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Among some of the things that just don't seem as relevant anymore or at least aren't as popular and available can almost be relegated to the realm of the nastalgic.

Remember Home (wired) telephones?  Not many will remember the pulse dial type but even the pushbutton desk/table/wall phones are disappearing quickly as cell phones and wire/cord less phones fill the void.  

What about board games such as Monopoly, Risk, or Clue?  Anymore video games or game apps have taken over the attention of game players and finding family members willing to set down to a  table long enough to play a game can be difficult anymore it seems.  

First the Record Album (78, 33, and 45 speed) then the Reel to Reel tape players, 8-Track, Cassettes all made way for the Compact Disk (CDs') and Record Stores made a quick exit from towns and malls.  While digital music and downloads are still relevant and LP Records are making somewhat of a comeback with some folks the Music Stores today are more the mega stores like Apple and Amazon downloading stores or platforms.  Even Blockbuster Video and game rental stores are down to one store nationwide mostly thanks to video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and especially Redbox locations and what used to be cheap $1.00 rentals.  

What about AM/FM Radios?  At least you still can find radios an integral part of cars but digital, satellite, and internet radio has opened up a whole new world to folks.  I can remember listening late at night to some of the mass coverage stations skip as they would come and go on the AM radio.  Many, if not most, people won't remember when Automobiles only had ONE radio speaker and that was dead center of the dashboard.  

How many can remember TV Repair stores/shops?  Used to be they were quite common and many had a TV Showroom in front and repair shop in back.  You would find Televisions that were essentially pieces of furniture and you really had something if you had a 25 inch console TV with AM/FM Stereo speakers in that woodgrain cabinet that took two people to carry in.  Then there was the dedicated Stereo dealers where you would find a lot of high end stereo equipment and usually they would also have TV or other entertainment items.  And speaking of TV's you had just about three or four available.  9 inch, 11 inch, 13 inch, 19 inch and then the glorious 25 inch screens and better not touch the back of any of them because they all held a bit of a shock.

What about Cameras and the Camera/Photography stores many of which had in-house darkrooms and film developing.  In department stores (what at those?) you would find film counters with print and slide film but today with most everyone carrying around a digital camera in their pocket that people call a smart phone which is really a multi use device with a phone app people are taking more photos and videos than ever before and nothing ever goes missed it seems.  

How many people have maps anymore or even know how to read and use a map?  We have GPS devices, built in maps in our cars, navigation systems to tell us where to go, when we will get there, and just about everything connected with travel.  War has even gotten technical and specific where in World War II and past wars whole cities and populations paid the price of mass carpet bombings to hopefully hit one target but today, what with the same GPS satellites someone on one side of the world or in a submarine under the sea can take out a single house or even a room of some remote location in the center of some country or city.  

The sad thing is this topic could go on forever almost because so many things have changed over the years.  Some things have greatly improved but I wonder if with the improvements and benefits we haven't lost some things.  Even gone are the days when you need a library to house your books.  Today in that same smart phone you can be carrying around your whole music collection, video collection, and a library full of books that would take rooms to hold the books if needed.  Rooms of file cabinets are also replaced with digital data and most everything financial now resides in a digital world.   Where are things going to in the future?  I don't even dare to think about it but you can bank that some people will be.  Here is the rub though.  What happens, God Forbid, if some future conflict creates a very real and plausible situation where extremely high EMP's wipe out all our electronics and send us all back to the Stone Age?   

Wow how many other things could be added to this nostalgic list?

Be as the Bereans ( Acts 17:11 )

Last edited by gbrk
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