To ask what you miss the most about the past?

[Appalonia]

Been thinking recently about how much we've lost due to the internet, although of course there are lots of amazing things too. For me, I think I miss things like record stores, long conversations on the phone with friends, so many high street shops that are now gone forever, online shopping just isn't the same, especially as you can't try something on, mix tapes, seeing a film in a big cinema, bookshops, lots of independent shops, so much is commercialised now, department stores, in my city, there was only Debenhams and now that's gone, I miss going into town and browsing, there's nothing left other than pound stores, it's so sad.

What do you miss that modern life has robbed you of?

Having to seek out unusual make up or clothes... now you can just Google it, vintage clothes found at jumble sales or charity shops for pence, a night out didn't feel like you were "footfall'" or bums on seats. Original and magical music from the heart and not for the kerching, kerching. Hitch hiking with no thought of danger, just what you did to get from a to b.....

Being in the EU!

Having a long conversation with someone that doesn’t get interrupted by them checking their phone.

Same day non-urgent GP appointments.

Watching TV with someone and chatting about the program instead of them
scrolling on their phone.

Sony Walkman. Say what you like, it was cool!

DH not getting work emails all evening and weekend on his phone.

Cheap flights and strong pound. I once got a week’s winter sun holiday, incl flights,
Full board food, and 5* hotel, for under £200.

Temperate weather: non of this climate change heatwave / drought / floods crap.

Kids didn’t watch violent porn.

Free speech. You could tease someone and not worry that they’d sue you over hurt feelings or try to get you fired from your job if you refuse to repeat their woke views.

The Nokia 3210.

Peace in Europe.

Tony Blair.

The cat we had when I was twelve.

Having a simple life. Now it is all apps, social media, 24/7 news, everything in your face all the time.

Reasonable house prices.

This

My city is still alive and thriving - we’re lucky.

I miss my Mum

I miss playing monopoly on an equal basis, watching hammer house of horror and tales of the unexpected. Running down to the garage to buy my mother's cigarettes.

Sometimes at work, as I juggle between newer apps and the outdated computer system, where too many things can go wrong, I think about how much easier my job would have been when everything was paper and all you had to know was which form to take with you. When I’m out on a visit, I occasionally still use paper forms and it’s massively easier than trying to type everything on a phone screen.

As others have said, there was much more optimism. Watching Tomorrow’s World on the TV, assuming technology was going to make everything easier!

At times I miss the hum and buzz of town on a Saturday. There were very few empty shops and the pannier market had so many stalls and a great little greasy spoon cafe. Now much of our centre is concentrated in a mall which is ok but a bit claustrophobic.

Pound sterling having value.

Having friends.

I miss life being less complicated

Searching the internet for gas/phone/insurance/mortgage rates/loan deals/credit cards/my credit rating etc

We take in so much information now I feel overwhelmed by it all at times plus there is work, helping ds with homework it’s so hard to switch off

I miss the optimism of the late 90’s and Blair/Brown early years things really were getting better for many of us (I know not for us all)

My life when I was 18-21. I’m not sure why I view that period of my life through rosy glasses - it was worse than it is now and I was very stressed! However there was something about the carelessness, meeting new people & no responsibility that I sometimes yearn and wish I could go back to sometimes.

😥I’m so sorry.
What went wrong?
I hope you can forge new friendships or maybe rekindle some old.

I miss feeling needed and valid.

It’s an age thing. I feel a bit of an inconvenience at times.

A thousand times yes to body shop soaps, and bodyshop stuff in general while Anita roddick still owned it!!!

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

Absolutely. We looked out, now we just look in at our own shit show.

anyone remember Radio shack / Tandy ?
wish i'd bought some of the things i used to gaze at through the window on sat pm.
interesting clocks, and radios.
newer ones use more energy.
and fiddly to use.
i had pre-sets on my analogue radio.
loved it so much, i did a sketch of it. liked the design.

Oh gosh YES! I bought a radio at Radio Shack (US) that got TV signal. I used to put in earplugs and listen to my soap operas at work lol. I also used it to quietly follow along when there was a 'big news story' and keep my coworkers updated.

On 9/11 as it served as our primary news source that morning at work. We had a TV on in our break room but management instructed us to go to our desks and 'try to get some work done', although they left the TV on. They did allow me to turn on my little Tandy radio at my desk and put the volume up so my coworkers & I could listen to coverage. When we heard the words "The second tower is coming down" we all ran to the break room and watched it fall.

The radio stopped receiving channels when they went to 'digital' TV signal. RIP little radio.

All the different youth cults(mod then onto Northern soul) were my ones. Clothes looked good cos we were slim n dancing was effortless. 😁

My babies. I love the adults and nearly adults that my dc have become and I'd miss them if they were replaced with babies and small children but I miss the little people that they were. It's almost like they're two different people and I miss the innocence and the cuddles of the babies that once were in my life.

Central London. It was magic in way. Now full of financiers, bankers, tech people and bores. There is no mystery to it any more. Charing Cross has bugger all bookshops. Soho is well on the way to being a slightly gay version of Covent Garden, Farringdon and Clerkenwell and the edges of the City of London. Central St Martins. Camden when it didn't just sell tat. Brixton. Kings Cross before the Eurostar.

Basically when it had actual working Londoners in it. There's now an actual road in SE1 called "More London Place". I cringe what has happened to redeveloped London. It is just more London place.

I was in teen in the 2000s (I was about to say not that long ago but...)
I miss how I discovered bands. I bought magazines (Kerrang mainly, but also Metal Hammer and NME), read the reviews of albums and gigs, and looked through the listings for gigs and clubs. If the gig was fairly cheap and sounded like my kind of music I'd go buy a ticket from one of the music or alternative shops. If an album sounded good I'd go down to Virgin Megastores to listen to 30 seconds of each track to decide if I wanted to buy the album (once I'd saved enough). I think the ease of access to new music and being on gig venue mailing lists has made me very lazy. I'm mainly listening to the exact same music I listened to 20 years ago.

@newmannewday @middleager totally forgot about those soaps! I bought a lot of 'dewberry' scented products (both body shop and cheaper) but I've not seen any in years. Where did the dewberries go?

We grew up in the 60s and 70s. Life was probably harder, but we weren’t aware of it. Medicine was way behind where it is now; we had no conception of electronic goods like colour television, DVDs, CDs, smart phones, PCs, etc; people were poorer; but I miss

1. a family GP, we knew and who did home visits - there was continuity of care.
2. this wasn’t a problem for me, but I knew adults with mental health problems, who seemed to get inpatient treatment easily. They went for a stay in the local mental hospital for months.
3. buses run by the council - there seemed plenty of them, in a coordinated way. As a child, it was 2p for me to go to town with my friends
4. we could be off school sick, and schools accepted it. None of this 100% attendance certificates nonsense, which caused DC angst
5. university grants for living costs - no tuition fees, or student loans
6. people could leave school at 16, get a job, get married and have a council house for the asking
7. our DMs cooked dinner plus dessert every day from scratch - there was practically no ultra processed food, apart from fish fingers, we were aware of
8. families could live off one wage (although there was great inequality for women, but as a child, it all seemed normal)

Life was more straightforward and everything seemed to work - buses, gas, electric, water, the railways, the Post Office, hospitals….Now, it seems everything must be done as cheaply as possible with no long term planning or thought of the consequences - like selling off all the nationalised industries; or getting rid of the gas holders, so as a country, we can’t store much gas, and have to rely on the vagaries of the foreign markets?

Going to the Middle East was a revelation - to see a wealthy country, where everything we saw, was maintained properly and well designed!