45 People Share Things That Were Totally Normal to Have or Do 10 Years Ago, But Would Be Strange Today

Nowadays, streaming is all the rage, but in the not-so-distant past, it was actually Redbox that was king. The ability to rent a ton of movies and games out of nifty kiosks around a Walmart was revolutionary at the time and seemed like it would become normal.

Unfortunately, it ended up going the way of the Dodo instead, like physical media in general. After all, when you can stream something directly to your device, why would you want the hassle of renting a disc from a physical location?

Most people don’t realize it, but the 2010s saw a lot of weird innovations in gaming, many of which had to do with more interactive means of playing games, like the Wii, Xbox Kinect, and games like Guitar Hero. At the time, it seemed like these might become the future of gaming.

Yet, you almost never see such game tools or consoles anymore. What happened to them? Were they just a trend that died off in popularity? There are still some examples around today, but nowhere near as many as there used to be.

Ten years ago, it was pretty normal to see a K-mart somewhere in town. But nowadays, it’s almost impossible to do so, mostly because the company has downsized a ton. Sure, there are a handful of K-marts left in the world, but it’s a truly sparse number.

For us older people, seeing a store we used to consider a normal part of our city fade away into nothingness kind of hurts, even if we never went there ourselves. Maybe that’s just part of aging, to feel so nostalgic about everything.

Honestly, even though Facebook is still around, it has definitely petered off in popularity over the past few years. It certainly isn’t as big as it was ten or even five years ago. Needless to say, poke wars aren’t really a thing anymore.

Heck, can you even still poke people on Facebook at all? It’s been a while since we’ve checked on the ability to do that. Maybe Facebook will one day go the way of MySpace, only to be usurped by a new social media platform.

Many of us can remember a time when we had to make our own mixtape by burning the data onto a CD. Nowadays, it would be more effort than it’s worth to do that, simply because you’d have to find a way to burn a CD first.

It used to be normal for computers to have a CD burner, but now you’ll be lucky to find one that even has a CD reader in the first place. It’s just another casualty of physical media going out the window, almost for good.

Honestly, the basic SMS text message is more than enough to get the job done in our books. However, there are a lot of people who don’t feel the same way, and admittedly, even texting technology has changed a lot over the years.

Even if you don’t use those features, your phone can probably add emojis and funny effects to almost any message if you want to. The inability to do that means you’re using a really old phone that probably does need to be replaced.

In a way, Payless Shoe Stores still exist, but they go by a different name now, and they definitely don’t feel the same as they used to. Many of us can remember visiting such stores in order to get a new pair of shoes.

Well, it’s fine that the identity of the store changed a little bit, especially since they still offer the same stuff overall, but it’s hard to accept change. At least in this case, it wasn’t too glaring of a shift.

These days, it seems like no company wants to actually do anything with cords. Everything has to be cordless and wireless, and while there are some conveniences thanks to that, not everyone likes the change. It’s normal now to have phones without headphone jacks.

This is a pain — many headphones and headsets are still wired, and you just can’t use them with your phone if they don’t also have Bluetooth connectivity. Needless to say, we can understand why so many people are unhappy with this change.

Disney used to be a company that had a very specific identity, and almost everyone was quite happy with that identity. Unfortunately, Disney started buying up tons of other things in the past ten years, and that has soured its image.

Many people hate the direction of things like Sar Wars and Marvel under Disney’s leadership. Not to say that everyone does, but it’s easy to remember a time when Disney didn’t have their hand in almost everything.

Tamagotchi was really a huge thing in the previous decades, but it died down considerably after its big peak in popularity. Oddly enough, it still has a lot of fans and dedicated followers who miss it. Well, many people grew up with it.

It’s always sad to see something that was a big part of your past fade away, even if it was something as small as a hobby or a way to have fun. Rest in peace, Tamagotchi. You brought joy to many people in many ways.

Can you remember a time when brick-and-mortar toy stores were actually present around your city, and you could stop by to find all sorts of cool things? Unfortunately, such stores have gone the way of the dodo, and you can barely find them anymore.

We get that online shopping and shipping are technically more efficient, but it’s a lot more fun to buy toys from a physical location if you ask us. Additionally, you can bring your new toy home immediately like that, which is a great plus!

Needless to say, Internet Explorer had lots of competition in the past when it came to web browsers. But at the same time, it was the browser of choice for a lot of people. So, it was kind of sad to see it go when Microsoft pulled the plug.

Now, Microsoft Edge is normal instead. Of course, it’s pretty much just a reincarnation of Internet Explorer, but it’s not the same. Well, all technology has to advance at some point, and web browsers are no exception.

It’s not often that an entire car manufacturer goes under. Many of them have been around for decades or even half a century or more. Unfortunately, Saturn didn’t end up having the same longevity, and there are no new Saturn cars being made now.

This means that owning a Saturn isn’t very normal anymore, but at the same time, the cars are almost rare and cool now. At the very least, people who still own a Saturn can pretend they have something that is now limited edition.

As phones became more and more advanced, they acquired more and more features. As that happened, more and more items and products became obsolete, one of which is alarm clocks. After all, almost everyone has a built-in alarm clock in their phone now.

Of course, you can still find alarm clocks, so it’s not like they’ve completely disappeared. However, there’s no denying that they’re effectively obsolete at this point, and it’s not really normal to own one.

Anyone over the age of 20 can probably remember a time when stores like Blockbuster actually existed and were a great place to go if you wanted to rent a movie or game. Unfortunately, digital media sent that whole concept down the drain.

That said, we struggle to say that Blockbuster was really even a thing in the last ten years. Even if it was, it was hanging on by a thread at best, and was effectively on life support. Still, we hate to see it go.

When was the last time you held a paper map in your hands? Have you ever had to visit an Internet cafe in the past few years? These things just aren’t normal anymore, thanks to how accessible technology is for everyone now.

After all, we all have maps on our phones, and most of us have access to the internet at almost any time. That said, we can’t say we actually miss some of these old things. Digital maps, for instance, are much more convenient.

There’s usually a good reason that something that was once normal ends up disappearing over time. Baby powder, for instance. Turns out that it wasn’t actually all that good for babies, and could actually lead to some serious health concerns.

Of course, there are some actually healthy alternatives now, but if you’ve been wondering why you can’t find traditional baby powder the way you used to, it probably has something to do with health regulations in play.

In the days of yore, there used to be a 411 directory assistance that you could call. However, you can’t actually do that today. What was once normal essentially disappeared without anyone noticing, probably because it became unnecessary.

Honestly, a lot of people today probably don’t even know that something like this ever existed. You just don’t really need it these days, thanks to modern phones and how easy it is to get someone’s number if you need it.

HDMI is how we mostly prefer to do things today, but at one time, people got by with using VGA cables, and that was normal. Nowadays, you’d be hard-pressed to find devices that are VGA compatible in most cases. After all, it’s obsolete tech.

If you’re still using a VGA cable, you should probably upgrade. You’d be surprised to learn how much easier things are when you have an HDMI cable that simplifies the whole process for you!

Remember when it was normal for a movie trilogy to be over when it was over, and people didn’t try to milk it bone dry with every spinoff imaginable? Yeah, those were good times. Nowadays, it seems like every movie series goes on forever.

That would be fine if the quality remained the same consistently, but that’s very rarely the case. After all, quantity and quality don’t often go hand in hand. At least some movies are still enjoyable today, which we can’t say about everything.

Club Penguin definitely went far beyond its original intent as a normal child-friendly MMO of sorts. It almost became a legend in many parts of the internet, as it provided a ton of nostalgia for an entire generation of people.

So when it was shut down in the past decade, a lot of hearts were broken. It’s a shame that so many people will only be able to relive their childhood in memory. That’s a harsh reality many people can sympathize with.

As far as US car manufacturers are concerned, it seems like they focus on a pretty spare array of car types. Maybe that’s because better options are being provided by manufacturers from other countries. Either way, what was normal before no longer is.

Needless to say, you’d be hard-pressed to find American-made cars in categories outside of the ones mentioned here. We seem to have a penchant for these types now, though we do understand the appeal of many of them.

Actually, we know what happened to Napster: or at least what happened to the original form of it that used to be considered normal. Admittedly, we can understand why Napster had to be shut down back then and why it doesn’t exist in the same way now.

After all, making music is work, and how many artists make their living. You’re quite literally stealing from them if you don’t pay for it. That’s what Napster had to go away, and we do understand the logic behind it.

There was a time when phones were reserved for calling people, and you had other devices for other things. Personal Digital Assistants used to fill many a role for people, but once phones became more advanced, you didn’t really need them.

Still, were PDAs really normal between 2012 and now? We get the feeling they were already not very common by that time, since phones could still do most of the stuff a PDA would do at that time. Maybe we’re misremembering?

Do you remember when sitcoms used to have laugh tracks all the time? Now, we think this guy’s a little off, because we’re pretty sure there’ve been such sitcoms in the last ten years. But we do agree that they’ve become less normal over time.

Of course, that’s fine. Laugh tracks were always kind of weird, since you’d be hearing the laughing voices of people that were no longer with us. Maybe they should have gotten rid of the whole concept a little earlier, honestly.

Apple was always a bit of a stickler with what you could and couldn’t do with their phones, so in the past, it was pretty normal to jailbreak the devices so you could do what you wanted with them without restrictions. You don’t see that as much nowadays.

Sure, you can still do it in some shape or form, but it used to be really big back in the day. Everybody wanted to jailbreak their iPhone. Now, it’s not such a big deal, and it’s sort of faded into obscurity.

It’s disingenuous to say that one-time payment licenses don’t exist at all now, but it’s accurate to say that they were more common ten years ago than they are today. It’s normal for many things to run on a subscription model now.

But admittedly, it kind of makes sense from a business point of view, especially when it comes to things that are a live service. After all, if a company continues to put money into something, they need to be continuously paid, right?

If there’s one thing out there that will make you feel old, it’s remembering old technology that doesn’t seem that long in the past from your point of view. Windows Live Messenger shut down ten years ago, but many people probably don’t feel like it was that long ago.

That kind of communication platform would be pretty out of place nowadays, but some people still prefer it. Unfortunately, most platforms of that nature have ended up disappearing, so that’s a no-go for most.

To be frank, there are still plenty of people using these honorifics in their daily speech, especially in the Southern United States. But we can agree that it has become slightly less normal to speak in this way over time.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing: in a way, being more comfortable and treating others like equals is a form of respect in and of itself. However, we can see why a lot of people probably wouldn’t see it that way, all things considered.

People who use Windows often have strong opinions about its various iterations over the years. Needless to say, we did lose Windows 7, 8, and Vista in the past ten years. But whether or not you miss them is a matter of personal preference.

Still, this list is just about stuff that was normal in the past and would be weird to use today. Needless to say, it would be weird to use any of those operating systems today, so that’s more than enough for us to include it.

There used to be physical stores out there that would actually do the legwork of an online transaction for you. It’s kind of weird to think that such things used to be normal, isn’t it? You don’t really see such stores these days.

Of course, that makes a lot of sense to us. Surely, people realized they could make more money if they cut out the middleman and just did the legwork themselves. After all, selling on eBay isn’t that hard overall.

Not terribly long in the past, companies developed products with the idea that you could repair them yourself in mind. Needless to say, that notion isn’t normal anymore, at least as far as Apple is concerned. They want you to bring things in for professional repairs.

After all, they can get more money from you that way, since you have to pay them extra or at last pay for an extended warranty in some cases. Isn’t it annoying when corporations inconvenience you on purpose?

Online shopping has really become a lot more popular in the last ten years or so. Not that it didn’t exist in the past, but at that point, a lot of people were actually more disposed to physical shopping in most cases. Now, that’s not the case.

It’s more normal now to order things online in many cases. Sometimes, people even do that with groceries. Well, it kind of makes sense: it’s a lot more convenient to get the stuff you need without ever leaving your home.

Fry’s Electronics was pretty much just a competitor for Radio Shack. But it wasn’t very well-known for its integrity or quality service. In fact, a lot of people were happy to see it go when the chain finally died out.

We definitely agree. When it comes to electronics, we want quality above all else, and Fry’s Electronics just didn’t deliver on that front very often, sometimes intentionally selling broken equipment. Talk about being unreliable!

Ten years ago, you might actually come across some phones with keyboards. It’s definitely not normal to see such things now. After all, you can fit a digital keyboard in your phone as is, without adding extra space or weight to it.

Still, some people actually enjoy the tactile sensation of a physical keyboard. Unfortunately, you’ll have to jump through some hoops and use extra accessories for your phone if you want something like that available to you today.

This guy’s perception of when video games started doing all of these things is a little off: such things did occur in video games more than ten years ago. But they were definitely a lot less common back then, that’s for sure.

But hey, making games is expensive, and they have been a consistent price for decades, even with prices of other things rising. So we do actually understand why game companies look for more ways to monetize their games, since the profit-to-cost ratio is significant.

When it comes to game consoles, they have mostly been streamlined over the past few years. The Xbox and the PlayStation really aren’t that different. But ten years ago, game consoles were a little more unique, such as with the Wii.

It would be very weird to see a Wii being used today, but there are definitely some people out there who wish it would become normal again. After all, the Wii was quite fun to play, especially with friends at your side.

The housing market has been really bad lately. Even people who are well off can’t really afford a good house in many cases. Needless to say, normal house prices from ten years ago would blow people’s minds today with how good they were.

We certainly wish we could go back to a time when the economy was in somewhat better shape. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon. Time to live with your parents again!

Around ten years ago, 3D movies were becoming a really big thing. It started before that, but that was when it was hitting its full swing. It was mostly a fad, though, and in the end, a lot of people realized they didn’t like watching movies in 3D.

It would actually be kind of weird for a movie to come out in 3D today. After all, it’s super niche, and most people don’t like having to wear those glasses for the whole film. Cinema’s better off without it, in our opinion.

Alright, we know we should talk about the last decade and whatnot, but let’s just focus on the far more important detail here: this guy was using AIM in 2016?! What, was he in some sort of time dilation field? Why would anyone do that?

We know that some people hang on to obsolete tech for far longer than they should, but that just seems a little ridiculous. It’s hard to believe that anyone would stick with AIM for that long, but kudos to them for doing that.

The internet has gone through many different phases throughout its inception, and ten years ago, single-topic blogs were all the rage. You had entire websites dedicated to discussing one very particular thing, and a lot of people liked that.

That said, the whole concept faded from popularity over the years. You can still find a few blogs like that, but they used to be everywhere, and they certainly aren’t normal at this point. Maybe your favorite one is still around?

Apps have been around for some time now, but the business model of selling an app once and never charging anything again has kind of fallen out of favor. Now, you usually have to download a free app, but face monetization everywhere within it.

But it kind of makes sense. Developing an app is expensive, and if you have to keep working on it, you probably aren’t making a profit when you only charge people once. Still, we do miss that era of phone apps.

The phone market is heavily dominated by only a few manufacturers today, but ten years ago, it was normal to have a few more options. For instance, you had Blackberry phones, which a lot of people really liked, and still do to this day.

But unfortunately, you won’t be finding too many of those around today. It’s all Apple or Android, and occasionally a Google phone now. Not that they’re bad, but the lack of diversity kind of stinks compared to the old days.

It’s kind of wild to think that we used to have dedicated devices for specific things our phones can do now, right? We used to have devices solely for GPS, but now pretty much every phone can do that without any trouble at all.

When you think about it, it’s almost justified that smartphones cost so much. GPS, clocks, calendars, the internet, calling and texting, games, and many other functions are available in one device. That’s pretty impressive.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that smartphones with every feature you could want aren’t that old. Sure, we had smartphones ten years ago, but they weren’t as impressive as they are now, that’s for sure.

Still, we’re not sure if anyone was doing what’s being described here ten years ago. Maybe a few years on top of that, and then it would be accurate. Then again, we barely remember what was happening ten years ago. Maybe it was normal to do this?