Which of these will you miss most?

[CatWoman]

12 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade


classifieds on newspapers


hand written letters


yellow pages and address book


encyclopedias


landline phones

more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/26/obsolete-things-that-expi_n_402674.html

[Jamastiene]

1. encyclopedias

There is nothing like the feel of a good book...and yes, when I was a teenager, I READ encyclopedias as if they were novels. I really enjoyed it too. I just like the feel of a real book in my hands.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I read encyclopedias like that, too.

We had World Books, and I used to read them cover to cover. I can remember when I first discovered Ancient Egypt. :)

[conscious evolution]

34. Same here

Teachers would flip out when they would see my reading lists.

[NashVegas]

49. It's Hysterical That Wikipedia Is Now Trying to Raise, What? $12 Million Dollars?

Fucking joke.

[proud2BlibKansan]

None of the above

I love what each of these has been replaced with.

I'll tell you what I'll miss the least - yellow pages! Can't find em when I want to use em, can't find the number I need when I look in em and the book is just too darn big.

[JVS]

2. Yellow pages are not obsolete.

Google searches bring up unfiltered information of various qualities, and from various locations. The yellow pages let you know that when you look for the chinese restaurant near your hotel you will get one that delivers and is in the same fucking city.

[spooky3]

3. hey, I still have a landline phone!

too scary to think about having my cell not work and not being able to make calls. Yes, it's expensive to indulge this fear.

[tonysam]

29. Lots and lots of us do

And lots and lots of us have CDs instead of exclusively getting music downloaded. The downloads are great for a single song and not having to buy the album, but for me, most of the time I want the whole album.

[spooky3]

44. the landline is also useful for faxes

I understand you can do them with cells/email too, but you do have to pay extra, so give me my landline and measured service - it's probably cheaper and easier.

[GoCubsGo]

30. As long as landlines are available, I will have one

I will have a corded telephone, too. I learned that lesson a few years ago when we had an ice storm. Everyone's power was out for at least two days. Those who relied on cell phones had no way to re-charge them after a day or two. Cordless landline phones were useless, as well. My old Trimline phone allowed me to make phone calls anywhere I wanted--except, of course, to the folks who relied on their now-powerless cell phones.

[spooky3]

36. exactly!

thanks, now I don't feel like such a fossil! :hi:

[CatWoman]

38. lol!!!

speaking of which, my nephew calls me a dinosaur because I won't get a cell phone :rofl:

[GoCubsGo]

40. I guess I'm a "dinosaur", too.

Or, as some call us, a "refusnik", since I refuse to get one.

[spooky3]

43. hey, tell him what you're NOT going to buy him with the money you saved

from not having a cell phone.

Nice to meet you, TRex.

xxoo,

Bronty Saurus

[CatWoman]

45. lol Bronty

:hi:

get this: I'm having issues with my tv (it's old as dirt and my DVD player won't work with a RF Modulator either).

I've been looking everywhere for another tv that is cable ready, but all they have in the stores are the "new fangled" tv's (plasma, LCD, HD, etc.)

It's as if the telly manufacturers are trying to FORCE me to upgrade to the expensive stuff and I REFUSE!!!

[spooky3]

46. Good for you. But if you're open to used, would Craig's List have some

perfectly good TVs being let go by people who HAVE to have the latest new-fangled TVs?

[jillan]

37. Me too - hubby keeps trying to get me to give it up...

but I can't. It's just more comfortable to talk on it when you are doing other things...you can lean your head on it and have your hands free. Cell phones are just to little to do that to. I tried a bluetooth, but that was a joke, for me anyway.

[liberal_at_heart]

4. some people railed against the phone and the computer when they were first invented

Some people don't like technological advancement. I'm glad to see less paper being used. It will save some trees.

[goclark]

33. I really don't miss Newspapers

I would always read them from front to back everyday.

No more ~ I'll watch Morning News and evening news and DU and for the rest --- I'll google anything of interest.

[blondeatlast]

5. Phone calls (I went to the link). I'm not a big fan of them, but vastly prefer them

for communicating with the people closest to me. Email is easy, but not as pleasant (and I'm no phone fan, either).

[virgogal]

14. I'm with you----a phone call is much more personal. A good laugh

together with someone beats LOL any day of the week-------but I'm old so maybe that is the reason I feel that way.

[tonysam]

28. A lot of my relatives aren't good about writing letters or sending emails.

I call long distance a lot using a prepaid cell phone.

[unpossibles]

6. I was going to say letters

but I still write them sometimes. I don't miss phonebooks, landlines, answering machines, or address books one bit, or much at least. I used to love encyclopedias, but I do have to admit it's cool to be able to click through to find more information on just about everything.

[patrice]

7. encyclopedias

[Blue_In_AK]

8. Hmm, I guess I'm obsolete.

I still have ALL those things. :rofl: Actually, we did finally get rid of the World Books this past summer. It hurt my heart a little to see them go. :(

[whatchamacallit]

9. Handwritten letters I think...

Receiving a personal letter via email is like getting an unwrapped present.

[Blue_In_AK]

15. I agree.

Handwriting is much more expressive. You feel special when someone takes the time to handwrite a letter to you.

[cali]

11. well, all I have is a landline phone. Still don't have any cell service where I live

though that will be changing soon. I still use the yellow pages and even write letters once in a while. And I'm a fan of the local trading post which I pick up every two weeks. Not too much on that list except for encyclopedias is obsolete where I live.

[Speck Tater]

12. Catalogs. Specifically my seed catalogs.

In the dead of winter, while still shivering and cursing the cold, there's nothing like paging through the seed catalogs deciding which veggies to include, and what variety of corn and squash to plant in the spring.

[GoCubsGo]

31. I just got my Pinetree Gardens seed catalog

They are not obsolete yet.

[frazzled]

13. Newspapers and landlines

I still have both.

We subscribe to two papers daily (New York Times and Chicago Tribune). It keeps me regular. No, seriously: there is something we will lose when we lose newspapers. For one, the fortuitous read. When you read the paper on the Internet, you are clicking links. You will tend to click only the sections or articles that interest you by virtue of their titles or headlines. Turning the pages of the newspaper, you are likely to find, besides the news, an arts or business article that intrigues you, or even (and sometimes especially) an obituary of a very remarkable life. Not necessarily someone you've ever heard of, but someone remarkable nonetheless, with lessons to impart. A review of a play you will never attend or a novel you'll never read. Today's news aggregators are in general highly sectarian: you're not going to get an arts and culture story (at least a serious one) on a political news blog. And vice versa. I will miss that catholocism and ecclecticism. I will miss the feel of the paper. I will miss sitting over the breakfast table and sharing stories with my husband.

Okay, landlines: I just grew up in the era. I hate cell phones. I have one; we also have an iPhone. It's great for when you're out or away, but I like to have the landline when I'm at home.

As for the rest of it: it's really gone already, so it's hard to miss.

[Solly Mack]

16. I still write letters. I still keep an address book. I buy up encyclopedias

...primarily old ones. I (try to) collect yellow pages/phone-books from everywhere I live. I still have a landline. Meh on the classifies.

[madrchsod]

17. landlines

i still use all the others

[Warpy]

18. It might take longer for landlines to disappear

although eventually everything will be wireless.

Likewise, there will always be a need for classified ads. If the newspapers aren't around, you can bet the Pennysaver will be.

Address books will be here, but they'll contain email addies and cell phone numbers.

The yellow pages will also exist, although maybe not in print form. People will always need to find out where something is, to find an emergency plumber at 2 AM, to call and find out when they're open.

Hand written notes will always exist as long as there are bread and butter letters to be written.

[NYC_SKP]

19. I will miss Encyclopedia and Brittancia Books of the Year. nt

[Fearless]

20. I'll say the housing and tech bubble. It treated us pretty well while it lasted.

[quiller4]

21. Hand written letters. I still send and receive 4-5 each week

even though I keep in touch with family through Facebook and Twitter.

[hayu_lol]

24. Like many others, I was never able to pick up an...

encyclopedia without skimming through on my way to what I was looking up. One of the greatest self-teaching devices we ever had.

Problem with the puter versions is that you go only where you want to go...missing the fun and enlightenment of the rest of the volume.

Sadly, I also miss handwritten letters and the libraries card catalogs for the same reason.

There are limits to what we can dispose of without harming what culture/society we have left.

[dflprincess]

22. I still have my land line

I live in a brick building and the cell service in my apartment stinks. It works find outside the building but inside, I have to stand by a window to keep it from breaking up and that just doesn't always work.

[1awake]

23. landlines

there are many reasons to not completely do away with these.

[krabigirl]

25. Letters, but I don't think they are gone forever. I think down the road rop

a future generation will write letters to be retro. :)

[pipi_k]

26. Still see/have access to all except

the encyclopedias

Although I do still have lots of reference books around


But I still have a landline, still get handwritten notes, still see classifieds in newspapers and still have an address book and yellow pages.

I know...I'm sooooo 1999....

:cry:

[tonysam]

27. NONE are obsolete

Plenty of us out here don't give a rat's patootie about the latest gadgets that are supposed to render other items obsolete.

[varelse]

32. Obsolete where?

There is human life outside of our developed-nation tech-driven bubble - LOTS of it too.

:shrug:

[gleaner]

35. It is hard choose only one ...

I'll go with the newspaper and encyclopedias. I love looking things up, the feel of the books and their weight; nothing can replace it. The newspaper is the best coffee companion. You sip your cup of mental alertness and read or do the crossword.

[PDJane]

39. Truthfully, I still have most if not all of those things.......

Along with all the techno-tools that are meant to replace them.

On this desk, right next to the laptop, is a small Caithness vase filled with antique straight pens made of various materials, and an ink well made of silver and glass. I use them to write letters to correspondents, one of whom is deaf...and can't type, and who enjoys getting these long missives from me. I write one woman in New Zealand, who just likes getting the letter itself, and a couple of Brits who have been sending and receiving letters from me since I was about seven, I think.

I have a digital camera, a cell phone, and a bunch of techno bits on the other side. I have a land line, and don't want to give that up, thank you, although I do have spare batteries for the cell phones. I don't have encyclopaedias in the home, but I do have several types of dictionaries, and use them. I get the Toronto Star on the weekends in the paper version.

Yes, I am glad to see fewer papers running around, but I miss paper books, too. I have a wall full of them, along with an e-reader. I send emails for things like appt's for doctors and dentists, but also use the phone for those...and write them down in a day timer, with a fountain pen. I do have an address book, and won't give that up, either.

In my view, if I'm still using them, they're not obsolete.........and when we are scrabbling for resources to power the techno gear, the other stuff will still be there.

[KittyWampus]

41. Card Catalog at the local Library. Dammit, searching on their computer is not the same. No fun

When I looked for a book in the card catalog, I'd find all kinds of interesting stuff along the way.

[zanana1]

42. Letters!

I love writing and receiving letters. There's just something about someone taking the time and really thinking about the writing, then sending it to you that pleases me. It's a lost art, and texting is abbreviating our conversations along with most of the words that are used. When I think about books of famous letters, I wonder what future generations will read in that regard. I can just see it now; "Texting Between President Obama and Hillary Clinton". It just isn't the same.

[goldcanyonaz]

47. Hand written letters, soon a lost art.

[Stinky The Clown]

48. You forgot underwear with crotch pockets