50 Things We Stopped Doing Because of Technology

Here are some important takeaways from this infographic…

1) Inquire about information.
One of the greatest changes in our lives due to technological advancements is in how we look up and inquire about information outside our home. For example, what do you do if you want the listings for your local movie theater? Do you call them up or check out their website? In addition, many people are taking the time to plan their own vacations online instead of using the once popular travel agency. Tickets are also being booked online as opposed to over the phone as was previously popular. As a final thought, consider how you buy and sell things in your home. Do you do a yard sale? Do you take out classified advertisements? Although people still make use of these, the vast majority of people have turned to online message boards and online sales communities to buy and sell.

2) Record information.
Along with how we acquire information, technology has also changed how we view and record the information we love to watch or listen to. Take music for example. Gone are the days of the cassette. When mixed tapes were once all the thing, they have made way for CD players. Now even CD players have fallen out of use, instead being replaced entirely by digital devices. In addition to mixed tapes, cassettes, and CD players, VHS tapes have long ago fallen out of popularity. While there was a booming industry created by people switching out from VHS to digital, that to has died down as people have finished transferring over their information from one format to another.

3) Sending information out.
It used to be that people paid for the majority of their bills at the post office. Receiving an inquiry, they would then send out a copy of the receipt along with payment in the mail. This has long ago been replaced by online services, which guarantee quicker and more secure payment methods. Payphones have also almost entirely disappeared thanks to the incredible amount of cellphones currently on the market. Along with payphones having disappeared, so to have the average amount of change people carry with them to make calls when out. Handwritten letters have also decreased in usage as most people use e-mail instead.

4) Changed behaviors.
All of these technological improvements leads to one core difference, our behaviors change. We are less likely to keep personal, physical diaries. We rarely use dictionaries to look things up, and almost all essays turned into colleges for classes are done through computers.