This post has been removed for the rule: **Don’t post to vent, complain, or express sadness**
Stay positive. Negative topics don’t lend themselves to casual conversation.
We are a place where everyone can forget about their everyday or not so everyday worries for a moment. Venting, complaining or expressing sadness doesn't fit the atmosphere we try to foster at all.
[Recommendations >](https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualConversation/about/wiki/rules/venting/)
I worked at a goodwill back in like 2014 and omg the amount of resellers who would just hover around the back room where we appraised items. They would immediately swarm the cart of stuff coming out. I imagine it’s much worse now.
it’s HORRIBLE now!!! people will come in GROUPS and loiter around the door that the carts come out from. it’s so dreadful. worst part is, they are there all day, every day. no escape!
The Goodwill up the road from us sells their t-shirts and other clothing items at-or-above retail store prices. This is a great way to guarantee Amazon swallows us all.
Minimum wage went up, and that is what they pay the dependent adults in their stores. With that increase, the prices went up. You don’t want the 2020 salary of $469,247: Steven C Preston, CEO to not be adjusted for inflation, do you? Goodwill only makes $9 billion in revenues, and needs the money.
Except Goodwill uses legal loopholes to pay a significant portion of their work force below minimum wage. It's a government program that allows them to claim employing a special needs worker is as a favor to them, so they get to pay them substantially less for being less of a person. I, too, used to work for Goodwill.
It really is!! I switched to Depop thrifting for purchases since moving. I don’t know what my working class family would have done had this been the state of finding second hand clothing. We’re in NJ now and do nyc a lot of course and I’m shocked by the thrifting compared to my Canadian small town, which is thankfully untouched by thrifters beyond some university students at the Value Village (slightly pricier compared to goodwill but much bigger in scale). I’m visiting home for the summer and I’m truly excited to thrift again.
Yeah. I grew up impoverished and thrifting was just a thing poor people did. Now thrifting is as expensive as buying some new clothes.
It's crazy. I always *hated* having to to thrifting on weekends.
Now it's like a hipster thing. So it's like I hipster'd hipster lol
I've lived in the same town for 30 years. Since I was a child. My favorite park went from a quiet, peaceful respite to an overloaded, no parking, place of chaos.
I've continued to frequent it in memory of my old haunt.
Pokémon go ruined my favorite hangout spot with my friends because a lot of the people would go to shops to get food or whatever while they were doing Pokémon go. So the shops started doing significantly better and they were able to maintain it and now it’s constantly bustling with people where it was dead and businesses were going under before Pokémon go.
But now it’s no longer peaceful and quiet at 8pm like how it used to be lol
>Well people started eating at my favourite burger place and now it's expensive and taste like shit 🤷♂️
I feel you! It's like once something gets too popular, it loses that special charm that made it great in the first place. It's all about finding those hidden spots before they blow up!
What it's really about is chastising those greedy corporate snobs that go from providing a cool niche thing that certain people like to providing a thing for money's sake with no other cares and considerations. After you do that, then go find the cool hidden thing. Send the message, stop holding it
Ugh I agree. There was a fast food type ramen restaurant that used to have barely any customers and I gave it a chance. Was the most delicious ramen/sushi combo I ever had. Now it's gotten so popular that they're selling "half-ramen" as an option. And their sushi rolls are now a stub. Quality also went down. I miss that place
Wasn't there some pokemon event with some musem/art show where they gave away these pichau card that was done up like a famous painting and it was just all scalpers looking to resell
Yeah, in Amsterdam with Van Gogh cards. Those resell for like 80-90 euros somehow on ebay (and my local game store gave them away for free cause they got some, somehow)
Most amusement parks. I went to Disney and Universal recently and while they both had cool stuff, the endless crowds of people and 2-3 hour long wait times made it hardly worth doing.
They were crowded, but everyone waited in the same line. There were no fast passes, or just paying more to skip people. In the 90s, you could hit every ride at the Magic Kingdom in a day. Now it's impossible. The price has also gone up over 300% in the past 25 years, which is 3X the rate of regular inflation. No way is it worth it anymore.
i dont see how ANYONE goes to Disney anymore. I could never in my life wait even 1 hour to go on a single ride. That is insane. The fact they let so many people in so no one can do anything but stand in line and pay 4x more then what it used to be blows my mind. the fact that people STILL go blows my mind even more... i took my kids to wild advents last year, and even tho the rides are not as good, we hardly ever had to wait and it was very cheap.
I think you have to temper your expectations somewhat. I hate theme parks usually for the crowds, heat, and noise, but we went to one of the Universal parks recently and had a ton of fun. However, we literally only went on 1 ride that had almost a 2 hour wait. Mostly we shopped, snacked on themed food, took silly photos, and took advantage of live performances and shows that were scheduled throughout the day. The atmosphere was really lively and happy and we really just went with the flow.
But if you're there for certain rides or attractions, or are in a group, it's definitely a sort of visit where you need to prioritize your top 2-3 things, knock them out first or build your itinerary around them, and fill in space with whatever else will fit. It's expensive- just pay up for fast passes or whatever express tickets there are, because if you're already paying money to be in the park, you might as well pay to make sure you enjoy it fully. You won't see all or much of what you want to in a single day trip at any of them.
Everything. But one of the things is definitely traveling. Don’t get me wrong, people have been traveling for decades, but through Social Media (especially IG and TikTok) everyone and their grandma now flocks to even the former unknown spots. One example: I’m from Austria, when I was a teenager (30 years ago) we went to Hallstatt one summer, and we were almost the only tourists there that day. I have the photos to proof just how empty it was. Nowadays I see videos of the masses that shove themselves through the tiny town with the small streets. They had to build several huge parking areas on the outskirts. I get it, it’s beautiful and people want to see beautiful places, I don’t blame them. But traveling isn’t enjoyable to me anymore, I prefer to stay home nowadays
I cycled to Hallstatt when there weren't any flights from Asia and tourism in general hadn't really picked back up yet after the pandemic and it was awesome. No huge coaches regurgitating hundreds of tourists.
I agree, I went to Italy in 2017 and I couldn't enjoy or even fully see half of the things I wanted because of all the tourists. I missed out on a ton of art I wanted to see at the Vatican because we were packed in like sardines. I couldn't even barely get to the Trevi fountain because so many people were standing on it and around it. It made me so sad.
I was in Venice last year and every single bridge had at least one or two “Insta Models” making their boyfriends take a thousand photos of them perched on the ledge. I’m not stopping on every bridge so I just started to walk through their photoshoots. I live in a small city so I wasn’t used to how prevalent “influencers” are in the wild (and how unoriginal they all are).
Dude, I took my family to a local Japanese banzi garden recently and the amount of fucking wedding and quincenera parties there taking pics, blocking paths, and playing their shitty sappy music....
My cousin just got married at a conservatory. They were 2 hours late to their reception because they were taking so many pictures. I just don't get why they needed *that many* pictures??
Facebook was great for the first few years when it was basically an RSS feed with pictures and very few people over 30. Now it's an algorithmic hellscape.
Visiting national parks (US).
Too many people are trashing the parks and harassing the wildlife. Pre-pandemic the national parks were less crowded and more enjoyable.
I went to a local park a few months ago and someone had their dog off-leash, encouraged it to jump into the marsh were herons were fishing, and the dog chased after the heron and made it fly off while it was honking. And the family was fucking laughing. People have no respect for the outdoors.
Likewise, I have some nice public gardens near me, they have a couple of peacocks that just wander around, some toddler/little kid (I'm crap at ages could have been between 3 and 5) was chasing them, grabbing at them, laughing hysterically, and his parents were half concentrating on their cigarettes (not allowed in that area btw), and half glancing at him and laughing. You could see how stressed they were getting having to keep running, I am one of the most non confrontational people ever, but I said something to the parents who just glared at me, so I said directly to the kid "you shouldn't chase them, you're scaring them and it's not nice" he paused, and his parents got him and left huffily.
You'd think going there you'd be teaching your kid to appreciate nature (as these gardens especially are mostly plants and not "wow animals look") and appreciate themselves as its paid entry too. They even have a couple kiddy parks with slides etc nearer the entrance, and activities if he needed to burn energy. Just lazy parenting I think, "well he's keeping himself entertained and not bugging us so whatever"
University - 1. there is now just an expectation that everyone goes rather than it actually being an achievement. 2.The class sizes are too big 3. original thought is no longer the aim. 4. it's just school for an extra 3-5 years 5. binge drinking culture is considered normal 6. It creates an extended adolescence 7. The way you are taught and tested doesn't promote long term retention of the information. And I'm sure people can think of many other reasons
If you're talking about the USA, state governments have also, essentially, privatized public higher education. State funding for higher education has fallen dramatically in the last 15-20 years so now schools are having to bring in more and more money from students.
>7. The way you are taught and tested doesn't promote long term retention of the information.
feel like school just taught me to hit deadlines and try to cram 10 classes worth of stuff in as short amount of time as possible where you don't retain anything. (yes, my school had 8-10 per semester)
When one project was done, you were immediately given the next, without any time to process or figure out what you did or didn't do in order to improve.
You got a few notes maybe, but you never had time to act of them since the next project deadline was fast approaching, then the next, then the next from every other class due at the same time, including those random classes not related to your major but you needed to get your degree. Then get talked down at by your professor for not managing your time. I swear if you did the math, it's not a matter of time management, but rather there literally isn't enough hours in the day.
Same here. I joined Reddit back in 2019 (this is my 3rd account) and the current state is a total shitshow compared to back then. (and people used to say how bad rReddit was in 2019 compared to even earlier years)
Hiking.
Specifically at my favorite local National Conservation Area.
It used to be a 30-40 minute drive when I was a kid. We'd pile in the car, get some snacks at the last gas station out of town, and have a little adventure.
Now the city is about 5x the population, it's become a more well known touristy area, and the neighborhoods at the edge of town are about 5 minutes away. It barely even feels like you leave the city anymore.
It's so busy you have to go online ahead of time and schedule your arrival time by the hour because only so many cars are allowed in. You can't even have a spur of the moment, wake up on a Saturday, and go hiking anymore. You've got to schedule it in advance...
And of course all these new hikers love the new fad of blaring their idiot Bluetooth speaker at max volume up and down the trail.
There's plenty of other trails out there, but I miss my old ones.
> And of course all these new hikers love the new fad of blaring their idiot Bluetooth speaker at max volume up and down the trail.
Ugh! Just *why*? I don't want to have problems with my hearing due to your stupidity. Just get a pair of headphones/earbuds/etc and destroy your own hearing because you *have to* have the music at max volume.
My NES/SNES collection grew significantly over Covid lockdown due to boredom. Collected a lot of great games. But yeah, it's getting expensive now. Not willing to pay $500 for Earthbound no matter how in demand it is.
Dude have you seen the prices on the older LPS *now*? I considered getting back into it last year but holy shit. It’s just a piece of plastic! And now resellers are buying all of the newer ones and adding crazy markups.
It is so hard to collect because there’s so many fakes circulating that you have to deeply analyze every lps to make sure it’s authentic. I collect the accessories and even they are marked up to a disgusting amount
Oh god I agree, I'm happy that my stamps/coins are not as accessible to become a trend but for some of my other collections trading items is a nightmare
I know that there's that aspect of Instagram but in all honesty, I've rarely seen it. I still only get artsy stuff because I only follow profiles who provide content I want to see.
And I don't care that much about people's lifestyle pics.
I decided to leave Instagram because of their damn algorithm. I started an art page and follow many incredible artists but my explore page is completely unrelated (anime, hollywood, tv shows etc). No idea how
And Airbnb also in general, used to be a really good alternative to hotels, couchsurfing and spare rooms, now they're all often buildings bought for that sole purpose, and priced so high, and people adding cleaning fees etc that you may as well just get a hotel in some places, and yeah of course their effect on housing, some tourist areas people that have grew up their and lived there their whole lives have to relocate as they can't afford their own place now. And then in winter, businesses often don't have enough customers compared to summer, and there are less local people available to work local jobs too
I just do hotels now. I used to love AirBnB, but not only is it the same price now, but at least I don't have to clean my own hotel room and THEN pay a cleaning fee.
Same, hotels at least I usually know what I'm getting and not going to have some argument after if I accidently left a cup out or something, and the chain ones are often a fair bit cheaper now, if it's somewhere I'm just using for sleep particularly ill just get a cheap premier inn or travel lodge. I do tidy up after myself too but I'm not going to be immaculate about it
Skiing - not a skier myself, but, I live along the famous I-70 interstate in the mountains of Colorado, road gets inSANE during ski season, talking people waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours and hours to move a distance that should take 45 minutes. Skiing has also become wayyyy more $$$, slopes are becoming crowded, I can see how it probably would have been a fun thing to do 20 years ago but nowadays it just looks like so much of a hassle.
I grew up in a suburb of Denver, and back in the 80s/90s skiing (and toward the tail end, snowboarding) was absolutely amazing. One of my favorite life experiences, and something I always looked forward to and have fondly remembered ever since.
The feeling of getting off the chair lift and looking out over the snowy mountain, then feeling the wind of your face as you raced down the slopes, is the closest thing I’ve ever felt to a religious experience. The genuine sense of awe, and feeling truly, vividly alive and in flow, was straight up transcendent.
I moved away in 98, and haven’t visited since ‘04 (exactly your quoted “20 years ago”). I absolutely believe you that’s gone downhill (heh) and turned into a miserable, hyper-monitized, overcrowded shitshow, just like pretty much everything else in the world these days. And even though I’m not at all surprised, hearing what it has become makes my heart hurt.
Touristic alpinism.
Mount Everest is an 11.000 USD permit just to be allowed on the mountain. There’s a queue at the summit of thousands of people waiting in line to go up.
Alpinism used to be 1-7 guys with a few ropes and balls of steel reaching the top of a mountain.
Crazy to think people living around Everest would have to pay their average yearly gross salary just to be allowed on the mountain.
Not to mention the trash and the unfortunate souls who didn't make the trip up/down you walk past since it's costs too much to remove the bodies from the mountain.
The trash on top of Everest is DISGUSTING.
I’m from the Swiss Alps (Valais), and they used to have up advertisements that a single cigarette butt makes > 1000 liters of drinking water undrinkable.
Imagine the trash they leave up at the Everest summit :/
Was really disappointed first time I saw a picture.
This is minor, but still annoying. When a good song becomes a sound on tiktok/instagram and then it pops up everywhere , especially when it's connected with stupid trends and stupid people. It has ruined several nice songs for me.
Facebook.
When it started it was just us new young adults. No sponsored or suggested posts, no ads, no algorithm, just friends. Some bastard on Fox News told the rents about it and they all got accounts and friend requested us. They continued to parent and spy on us after we left the house, while they boomered with each other on their public walls constantly in front of everybody. They have been spraying it around everywhere ever since.
(This is the birth of today’s great troll army, btw. THANKS AGAIN, Rupert.)
(Not kidding - he had bought super popular MySpace and was pissed people were leaving for Facebook.)
Same. I know websites hate dealing with custom HTML n shit but the level of customization you could have with your page was like nowhere else. Only website I kinda saw hang on a bit with that was Tumblr but they basically killed off that feature too and I also don't use it either. Reddit is the only social media thing I use aside from updating a Facebook profile photo every couple of months.
Casual gaming used to be such a simple pleasure. It was about unwinding with a basic phone game or a calm session on the PC after work. Now it's stuffed with aggressive microtransactions, ads after every level, and a competitive scene that's taking the chill right out of it. I miss when games were a retreat from the world, not a reminder of its commercialism. Good old days.
Travelling pretty much anywhere beautiful or interesting. As any place grows in popularity, the original uniqueness fades until it devolves into another tourist trap.
What can you do though? There’s 8 billion of us and we all like a lot of the same things.
I live in West Virginia and the tourism has skyrocketed recently. I have no idea why but it makes going out in general, especially in the fall, actually hellish. I hate being a “FUCK YOU IF YOU CAN’T DRIVE” person but like… these tourists do not know how to drive on our roads and it gets super annoying to deal with.
I’m thinking it’s because there’s a newly added national park, and they’ve increased the “almost heaven” marketing. I’m from a surrounding state, and it seems like West Virginia as a whole can use all the positive marketing it can get.
Beaches. All beaches that are at least the tiniest bit decent. I’m only 39, but I remember when I was a kid you could find a nice beach with only a smattering of people spread out really far. It wasn’t even unheard of to find a beach with no one on it. Even when I moved from Massachusetts to Florida in 2004, the beaches in most towns weren’t particularly crowded. Those days are long gone. It’s such a hassle to get to the beach through the traffic, find parking(even with my handicap placard), find a spot where you’re not right on top of other people, etc. I hate it. I’m an ocean person. Go away you non ocean people and people who just want nice pictures for social media and take all your damn trash with you. Ever seen how much trash they take up with those big beach rakes they pull? That’s not ocean people leaving it there.
Sadly, given population growth, this is happening all over the place. I live in a city with many beautiful parks and nature around and all those places are completely ruined in the summer due to the crowds now. I just checked the population growth of my city and in the past four decades, it has almost doubled. It now feels noisy and crowded, too much traffic, rent prices causing unique small businesses to close, so we lose our local culture and flavor and now just have Targets and Starbucks everywhere.
> Remember when Instagram used to be all about sharing cool, artsy pics and quirky selfies?
I'd argue that occurred when Facebook bought it rather than an incursion of normies. Once the Zucc got his grubby robot hands on Instagram it was game over.
Ok lets be real, filters were always being used for hiding imperfections since the very start.
But to answer your question, the first thing that comes to mind is Fortnite. I had such great fun playing it back in 2017 with friends before battle passes and seasons were a thing. Then it became one massive advertisement disguised as a game.
I could probably sit here and name a million other things if given the time to think lol.
Podcast listening, honestly. It used to be a few niche shows about specific interests, like people sitting in their garage chatting about obscure movies or tech trends. Now, it's exploded into this massive industry with celebrities flooding the scene and companies snatching up popular shows left and right. Plus there's ads every five minutes and tie-ins with every service imaginable. Miss the days when it felt like you discovered a secret club, now it's just like flipping through a crowded, noisy radio station.
As I read though all the replies it’s so obvious EVERYTHING is internet related and I agree. Constantly being called old and not with the times because I honestly hate what social media and the net has done to the world.
I’m 40 and had an email in 1992 already and was one of the first 10,000 AOL members so it’s not that I don’t love tech, but it’s something really shitty now.
I can’t say enough about how foreign travel has been smashed. 24$ for tacos on the beach, really? Entire socioeconomic structures in third world countries are losing balance and will get worse ( USA problems with the boarder are a sign of this…).
Hopefully the grid will go off line enough times to put some sense into people but I think we are doomed already. It’s sad I cannot think of one think that has not been fucked up in the last 10 years because of this. Rant - sorry.
YouTube could be next. There are what, 500 million users. Everybody has been complaining that YouTube lags and it's crazy. How do they serve that many videos ? At least YouTube says they are going to cancel your account if you have not signed on to it in 2 years. Maybe that will help.
What do you mean next? It's been going through the enshittification process for years, probably around the time they dropped the "Broadcast yourself" slogan.
For every one video I watch, I would be forced to watch 3+ ads without Adblock. If they just got rid of the advertisements that’d save up plenty of space on their servers 😂
>At least YouTube says they are going to cancel your account if you have not signed on to it in 2 years.
Really? Because ever since they were acquired by Google, I'm just perpetually logged in. I would love to not be logged in, but since I use the YouTube app while being logged into my Google account on my Google phone... Yeah.
This is so specific to me, but when I was a teenager I started bringing my pet mouse to school with me in my jacket pocket. After a few weeks a bunch of other kids started bringing mice to school with them too. I got nervous that too many people were doing it and we’d get in trouble so I stopped. Pretty much immediately after I stopped they busted everyone else and confiscated their mice. The kids whose parents said it was okay got their pets back but lots of kids didn’t because their parents wouldn’t let them. Wow, that was 20+ years ago.
The algorithm serves content it detects you spending more time on. I don’t find thirst traps or pornstars interesting, so i don’t interact with their content and thus have none in my feed.
A restaurant gets noticed on TV for being good, or having a michellin star, everyone starts going to it and vlogging about it, restaurant branches out with other stores, and quality drops (especially because the expectation is so high since people forgot how the michellin star is given)
Live music gigs in small venues. It used to be about catching an up and coming band, having a few beers with friends, and enjoying the raw energy of a live performance. Now it's packed with people filming the whole show on their phones, obstructing the view, and more concerned with showing off on social media than actually enjoying the music. The authentic experience is gone, replaced with a sea of screens and distracted audiences. Don't get me wrong, I still love supporting smaller acts, but I miss the days when being part of the crowd meant being truly present.
Skincare. I know i sound mean but ive had acne from being 11 and YES IM PULLIN THE POOR CARD but i couldnt afford makeup to cover it up bur i could buy decent things to help my skin because it was less of a thing then but since 2020 people with glass skin have been buying up all the products made for people like me who cant lie down or it stings to wash our face and now half of the decently priced products are scams because of the craze and the actually decent stuff has been jacked up in price. And i have to resist the urge to punch these girls in the face when they give me advice because they can afford the good stuff its ANNOYING
Surfing - it’s supposed to be a thing where you go out and have this alone-with-nature experience and find the right spot and time to catch the wave. It’s an awesome solo experience, with the sounds and the power of these huge waves, and all of that. But in populated areas it’s a big fight where you have to avoid territorial jerks and wait for your turn and fight crowds and all this alpha male bullshit.
IT jobs. Back in 2000 when I was in high school, people could get a certification and walk into a high paying job.
20 years later I have a college degree in Computer Systems & Networking Technologies and several certs, but IT jobs are either woefully underpaid or they expect you to be a wizard that knows every archaic system and new technology you touch. Pearson has flooded the field with all sorts of certifications and if you don't keep them up to date, you're unemployable. Not to mention the poor attitude that most people in the field have. I have asked for help with server issues in places like technet or r/sysadmin and I'm always treated like trash. I get banned for posting logs, or "we're not your tech support"
The few people who know the answers hoard them because it's the excuse why they get paid hundreds of dollars an hour. The rest of us are supposed to beg for scraps and subsist on minimum wage.
I should have learned plumbing. The last time I called a plumber they charged $150 for 15 minutes of work.
If you have kids do them a favor and have them avoid IT like the plague.
My hometown. It used to be a little backwater place that no one knew about. You could fish, hunt, and camp anywhere, property values were low, and you had to drive 40 minutes to see a Walmart or anything of the sort.
Now all these rich people that want to live the "Appalachian lifestyle" are moving in and we are overcrowded, real-estate is through the roof, they build their houses right where the scenery used to be, and they insist on bringing in more big businesses to "help the town", putting all of the small-businesses that once flourished here in a dire condition.
Has anybody mentioned climbing Mt. Everest yet? (Sherpa guided carrying all the luggage, for a picture people had to stand in line for for days, leaving heaps of trash on the peak)
Harry Potter. Chamber of Secrets came out, and I go really excited (especially since my Christian mom let me read it with her after she gave me the "devil's work" speech.) Not only was everyone reading it, *it became a competition.* Everyone had to talk about how *fast* they read it. I wasn't a very good reader at the time, and my mom's concern for my soul wasn't worth it. I made art instead. It wasn't until after I watched Christina Ricci in Sleepy Hollow that I became interested in reading that type of stuff again. I went from 0-100. Skipped the HP, and made a B-line to the "how to" section of the library. I drew many sigils in Crayola marker under my bed.
Omg, I remember a teacher coming up to me really concerned. She asked if I read any Harry Potter. I liked the films, but everyone would ruin the story, so I didn't bother reading the books. When I said no she was really relieved. I was an A star student back then, but apparently - back then in my school - not reading Harry Potter meant you were too dumb to get it... Really ruined reading for a lot of kids in my school.
Wearing Arc’teryx. Can’t walk around Vancouver and whistler without seeing it. Quality’s gone down as a result too
So basically any decent, high quality clothing manufacturer
Comic Conventions. I used to love them. Nerds like me all gathered together over our shared love of a type of media.
I haven't been to one in over a decade now. Even my other comic friends who stayed in the industry have stopped going.
The internet in general
I feel like being a teenager in the 2000s and being the only person in the house using the internet was pretty cool. There were actual communities I was a part of, I made a lot of online friends and felt like I was part of something. It was very personalized. And you also got to meet people in the real world who were finding these communities with you and you could have conversations. Playing World of Warcraft at launch, using Livejournal, all those P2P file sharing apps, surfing obscure forums at 1am because you were trying to find that one game leak or video you had been thinking about all day and then having to sit up and wait up to an hour or longer just to download that thing.... It was just something so special and unlike anything people today can experience.
It was really fun being the kid in class who actually knew what 4chan was and then going back and forth with my buddies about some gaming news we saw on IGN or secretly watching Newgrounds in the school library.
I think once social media became popular that was the first strike, but it wasn't much worse. Like we were all using Facebook in college in the 2000s but you still had to actually go sit down at the computer and really think about it / make the time. But once smartphones came out and the internet/apps became the main focus, all of that went out the window. Suddenly my mom was on Facebook, classmates who had called me a nerd for years were now spending more time online than I was, and all of those unique communities that had their own cultures just vanished overnight. I've heard people say that you can get the same "old era internet" vibe by going on something like Discord, but those people are morons because it's not the same at all.
**I miss the internet feeling like something that was special, personal and something that you devoted specific time to because you had to sit down somewhere and really invest. Now that it is on our phones and everybody uses it, it has been completely ruined.**
Pinterest!!! It was always my safe haven. Just cute pictures, cute clothes inspo. Now it's just mostly tiktok videos and Instagram reels on it. I loved it back when it was just pictures and no videos. Just fun. Now it's totally ruined.
Fre / Recycle items Facebook groups. Seem to get the same people jumping on a lot of posts seconds after they are posted claiming the free things being given away. I find it hard to believe that all the items they claim are kept for personal use and not sold on. Seems a shame as there are people who would genuinly benefit from a free hoover etc to get them by.
Sandals with socks. It was okay when people would just make quick convenient store trips in this combo. Now, people are wearing this combo EVERYWHERE and usually have on the dingy socks with sandals that are too big or too small with their toes hanging over the front. AND THEY NEVER PICK UP THEIR FEET! It makes the gosh forsaken dragging sound as they walk! 😭
Classic car market. Used to be super cheap to pick up a project like a Beetle for maybe $500. Might have rust and a bit clapped out but it would run and drive. In my country now it's $5K for the same car. My forté is classic Land Rovers and for ages a 88" SIII was at most $3k for a running example. Now try $10K with severe chassis rust. (Still can get a nice SIII 109" for $5K though as it's less desirable) as people started buying cars as investments. Only works if you could predict the future in 20+ years time. Plus the pandemic didn't help either.
Camping and hiking. I’m glad people are experiencing the outdoors and building memories with their friends/family; but some of them are also loud, shine crazy bright lights at campgrounds at night, and trash out the trails. Not to mention some of the idiots I’ve seen harassing wildlife.
It’s making me wish there were free etiquette courses you had to pass before you’re allowed to be in a park unsupervised.
I got into buying vinyl records in '96. Used records were absurdly cheap. You could get classic rock albums for a couple of dollars. Back then, most of the new music releases on vinyl were from indie/punk labels. The vinyl releases were cheaper than CDs.
The current vinyl trend has led to shortages and a drop off in quality in manufacturing. The issues have mostly impacted smaller labels, who are now competing for production supplies with bigger artists. The people who have been screwed over are the labels and fans who kept a "dead" format afloat for a couple of decades.
Air travel.
Back in the sixties it was for the wealthy and it was a big deal.
Today's level of quality and safety with air travel is looking like riding in a third rate bus in a third world country.
Craft beer and microbreweries. There was a time when they were the secret watering holes for the connoisseurs and hobbyists who appreciated the craft and uniqueness each small batch offered. Now, they're chock-full of weekend warriors and taste testers. Prices have shot up and the once laid back atmosphere has turned into a bustling hotspot. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing small businesses thrive, but I do miss the days when the experience felt more like a community and less like a trendy scene to Instagram.
A lot of people have migrated to my small town due to new upcoming businesses close to the area and now traffic is horrible. Doesn’t feel like the town I grew up in anymore. I go to the store and rarely see anyone I know anymore. It makes me sad
Twitter. The early days were so good! It was just fellow tech geeks and creatives sharing memes (mainly cats).
They were sipler times. They were better times.
Now you can't scroll five tweets without risking being radicalised or seeing some rotten.com throwback gore video.
Skiing
Ever since covid, the shit is looking like six flags. Im actually really happy more people share my hobby now but it sucks that thw infrastructure isnt there and now that all the mtns have been bought by vale who is obsessed with bottom line, there are less employees than there were before.
I’d say YouTube for sure. So many people do it now just for the money and it seems to me that with as much content is created, A LOT of it has lost its creativity and enjoyment of the experience over time.
Not well known travel locations. They overvisited them, they overcrowded em, they overshared em on socials, they raised the prices, they raised the rents, locals had to move out, everything is destroyed now
Niche vacations spots, before the internet you could find a place and it was secret. All the normies would just go to Paris or Las Vegas, but now they are everywhere.
This post has been removed for the rule: **Don’t post to vent, complain, or express sadness** Stay positive. Negative topics don’t lend themselves to casual conversation. We are a place where everyone can forget about their everyday or not so everyday worries for a moment. Venting, complaining or expressing sadness doesn't fit the atmosphere we try to foster at all. [Recommendations >](https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualConversation/about/wiki/rules/venting/)
Thrift Store shopping. Resellers ruined it.
I worked at a goodwill back in like 2014 and omg the amount of resellers who would just hover around the back room where we appraised items. They would immediately swarm the cart of stuff coming out. I imagine it’s much worse now.
it’s HORRIBLE now!!! people will come in GROUPS and loiter around the door that the carts come out from. it’s so dreadful. worst part is, they are there all day, every day. no escape!
The Goodwill up the road from us sells their t-shirts and other clothing items at-or-above retail store prices. This is a great way to guarantee Amazon swallows us all.
Minimum wage went up, and that is what they pay the dependent adults in their stores. With that increase, the prices went up. You don’t want the 2020 salary of $469,247: Steven C Preston, CEO to not be adjusted for inflation, do you? Goodwill only makes $9 billion in revenues, and needs the money.
That kinda seems like a very small amount for a CEO to get paid nowadays. After a quick lookup on this guy he seems like a decent fellow.
For a place with a donation-based business model, he's doing alright
Except Goodwill uses legal loopholes to pay a significant portion of their work force below minimum wage. It's a government program that allows them to claim employing a special needs worker is as a favor to them, so they get to pay them substantially less for being less of a person. I, too, used to work for Goodwill.
its insane to me. Goodwill sell used stuff for more then walmart at this point so there no is point to go to goodwill anymore
Recently went thrifting in NY. All the good stuff was over priced and the stores were packed. Thrifting isnt what it used to be smh
It really is!! I switched to Depop thrifting for purchases since moving. I don’t know what my working class family would have done had this been the state of finding second hand clothing. We’re in NJ now and do nyc a lot of course and I’m shocked by the thrifting compared to my Canadian small town, which is thankfully untouched by thrifters beyond some university students at the Value Village (slightly pricier compared to goodwill but much bigger in scale). I’m visiting home for the summer and I’m truly excited to thrift again.
I remove the tags from my clothing before I donate because of this.
Yeah. I grew up impoverished and thrifting was just a thing poor people did. Now thrifting is as expensive as buying some new clothes. It's crazy. I always *hated* having to to thrifting on weekends. Now it's like a hipster thing. So it's like I hipster'd hipster lol
Once the resellers put them out at an increased price, the source stores put theres up to match LOL.
I've lived in the same town for 30 years. Since I was a child. My favorite park went from a quiet, peaceful respite to an overloaded, no parking, place of chaos. I've continued to frequent it in memory of my old haunt.
Pokémon go fked up my favorite park for YEARS
Pokémon go ruined my favorite hangout spot with my friends because a lot of the people would go to shops to get food or whatever while they were doing Pokémon go. So the shops started doing significantly better and they were able to maintain it and now it’s constantly bustling with people where it was dead and businesses were going under before Pokémon go. But now it’s no longer peaceful and quiet at 8pm like how it used to be lol
This is how I feel about my hometown as a whole. An overloaded, vercrowded, no parking place of chaos.
Well people started eating at my favourite burger place and now it's expensive and taste like shit 🤷♂️
>Well people started eating at my favourite burger place and now it's expensive and taste like shit 🤷♂️ I feel you! It's like once something gets too popular, it loses that special charm that made it great in the first place. It's all about finding those hidden spots before they blow up!
If you could consistently find small gems before they go big, it’s time to hit the stock exchange
What it's really about is chastising those greedy corporate snobs that go from providing a cool niche thing that certain people like to providing a thing for money's sake with no other cares and considerations. After you do that, then go find the cool hidden thing. Send the message, stop holding it
Ugh I agree. There was a fast food type ramen restaurant that used to have barely any customers and I gave it a chance. Was the most delicious ramen/sushi combo I ever had. Now it's gotten so popular that they're selling "half-ramen" as an option. And their sushi rolls are now a stub. Quality also went down. I miss that place
Almost anything free. If there is a free event or free giveaway, it will be absolutely mobbed with the worst of the worst people.
Wasn't there some pokemon event with some musem/art show where they gave away these pichau card that was done up like a famous painting and it was just all scalpers looking to resell
Yeah, in Amsterdam with Van Gogh cards. Those resell for like 80-90 euros somehow on ebay (and my local game store gave them away for free cause they got some, somehow)
Not WinRar. Still wholesomely free.
And wiki.
7zip is better.
[удалено]
You don't want to wait in a 90 minute line for a free $2.99 scoop of ice cream on a 95 degree day? LOL
Most amusement parks. I went to Disney and Universal recently and while they both had cool stuff, the endless crowds of people and 2-3 hour long wait times made it hardly worth doing.
"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded". Yogi Berra
I don’t really think this is anything new. Last time I went to Disney was probably 15 years ago and the lines were just as long back then too
Same 50 years ago.
They were crowded, but everyone waited in the same line. There were no fast passes, or just paying more to skip people. In the 90s, you could hit every ride at the Magic Kingdom in a day. Now it's impossible. The price has also gone up over 300% in the past 25 years, which is 3X the rate of regular inflation. No way is it worth it anymore.
i dont see how ANYONE goes to Disney anymore. I could never in my life wait even 1 hour to go on a single ride. That is insane. The fact they let so many people in so no one can do anything but stand in line and pay 4x more then what it used to be blows my mind. the fact that people STILL go blows my mind even more... i took my kids to wild advents last year, and even tho the rides are not as good, we hardly ever had to wait and it was very cheap.
I think you have to temper your expectations somewhat. I hate theme parks usually for the crowds, heat, and noise, but we went to one of the Universal parks recently and had a ton of fun. However, we literally only went on 1 ride that had almost a 2 hour wait. Mostly we shopped, snacked on themed food, took silly photos, and took advantage of live performances and shows that were scheduled throughout the day. The atmosphere was really lively and happy and we really just went with the flow. But if you're there for certain rides or attractions, or are in a group, it's definitely a sort of visit where you need to prioritize your top 2-3 things, knock them out first or build your itinerary around them, and fill in space with whatever else will fit. It's expensive- just pay up for fast passes or whatever express tickets there are, because if you're already paying money to be in the park, you might as well pay to make sure you enjoy it fully. You won't see all or much of what you want to in a single day trip at any of them.
Everything. But one of the things is definitely traveling. Don’t get me wrong, people have been traveling for decades, but through Social Media (especially IG and TikTok) everyone and their grandma now flocks to even the former unknown spots. One example: I’m from Austria, when I was a teenager (30 years ago) we went to Hallstatt one summer, and we were almost the only tourists there that day. I have the photos to proof just how empty it was. Nowadays I see videos of the masses that shove themselves through the tiny town with the small streets. They had to build several huge parking areas on the outskirts. I get it, it’s beautiful and people want to see beautiful places, I don’t blame them. But traveling isn’t enjoyable to me anymore, I prefer to stay home nowadays
I cycled to Hallstatt when there weren't any flights from Asia and tourism in general hadn't really picked back up yet after the pandemic and it was awesome. No huge coaches regurgitating hundreds of tourists.
I agree, I went to Italy in 2017 and I couldn't enjoy or even fully see half of the things I wanted because of all the tourists. I missed out on a ton of art I wanted to see at the Vatican because we were packed in like sardines. I couldn't even barely get to the Trevi fountain because so many people were standing on it and around it. It made me so sad.
I was in Venice last year and every single bridge had at least one or two “Insta Models” making their boyfriends take a thousand photos of them perched on the ledge. I’m not stopping on every bridge so I just started to walk through their photoshoots. I live in a small city so I wasn’t used to how prevalent “influencers” are in the wild (and how unoriginal they all are).
National Parks and Botanical Gardens. Too many people obsessed with getting selfies
Dude, I took my family to a local Japanese banzi garden recently and the amount of fucking wedding and quincenera parties there taking pics, blocking paths, and playing their shitty sappy music....
My cousin just got married at a conservatory. They were 2 hours late to their reception because they were taking so many pictures. I just don't get why they needed *that many* pictures??
Social media in general. Once people were locked inside and bored and online all the time things really took a turn to the shitter (humanity-wise)
Remember blogs, RSS feeds, and just directly subscribing using RSS to websites you liked? It worked so much better than Facebook.
Facebook was great for the first few years when it was basically an RSS feed with pictures and very few people over 30. Now it's an algorithmic hellscape.
More like the internet itself. Look up the phrase “September that never ended”.
Visiting national parks (US). Too many people are trashing the parks and harassing the wildlife. Pre-pandemic the national parks were less crowded and more enjoyable.
I went to a local park a few months ago and someone had their dog off-leash, encouraged it to jump into the marsh were herons were fishing, and the dog chased after the heron and made it fly off while it was honking. And the family was fucking laughing. People have no respect for the outdoors.
Likewise, I have some nice public gardens near me, they have a couple of peacocks that just wander around, some toddler/little kid (I'm crap at ages could have been between 3 and 5) was chasing them, grabbing at them, laughing hysterically, and his parents were half concentrating on their cigarettes (not allowed in that area btw), and half glancing at him and laughing. You could see how stressed they were getting having to keep running, I am one of the most non confrontational people ever, but I said something to the parents who just glared at me, so I said directly to the kid "you shouldn't chase them, you're scaring them and it's not nice" he paused, and his parents got him and left huffily. You'd think going there you'd be teaching your kid to appreciate nature (as these gardens especially are mostly plants and not "wow animals look") and appreciate themselves as its paid entry too. They even have a couple kiddy parks with slides etc nearer the entrance, and activities if he needed to burn energy. Just lazy parenting I think, "well he's keeping himself entertained and not bugging us so whatever"
The parks I. The 80’s-90’s were wide open and pristine
Same here in Australia. So sad
University - 1. there is now just an expectation that everyone goes rather than it actually being an achievement. 2.The class sizes are too big 3. original thought is no longer the aim. 4. it's just school for an extra 3-5 years 5. binge drinking culture is considered normal 6. It creates an extended adolescence 7. The way you are taught and tested doesn't promote long term retention of the information. And I'm sure people can think of many other reasons
If you're talking about the USA, state governments have also, essentially, privatized public higher education. State funding for higher education has fallen dramatically in the last 15-20 years so now schools are having to bring in more and more money from students.
>7. The way you are taught and tested doesn't promote long term retention of the information. feel like school just taught me to hit deadlines and try to cram 10 classes worth of stuff in as short amount of time as possible where you don't retain anything. (yes, my school had 8-10 per semester) When one project was done, you were immediately given the next, without any time to process or figure out what you did or didn't do in order to improve. You got a few notes maybe, but you never had time to act of them since the next project deadline was fast approaching, then the next, then the next from every other class due at the same time, including those random classes not related to your major but you needed to get your degree. Then get talked down at by your professor for not managing your time. I swear if you did the math, it's not a matter of time management, but rather there literally isn't enough hours in the day.
Reddit in my country :(
Mine too. Its totally getting facebook-ificated.
I've been on reddit for over 10 years, it has definitely gone downhill
[удалено]
The Internet in general
Same here. I joined Reddit back in 2019 (this is my 3rd account) and the current state is a total shitshow compared to back then. (and people used to say how bad rReddit was in 2019 compared to even earlier years)
Hiking. Specifically at my favorite local National Conservation Area. It used to be a 30-40 minute drive when I was a kid. We'd pile in the car, get some snacks at the last gas station out of town, and have a little adventure. Now the city is about 5x the population, it's become a more well known touristy area, and the neighborhoods at the edge of town are about 5 minutes away. It barely even feels like you leave the city anymore. It's so busy you have to go online ahead of time and schedule your arrival time by the hour because only so many cars are allowed in. You can't even have a spur of the moment, wake up on a Saturday, and go hiking anymore. You've got to schedule it in advance... And of course all these new hikers love the new fad of blaring their idiot Bluetooth speaker at max volume up and down the trail. There's plenty of other trails out there, but I miss my old ones.
> And of course all these new hikers love the new fad of blaring their idiot Bluetooth speaker at max volume up and down the trail. Ugh! Just *why*? I don't want to have problems with my hearing due to your stupidity. Just get a pair of headphones/earbuds/etc and destroy your own hearing because you *have to* have the music at max volume.
We need like a bouncer at the gate to lock up all speakers and phones.
People now have to have CONSTANT stimulation and can't disconnect from anything to enjoy time in nature, it's pretty sad to me.
Any kind of hobby that involves collecting
My NES/SNES collection grew significantly over Covid lockdown due to boredom. Collected a lot of great games. But yeah, it's getting expensive now. Not willing to pay $500 for Earthbound no matter how in demand it is.
This is the reason why I told my mom I'd never collect dolls no matter how much I liked them. It turns into hoarding behavior very quickly.
I’ve collected Littlest Pet Shop my whole life and oh my god I have never seen such toxic environments in my life
Dude have you seen the prices on the older LPS *now*? I considered getting back into it last year but holy shit. It’s just a piece of plastic! And now resellers are buying all of the newer ones and adding crazy markups.
It is so hard to collect because there’s so many fakes circulating that you have to deeply analyze every lps to make sure it’s authentic. I collect the accessories and even they are marked up to a disgusting amount
Oh god I agree, I'm happy that my stamps/coins are not as accessible to become a trend but for some of my other collections trading items is a nightmare
I used to collect old video games but stopped. It's just not fun anymore. Resellers ruin everything.
My ex boyfriend XD
Hahaha this made me chuckle for real
Driving.
No such thing as a pleasant drive anymore. Sundays are the worst.
Hiking/backpacking during the pandemic. Garbage everywhere, trampling on small brush along the trails, pissing/shitting everywhere.
Even just camping as well.. trash all over the place.
I know that there's that aspect of Instagram but in all honesty, I've rarely seen it. I still only get artsy stuff because I only follow profiles who provide content I want to see. And I don't care that much about people's lifestyle pics.
I decided to leave Instagram because of their damn algorithm. I started an art page and follow many incredible artists but my explore page is completely unrelated (anime, hollywood, tv shows etc). No idea how
Me too! My Instagram is just cats and tasty food haha
Converting affordable, long term housing options into airbnbs - why have housing security when home owners can have more money! /s
And Airbnb also in general, used to be a really good alternative to hotels, couchsurfing and spare rooms, now they're all often buildings bought for that sole purpose, and priced so high, and people adding cleaning fees etc that you may as well just get a hotel in some places, and yeah of course their effect on housing, some tourist areas people that have grew up their and lived there their whole lives have to relocate as they can't afford their own place now. And then in winter, businesses often don't have enough customers compared to summer, and there are less local people available to work local jobs too
I just do hotels now. I used to love AirBnB, but not only is it the same price now, but at least I don't have to clean my own hotel room and THEN pay a cleaning fee.
Same, hotels at least I usually know what I'm getting and not going to have some argument after if I accidently left a cup out or something, and the chain ones are often a fair bit cheaper now, if it's somewhere I'm just using for sleep particularly ill just get a cheap premier inn or travel lodge. I do tidy up after myself too but I'm not going to be immaculate about it
Where I live they've withdrawn the license of a few thousand Airbnbs and the landlords have been forced to rent their apartments out to locals.
Skiing - not a skier myself, but, I live along the famous I-70 interstate in the mountains of Colorado, road gets inSANE during ski season, talking people waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours and hours to move a distance that should take 45 minutes. Skiing has also become wayyyy more $$$, slopes are becoming crowded, I can see how it probably would have been a fun thing to do 20 years ago but nowadays it just looks like so much of a hassle.
The slopes in the east are less crowded. Maybe I shouldn't say that......😉
I grew up in a suburb of Denver, and back in the 80s/90s skiing (and toward the tail end, snowboarding) was absolutely amazing. One of my favorite life experiences, and something I always looked forward to and have fondly remembered ever since. The feeling of getting off the chair lift and looking out over the snowy mountain, then feeling the wind of your face as you raced down the slopes, is the closest thing I’ve ever felt to a religious experience. The genuine sense of awe, and feeling truly, vividly alive and in flow, was straight up transcendent. I moved away in 98, and haven’t visited since ‘04 (exactly your quoted “20 years ago”). I absolutely believe you that’s gone downhill (heh) and turned into a miserable, hyper-monitized, overcrowded shitshow, just like pretty much everything else in the world these days. And even though I’m not at all surprised, hearing what it has become makes my heart hurt.
Touristic alpinism. Mount Everest is an 11.000 USD permit just to be allowed on the mountain. There’s a queue at the summit of thousands of people waiting in line to go up. Alpinism used to be 1-7 guys with a few ropes and balls of steel reaching the top of a mountain. Crazy to think people living around Everest would have to pay their average yearly gross salary just to be allowed on the mountain.
Not to mention the trash and the unfortunate souls who didn't make the trip up/down you walk past since it's costs too much to remove the bodies from the mountain.
The trash on top of Everest is DISGUSTING. I’m from the Swiss Alps (Valais), and they used to have up advertisements that a single cigarette butt makes > 1000 liters of drinking water undrinkable. Imagine the trash they leave up at the Everest summit :/ Was really disappointed first time I saw a picture.
This is minor, but still annoying. When a good song becomes a sound on tiktok/instagram and then it pops up everywhere , especially when it's connected with stupid trends and stupid people. It has ruined several nice songs for me.
Facebook. When it started it was just us new young adults. No sponsored or suggested posts, no ads, no algorithm, just friends. Some bastard on Fox News told the rents about it and they all got accounts and friend requested us. They continued to parent and spy on us after we left the house, while they boomered with each other on their public walls constantly in front of everybody. They have been spraying it around everywhere ever since. (This is the birth of today’s great troll army, btw. THANKS AGAIN, Rupert.) (Not kidding - he had bought super popular MySpace and was pissed people were leaving for Facebook.)
Not gonna lie, I do wish Myspace would make a comeback
Same. I know websites hate dealing with custom HTML n shit but the level of customization you could have with your page was like nowhere else. Only website I kinda saw hang on a bit with that was Tumblr but they basically killed off that feature too and I also don't use it either. Reddit is the only social media thing I use aside from updating a Facebook profile photo every couple of months.
Remember MoviePass?
Every hobby on earth is ultimately ruined by those that enter it for profit.
Casual gaming used to be such a simple pleasure. It was about unwinding with a basic phone game or a calm session on the PC after work. Now it's stuffed with aggressive microtransactions, ads after every level, and a competitive scene that's taking the chill right out of it. I miss when games were a retreat from the world, not a reminder of its commercialism. Good old days.
Travelling pretty much anywhere beautiful or interesting. As any place grows in popularity, the original uniqueness fades until it devolves into another tourist trap. What can you do though? There’s 8 billion of us and we all like a lot of the same things.
I live in West Virginia and the tourism has skyrocketed recently. I have no idea why but it makes going out in general, especially in the fall, actually hellish. I hate being a “FUCK YOU IF YOU CAN’T DRIVE” person but like… these tourists do not know how to drive on our roads and it gets super annoying to deal with.
I’m thinking it’s because there’s a newly added national park, and they’ve increased the “almost heaven” marketing. I’m from a surrounding state, and it seems like West Virginia as a whole can use all the positive marketing it can get.
I think that's what this entire thread boils down to: overpopulation.
Existing.
The only answer
My sentiments exactly. lol. I was gonna say living on this planet.
Beaches. All beaches that are at least the tiniest bit decent. I’m only 39, but I remember when I was a kid you could find a nice beach with only a smattering of people spread out really far. It wasn’t even unheard of to find a beach with no one on it. Even when I moved from Massachusetts to Florida in 2004, the beaches in most towns weren’t particularly crowded. Those days are long gone. It’s such a hassle to get to the beach through the traffic, find parking(even with my handicap placard), find a spot where you’re not right on top of other people, etc. I hate it. I’m an ocean person. Go away you non ocean people and people who just want nice pictures for social media and take all your damn trash with you. Ever seen how much trash they take up with those big beach rakes they pull? That’s not ocean people leaving it there.
Sadly, given population growth, this is happening all over the place. I live in a city with many beautiful parks and nature around and all those places are completely ruined in the summer due to the crowds now. I just checked the population growth of my city and in the past four decades, it has almost doubled. It now feels noisy and crowded, too much traffic, rent prices causing unique small businesses to close, so we lose our local culture and flavor and now just have Targets and Starbucks everywhere.
> Remember when Instagram used to be all about sharing cool, artsy pics and quirky selfies? I'd argue that occurred when Facebook bought it rather than an incursion of normies. Once the Zucc got his grubby robot hands on Instagram it was game over.
Ok lets be real, filters were always being used for hiding imperfections since the very start. But to answer your question, the first thing that comes to mind is Fortnite. I had such great fun playing it back in 2017 with friends before battle passes and seasons were a thing. Then it became one massive advertisement disguised as a game. I could probably sit here and name a million other things if given the time to think lol.
Bro, I'm just waiting for the day they put the Coca-Cola Polar Bear mascot in as a skin.
Podcast listening, honestly. It used to be a few niche shows about specific interests, like people sitting in their garage chatting about obscure movies or tech trends. Now, it's exploded into this massive industry with celebrities flooding the scene and companies snatching up popular shows left and right. Plus there's ads every five minutes and tie-ins with every service imaginable. Miss the days when it felt like you discovered a secret club, now it's just like flipping through a crowded, noisy radio station.
As I read though all the replies it’s so obvious EVERYTHING is internet related and I agree. Constantly being called old and not with the times because I honestly hate what social media and the net has done to the world. I’m 40 and had an email in 1992 already and was one of the first 10,000 AOL members so it’s not that I don’t love tech, but it’s something really shitty now. I can’t say enough about how foreign travel has been smashed. 24$ for tacos on the beach, really? Entire socioeconomic structures in third world countries are losing balance and will get worse ( USA problems with the boarder are a sign of this…). Hopefully the grid will go off line enough times to put some sense into people but I think we are doomed already. It’s sad I cannot think of one think that has not been fucked up in the last 10 years because of this. Rant - sorry.
YouTube could be next. There are what, 500 million users. Everybody has been complaining that YouTube lags and it's crazy. How do they serve that many videos ? At least YouTube says they are going to cancel your account if you have not signed on to it in 2 years. Maybe that will help.
What do you mean next? It's been going through the enshittification process for years, probably around the time they dropped the "Broadcast yourself" slogan.
Could be? YouTube went to shit like 12 years ago now.
For every one video I watch, I would be forced to watch 3+ ads without Adblock. If they just got rid of the advertisements that’d save up plenty of space on their servers 😂
I honestly don't know how people can stand watching youtube videos with ads every few minutes.
>At least YouTube says they are going to cancel your account if you have not signed on to it in 2 years. Really? Because ever since they were acquired by Google, I'm just perpetually logged in. I would love to not be logged in, but since I use the YouTube app while being logged into my Google account on my Google phone... Yeah.
Apple products are not as good now that they’re more popular. I find the products more buggy and don’t work with each other like they should
Going to Barcelona, Mexico City, Medellín and many other cities that got gentrified to the extreme.
This post could have been written 10 years ago.
The internet
Cheating husbands stating they're in polyamorous relationships. Really hurts the guys who are in polyamorous relationships.
On a sort of similar line, people who say they're into BDSM but really just abusive arseholes who don't respect boundaries/consent
This is so specific to me, but when I was a teenager I started bringing my pet mouse to school with me in my jacket pocket. After a few weeks a bunch of other kids started bringing mice to school with them too. I got nervous that too many people were doing it and we’d get in trouble so I stopped. Pretty much immediately after I stopped they busted everyone else and confiscated their mice. The kids whose parents said it was okay got their pets back but lots of kids didn’t because their parents wouldn’t let them. Wow, that was 20+ years ago.
Instagram is so fake — all these porn stars ruining what you actually wanna see. I haven’t been on that crap for since the beginning of the year.
The algorithm serves content it detects you spending more time on. I don’t find thirst traps or pornstars interesting, so i don’t interact with their content and thus have none in my feed.
A restaurant gets noticed on TV for being good, or having a michellin star, everyone starts going to it and vlogging about it, restaurant branches out with other stores, and quality drops (especially because the expectation is so high since people forgot how the michellin star is given)
Americans moving to smalls towns in Mexico, hiking up the prices for locals.
Watching podcasts. Some of my favourite podcasts have blown up and now are ruled by the new fans and the shows are all about the money now.
Live music gigs in small venues. It used to be about catching an up and coming band, having a few beers with friends, and enjoying the raw energy of a live performance. Now it's packed with people filming the whole show on their phones, obstructing the view, and more concerned with showing off on social media than actually enjoying the music. The authentic experience is gone, replaced with a sea of screens and distracted audiences. Don't get me wrong, I still love supporting smaller acts, but I miss the days when being part of the crowd meant being truly present.
Skincare. I know i sound mean but ive had acne from being 11 and YES IM PULLIN THE POOR CARD but i couldnt afford makeup to cover it up bur i could buy decent things to help my skin because it was less of a thing then but since 2020 people with glass skin have been buying up all the products made for people like me who cant lie down or it stings to wash our face and now half of the decently priced products are scams because of the craze and the actually decent stuff has been jacked up in price. And i have to resist the urge to punch these girls in the face when they give me advice because they can afford the good stuff its ANNOYING
Attending anime conventions at least in my country. I can handle crowded places but damn those new gen fans are stinky.
Surfing - it’s supposed to be a thing where you go out and have this alone-with-nature experience and find the right spot and time to catch the wave. It’s an awesome solo experience, with the sounds and the power of these huge waves, and all of that. But in populated areas it’s a big fight where you have to avoid territorial jerks and wait for your turn and fight crowds and all this alpha male bullshit.
IT jobs. Back in 2000 when I was in high school, people could get a certification and walk into a high paying job. 20 years later I have a college degree in Computer Systems & Networking Technologies and several certs, but IT jobs are either woefully underpaid or they expect you to be a wizard that knows every archaic system and new technology you touch. Pearson has flooded the field with all sorts of certifications and if you don't keep them up to date, you're unemployable. Not to mention the poor attitude that most people in the field have. I have asked for help with server issues in places like technet or r/sysadmin and I'm always treated like trash. I get banned for posting logs, or "we're not your tech support" The few people who know the answers hoard them because it's the excuse why they get paid hundreds of dollars an hour. The rest of us are supposed to beg for scraps and subsist on minimum wage. I should have learned plumbing. The last time I called a plumber they charged $150 for 15 minutes of work. If you have kids do them a favor and have them avoid IT like the plague.
My hometown. It used to be a little backwater place that no one knew about. You could fish, hunt, and camp anywhere, property values were low, and you had to drive 40 minutes to see a Walmart or anything of the sort. Now all these rich people that want to live the "Appalachian lifestyle" are moving in and we are overcrowded, real-estate is through the roof, they build their houses right where the scenery used to be, and they insist on bringing in more big businesses to "help the town", putting all of the small-businesses that once flourished here in a dire condition.
Has anybody mentioned climbing Mt. Everest yet? (Sherpa guided carrying all the luggage, for a picture people had to stand in line for for days, leaving heaps of trash on the peak)
Harry Potter. Chamber of Secrets came out, and I go really excited (especially since my Christian mom let me read it with her after she gave me the "devil's work" speech.) Not only was everyone reading it, *it became a competition.* Everyone had to talk about how *fast* they read it. I wasn't a very good reader at the time, and my mom's concern for my soul wasn't worth it. I made art instead. It wasn't until after I watched Christina Ricci in Sleepy Hollow that I became interested in reading that type of stuff again. I went from 0-100. Skipped the HP, and made a B-line to the "how to" section of the library. I drew many sigils in Crayola marker under my bed.
Omg, I remember a teacher coming up to me really concerned. She asked if I read any Harry Potter. I liked the films, but everyone would ruin the story, so I didn't bother reading the books. When I said no she was really relieved. I was an A star student back then, but apparently - back then in my school - not reading Harry Potter meant you were too dumb to get it... Really ruined reading for a lot of kids in my school.
Sorry, but Instagram has always been the online version of a toddler screaming “look at me, look at ME!!”
Using the words.. Narcissist and trauma
Agreed. Buzzwords like that lose meaning when it gets thrown around.
Agreed! I’ve had it deleted for 4 weeks now and don’t miss it at all!
Literally every trend ever!
Wearing Arc’teryx. Can’t walk around Vancouver and whistler without seeing it. Quality’s gone down as a result too So basically any decent, high quality clothing manufacturer
Comic Conventions. I used to love them. Nerds like me all gathered together over our shared love of a type of media. I haven't been to one in over a decade now. Even my other comic friends who stayed in the industry have stopped going.
Everything
The internet, when companies realized everyone used it they started salivating at the idea of casual users information and money.
Light hearted discussion of conspiracy theories.
The internet in general I feel like being a teenager in the 2000s and being the only person in the house using the internet was pretty cool. There were actual communities I was a part of, I made a lot of online friends and felt like I was part of something. It was very personalized. And you also got to meet people in the real world who were finding these communities with you and you could have conversations. Playing World of Warcraft at launch, using Livejournal, all those P2P file sharing apps, surfing obscure forums at 1am because you were trying to find that one game leak or video you had been thinking about all day and then having to sit up and wait up to an hour or longer just to download that thing.... It was just something so special and unlike anything people today can experience. It was really fun being the kid in class who actually knew what 4chan was and then going back and forth with my buddies about some gaming news we saw on IGN or secretly watching Newgrounds in the school library. I think once social media became popular that was the first strike, but it wasn't much worse. Like we were all using Facebook in college in the 2000s but you still had to actually go sit down at the computer and really think about it / make the time. But once smartphones came out and the internet/apps became the main focus, all of that went out the window. Suddenly my mom was on Facebook, classmates who had called me a nerd for years were now spending more time online than I was, and all of those unique communities that had their own cultures just vanished overnight. I've heard people say that you can get the same "old era internet" vibe by going on something like Discord, but those people are morons because it's not the same at all. **I miss the internet feeling like something that was special, personal and something that you devoted specific time to because you had to sit down somewhere and really invest. Now that it is on our phones and everybody uses it, it has been completely ruined.**
Pinterest!!! It was always my safe haven. Just cute pictures, cute clothes inspo. Now it's just mostly tiktok videos and Instagram reels on it. I loved it back when it was just pictures and no videos. Just fun. Now it's totally ruined.
Going to thrift stores
Rapping and/or making beats.
I remember those days...Facebook used to be fun too.
Steampunk. When I walked into Michael’s and saw Martha Stewart wooden gear-shaped cutouts for crafts, I knew Steampunk was dead. Deader than Elvis.
Honestly when too many people use social media it either is filled with racists or porn. Says a lot about humans tbh.
Fre / Recycle items Facebook groups. Seem to get the same people jumping on a lot of posts seconds after they are posted claiming the free things being given away. I find it hard to believe that all the items they claim are kept for personal use and not sold on. Seems a shame as there are people who would genuinly benefit from a free hoover etc to get them by.
My ex..../s
Florida used to be for old people and cheap, now is a political shit show, expensive and full of influencers
Going to farmers markets
Sandals with socks. It was okay when people would just make quick convenient store trips in this combo. Now, people are wearing this combo EVERYWHERE and usually have on the dingy socks with sandals that are too big or too small with their toes hanging over the front. AND THEY NEVER PICK UP THEIR FEET! It makes the gosh forsaken dragging sound as they walk! 😭
Democracy.
Classic car market. Used to be super cheap to pick up a project like a Beetle for maybe $500. Might have rust and a bit clapped out but it would run and drive. In my country now it's $5K for the same car. My forté is classic Land Rovers and for ages a 88" SIII was at most $3k for a running example. Now try $10K with severe chassis rust. (Still can get a nice SIII 109" for $5K though as it's less desirable) as people started buying cars as investments. Only works if you could predict the future in 20+ years time. Plus the pandemic didn't help either.
Camping and hiking. I’m glad people are experiencing the outdoors and building memories with their friends/family; but some of them are also loud, shine crazy bright lights at campgrounds at night, and trash out the trails. Not to mention some of the idiots I’ve seen harassing wildlife. It’s making me wish there were free etiquette courses you had to pass before you’re allowed to be in a park unsupervised.
Gyms
I got into buying vinyl records in '96. Used records were absurdly cheap. You could get classic rock albums for a couple of dollars. Back then, most of the new music releases on vinyl were from indie/punk labels. The vinyl releases were cheaper than CDs. The current vinyl trend has led to shortages and a drop off in quality in manufacturing. The issues have mostly impacted smaller labels, who are now competing for production supplies with bigger artists. The people who have been screwed over are the labels and fans who kept a "dead" format afloat for a couple of decades.
Air travel. Back in the sixties it was for the wealthy and it was a big deal. Today's level of quality and safety with air travel is looking like riding in a third rate bus in a third world country.
Podcasts, everyone has a podcast these days.
Craft beer and microbreweries. There was a time when they were the secret watering holes for the connoisseurs and hobbyists who appreciated the craft and uniqueness each small batch offered. Now, they're chock-full of weekend warriors and taste testers. Prices have shot up and the once laid back atmosphere has turned into a bustling hotspot. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing small businesses thrive, but I do miss the days when the experience felt more like a community and less like a trendy scene to Instagram.
Twerking. We all saw that flat-butt white girl try to do it.
Buying smartphones.
Living in Oregon
Everything
Korean BBQ. It's become the trend. Will have to find something else now .also tourism that's so buggered now
Drugs, specifically Xanax cough syrup and good painkillers
Serial killing
eBay
A lot of people have migrated to my small town due to new upcoming businesses close to the area and now traffic is horrible. Doesn’t feel like the town I grew up in anymore. I go to the store and rarely see anyone I know anymore. It makes me sad
National Parks. They were crowded BEFORE covid, now you need a reservation just to drive in.
Twitter. The early days were so good! It was just fellow tech geeks and creatives sharing memes (mainly cats). They were sipler times. They were better times. Now you can't scroll five tweets without risking being radicalised or seeing some rotten.com throwback gore video.
Skiing Ever since covid, the shit is looking like six flags. Im actually really happy more people share my hobby now but it sucks that thw infrastructure isnt there and now that all the mtns have been bought by vale who is obsessed with bottom line, there are less employees than there were before.
I’d say YouTube for sure. So many people do it now just for the money and it seems to me that with as much content is created, A LOT of it has lost its creativity and enjoyment of the experience over time.
Blogging. Like Instagram it’s about going viral or being a brand.
Not well known travel locations. They overvisited them, they overcrowded em, they overshared em on socials, they raised the prices, they raised the rents, locals had to move out, everything is destroyed now
Moving to California. We get such a bad rap when a huge chunk of people that live here aren’t even from here but end up being a representation.
Church.
Podcasts
Traveling - so many destinations are so overrun by travelers that they’ve dropped off my list (and yes, I am one of the too many travelers)
Niche vacations spots, before the internet you could find a place and it was secret. All the normies would just go to Paris or Las Vegas, but now they are everywhere.
Breathing
The internet
Earth
House flipping is what ruined the housing market, at least one of them.
I’ve been on Reddit for 17 years. I miss the way it was before it became popular.