Things you hate about present compared to the past

I miss going to stores like Blockbuster. Renting movies felt so special.

I miss when being online was the exception to the rule. I would go on a vacation in the early 2000s and not check my email for the entire week.

Now, being offline is the exception to the rule.

This could be an age thing on my part. On one hand it's sort of good we have the more mindful approach like safe safes and so on.

On the other hand, I feel something slipping away and being lost. With the bad going, so is the good. Things change.

I understood this when I was on Ayahuasca. Things need to change and can't remain the same or it's death.

The death of nuance. Twitter killed it, and tik-tok tossed the corpse over the edge of a lonely mountain road.

R4 I blame Tumblr, much as I enjoy that site. It’s what started the “your fave is problematic” culture.

[quote]I hate how everyone is tripping over each to be the biggest extrovert to get the most attention on social media

Yeah, I can't imagine back in the day a dad coming home after a hard day's work to find his wife had spent much of the day memorizing dialogue from a TV show or movie and lip synching it while filming herself on TikTok. Or, back in the day, a guy videotaping himself while hiking or setting up a tripod to film himself working out at the gym or shooting basketball. And imagine someone showing you a photo album but first cuing music for background while you turn the pages...and all the photos are of them! It's all quite strange. The 90's were better than today in many ways, I think.

I miss not being drowned in email.

JFC, very website sells your information and you get drowned in bullshit. I can’t even keep up.

It’s fucking depressing, I just stopped checking. I HATE all of the endless emails.

Even when you unsubscribe, it never stops. They just use another email address to get by the filter. I wish I could block them all.

Although I'm very grateful for doctors and nurses, they really should go back to the old days of NOT dancing in TikTok videos, especially during a pandemic.

Back in my day you could go to Taco Bell with $3 and come away with a bunch of food. They had good things on the menu for 39 or 49 cents.

No privacy. You sign up for one thing and your personal information is sold, everywhere. And, then if there's a hack you're really fucked.

A thousand and twelve passwords. Hate them.

Knowing every thought of my friends and acquaintances, via social media. Bad break up? They whine about it, forever. Mad at their kiddo's teacher? Won't STFU about it. They have the runs? Fifth post this week. Everything that goes through their minds, they vomit into their social media feed.

I miss actually having to go out to interact with other people. You'd give your number to some guy and wait by the phone for his call. There was no checking up on him using social media. Everything was sexier and more mysterious.

I miss the death of romance and idealism with the devolution of social media to the lowest common denominator. Now we're monetized, capitalized, stratified, digitized, demographized into corporate echo chambers.

People’s opinions on Twitter being treated as something important and indicative of the real world by the media.

My single worst picture of the new reality is every single person witnessing some kind of emergency and holding their phones up to record it.

I could do without the fascism.

I miss thinking that most people were smart. Sadly, the internet has revealed the true nature of most people. I hate when I meet someone in real life, then add them on social only to find out they are racists, intensely stupid, or worse, Trump supporters.

No one having a general sense of humor without overthinking EVERY.DAMN.THING.

Case in point: driving down a road today, and I pass a sign "Slow Children At Play"...it's clearly meant to signal that there is a playground nearby, so slow the fuck down.

I smile and remember a time when my ex and i used to joke about road signs (in general, not just this one) and this one would crack us up, among many others. I feel like posting a pic to tag him with a ha ha face and a sentence about "remember when" or whatever, but then worried it would get misinterpreted, slammed, and that (I'm sure) i'd get an angry face or teary eyed face and several comments to indicate we were "making fun" of kids with special needs.

But we were not doing that at all - we were laughing at the "phrasing," not at the potential that there were "slow kids" at play. Just like we laughed at the "Stop ahead" signs and would giggle and smack our foreheads when we'd see that sign ("Stop A Head").

Sometimes, trying to be more aware about issues ends up REALLY tipping people over to the other extreme, and i feel like that's where we are now. Everyone is so goddamn sensitive about every fucking damn thing. And it's EXHAUSTING.

I miss bookstores.

Finding quality. Tired of rebuying clothes, appliances, and other items due to poorly made trend. Paying more doesn’t always guarantee quality nowadays. My biggest complaint is all the plastic packaging on food. We’re suffocating under a giant plastic covering! I’m old enough to remember items like shampoo and aspirin being sold in glass bottles.

I miss people dressing for the occasion. Now people dress only with personal comfort in mind.

I miss when people weren't constantly taking pictures of themselves with their mouth wide open and an over exaggerated surprised look on their face.

I hate that gold minds like Craigslist have been purged from the internet.

I love that OFs is offering up so many hot guys on a platter, but I miss the studio system of the 2000s with Sean Cody, Corbin Fisher, and ChaosMen providing hot guys for a reasonable price.

I love how open things are today, but everything is stuck in trends that individuality doest have time to breathe before it’s copied and monitored into mediocrity. Things just move too fast these days.

I also miss Tumblr for the Wild West baiting/Catfishing scene of the 2010s. Was madness but so fun.

My CL comment was about the male for male sex sections.

R14, as a Millennial, I hate this take. Psychology already proved that most people have never jumped into a situation. Most people in groups will wait for someone else to do something, which leads to inaction.

At least now, there is recorded evidence. On the flip side, some outlandish and necessary things have been captured by bystanders.

But even in the past, 95% of folks will not physically get involved in someone else’s situation.

Not a fucking thing.

Soulless corporate culture everywhere

Tipping culture and all the other bullshit fees that keep getting added on

Freakish plastic surgery becoming normalized

People thinking that they must have an opinion on every single issue and that they need to broadcast it to the world

I miss not knowing too much about celebrities

R27 I agree with this. I had a favorite singer for a long time, and would go to see him whenever he was touring. During the pandemic, he posted live videos on Instagram everyday, and I got completely sick of him.

I miss the mystique of celebrity. Social media ruined it.

The death of modesty.

Young people today are so fucking grim, sour, whiney and full of an almost paranoid assumption of ill will towards everything and THEY'VE BARELY LIVED ANY LIFE YET!

They don't seem to expect to have to spend their own money to pay for anything until they're twenty-four years old. WHY SHOULD THEY!?

I can't imagine how they would have fared here in NYC in the early 80s.

I miss Gay bars ☹️

I miss going out for a few hours a couple of times a week interacting with similar guys and not having to pretend I was anything other than a Gay guy. I miss flirting with guys and maybe finding one to spend some time with. I miss Pride. I miss the festive atmosphere of getting together with your friends and marching and just goofing off for a long fun weekend. It wasn't always easy being Gay, but it sure was fun

I miss gay ghettos.

R24 I think it’s about the intention. Satisfaction and pleasure from another person’s pain. These people are taking these videos because they can’t wait to show their followers something exploitive, it’s all for the clicks and likes. I don’t think people should have to jump in and help unless they’re willing and able, but does everyone need to video everything? I’m pretty convinced at least 45% of the USA right now would allow a camera to be permanently mounted to their head, like a GoPro, but installed in your skull.

Goddamned motherfucking self checkout!

Goddam, I fucking HATE those things! The tiny place to put your stuff, the tiny bagging area, nothing is marked correctly!

If you try to remove a bag from the minuscule bagging area, that stupid voice starts in. If you want to put something big (like bottled water) back in the cart instead of the tiny bagging area, the fucker stops scanning until you DO put it over there.

If you have an issue, it takes 20 minutes for anyone to GAF and reset the goddamned piece of shit.

God, I fucking HATE those motherfucking pieces of shit! Hire some fucking people, you greedy, useless corporate cunts!

R35 boycott places that have self checkout

I miss stuff made in the USA, it was well made and lasted.

If "everyone" around you is doing that, maybe your life choices is the problem.

*are, not is.

R38 R39 has obviously been on TikTok too much.

I hate that you can NEVER be totally LEFT ALONE. I used to feel a sense of relief while commuting or traveling anywhere because nobody could contact me. That feeling died many years ago.

That somebody as bland, uninspired and boring as Taylor Shit is considered the most famous entertainer in the world. Of course a large part of her success is her effective use of social media. Also the whole stupid Marvel thing, which is finally dying. Overall social media is the worst component of present times.

I miss when things weren’t over exposed and overly commercialized. Anything good is immediately saturated and milked to death. Announcing the Oscar nominations used to be a low-fi and low key affair. Now ABC makes it an awards show unto itself. Nothing can just breathe. It has to be bludgeoned to death. Today Show Halloween is now a “two day event.” It’s all so gross.

r43 Remember when the morning news shows weren't a carnival of clowns standing around making inane small talk? There used to be a level of warmth and comfort morning news shows now completely lack.

These influencers making big bucks doing tiktoks of themselves doing the most common, mundane, routine, everyday activities that virtually everybody does anyway without any fanfare or monetization.

Civility has left the building.

This will be a very popular thread.

I miss not being on a first-name basis with every Tom, Dick and Harry.

ITA, the embrace of fascism and people taking total leave of their senses gets me down the most.

The virtual standing ovations an individual gets from their facebook 'friends' for posting their otherwise innocuous activities. Its just ridiculously over the top, usually complete with an outsized emoji for the occasion.

Example: Bought a new TV today!

Typical Responses:

That's AWESOME!!!! You're the BEST!!! Is there anything you can't do????!!!!!

How easily offended everyone is, now. I've reached a point where I don't care about hurt feelings ,anymore. It's usually over petty shit and, honestly, just too much work.

I miss when people still believed that biological sex was a real and tangible thing, not something that one could change day to day due to their “feelings”.

I miss when being a masculine woman or feminine man wasn’t a big deal and didn’t require you to permanently change your entire identity.

Electronic zombies who walk face down at the 📱 phone.

This is a new phenomenon in the trajectory of human kind. It's a downward spiral and it's pathetic.

Electronic zombies who walk face down staring at the 📱 phone.

Pathetic

People walking around, slurping GIGANTIC drinks all the time. Soccer slides everywhere. Worshiping burgers and bacon. Vocal fry. Social media.

People like fat-hocked Demetria Obilor posting endless pictures of her FAT ASS squeezed into too-small clothes. She is deluded.

R43- I do. Now it’s just a parade of chatty bobbleheads who try to out-quip, out-banter, and out-self deprecate their fellow co-hosts. I have to believe they all hate each other’s guts. The worst offender of this is Today Show by a country mile.

The ubiquity of smart phones, texting and social media replacing face to face interaction and communication.

I am obsessed with my phone but I am not surgically attached to it

Hot tubs!

R41 Agreed. I used to travel periodically for work and hated it — mainly because I’d be staying in crap hotels in boring cities. The single thing I liked about it was that thrilling sensation I’d get now then, that nobody on earth has any idea where I am or what I’m doing right now. It was fun being under the radar now and then before everyone was living their lives online 24/7.

I miss macro* courtesy and kindness and, conversely, really inappropriate humor. I’m 56 and an old friend and I spoke recently about how raunchy we were in high school: boys and girls. We were raised on Mel Brooks, early SNL, and Porky’s.

*I encounter courteous people in my daily life but it seems like everyone online is a huge asshole.

Addendum: I miss not knowing that Jimmy Page fucked a 14-year old and thinking that he was just a handsome, weirdo badass.

I miss muzak in restaurants, department stores and elevators. It was so calming and soothing.

The idea that liking to a celebrity’s work means you condone everything they did in their personal life. Especially if they’re dead. Like it’s exhausting.

Sorry bad grammar. The idea that liking a celebrity’s work means you condone everything they did in their personal life definitely feels modern and it’s exhausting. Especially if they’re dead, who gives a fuck?

Egotistical bigmouths kept their fucking traps shut or else some nut would immediately be upon them with an assassin’s bullet when I was growing up in the 1970s. Our unstable population used to be more focused. Now they take their frustration out on crowds of innocents.

R32 where the hell do you live. Over here in Chicago, our gay bars abs gay neighborhood is still going strong. Some bars have closed but you will still find 10-15 gay bars with the clientele 70%-100% male.

Identity obsessed 'queers' hung up on labelling themselves every type of obscure.

^ Enjoy it while you can

Hi Debs

Conversations with other liberals that didn’t devolve into some uneducated wordsalad lecture on “POC” and “intersectionality”.

[quote]I love that OFs is offering up so many hot guys on a platter, but I miss the studio system of the 2000s

I miss the studio system of the 1940s.

R72 has never met a real liberal, just one neo-fascist rich kid from Mills who hasn't met a poor person in her entire 22 years.

This is an example though of how ridiculous republican propaganda sneaks through to infect people who should know better.

I hate the cow-like nature of people today and yesterday. Who gives a shit about Taylor Swift tickets or in the olden days Harry Potter. What sort of empty life do you have that you climb on to these bandwagons? It just seems more stark today because society is more fragmented so the obsessions of the mass shine out as even more ridiculous than they did in yesteryear, even though it's the same herd instinct of the lemmings in both instances.

And with today's right wing propagandists thinking they can use AI to fool all the people all the time about the nature of reality, I guess we are in for a new birth of slavery and probably extinction of 90% of humans.

I miss newspapers! Especially this time of year - on Thanksgiving weekend, the newspaper would be about five pounds, stuffed with slick color inserts from every single store, from Saks to Sears, that you could plow through to your heart's content. I used to love waking up on Thanksgiving morning and watching the Macy's parade (back when it was good, another thing I miss!) and leafing through those ads...there used to one devoted exclusively to perfumes, with three or four of those paper scent samplers...all of them advertising the gift packs that only came out at the holidays...

Newspapers used to have "society pages" and bridal and engagement announcements, with studio portraits of the brides and brides to be, as well as photos of gala holiday events at the symphony or the country club...and our paper used to publish the "100 Neediest Cases", with a couple of paragraphs about an anonymous mom whose utilities were being cut off and who couldn't feed her six kids...and all they were asking for were things like coats, sweaters, and new shoes...

And don't get me started on catalogues!! I used to love getting the Neiman Marcus catalog, the Horchow collection, holiday catalogs from Gump's, museum catalogs like MoMA, the Art Institute, Boston Museum of Fine arts, Sharper Image, Hammacher Schlemmer, even Harry and David!! I would PILE these up on my coffee table and flip through them over and over -

And don't get me started on MAGAZINES!! *sigh* - all of it gone.....

[quote]And don't get me started on MAGAZINES!! *sigh* - all of it gone.....

I'd get on a flight with Vanity Fair, The Economist, Vogue, NY Magazine and get lost in the pages. Those days truly are over.

SPY, the New Yorker (when it came wrapped in brown paper), American Film, National Lampoon, Rolling Stone...

I miss when setting up a computer and connecting to the internet used to take some smarts... It kept the riff-raff out 😏

Since cell phones and ubiquitous cameras, lockerrooms are boring now. Since cell phones and ubiquitous hook-up apps, bath houses are boring now.

Public male nudity is mostly gone. And it sucks.

There should be an ad showing the emergency room, with the three old women on stretchers. Joe Namath enters, saying, "Hi everybody! It's a good thing this lady had a Medicare Advantage plan, because a broken hip isn't cheap!" Then Tom Selleck enters and says, "Thankfully this dear old grandma had a reverse mortgage, which will give her the cash she needs to pay these bills when they start piling up!" And finally Jonathan enters and says, "Sadly, this lady didn't make it...but fortunately she had our $19.95 a month plan, which will help pay for her final expenses!"

It’s unfortunate that car bodies are no longer very interesting, attractive and distinguishable from one another. And old people are getting confused as hell trying to find their cars in crowded grocery store parking lots.

auugghh - R82 was meant for the "odious holiday ads" thread...my bad. I guess I need Prevagen!!

@r83, Ok, old person, identify each of these cars from the 30s... We'd wait, but you don't have that much time left 😏

Hudsons? Hupmobiles? Stutz Bearcats? Those were the DAYS, by cracky!!

PS. I moved R82 to the correct thread - I'm so proud of myself!!

Now, back to the "society pages!!"

I miss being having a cashier that isn't required to ask a bunch of questions. Email? Zip code? Phone number?

I miss having a cashier that isn't required to frequently solicit donations for some charity that the big company they work for will then donate in their own name and take a tax write off for.

[quote]Finding quality. Tired of rebuying clothes, appliances, and other items due to poorly made trend.

You need to shop at Gap.

I still have Gap clothes from Holiday 1992 that are in perfect condition with brilliant color!

I miss going to a fast food restaurant And actually getting my food within two minutes

There's something about a grandma with a tattoo sleeve I'll probably never get used to.

Living your life through a 6 x 5 inch screen.

R79 I was a big lover of magazines, and I miss Spy more than any of them. I would cancel all plans the night it hit my (physical, real) mailbox and stay home to read it. It was that good.

How males have become fetishized by everyone. The most basic guy now thinks he's catnip. They preen and flit about the world unattainable, exploiting the Thirsty.

Holiday 1999 at Gap looks like Heaven!

No nude male strip joins anywhere in the country anymore.

That really sucks.

I miss restaurants fully staffed with experienced employees

Yeah. With diverse menus. Even now every restaurant I used to love to go to before 2020 still has a limited menu compared to what they used to have. And of course, most of my favorite things are part of what was cut.

I m iss people working at fast food chains that were able to calculate correct change

R98, let's be honest, that's pretty much always been a problem. Though it was definitely less of a problem in the 80s, I'll admit.

I miss gatekeepers. As great and freeing as the internet is, I miss the days when someone with an opinion, a story to write, news to report, etc, had to win the approval of a publisher or editor in order to get heard.

R98 should have written "I miss paying with real money."

I’m so mad! Just found out my Nextdoor neighbor only has 4”

R81, it’s not restricted to full nudity. I miss being in the park on a warm summer day and seeing lots of shirtless guys. Today – if TV and movies are to be believed – younger men don’t even [italic]sleep[/italic] shirtless. (Are they worried about hidden cameras in their bedrooms?)

R82, I miss the dramatic annual style changes in cars, and the way there were trends in car styles over time just as there were in women’s fashion (which I also miss, by the way, since if most women today are following any sort of fashion, it must be “the cheap look”). However, I don’t miss the unreliability of older cars. So … yeah. That’s something that’s good about modern times.

The lack of “-ed” verb endings!!!

I'm this much closer to death and oblivion.

I miss my parents so much. It's hell not having them around anymore. That's what I hate most about the present.

There isn't enough space or time for me to list all the things about the present I hate compared to the past.

I hate that phones mean so few people live in the moment. Idiots ruining your view at a concert with their phone high in the air recording every song, people who can’t see a view or animal or anything at all without first grabbing for their phone, people who can’t enjoy a night out with friends without every second being documented on video/photos for social media, etc etc

There used to be really good sales. And coupons. 50% off before and after Christmas. A sale in a department store would start at 25% off. A month later it would be 50% off.a month after tat, 75% off. End of season sales.

With the internet came warehousing, Amazon started it, other manufacturers followed suit. No more 50% off holiday decorations and holiday candy - it just went back to the warehouse.

Businesses depended on sales to get rid of seasonal stuff and get people to spend money. Then Apple came along. No more sales. Then they started releasing a new version which required new chargers, new headphones, a new case. Then they stopped updating older versions.

Years ago Americans wouldn’t put up with that shit. The EU still won’t put up with a lot of that shit. But Americans, somewhere along the way, forgot how to save money. They forgot how to budget. Credit cards and loans made everything “affordable.” People *had to have* the newest thing. My son has to have the latest iPhone and nothing will deter him. He buys a new phone the minute it hits the net, and sells the old one. When he was younger he got a new iPhone case every month, returning the old one within 30 days. All his friends did the same.

Nowadays, there are no decent sales and companies squeeze every penny they can out of consumers. Then they go out of business after they took as much profit out as possible. It all started with Boesky and Milken. “Whoever dies with the most toys, wins.”

I guess people just aren’t poor enough to appreciate money nowadays.

Must we?

Where can you sell old phones?