Older Adults Are Revealing The Pre-'90 Habits They Knew How To Do By Heart That Have Essentially Become Obsolete Now

Before the '90s and the advancement of technology, a lot of people had a ~unique~ set of skills to help them get through the day — for example: remembering phone numbers.

Grandmother holding granddaughter on lap.
Jena Ardell / Via Getty Images

So when Reddit user u/motivetodayy asked: "People born before 1990, what trivial skill do you possess that no one uses anymore?", I thought it would be great to "go back in time" to reminisce on some of these skills. Here's a list of them below:

1."I can cover a textbook with a brown paper bag."

textbook with a brown paper bag cover

2."I can unknot curly telephone wire and get all the curls facing the right way and behaving themselves."

a woman on the phone

3."Giving the television a karate chop to fix reception."

a person hitting a tv

4."Remembering phone numbers."

old phone

5."The ability to make and count out change for a purchase."

a person counting change

6."My family gets mad at me for using MS Paint instead of Photoshop."

screenshot of MS Paint

7."Crash-starting a manual car by rolling down a hill in second gear with the ignition on, then popping the clutch — cars were not so reliable back in the day!"

people pushing a car

8."Making paper fortune tellers."

a kid with a  paper fortune tellers

9."Texting with 10 keys. I still have it all memorized and could pick up a flip phone and send paragraphs if needed."

a pile of old phones

10."Downloading music using p2p software that isn't Usenet or BitTorrent (Kazaa, Limewire, Frostwire, Bearshare, etc.)."

a screenshot of limewire

11."I still know how to set up a VCR to record a television program in advance."

a vcr with VCR tapes on top

12."Being able to get the sharpest reception for the TV channel you're watching by turning the giant dial on the top of the television that rotates the ginormous antenna on the roof."

tv with antenna

13."I write in cursive — does that count?"

writing in cursive

14."Using your shoulder to hold a telephone up to your ear while doing multiple other things at once. Now, the phones are so damned small that I drop them."

a man using his shoulder to hold up. phone

15."Using the Dewey Decimal at the library."

the library

16."I outright destroyed Super Mario Brothers in almost no time flat very recently on the Nintendo Switch after not having played it for probably 30 years. I did it totally from memory on just the second run-through. I even hit the multiple 1-up glitch on World 3-1. My kids thought I was a god (for just a few minutes)."

screen shot of Super Mario Brothers

17."Record to tape from the radio. Trying to make sure to not get the DJ/presenter talking shit or an ad."

using a pencil to rewind a cassette

18."I can re-fold a map correctly."

a person reading a map

19."I can develop and process photographic film and enlarge prints in a darkroom."

a person in a darkroom

Do you have a trivial skill you learned before the '90s that wasn't listed above? If so, tell us what it is in the comments below: