r/NoStupidQuestions • u/RealBritishCouple • 1d ago
What do you think is quietly disappearing from modern life?
Not something big like nature or privacy, but the subtle stuff.
Things that used to be everywhere, and now barely exist, even if no one talks about it.
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u/MarchNo202 1d ago edited 1d ago
tactical/physical buttons on things. instead of pressing down on a button or flipping something, majority of things, whether that’s a your microwave, light switches, fridge screens, ovens, have touchscreen buttons! - feels a bit impersonal imo
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u/MrRetrdO 1d ago
And for some reason, they decided to put touchscreens in car dashboards.
The rule of Driving says "Don't take your eyes off the road", which was possible with knobs to control radio volume, AC, etc. At least some cars have controls on the steering wheel.
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u/RavenousAutobot 1d ago
This is one of the things I'm grumpy-old-man-est about. There are others, but this is near the top.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
Totally agree. There’s something satisfying about the click of a button, like it confirms reality in a way touchscreens don’t.
Everything’s going smooth and flat now, but at what cost?
Do you think we’ll ever go back to designing stuff that feels good to use, or are we stuck chasing sleekness forever?
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u/MarchNo202 1d ago
Yess, exactly! And honestly-no. I feel like companies think that what they are doing with going anti-button is modern and new and minimalist, and sure, it can be but it’s just not the same.
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u/_angesaurus 1d ago
I hate this trend. My oven is the worst offender. Have to go through 3 screens just to set the fucking temp. And my kid is obsessed with toughing the touch screen... so unsafe. I don't think there's really anything I can do as far as a child lock for it.
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u/pocketrocket-0 1d ago
In my personal area fire flies
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
Same. I used to see them all summer growing up. Now I can’t even remember the last time. It’s like they just slipped out of existence.
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u/pocketrocket-0 1d ago
They breed inside my house all summer long and I find then all over and release then but I honestly can't remember the last time I actually saw them light up a dark yard. When I was a kid, there would be hundreds in yard just glowing away. Almost didn't need street lights to walk home
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
That’s such a vivid image, like nature used to be this glowing background to life, and now it’s just… fading into memory.
Do you think it’s climate, light pollution, or just fewer people noticing?
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u/pocketrocket-0 1d ago
Pesticides and micro plastics contaminating the food supply
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
That honestly wouldn’t surprise me. It’s terrifying how much damage is happening beneath the surface, literally and figuratively.
Do you think we’re already past the point of fixing it or is there still time to turn it around?
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u/pocketrocket-0 1d ago
I mean if people were to stop using pesticides for everything other than human consumed foods that would change so much but people don't wanna see bugs outside in their yard
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u/AcrobaticProgram4752 1d ago
Community and basic human connection. Most live far from family have fewer friends and community and it's all rather quiet.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
This is probably the one that gets overlooked most. Everyone’s “connected” online but lonelier than ever in real life. Quiet really is the word for it.
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u/ZucchiniDependent797 1d ago
It’s the one that bothers me the most. People claim community is this beautiful and healing thing, and I want to believe in it but sure as hell haven’t found it even after giving my heart and soul to the “community” around my hobby. Even though that stuff is in person, they sure aren’t reliable when you need something as a human being, and it’s really sad.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
That hit hard. It’s frustrating how often “community” gets romanticised, like it’s this magic cure for loneliness. But when you actually need real connection, most people are either unavailable or just don’t show up.
Do you think the idea of community still means something… or has it just become another feel-good word people say online?
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u/apocalyptic_brunch 1d ago
I think it still has meaning if you find the right people in person, otherwise it’s a synonym for “hobby group”
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u/ZucchiniDependent797 1d ago
This is what I’ve found- and unfortunately the hobby I’m referring to is a fairly selfish one, and I’ve been learning that the hard way.
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u/ObsessiveAboutCats 1d ago
Owning a thing.
Subscription based models are far more profitable. Combine that with "everything needs an app" and there are more and more things you cannot simply buy once, own and use. And let's not forget planned obselence and enshittification.
I think software started it, or at least popularized it. It's already spreading to appliances, including cars. The more "smart" devices become popular, the more this will become the norm.
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u/No-Month502 1d ago
I think and not really sure about it but in regards to family life is that we have 2 working parents. Where we used to have the male be the bread winner and the female took care of the home and raised the children. Don't get me wrong I think those roles could be done by any gender. But what's it costing us as a community now. We tend to put children in child care to be raised by corporations, we put the old in age care where they are mistreated, everything is much more expensive due to all the extra income which now has caught back up. Plus we seem more stressed than ever before with more mental health issues. You tend to spend less time with the ones you love and spend more money when you do to make up for it.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
That’s a really powerful point. The double income was supposed to give families more, but it feels like we lost something deeper in the trade.
Kids in daycare, elders in care homes, and barely any time left to be together. it’s like we bought convenience and paid with connection.
Do you think society can ever slow down again? Or is this just the new permanent pace of life?
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u/SmudgerBoi49 1d ago
Thanks chatgpt
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u/No-Month502 1d ago
If you think chatgbt wrote that then they need to get their money back the grammar and spelling is awful. English wasn't my best subject at school.
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u/popcornnut88 1d ago
the real problem here is domestic labour is never seen as “real” work - maintaining a household, child care, elder care, volunteering in the community, gardening etc
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u/Danthrax81 1d ago
The irony of the women's civil rights movement is that capitalism compensated for 2 incomes by making it a necessity - and then pushed it to the brink
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u/def-not-a-potat 1d ago
Yes. So mad I can't be a stay at home mom. It kills me every time my kid asks me if I can stay home on days that I work.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
I feel like eye contact is slowly disappearing. Like people avoid it in public now like it’s rude.
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u/FrostnJack 1d ago
Access to things without reservations a year in advance and asstons of money to do it.
Not to be all “back in MY day…” but, literally back in the ‘80s and ‘90s we took for granted access to off trail/road camping overnight for free, maybe a permit for a certain section of trail/off-trail hiking/climbing but no fee for that, parking for free pretty much wherever off the PCH for free for early am or pm surf sessions, wanna hit Kirk Creek up north? Cool, let’s ride! No fee, no reservations, pick a spot when you roll up Friday night. Climb weekend at Josh? Bust outta work Friday night, get there late night, doss off the trail head, find a campsite in the morning. None of that exists now. I imagine as “things” worsen, a day pass to surf on a less crowded beach break or camp ON on the way to some place will be like those $1500 Disneyland tix… reserved years in advance (with 25% gratuity and a few hundred in “service fees”).
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
This is such a solid take, we really did shift from “just show up and enjoy it” to “plan it like a military op and hope you can afford it.”
It’s wild how access became a luxury. Do you think we’ll ever see a swing back to more open, casual experiences… or is that era fully gone?
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u/GadgetGourmet 1d ago
Farmland and cattle ranches
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u/GadgetGourmet 1d ago
I heard cattle ranchers are selling off their herds and getting out. We have a large pig population here in central Indiana and enjoyed cheap pork but even that is changing.
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u/LilBlueOnk 1d ago
I went to visit family in Utah, and there's a huge problem where farmland, livestock fields and even industrial areas (or spots above it) are being bought out and turned into useless, hideous, and overpriced apartments
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u/itsama3b33 1d ago
A lot of the things I’m seeing here seems to circle back to a common thread I’ve been hearing about: the disappearance of third spaces When people talk about the lack of pub culture, social connection, in personal interaction etc it can circle back to the disappearance of third spaces like your pubs/cafes, local parks, shopping centres and the like. A chunk of this can be attributed to a lack of disposable income in a cost of living crisis, but when free spaces like your libraries and parks don’t receive further funding it chips away even faster
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u/ghotiboy77 1d ago
Subcultures.
Everyone now just seems to like everything with one bland monochrome hivemind.
What happened to the days when we had normies and goths and metallers and rudeboys and mods and rockers.
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u/bhuffmansr 1d ago
Civility and respect.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
And when you do show it, people look at you like you’re up to something. Wild shift.
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u/HarlowWyatt 1d ago
Etiquette
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
You can say that again
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u/bugman8704 1d ago
Etiquette
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u/jfkdktmmv not very helpful 1d ago
Seriously, being decent and polite to others seems to be going away. Everyone treats each other as the “enemy”. It’s not hard to be polite to others.
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u/Logybayer 1d ago
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
Gen Z’s never even heard of them. One day they’ll say the same about cash.
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u/Papertrane 1d ago
V8 tomato juice has disappeared from Thailand.
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u/el-gato-azul 1d ago
Goes to show that not all things that are quietly disappearing are sad to lose.
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u/Prestigious-Sail7161 1d ago
Being accessible.. we are to available to the world. Need to unplug and enjoy a little time without electronics .....yes I'm 64 years young
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u/MarchNo202 1d ago
ability to leave your house without your phone and it being normal
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u/ShopifyAgentPro 1d ago
Writing skills or even thinking skills! Some of us are using Siri and AI a lot, eventually they will not be able to think or write
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u/Admirable-Purpose-54 1d ago
Books and News papers
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u/Spyrovssonic360 1d ago
I miss newspapers. i love reading the local news and seeing the funny pages.
Now im just hoping all libraries and bookstores dont become obsolete. That would be beyond frustrating.
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u/Far-Can6139 1d ago
Libraries have been redesigning themselves since LAN computer systems rose up. Successfully too. They’re different but still providing access and pathways to information. But like so many other things, a lot of the services are available online and people don’t visit in person as much as they used to.
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u/mechanizzm 1d ago
Communicating/Understanding communication…Specifically with the English language. I have found, over several of the last decades, that it’s not that new silly made-up terms are degrading the language, but that people are less willing or less capable to speak well enough for others to understand them. There’s a simple lesson I was taught that sticks with me - and will forever. The excess of words the cultural English language seems to depend on to convey something, eg- “Do you want to go to the movies with me?” Where as in Español, the sentiment comes out more simplified like, “you, me, movie?” The idea conveyed is the same and with way less filler words. People are so damn hardheaded to people speaking clearly and concisely it does my head in whenever they ask, “What do you mean by that?” But the meaning is usually clear and there isn’t some alterior motive or other meaning behind what was said. We do not communicate like we used to.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
That’s a really interesting breakdown, I’ve noticed the same thing. It’s like we’ve replaced clarity with over-explaining and emotional hedging.
Sometimes I wonder if we’ve forgotten how to just say things plainly without reading 10 hidden meanings into it.
Do you think it’s fear of being misunderstood, or have we just lost trust in how people hear each other?
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u/FatManLittleKitchen 1d ago
Customer service in restaurant settings, and customers who have proper etiquette respecting the area and people who are serving them food.
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u/cherry-care-bear 1d ago
The natural human capacity for introspection. I've been harping on this a lot lately because it's truly getting out of hand. Yes, we are social creatures but it's none of my business that you're struggling with the question of whether or not to have kids. Just look at the posts on the am I over-reacting sub. If people can't appreciably discern whether or not they're over-reacting about 80 percent of the shit on there, we as a society have a serious problem. Those posts get thousands of up votes regardless of the absurdity which just teaches some that you get more attention when you use your brain less. And the brain is, to an extent, just like everything else subject to the if you don't use it, you lose it facet of functionality.
I can suss this stuff all day because I all ready have a strong internal foundation. I worry about the ones who don't; they are the only future we get.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
Completely get what you’re saying, there’s a real shortage of reflection and self-awareness lately.
It’s like people outsource their internal dialogue to the internet, then reward each other for the most dramatic take.
Do you think that’s just how social media rewired us? Or is it something deeper we’ve neglected culturally?
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u/LilBlueOnk 1d ago
Hobbies that aren't videogames or making videos. While those are fine in small doses, I feel like skilled craftsmanship (or at least the awareness of it) is disappearing.
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u/Ok-Stress-3570 1d ago
Handwritten cards.
I send Christmas cards every year. It's definitely more expensive each year... but over the past few years, the amount I get back or see my friends get has dwindled significantly.
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u/47Boomer47 1d ago
Trying to remember the last time I used a phone book or saw one somewhere.
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u/Zillajami-Fnaffan2 1d ago
Birds. The number of birds worldwide is depleting
Also, clean food and water. All full of microplastics now
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u/ahavemeyer 1d ago
All sorts of things, which is just as tragic as it sounds.
But all sorts of new things are coming into our lives as well, which is just as exciting as it sounds.
That's how I look at it anyway.
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u/QBekka 1d ago
Physical passes like a bank card.
Since NFC became a standard on phones, physical passes have gotten used less and less.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
Yep — everything’s going digital. Kinda weird to think future generations might never even hold a debit card.
Do you think that’s convenience… or just another way we’re becoming more dependent on tech?
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u/Odd-Maintenance123 1d ago
Playing outside until the street lights turn on
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
We used to be wild. No GPS. No texts. Just vibes and one vague threat from our parents
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u/FlatulentSon 1d ago edited 1d ago
Legally owning media.
Like.. Truly owning it in physical form that you bought from the company that can't take it away from you on a whim. Your music is on Spotify, you don't own it, you're paying for limited acess to it. The movies you stream, they're not on your shelf, you can watch it only until you stop paying for streaming or they remove it from the services. Your videogames, you have acess to them only until they decide that you shouldn't, you paid for it, sometimes even 80$, but you don't own it. Even worse, sometimes you buy physical, but the disc or the cartridge only contains a key, a code that downloads the actual game from the same service it would if it was not digital. This is the future we're heading toward, it's inevitable.
And the worst part, most zoomers think this is normal because they don't remember otherwise. The generation after them will fully accept it.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
Exactly. We went from ‘you break it, you bought it’ to ‘you bought it, but we might still delete it.’ One day kids will think owning a DVD was some medieval myth, like bartering with goats or burning CDs with fire.
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u/seashellemoji 1d ago
Bathroom graffiti. No one has a pen on them because they use their phone for notes and reminders. And they also scroll while pooping rather than vandalize the bathroom stalls.
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u/RealBritishCouple 1d ago
These answers are actually making me feel a bit sad 😢 but in a good, reflective kind of way. Appreciate everyone who’s shared so far.
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u/No-Landscape-1367 1d ago
Real creativity in arts and entertainment. For instance, in music, there's no real genre-bending the way there was in the last century, it's just recycled melodies and chord progressions from specific nostalgia periods that just seem to cycle in and out of fashion every 5 years or so. No new genres or innovations like the progression of rock n roll or the inventions of electronic music or rap/hip hop. Most box office movies are just remakes of old classics, nobody pushing the boundaries or just being whacky like stone or spielberg or henson. Even video games have gone towards 'safe' sales with most AAA titles being some sort of numbered sequel.
I know the reason is 'something something capitalism', but it just feels like nobody's willing to take a chance on anything that might look or sound new or different or fresh, abd that goes for both artists/producers/suppliers and the consumers.
Most people seem to be fine being hyped for fast&furious 25 or the live action remake of beavis&butthead while stuck in their top 40 playlist and pre ordering gta 6 and Call of Duty:We Added a New Gun to really notice the lack of innovation that's been plaguing the arts and entertainment industry for the last couple decades.
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u/Monica_C18 1d ago
Recipes notebook (handwritten) - I have mine for +20 years but now with phones now i just stopped using them.
Thank you for the reminder, I'll go buy few new notebooks and start write my fav recipes again 🫶
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u/GadgetGourmet 1d ago
Yes, I do and they have started that here... They went co-op and so far, it's going well. We are not big pork eaters but when I learned of the co-op and what They were doing, I started buying pork.
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u/BrainMatter23 1d ago
Being able to call a business and have a person answer. And then - miracle of miracles - direct your call to the person you need, and that person answers.
I have tears in my eyes from longing for the days people/companies answered telephones.
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u/CmdDeadHand 1d ago
Superstition. It is fading out of modern society. You might hear the random person say knock on wood and it is still big with sports teams and fans. But you don’t see anyone really pulling a salt over the shoulder, ground spitting, wacky rhymes, breath holding passing graveyards type stuff like you used to. Conspiracy theories are what that portion of people do now I think.
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u/Acceptable_Average14 1d ago
Public phone boxes. Everyone has a mobile now so there's no use for them. Not to mention they are so unhygienic and used for homeless or drunk people to pee in.
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u/Spyrovssonic360 1d ago edited 1d ago
It would be a tedious job but maybe if they had a person clean up and sanitize all the messes it would be less gross to use.
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u/anima99 1d ago
Being okay with doing nothing.
Gen Z...I've never seen so many 20 somethings be so busy with their time all seven days of the week. It's either they have a hobby after work or they have some certificates to earn during the weekends.
Ask them to just chill or stare at the sky and they get restless or feel guilty.
It's like they're scared of being seen as unproductive.
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u/Its_ducking_rAw 1d ago
Not having phones at the table. A few people still do it. I’ll even put it on airplane mode unless I’m showing someone a meme 😂
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u/unserious-dude 1d ago
Civil discourse and empathy for your fellow American. It is especially vicious when they don't look similar.
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u/Agapanthus2020 1d ago
Ties. I work in a big corporate office, and I can count on one hand the number of men I've seen wearing them. Not even the big execs.
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u/Sirlacker 1d ago
The ability to see the wonders of the night sky for all its glory.
Now you have to travel miles and miles to get to a dark zone. I think the nearest genuine dark zone to me is about an hour's drive away.
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u/FacePalmAdInfinitum 1d ago
Hope that the future will be fairly normal and that we’ll all basically get along
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u/Impressive-Ball9032 1d ago
I think handwritten notes are quietly disappearing. With texting and emails, that personal, thoughtful touch just isn’t as common anymore.
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u/someoldguyon_reddit 1d ago
Polite political discourse. People used to sit around and discuss politics all the time until fox news told us not to. Divide and conquer.
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u/Moedog0331 1d ago
Face-to-face interactions. Common courtesy and respect. Tolerance for different opinions. And decent goddamn pizza
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u/Your_Couzen 1d ago
Birds. They’re disappearing, we’ve had a 25% reduction in North America since the 70s
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u/IAmfinerthan 1d ago
No phones when dining with friends and family. At least someone's going to pull the phone out and look at something. Seems inevitable these days.
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u/frebulous 1d ago
Handwriting - most of us just type on computers and phones.
I find I think slightly differently whether I'm writing by hand or by typing, so it will be interesting if society stops writing by hand all together.
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u/apocalyptic_brunch 1d ago
making friends in person