People Are Sharing Things That Existed Back In The Day But Don't Anymore, And I'm Feeling All Kinds Of Nostalgic
It's no secret that the older you get, the more nostalgic you feel.
Well, Reddit user u/guyute2112 recently posed the question, "What existed when you were a child that doesn’t exist now?" And there were so many great responses! Here are some of the top-voted answers:
1."The freedom to be a kid without being influenced by the internet and having your worst moments immortalized on it."
"So many things I remember that I pray no one else does."
"I feel bad for kids nowadays. There was so much embarrassing stuff that happened when I was a teenager. I wouldn't have wanted all of it caught on camera."
2."Actual toy prizes in cereal boxes."
"Man, getting RollerCoaster Tycoon from a Lucky Charms box was the peak of our society back in the early 2000s."
3."Playing outdoors without supervision and just returning home once the sun sets."
"I would just grab my bike and join up with the gang in the neighborhood. We would ride all over the place, go where we wanted, and do what we wanted. Basically, we were the kids from Stranger Things, albeit with a lot less paranormal activity."
4."Getting off the phone so someone can use the internet."
"Getting off the internet so someone can use the phone."
5."Multi-colored ketchup."
"My nephew loved the stuff. Made me buy the green ketchup to eat his chicken nuggets with. Months later, I was making a meatloaf and needed ketchup so I figured why not? The meatloaf tasted great but looked so disgusting it was impossible to eat. Like neon green, greasy mold."
6."Affordable housing."
"Meanwhile, your great-grandparents traded a goose for a four-bedroom farmhouse on 30 acres in 1960."
"No joke, this will be a thing before long: just like they have those 429 accounts to start financing college from birth, parents will start saving for their kids' first house."
7."Phone books. Every once in a while, one would just show up at our front door."
"In middle school, we could look up our crush or bully in the book and just prank call TF out of them."
8."Those coin-operated rides outside grocery stores and Kmarts. They basically gave you a mild jostling for about a minute."
"Oh man, I hadn't even realized that they were gone until I read it, LOL."
9."Card catalogs at the library."
"I miss these. I can feel the library around me just thinking about them. As a kid, I felt, I don’t know, important knowing how to do this. Somehow, seeing and touching all those little cards and knowing each one represented a real book was wonderful. And those cabinets held a bit of magic, I think. I would love to have one someday."
10."KB Toys."
"Toy stores in general. It’s mostly Walmart, Target, or Amazon now."
11."Privacy. Back in the day, the only way someone could know what I was up to was if they physically followed me. Now, my smartphone does that for them."
"Remember when someone would try to call you, and if you weren't home, they were just out of luck? Miss that. Now, folks get offended when you don't give them your immediate attention."
"There were three ways to reach someone: 1) Call their house and either leave a message, or get lucky and they are home. 2) (Moms only) Stand on the porch and call their full name around 9/10 p.m. 3) Know where they hangout and stop by."
12."Blockbuster."
"If they audited all of us, Blockbuster could have the greatest comeback in United States history from late fees."
13."A phone number you could call that just told you the time and weather."
"Or movie showing times."
14."Restaurant smoking sections."
"Airplane smoking sections."
15."Phone booths."
"I saw one the other day and got all excited. But there was no phone inside of it, so it was just Superman's changing room."
16."The high beam switch in your car was on the floor by your left foot."
17.And finally, "Taking pictures with film cameras and waiting for them to get developed until you could see how bad you looked."
"Honestly, the inability to perfect your portraits was kind of a godsend. Now, it’s horribly embarrassing to have a 'bad photo' reach social media, but between 1991–1999, I was blinking in 50% of photos. People were more likely to look like themselves in photos, too."
Any other things you grew up with that don't exist anymore? Let me know in the comments below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
