel better about ourselves and even more in control of our current lives — if we manage to find a way to channel these emotions into the present. The longing for the past has a way to turn negative states such as sadness and loneliness into positive feelings that may leave us more motivated and passionate about our goals in life. Usually, but not always.
Architecture.
At least not here in the UK, we seem to be obsessed with making loads of s****y carbon copy houses that haven't in the slightest got any character. Bring back locally sourced materials and good community layouts not these cold sack bollocks.
King Charles, is that you? I seem to recall you wrote a book on this.
The middle class worker.
Wages relative to inflation have stagnated for years and the wealth gap is growing faster than ever. Further, this wealth has been used to tilt the scale even more towards those with means which accelerates the trend. On top of the dismantling of protections and creation of even more inequalities through law, technology is playing a role too through automation which seems poised to send even more wealth up to those with the current means to develop and deploy new wave automation.
Instead of trickle-down economics, I propose piňata economics. Can't go into details here, but I hope you can imagine what I mean xD
Psychologists at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences found that nostalgia is actually a mixed emotion. Through their research, they discovered that in previous nostalgia-related studies participants were usually asked to recall past events that made them feel a sense of longing, which often led to them thinking about positive and fond memories.
"When people are asked to describe something that makes them feel very nostalgic, the positive elements dominate," David Newman, the study’s lead author and a Ph.D. candidate at USC Dornsife, said. "They think of a pleasant past experience, and the memories they bring to mind have a positive influence on how they see their own life."
Internet for sure. Everything is way too centralized now and the majority of internet traffic goes to small number of sites. I miss forums and personal webpages. We should bring those back..
Neighborhoods full of kids.
I think the 90’s were peak.
Mobile games. I mean Jesus f*****g Christ I'm a gamer, and I despise mobile gaming in its current form.
Micro transaction riddled ad displaying b******t apps
Later in "Free to play" games you need to buy certain inventory (with real money) to advance
So the researchers decided to conduct several studies to delve deeper into how frequently people may feel nostalgic and how intense these feelings get in their daily lives. After reaching out to 230 undergraduate students to participate in diary studies and complete daily questionnaires for 14 days, it turned out people were likely to feel nostalgic when something goes wrong for them in the present.
Newman explained this proves that this emotion can also be negative. What’s more, people reported feeling more stressed, depressed, and lonely on days when they felt nostalgic. They also expressed more regret and rumination, lower self-esteem, and dissatisfaction with their life. "These negative experiences colored nostalgia in a negative light,” Newman added.
Society. It's no longer about community and looking out for your neighbour. It's now normalised that to think "Screw everyone else, as long I get what I want".
Er... that's been the american legend since forever. "Go west young man" etc is totally about individualism. The rest of the world: nope. We still have communal ideals.
Gig economy. There was a brief moment when AirBnb and Uber was cheap, unique and awesome.
“Gig economy.” What an aptly named industry category. Too bad it proves to be as corruptible as any other industry.
China tea sets.
Pith helmets and rickshaws are also hard to come by these days. Jolly dashed indecent I say.
But it’s not all gloom and doom. The good news is that the psychologists also found a positive connection when people "had helped others, were reminded of old friendships or music, felt inspired and engaged in social media use". And Dr. Matthews agrees by saying that nostalgia isn’t always a bad thing.
Comedy movies. Honestly, what's the last blockbuster comedy movie you saw in a packed theater?
Movie theatres in general I think. It's more of a one off treat now than a regular weekly or maybe monthly night out?. Most people are just quite prepared to wait until it comes out on Netflix or many other streaming platforms. The time to wait for the release has also decreased. I will always like the atmosphere, large screen and sound of a movie night but it's sooo expensive. I just wait now until it's some really good action film ( like e.g Star Wars type or Marvel movie) and go then. Might not be sustainable though if we all think like that. Who knows? I wouldn't waste my time anymore to just go and see a rom com or comedy. Shame but true.
Fishing.
We've [took out] so many fish it's a f*****g tragedy. By some estimates we've [took out] 90% of the world's shark population alone. Reading old books and running into offhand comments about fishing is depressing as hell.
I love seafood, but we need like a decade-long commercial fishing hiatus followed by much stricter limits and better regulations. There are a bunch of really dumb rules right now; bycatch is wasted, for example. Let's get by on sport-caught and farmed seafood for a while and let the fishes come back.
Fishing now is nothing whatever like it was even fifty years ago. A century ago it was like another planet. And this is coming from a kiteboarder, somebody to whom sharks are a genuine threat.
YouTube.
I tried to watch a 33 minute instructional video yesterday. There were ten - TEN - ad breaks. It was infuriating. I don't care what the content is, it's not worth wasting that much of my time.
According to Dr. Matthews, it’s fun to reminisce about the past, especially with friends or other people our age. "It can become problematic, however, if we keep ourselves stuck in the past," the psychologist warned.
"In some cases, people are depressed because they can’t deal with getting older or with times changing, feeling as though nothing compares to how things used to be. A person can also be stuck on things like past relationships, as in the case of 'the one who got away.'"
Halloween trick or treating. I used to get anywhere from 25-50 kids to my door every year. Now I'm lucky if I see 10. People are not doing it anymore.
It’s hardly surprising now that some people yearn for the bygone years, decry the contemporary world, and believe that the past was better than the present. And, ironically, they often complain about it online. As Dr. Matthews told us, all of this probably stems from bias more than anything.
"Many people believe 'their day' or when they grew up was in many ways better than the present day. The music was better, the fashion, or how people spent their time, for example," he said. "Nostalgia makes us feel emotional about these things and to view them more favorably."
Medicine
Doctors talk about this all the time. Medical education has skyrocketed in price but payments for seeing patients and doing procedures have been steadily declining. Most doctors make about half in wealth than what they used to make only 20-30 yrs ago. And most leave school with 1/3 to 1/2 of a million in debt. Not to mention complete lack of control and power within the healthcare system, as the whole thing is now run by businessmen, insurance companies and nursing administrators.
If it wasn’t for the work itself, which is rewarding about 20% of the time, I’d quit. Oh and the debt. I can’t quit because of the debt.
Most developed nations not only fully or partially subsidize education, but they also strive ensure every citizen can get equal access care based on needs. The US, despite paying almost twice as much as any other developed nation for healthcare, has the dubious distinction of also having the worst population health. This will continue until its citizens consider healthcare a basic human right and not a for-profit business.
Music videos. So much money was spent on music videos in the 80s and 90s. We are talking six figures. Today, only artist at the very top get close to that kind of money for music video budgets. With the accessibility of the internet and the speed of which pop culture changes, it's not worth putting that much money into a music video anymore.
One could argue the quality has gotten better but If budgets did increase again, there could be some pretty awesome music videos today.
no dude. Go look at youtube. There are some really amazing music videos. Try "in this moment the inbetween" for example. It's really well-produced.
Another explanation is that we humans also tend to focus on the good things rather than the difficult times we experienced in the past. "In some ways, life was simpler when we were younger, but through nostalgia, we tend to exaggerate this in a way that doesn’t exactly match the reality."
The old og app store games. Now we have false advertisements for the current app store games.
Sitcoms. It’s all different now. It doesn’t feel the same anymore.
that's because we realised that most comedy in the 1980s-90s was sexist and racist and ablist, and now we struggle to find material that doesn't involve making fun of some powerless demographic. We're basically reduced now to satire of politicians.
"Nostalgia or positive thoughts or feelings about the past can be a good thing, as long as we keep it in check," Dr. Matthews noted. "Reminiscing, daydreaming, or sharing stories about the past can be really fun, but just know that nostalgia is often biased and the reality of the past often doesn’t match our memory."
"If you find yourself dwelling in the past, however, feeling sad about it, or feeling unable to move on, then it might be a good idea to start looking at this. Finding some videos or books about it, self-reflecting or journaling, or talking with a therapist might be some good ways to get unstuck," Dr. Matthews concluded.
Comic books - no feeling like rushing down to the comic book store (yes a whole store dedicated to comics) with some allowance and buy the latest Punisher or Spiderman series. The thrill of flipping through those huge boxes of comics to find ones you liked, the smell of the paper, the neckbeard at the counter (who was super-nice to us).
1. that's because there are too many to choose from now so it's easier to just ignore them. 2. people seem to prefer video now. 3. the hollywoodisation of the various storylines has made it hard to keep up with what is canonical and what is not. 4. society changes.
Cities, they are practically all car infested pieces of s**t with no thought given to anyone outside of cars.
mmm that is not true of europe. maybe the "new world" ie areas outside europe.
Kids cartoons for sure. The golden age was clearly like 1995-2007. SpongeBob, courage the cowardly dog, ed Ed and Eddy, basically everything was a classic back then and I don't think anything has matched that level of creativity. Adult cartoons certainly fall into his category as well.
Capitalism.
I do not think capitalism has peaked. The most brutal version yet has been unleashed in the US, allowing billionaires to buy all the government representatives and judges they want in the US. These in turn will ensure those who bought them will not pay taxes, so there will be no infrastructure investment (except for highly profitable private prisons), no social programs, education subsidies or anything resembling a health care system. These same buyers will also demand their bought representatives put in place regulations that freeze out any start ups.
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I think most of these are nonsense. The authors should step out their media bubbles and look around. I think we're still heading to even better times, if putin doesn't nuke everything.
Wow, how could you not include rock music? The golden age of rock and roll was definitely in the 1960s and 1970s. There have been a few good performers since then. But rock music is definitely not the cultural phenomenon it used to be.
I'm old and I don't miss a lot of this stuff at all. One thing I do miss are the bike parts of the 90s. Bicycles then had the sealed bearings (no more repacking after every rainstorm!) but the parts were simpler and sturdier. You could buy a basic Sedis chain that worked for almost everything, now you have to buy the specific chain for your specific rear cassette and shifters.
Most of this posts can be summarised as: I'm getting old and things don't excite me anymore
Some people write like they just know they speak for 90% of the world. They make one or two observations and then make these huge claims about what's in and what's out.
Newsflash: BP is Reddit curated. If that's not your cup of tea, you're on the wrong site.
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I'll add 'Google search' to the list, gone are the days when you searched and what you wanted was on the first page of results, now you trawl through sponsored links and you soon find yourself on page 5+ before you start to get results that are closer but still not what you asked for.
I think most of these are nonsense. The authors should step out their media bubbles and look around. I think we're still heading to even better times, if putin doesn't nuke everything.
Wow, how could you not include rock music? The golden age of rock and roll was definitely in the 1960s and 1970s. There have been a few good performers since then. But rock music is definitely not the cultural phenomenon it used to be.
I'm old and I don't miss a lot of this stuff at all. One thing I do miss are the bike parts of the 90s. Bicycles then had the sealed bearings (no more repacking after every rainstorm!) but the parts were simpler and sturdier. You could buy a basic Sedis chain that worked for almost everything, now you have to buy the specific chain for your specific rear cassette and shifters.
Most of this posts can be summarised as: I'm getting old and things don't excite me anymore
Some people write like they just know they speak for 90% of the world. They make one or two observations and then make these huge claims about what's in and what's out.
Newsflash: BP is Reddit curated. If that's not your cup of tea, you're on the wrong site.
Load More Replies... I'll add 'Google search' to the list, gone are the days when you searched and what you wanted was on the first page of results, now you trawl through sponsored links and you soon find yourself on page 5+ before you start to get results that are closer but still not what you asked for.
