With rapid technological advancements, we witness several unique and innovative technologies that take the market by storm! They become the talk of the town, sometimes go out of stock, and build a foundation for newer and better technological ideas to formulate. Finally, no matter how advanced these technologies are, it goes obsolete as it paves way for newer technologies to storm the market.
We have had the privilege of witnessing several such technologies that completely blew our minds. But sadly, some are no longer in use or have gone obsolete.
Here is a list of some of the technologies that have gone obsolete.
So let us reminisce about the past!
1.Telephones and wired landlines
I am reminded of the classic monotonous ringtone of a telephone as I write about this! Although not often used today, telephones and landlines have had a long run as it’s origins can be traced back to the 1840s. It has gone through several advancements and iterations, such as the rotary dial phones and wired landlines.
Rotary dial phones have gone obsolete and the wired landlines are waiting to be one as portable and handheld solutions are multiplying across the world. However, we would never forget the long conversations we have had while sitting close to a telephone and holding on to the receiver.
2. Phone booths
Gone are the times when people queued up outside a phone booth to make a call. Now you might see people queuing up to buy the latest I-Phone before it goes out of stock for a while! With handheld devices and network services being made available and affordable, phone booths no longer serve the purpose for which it was originally intended.
There have been rumours about Google planning to develop these telephone booths into Wifi spots. For now, it stands as a reminder of the telephone’s long history.
3. Pagers and beeper
Pagers and beepers were used in the 1980s as portable alternatives to landline telephones. They were mainly used by emergency service workers and doctors for people to reach out and connect with them, even when they were away from a landline telephone. Users could send and receive messages with these pagers and beepers.
The early 2000s witnessed it’s decline as smartphones emerged into the market. But due to their durability and better network coverage, they are still in use by a few numbers. However, among the vast majority, this technology has gone obsolete.
4. DVD a.k.a Digital Versatile Disc
DVD is an evolutionary and a very familiar video format for many of us. We all have had the pleasure of inserting the DVDs into our DVD Players to enjoy audio and video content. It had several advantages over its predecessors as it had more storage space and was more durable.
Today, video streaming platforms and high speed internet have replaced the DVDs to become the most sought after medium of entertainment.
5. Floppy disc
In the modern ages, Floppy disc is the universal computer icon that indicates the function of saving files. However, with the auto-saving options made available in many softwares, these are disappearing even as an icon. Floppy discs were mainly in use during the 1970s. The initial ones were capable of storing upto 80 kilobytes of data. With further developments made to the floppy discs, it’s storage capacity was increased to hold upto 144MB of data.
Due to low durability and vulnerability to corruption, it was soon replaced by CD-ROMs. Today, one can say that this technology has gone obsolete.
Which of these inventions do you remember using and which are the ones that I have missed out? I am sure there are many. Put them in the comments below!
