10 Forgotten Things From The 90s That Don’t Exist Anymore

The 90s was the last great period of tangible items. Sure, we can touch things today but nothing feels as tactile as it did in the last decade of the millennium. The 90s were full of trends, cute gadgets, and pieces of cultural ephemera that simply don’t exist anymore. Some of the things we’ll be talking about today have been left to the dustbin of time for good reason, but there are a few pieces of cultural phenomena that make us misty eyed just thinking about them. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane…

Going to the video store used to be an event. More often than not every Friday night was built around going to the video store, whether it was a Blockbuster or your local mom and pop. There was a joy to the act of walking through a rental store and picking out the perfect movie. Can’t you feel it in all of your senses now? The smell of the store, the way the aisles are evenly separated; there was just nothing like going to the video store. Sadly this is a thing of the past that’s been erased by streaming, which is nice but it’s not the same.

In the pre-iPod days, if you wanted to listen to music on the go there were two boxes you had to check. First you had to have a Discman (or a Walkman if you prefer cassettes), then you had to pick one, maybe two records to listen to and you had to commit to those songs. In the 90s, the Discman was an iconic accessory, but today they’re a relic thanks to smartphones and music streaming services.

You used to see payphones everywhere, and then one day they just split. In the 90s, these metal boxes were a lifesaver for people who needed to make a phone call when they were away from their home. Whether you had a late night emergency or just forgot your keys to the office, all you needed was a quarter to make a call.

Before cell phones became affordable enough for everyone to have one in their pocket, pagers were the communication device favored by folks on the go. If you’ve never seen a pager (or “beeper” if you prefer) they were only able to receive messages, and if you wanted or needed to get back to the person who sent you the message you had to find a payphone and begin a game of phone tag. For some reason these bad boys were a status symbol at the time, but today they’re obsolete.

Tamagotchis were the virtual pets that everyone wanted in the 90s. Kids across the world kept these pocket-sized, egg shaped digital pets as if it was a genuine lifeform. After hatching a new pet you had to feed, clean, and care for this creature made of ones and zeroes. And if you weren’t a good parent? Well it’s best not to talk about that. Versions of this gadget still exist, but the culture has moved on.

Back in our day you couldn’t just open up your laptop in a coffee shop and get on the WiFi. Heck, you couldn’t even plug into a high speed internet port. In the 90s it was all about dial-up, baby. The screech of the modem, the endless waiting, the possibility of someone picking up the phone mid-connection and ruining everything, what a thrill. Dial-up has thankfully long since been replaced by a much faster and more reliable internet.

In the early 90s you couldn’t just store all of your files on your computer, and small, external hard drives weren’t yet the norm for consumers. Whether you were building your own game or just doing your homework, floppy discs were the only affordable way to store your important digital files. Floppy discs had an incredibly limited storage capacity and were finally replaced by CDs and flash drives, but we’ll always miss their funky look and the way they felt rattling around in our backpack.

If you’re a real 90s kid then you had to have had at least one piece of Lisa Frank stationary in your backpack. Whether someone wrote you a note or you were just really into digital dolphins, this stationary was everywhere. Known for its incredible designs featuring unicorns, mythical creatures, and the aforementioned dolphins, the company was a school supply staple. You can still find Lisa Frank products, but they’re nowhere near as popular as they used to be.

How do we even explain the existence of phone cards? Before cell phones erased the concept of expensive long distance calls, phone cards were the perfect thing for people who needed to stay in touch with their loved ones. In the 90s, it was totally normal to use phone cards to make international or long distance calls. Once you had the card, you’d enter a pin, dial the number, and hope you purchased enough minutes to last the entire conversation. Now we have phone plans and even apps that help with international and long distance calls, and phone cards are all but forgotten.

Arcades were once bustling hotspots in every town with enough space to hold some gaming cabinets and teens with quarters. Every day after school let out and all day on the weekends arcades were packed with kids ditching their disposable income on games like Street Fighter 2, Area 51, and Crazy Taxi. Today, home gaming, a pandemic, and parents who keep tight reins on their kids have all but destroyed the Arcaded economy.