16 Everyday Items From a Decade Ago That Are So Strange Now

Technology are evolves at lightning speed, and what felt normal just a decade ago now seems totally bizarre. Think back to the gadgets, habits, and everyday routines we couldn’t live without ten years ago. Most of them have become outdated relics of the past by now! Just look at these perfect examples of things that used to be totally normal but now feel downright strange. Take a nostalgic stroll down memory lane and laugh at how far we’ve come. It’s a fun reminder of how quickly life changes!

Blackberry Phones

Having a Blackberry phone was a very cool thing. It made you look official and important. Now, you better show up with an iPhone, Google phone, or something fancy by Samsung, or no one will take you seriously. Who would have thought the Blackberry would become a relic of the past? And we do feel nostalgic about it sometimes.

Netflix DVD’s

A decade ago, Netflix would mail DVDs right to your door! You could watch them as many times as you like, then return the disc to the mail using the red mailer provided. Now, your only option for Netflix is to stream movies. We wonder what they did with all of those old DVDs. It’s a nostalgic reminder of how quickly technology has evolved.

Digital Camera

If you were going out for the night a decade ago, you would have definitely brought your digital camera. Your camera would be charged and ready to go with an extra storage card just in case you took so many epic pictures that you needed more space. These days, everyone has a phone with unlimited storage. No one even owns a digital camera anymore. 

Portable GPS

Everyone used to have an amazing Portable GPS mounted on their car dashboard. It was pretty cool to have a live map showing you where to go! Now, if you had a portable GPS in your car, it just means you haven’t bought a new car in over a decade. Most new cars come with HD screens and built-in GPS. Plus, we all have smartphones that have GPS, too. 

Cable TV

Every home used to have Cable TV. Most people had a black box with a huge remote that would connect them to 500 crazy channels. These days, everyone has canceled cable and just have streaming apps downloaded on their smart TV. Having a cable box in your house would just be weird. 

Taxis

While there are still yellow taxis in some major cities, Uber and other ride-sharing apps have completely taken over. It might be impossible to get a taxi to take you somewhere now, but a decade ago, that was a huge part of the transportation industry. Seeing a line of yellow taxi cabs at a train station now would look odd. A bunch of black cars lined up is the new normal. 

iPod

A decade ago, no one left the house without their mini iPod and wired headphones. You looked pretty awesome with that wire coming out of your back pocket and your signature color music player. Now, we all have phones with our playlists and Spotify and Apple Music. Wireless headphones are also the new norm. No more wires anymore! We can all celebrate that one. 

Using Flash Drives for File Transfer

Cloud storage solutions like Google Drive and Dropbox have made flash drives less necessary for everyday file transfers. Remember when you’d panic after misplacing a flash drive? Well, the flash drive is in the past now. Now, you can access your files from anywhere without the risk of losing a tiny gadget. Plus, cloud storage often has better security, so your data stays safe.

Regular Names

People used to have very normal names. A decade ago, parents would choose a name out of a baby book or name their child after a relative. Now, children are named after fruits or colors, or the names are just spelled completely crazy. Sorry, Apple, Blue, and Jaxzon, but you all would have been made fun of a decade ago. But now, Jane, John, and Mary are the weirdos. 

Using Paper Maps

Road trips often involved unfolding large paper maps. GPS technology on smartphones has made paper maps nearly extinct. Gone are the days of pulling over to figure out where you are. Now, you get real-time traffic updates and directions right from your phone. Plus, finding nearby gas stations or restaurants is just a tap away.

Writing Checks

A decade ago, writing checks was a common way to pay bills, but not anymore. Digital payment methods like Venmo and PayPal have streamlined transactions. No more trips to the bank or waiting for checks to clear. Now, you can pay instantly and even deposit checks with your phone. Online payments also let you track your spending easily.

Leaving Your Phone at Home

Ten years ago, people may not have thought too much about leaving their phones at home. While we all had cell phones by then, we weren’t as attached to them. If you leave your phone at home in this day and age, you are probably crazy. Phones are basically an extension of the human body at this point. 

Postcards

Have you ever thought that young kids will never get to write a postcard? Nowadays, no one bothers to buy those printed photos, write a sweet message for relatives and friends, and lick a stamp to send everything to the other side of the Atlantic. Smartphones have made this beautiful practice obsolete. If you get the chance on your next holiday, surprise your friends by sending them a unique postcard!

Encyclopedias

We all love Wikipedia, but this useful website has a downside, too. Nobody will ever buy a beautiful printed encyclopedia ever again. These massive books, divided by letters, used to contain all – or most – of humankind’s knowledge. Who hasn’t spent an afternoon researching the most random things for an upcoming paper? From dinosaurs to electricity and World War I, we all remember browsing these massive tomes.

Blind Dates

Going on a blind date used to mean that you had never seen the person you were meeting and you probably had never talked either. We used to rely on our friends and family to set us up with total strangers and then just go along with the plan in total shock and surprise. Now, with the ability to check people’s social media accounts, LinkedIn profiles, and text anytime, the surprise of the blind date is totally gone. We now go into every new date situation knowing all about the other person thanks to a quick Google search and Snapchat stories.

The Busy Signal

In a world of instant messaging and video calls, hearing that annoying beep-beep is thankfully no longer a thing. All phones have multiple lines so you typically will never call someone just to hear a beep-beep busy signal. You will simply be auto-directed to a voicemail. Businesses also don’t have the busy signal anymore but almost always operate multiple phone lines at once. This is one piece of technology from ten years ago that we seriously do not miss.