10 Everyday Objects Of The Past… That Have VANISHED 

What other obsolete items or gadgets do you remember using?

Pagers are still often used by medical staff in hospitals. Apparently the phone signal doesn't transmit too well in some areas of big hospitals, but pager signals aren't affected as badly.

Without finishing the video, i just want to say that dial up wasn't "known" for it's slow speeds. That's just the fastest internet anyone had back then. I remember when 56k came out, it blew everyone's mind how fast it was.

Watching this videos drove me back so instantly, I could even “hear” the noises when accessing internet dialing 😅

When we recorded TV shows on tape via a VCR to watch later, we definitely did not call it "time shifting." We called it "taping a show/movie."

The way the products were described.......I realized this was written for people much younger than me that have no clue what these products were or that they existed

"Don't sit so close to the T.V. you'll go blind. And watching T.V. in the dark is bad for your eyes."

So many things have changed but for some reasons floppy discs / data storage always stands out to me. Those storage mediums held such a TINY amount of data but we all thought of it as enormous at the time.

We still use a VCR/CD/DVD player and there is a treasure trove of tapes out there to enjoy. They practically give them away at yard sales. Also still use my Scott dual deck cassette player for classic gold still available.

Although the cathode-ray tube ("picture tube") has been largely replaced by flat-panel screens, the term "tube" lives on--as "RU-vid." The RU-vid logo is also a stylized CRT screen.

I had all of these at one time or another. I still have a working VCR and a couple of working cassette decks, which I occasionally use in digitizing old video/audio. 🤓

Raise your hand if you used every item featured in this video! Raise both hands if you surrender and admit you are old. Yeah, me too. 😂

I have about 20 VCRs and 1000 tapes, as well as over 100 sealed blanks. They still work.

I remember telephone books that listed names,addresses & phone numbers of individuals in the area you lived on the white pages.There were yellow pages for businesses.

The reason that CRTs were so heavy is not just because they had thick glass, but they had leaded glass -- to help keep the radiation inherent in their operation inside the tube.

You could go back further. My dad had those reel to reel audio tapes, black and white TV without a remote control, turbo broilers and so on.

I think one of the worst mistakes we're currently making is the loss of media ownership. If you had a vhs or dvd, sure, it might degrade over time, but you owned it. Now we've left what we can watch in the hands of streaming companies, renowned for arbitrary region locking, removing less popular content, and other behaviors that make them unfit to have so much control.

My female cat was so MAD at me when I switched out my clunky computer monitor for a flat screen because she enjoyed sleeping on top of the other while I was on it! Haha!

@0:15 VCRs @0:58 dial-up internet (modems) @1:45 floppy disks @2:33 pagers @3:11 cassette tapes @4:02 answering machines @5:00 PDAs @5:46 Yellow Pages @6:33 CRT monitors @7:28 Rolodexes

Cassette tapes and vinyl records have been making a comeback in recent years. In fact the particular Sony Walkman TPLS 2 shown in the video is now known as the "Guardians of the Galaxy" model as it was featured in that movie.

I can remember being told at work that the biggest thing to replace all the floppy discs for document storage and management was going to be some "jukebox-like" machine that would hold 20" "platters". (They were related to laser discs, I think.) It never came to fruition, at least where I worked. 😊

I still use and maintain a Rolodex at my job. It makes it SO MUCH FASTER to look up plans and acct numbers at the tip if my fingers.

You can add to this list, 8 track tapes, rotary dial telephones, rooftop tv antennas, dot matrix printers, and wind-up record players, to name a few.

My grandad still has a beeper for his fire department. Bunch of old farmers in spotty service areas that you typically can’t get more than SOS signal. 😊

I only switched to Voice Mail when my last answering machine died. Then I learned that voice mail was already included in my "basic" landline telephone package, but that they had never bothered to "provision" AKA activate it. They had been charging me for it for years without telling me or activating it. Grrrr!

I remember the first time I saw a cassette tape and ridiculed it because it was so much smaller than 8 track. No way that thing can compete with my 8 track ! I worked in communications in the Air Force starting in’71 and saw antiques being used alongside the cutting edge technology. It was painful to discard equipment we had worked so hard to maintain when it was made obsolete overnight. The facsimile machines we used in the Weather Station needed daily maintenance and adjustment and we really felt good when we got it back in service when it frequently needed attention. The last system I maintained was essentially a HF cell phone for international flights. A $20 tracfone has much more functionality.

I absolutely loved my Palm Pilot. I still have an unopened VCR downstairs somewhere

I had such a large collection of floppy disks, both 5.25" and 3.5" I also had a Zip drive, which was a very high capacity 3.5" disk. In the mid to late 1990's I had a Palm Pilot. It was a wonderful device.

Happy to say the floppy disc still lives on as the Save icon 💾🙂 The Yellow Pages book was also famous for giving dads and big brothers a chance to show off their strength by tearing it in half when the new edition came out 💪

I had a Hand Spring PDA and I remember reading in a PDA magazine how companies were working on Smart phones that would do everything PDA's did Plus make calls, text, maps that told where you were at, internet. Man, these people are insane! Also remember my first computer, Gateway 2000 !, this was in the late 90's, monitor was a 19 inch monster. It also cost a pretty penny.

Dude, the Newton was NEVER a mainstream device. The Palm PDA would have been a far more meaningful example... And many of these didn't actually vanish. You can still get card indexes, but they, pagers, PDA, answering machines etc all merged and became cellphones. In fact, modern cellphones are just PDAs that can make phone calls and do pager messages.

Fun fact, cassettes were also used by Commodore 64. All these brought me back to my childhood 😅 I feel old now lol.

I’m not American (Australian) but I remember most of these. My mother had a VCR and answering machine until she passed away in 2017. In my city pagers were used by drug dealers. Now it’s mobile phones 😊

I remember all of these. I remember that we thought the answering machine and colored tv were the best things ever to be invented.

The 5" floppy disk holds a fond memory for me. In the days before networks between computers, as a lawyer I found that it was helpful to store matter related records and data on these disks, keeping one in each client file. I used the older floppy disks rather than the later 3' hard disks because the hard disks could be damaged by impact, where the floppies just "flopped". This allowed me to take a file home and work on documents in progress without having to do anything special. The core files were stored on an in-office computer hard drive, but the floppies made the whole operation very convenient. A side benefit was that as time went on, almost no one used the old 5" floppies, so computers had no compatible drives. Thus, in the event of file theft, the files on the floppy were inaccessible. (It happened once, where another attorney stole a client file off my desk when I stepped out to make him a document copy. He was trying to hide a letter I had sent him warning of a problem he had created for his former client who I later represented. He got my paper copy in the file, but the letter remained available both on the file floppy later recovered, and the office back-up. I testified at his disbarment hearing.) The long term problem doing this was keeping a working disk drive. I found the 3"/%' dual drives from Epson to be by far the most reliable, and I still have one.

I have an old TV with VCR. Paid $3 for it. Bought it at a house sale to watch VHS tapes, like Ken Burns’ Civil War series, also bought at a house sale.

I’ve never been one of those “I feel old” types, but for some reason, this did it. I think it was the way the items were described like artifacts. X3

3:40 I got a Walkman for my birthday that year and it felt like space age technology! I grew up with "reel to reel" tapes so cassettes were a big deal anyway. But to be able to carry and listen to them personally while you *walked around* was ground breaking! 😄

"These devices were like small handheld computers..." Not just _like_ small handheld computers; they *ARE* small handheld computers, as are smartphones and tablet computers.

In the unlikely event that some modern technologies fail ,some obsolete items should be kept just in case.I.e.typewriters and microfilm/fiche,the rolodex.

Listening to someone explain objects that I still used, as if they were centuries-old things that no one knows anymore, makes me feel very, very, very old 😅

Not all of these are obsolete - VCR/DVD combos are still sold for those of us who have movies, yellow pages, especially answering machines

I got an actual Yellow Pages in the mail, yesterday. It has shrunk from a bulky 9" x12"x2.5" to 3" to 8.5"x11"x(about)5/8". The residential section has shrunk quite a bit with how few landlines exist anymore.

I detested the answering machine.

Once in a while I will still look at the shelf where the answering machine was when I walk into the house. 15 years since it was gone.

Thanks for making me feel so old. A few months ago I set up an old beta VCR to see what's recorded on some old cassettes I had that was labeled family. The kids came in and asked me, "What the heck is that?" I had to explain to them what it does.

VHS still has a viable user base. I go to various used stores that sell VHS tapes and I ask them why. They say they are still surprising popular. The main reason is that they still have a machine at home because many have personal family videos to watch so they can watch movies as well. Another reason is having the machine at the cottage so still use it there esp if there is already a big collection of tapes at the cottage. One other reason is that there are some movies that are available on VHS but not on DVD or not streaming. This applies to many B level and made-for-TV movies. Even some movies on DVD are still hard to find in that format such as Looking for Mr. Good-bar, which for years wasn't available on DVD. I think the only way to have the very original version of Star Wars is to have the first VHS release as every version after that was the enhanced versions. Also some DVD's are often unofficial and are copies from VHS or laser disks tapes. Kate Bush's Video Hits of Live at the Hammersmith are good examples as they was only released on VHS. None of Kate Bush music videos have been released on DVD although some have digitized those files and released non-official DVD's.

Actually the first floppy discs were 12 inch. We used them on our flight simulator back in the 1970s. BTW, we also had a hard drive that had about 8 copper discs on a shaft. It took both hands to lift it out of the reader.

I still think recording a tv program with VHS is the only way😂

Rolled into this video after one that covered stuff from the 1880's-1950's. Wasn't expecting to be educated about items from my own childhood . . .

We used floppy discs when I was in high school. I also remember when I got my first Sony walkman. It was the coolest thing to me back then

Wow! You really took me back to my childhood and young adulthood. I used all of these save a pager, but I remember them well as popular items. ❤

as a tech sales guy in the 90's, the palm pilot was a Godsend! i used that thing all day everyday. i've also hooked up plenty of modems, and was bleeding edge when i had an isdn line to my home. we used to call it: "it still does nothing." lol! not so much a commercial success, but great for home office use.

Nice video presenting object that once were very common. However, there are other things that may have been better than a couple things mentioned: The 8-track tape is more of an "object of the past that vanished" than the cassette tape. Likewise, since Rolodexes are still sold, the "wall phone" that was prevalent in many homes is more of a vanished object.

I grew up in the 90s. All of these things you mentioned were in full use when I was growing up.

"They were small SQUARE DISCS..." My mind cracked.

You make me feel so OLD - explaining how all these bits of old tech were used back in the past - but I remember them all!

To this day, I use an office style phone with answering machine a feature. Although, both the outgoing message and incoming recordings are made digitally today. I have owned cassette tape based systems in the past.

I got a VCR when I was a teenager it seemed like a miracle being able to watch one show while watching another.

All of those things still exist - just in our phones.

If you have a landline, an answering machine is better than voicemail if you like to screen calls in real time. Voicemail compels you to "check messages" then call back and delete not to mention the fact that providers charge a monthly fee. I finally dropped the landline a few months ago because it was no longer less expensive to get the "triple play" (internet, tv, phone) compared to just getting internet and tv. The decision was easy since I couldn't remember the last time I got a phone call on the landline that wasn't a marketing or spam call. I wouldn't have kept the landline if it was only $1/month - free was the only way it was going to stay.

I had my PDA for years and only got rid of it in the 2010s. It was reliable, robust and still did its job without endless updates.

The Chili Peppers, Guns N' Roses, King's X, Scorpions, Zeppelin (twice), Deep Purple, Genesis, Clapton, Pink Floyd, Kansas (twice). Excellent taste!

Yellow Pages. How nostalgic is that. I believe we were given a new one every year. Too bad I only entered the workforce way after that. 😂

I truly hope you keep up the videos this is such a good way to teach kids of 20th century things gone

I still use an answering machine. The rest? Nope. My roommate has a VCR/DVD combo and buys VHS movies for about 50 cents at thrift shops.

Wow! That Sound Blaster device driver diskette triggered some strong nostalgia for me. It was 1994 all over again…

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." William Gibson wrote the first line of "Neuromancer" waaay back in the 1980s, when CRT displays were the thing, and tuning to a dead channel meant getting a spectral, staticky glow on your screen, like staring straight into the Twilight Zone. "They're heeere ..."

I still have and use a VCR. I know a few people who have and use them, too. You can't record anymore but all those video tapes can still be watched and enjoyed.

You could also rent VCR players for home

The floppy disk lives on as the save icon on computers and tablets.

Obsolete Items I still Enjoy: Turntable & Vinyl Records, Cassettes, VHS & Betamax VCRs, CD olayers, Stereo Receiver and big Speakers, etc. Also, I've recently taken up CB Radio as a Hobby!!

I still use a VHS player, floppy disks, and a pager at work...LOL. While these technologies are obsolete, they are absolutely better for some things than current tech. Or, my work's case, are backward compatible with everything.

I loved and miss my Palm Pilot. I thought i was the bee's knees with my Palm V. That thing felt grest in the hand.

This is making me feel old lol because I remember most of these

VCR tapes are still used as a means of saving digital data. They are rugged, and can handle jarring and drops, as experienced in high performance aircraft. A large amount of data can be compressed onto this relatively inexpensive medium. If random access is not a priority, there are many advantages to magnetic tape. One-way pagers have found a niche market in the clandestine world due to their inability to transmit. There are a great many places that still have little to no internet access where things like the Rolodex still have merit. High-tech companies like people to think internet access is available in all areas, but the reality is coverage is less a blanket and more swiss-cheese - data-less holes abound.

I remember when Videotapes stated being a smaller area in the video store as DVDs came in. I had a pager, it was cool to clip it on your pockets! Hell, I remember all these things, but I didn't get a walkman and VCR until the 90s. I almost bought a PDA, but it's good I didn't because they went out quick!

The first floppy discs were actually 12 inches. The size of an LP.

Before Google Maps and GPS, I would find a business in the yellow pages, then look for other business that I knew were in that area and on that road to get an idea of where the one I was going to was on the street.

Don't forget iPods or portable music players! It was such a rage during that time, especially amongst teens.

Floppy disks, modems and cassette tapes all began being used in the 1960s not 80s. As a computer programmer and operator back in the late 60's I used both floppy disks and modems in my work. I got my first cassette tape in 1968 to use aboard ship while serving in the Navy. Early modems had acoustic couplers where the telephone handset was placed. The modem that I used also had an electric typewriter for printing the data transferred through the telephone. The modem was very slow at a rate of 300 baud. When the 1900 baud modems came out we thought they were super fast. Its all relative I guess.

I loved beepers, sad that it went away. I still have an answering machine with a landline phone that I use when I am at home. I use my cell phone when I am out. How about flip phones? They aren't used anymore.

You forgot Street Maps. Here it was called A-Z London. And thinking about it - must faster and better than Google Maps. Always carried one inside my bag, mine was a "Mini" Version, small yet bulky, powerful covering a large area. But you could get even very large ones for the hard of vision.

Thankfully, audio cassettes never totally disappeared. In fact, they are making a big comeback these days.

It's funny how a few of these technologies still coexist with legacy companies and the US government

Wow, the Rolodex was invented in the same year as the disk drive -- (specifically the hard kind). So interesting that many digital things were already happening back then even though you called that "before the digital age."

I loved my PDA in college, I had a fold-out keyboard that I could attach to it for taking notes in class (I could type way faster than write).

Cassette tapes were also the only the only media in the 1990s too. I was still using Yellow Pages in the late 90s.

I find very funny that until this day, and probably many years to come, the "save" icon in many applications is still a floppy disk. There's two or three entire generations that have never used, probably never even seen a floppy disk, and we still use this icon.

PDAs were never an everyday object, they were quite rare. And I wouldn't say that they became obsolete but rather they evolved into smartphones. Some PDAs had expansion options that allowed a connection to a mobile phone and mobile phones became larger when mobile internet took off so it was easier to combine both worlds.

PDAs were not wide spread everyday items. It wasn't like everyone had one. In fact, most people with smart phones barely use any of the PDA functions.

CRTs are great - I use them on all my retro systems, such a warmer feel than LCDs. My 19 inch SUN CRT is pretty heavy though...

the 'save' icon in programs which started out in the 90's and have been continuously updated - a 3 and 1/4" floppy disk. Cassette tapes - use to distribute software for the late 80's era of computers (Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore Vic-20 and Commodore 64) before cheap floppy disc drives appeared Got an Atari ST 520 STFM which I brought in 1989, with a large library of games on 3.25" floppy disk - the ST still runs fine and all of the floppies I've tested work as well

Still have my fungus infested VCR tapes somewhere lol

Uh, oh, my beautiful, sweetest Palm V! The best device with such a sweet using experience. Absolutely the best in my life.

I think the Rolodex should be brought back, as it is a quicker, less cumbersome way, to access a person's vital information.

"This technology was first developed in the late 19th century." How many times was it supposedly developed after that?

I have fond memories lugging my gaming computer, crt and all to LAN parties back in the early 2000s.

My truck still has a Cassette player and i still have Cassettes. I think i still have a Walkman buried somewhere

I still use an answering machine with dual micro cassette tapes. One micro cassette is for recording announcement and the other is for recording messages. Cool huh.