Things that have disappeared since people got phones

[BePearlKoala]

I'll go first

1. The Bermuda triangle
2. UFO sightings
3. Paranormal activity

As a teenager, telling your mum you are staying with your friend Angela to complete a really important history project because you want top marks for it, and it has to be perfect.
Going to Angela’s with your uniform fresh for the next day. And another bag. With your other outfit.
Telling Angela’s mum you are going to her attic room to finish the project and wishing her goodnight now.
Then getting ready in her attic bathroom, putting on all sorts of hideous items of clothing, including ripped fishnet tights, and then climbing down the fire escape, in silence.
Getting the bus into town to go and see a punk gig with a load of lunatics chucking beer.
Getting the bus home and climbing up the stairs, a bit pissed, praying to God you’ve got away with it.
Getting away with it.
Aged 13.*
*Peggy admits nothing personally.

Teen magazines. Physical ones.

I used to buy More, J17, Mizz and Sugar and cosmo every month from the newsagent (with my Saturday job wage)
I used to get so excited about it, it was a sort of ritual.
I’d buy a bottle of ‘fizzy pop’ and a couple of chocolate bars, then I’d go and lounge on my bed for a couple of hours reading them from start to finish. It was one of favourite things to do. I learnt so much from them as a 13/14 year old. (More mag was maybe a bit toooo grown up)

Making plans and sticking to them.
You couldn’t really cancel plans back then. Especially not last minute, so you just went along and 99% had a great time! It wasn’t ingrained in you that you could cancel, so it never crossed your mind.
Now, people tend to cancel last minute, because they can. It’s too easy.

I know there's the odd one around, but travel agencies have drastically reduced in number. (I've only booked holidays & flight online in the past 20 years).

They keep red phone boxes out in central London for the tourists but they've mostly gone now. I took a photo of one in Gibraltar last year, me being the tourist, that is.

Escort cards in said boxes too.

Bamboozle

Still happens if you want it too.

Getting your photos developed being excited to get them back and looking at them.

But the three things you listed haven't disappeared. I would say there's more about them, not less.

Attention spans.

Calculators

Yes, I was abroad for months at a time aged 19-21 and have piles of letters from my then boyfriend, now DH, and from grandparents and parents.

And yet, bizarrely I've heard adverts for Maureen 118 212 recently on the radio. I wondered, who the hell is ringing a premium number to find out a phone number when everything is available online free!!

Encyclopaedias

Going travelling and getting to your next destination and going straight to the post office to pick up letters from friends and family.

I agree. I'm sure a lot of the modern curse of "social pressure" is down to people feeling that they've got to be entertained 24/7 or entertaining others 24/7. Back in the day, I remember just hanging out with friends in a play park, school field, park benches, etc just "chilling", with no expectation of having to constantly talk to each other, tell jokes, entertain each other etc., no constant "banter". We'd just sit and chill and occasionally chat about something, or remark on something/someone we were watching, or just kicking/throwing a ball around between us. No pressure. I think I've heard it called "companiable silence" or something similar. I was a quiet child (shy, introverted, etc)., but never felt uncomfortable nor unwanted as I'd just go to the park, school field, etc in an evening or weekend, and just hang out with whoever else was there - I probably didn't say much, but no one else cared - I wasn't criticised, ribbed or bullied for not joining in the conversations, etc. It all felt so much more natural. Modern kids would probably regard just sitting around in a park or having a kickaround "boring", but it really wasn't. Likewise on rainy days, I'd stay in. No daytime children's TV in those days, so I'd be happily "bored" on my own in my room, reading a book, playing with lego, drawing, writing, day-dreaming, etc - just filling time basically, but I didn't think of myself as being "bored".

I go to football with my son. We're happy to sit there mostly quiet, but occasionally talking to each other, mentioning who's playing well, who's having a shocker, etc., but most of time, just chilling and watching the game. All those younger people around us are constantly talking, "banter" all the time, making jokes, - it must be exhausting for them. But it's noticeable that the older spectators are often just sat generally quiet, whether alone or in pairs, etc - no pressure on them to entertain/be entertained - again, that elusive "companiable silence" that only the older generations seem to be able to do these days!

Not really. A proper calculator is still a staple requirement for people who are doing sums/calculations all day as part of their job. Mobile phone calculators are much slower/clumsier and not really suitable for intensive calculations. Yes, I know you can get fully functional scientific/financial/engineering calculator apps for phones, but the tried and tested popular models are still far better, easier to use, etc. if you use a calculator a lot.

It's probably yet another scheme that's designed to profit from pensioners who are not online/savvy with tech, don't realise that there's a free alternative way or assume that it must just be what it costs nowadays.

There's absolutely no need for them to charge such high prices - especially considering it's probably all automated now anyway - they just know they can get away with it and do.

The ability for people to look where they are going as they walk along ( they are usually walking at speed glued to their screen )
Whatever is on that tiny screen is not as important as the safety of others sharing the pavement .
I refuse to move . I will keep walking in my straight line . Sometimes they glance up and see me and divert
Other times they are so engrossed that we nearly collide . The look on their shocked little faces .... " oh another person"
I tell them to "Look where you're bloody well going"

My DD sometimes moves me " I know what you're doing"

My own DC knew if they do the stride along-a-screen shite their phones would be switched off .

It is THE most selfish and inconsiderate behaviour especially as many pedestrians are unsteady or poor sighted.
My mum has Parkinsons and so many times I shouted at some prick with a phone . A bump with them could be a fall for my mum .

Phone boxes.
Road maps.
Cameras.
Yellow pages
Phone books.
Written letters.

People’s attention span and ability to focus

Paper maps and tomtom satnav devices

Printouts of tickets and hotel bookings

Airline paper tickets and counterfoils

JohnTheRevelator · Today 20:47
Phone boxes.
Road maps.

If I asked either of my children to read a road map they would look at me as if I’d said put the harness on the horse ready to go out in the carriage.

Dh says slide rules became obsolete years ago but I never understood how to work them even when they were in use.

I must admit, I've never understood why trigonometry is a regular part of the school curriculum - even more so with everybody having a phone on them.

Considering the very tiny number of people who ever need to use trig in their lives/work - and that most of those will probably use an app to do their calculations, it seems such an odd priority to use valuable teaching time making every single child learn it.

Paper letters. Handwritten sent via Snailmail
Airmail

Pocket torches.