1. Physical Media
I remember how much I treasured my favorite audio cassette (Gun N’ Roses) and my "video cassette" with my favorite movie (Highlander). Today, everything’s online, and soon even books will be rare. I used to pack at least three books for vacation; now I just toss my Kindle into my bag. It’s brilliant—but I still miss the smell of the pages.
2. Focus
We used to be able to focus on one thing for a long time, whether as kids or adults, and it didn’t take much to capture our attention. Now, I find myself fast-forwarding through even a five-minute video—if nothing happens in the first five seconds, I start to lose interest.
Social media and constant info overload have zapped my ability to focus for long stretches. I can barely watch a whole movie without fast-forwarding when the pace slows down. My sister, a teacher, sees this in kids today—especially boys. They get frustrated when they have to write or read because it doesn’t hold their attention.
3. Fountain Pens
I really miss fountain pens—I loved writing with them! Back then, my handwriting was neat, almost meditative as I connected the letters. I wrote diaries and letters, and using a fountain pen shaped my school years.
4. Breakfast
My family always had breakfast together, but even if we overslept and didn’t sit at the table, we’d joke around and talk about the day ahead. Now, breakfasts in my family are silent—everyone’s glued to their phones. It’s sad, but I don’t know how to change it.
5. Alarm Clocks!
Do you remember when you threw out your alarm clock? I don’t either, but there must have been a moment—before smartphones, everyone woke up to an alarm clock. Smartphones made them obsolete, even though we know it’s unhealthy to keep devices in the bedroom.
6. Photos
I remember how exciting it was when photo albums came out at any gathering! We’d get emotional over grandma and grandpa’s wedding photo, marvel at how cute someone was as a baby, or laugh until we cried at a graduation hairstyle. Back then, photos were rare because they were expensive and complicated.
Now we snap more photos in a minute than people used to take in a year—but hardly anyone ever looks at them. We just upload a few good shots to Facebook or update our profile picture and move on.
7. Small Gadgets
I remember my grandpa always listening to his pocket radio while tinkering in his workshop. Nowadays, I only listen to the radio when I’m in the car. Pocket calculators and typewriters have vanished too, even though as a kid I could spend hours typing—or rather banging away—on my mom’s typewriter at her office.
8. Handwriting
My phone recently died, so I had to jot something down by hand. Finding paper and a pen was a challenge (I ended up using a check envelope and the clerk kindly gave me a pen), and I realized I could barely write—I’d almost forgotten! I used to write everything in beautiful cursive; now I even type my grocery list on my phone.
9. Daily Newspapers
There was a special vibe with the many black-and-white daily newspapers at newsstands. Today, the few magazines I see are bursting with color and usually feature a celebrity on the cover.
10. The Bird
As a kid, my grandma’s country garden was always full of yellowhammers, and I even saw them in a park in Budapest. Now I’m 43, and I don’t think I’ve seen one in about 30 years—not in the city or the countryside.
