20 Things and Activities I Miss Now That They’re Gone

A compilation of 20 activities that I’ve missed now they’re gone. Some are in danger of disappearing, while others have already vanished.

Progress is good—but occasionally it can forget our feelings and the world becomes just a little greyer.

With technology evolving at a rapid pace, we can say for sure, that at this very minute, something new has been launched just around the corner. Nevertheless, the circle of life remains constant: When a thing is born, something else may die as a result. Sometimes, the loss is a good thing, but at other times, the departure stirs bittersweet feelings. Below is a compilation of 20 activities that I’ve missed now they’re gone. Some are in danger of disappearing, while others have already vanished.

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Dialing on a Rotary Phone

My daughter gifted her son a toy telephone. Guess what type is it? — a vintage red Bell rotary phone. With the influx of touchtone telephones where dialing and connecting is much easier and faster, the active use of rotary phones becomes a novelty and owning one is prized item for antique collectors.

Paying for Long Distance

Decades ago, people had to connect to System Operators just to have a long distance call connected. Add to this burden is for them to pay expensive per-minute fees. Then, cell phone came and changed everything. Add to this is the popular Yahoo! Chat.. Adios, sky-high long distance call rate.

Using a Public Phone Booth

Now that everyone and even a cat owns a cell phone, public phone booths are now just for those who forgot or lost their cell phones. Evidence that public phone booth is on the way out is that it is getting tougher to track down one.

Getting a Busy Signal

I cannot recall how many times I lost my head whenever I got a busy signal specially if the calls are made for my sweethearts. Those days are gone! – with advances in voice-mail and call-waiting technology, I enjoy peace of mind not hearing that annoying broken tone any more.

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Long Playing Album (LPs)

With the arrival of the MP3 player, LPs and even CDs have been relegate to the past. Perhaps listening to your favorite songs now comes more handy, but I guess hearing the crackling sound of needle on vinyl, has gone forever.

Playing Music on an Audio cassette

You can try to rewind, there is no stopping that the life of the cassette is on its twilight days. Cassette tapes are now confine to a few small churches where availability of funds constraint church authorities to avail of the advance disks.

Putting in a Videotape to Watch a Movie

Betamax and its successor, VHS tapes are now finally dead! However, the cause of the twin death is still unknown. VHS gave us hours of videotape-watching enjoyment — and almost spending as many hours of adjusting the wretched tracking knob to get a clear picture.

Having Easy-to-Remember TV Channel Number

Now a days, watching television program is somewhat annoying! It takes me time just to get to my favorite news program. Why? I have to click my RC to scan more than a hundred cable channels. Though, there are varieties of programs to choose from, I would rather stick to my old T.V set with rotary channel knob with a few stations inscribed on it.

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Playing Video Games at an Arcade

Going to the mall and play video games was the in-thing during my college days, but enthusiasm for arcade games begun fading away in the mid-1990s. Today, a number of arcades survive, but seldom do you see people lining up and dropping in tokens just to play Space Invaders, Mortal Combat and Street Fighters. The reason for the decline in players’ time is easy to see — with the arrival of advanced gaming systems, video games enthusiasts have now the comfort to play the game at home. Now, you can play the games right in your living room less the hell-like heat, the deafening game noise, the dungeon-like lighting, and saving some of your school allowance for the week.

Turning On an Incandescent Light Bulb

More and more countries are saying farewell to the traditional incandescent light bulb. Power and energy experts are promoting the use of the relatively ecology-friendly, energy-saving bulbs. I guess the only personalities who would not bite the offer are those Cartoon characters getting “bright ideas”.

Typing on a Typewriter

Oh ! I missed the clickity-clackity sound of my Olympia typewriter that’s been my loyal friend during my college days. With the able reliable bond papers, it helped me complete some research papers, thesis and even love letters meet their deadlines. But today, if you want to see these standard typewriters and hear those clickity-clackity once more then you have to visit your local police stations.

Waiting to Get Photos Developed

Mind you I‘m not that old, but I can still vividly remember those days that it would take a couple of days before photos could be developed. Then there was this “Photo Me” nooks where ID photos could be done in an hour which made photo developing much faster. But those were the good old days. Now is the era of digital snapshots — where one can view a photo right after taking it and choose those that are good shots have certainly made traditional cameras far less common.

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School Library

My Alma Mater, Philippine Christian University, used to boast of a big library. With piles of books in every nook, you probably had to ask a library assistant in what you were looking for. Or if your the curious type, then you have all day to browse whatever book that appealed to you in a very serene atmosphere. But they are now all memories, in the advent of computer technology, all one has to do is to type Google and presto, in a matter of seconds, hundreds if not thousands of links is served right before your eyes.

Letters

When was the last time you received a letter? And I don’t mean some household bills. Even postcards have become relegated to the archive room as text messages and delphinine pictures have become the trend of the day. Even thank-you letters after every Christmas have not been spared. Even the Queen sends e-mails now.

Encyclopedia

Before, every aspiring household dream to one a set if not sets of Encyclopedia. For each research work or plain school assignment I rely on our colliers Encyclopedia. I have fun looking at those beautiful picctures. But that was before — today, browsing through the pages of Encyclopedia is history. Just click Wiki and all your questions are explained s in a way you understood when you were at school, both with articles and interactive media.

Using Proper Grammar and Punctuations

I hate it! I’m irritated each time I see a text message. Why? My belief is that texting has made fun of proper grammar and punctuations. Though, I must admit, this text language made it more faster to send messages , nevertheless it made correct grammar looks like old school. Oh, How I wish that proper punctuation, correct and capitalization might make a comeback in emails & other writing.

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Going on a “Blind” First Date

Gone are the days when one is thrilled to experienced his first “blind” date. With loads of online dating sites and dozens of social networks, it is now easy to pick a prospective date before scheduling to meet him/her personally. Or, you might even get to know him/her intimately before ever meeting.

Corks

Another good thing now rapidly becoming obsolete is the unique sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle of wine. Today, wine producers shift to the much cheaper screw-top citing as top reason is that screw-top keeps the wine in better condition than a cork. If this is so, why then do the more expensive wines continue to use corks?

Needing to Be 18 to Have Access to Porn

This might be embarrassing, but I had to admit, there was a time that I had to faked my age just to watch a porn film. But with the influx of hundreds of online porno sites, one need not be 18 to see X-rated films.

Enjoying Complete Privacy

Lets face it! Advancement in modern technology give us some new avenues for advancement but we too must reciprocate those gains by losing some of our privileges. Take the case of our Right of Privacy, in the face of monitoring by new space satellites and the many forms of GPS tracking in our lives privacy has become a rare and precious commodity within the connected world. No wonder, spy eyes can monitor even that’s a nice shirt you’re wearing today.