20 Things We Were So Used To But Have Slowly Disappeared Without Our Realisation

Amid the bustling currents of modern life, there are subtle shifts and quiet vanishings that escape our collective awareness. One such vanishing act is the gradual erosion of handwritten letters, a timeless form of communication that once carried emotions and stories across distances. 

#1 Someone answering the phone at businesses.

Image source: motohod671, Markus Winkler

#2 Video Game Manuals

Image source: pops992, Generic Brand Productions

#3

Walmart opened for 24 hours.

Image source: Havok1717

#4 Saturday Morning Cartoons

Image source: jay_man4_20, Tim Green

#5 A healthy sense of shame

Image source: Endlessbeachday, Samson Katt

#6 Fireflies aka *lightning bugs. I live rural and I used to see hundreds on a warm summer night. Now I get excited if I see just one. I mentioned it to other people who live in the same area as I do and they were just like “Huh. Yeah. You’re right!”

Image source: motohod671, Takashi Ota

#7 Telephone booths.

Image source: RogerKnights, Erik Mclean

#8 Ask Jeeves

Image source: PsychologicalBit5422, ask

#9 I never see swarms of Monarch butterflies anymore.

Image source: morana9870, Renee Grayson

#10 Those coin-operated rocking horses you used to see in front of grocery stores.

Image source: kanna172014, wallpaperflare

#11 Longevity in careers – this is a big one nobody seems to have said.

Longevity in careers has largely gone away. People used to get a job and after being there for decades reap the benefits of being seasoned employees (higher salaries and better perks).

Maybe it’s because I work in the Entertainment industry, but I feel that longevity in careers has gone away. Meaning, people can be amazing at a job, but after 5+ years the employers start wondering if they could be doing better with a younger/cheaper candidate for the job.

I understand if you ever want to move up in a works place they expect you to bring your A-game, but 30+ years of being incredible is hard. Some years will be better than others, and if employers don’t have loyalty to their employees anymore, it is likely the good employee will be fired or let go at some point.

I feel like in recent decades this has forced many people who normally wouldn’t, to switch careers. Can someone work successfully up the ladder at any job without having to shift to another company for a promotion?

A combination of employers halting upward movement of their staff while they look for new employees to fill higher roles, and the fact that they “get bored” of their seasoned employees has largely killed the idea of anyone having a single career.

Image source: yelexiw438, Rool Paap

#12 Epstein’s client list

Image source: wetforhouseplants, Ivan Samkov

#13 Places children and teenagers can hang out without supervision

Image source: Portlander, Greg Goebel

#14 Privacy

Image source: Helpful-Natural6300, Pixabay

#15

The magnetic tape from a crushed audio cassette blowing across the sidewalks and roadways.

Image source: TacoLita

#16 We’re in the process of full size can of Arizona teas for $.99 disappearing. I’m seeing a lot of places starting to carry the smaller plastic bottles for $.99 or the larger plastic bottles for more. I’m honestly surprised that they’ve lasted for this long at the same price.

Image source: pebiv28351, Kirsi

#17 Somewhere along the way 9-5 turned into 8-5

Image source: jivemic240, KoolShooters

#18 Having many Family photographs in homes. Not completely gone, but homes used to be plastered in them. The only times I really notice them is in homes of older people.

Image source: jivemic240, Rodolfo Clix

#19 Phone books

Image source: QosmoQueen, Sue Thompson

#20 Postcards.

Image source: morana9870, Quinn Dombrowski

And not just in the usual places, like museum gift shops and tourist traps.

There was once a time when you could buy at any truck stop or roadside motel a postcard of the small town you were driving through. But not anymore.

No point when you can just text your friends a photo.