Out with the old, in with the new! As times change, some products and technologies just don’t make the cut. Rotary phones and video rental stores have gone the way of the dodo thanks to mobile phones and Netflix. Even encyclopedias and maps have been replaced by Wikipedia and GPS. Here are 17 common things that have gone extinct over the past half century as society has evolved. Feel old yet?
Phone Books
Print phone books that listed names, addresses and phone numbers have been made obsolete by digital contact directories and search engines that provide real-time lookup.
Pagers
Handheld pagers that displayed phone numbers have declined with the rise of mobile phones that can directly receive calls and messages.
Dial up Internet
Dial-up internet, which required connecting to the internet via a telephone line and modem, has gone extinct due to the widespread availability and popularity of broadband and high-speed internet connections. Dial-up was known for its slow speeds, frequent disconnections, and limited capabilities compared to the faster and more reliable broadband options.
VHS Tapes
VHS tapes, the primary medium for watching movies and recording television shows in the past, have become virtually extinct. With the introduction of DVDs and later streaming services, VHS tapes lost their popularity and market demand. The shift towards digital formats provided viewers with better picture quality, smaller physical storage, and the convenience of on-demand viewing.
Phone Booths
Phone booths, once a common sight on streets, have seen a decline in modern life due to the prevalence of mobile phones. The widespread ownership and accessibility of mobile devices, along with the advent of wireless communication technology, have made public phone booths largely unnecessary. People can now make calls from almost anywhere using their personal mobile phones.
Fax Machines
Fax machines, which transmit scanned images or documents over telephone lines, have significantly declined in usage. The rise of email and digital document transmission, coupled with the availability of more efficient and convenient methods of sharing information, has made fax machines less relevant. Online file sharing, electronic signatures, and the ability to send documents as attachments have largely replaced faxing.
Floppy Disks
Floppy disks, portable storage devices that were once widely used to store and transfer data, have become obsolete in modern life. The limited storage capacity of floppy disks, their susceptibility to physical damage, and the development of more reliable and high-capacity storage options, such as USB flash drives and cloud storage, have led to their extinction.
Typewriters
Typewriters, once the standard for writing and document creation, have been replaced by computers and word processors. The advent of personal computers and software applications like Microsoft Word provided users with advanced editing features, ease of correction, and faster document production. Typewriters gradually lost their place in modern offices and homes due to the superior functionality and convenience of digital writing tools.
Cathode Ray Tube Televisions
CRT televisions, characterized by their bulky, cathode ray tube displays, have been replaced by flat-screen LCD and LED TVs. The slim and lightweight design of LCD and LED TVs, coupled with their improved picture quality and energy efficiency, made them more appealing to consumers. As a result, CRT TVs have become increasingly rare in modern households.
Film Cameras
Film cameras, which used rolls of photographic film to capture images, have seen a significant decline in usage with the rise of digital photography. The convenience, instant feedback, and cost-saving benefits of digital cameras, along with the proliferation of high-quality camera phones, have made film cameras less common. Digital photography allows users to take and store countless images, eliminating the need for film processing and physical prints.
Encyclopedias
Print encyclopedias, such as Encyclopedia Britannica, have been largely replaced by online resources like Wikipedia. The vast amount of free and easily accessible information available on the internet, coupled with the ability to update and expand content in real-time, made online encyclopedias more comprehensive and convenient than their printed counterparts. The decline in print encyclopedia sales and the discontinuation of publication reflect this shift.
Physical Maps and Atlases
The prevalence of GPS devices and digital mapping applications has led to a significant decline in the usage of physical maps and atlases. The convenience and accuracy of digital maps, combined with real-time updates and turn-by-turn directions, have made them the preferred choice for navigation. Mobile phones equipped with GPS technology allow users to access maps on the go, eliminating the need to carry physical maps or atlases, which are now considered outdated and less practical.
Cassette Tapes
Cassette tapes, magnetic tape-based audio storage formats, have experienced a sharp decline in modern life. The advent of CDs, followed by digital music formats and streaming services, has rendered cassette tapes nearly extinct. The compact size, higher audio quality, and the ability to store and access a vast music library digitally contributed to the decline of cassette tapes as a popular medium for music playback.
Printed Newspapers
While printed newspapers still exist, their readership has significantly decreased in modern life. The rise of online news platforms and digital journalism, coupled with the convenience of accessing news through smartphones and other digital devices, has led to a decline in physical newspaper subscriptions. The immediacy, accessibility, and multimedia features of online news sources have contributed to the gradual extinction of traditional printed newspapers.
Walkmans
Walkmans, portable cassette tape players introduced by Sony, were once a popular way to listen to music on the go. However, they have been replaced by MP3 players and smartphones. The advent of digital music files and the convenience of having an extensive music library in a compact device like an iPod or smartphone led to the decline of Walkmans. Today, people prefer to carry their music digitally, eliminating the need for cassette tapes and portable tape players.
Rotary Phones
Rotary phones, which required users to dial numbers by rotating a dial, have become extinct due to the rise of touch-tone and mobile phones. The introduction of touch-tone phones brought about advancements like push-button dialing and automated phone systems. With the proliferation of mobile phones, which rely on digital keypad input, rotary phones are no longer in use and are considered relics of the past.
Video Rental Stores
The decline of video rental stores, such as Blockbuster, can be attributed to the popularity of online streaming services like Netflix. With the convenience of streaming platforms offering a vast library of movies and TV shows accessible from the comfort of one’s home, the need for physical video rental stores diminished. The ease of online streaming, coupled with on-demand availability, ultimately led to the extinction of brick-and-mortar video rental stores.
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