things we don’t do anymore

Every week after seeing Crazy menI am nostalgic for a simpler time in life. Back to a time when it took longer to get things done; which meant that you had to put a lot more thought and effort into what you were doing. She couldn’t just pick up her cell phone and send her best friend a quick text to share a funny story. If it was just near a phone (ie a LAN line), you usually only had 2 ways to reach it: at home or at work. If she wasn’t available at either number, she was out of luck. By the time you located it, the story was no longer as fun as you thought (which is often the case) or you had completely forgotten about it.

Although I believe that technological advances have drastically improved many aspects of our lives, I believe that they have caused a certain amount of undue stress and anxiety. In this “always on” society, we are often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff that we have to manage on a daily basis. For my part, I have a whole database of accounts and passwords; and this is after discarding several that I no longer use.

All this made me think about things that we no longer do (or that we hardly do). And the amazing thing is that much of the following list came to fruition only in the last 10 years or so. Looks like we’re getting a lot closer to catching up with the Jetsons.
10 things we no longer do thanks to technology

• Ask others for their phone number. These days, if you tell someone you’re not on Twitter or Facebook, they look at you sideways.
• Write letters. I can’t remember the last time I received a written letter in the mail. In fact, a personal email message is almost a thing of the past. A tweet or text is now the accepted (and often expected) means of written communication.
• Make phone calls. Thanks to the accepted print media mentioned above, even verbal conversations that don’t take place face-to-face are becoming less popular.
• Take traditional portraits. One of my sister’s old boyfriends recently contacted my mom and gave her a photo to give to my sister. In fact, she had gone to a portrait studio and took a picture and made prints. My sister and I couldn’t believe what we were seeing. It would have been much faster, cheaper, and less archaic if she had gotten her email address and submitted it online.
• Read the newspaper. Of course I’m talking about the printed version. Check your local coffee shop or bookstore and see if anyone has a paper on the table. Honestly, I’d have a hard time navigating a print newspaper these days. If I’m reading a story on page one, I’m likely to lose interest if I have to turn to page A7 to read the rest.
• Place a classified ad in the newspaper. Thanks to Craigslist and all the other online classifieds sites, you no longer have to call your local newspaper and verbally place an ad (not to mention pay a small fortune for it).
• Send invitations and thank you cards. I’ve had an Evita account for over 6 years and it’s been so long since I sent out a printed invitation. If any of my proposed guests don’t have an email address (yes, there are some “those” people out there), they may get a phone call or not be invited at all.
• Record TV shows on VHS tape. There will probably be someone reading this who doesn’t even know what a VHS tape is.
• Call 411. When I got my iPhone, the sales rep was explaining all the different charges and fees that I could see on my monthly bill. He told me the price of calling directory assistance and then emphatically stated that I should NEVER have to do that anyway. At first I was surprised by his cocky tone, but then I realized he was right. Google put many phone operators out of work.
• Keep up with the joneses. This one may seem less obvious. But let’s think about it. People are more interested these days in how many Facebook friends and Twitter followers they have than what kind of car the jerk next door is driving. I couldn’t care less about the promotion you got at work. Show me how many visits you’re getting to your website and we can talk.