# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/41 "2026-04-11T11:08:08Z")
YoYos. Still around, but I haven’t seen one in use for ages. Hats. I wear a hat when I’m out more often than not. I see very few other people wearing one. ---
**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 11, 2026, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/42 "2026-04-11T11:45:02Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Hats. I wear a hat when I’m out more often than not. I see very few other people wearing one. my impression was that hats had been popular rather than what the OP is looking for. ---
**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 11, 2026, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/43 "2026-04-11T12:10:41Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > what the OP is looking for Yes, I thought that this thread was about what has both appeared and then disappeared in your lifetime, not just what has disappeared. Hats, yoyos, and prostitutes were around long before any of us were born. My example would be Earth shoes. That ugly, weird footwear that had a sole that was thinner at the heel than the toe, supposedly better for your posture and overall well-being. Extremely popular for a few years in the 70s, they seemed to have completely vanished. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/44 "2026-04-11T12:24:54Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Sears. How old are you that Sears became ubiquitous in your life time? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/45 "2026-04-11T12:28:20Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Digital cameras that are only cameras. Also, telephones that were only telephones. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/46 "2026-04-11T12:32:57Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > fax machine. > [@JohnGalt](#): > > Pagers. I am 3 years retired now, but I used both fax and pager literally every working day. My ex cow-orkers still do. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/47 "2026-04-11T12:35:58Z")
Dollar stores (the kind that sold a wide variety of merchandise, all priced at exactly $1) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/48 "2026-04-11T12:37:47Z")
Yeah, now they’re $5 stores. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/49 "2026-04-11T13:03:29Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > > [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > > > Sears. > > How old are you that Sears became ubiquitous in your life time? 🙂 I’m 61, and I remember when pretty much every mall in existence had Sears as one of their anchor stores. Hey, speaking of malls… ETA: oh, I get it— _became_ ubiquitous within one’s lifetime, not _already_ ubiquitous. Never mind 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/50 "2026-04-11T13:20:14Z")
As others have said, the video store industry rose and fell during my adult lifetime. I bought my first vcr around 1983. At the time there were only two stores within an hour’s driving distance where you could rent vhs movies. I think one of them also rented laser discs, which were already on their way out. Within ten years there were videostores everywhere. Pretty much every town had one and most had several. And in addition to stores that specialized in video rentals, many other stores rented videos as a sideline. Now there isn’t a single video store left in western New York. The last videostore in my area was a Family Video that closed in 2021. The closest one still in business is a four hour drive away. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/51 "2026-04-11T13:23:48Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Digital cameras that are only cameras How about disposable digital cameras? Another I thought of were basketball shoes with embedded air pockets, which you could inflate by repeatedly pressing a button. There was a time in the 1990s when you’d see NBA “pump up” their shoes before the dunk contest at the All-Star game. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/52 "2026-04-11T13:35:14Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > Black and white tv Again some of the older people here might remember it: only a very small percent had black and white TV in 1950 while the substantial majority had it by 1960. So it’s possible some people here remember listening to radio for news and for various dramas and comedies–and then remember the big event when their family first got a TV. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/53 "2026-04-11T13:52:50Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Indoor malls? They started popping up in the very late ‘50s, then an explosion of malls in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s and from what I can tell, they’re almost extinct And the ones that are still around are all but dead. I went into Brookfield Square mall a while back. At one time a robust, bustling center It was eerily quiet, more stores closed than open. Like a ghost town where something terrible had happened before everyone left. Creepy. That’s the word to describe it: creepy. Like a lost episode of the Twilight Zone. I picked up my shirt at the JC Penney (I was the only customer in there) and skedaddled. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/54 "2026-04-11T13:55:11Z")
Dial-up modems! _[beep beep bee bee booo… brrweee-eeeeeew-eee-oo, ee-oo… crrrrrrrr](https://looper.bandcamp.com/track/modem-song-2)_ ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/55 "2026-04-11T13:55:36Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Hats, yoyos, and prostitutes Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/56 "2026-04-11T14:07:01Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > How about disposable digital cameras? I don’t remember these at all.After reading about them some, I don’t think they were ubiquitous - they seem to have been introduced somewhere around 2003 and I’m pretty sure I remember cell phone cameras already being common by then. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/57 "2026-04-11T14:10:42Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Compact fluorescent light bulbs. First appeared in probably the late 1990s as a more energy efficient alternative to incandescent bulbs. Now they’ve been supplanted by LEDs. this is a good one. By the time I started getting around to thinking about replacing incandescent with compact fluorescent bulbs, they were already getting hard to find, so I essentially just went from incandescent to LED directly ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/58 "2026-04-11T14:14:35Z")
I’ve not seen leds here yet. At least I haven’t seen leds that would go in a table lamp or overhead fixture. I see lots of compact fluorescents in brick and morter. I’m gonna’ keep an eye out for those. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/59 "2026-04-11T14:16:13Z")
Where is “here”? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/60 "2026-04-11T14:16:45Z")
Discos. That type of “dance hall” became hugely popular in the late 70s, and seems to have disappeared completely in the US. I probably still have my “Members Only” jacket in a closet somewhere. 🙂 Also, T-Tops in cars. I really liked those, as a good compromise between a convertible and a hard top. I suppose they’ve been replaced by the even better hard-top convertibles. Showing my age even more: CB radios. They were everywhere, but seem to have disappeared. Maybe truck-drivers still use them, but I haven’t seen one in decades. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=4)