# What became ubiquitous then went away in your lifetime? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180 "2026-04-10T22:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/181 "2026-04-12T21:21:05Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > The OP didn’t place much limitation on what qualifies. > > Continuing with 1970s fads, I nominate **streaking**. Not really ubiquitous, although discussions of it seemed to be. I didn’t intend to include gag fads such as pet rocks and such but rather things which were more substantial. A separate thread for short lived fads would be better. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/182 "2026-04-12T22:58:37Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > A 15-minute gag gift fad hardly seems to qualify. The fad lasted a lot longer than just fifteen minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/183 "2026-04-12T23:24:45Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > The fad lasted a lot longer than just fifteen minutes Not much, actually. Pet rocks were introduced at a trade show in August of 1975, and were pretty much done by February of 1976. Although they were revived and are still a thing in South Korea. > **[Pet Rock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Rock)** > > Pet Rock is a collectible toy made in 1975 by advertising executive Gary Dahl. They are rocks packaged in custom cardboard boxes complete with ventilation holes and straw bedding imitating a pet carrier. > Gary Dahl came up with the idea in a bar while listening to his friends complain about their pets; this gave him the idea for the perfect "pet": a rock. A rock would not need to be fed, walked, bathed, or groomed, and it would not die, become sick, or be disobedient. Dahl said that they were to ... ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/184 "2026-04-12T23:55:23Z")
I still use my iPod Touch regularly. The only problem is that the battery is on its last legs, so I have to keep it plugged in while playing. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/185 "2026-04-13T03:29:35Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > The fad lasted a lot longer than just fifteen minutes. As I said in the post immediately proceeding your, I wasn’t intended the thread to be about fads, especially short term gags. Although I didn’t say anything, I wasn’t really thinking about fashion or hairstyles, as the nature of them is that they tend to be relatively short term fads. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/186 "2026-04-13T11:03:26Z")
Or Donald ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/187 "2026-04-13T11:11:37Z")
Automatic seatbelts in cars, the kind that ran on a track above the door. I hated those things. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/188 "2026-04-13T11:13:21Z")
Ford Escorts in the early 90ies… Say no more. … And you still had to buckle up. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/189 "2026-04-13T12:23:58Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > And what about those mini satellite dishes? It seems like those started popping up on every other house in the 2000s, as an alternative to cable. They’re not completely gone, either, but they don’t seem to be as common as they once were. I am old enough to live through the heyday and decline of the **large** (8 to 10 foot) home satellite dishes… ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/190 "2026-04-13T13:58:47Z")
Last year, I dug out my old iPod, charged it up, and started using it for when I’m on the treadmill. The playlists are still great, even if they are missing the few recent songs I’ve downloaded. I look like a complete dinosaur to the kiddies working out around me. And the iPod only adds to that. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/191 "2026-04-13T14:31:31Z")
This thread reminds me I threw out my _ **dot matrix** _ printer that I have had at the bottom of my closet for near 20 years a few months ago… ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/192 "2026-04-13T14:47:44Z")
well, we still have the Mall of America, **5.6 million square feet** ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/193 "2026-04-13T14:57:25Z")
I’m glad _my_ CDs never went away. My PC died and I spent much of the weekend re-importing them into my new PC. Had to buy an external CD-drive (because hey, although built-in CD drives were once ubiquitous, they’ve since gone away), but still saved hundreds of dollars not having to pay for downloads. Now, if I could just find my copy of “Mesopotamia.” Maybe it’s near the rabbit-ears on the TV. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/194 "2026-04-13T15:01:58Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Had to buy an external CD-drive Don’t want to hijack, but I sometimes have a need for one of these, and when I look online I am amazed at how cheap they are (less than 20 bucks at WalMart). Is yours a USB device, and was it as cheap as those I see online? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/195 "2026-04-13T15:05:15Z")
About $23. It needs a longer USB cord to be truly convenient, but still worth the money. I suppose I could get an extension cord somewhere, but it’s not important enough to bother. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/196 "2026-04-13T15:08:12Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > About $23. It needs a longer USB cord to be truly convenient, but still worth the money. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/197 "2026-04-13T15:21:04Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Fotomats, chain bookstores\*, Radio Shack. > > \*like Borders, B.Dalton and Waldenbooks. I came in to say “bookstores” When I was a kid, you bought books at newsstands, department stores, pharmacies, hardware stores (true!) and the very rare bookstore. The bookstores were either on college campuses, or were tiny, cramped places filled with shelves. If I wanted to go to a bookstore, I had to go several towns over. Or to New York City. Then circa 1970 Waldenbooks opened up in a not-so-local shopping mall, and I was blown away. Lots of room. HUGE numbers of books, on all subjects. It was Great! A couple of years later a new indoor mall grew up attached to an existing Bambergers, and it included a Waldenbooks. Finally, a bookstore close enough to bicycle to! Several years later a second bookstore, a Lauriat’s, also went in to our not-so-big mall. The mall where I first encountered the Waldenbooks then had FOUR bookstores. Bookstores continued to multiply and appear all over. They even opened up a Borders in the old strip mall near my home – finally, a bookstore I could WALK to from my parent’s house. Then along came the internet, and the bookstores disapeared. The three and a half story Waterstone’s in Boston’s Back Bay went first. Then man of the others, and all the used bookstores that swarmed in Boston and Cambridge. Then Borders went. Only Barnes and Noble was left as a chain (although Books a Million was in existence, but nowhere near me. And the one in Dupont Circle in Washington DC closed). The Barnes and Nobles are on shaky ground, too. The landlords pushed up the rent for the ones on Route 1 north of Boston and in the Prudential Center in Back Bay Boston and drove them out of business (I suspect Amazon for this). For the first time since it went up, the Prudential Center has no bookstore. Some Barnes and Nobles remain. There’s a Books a Million in Concord NH. And there are some feisty independent bookstores around. It’s hard as hell to get my books into them, though. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/198 "2026-04-13T15:33:05Z")
Late night real estate infomercials showing various ways to buy property with “No money down!” ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/199 "2026-04-13T15:40:25Z")
Columbia House and Time/Life clubs. You know you still owe them some money, don’t lie. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/200 "2026-04-13T17:18:19Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Department stores themselves are an excellent example of something that was ubiquitous when I was a kid and are now long gone. I remember going shopping downtown with my Mom, which involved taking an electric trolley bus. There were no fewer than at least three department stores downtown, two gigantic ones, and one a little smaller. Department stores are still around, if declining, but what has vanished is the true old style department stores with lots of odd departments, like books and food. The Macy’s on 34th street in NY had a magic store inside. The last time I was in Europe the department stores were still that kind, with examples I went to in London, Paris, Berlin and Helsinki. My example, which I haven’t noticed in this thread, is the video game arcade. I’m sure there are some still around, but they used to be in every mall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=11)