People Are Sharing Daily Habits They Used To Do All The Time, But Have Completely Vanished

Buzz Feed

06-04-2025

A lot has changed in the last few decades, and there are lots of little things we all stopped doing without giving it much thought. We asked the BuzzFeed Community to share the things they used to do all the time that have just disappeared from modern life, and here were some of the best responses:
1. Using an actual alarm clock.
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"Having to turn off the (OBNOXIOUS) alarm on my digital clock and then waiting at least one minute to set it again for the next day. So grateful for the invention of the iPhone's alarms."
—Inge
2. Having a landline phone, and everything that entailed...
"Having to memorize lots of phone numbers or keeping a small personal phone book with you because nothing was digital yet. You had to hang up to redial a correct number."
— bestpumpkin205
"When I was a kid, there was one phone in the kitchen. No such thing as a private conversation."
3. ...including needing an answering machine when you left the house.
"Coming home to check the answering machine! Hopefully, the tape wasn't full." — luckyaardvark7927
4. And having to use a phone booth whenever you were out of the house.
"Going to the phone booth to make a call."
— pinkduck363
5. Waiting for public transport with no real notion of if it was actually coming.
"No digital timetables/live updates for public transport. You would be at the bus stop with no clue when it was due. I don't miss the days when you had to trust the timetable, and if all went bust, wait for ages in the rain." — kitty
6. Having very serious limits to your ability to listen to music.
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"Records. If you wanted to keep listening to music, you had to get up and turn the record over. Or get a new record. You could only listen to about 20 minutes of music before it stopped and you had to do something."
—Charlie R.
7. Like, so many limits.
8. Having to wait until stores actually opened to buy things.
"Waiting until the store opened to do my shopping. Now, I just do my shopping on my phone while I'm lying in bed. If it's out of brick and mortar store, I'll pick it up in the morning, or just have it shipped to my house from Amazon or any other place."
— metallicsquirrel635
9. And generally leaving the house more.
"Little pleasures. Like going 'out' for a coke, or a drink. Now everything is stocked at home, can be delivered, and is just not fun."
— sportycupcake728
10. Using an actual physical map.
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"Keeping a map in the glovebox."
— lazyhero78
"Finding your way around town (or out of state) with paper maps has gone by the wayside — and I'm talking pre-MapQuest printouts. I grew up with foldable maps that came with my parents' AAA membership."
—Anonymous
11. Having the newspaper delivered every day — and reading it.
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12. And reading magazines so much you had a whole rack of them that you switched out regularly at home.
13. Sending and receiving snail mail.
14. Getting store catalogs and loving looking through them.
15. Not only changing the TV channel...but having to GET UP to do it.
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"Sitting close to the TV so when my parents wanted to change the channel, I could turn the knob. I'm only 44. Haha."
—Travis
16. Getting (and enjoying) unexpected visitors.
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17. Using the Big Computer for important (and unimportant) tasks.
18. Buying tickets in person.
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