It's 2025. What things don't you miss now that used to be commonplace?

[The Salt Umpire]

About 10 years ago, the company I was working for was moving offices. During the cleanup, someone found an old typewritten office memo outlining the office's smoking policies from days gone by. Looking at it from my perspective, it was wild. You could basically smoke at work all you wanted, as long as you used the ashtrays, and put your cigarettes out properly when you were done. I think the thing that stood out the most was that the policy stated that even if you were a non-smoker, you had to remember to leave your company-supplied ashtray on your desk at all times, in consideration of smokers who dropped by to talk to you!

1) I have seen people with traches put a cigarette in their throat
2) I don't know if these are urban legends or not, but I've heard of smokers blowing up their 02 tank
3) Remember buying a used car that smelt of smoke? You never get all the smell out

So glad I never caught the addiction. Maybe 'cause I grew up around smokers and was repelled by the door.

 

[Pumpkin Bread]

In many ways, I think the no-smoking rules are still relatively recent. To see so many pro-smoking rules even in the mid 80's is wild though.

People hadn't realized the danger of sidestream smoke yet. They knew it was dangerous for the smoker, but not so much for those around him.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I'm trying to remember the last time I was in a restaurant with a Smoking and a Non-Smoking section, and the only thing I can think of would have been in the early nineties at my cousin's high school graduation. We went to a restaurant and, while we were waiting to be seated, another cousin and myself went to the bar and had a drink and appetizers, and they were definitely smoking in there.

 

[Tim Walker]

You and me both. Got asked if I'd attend a reunion, and my reply was 'expletive of your choice no'. I've no desire to experience my classmates again.

You reminded me...my class (of '75) would have had their 50th high school reunion this year. As I was bullied in high school, it never bothered me that I never received invitations for any of the reunions.

 

[The Friendly Jewish Ghost]

This is turning into the "smoking sucked!" thread. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but do you remember anything else from bygone days that you're glad is gone now?

 

[Pumpkin Bread]

You reminded me...my class (of '75) would have had their 50th high school reunion this year. As I was bullied in high school, it never bothered me that I never received invitations for any of the reunions.

35th for me. No invitations either. Wonder if there were any... I was practically within walking range of my high school.

 

[Owain Taggart]

People hadn't realized the danger of sidestream smoke yet. They knew it was dangerous for the smoker, but not so much for those around him.

Yeah, I seem to remember it was around the 90's where they really started taking that seriously. And now we know second-hand smoke can be as much a cause of cancer, and it makes sense, because if a smoker is not only filling their lungs with it but is surrounded by the smoke, then why wouldn't it affect those they're around?

And thinking back to that poster in the movie and the patients smoking in their beds, the smoke affecting those around them, ewww, just gross.

I'm trying to remember the last time I was in a restaurant with a Smoking and a Non-Smoking section, and the only thing I can think of would have been in the early nineties at my cousin's high school graduation. We went to a restaurant and, while we were waiting to be seated, another cousin and myself went to the bar and had a drink and appetizers, and they were definitely smoking in there.

I'm thinking 94-95, and maybe it depended on the different parts of the world, but yeah, definitely around that time.

 

[Faintly Macabre]

This is turning into the "smoking sucked!" thread. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but do you remember anything else from bygone days that you're glad is gone now?

I can think of things that I am glad are gone:

Coal fires and the pollution caused (plus they took a lot of work);
Doing the laundry by hand (my mother got her first automatic washing machine when I was 18 and I am old enough to remember coppers, mangles and dollies);
Outside lavatories and tin-baths-in-front-of-the-kitchen-fire;
Leaded petrol;
The hole in the ozone layer;
People dying of whooping cough.

but I am old and the UK and Europe suffered more from the Second World War than the USA did.

By the 1980s, the big changes, the big gains had been made. For people for whom "bygone days" are the 1980s, the pendulum was starting to swing against social improvements and governments interested in the general public, and towards profit and big companies. There weren't as many significant improvements and positive changes that had been made were starting to be rolled back. Things that were (and are) trumpeted as "improvements" rarely offered any real advantages, frequently had significant downsides but were cheap and profitable.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

As much as I loved making mixtape and taping songs off the radio, I don't miss the tape player chewing up the cassette and stretching out the tape so it broke.

 

[SithHappens]

Which I know was hard to do seeing as any restauraunts or food service establishments at the time still had smoking tables in the years of transition until they banned smoking entirely.

As for hospitals, now you can't even smoke within a certain radius of a hospital's property. How times have changed!

Our main hospital is supposed to be smoke free but people still stand outside in their PJ'S smoking. To be fair I think there should be smoking areas in hospital grounds, stopping smoking is (I'm told) a pretty stressful affair and if you are sick while it might seem obvious to stop, maybe the time isn't while you're recovering in hospital.

Also if you have a condition that cant be treated.

 

[SithHappens]

The lack of autism awareness kind of sucked. At least nowadays the kids like me get a classroom experience that doesn't leave them passionately hating school.

This.

My parents, who are very elderly, say autism is on the rise. I wouldn't say they are quite in the Donald Trump category on this mind.

To me it's just our understanding of the condition, I can think of a few at school who were likely on the spectrum but were just considered different.

I wonder how many had even heard of it before rainman.

 

[SithHappens]

Although the current situation still has a long way to go, I don't miss the casual racism and sexism (and other -isms and -phobias).
It might not look like it from the press and social media but people in general are a lot more accepting and tolerant than they were 40 or 50 years ago

Maybe 40 or 50 years but I think racism is worse, certainly in the uk, than say 20 years ago.

To avoid any political debate I'll not say why I believe it but I even see it in my own family or circle if friends more than i used to.

 

[SithHappens]

The cane at school.

I know some say their is a lack of discipline today but I remember being caned twice and both times they got the wrong person.

 

[Pumpkin Bread]

To me it's just our understanding of the condition, I can think of a few at school who were likely on the spectrum but were just considered different.

That was me. And another kid at my school, who took so much abuse that he supposedly attempted suicide once. And sadly, some of my classmates thought it was pretty funny.

 

[John Clark]

When were these smoking-positive rules from? The 60s? The 50s? No it was the mid-80s! That just blew me away. I am SO glad I wasn't part of the workforce back then!!

I just remember all the burn marks on my bosses keyboard from his cigarettes - and that was in the mid 90s.

Maybe 40 or 50 years but I think racism is worse, certainly in the uk, than say 20 years ago.

To avoid any political debate I'll not say why I believe it but I even see it in my own family or circle if friends more than i used to.

Me too. My family have been fine, but some of the other people in my life at least appear to be worse (or more open about it anyway)

 

[SithHappens]

That was me. And another kid at my school, who took so much abuse that he supposedly attempted suicide once. And sadly, some of my classmates thought it was pretty funny.

It's one thing I imagine is better today. While I can't comprehend how difficult it would have been for you I struggled at school, could never do 'joined up writing' and couldn't spell, still can't do either.

It wasn't the other kids, it was teachers who bullied me over it. I was also colour blind and can remember in art the teacher making fun of me in front of everyone because of the colours I'd used. Just can't see that happening today.

 

[Pumpkin Bread]

The cane at school.

I know some say their is a lack of discipline today but I remember being caned twice and both times they got the wrong person.

I'm sorry that happened to you.

My feelings on the subject have gotten far more mixed over the years. Mainly due to the long and convoluted process of dealing with kids who had severe behavior problems due to parents who were just plain bad at their jobs. A kid who knows they can do whatever they want with impunity can make a teacher's life miserable... and bring the educational process to a halt.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

It just occurred to me, I can't not remember a time having a teacher who didn't smoke.
I would go to the main office, and the teacher's lounge would be filled with teacher's on their break, smoking.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Shag carpeting and faux wood paneling. I don't miss the seventies fashion and interior design.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Our main hospital is supposed to be smoke free but people still stand outside in their PJ'S smoking. To be fair I think there should be smoking areas in hospital grounds, stopping smoking is (I'm told) a pretty stressful affair and if you are sick while it might seem obvious to stop, maybe the time isn't while you're recovering in hospital.

Also if you have a condition that cant be treated.

Ok, so it might be regional maybe? If anyone smokes near hospitals here, they're told to go to the edge of the property. I think the same goes with nursing homes and such.

The lack of autism awareness kind of sucked. At least nowadays the kids like me get a classroom experience that doesn't leave them passionately hating school.

That definitely would have sucked, and I'm sure people would remain undiagnosed for decades because of it. I have a friend who became diagnosed in his early 40's.

But this is true of other disorders that become undiagnosed because of a lack of an overall awareness of what could be causing something. I have friends with Lupus and for years were told it was all in their heads.

There's a very good movie called Brain on Fire based on a memoir about a woman who knew she was suffering something, but doctors could never figure it out and would downplay it and repeatedly tell her nothing's wrong, it's all in her head. Not because they had ill intent, but because of overall lack of awareness that there could be something. She would develop erratic behavior over time which lead to her being mislabelled as having a mental illness, and eventually one of her attending physicians reached out to a neurologist in a very specialized field of study who agreed to study her case, which lead to the discovery of a rare disease, Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, which boils down to a form of brain inflamation. Once correctly diagnosed they were able to treat her and anyone else suffering with the same thing.

That movie was eye-opening for several reasons, and I feel that it's wrong for doctors to quickly assign blame on the patient for what they're experiencing when not all facts are known, and this is an attitude I wish would change in medicine. I think it's hugely insensitive to a patient who's only looking for answers, and leads to more stress and anxiety.