In the bustling tide of everyday life, what often slips away unnoticed? Amid the constant rush and noise, subtle, silent transformations occur beneath the surface. These subtle shifts, like whispers in the wind, tend to escape our attention as we navigate the cacophony of modern existence. Yet, they hold significance, quietly shaping the world around us. In this ever-evolving tapestry of fact, these understated changes often wield the most significant influence, even though they may go by without a second glance.
Acid Rain
One user explains, “It was a significant environmental concern from the late 70s through the early 90s. Acidic rain damaged fertile areas and had various negative impacts. In the US, extensive research was conducted, leading to the implementation of industrial regulations.”
“Companies had flexibility in choosing their emissions reduction approaches, as long as they achieved the necessary reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions. Unfortunately, positive news often doesn’t receive much attention in the media, so the success achieved in addressing acid rain went largely underreported. By the 2000s, many had forgotten the significant efforts to combat this issue.”
Butterflies
“Butterflies, I saw them all the time growing up, and now it’s an event if I see one,” explains one user. While another added, “Plant a bed of native pollinators flowers. Insects are dying because of non-native monoculture grass lawns, paving over everything, and massive industrial pesticide use by commercial farms.”
Yo-Yos
One person said, “Yo-yos, they were all the rage back in my school as a kid, and they just disappeared overnight. Nobody even noticed it was just a fad that died.” While another joked, “They’ll be back. The popularity of yo-yos goes up and down.” Meanwhile, another questioned, “Does anybody remember those yo-yos in the early 80s that automatically returned? I think they lit up as well?”
Water Beds
One user shared a nostalgic memory: “Used to have a water bed. Nothing like forgetting to turn on the heater an hour before bed in the middle of winter.” Meanwhile, another contributor to the same thread expressed surprise, adding, “Wait… I had a waterbed from roughly age 11-18, and I never knew they could have a heater. I was just cold. Those chilly nights must have made for some interesting sleep experiences back then!”
Travelers Checks
One user fondly recalled the days of traveler’s checks, saying, “Hah! I was just thinking about that the other day. It was a pretty big deal for my family when I was a kid. We went to the bank to get a bunch of traveler checks for a cross-country trip in the late 80s. I remember the nervousness of the whole transaction since my parents had saved up for years for this holiday. Obviously, credit cards were the first wave of eliminating traveler’s checks, but access to debit cards for basically everyone undoubtedly ended it as an industry.”
McDonald’s All-Day Breakfast Menu
“McDonald’s all-day breakfast menu,” one user sadly acknowledged, adding, “I will never forgive them.”
Everyone on the thread agreed, “Yeah, that $2 sausage and cheese McMuffin was tasty and a decent deal,” while another reminisced, “I worked at McDonald’s when we had these and would take the leftovers with me, drive down to the gas station where my brother worked, and give them to him for snacking thru the midnight shift. Good times.”
“They reintroduced breakfast sandwiches on bagels after taking them away at the beginning of COVID. I’ve made it a point to get it like 4 times in the past couple of months because it’s ‘limited time.’ I hope you get your snack wrap moment again. After all, it’s glorious,” added another forum user.
Service Clubs
One user mentioned, “Service clubs. e.g., the Rotary, the Lions, the Shriners. Oh, they’re still around. But a common complaint among them is they’ve got no members under 70, and no new members are lining up to get in. They’re social clubs with the primary objective of doing projects to better the community, like raising money to build a new playground, a new hospital, or providing scholarships, among other things.”
Uproar Around Devices Always Listening
One commenter mentioned, “The uproar around devices always listening. Xbox ONE Kinect was an uproar, and now you can’t buy a device that isn’t always listening.”
Another user added, “What is kind of nuts is that companies are finding it difficult to actually do anything or monetize all the data they collect with them. Over at Amazon, the massive failure of Alexa to actually do anything for Amazon has become a major internal problem and a colossal money loser. They sold the machines at a loss thinking they’d make their money with the data they’d collect and also some vague idea that people would make more impulse purchases verbally and buy more than they would off of the Amazon website.”
SoBe
“…what!? This is the answer; I haven’t seen SoBe in years, now that I think about it!” exclaims one user.
A person on the same thread adds a reason, “I remember I got a book of the worst foods, based on calorie/sugar/fat content, and the SoBe pink was the #1 drink they said to stay away from. Enough sugar to kill a horse. That said, they were delicious.”
One person on the same thread adds, “Go to non-American grocery stores. I usually still find SoBe’s in Mexican and Asian supermarkets.”
Planking
A person told a harrowing and cautionary tale of “Planking.”
“A guy in my town should have gotten that memo. Several months ago, he was planking on the railing of a pedestrian bridge that was pretty high up in the middle. He lost his balance, rolled onto the ground below, and died.”
To clarify, one user explained the difference between planking and planks, “Yeah, planking is different from planks. Planks are an ab exercise. Planking is when you lie flat in weird places and take a picture.”
Murder Hornets
A user asked the question, “Where are the Murder Hornets?!”
Luckily, another user on the same thread offered a bizarre explanation, “It’s one of those rare things that was actually dealt with. The Washington State Department of Agriculture did a great job. None were found in Washington State or BC in 2022. How they dealt with them was pretty smart. They caught some and glued tiny transponders on them to follow them back to their nest. Destroy nest, repeat.”
Google+
“Google+ was the only social media our school forgot to block on our laptops, so I used it often. Rip,” said one user, reminiscing about the old social network.
While another added, “I used to work for a Fortune 50, and we were practically forced to use it in a professional capacity for internal comms. Different groups were set up for projects, teams, markets, company brands, and locations so we could share news, ask for ideas, etc. It wasn’t horrendous in the groups that were actually active. I spoke with a few people I wouldn’t have initially reached out to who could share some good info and provide decent value. As a personal social networking platform, which I did try when it first came out? Useless.”
Landlines
One user said, “Landlines in residences. The jacks are still in almost any house, but I rarely see anything plugged in anymore. The only people I can think of with them are all over 60.”
At the same time, another added humorously, “I live in a rural area and have to pay for landline service to have internet. Since I have to pay for something so stupid, I figured I’d have to get something stupid … so I got the hamburger phone from Juno. I’m not going to lie; the landline has come in clutch a few times, and holding a hamburger to your ear is amusing every time. 10/10”
Stumbleupon
“Stumbleupon… I remember all my classmates and my Mom used to use it years ago,” said one person, while another chimed in with a nostalgic tone, “Stumbleupon is how I found this forum. Ha! I miss Stumbleupon; I learned some neat things I’d never have found otherwise. Now I just scroll for hours instead.”
Another user added a touch of sarcasm, saying, “Ah yes, back when you would actually get your amusing content directly from individual websites by navigating to them instead of secondhand from four giant link content aggregators. The Stumble button brought me to some very interesting places, and I don’t know how I would find stuff like that these days. Most websites anymore are for commercial purposes/promotion, i.e., stores, products, restaurants, services, etc. Or they are discussion (using that word loosely) based, so content is mostly reposted snippets/discussion of other conversations.”
Sierra Mist
One person suggested, “Sierra Mist. I saw the replacement brand in stores last week, but until I read the press release the other day, I had no idea Pepsi had discontinued Sierra Mist.”
Another added their take, “I work at Culver’s, and we still have a few cases of Mist left. However, we are switching to Coca-Cola products in 2 weeks, so it doesn’t matter that we can’t get any more.”
Movie Trailers With That Deep Voice Guy
“Movie trailers with that deep voice guy doing the voiceovers,” said one user. One person offered an explanation, “Don LaFontaine? He’s been dead for nearly 15 years now.”
Another chimed in with their thoughts, “I kind of miss narration. Now, it feels like many trailers give away the entire plot, and you can easily predict the ending in most cases. Makes me want to skip seeing the movie at all.”
A person on the same thread offered an alternative explanation, “Those trailers died around the same time the OG voice guy died. But what really killed it was Inception. Around that time, movie trailers started getting dark and gritty and nixed the whole voiceover gimmick for something new. We can also thank Inception for most trailers using the BbbrrrMMMMMM noise.”
Toys in Cereal Boxes
One person shared on the platform, “Actual toys in cereal boxes and cracker jack boxes, and contests where you could win just by checking the packaging instead of scanning a QR code and making an account on mountaindew dot com.” Meanwhile, another added, “They’ve graduated from marketing campaigns to personal information aggregators.”
“When I was 10, I’m pretty sure I got a copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon in a cereal box,” said one person on the thread.