Scott and SadieThere’s a new list online of things that have “gradually disappeared” over the past decade without people really noticing.
And the FIRST surprising thing about it is that 10 years ago was 2015, which doesn’t feel THAT long ago. Donald Trump was running for president the first time . . . we first met Caitlyn Jenner . . . the New England Patriots were embroiled in “DeflateGate” . . . and the most viral story was “The Dress.”
Here are some of the things people say have slowly disappeared since then:
1. The good old $800 beater car that would actually run and drive.
2. Fairly-priced streaming services. (Although they were a lot less comprehensive then. And they were priced low to get you hooked.)
3. Small independent hardware stores.
4. Everything has become planned obsolescence. Being built to last is gone . . . technology and the price wars have ruined quality as an option.
5. A real live person answering a business telephone. Someone else joked, “Unexpectedly low call volumes.”
6. 24-hour businesses. “The pandemic killed them and it seems a lot of them aren’t coming back.”
7. Coins on the sidewalk.
8. Toys in cereal boxes. (Though, they started disappearing long before.)
9. People smoking cigarettes.
10. A teacher said, “Critical thinking and self-reflection.”
11. Physical checks as payment.
12. Ownership. “Everything is rented, leased, or subscription-based now.”
13. Semicolons. (That said, ChatGPT seems to love to use semicolons, so maybe we’ll see a resurgence.)
14. Someone said, “Glaciers.”
15. Someone said, “My hair.”
