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?

I met one of my best friends on MSN when we both got added to one of those big group chats. Can't believe it was 20 years ago!

Fewer people.

A sense that humanity was progressing, not going backwards.

Less decay and indifference.

I agree. I bought presents for my parents and grandparents from quite young with saved pocket money. I mean the presents were basic, but it was part of learning to give as well as receive.

I miss not having mobile phones. People were more present. No phone zombies walking around with their faces permanently glued to a phone screen. There are more people addicted to social media and their phones than any substance. I miss the days when if someone phoned your house phone and you didn’t answer, it was simply because you weren’t in. They accepted this and would try again a few hours later. Nowadays you’re expected to be available by your phone 24/7, and if you don’t answer you’re in trouble or people are annoyed by it. We had more freedom before.

I also miss the music of the 80s and 90s. Maybe I’m getting old but most music these days is shite.

I'm actually a 70s child, but this thread has reduced me to tears.
Yes! to all the record shop lovers who went out on a Saturday to buy the latest tunes, or DVDs or scan around Boots for the latest make-up (to wear that night on ya 'big night out')..
Was it so that it was oh so simpler then......

Blockbusters & sleepovers

I miss things being simpler, essentially because there was less choice. I find the unlimited availability of everything overwhelming, how do you decide what to choose (to eat for instance) when there are a million options available? I feel the same about information, there's just too much of it at our fingertips now and it overloads my brain. I miss wondering stuff and not being immediately able to find out the answer! I'm autistic so that probably has some bearing on it but everything just feels too much, too complicated, too fast now and I miss life being simpler.

The ability to just grab my handbag and go..anywhere..
My waistline
My disposable income
The anticipation of catching up with friends without already knowing the latest from their never ending Facebook feeds

I agree. I can remember watching a music programme on TV on Sunday nights here in NZ and then rushing out the following day to see if I could buy a single (I miss singles). If not then I planned a trip to the city asap. Sitting beside the radio waiting to hear your favourite song and then taping it. It was all so much more fun and exciting.

I also miss the discussions about the latest episode of something which had been on TV the night before.

Even work has changed - I found it far more interesting when we actually had to work stuff out and weren't stuck in front of a screen (or two) every day pressing buttons.

Hanging out with friends and actually talking about things, then phoning them on a regular phone at night because it couldn't wait until you saw them at school the next day.

Simple times.

@PlinkPlonkFizz Hedgehog was the brand not the flavour! 😂

Yes, this. Exactly what I was thinking. Everything feels so hopeless now.

I think this probably happens to most people at some point regardless of when you were born. But up until I was about 20, I lived in the secure knowledge that adults in charge Know What To Do - and Will Sort It Out - my parents, teachers, politicians, doctors, etc.

I remember this blinding realisation at around age 20 that adults don’t know anything. They’re winging it through life. And they aren’t necessarily right, or good people.

I miss the lack of competitive business. The pressure to always be busy doing something now is annoying. It seems frowned upon now to just go home and do nothing. Unless it's 'binge watching' a box set at an obsessional rate of knots. Can't even just watch telly normally anymore without hyperbole.

There’s not much I actively miss, but I’m glad I grew up in an era of letter writing, phone boxes, B sides, 12” remixes and Sony Walkmans.

Being able to say good morning without offending somebody.

I disagree with this. I live in the same area I grew up in. When I was a child (80s/90s) it was really dirty and polluted. Our Sunday hobby was going for a walk and counting the number of shopping trolleys in the beck.

There was a big tannery and chimney that belched out crap. Now that factory is trendy flats, there's a Waitrose and loads of trendy bars and it's so much tidier and more pleasant.

Me too.

The world feels like a darker and less hopeful place than it did.

As someone born in the late 60s I find some of this longing for 'simplicity' a bit baffling. A lot of things are immeasurably better now, a lot of the so called golden olden times were a bit crap as I recall. I have no idea why anyone would be nostalgic for dial-up (it was crap and slow), and life pre-mobile phones could often be an inconvenient pain in the arse, I mean, I don't see anyone missing pissy public phone boxes. I'm not saying all aspects of life are better now by any means, but a lot of this is just rose-tinted spectacles. I especially remember Sundays being rubbish back in the day! There wasn't much money and there was no internet, also only three channels on tv. No way would I go back, although I will admit being a teenager in the 80s was great fun.😀

Freedom and independence

For me I miss the time before covid. Everything was great. Socialising was done at a drop of a hat, no financial worries compared to today. People are more stressed and more anxious about the future today and being in January really doesn't help.

Going out in jeans and a nice top.
Smash Hits magazine.
Shopping centres before everything started closing down and getting replaced by vape shops.

I miss the pre mobile phone days where you arranged to meet people at a certain time and they’d be on time. Not running behind and sending you constant phone updates.

I miss women being adult human females, rather than including men who say they are.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I miss how your friends would agree to meet somewhere and we all managed to show up without a barrage of texting or Google Maps. How you could "disappear" if you wanted to (like get a break from seeing people you didn't want to see and they'd have no idea what you were up to). I didn't even know it was being off-line because we always were, but I really miss that. I never felt lonely because of it nor do I feel more connected today because of social media.

@Appalonia

Community police
less rubbish
leas pot holes
anioity to live anywhere in the EU before the racist stupid brexiteers ruined it.