Time definitely doesn’t stand still, and what was considered a novelty or an absolute must-have just a couple of years or even decades ago is quite possibly a true museum exhibit today, gradually covered with the dust of oblivion on the outskirts of human history. Time flies quickly, and it is absolutely merciless.
But still, no matter how merciless time is, as in the wonderful cartoon ‘Coco,’ as long as there are people whose brains or hands remember certain things from the past, as long as we recall these habits and outdated skills with nostalgia and sweet irony – they remain with us, remain alive. For example, in this selection of stories, made for you by We.
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#1
Reading a map.
#2
My penmanship is trash, but my ability to read cursive handwriting appears to be a superpower to my younger coworkers.
#3
Remember when we had to have a typing speed of atleast 60wpm to be considered for an office job, lol.
In a recent thread in the AskReddit community, the user u/Aryan_Anushiravan decided to ask: “People born before 2000, what trivial skill do you possess that others don’t use anymore?” Apparently, the question touched a nerve with netizens, and in just a couple of days, the thread gained around 11K upvotes with over 17K comments, which, by today’s standards, can well be considered a viral status.
Of course, there were many humorous comments in the thread, but overall, it gives an incredibly large-scale picture – how, in just a quarter of a century, an absolutely huge number of skills, habits, and ways were mercilessly sent to the dustbin of history.
#4
I know how to replace the ink ribbon on a typewriter. .
#5
Installing software via 10+ floppy disks. Anyone else install Windows 95 from a stack of floppies? .
#6
I can tell the time using an analog clock.
No, in the past, humanity also got rid of outdated skills from time to time – for example, in the 20th century, the profession of a chimney sweep practically lost the importance that it had a century before. The demand for stokers, having reached its peak about a hundred years ago, gradually faded away as well, and there are actually more such examples. But never before has progress moved so rapidly.
#7
The Dewey Decimal System, m***********s. .
#8
I know the secret to recording over VHS tapes that weren’t meant for it.
#9
The “double space after a period” muscle memory.
I spent my teen years in the nineties, and I still have the muscle memory of rewinding an audio cassette with a pencil (in my prime, I had a collection of almost a thousand cassettes)…
I can do math in my head (a skill honed, in particular, by the need to calculate file sizes limited by the capacity of a floppy disk), and I still have pretty good handwriting, although I increasingly catch myself thinking that these skills are completely out of demand today.
Well, simply judge for yourself – who needs audio cassettes when even the iPod, which until recently ruled the music market, is becoming a half-forgotten device nowadays? When modern kids and teenagers use voice input to their fullest, and handwriting has become something archaic, like chiseling out clay tablets of Babylon?
#10
I can both write a check and I can address an envelope to mail it to you.
#11
The ability to be alone with my thoughts for a few moments without losing my d**n mind.
#12
I can drive a manual. Still a thing these days, but theyre very rare and most people can’t.
On the other hand, aren’t modern people losing something important by not using the skills that older generations considered absolutely necessary? After all, almost all new things and phenomena are ultimately aimed at making people’s lives easier, making them think less, and making fewer decisions themselves.
As a result, today’s school teachers are literally sounding the alarm, telling incredible stories about high schoolers who cannot count, read, and write, or have very poor knowledge of these basic skills. So before laughing at the outdated habits and skills of millennials and X-Gens, let’s first think—don’t these habits give our brains much-needed training?
#13
Counting change correctly. That’s $3.64, out of $20? 36 cents makes four… (*grab $1*) five, (*grab $5*) ten, and (*grab $10*) ten makes twenty.
#14
I can unwind spiral telephone cords when they get a kink!
#15
How to use an actual printed dictionary.
In any case, it seems that this collection of facts and tales will be really interesting to representatives of any generation—from baby boomers to Gen Alpha (for the former, it will be pretty much nostalgic, for the latter, probably just funny).
By the way, if you, like me, were born before 2000, then perhaps you could also write here about a skill you possess that is unique to today and completely commonplace in the past. After all, why not?
#16
Rewind a cassette tape.
#17
Being able to go 5 mins w/o looking at my phone.
#18
I know lots of people will comment that they can write in cursive. This is painful but I can also write in shorthand. Well, to be more honest, I used to be able to write perfectly in shorthand but it still shows up in my regular writing sometimes.
#19
Memorize phone numbers .
#20
I used to be a projectionist at a movie theatre. Most theaters are all digital now.
#21
I used to operate a keypunch card machine … back in caveman days of the early 1970s.
#22
Burning a CD.
#23
I can talk to people I don’t know in person. .
#24
I know how to program a VCR.
A VCR is the machine we put tapes into to watch movies or record TV. It’s what we used to use to watch movies & TV shows we recorded on before dvd’s. Dvd’s are what we used to watched movies on before Blu-ray. Blu-ray is what we used to watch movies on before streaming.
Laserdics were in there somewhere too. F**k, I’m old.
#25
I can honestly say things like:
“I managed a video store,”
“I learned basic coding from making my MySpace page cool,”
And the ever popular
“I learned how to play the trumpet, French horn, and trombone in order to play in a ska band.”.
#26
I can text like crazy fast on a t9 keypad lol.
#27
I used to dial my friend’s phone number by tapping the hang up buttons which simulated a rotary dial phone.
#28
I can use “Save As”.
#29
Keeping a Tamagotchi alive for more than 3 days.
#30
Long division.
#31
Im pretty good at navigating DOS commands.
#32
How to operate a blackberry.
#33
Cleaning out Super Nintendo cartridges.
#34
Using a paperclip to fix bent pins on a CPU or IDE drive.
#35
HTML.
#36
I can beat Mike Tyson in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! Like, a quarter of the time.