# 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:** 43
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/841 "2026-09-18T15:37:17Z")
Re: Typing class Mom signed me up for summer school when I was a sophomore, 14 or 15. “Wake up, it’s time for typing class.” It wasn’t for credit or anything, it was at a high school in another city, she just didn’t want me sleeping late and doing/not doing all my other awesome stuff that summer. The previous summer was tennis lessons. It was about 1992-3 and they said it was the last time a typing class would be offered and it seemed pretty old fashioned, lottsa jokes. A few years later, I took the last pencil & table mechanical drawing class offered at the big community college. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2026, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/842 "2026-09-18T15:38:05Z")
Matsushita is the original company and Panasonic was one of their brands but I believe they changed to Panasonic as the company name now. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/843 "2026-09-18T15:57:47Z")
> [@dougrb](#): > > I had typing class in high school (class of '82). Easiest “A” ever. Had mandatory typing class in the 8th grade ( late 70s ). Manual typewriters, though quite new. I _did_ learn to type without seeing the keys and worked my way up to 15 words per minute: I remain so today. Hardest C+ I’ve ever earned. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/844 "2026-09-18T16:16:07Z")
re: Typewriters - I learned to type on a manual that, IIRC, my MOM had in college. Royal, battleship gray, weighed a ton. I used it to type all my college papers (in my major, I had to write a LOT of papers!), and I got to be a pretty good touch typist. Fast forward about 10 years when I got issued a computer at work. Soft touch keyboard! Wow! So easy! So for the next 30 years or so, that defined my typing. About five years ago, I was helping my mom clear out some stuff at her house, and found her old Royal. I took it to a local shop and had it serviced. After bringing it home, I set it up and started typing on it. I was shocked - SHOCKED, I tell you! - at how much effort it took to strike the keys and actually produce anything. After typing less than a page, my hands were sore and I found it was really distracting to have to concentrate on making the extra effort to press the keys with enough force to get anything at all on the paper. Now that Royal is sitting on the credenza, five feet away, mocking me and my weak hands. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/845 "2026-09-18T17:35:59Z")
My parents continued to use the flashcubes up until 1980 or so. They’d give the still-warm cubes to us kids to play with when used up, which subsequently became “heads” for our PlayDoh creatures. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/846 "2026-09-18T19:54:23Z")
Right- my parents used them when I was really little, then at some point they got some kind of camera with a flash built in and/or just didn’t take so many photos (the recession of 1982 in Houston affected us pretty dramatically). At any rate, I didn’t see them after about 1980-ish either. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/847 "2026-09-19T01:44:26Z")
> [@bump](#): > > At any rate, I didn’t see them after about 1980-ish either. I have a kind of vague memory of a parent using a flash cube when taking photos of my 1st grade class, which would have been circa 1986. I feel by that time flash cubes must have become kind of a novelty / relic, I suspect the reason it was memorable to me was because I’d never seen one before. And it kind of seems like the other adults there were like “Woah, I haven’t seen one of those in a long time.” ---
**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:** [September 19, 2026, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/848 "2026-09-19T02:58:09Z")
There would have still been millions of Kodak Instamatic cameras in circulation in 1986, so I suspect flash cubes still had decent sales. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/849 "2026-09-19T03:28:57Z")
Rotary dial telephones Kennedy half dollars ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/850 "2026-09-19T03:37:51Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Rotary dial telephones Just how old are you? 😉 > [@](#): > > The first patent for an automatic telephone exchange was granted to [Almon Brown Strowger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almon_Brown_Strowger "Almon Brown Strowger") on November 29, 1892, but the commonly known rotary dial with holes in the finger wheel was not introduced until about 1907.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_dial#cite_note-1) While used in telephone systems of the independent telephone companies, rotary dial service in the [Bell System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System "Bell System") in the United States was not common until the early 1920s. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/851 "2026-09-19T04:02:03Z")
Slot cars. Back in the 60s, they seemed to be everywhere. I had a track set up in our basement, and so did most of my friends. We spent countless hours racing them, tinkering with them, and arguing over whose car was faster. There were three common sizes: HO, 1:32 and 1:24. We kids mostly had the smaller HO sets at home. The big commercial slot-car places, with enormous multi-lane tracks, were mostly 1:24 scale. There was also 1:32, which fell somewhere in between. Then the whole craze seemed to disappear almost overnight. I know slot cars are still around as a hobby, but compared with how common they were when I was a kid, they’ve pretty much vanished. I have fond memories of them. Apparently we could entertain ourselves for hours by making tiny cars go around in circles. It was a simpler time. [![](https://i.imgur.com/rJHtUcn.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/rJHtUcn.png) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/852 "2026-09-19T04:44:49Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Then the whole craze seemed to disappear almost overnight. People got their driving fix from arcade games, I think. While model railways and kitset modelling both kept their niche appeal, slot cars’ limitations were laid bare when a viable alternative arrived on the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/853 "2026-09-19T04:55:02Z")
I think the timing is off. The slot-car craze peaked around 1965–67 and was already collapsing by the early ’70s. The first real arcade driving video game didn’t appear until 1974. So arcade games may have helped prevent a _comeback_, but slot cars had already managed to go out of fashion all by themselves. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/854 "2026-09-19T04:57:06Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > I think the timing is off. The slot-car craze peaked around 1965–67 and was already collapsing by the early ’70s. Anecdotally: I got an AFX slot-car set in '75 or so, and a number of my friends had them, as well. The hobby may not have been at the peak that it was at in the '60s, but I’m not sure it had really “collapsed” just yet, at that point. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2026, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/855 "2026-09-19T05:47:23Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Rotary dial telephones As have been explained many times in this thread, the OP specifies things that were not there when you were a child but then became ubiquitous. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2026, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/856 "2026-09-19T08:32:16Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > The big commercial slot-car places, with enormous multi-lane tracks, were mostly 1:24 scale. There was also 1:32, which fell somewhere in between. > > Then the whole craze seemed to disappear almost overnight. Brooklynites may remember Buzz-a-Rama, a slot car parlor on Church Avenue that somehow kept operating for decades after the craze faded. (Sadly, it didn’t survive the death of the husband and wife who owned it, both of whom died of COVID in 2021 after refusing to get vaccinated.) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/857 "2026-09-19T10:15:49Z")
I don’t remember seeing slot car parlors _until_ the 2020s and I just assumed that it was a new thing that people tried to do to get people to go out and do dynamic and personal games again. I never tried them because the couple of times I’ve seen them I was alone and it seemed to be an activity that would be more fun with more people. Both of the places folded quickly, though. And I can see why, because it seems even more a niche activity than mechanical arcade games because not only do you need to personally like the immediacy of physical motion, you need a group of friends who also enjoy it. And as another requirement for me to personally like it, I’d need to have a group of friends who are up for that while _sober_, because even when drunk, I’m too competitive to enjoy sucking at hand eye coordination. ---
**Author:** ![Spinbutton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spinbutton/32/21846_2.png) [@Spinbutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spinbutton)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/858 "2026-09-19T11:14:17Z")
Everyone in my company (IBM) was given a pager so we could be called in case of an emergency on New Year’s even 2000 (Y2K). It was hilarious - I can’t image how much IBM spent on pagers for that event. Sadly, I was not paged for any graphic design emergencies on that evening. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/859 "2026-09-19T11:59:06Z")
I think you’re selling slot cars a little short. There was real skill involved: braking points, throttle control, and keeping the car just below the point where confidence became a spectacular de-slotting event. Then came the tinkering: tires, gears, brushes, weight, alignment, lubrication. Plenty of ways to blame the car instead of yourself. As a kid I mostly raced HO scale on my track or friends’ tracks, then occasionally moved up to the big commercial 1/24 tracks when I got older. I loved both. I wish there were a track near me now; I’d happily relive that thrill from many decades ago. They were also more social than you’d think. You could just show up and race whoever was there, more like bowling or pool than some specialized hobby club. I suspect the problem today is simpler: slot cars require space, maintenance, and actually leaving the house. The sofa is undefeated. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/860 "2026-09-19T13:51:08Z")
As a kid in the 1970s, I came across more than one hobby/model shop that advertised slot-car racing on the signs outside but had apparently replaced the tracks to make room for more shelf space. Another hobby that was rapidly disappearing before I was old enough to participate in was model rocketry in the city parks and school yards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=42) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=44)