8 Life Skills Millennials Learned In The 90s That Are Already Completely Obsolete
Unfortunately for millennials, no one uses floppy disks anymore.
DavideAngelini | Shutterstock If you think about it, the ‘90s weren’t really that long ago. In the grand scheme of time, three decades isn’t all that much. But, as any millennial knows, a lot can happen in roughly 30 years. According to Pew Research Center, millennials were the generation born between the years of 1981 and 1996. Because of this, while many were born in the ‘90s, a decent portion also grew up then.
A lot of the things millennials learned in the ‘90s seemed pretty cutting-edge at the time. After all, plenty of new technology was in development, and people were still getting used to the idea of computers. Despite this, a lot of the things that millennials learned in the ‘90s really don’t matter anymore. Life skills that seemed vital and innovative at the time are now obsolete. A since-deleted thread addressed this exact topic, encouraging people to comment with what they had learned in the ‘90s but no longer needed to know.
Here are eight life skills millennials learned in the 90s that are completely obsolete now
1. T9 texting
Antonio Guillem | Shutterstock
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as smartphones that had full keyboards on their touch screens. Instead, letters were stuffed onto a keyboard more prominently featuring the numbers zero through nine, and a button would have to be pushed multiple times to get the desired letter.
According to Wired, all of that changed with Martin King’s invention. “T9, or Text on 9 Keys, changed that,” they said. “It allowed users to enter words by pressing a single key for each letter.” Because of T9, cell phone users were able to type quicker and longer messages.
One millennial bragged about their ability to use the once top-of-the-line technology, saying, “I was so good, I could carry on a verbal conversation with my parents without looking at what I was texting.”
2. Memorizing phone numbers
Dean Drobot | Shutterstock
Cell phones were few and far between during the ‘90s, and even as they gained popularity, they didn’t exactly have the sophisticated “Contacts” sections we’re used to now.
Instead, if you wanted to hold on to someone’s number for future use, you had to memorize it. WhistleOut surveyed 425 people and found that only 49.4% knew two to five phone numbers by heart.
WhistleOut also found that older generations memorized more phone numbers. This makes sense, as older generations didn’t have access to cell phones until they had already lived a lot of life. Thankfully, all of those numbers no longer have to sit in your brain or a rolodex.
3. Burning CDs
Dean Drobot | Shutterstock
According to the BBC, CDs were first used in the year 1982, just on the cusp of the first millennial births. As technology became a bit more advanced, these CDs went beyond just a way to listen to a specific album from your favorite band. Instead, you could make your own with a pre-selected set of songs that made the perfect mix.
One millennial recalled, “I was the first one in my class who learned how to do it and had a computer capable of doing it. Oh, what a brief and shining moment of popularity … “
Now, of course, you can stream your choice of music on pretty much any device with access to the internet. While CDs still pop up in stores, their sales are going down, and no one burns a CD when they could much more easily make a playlist.
4. Recording using a VCR
DimaBerlin | Shutterstock
Before the advent of streaming services and DVR, millennials became experts in using a blank VHS to record a show or movie as it aired live on TV. Kodak stated that VCRs were most popular between the mid-70s and 2000s — peak millennial time.
While VCRs were, of course, also used to watch movies and other things, like home videos, on VHS tape, people caught on to the fact that they could be used to record things to watch later and ran with it.
Most millennials can remember a stack of neatly labeled VHS tapes sitting somewhere close to the TV and VCR.
5. Using floppy disks
Drazen Zigic | Shutterstock
According to Lenovo, these disks were “a type of removable storage media used to store data on computers.” Essentially, they were a precursor to USB flash drives, which were a precursor to the Cloud.
Floppys, as they were affectionately called, came in a variety of color options and could be labeled with exactly what was saved on them.
In the early days of computers reaching the masses, especially when desktop computers were more common, millennials learned how to save their important data on floppy disks and then re-insert them into the computer to access that information again.
Now, floppy disks are no longer used in standard computer practices, and people are still trying to figure out the best way to get information from them to use on other devices.
6. Using WordArt and ClipArt
voronaman | Shutterstock
One millennial noted that these tools, which are still a part of Microsoft Word, “[made] documents more visually interesting.” WordArt and ClipArt allowed millennials to insert pictures and fancily scripted words into any document.
It was basically the equivalent of virtual calligraphy and illustration. New Zealand’s The Spinoff said WordArt “was cool in 1997 and managed to stay cool until at least 2005.”
Many millennials remember the days of adding WordArt and ClipArt to their documents for a little extra flair, especially for school assignments.
No project was complete, it seemed, without a WordArt title, and ClipArt was used to enhance otherwise boring papers. They were absolutely the highlight.
7. Driving stick shift
Kleber Cordeiro | Shutterstock
The use of manual transmissions did not originate with millennials, nor is it completely irrelevant now. However, most cars use automatic transmissions now.
Car and Driver reported that there are currently 28 models on the market that can be bought new with manual transmissions. These cars, also known as having a stick shift, used to be the most pervasive type of vehicle.
While stick shifts have been around since the beginning of cars, they were still very frequently used when millennials were growing up and learning to drive.
Whereas younger generations would most likely stare at a stick shift in complete confusion, millennials had to learn how to drive a stick shift if they wanted to, well, drive.
8. Rolling the tape back into a cassette
Perfect Wave | Shutterstock
Before there were CDs, there were cassette tapes. The New York Public Library said these tapes were popular from the late ‘70s to early ‘90s. So, they didn’t quite make it for all of millennials’ childhoods but were present for a good many.
Cassette tapes were great for listening to music and even making your own mix tapes, as people would later do with CDs.
But, they came with a drawback. Sometimes, the actual tape part of the cassette would get pulled out of its spool and had to be rolled back in. Since cassettes had two small holes in the middle, this is where pencils came in.
The holes were the perfect size to squeeze in a pencil and twist it around to roll the tape back in. While this may sound like a foreign concept to younger generations, this was pretty much essential for millennials to know.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.