After reading a bunch of blog posts about things of the past, I was brought back to thinking about little things that no longer exist in todays society that I miss. A few weeks ago I found these two pins on pinterest: 35 Things You Will Never See Again In Your Life and Awesome Things From The 90’s. Although some of the things mentioned were not “erased” by advances in technology, it is still fun to reminisce about things of the past every once in a while.
A couple people mentioned how with advances in technology there follows job loss. One comment in particular, about movie rental stores going out of business really hit home for me. I think it is such a shame that places like Blockbuster are going out of business these days. Although Netflix has grown immensely over the past few years, that doesn’t mean that it should become a substitute for going to a store to rent a movie. Not only is going to a video store fun, as you get to browse through all types of movies you would normally skip over on netflix, but it also allows for human interaction.
I remember waiting in line, being tempted by all the candy, and getting to the counter to have a conversation with the cashier about how he/she loved or even hated the particular movie I had picked out. Little things like that don’t exist now because of advances in technology.
Lastly, Netflix is really not all that it’s hyped up to be. If you want to watch a good movie, spur of the moment, it is not easy to find one there. Everything may be on Netflix, but not on, “Watch Instantly.” So, how video stores have become so irrelevant is beyond me.
The limitations of netflix really is maddening. Whenever somebody suggests a good movie, I always try netflix first. However, very very rarely is that movie actually on the site. It seems like most good movies are only available through the mail. Luckily for us, most movies can also be found streaming online for free.
I, too, miss going to Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, etc. I am not very knowledgeable about movies so I liked being able to go up and down the aisles picking out random titles that looked interesting to read further about the plots. In this way, the movie store pushed information to me. Someone in the store would suggest a title or I would just skim the available DVDs (or VHS way back when).
Similarly, I will miss newspapers in the future. Newspapers pushed information to me. Going online to read the New York Times or Washington Post is more of a pull process. I know what I want to read so I search for it or go straight to the article, skipping over the other articles that are equally important.