Things That Disappeared Without You Noticing

[lady stoneheart]

There's like 80% less bugs, don't quote me. I remember moths and earthworms the most. Sidewalks would be full of worms after a rain, and digging even a little bit would net you handfuls. Now I don't see either.

I haven't seen a caterpillar or cocoon in years, same with daddy long legs and all the smaller butterflies. Dragonflies are a rare sighting.

Now almost any time I see a bug I take a picture, it's such a rare occurence.

Last year was the first year I noticed birds of prey out during the day. Usually they keep away from humans and daylight. It's gotta be dire if a hawk is hunting at high noon mid summer.

you’re right about the worms too, they used to mob the sidewalk after a rainstorm, now you might have to jump over a handful at most while on a walk.

i live in an area that gets Monarch butterflies, or used to. last summer i counted and i only saw three all year even tho i purposefully plant milkweed and other butterfly-attracting plants.

this is the kind of shit that makes me feel hopeless and doompilled tbh. people will always be stupid and treat each other like shit and that i’ve come to terms with. but the pure ecological devastation we’ve inflicted on most other forms of life makes me want to fedpost irl or an hero

 

[TurdFondler]

this is the kind of shit that makes me feel hopeless and doompilled tbh.

100% agree

I don't care what the cause is but you can't tell me all the bugs dying is normal

 

[Sperghetti]

Record stores. Not used record stores or hipster shops, but actual records stores like Tower, NRM, Peaches, etc. It actually didn't hit me that they were completely gone in the US until I visited the UK and got all jazzed about a shopping spree at HMV and stopped and thought "wait oh shit". Took my kid to one on a family trip to London and he actually said "wow is this how people used to buy music", like a starving orphan stumbling into a Vegas buffet. Streaming is ass and must die.

This is one of the things people always seem to overlook when they talk about the decline of malls in the US. It's not that people would rather shop online, it's that half the stores that populated them even up through the early 00's no longer exist. You'd be hard-pressed to find a mall in the 90's that didn't have a record store.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

You'd be hard-pressed to find a mall in the 90's that didn't have a record store.

A local mall used to have this place where one could buy music, movies, and vidya. This was before 9/11.

Now it's a clothing store. I joked that clothing stores are like the remains of more interesting stores.

 

[Anus Lemonade]

I haven't seen these since I was a young kid.

 

[alright fine]

This is one of the things people always seem to overlook when they talk about the decline of malls in the US. It's not that people would rather shop online, it's that half the stores that populated them even up through the early 00's no longer exist. You'd be hard-pressed to find a mall in the 90's that didn't have a record store.

I was so sick of ordering online that now that I've moved to Florida, I barely use Amazon, like, at all. It's such a relief going to a store. And being near several really good record stores and bookstores is a pleasure. I used to live in the Greatest City in the World and can find more cool shit on store shelves now than before I moved. That shouldn't be the case. Something is broken.

A record store I used to frequent before moving out of bugman hell proved this to me -- the guy who owned the place was a little younger than me, but we're both Gen X, and he obviously was doing it as a labor of love (seemed to have money already and a stable family in a very nice neighborhood, so this was likely a stress reliever for having busted his ass at a high-stakes job for decades). He and I talked about how surprised and pleased he was at how well the store was doing -- and how nearly all the clientele were 18-30 year olds who were desperate for physical media and a chance to actually browse racks and handle records and share music they dug. I remember hanging out one day and helping a zoomer-aged girl who was just getting into metal, rattling off names of classic metal bands for her to check out (and I'm not even much of a metalhead), and then not long after telling the guy who owned the place about some great new music I was getting into, like the New Weird music from London and vaporwave, etc. People NEED stores and restaurants and the like -- there is no instance of any decent-sized civilization not having shops, restaurants, markets, book stalls, vendors, etc. Terminally online living is a fucking pestilence and an aberration, and even zoomers and millennials know it and almost always respond with relief and joy when they can actually spend time in real places buying (or at least browsing) real things with real people. What the techbros and WEF elite have done to humanity over the past decade (especially the past two years) is an unforgivable war crime, and is inorganic, and I really, truly believe a tide is turning. People need other people and need contact and need real things. Physical media FTW.

 

[NoReturn]

bugs. when i was a kid, when we would go for a long drive the windshield would get covered in splattered bugs. i noticed like two years ago that that doesn’t happen any more, i can go for an hour long drive in high summer and arrive at my destination with a pristine windshield. it made me sad. i hope the bats and birds are getting enough to eat

There's like 80% less bugs, don't quote me. I remember moths and earthworms the most. Sidewalks would be full of worms after a rain, and digging even a little bit would net you handfuls. Now I don't see either.

I haven't seen a caterpillar or cocoon in years, same with daddy long legs and all the smaller butterflies. Dragonflies are a rare sighting.

Now almost any time I see a bug I take a picture, it's such a rare occurence.

Last year was the first year I noticed birds of prey out during the day. Usually they keep away from humans and daylight. It's gotta be dire if a hawk is hunting at high noon mid summer.

you’re right about the worms too, they used to mob the sidewalk after a rainstorm, now you might have to jump over a handful at most while on a walk.

i live in an area that gets Monarch butterflies, or used to. last summer i counted and i only saw three all year even tho i purposefully plant milkweed and other butterfly-attracting plants.

this is the kind of shit that makes me feel hopeless and doompilled tbh. people will always be stupid and treat each other like shit and that i’ve come to terms with. but the pure ecological devastation we’ve inflicted on most other forms of life makes me want to fedpost irl or an hero

I had a zoomer not believe me about the number of butterflies and bees I saw growing up and it made me actually sick to my stomach.
That's the kind of difference you'd expect to see between grandparents and their grandkids, not something this fast.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

this is the kind of shit that makes me feel hopeless and doompilled tbh

It really does feel like "real life is getting cancelled" these days.

As if someday all that may be left is a (heavily regulated) internet.

 

[whatever I feel like]

View attachment 3032629
I haven't seen these since I was a young kid.

They still exist. Try independent gas stations in rural areas.

 

[SITHRAK!]

we're both Gen X

We X'ers never had it easy, but at least we had music that had a diversity of styles and formats. I still remember going to my local music place to buy the album 'Scamboogery' by Scatterbrain and having it offered on vinyl, cassette and CD.

And while we're on diversity in music, when did 'diversity' stop meaning a Top 40 with grunge, metal, indie, pop, hip-hop, bubblegum, electronica, industrial and dance? Now 'diversity' solely refers to the artist's skin color and 85% of musical pieces are slight variations on a theme.

 

[GlobalstarFM69]

People born between 1900 and 1940. A whole generation is gone and I feel like people didn't care. I am glad to have known my great-grandmother (1911-2011).

 

[TurdFondler]

I remember early 2000s you could go to RadioShack and buy PNP or NPN transistors, LEDs and resistors. It was already bullshit compared to the RadioShack catalog of the 80s and 90s where you could buy every electronic component on the market, but it was something. The mall is worthless now.

 

[sasazuka]

Jumbo Video, with its free popcorn, dedicated horror section and porn room with western doors. Ah memories…

Do you mean the Canadian Jumbo Video? I never rented from there but my local Jumbo Video included a Microplay store that had a far better selection of older games compared to EB Games (now Gamestop Canada) and the Microplay sadly also closed when the Jumbo Video closed.

 

[Mister Mint]

View attachment 3032629
I haven't seen these since I was a young kid.

They are still made, just very few places dare to carry them. Usually mom & pop candy shops.

 

[Mister Mint]

People born between 1900 and 1940. A whole generation is gone and I feel like people didn't care. I am glad to have known my great-grandmother (1911-2011).

I knew my great grandmother too. She was kind of a retard, wore a bathrobe that was more cigarette holes than fabric and would try to get me to buy her cigarettes to which I would have to constantly explain "I can't purchase cigarettes for you because I am eleven."
No big loss.

 

[The Gifted Kid]

Plasma TVs. I remember people debating whether Plasma or LCD was better. Now I doubt most people even know the difference let alone even remember Plasma was a thing.

Also remember Avatar by James Cameron. That shit was one of the biggest blockbusters at the time which everyone saw yet I don't remember a single thing about it other than the blue people.

 

[Pissmaster]

There's like 80% less bugs, don't quote me. I remember moths and earthworms the most. Sidewalks would be full of worms after a rain, and digging even a little bit would net you handfuls. Now I don't see either.

I haven't seen a caterpillar or cocoon in years, same with daddy long legs and all the smaller butterflies. Dragonflies are a rare sighting.

Now almost any time I see a bug I take a picture, it's such a rare occurence.

Last year was the first year I noticed birds of prey out during the day. Usually they keep away from humans and daylight. It's gotta be dire if a hawk is hunting at high noon mid summer.

I noticed that too. Daddy long legs used to be everywhere when I was a kid, and I don't think I've seen a single one in over a decade.

But these horrible things are super common now:

and I swear I didn't start seeing them until around like 2012ish

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Plasma TVs.

Also that whole 3D craze* just evaporated.

*(like 3D TV and 3DS)

 

[TV's Adam West]

Can I pay you in trident layers?

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

you’re right about the worms too, they used to mob the sidewalk after a rainstorm, now you might have to jump over a handful at most while on a walk.

i live in an area that gets Monarch butterflies, or used to. last summer i counted and i only saw three all year even tho i purposefully plant milkweed and other butterfly-attracting plants.

this is the kind of shit that makes me feel hopeless and doompilled tbh. people will always be stupid and treat each other like shit and that i’ve come to terms with. but the pure ecological devastation we’ve inflicted on most other forms of life makes me want to fedpost irl or an hero

It's just habitat destruction/they lost their habitat. We replaced soft loamy soil with hard concrete and gentle air breezes with dusty air and fast moving cars that squat them.

In natural parks and reserves insects flourish. I've been on countryside recently and I swear there's 10 flying insects per cubic meter.

But of course there's tourists that squat them because they find them annoying.