People smoking everywhere

I don't miss only having 3 channels to watch and having to be home at a particular time to watch something.

Getting paid by check instead of direct deposit.

The school bullying.

Smoking.

Do you know why all the wall paint and curtains of the 70s and 80s never included pristine white? Yes, that’s why. I’m convinced the choices of golds, oranges, and browns were just giving in to the inescapable film of nicotine tinge on everything, everywhere.

To this day, when I see “cream”, “ecru”, “chiffon” or any other creative name for not-quite-white, I think of nicotine stains.

Restaurant smoking was the worst.

I’ve never, and this is likely why. Growing up in that acrid awfulness was a great deterrent.

I do not feel nostalgia for the information isolation and bottleneck prior to the late 90's, like needing the newspaper classified ads to find a job, music discovery was primarily limited to local FM radio (although I'm totally disenfranchised from streaming ads with a little bit of music added into the gaps), and cable TV as the only form of home entertainment. I am nostalgic for the age of ownership and citizenship. I hate neo feudalism and the corruption of the tech bro oligarchy, but I digress.

The fact that I can have New Pipe content filled with people holding masters and doctorate degrees while communicating in a layperson format is awesome. I can't imagine how terrible physical disability would have been if I couldn't take a break from a project, like right now, and feel like I'm in a casual conversation with a real group of people despite being in bed hurting. It lacks the same psychological depth as in person interchange, and people often fail to understand the depth or specificity of what am talking about here, but it is better than nothing by a long shot. The negativity of the average anon seems to get better with time in the present age. We are still not at a point where we can be wrong in a truly civil way and see value in people. We do not seem to process that we are all evolving and a growing mess of change at various levels, but we are getting there slowly and we are a long way away from the negativity of the early internet. So yeah, if this is the information age, I do not feel nostalgic about the previous information bottleneck.

Leaded gas

VHS tapes, and having to rewind them.

Although the ability to record almost anything on a cheap VHS tape was nice, now everything has copy protection.

I don't miss having to have a separate device for digital photography. I remember having to pay 4 or 500 for a decent digital camera that fits in your pocket. When I got my first smart phone about 15 years ago, I took a picture with it and compared it to a decent Canon and a decent Fuji camera, that were one the best ones you could get in Best buy at the time for that budget. I compared the images and they sucked compared to my phone. Smh. Now my phone is around 4 or 500 and way better than basic digital cameras you can fit in your pocket, with way more functionality.

School. I don't miss any of it.

You see movies and TV shows romanticising middle/high school a lot, as though it's all about parties, friends, hanging out, and getting into relationships. It's not that. Just an endless barrage of busywork with the occasional holiday.

Cable television.

Every time I visit my mom she has it on and I can't believe I spent an entire childhood putting up with that shit. I can't even watch it while I'm there. Too frustrating.

As trivial as it sounds, pornography.
Imagine having to pull out the trench from the winter drawer and drive to another town's smutt shop, so they don't recognize you, every time you feel like wanking

I actually miss that all the things take a wile to start or function. Im not happy with this fast life were all its instantly. That only give me anxiety.

Vaporwave... It was cool for like 2 minutes in 2015 but it got old very quick. Just get any 80s song and slow it down on some free audio software. In a lot of ways it could be seen as a precursor to other trash like nightcore or breakcore.

Changing CDs just to listen to a few songs from a different album. Also carrying around CDs.

My childhood. I don't understand people who do. Mine was mostly loneliness, confusion, trauma, emotional neglect, guilt, shame, some abandonment, some physical abuse, etc. Every day has been a step towards better than the previous. I don't want to or miss anything going backwards.

Cassette tapes. Sure, they where handy and cheap, but the sound quality wasn't great and got worse the more you use it.

Gay jokes on TV. You know the kind. "it's funny because it's gay", very prevalent on series like Friends. Friends is a great show even today, but I do not miss the gay jokes.

Cars that would vapor lock when driving in the mountains.

collecting wood for heating.

Smokers.

Not that gasoline cars are gone (unfortunately) but I personally won’t ever go back to it. Electric cars are just so much better in any way except range and charge time. But those are honestly overblown topics that you won’t think much about in your daily life once you got used to it.

Lemmy.ml leading up to the election.

Having to do yard work or setting up holiday decorations outside. Ever since moving from a house to an apartment, I've had zero yard work outside of picking up dog shit when walking my brother's dogs and the closest I've come to holiday decorating is setting up a fake indoor Christmas tree and decorating it.

Used to have to do a lot of leaf picking up and weed pulling growing up. Never liked it and still don't because of how long it'd take and how I don't like getting dirt dirty. Also, I was never a massive fan of decorating outside, specifically just Halloween and Christmas, because my family used to have a ton of decorations and my mom always wanted them a certain way, even if that meant taking a few down and moving them. Lots of work over a weekend. Looked good afterwards, but I can't say I've missed putting stuff up. I'll leave that to other people like the people near me who for some reason still have Halloween decorations up.