20 Things That Were Normal Before But Outdated Today

Although many people want to cling to old stuff, things change with time. Some changes are more visible and clear to us while others are subtle and less significant. But change is the only constant in life.

When someone asked on Reddit, “What was normal when you were a kid, but you never see anymore?”, people shared some nostalgic and outdated things that are no more used in the modern world. Scroll below to read some of those answers.

More Info: Reddit

#1

Image source: smarterthandog, Michael Mandiberg

Phonebooks.

#2

Image source: Obadiah1991, Alan Light

Smoking and non smoking sections in restaurants.

#3

Image source: Ok_Relationship5648, Milica Sekulic

Memorizing phone numbers.

#4

Image source: NightDreamer73, ms.akr

Toys in the cereal box.

#5

Image source: lpkrew, teofilo

Showing up to someone’s house without a text or call.

#6

Image source: ResplendentAmore, Brad Rourke

Using a set of 20 y/old encyclopedias as reference for my homework. JFK is president!

#7

Image source: Chappy-874, Karl Baron

People renting dvds

#8

Image source: Initialthrust, Mike Mozart

McDonald’s play places

#9

Image source: Jhco022, Per Pettersson

Calling almost anything you didn’t like “gay”.

#10

Image source: hawkeyepitts, snowmentality

General dysfunction and chaos, yet having fun. It was absolutely crazy the things that went on, everybody knew everybody. There was nothing to do, yet always something going on, and you were part of it whether you wanted to be or not. I guess that’s how it goes in a small town? I was a little kid and tagged along running with the crowd that my parents knew.

Now, I’m far away and alone. All those people from my past went to an early grave. I’m not part of anything.

I love being alone and stable and secure, but I can’t help but have nostalgia for the craziness that went down when I was little.

#11

Image source: Back2Bach, Frank Hebbert

Taking pickles from the pickle barrel at the deli with a pair of tongs and placing them into a wax paper sleeve.

#12

Image source: TopStockJock, Paula Whidden

Drinking from the garden hose

#13

Image source: Keone_710, Scott Meis

Printing out directions from Map Quest ?

#14

Image source: DoctorWatchamacallit, Mike’s Birds

Fruit bats. There used to be a *ton* of them in my neighborhood as a kid and every evening you could look at the sunset as twilight set in and see flocks of bats flying around.

Apparently, around the time I was in middle school, a fungal disease ravaged the local bat population and they never recovered. You never see them anymore.

Funnily enough though, at the time, a local high school girl had this huge campaign to set up bat feeders to help bolster the local bat population and help them survive the fungal disease by giving them easy access to food. Said local girl has since become a federal Park Ranger as an adult and currently works for a state fish and wildlife service.

#15

Image source: WonderfulEmergency77, Charles

Parents smoking in a car with kids with the windows rolled up.

#16

Image source: Sharpshooter188, Nurudin Jauhari

Popping in a game and have it just start right away. Im old (39) and I picked up a ps5 about a month ago. Had to set up an account go through internet settings, pop in the game I bought to find out it needed an update which took about an hour… Im glad we have the tech we do. But video game consoles of the past few gen make me miss 90s and early 2000 consoles.