Things that you no longer do/miss because of the internet

[MrsMitford3]

Mine is cookbooks.
And when I looked up Mary Berry's plumb crumble recipe this evening I realised what a pleasure it is to cook looking at a cookbook instead of a screen!!

I also still bring 10 books on holiday to my DH frustration instead of a kindle

I think some things need to come back because the internet just isn’t good enough

travel brochures should be available in print - hate looking online

ipods or MP3 players not on an internet device would mean my children could play music

still prefer paperbacks

Oh the anonymity of being someone who can move areas and genuinely never see someone you don't want to see again. Social media has made the world so small.

Wait, do all MP3 players have to be smart now or something?! What if mine breaks?!

I'm the opposite. The only books I ever buy now are cookbooks and I haven't read a paper book probably for 5 years or longer. I've even got all my favourites as ebooks as well as my first editions.

Can't remember the last time I bought a magazine - I did used to read the paper regularly when I commuted but haven't for years now. I still would if I had a commute though, I prefer the paper to reading it on my phone.

Going into the university library as a student and spending the afternoon photocopying journal articles. I loved the library, and the smell in what was called ‘the stacks’ where rows and rows of journals were stored. They’re all online now. How I miss it.

Oh yes, I used to love this! The Uni library was one of my favourite places. Searching online can save time but I miss the actual journals.

Writing letters. I used to spend hours writing to friends. And the thrill of hearing the post arrive and seeing a hand-written letter on the mat!

I don't miss making my kids write Thank You notes though. That was torture for us all. We just text now.

Stationery. All that lovely paper, cards, pens, fountain pens and writing paraphernalia. I know it still exists, but somehow it’s lost its main reason for being, like when cameras replaced drawing and painting.

Turn up to a restaurant, tourist site or hotel without a prior reservation and be able to just go in spontaneously.

The internet has made it so easy to book things in advance that you now have no choice but to do it. Can you imagine pre internet phoning up Pompeii and trying to book a ticket for entry?

You still can.

My children have CD players. And CDs. They play lots of music.

Teletext. I loved that.

So many computer games are designed to be played online now I think one player modes are far poorer in many cases.

Going into a cafe or restaurant without reading the reviews first.

waiting for programmes to come out, week by week, years between series.

Atlases

I know the Sat Nav is so useful in so many situations, but I miss looking at the atlas, and suddenly discovering that X is near Y town, or that A and B are so much further apart than I thought they were or that C is actually quite close to where we are passing through etc etc.
I still like looking at a map.
I miss discovering things about the area I am driving through / to / near by accident, when I used to have to follow a map to get there rather than be directed by my sat nav.

Getting a pile of Sunday newspapers and sitting around reading them all day.

Totally agree.
And being on a foreign holiday and being so excited to find day old English newspapers!!

Sunday newspapers. I know you can still buy them but somehow I don't.

When house hunting walking round all the estate agents in your chosen location picking up house details on sheets of A4. Or phoning the estate agents and waiting for a big envelope to come through the letterbox.

Long drunken conversations or friendly arguments about random half remembered facts, like who played X or if rinos can swim. Now someone just googles it.

Dropping off the film from your camera at the local chemist or petrol station. Then waiting (impatiently) for 2 or 3 days before picking up the photos.

And taking the negatives back in to get copies or enlargements made of the best photos.

Stationery. All that lovely paper, cards, pens, fountain pens and writing paraphernalia. I know it still exists, but somehow it’s lost its main reason for being, like when cameras replaced drawing and painting.

Oh gosh I LOVED stationary shops. And yes you're right, they still sell stuff like that but who bothers now? I know I don't. Maybe I will soon.

WHS and browsing through the records then the selection of pens all lovingly displayed in glass cabinets
Ahhhhh

I used to sit on the tube going to work and see what the people around me were reading. As the seats face each other along the carriage I could see the covers of the books and get ideas for my next read. I remember when Harry Potter first came out at least half the carriage were reading that. Same with Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
I miss that is as everyone is staring at electronic devices.

Loads of these things are still the case! I write with a fountain pen and love going to Waterstones and buying books and notepads. I then go to a coffee and read and write. I love it!

I still use real maps instead of the satnav in my car. Which is how I got to the carpark in the forest by the beach on time for our picnic, whereas DD and her partner were taken by their satnav to the wrong car park at the far side of the forest, got lost on Forestry commission private tracks, and arrived an hour late…

@Babdoc

And then there is

https://what3words.comm*

The smell of old books, especially those that were well used and loved, finding little scraps of paper with recipes on them tucked into pages.

Forget stuff when I go shopping. We have a shopping list linked to Alexa

Hunting for bargain holidays on teletext.
Watching tv series one episode a week.