People gain a lot of new skills and information as technology changes and grows. There is technology out there now that might not have been possible just a few decades ago. However, as old things become new again, some things become obsolete. As a result, younger people have no clue about some older objects and technology. For instance, most people who were born before 1980 can have the following outdated skills:
1. Doing Laundry Using A Twin Tub
An automatic washing machine is now the rule, so a twin-tub washing machine would be hard to understand for people born after 1980. However, it’s not likely that many older people miss the harder washing days!
2. Reading Paper Maps
People used to think that being able to read maps was an important survival skill, and they would never go on a car trip without an atlas. People had to figure out which way to go and pay close attention to the road numbers. It was easy to make a mistake! These days, many young people don’t know how to use a paper map because they have so many helpful map apps in their hands, according to WiseBread.
3. Diagramming Sentences
Making sentence diagrams is almost a lost art these days, but it used to be an important skill for anyone who worked with words. Now, people don’t have to learn the right way to put words together by looking at pictures. There are many tools and apps that can help them.
4. Punctuation
Many people on the Internet say that young people today can’t use proper punctuation. After all, it’s simple to understand how punctuation could become less important in a world where short emails and text messages are more common than formal writing notes and typed letters.
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5. Reading From Microfiches
In the past, people who wanted to read old archives usually used microfiches that had scaled-down versions of the texts. One person online says that using microfiches made them feel like a spy, which is something that, sadly, younger people will never get to feel.
6. Using a Rotary Phone
Many older people feel nostalgic when they see clunky rotary phones, but many kids find the big dial with the finger holes confusing. As more and more young people use cell phones, even the curved handle of a rotary phone can seem strange.
7. Using a Mangle
In the same vein as laundry, rotary ironers, also known as mangles, were once popular home tools that saved time. Today, using a mangle would be hard to do even if someone knew how to do it. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that people have lost some of their outdated skills, after all.
8. Finding a Book in a Physical Library
There are still libraries, but digital catalogs have made it so much easier to find books. This does, however, mean that younger people no longer look through library catalog cards and use the Dewey Decimal System to find information.
9. Using a Card Reader
If you were born after 1980, you might not know how to use a manual card reader, a skill that most cashiers used to have. Young people today don’t know much about making sure the numbers are printed properly on the paper before the customer signs.
10. Doing the Night Fever Dance
Many young people have great dance moves that they’ve learned from music videos and TikTok. But you can’t deny how much fun a (Saturday) Night Fever line dance is. Also, most people who can do other moves from the famous 1977 movie are older. In fact, an online group talked about many types of dances that most young people don’t know about.
11. Navigating an Encyclopedia
Today, most people don’t need to flip through the pages of an encyclopedia to find information because Google and websites like Wikipedia are so easy to access. People no longer have to turn the pages of big books to find new information; they can get it all with just a few clicks.
Read More: Why Adult Children Don’t Want Their Parents’ Stuff
12. Adjusting a TV Antenna
Knowing how to adjust the TV antenna used to be useful, especially in homes with kids (or adults!) who were eager to watch their favorite shows. Many older people probably feel relieved that they don’t have to figure out how to get the best service anymore.
13. Using an Adding Machine
Designed to help bookkeepers keep accurate notes, the big mechanical calculator took up a lot of desk space. Today, it’s not common for someone born after 1980 to know how to use an adder.
14. Cursive Writing
Many people who comment online think that young people no longer know how to write in cursive, which may or may not be true. To be honest, handwriting isn’t really cool anymore and is also becoming an outdated skill. Voice notes, texting apps, and other similar tools have taken its place.
15. Common Sense?
A lot of older people online say that people born after 1980 have lost the ability called common sense. This is likely something that people from earlier generations also thought. But it’s likely that their parents and those who came before them said something similar. For hundreds of years, beating up younger people has been a fun thing to do.
16. White-Out
White-out used to be very helpful for people who were typing a lot. With white-out, you could hide mistakes in a typed text instead of having to start over or accept them. Many younger people don’t know how to use a typewriter or fix mistakes with white-out.
17. Rolling a Cassette Tape
Cassette tapes are mostly useless these days because internet music services are so easy to use. While it used to be almost a necessity, many younger people never needed to know how to roll up a cassette tape with a pencil in one of the holes.
18. Memorizing Phone Numbers
Younger people will never get why it’s important to keep a little black book or remember important phone numbers. One internet user said, “After a few knocks on the head, I’m kinda happy that’s not necessary anymore.” This makes some older people happy that it’s one of the outdated skills that is no longer required.
19. Finding a Date
As a joke, some people on social media say that teens and young adults no longer know how to find a date without an app. People used to meet in a lot of different places, like at work, in a pub, or through common friends. These days, many people have a huge pool of possible dates that they can choose from with just a few swipes, making asking people out one of the outdated skills.
20. Play Outside
The things that kids do for fun are always changing. Kids used to play outside with their friends a lot. These days, kids stay inside a lot, play games, and talk to each other online. Children rarely play hopscotch or go on trips in the neighborhood.
Read More: People want to bring home economics classes back to schools to teach kids basic life skills
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