Planking, Ringtones, And 17 More Things People Are Sharing That Basically Disappeared Without Anyone Noticing

Planking, Ringtones, And 17 More Things People Are Sharing That Basically Disappeared Without Anyone Noticing

Sometimes, things in everyday life suddenly stop existing, and you barely notice it — and when you do realize they're gone, you're like, "Wait, whaaat?"

Man holding his head and looking stunned
Master1305 / Getty Images / iStockphoto

Redditor u/lukiiiiii recently asked the people of Reddit, "What quietly went away without anyone noticing?" The answers honestly blew my mind — who knew so many things that used to be around just plain aren't anymore? Maybe your mind will be blown too:

1."Acid rain. It was a huge environmental issue in the late '70s through the early '90s. Rain was acidic and damaged fertile areas, among other things. In the US, there was much research done, and eventually industrial regulations were put into place. Companies were allowed to decide what approach they chose to take as long as the results showed the appropriate amount of reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions. Unfortunately, positive news doesn't sell, so news outlets did not do justice to reporting this success. As we went into the 2000s, hardly anyone remembered what was done."

u/GurglingWaffle

Close-up of rain landing on leaves
Kay Bartolozzi / Getty Images / EyeEm

2."Waterbeds."

u/valthonis_surion

3."Facebook poke wars."

u/Hot_buttered_toast

4."When you turned off the TV, how the image would shrink to a dot before slowly fading away."

u/ConcreteCubeFarm

TV screen with image narrowing
Caracterdesign / Getty Images

5."Flash mobs."

u/JaiahHBrown

6."Traveler's checks."

u/Anileh

7."Those red coupon dispensers that used to be inside grocery stores."

u/Capital-Plane-3404

8."Picture-in-picture TVs."

u/WhoDoesntLikeADonut

9."HQ Trivia."

u/cartocaster18

The HQ Trivia logo on a cellphone screen
Sopa Images / Sopa Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

10."Actual toys in cereal boxes and Cracker Jack boxes."

u/GuttMilton

11."StumbleUpon...I remember all my classmates and my mom used to use it years ago."

u/loarium

12."McDonald's All Day Breakfast menu."

u/EmeraldAlicorn

An Egg McMuffin
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

13."Altoid sours...those tangerine ones hit different."

u/_b3po

14."ROFL dropped off the face of the planet, and now we just go straight from LOL to LMAO."

u/habofi2125

15."I think people have noticed now, but at the time, nobody noticed it was happening: 24-hour stores. I live in a major city, and ever since the pandemic, we don’t have a single 24-hour grocery store."

u/anxiousfamily

Person carrying a shopping basket
D3sign / Getty Images

16."Politicians feeling ashamed when they're caught lying."

u/Cuddlychip

17."Planking."

u/Good_Confection_3365

18."Public spaces where you have a reasonable expectation that you are not being filmed."

u/Wazula23

19."Ringtones. Jay-Z said no more and they were done."

u/jablair51

Old cellphones
Bongkochrut Rojanatreekoon / Getty Images/EyeEm

Agree? Disagree? Have your own additions? See you in the comments!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.