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330 BCE
Shaving
The Greeks and Romans shaved their beards as a way to protect themselves in battle, so the enemy would not be able to grab their hair in their hands. Today we use disposable razors that were made to allow comfort and ease. 30 000 years ago they used flint razors. These razors are now obsolete because it was very easy to cut yourself while shaving. The razor has come a very long way. -
1569
Folding/paper Maps
Gerardus Mercator of Flanders published a map of the world in 1569 based on this projection. Many other map projections were soon developed. Maps were very popular and used to get people from point A to point B, and to give people a sense of direction. They were sometimes hard to read and very large. Today, we use maps online, this eliminates the need to carry around a map. -
Typewriters
Typewriters, for most people were a faster, neater way of writing. However they were very inconvenient because they were not easy to transport and if you made a mistake you would need to start again. This was replaced by the laptop and computer, they are light and you are able to delete things you messed up, without having to restart. -
Phone Books (Yellow Pages)
In 1886, Reuben H. Donnelley created the first official Yellow Pages directory. Yellow pages is a way people could find and contact other people. Yellow pages contained many phone numbers and it took a long time before you actually were able to find the phone number you were looking for. Now, yellow pages is online and is much easier to use. -
Rotary Phones
The rotary phone is obsolete now because you can no longer use it to call most phone numbers because it is all on the digital word. The rotary phone was difficult to use for some people. The electronic phone is much simpler to use and allows us to contact people from almost anywhere, however the rotary phone would need to be plugged in. -
Cassettes
Cassettes were used to listen to music mainly. They were very complex and were not easy to use. If you wanted to listen to a certain song you would need to sit there and fast forward all the other songs. The cassettes were replaced by the music we have online. -
Walkman
The Walkman revolutionized the portability of music. Sony recently announced they are no longer manufacturing the Walkman. It was a very popular product and allowed people to listen to music almost anywhere because it was portable. However the electronic world has put the Walkman out of sale. -
CDs
The CD's were used to store anything from movies, pictures, songs. However it was very easy to misplace or scratch. The CD and CD player was replaced by electronic music, Netflix, and the I Cloud. These things work more efficiently. -
PDA's
Short for personal digital assistant, a handheld device that can be used as a cellular phone, fax sender, Web browser and personal organizer. These PDA's have been modified and improved, however they are no longer as popular as they were. -
Movie Rental Stores
Not too long ago there was a Blockbuster on every street, a fun way to go out and choose a movie for the family. However, these movie rental stores are obsolete and have gone out of business because of movie rentals online. With Netflix and On Demand it makes it unnecessary to go out and rent movies. There are a few Blockbusters left today but not many and they will not be out for long. -
Plastic Credit Cards
Many people think by 2025 that the plastic credit card will be obsolete. The credit card companies will still exist, however the physical credit cards might be obsolete and people would pay electronically or from their phone. This would eliminate the need to carry around a credit card and risk loosing it or having it become stolen.
