I've lost count of the amount of times I've said to myself... "How is this still a thing in 2022?!"
Like... WHY?!
Season 9 Nbc GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Uploading your resume and then slowly typing in everything on your resume into forms…"
WildResident2816
So OLD!
"Fax machines, invented in 1840-something."
cszintiyl
I used to work IT for a clinical lab, and HIPAA is pretty strict on how I can send patient results. Usually, there is an online portal that they can retrieve it from, but if they were unable to get it there, I was only allowed to fax it to the requesting physician. So I would get patients and angry doctors yelling at me because I wouldn't email or text their results. They couldn't understand I would be breaking the law if I did."
draiman
Mary functions...
"There are lots of organizations and companies using tragically vulnerable computer systems and software to operate important functions. Everything from infrastructure to finance."
toughs**t
"I keep telling my students: The career to go into right now is cybersecurity. You’re gonna see a huge spike in growth over the next ten years as companies realize that trusting Mary the 55 year old middle manager to not open every email attachment is perhaps not a sound strategy for preventing incursions."
grammar_oligarch
Grandma's House
"My brown bathroom set."
sodpower
"My grandmother's house was built in the 80’s. Each bathroom had a matching color porcelain sink and toilet. My uncles shared a bathroom which had a brown set and the guest bathroom was a navy blue set."
"One vacation I was visiting and got an intestinal infection where I was shi**ing out blood for a few days. Only way I could tell something was really wrong was from the toilet paper… Otherwise the stomach pains just felt like really bad gas and you couldn’t see anything that dropped into the toilets."
PrincessPeach1229
Covers
toilet GIFGiphy"Those carpet looking toilet seat covers..."
t_boy7406193
"Other than my grandma's, I have never seen anyone else use any sort of toilet seat cover."
Seat covers should only be easy and made of paper.
just grinds up...
jim carrey screwdriver GIFGiphy"Flathead screws."
ICantRevealMyself
"Philips are worse. The screwdriver just grinds up the screw heads. Torx or Robertson are far superior."
WaterCluster
How to Record
"Cassette tapes. You can still buy them at the store for some reason."
Its_GameOver
"Tape is actually much more reliable and stable than pretty much any other storage medium for digital information. So if you want it to last a long time tape is a good choice. Especially if you don't have access to the internet to stream/download stuff."
"I know you're talking about music cassette tapes, but tape is still big in the IT world for large data storage because it's so stable, and for it's high capacity. You can get a 15TB tape cartridge for £60 ($71.50). https://www.scan.co.uk/products/quantum-mr-l8mqn-01-ultrium-lto-8m-12tb-native-30tb-compressed-data-tape"
The_lurking_glass
between 1987 and 1994...
"The LLV (long life vehicle) in the post office. I mean they were made between 1987 and 1994. They called them the long life vehicle and then only put 5 digits on the odometer. They don't have AC, they sometimes catch fire for no reason, they put out less than 100 horsepower when new, and are rear wheel drive."
bluebird0713
Payments Rendered
"Checks. They are so unbelievably not secure, your whole routing and account number just there for anyone to see. And if someone uses it fraudulently, there's nothing for it but to get a whole new bank account."
Vero518
"Not really, a check is payable on demand but requires your signature. You are not responsible for checks that you didn't write. You do have to let the bank know, when you get your statement that the checks are not yours."
ArtDouce
BEFORE
Teddy Bear Cartoon GIFGiphy"Still filling out physical paperwork at the doctor's office. Please go to digital so I can fill it out BEFORE my visit."
otherm0ther
"What’s great is when you fill it out online but they still insist that you write all the same information in pen on a form that is clearly a xerox of a xerox of a Xerox."
WaterCluster
Why so much paperwork everywhere? Makes no sense.
We could just leave whenever we wanted to!
"Knowing where your kids are 100% of the time."- bradland
We're all wired up today!
"No one had a computer in their house in 1972."- tcharp01
Buckle up!
"Car seats for children."
"And most of the time we sat in the back seat with no seat belts available."- Rosemoorstreet
"Wearing seatbelts."
"There were no sensors- seatbelt were just shoved out of the way."
"Carding for cigarettes."
"Machines were everywhere for anyone to use."- factchecker8515
buckle up crash test dummies GIF by ADWEEKGiphyIn the old days, we had one chance!
"Watching an entire TV series at a time that's convenient for you."
"VCR's weren't even a thing 50 years ago, so if your favorite show was on Wednesday at 8PM, you were either at home to watch it or you missed out on it forever."- DeathSpiral321
Music on demand!
"Listening to the song you want to where you want to, rather than whatever is playing wherever you are."- jfincher42
GiphyBeing beholden to a landline!
"I am amazed to think about how disconnected we were."
"I could wake up on a Saturday morning and start calling friends."
"It was possible that not a single one picked up the phone and that was that."
"I would be on my own unless I waited a few hours and tried again."
"Also, in my area, the adults in the house almost always answered the phone so you had to get through them to your friends."
“'Hello, is Johnny home?'”
"'Hi this is his mother, what do you want?'”
“'I was wooooondering if he could come out to play'.”
“'Well he’s doing homework right now but I’ll tell him you called'.”
"As a kid, our times were divided between when we were 100% under adult control, which was when we were physically in their presence, and when we were free which was all other time."- Mrmidhoratio
"Asking 'Where are you?' when someone answers their phone."- brontosproximo
Shocked Phone Call GIFGiphyNo wonder they were all so tan...
"Regularly wearing sunscreen."- dixius99
It's amazing to see how much the world has changed in such a relatively short amount of time.
Leaving us to wonder what things will be "normal" 50 years from now, which today the very thought of would make us burst out laughing.
Redditor LastPoopOnTheLeft asked:
"Without revealing your age, what is something from your childhood that 'Kids These Days' wouldn't understand?"
"Not only did only 'rich people' have more than one phone or even just one with touchtone, most of us had a party line. It meant you and your neighbors had different phone numbers, but you all shared the same line."
"You could pick up the phone and listen to your neighbor's call. And if they were using the phone, you couldn't."
"If you had an emergency, you'd have to interrupt their call and ask them to hang up."
-LakotaGrl
cassette tape GIF"Calling into the radio station to request your favorite song for your mixtape then waiting with your fingers over the record button to see if they play it."
-HazySnowDays
Who Was Going To Answer The Phone
"Calling a girl and her dad answers the phone. That sh*t was rough, kids."
-clydem
Giphy"Calling a guy on the phone and his dad answers and they sound alike so you just start talking and then he cuts you off laughing and you realize you may have been a little too familiar and now he can probably guess you're banging his son on the regular."
-lolabythebay
TV Was A Lot Different
"I recently had to explain what 'changing the channel' meant to my small kid because he only knows streaming."
"We’ve already covered CDs, VCRs, and what it means to roll down a car window."
"It was a little rough (for me, not him). Edit: oh and we watched 'Turning Red' and I got to explain what a flip phone is."
-Proper-Emu1558
Giphy"I was the youngest so I had to sit by the TV and hand turn the channels for my siblings. This was the 1980s."
-harlemhon
"It’s not working, cuz it’s not on Ch3"
-moridin82
Be Kind. Please Rewind
"Rewinding vhs or a cassette before returning."
-est1979
"Cassette tape rewind with a pencil ✏️ 😂"
-Sparkedmoon
Giphy"And those rewinders that looked like cars and were super fast."
-BussHateYear
"Lol I remember when we got our first DVD and DVD player, and my mom (bless her heart), was like 'how do you rewind it?' And my dad was like 'woman it's like a CD, you don't need to rewind!'"
-bcoftheimplication7
Chains Of Ignorance
"The things on Facebook that say repost this… they were called chain letters back in the day, and you got them in the mail."
-Plenty_Surprise2593
Giphy"Chain letters! I’d forgotten all about those. 'Make ten copies and mail them within 10 days or evil will befall you…' Ha."
-BrnEydGyrl
No Saving It
"Playing the same level on a game over and over because there’s no Saves"
-drevilishrjf
"Writing down codes after passing a level"
-Duochan_Maxwell
Giphy"Got a PS1 and MGS1 (secondhand) for Christmas, little did i realise i need to buy a memory card to save my games. For months i got through the game by speedrunning it from the start to whatever level i last played."
"When i beat sniper wolf pt 2 the console tells me to insert disc 2, only had one disk lol. Never played the game again"
-blinky9021Flow
"KEEP ON PUTTING IN QUARTERS!!!"
-Pentacostal-Haircut
"And your *ss better be up to watch them or you're waiting until next Saturday."
-Facelesspirit
"And god forbid the episode this weekend had any relevance on the following weekend."
-LazyTitan39
Art That Glows
"That Lite Brite was peak technology"
-shanecdotes
"Lite Brite IS the peak of technology"
-Lukas7088
Giphy"I still have the lite brite jingle stuck in my head."
'🎶lite Brite, making things with light!!!🎶'"
-F**kYouImFineThanks
"Yeah, and they played the national anthem before they did!"
"Then, it was the test image, until 4 p.m. on the next day, except during school holidays, when there was a special holiday program which started at 3 p.m. :-)"
-P44
Technology has evolved explosively over the last few decades, but some things have absolutely stuck in our minds.
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For the ones who thought they deserved better, Redditor Jalb101222 asked strangers on the internet:
"What's the worst Christmas present you have received?"
Family members just don't have a clue.
The Thought Didn't Count
"Every year my aunt gives our family 'Thrift Santa' gifts, like a bunch, from thrift stores. The thing is, nothing relates to anything. The worst I've gotten are among a Kama Sutra book when I was 13/14 (awkward), and a New York Yankees baby onesie. I don't have kids, I don't watch baseball."
– Yippee614
Worse For Wear
"When the tomagotchi craze was in full swing my siblings and I asked for one."
"My sisters both got one, and I got a jacket because mine was torn up and small."
"When I asked my dad why I didn't get one and if Santa thought I did something bad that year. He told me I was too old for Santa and needed to learn life isn't fair."
"I was 8. My sisters were 7 and 5."
"From that point forward I only ever received clothing."
– dariusz2k
For A Prospective Forensic Scientist
"My mum is notorious for bad presents, I've had such delights as toothpaste and vitamin pills wrapped up for me at Christmas."
"But one that stands out was a car crash kit. It had a disposable camera for recording the scene, a form for both parties to fill out, a tape measure for measuring... I dunno stuff and some chalk, for what I assume was for marking out where the dead bodies landed, or something, I dunno."
– X-cessiveDreamer
A Traumatic Experience
"My great grandma gave my cousin a jock strap from goodwill. Her mental health was bad at this time. 1992ish? He started crying. He was 9."
– mistahmarbles
Grandma's Taste In Fashion
"My grandmother was terrible at picking out clothes. When I was around 13, she got me a shirt with a puffy panel on the chest with a zipper to, I guess, store things in."
"She gave it to me Christmas Eve, and I had to make sure I wore it Christmas Day when she came around. Like the bulk of the clothes she bought for holidays or birthdays, it was worn once or twice, then promptly stuck in the back of the closet for a year or two until I outgrew it and had to throw it away."
– wetwater
Budget Gourmet
"A box of top ramen. Just a standard grocery box of ramen bags. It was wrapped up with a nice bow too, and it was not gifted as a joke. My family knew I was having financial troubles and was only eating one meal a day, they honestly thought they were helping me out."
– The_Quicktrigger
You can't always get what you want. Worse, you get what you don't even need.
They Must've Been On The Naughty List
"My husbands step mother gave me, a 36 year old at the time, a kindergarten size back pack and when I opened it she said, 'I actually bought that for ——- (a child) a few years ago and she hated it so I threw it in a closet and I saw it and thought you'd like it. None of us did, we all think it's ugly.'"
"That same year they gave my 3 kids gifts totaling all together $15 with the clearance stickers on them while her biological granddaughter opened a $300 unicorn. Which they made sure we knew cost $300, and then they pointed out to everyone our clearance stickers and what great deals they were (they weren't), and then they made my kids leave the room so the grand daughter could take pics alone with her unicorn."
"It was the last Christmas we visited them. lol"
– simplysufficiant
Because Homewares
"A dishtowel.. I was 8 years old."
"Oh, yeah. That was very common in my country until recently. Especially the older members of the family would give household gifts to the children, especially the girls."
"It's based on the tradition of the couple moving into the same household after marriage. Usually the women would bring the household furnishings to the marriage. So from a young age, girls receive gifts like this and gradually build up this equipment so that families don't have to buy it all at once."
"This was especially common among less affluent families."
"An elementary school teacher of mine once told us the story of how she received a set of towels from her grandmother for Christmas when she was about eight (this was in the 1940's). From her grandmother's point of view, it was a generous gift that she had carefully chosen and had to save money for all year."
"But it was a terrible disappointment for an eight-year-old girl, and she didn't hide it. She said she later regretted her reaction, which is obvious because she still remembered it even at seventy. (She told us this story to teach us a lesson about gratitude)."
– NeutralWitch
A Musical Hint
"Since my dad isn't on Reddit I will share his story for him. When he was young he was hell bent on becoming a drummer. He would make full drum kits out of my grandmothers pots and pans and whatever he could find. Very detailed set ups. After months and months of building drum sets and drumming on anything he could find he woke up Christmas morning…to an acoustic guitar and guitar lessons."
"He told me he took a few lessons and would always end up flipping the guitar over in the class with the other students and just play it like bongos."
– Swarhammer
People Explain Activities They've Added To Their Post-Pandemic Bucket List | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
While we've all been cooped up for the better part of two years, many of us have been dreaming up exciting plans for the future. Maybe it's finally time to s...They Cut So Deep
"A set of miniature butter knives with ceramic fruit and vegetables as the handles. From an aunt who said that I was 'So hard to shop for.'"
"I was 7."
– vodkaenthusiast89
Worst Surprise Ever
"A comic book that was laying around the house for several months which I read twice in this period. I didn't know it was supposed to be my surprise present."
– Cheap_Stay2750
Premature Grooming Delight
"My dad, his first christmas divorced and living alone, first time ever shopping for us clearly lmao because my mom did all the shopping before, got me a nose hair trimmer..."
"I was 12."
"And definitely did not understand why I got that gift."
– ThisSorrowfulLife
That Stinks
"When I was 5, I had gotten a sephora gift card from my grandma. My mom ended up using it."
– Miranda9091
Gift comparisons were made, and these Redditors got the short end of the stick.
Put To Use
"When I was 10 years old my grandparents gave me an unwrapped suitcase for Christmas. In the interests of convenience, they used that suitcase for the wrapped presents for my sisters."
– ragedandobtused
"Misplaced" Gifts
"The time I was really into Green Day and the emerging 'alternative' music of the mid 90s. And my mom bought me a few CDs (back when CDs were something stupid like $20 each). Wow! Awesome gift! Except the CDs were Toni Braxton and Mariah Carey and something else I've completely forgotten."
"Or the Christmases when my brother would get a pile of presents or something pretty expensive (foosball table, air hockey table, etc), and I'd get a couple books and lipgloss. I love those things, so the gifts themselves weren't bad, but I was clearly not the favored child."
"In the aftermath of gift opening, mom would look at the pile my brother got and the few gifts I got, then make a big show of stomping around the house claiming she knows she got more for me, she must have misplaced all the other gifts! Without fail, for several years in a row, she 'misplaced' my gifts. Because she realized in the moment that she spent waaaaay more on my brother than me. Never once did she find these 'misplaced' gifts."
"And to make it worse, my birthday is shortly after Christmas, so I never got much for my birthday because the budget was blown on Christmas. My brother claims he remembers me getting sh**ty birthday gifts and I was always jealous of his. I don't have any memory of that, but it very well could be. (The worst birthday was the year I only got a Bible with my name stamped on the front in gold lettering. That's a birthday I remember quite clearly.)"
– daughtcahm
How One Becomes An Ex
"The year I gave my ex husband a Tag Heuer watch he gave me a $19.99 Walmart blender. We already had 3 blenders."
– tealgrayone
Why Lamborghinis Suck
"A Lamborghini calender. My brother got a guitar and amp. My two sisters got a bike each. F'k i hate Lamborghinis now."
– Stickmag
The Punishment
"When I was 12 I bought myself a kindle. Me and my sister spent an entire summer working for our grandpa and stepdad to save up for them, each of us spending about 200$. My mom got all 3 of my brothers a kindle for Christmas and I got some Clothes from old navy."
"I was livid and when I talked to my mom about it she told me that my sister and I had been excluding our brothers from hanging out while we played videogames and it was unfair. She never apologized or saw anything wrong with what she did, and I honestly still haven't forgiven her almost a decade later."
– BlueButterflies139
Walmart Finds
"On my 10th birthday that my parents kept making a big deal about (double digit age i can legally babysit now) my dad went to walmart the day before and came back with 2 wallets and a ipod that my sister started asking for a week before my bday."
"I get a wallet and my younger brother got the same wallet and he gave my sister the ipod. I felt so depressed after that and my grandparents took me to walmart with $20 to spend for my bday. When we were checking out i saw the wallets by the candy where the cashiers are and they were $1. I got reminded of it and went to look at the ipod my sister got and it was either $250 or $350 bucks...we ate frozen corndogs and ramen everyday so it seriously hurt to see that."
"Edit: there were alot of other f'ked up things my parents did, but my sister was my dads fav (middle child) and younger brother was my moms (youngest)."
"When i turned 16 i wanted to test to see if they would even notice if i stopped talking, eating, and leaving my rooms..a year and a half later they finally said something, if i wasnt at school i just went in my room and slept and didnt eat their food. Met my wife and as soon as i turned 18 her gma let me move in and i havent spoken to my parents in almost a decade."
– AutomaticRisk3464
A Sibling Scores
"I got a bunch of combs and a cheap children's chemistry set that I already had three of. My brother got some DS games and a lego Star destroyer."
– cobalt_phantom
It's funny how our tastes evolve from when we were kids.
My parents' friends typically bought me clothes, which I never appreciated because I always wanted TOYS.
One Christmas–I think I was around 12—I was given black and red Nike high-tops from a family friend, and I scoffed at the reveal after anticipating something more exciting, like, I dunno, the Star Wars Power of the Force Hoth Battle Playset made by Kenner?
I ended up asking to have the sneaks sent back and lying that the shoe size was inaccurate as the reason.
Man, I wish I had those AWESOME high-tops now! Actually, I would appreciate them now. Because I still want the Star Wars playset, TBH.
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