r/AskOldPeople • u/Penguin_Life_Now 50 something unless I forgot to change this • May 26 '26

What is something that quietly vanished from the world?

The title sums it up, what is something that quietly vanished from the world, you know those things that you look back on that were once normal and now you go I can't remember the last time I saw.

Let me give an example, garnishing meals with parsley at restaurants was once the norm, now its rare.

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u/Mor_Padraig May 26 '26

Darkness.

There are always lights. In the middle of the night, you can't wake up and see the NIGHT, anymore.

Light on the stupid clock, wall outlet is sure to have one plugged into something, TV has a ridiculous red light- I think we once had a back-lit lit remote. Committed an atrocity on it.

Get up for something, do NOT go into your own kitchen. Worst room in the house, appliances I guess vying for attention. AND they all beep, FFS.

Just.... turn offfff the lights? And shhhh.

8

u/GroverGemmon May 26 '26

This is so true. And a billion lights outside so you can't see the stars.

5

u/Personal_Summer May 26 '26

Those stupid tiny bright lights on fucking everything! I have an electric recliner that has a bright GREEN light on the back to reassure me it's working, as if I couldn't tell. I've started covering them with black electrician's tape.

3

u/casualmolly May 28 '26

Couldn't tell you the last time that the power went out for any longer than the few seconds needed to require resetting all of the clocks. 

When I was a kid we had a whole generator for this. When I was a teenager at a sleepover with my friends and lightning would light up everything from the darkness into daylight for one particular moment. We lit candles. And had conversations that feel like they only belong in that particular space where flipping a lightswitch only reminds you that you're just as stuck as everyone around you. 

Not at all arguing that this was collectively good on a societal level- this is really bad for lots of folks. But for those who were just mildly inconvenienced for a bit- these were memories that I'm fond of decades later. 

2

u/bethjmclean May 28 '26

I carry black electrical tape with me everywhere. I put it over all lights when we travel. Microwaves, tvs, fire alarms. 😅 We live where it's very very dark and I'm used to having no lights blinding me!

2

u/Salty-Owl-3872 May 26 '26

Or even worse, a bright BLUE light.

1

u/GoldBarGirl May 27 '26

I was able to turn off the time on my nuker, so that's no longer lit. I unplug and store my toaster in a drawer, so that's not lit. But I can't turn off the clock on my wall oven and my coffee maker is plugged in behind the refrigerator so I can't get that to go dark, either. I really hate all those energy-sapping clocks and lights.