Honing in on the right skills are an essential part of our personal and professional growth. They give us the ability to perform tasks efficiently and effectively, making us valuable assets in any field. However, as time passes, some skills become less relevant or even obsolete.
In today’s fast-paced world, technological advancements and changing market demands have rendered many skills outdated, although some individuals still find personal uses for them.
These skills will undoubtedly slowly phase out over time. Do you find any of these skills beneficial? Or still use them frequently?
1. Memorizing Phone Numbers
Memorizing numbers prevented the Boomers from having to take a trip to their little notebook with the phone numbers. Smartphones store and recall phone numbers for us; we no longer need to store hundreds of numbers in our minds.
It may help improve your memory. And what happens when our phone dies or is lost and we need to make an emergency call?
2. Physical Map Reading
The Boomer generation found their way around by reading a map, but with Google Maps and Siri, those are no longer a necessity.
Although you may need a map in the unlikely event that you land in an area with no reception. Young generations would be very lost in this scenario.
3. Using Payphones
Learning to punch numbers and pull them to complete a phone call was a very important skill, but of what use is that skill today?
Mobile phones have largely replaced the need for payphones. Many don’t even work anymore.
4. Typing on Typewriters
Learning to punch and reel a typewriter was an incredible skill, but we do not need to use one today.
With the advent of computers, typewriters have become obsolete for most people. Yet, there’s something about the clicking and movement that is therapeutic for some.
5. Handwriting Checks
Digital payment methods have made paper checks less common and check-writing skills obsolete today.
There’s no more need to rip papers out of booklets and queue to bank them.
6. Cursive Writing
While still taught in some places, cursive is less commonly used in everyday life. Learning to write in cursive used to be an almost do-or-die skill. With the advent of texting and emailing, handwriting itself is a dying skill, let alone cursive writing.
7. Manual Driving
Cars are getting more and more automatic, we moved on from push-to-start buttons to self-driving cars. In the days gone by, driving was an extreme sport with all the changing of gears and all.
Today, you can barely find a stick-shift car, and most of the people who drive one are the Boomers or those who still love to shift.
8. Landline Phones
There were once landline phones in almost every home. In the era of smartphones and digital communication, however, the usage of landline phones has declined significantly.
9. Encyclopedias
Before Google and Wikipedia, there were encyclopedias in most homes. This is where you get all the information, just like, well, Google.
You just needed to learn how and where to search.
10. How to Use a Dictionary
Dictionaries were a big deal, and learning how to search the meaning and read the pronunciation of a word was a great skill. Then the internet happened and every word we need is available at the click of a button, and you can even slow the pronunciation down to hear it better.
11. Phone Operators
If you tried calling someone and couldn’t get through, you would call a customer service phone operator who was not a robot, and they’d connect your call.
Calling [or operating] a switchboard was a necessary skill that we no longer need. It only exists in places like hospitals and business offices (maybe).
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Many of the behaviors that were deemed ordinary for children in the 1960s would be mortifying to people today. If parents from the ’60s were to raise their children in the same manner in today’s world, they might find social services knocking on their doors. As time progresses, so do parenting methods and the level of supervision and exposure provided to children.
17 Insane Things That Were Acceptable for Children in the 1960s
14 Tough Parts About Getting Older No One Shares
Some people celebrate the first grey hair and the first wrinkle, while others are horrified at the first sign of aging and do all they can to eliminate it. The tell-tale signs of aging are met with varied reactions, but they all indicate one thing—no one will be left by this aging train.
14 Tough Parts About Getting Older No One Shares
19 Things You Shouldn’t Fear as You Get Older
As we grow older, it’s common for our fears to grow alongside us and sometimes hold us back from enjoying our lives. Many of these worries come from not knowing what will happen as we age. The media (social and news) also makes older folks unnecessarily fearful about their health and vitality- often painting a picture of disaster, decline, and disease.
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JayDee Vykoukal is a writer, author, mom, and Doctor of Physical Therapy. She has been writing about everything motherhood and health-related since 2018 when her first daughter was born, and she wanted to stay home. She loves to research new topics and fun facts with her kids to teach them about the world.
