‘Which physical objects have quietly disappeared in the last 20 years?’ – 17 parts of daily life that are gone but not forgotten
Sometimes it feels like things never change. Then you look back and realise that barely anything is the same as it used to be.
It can be hard to pinpoint what’s different though, when all the days blur into one. To help you remember what’s vanished, Stukwan put the following question to r/AskReddit:
‘What’s a physical object from 15–20 years ago that disappeared so quietly that nobody even noticed it left?’
Here are the early Noughties knickknacks people miss the most…
1.
‘Swappable mobile phone batteries’
-cartooned
2.
‘Dedicated media storage.
‘I was reorganizing my garage, and I found some plastic tubs that were perfect for a shelf I was organizing. I found three or four of them throughout our house, but needed more.
‘I had the brand and size, so I figured I’d order some more, but couldn’t find any.
‘I was complaining to my wife, and she pointed out the sticker on the side of one that showed they were designed to store CDs in jewel cases.
‘They probably haven’t made that model in decades.’
-EarhornJones
3.
‘Booklets inside of video game cases. Used to be a whole ass manual in there with cool pictures.’
-zapmon
4.
‘The red plastic spreader stick in the cheese and crackers packs.’
-hail2theKingbabee
5.
‘Manufacturer-specific phone chargers. Whole house was littered with them and finding one for your specific current model of phone was a pain.’
-RiverMesa
6.
‘Portable CD players, Mini-disks and standalone MP3 players.’
-Terapr0
7.
‘Phone books (those thick Yellow Pages / white pages directories that got dropped on every doorstep once a year).’
-Justmetalking
8.
‘This hasn’t completely disappeared, but remember how ubiquitous ash trays were?
‘I see them in antique stores, sometimes labeled “coasters” or something like that, as if their actual purpose has been forgotten.
‘That said, I buy cool ones to hold my guitar picks.’
-EarhornJones
9.
‘A ball mouse’
-thomashouseman