12 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade (PHOTOS)

Things that will become obsolete in 2010;

1) Democrats in government.

Originally posted by havok
#13 or...wait semper did that one.

Ok.
#14. Pagers - No one seems to know what happened to these cool little vibrators lately. About the year 2003, they all but vanished. You might find one in a hospital from Birgdteeteville, Kentucky, but I doubt it.

#15. ARCADES! - Since the mass implementation of home-console entertainment systems in the 90's. Arcades have vanished too!


---oh I love arcades. Well, I used to when they were in my mall. Now, you have to goto Dave & Busters to pay $5 a game. Sweet. [/sarcasm]

Back in the 90's arcades were the place to be. All the newest games were there and the competition between players was fierce!

Good thread.
*S&F*

[edit on 27-12-2009 by havok]

Arcades were bad places. The made everyone compete to get there name on the high score to a higher level than the next guy.

What about his feelings? He spent alot of time and money to get there and then gets knocked off.


Game rooms were awesome! You could meet folks (sometimes not good but usually so), share tricks, and just be guys...then their were those few chicks that would come in and stomp us all! smile, and leave.

there was a certain "honor amongst thieves" also present. Quarters were stacked and the place was respected. No stealing was ever experienced by myself or anyone I knew....unless it was your buddies tokens !

The new "arcade" games pale in comparison. I've seen some that will run on a bloody timer!

Film cameras obsolete? No. Just not prefered by pro's. Their getting there. Most film is still available but its from either Japan or Germany. I have a 40's "brownie" that still works fine. Looking at an old 30's Ansco or a Rolleflex> I'd kill for an old Leica! German perfection!

There are somethings that film does that digital takes programs to do! Me and the kid are gonna build a "juice box" camera when we get a chance. They do some incredible things with the shadow effect!
Check these out.
www.instructables.com...
www.monkeyview.net...
www.pinhole.nl...

As long as its made, film cameras will have a place. There is something "organic" about the pictures thats lacking in digital.

but hey, i still get excited when i see a rotary phone in "antique" stores!
what do I know?

sandf!

Well, I'd hardly say any of these became obsolete this decade. They're still used regularly today. However, It's easy to see them becoming so in the near future.

1. Calling.

I still pick up the telephone (landline) to make most of my calls when at home. I can't see this being replaced anytime soon. Most of the people I know at least, have a landline.

2. Classifieds In Newspapers.

As long as papers are being printed classifieds will still be around.

3. Dial-Up Internet.

This I can see being replaced in the very near future.

4. Encylopedias.

It would be a shame if people used the internet as their main source for information and stopped picking up a book. Some do it here on ATS unfortunately.

5. CDs.

This one I totally disagree with. While downloading music onto your iPod or MP3 players is extremely popular, so are CDs. If I wan't an album by one of my favourite bands I'll purchase a CD, as do most people I know. That's why when you go into a music store it's dominated by CDs, there's still great demand out there.

6. Landline Phones.

See 1.

7. Film (and Film cameras).

I kind of agree and disagree with this one. Many professional photographers still insist on using film instead of digital because they prefer the quality. The general public prefer digital because of the convenience and it's cheaper than the ongoing cost of developing photos.

Film cameras are used by Hollywood and Indie filmmakers all the time so I don't understand how this could make the list.

8. Yellow Pages and Address Books.

Still used often.

9. Catalogs.

I don't agree with this one either. I receive tonnes of junk mail in my letterbox each week. It's still a popular way for companies to market their product.

10. Fax machines.

Used all the time in my office and the offices of my friends and relatives. I don't think this should be on the list.

11. Wires.

They're all around me as I type this. I would love to see these replaced but that's a long way off I think. Wireless controllers and Bluetooth are a good start though.

12. Hand-written letters.

People are still writing letters, but it's not very common. So I guess this deserves to be on the list.


I think a more appropriate list would be:

1. Analog TV.

This is being phased out over the next couple of years. In Melbourne we're told that all of the state of Victoria (Australia) will have HD by the end of 2013. This has been advertised on TV.

2. Payphones.

With the arrival of mobile phones these are rarely used.

3. TV shows with a script.

This one is unfortunate. Whatever happened to people using their imagination? We're seeing more and more trash "reality" TV and silly game shows. This is one of the main reasons I avoid free-to-air TV.

4. People acting mature.

I see more and more examples of grown adults behaving badly. Class and common sense is harder to find these days.

5. 2 day weekends.

There's more pressure to sacrifice our Saturdays than ever before.

6. Camera-less mobile phones.

There's hardly any without one these days.

I can't think of any other examples at this point.

Sometimes all things old become new again.

Check out this article.

www.boston.com...

I can't remember when the last time i used a floppy disc, not sure if it had already became obsolete at the start of this decade or not.

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas
I have to say I agree with the majority of your list, tothetenthpower.

A few other things that are obsolete, as far as I see, or almost.

1) An Honest politician - Almost extinct, unless you've found a Do-Do lately.

2) Common sense - Basic human thought of how things work.

3) Real intelligence - Based on unbiased thoughts, without looking something up online, lack of knowledge of history falls into that category as well.

My use of Wikipedia for references on ATS, is for everyone else, not me, I'm accessing my brain to remember everything I studied throughout my life, so everyone else can look into the reference links below the original article.

4) Person to person connections - Real connections, like going to a friends house, and spending quality time, instead of the false connectivity of electronics.

5) Real service - Food service, Service Stations, almost any other part of the service industry.

6) Maps - Everyone is now relying on Tom-Tom or some other generic G.P.S. device.

7) Real communication skills - Slang, E-Talk (LOL, OMG, WTF), lack of content, context, and intent within language, and Ebonics have taken over.

8) Common courtesy - Rarely do I see a man hold a door for a woman anymore, it happens, but it is not common as it once used to be.

9) Opening doors - At almost any corporate chain, the electronic eye has separated you from opening their door, and the Wal-Mart greeter is a senior there to make you feel welcome.

The hotel doorman is almost extinct as well.

10) Actual street skills - People have become so "connected" via the online world, they have lost street skills, unless they are an idiot thug, gang banger, or drug-using punk.

Don't know anyone here on ATS who has street skills, but I do, so if you, great, teach it to someone so the skills are not lost on a "connectivity" world.

11) Actual and real pay - The generic paycheck, with a 5 cent, or 10 cent raise, lack of corporate loyalty to you when you're loyal to them.

12) The Family Unit - Nowadays, the family unit is dieing not because of a lack of effort, but because of the false electronic "connectivty", the downfall of the family unit through lack of real leadership, ethics, morals, and real beliefs are slowly following as well.

13) Cook books - So much more people are not breaking out Betty Crocker cook books, but instead the ready-made cake-in-a-box, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, or some other generic food.

The art of cooking is being lost, and instead watching it on televsion on "Reality TV".

The are actually cooking a meal through growing your own vegetable, and making a meal from the from scratch recipe.

14) Living life - American Idol, "Reality TV", "Big Brother", "The Real World", and sit-coms instead of breaking out a board game of Monolopy, Sorry, or Life.

Long dieing are hiking, mountain climbing, exploring the world for yourself.

[edit on 27-12-2009 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

No such thing as a honest politician, never was, never will be. Like my dad used to say when he was still alive." All politicans lie & the best liar gets to be president"..

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Sorry but even though wires are obsolete since inception there is still nothing to replace it for most things.

You still have to plug cables for most of the things you would use.

And you forgot to list pornographic magazines.

And pretty soon you will be able to add TV (as we know it) to that list as well.

Pointless thread is pointless.

Get over it, technology evolves... Jeez.

And calling became obsolete? Really? Maybe we're just so retarded we choose to push buttons instead of just using our voices.

reply to post by TakeThePowerBack


The concept of the article and this thread is sound. Technology does evolve and our lives with it and sometimes, as my previous post points out, old things become new again.

The problem with the article in the OP is that it, like most of the drivel posted by the "Huffington Post," is baseless.

A smart, talented, and honest journalist could have made a list of things that really are obsolete or he would have had a sufficient vocabulary to use the proper word, obsolescent, in his description.

It's the responses that make this thread worthwhile.

[edit on 2009/12/28 by GradyPhilpott]

Great concept, but not a good source. I would say Huffington got it almost totally wrong as many have already pointed out.

#1--Calling- hardly, texting is too one way,

#2--Classifieds In Newspapers- No, but the competition is certainly making them cheaper.

#3--Dial Up Internet - closest one they chose. Not quite yet, but probably, hopefully soon.

#4--Encyclopedias - They have only moved online, and even then the books will probably continue to sell.

#5--CD's - Not yet, but chances are the original high quality CDs will return.

#6--Landline Phones - hardly, your cell phone mainly transmits over a landline, beginning at the wireless reception station.

#7--Film (And Film Cameras) - No will continue on like vinyl.

#8--Yellow Pages And Address Books, Like newspaper ads getting a lot cheaper, and it is always good to have a physical backup.

#9--Catalogs - it is just easier and faster to flip through a catalog than the internet.

#10--Fax Machines - No, they continue to be the way to send signed documents. They might be obsolete in the next decade.

#11--Wires - Hardly, the internet insures that wires will remain in high demand, although I wish optic fibers were a great deal more available.

#12--Hand-Written Letters - Will never be obsolete.

What has become obsolete?

I agree, pagers are obsolete.

I think it would be good to keep some form of pay phone available. Emergencies will always happen. One can always hope

VHS - still alive in 2000., but clearly gone now. 8mm may still hang on. The thing about digital is that without maintenance, it will completely vanish, while those old physical photos and tapes will still be hanging out in a chest somewhere.

Blockbuster - not quite yet, but good riddance.

Wristwatches - clearly if you have a cellphone, you don't need a wrist watch, and it only serves as jewelry. Maybe it will live on as a nostalgia item, but clearly no longer needed.

Dial telephone - clearly gone, while still in use in the nineties, why continue now.

The Mullet - thank god and good riddance, however it may re-emerge in the not too distant enough future.

porno mags - Technically, they were obsolete in in the previous decade, but nostalgia kept them going. However they might survive like the phonograph, and film probably will.

reply to post by marsvolta


You post well, and you were right in defending your generation.

Welcome to ATS.

reply to post by tothetenthpower

#12--Hand-Written Letters

Tell that to the millions of people in jail...

reply to post by zazzafrazz


Hahaha, the only moose call I know is "Hey rocky, watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat!"

Yeah, I kinda thought that's what it was, but still even people with mobiles or skype or msn or xfire or VoIP etc, have to call somehow !!

Haha, hey I hope you're not in WA - if you are, hope you're cool.. it's absolutely bubbling with heat today

I refuse to use a cell phone, still have my land line, I always use the phone book to look up a number. The fax machine at work is still a good one. and we get faxes every day, every night. Dial up, hmmm, I do not like dial up. I love wireless, I haven't had to pay for the internet in 3 yrs, it is so widely available, even in my home I can pick up off at least 3 different ones. I write letters. There is nothing more special than recieving one.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

Analog recording and playback (a la vinyl or acetate) is as real sounding as anything you'll ever hear. That's what we gave up for digital.

We were sold on perfect recording and reproduction and got the lifeless crap we have today.

Digital broadcast television is even more of a scam. I was at a restaurant watching a football game this evening and the atmospheric interference made the program impossible to watch. With an analog signal, there would have only been some static in the picture. With digital it's a complete break up into a pixelated mess and an intermittent dark screen.

Exactly on that - We're being forced into Digital TV where we'll need either a digital set top box, or a digital capable tv, and where I live I cannot get any decent signal strength without having to turb everything electrical off in the house - or it's all blips squeaks and pops. Yet with analog, all it is is a little snow.

I emailed someone involved with the changeover and suprise suprise no reply. Unless they really boost the signal strength for fta digital, that is one thing that will bne obsolete in this house in 2010. Free to air tv. Tv at all. I'll be back to torrentTV for good then.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
So let's count down what Huffington Post things are the 12 most obsolete things of the decade.



#4--Encyclopedias--disagree

#6--Landline Phones---disagree







#11--Wires---eh???? wires have deffo not become obsolete, what a bizarre claim!

Calling obsolete?? Maybe among horny teenagers and sociopaths

Example:

*Persons A and B talking about some important business matter*
Person A: Oh, just got SMS from Peter, give me few minutes...
Person B: Err what the... ok fine...
Person A: *Texting for over 10 minutes and laughing at his own writing*
Person B: Look I don't have time for this cr...
Person A: Wait just 1 more minute...
Person B: Goodbye.
Person A: Huh? Whateva dude...

But it could have been:

Person A: Oh, Peter is calling me, just a sec...
Person B: No problem man, answer the phone.
Person A: [Talking on the phone] Peter I can't talk rig... huh? Go to hell men, you go to hell and you die, you understa... He hang up.
Person B: Wow man that was such a manly conversation in a very adult manner, I admire you communication skills.
Person A: Peter was a prick anyway, spamming me with childish SMS messages.

Now, I have travelled all over and I know these things are still bein g used in other countries. Is no diff to Australia.

#1--Calling

Nope, all my friends still call but they text too. My family live in a diff town so we call all the time

#2--Classifieds In Newspapers

There are sill there. There are mainly exclusive classified papers on their own these days though

#3--Dial Up Internet

You can still get it if you want it, will be totally phased out soon I'm sure

#4--Encyclopedias

Print gone yes - online available and on disk which you can upgrade year

#5--CD's

Are you kidding? People still buy CDs by the tonne. I saw heaps of CD shops in the US last year when I was there

#6--Landline Phones

Um, hello, unless you have VOIP you still need a landline phone in Australia. I have a landline but only for the broadband connection

#7--Film (And Film Cameras)

#8--Yellow Pages And Address Books

Still used here and in other countries I have visited. Yes, it's online too, but the books are still produced. I'm sure they will be totally phased out in the next 10 years. You have to remember that a lot of older folk don't have computers.

#9--Catalogs

I have to put a 'NO JUNK MAIL' sign on my letterbox to stop them. Still rife!!

#10--Fax Machines

#11--Wires

Still need to plug my laptop into the mains...so yes...wires.

#12--Hand-Written Letters

I still hand write birthday and Xmas cards


Other things that have become obsolete in the last 10 years:

- lead based petrol (can still get for vintage cars it but it's rare in Oz)
- smoking inside ANY public place in Australia (phased out totally over the last 5 years)

Plus, the new decade doesn't start til 2011. We are still this decade until then. 2011 is the first year of the new decade. People always get that wrong.

Unbiased, rational, logical and clear posting. They may not be completely outdated but are is very short supply.

Originally posted by TiM3LoRd
Unbiased, rational, logical and clear posting. They may not be completely outdated but are is very short supply.

If you have such great skills and mind, then you should be able to understand what people are saying.