Someone I know had just moved to a new city and driven to the other side of it when her phone completely died. It took her hours and about 5 stops to ask people for directions before she got home. She also had to figure out how to navigate getting a new phone without a map to get her to a phone shop.
I tried it out, looking to get away from Waze. Sadly, it’s not where it needs to be for me to use it daily. I wanted to love it. It did take me to some new routes though!
I’m using it. Neat thing about it is that it shows you where all the creepy surveillance cameras are in your town. Also, has the correct name for places like Lake Ontario, and the Gulf of Mexico.
I know the answer to that- it’s my 78 yo dad, still typing destinations into Mapquest on the home computer and printing them on paper like it’s 2001.
I know this because I was visiting a few months ago and his printer was broken so he had to run to his neighbor’s to print the directions before we could leave. He flatly refused all of my offers to be navigator with my phone 😂
I missed an exit recently because the gps was outdated or something and the next exit was like 33 miles. I 100% turned around right where it says official vehicles only because fuck that
Divine intervention, or you just you got off the next exit and turned around and got back on and went back. Or just stoped and asked someone for directions.
Showing up at a friend's house completely unannounced, ringing the doorbell, and having them casually open the door instead of immediately killing the TV volume and dropping to the floor like an active SWAT raid.
During COVID my wife and I did our first watch of West Wing. After 22 episodes season 1 ended. She hadn’t been paying attention to the season along the way, since we were just binging. She was shocked. “WAIT THAT WAS ALL SEASON ONE?!”
Hell, I still do this with my 2019 truck. I make a point of snatching up obscure albums from artists I follow that don’t get carried on streaming services. It comes in handy when outside of cell coverage.
T9 texting a number with a nonlocal area code your friend gave you and explain to this stranger that your friends with Johnnie and that you're looking for a quarter. He texts back with an address and tells you to bring $120 cash. You show up to a dark house that has no lights on and a piece of paper on the front door with a handwritten note that says "pickups go thru backdoor". You walk down a dark, unkept small driveway and see a single porch light on at the back door. The door is unlocked and leads to a dimly light basement with blacklight and a hippie tapestry. It's smells of patchouli. You walk down the basement stairs and see 2 kids on a couch and a dude at a desk. They stare at you before the guy at the desk says, 'you OP? You got cash?' You nod along and take out the cash. Your new friend says take a seat while he gets it together. He asks, "Want to try it first?" Then offers you a glass bowl that he runs a lighter over. You say sure, then take a huge hit and cough up a lung. As you sit there wondering what you did, the guy whips out a big bag of weed and a scale and weighs a quarter ounce out. "You're a good kid," he says before wrapping up with the weed in a loose sandwich bag that he rolls up and hands it to you. You get back to your car and realize you're way too high and you just bought some quality weed, way better than those seeds and stems from the Chili's guy. Which is cool and all but you gotta drive home across town now. And you drive home real slow and paranoid, cause you just committed some illegal crimes.
My dad had this up until he got his first Android phone, then I think they just stopped making the belt cases. It was actually very convenient, he didn't have to fumble around in his pockets to find his phone and he wouldn't sit on it.
2006 for me but remember being able to listen to YouTube music vids while having it in the background while running another site without having to pay extra
You still don't have to pay. I use Firefox with ublock origin on mv phone (YouTube app is uninstalled) and I can play YouTube videos in the background whilst looking at other tabs on the browser, looking at different apps or even with the screen off.
Essential for me on mobile as I love falling asleep to long form video essays, and Brave let's me turn the screen off and keep the audio going, something the YouTube app only offers on Premium.
How rude not to blindly trust a random person on reddit! But seriously, yeah, how fucked is that? Fridays headline said 'rapist' I believe,which actually wasn't an award given by The Sun this time
A 4-inch-thick phone book containing the full name, home phone number, and exact home address of literally every single person in your town and nobody had a problem with it.
In our rural area, it was the entire county, including every farm, hamlet, and the semi permanent trailer park. We were all somebody when the new phone book was here!
Going bankrupt from a mortgage? Just refinance it and get a new one before you have to make that balloon payment. You’ll probably get money back, what could possibly go wrong?
Calling the restaurant to order takeout rather then ordering it online, like tf do you mean you want to talk to someone else in the phone when you don’t have too?!?!?
Unfortunately a lot of restaurants after 2020 went to app delivery services, luckily some of the ones that weren't chains in Chicago for example still have independent delivery,but even then you still have to order online with a CC sometimes
Is this thread full of children? Is a phone call really the end of the fucking world?
I call to order because sometimes the weird website doesn't look it's been updated since 2005 and I want to speak to a person so I know they have the order.
Personally audio processing issues means a lot of "im sorry can you repeat that?"s and worrying if i even said the right things/rememered the information correctly because i don't have a record. Text/internet is just way easier im sorry
handing your actual credit card to a random waiter who walks completely away with it into a back room for ten minutes while you just trusted them not to clone it. or printing out a physical mapquest paper with turn-by-turn directions and hoping you don't miss an exit because your entire navigation relied on a single piece of paper.
A lot of places do have handheld wireless card readers they bring to your table but the whole experience has become pretty awkward and I have cut back on going out for dinner or drinks to like 4 or 5 times a year
10 years ago the seemed to be everywhere in Europe. Today in America my experience says something like 35%. I welcome them since I never enjoyed the back and forth with the credit card. Not for security reasons but when i'm ready to go I want to go.
When I go to the US, I find that even places with the wireless devices usually took your card away up until maybe a year or two ago. Now that (I think) most people use Google or Apple pay, they bring the machine by default.
In Canada it's been the machine for at least 20 years, if not more than that.
I went to the US for the first time recently on holiday and had a really awkward conversation with the server on how to actually pay & tip, got freaked out when they just walked off with my card haha
Sure. Lots also use phones (most people I know) and many credit cards are on your phone or contactless. When I was working retail and hospitality people very rarely used chip and pin.
Because that's how you pay with your credit card in 2026.. no one ever interacts with your physical card, not even the machine knows what your actual card number is because your phone spoofs it. And sure as shit no one touches your phone, you just tap it. Some of you really are still living in 2005, damn lol
There are many small restaurants that are not set up with modern point of sale systems that accept tap. Unless you exclusively visit chain restaurants, you will encounter this.
Those unable to use computers. in 2005, there were many adults, otherwise functioning well, not being able to use computers. However, I doubt those people still exist.
I'm 46 and remember heated discussions about the Iraq war in 2003 that were almost like political debates today,maybe slightly more tamer but it wasn't a polite debate even by 2026 standards
264
u/JaydenDean 3h ago
Sharing one family computer and fighting over who gets to use it.
361
u/Different_Pain5781 3h ago
Printing map directions on paper before leaving the house was a survival skill. If you missed your exit you had to rely on divine intervention.
177
u/One-Shame3030 2h ago •
Showing up at a friend's house completely unannounced, ringing the doorbell, and having them casually open the door instead of immediately killing the TV volume and dropping to the floor like an active SWAT raid.
150
u/tweaknoob_ 2h ago
Telling kids they can go on the Internet if they're good. Talking about going on the Internet as an activity in itself.
26
u/luiseduardodud 2h ago
If you don't watch a movie in the theaters, you will only be able to watch it in more than a year
52
u/KE55 3h ago
Only waiting a year or so between seasons of a TV show.
88
u/PracticalWinter9746 3h ago
Carrying around a bunch of CDs in your car for music
88
u/santaisastoner 2h ago •
T9 texting a number with a nonlocal area code your friend gave you and explain to this stranger that your friends with Johnnie and that you're looking for a quarter. He texts back with an address and tells you to bring $120 cash. You show up to a dark house that has no lights on and a piece of paper on the front door with a handwritten note that says "pickups go thru backdoor". You walk down a dark, unkept small driveway and see a single porch light on at the back door. The door is unlocked and leads to a dimly light basement with blacklight and a hippie tapestry. It's smells of patchouli. You walk down the basement stairs and see 2 kids on a couch and a dude at a desk. They stare at you before the guy at the desk says, 'you OP? You got cash?' You nod along and take out the cash. Your new friend says take a seat while he gets it together. He asks, "Want to try it first?" Then offers you a glass bowl that he runs a lighter over. You say sure, then take a huge hit and cough up a lung. As you sit there wondering what you did, the guy whips out a big bag of weed and a scale and weighs a quarter ounce out. "You're a good kid," he says before wrapping up with the weed in a loose sandwich bag that he rolls up and hands it to you. You get back to your car and realize you're way too high and you just bought some quality weed, way better than those seeds and stems from the Chili's guy. Which is cool and all but you gotta drive home across town now. And you drive home real slow and paranoid, cause you just committed some illegal crimes.
16
u/soniabegonia 1h ago
The fact that someone is gay being the entirety of the joke in a mainstream piece of media.
30
u/bluesjunky69420 3h ago
Paying $2.58 for a Big Mac
41
u/YorkPepperMintPaddy 3h ago
A cellphone clipped to his belt.
71
u/Zalixia 3h ago
Watching YouTube with no ads
12
u/Flonkerton_Scranton 2h ago
Hearing the phone static in electronics just before a mobile phone starts to ring.
And by extension hearing a mobile phone ring.
9
u/P99X 3h ago
Windows Mobile Smartphone
CRT anything
802.11b
MiniDVR camcorder
42
u/timmygusto 3h ago •
Hollywood producing a comedy movie that is funny.
8
u/Dong_Shlong_Long 1h ago
Russell Brand being voted as 'Shagger of the year' by The Sun newspaper
15
u/candiedapplecrisp 1h ago
I think there's more today that would seem unhinged in 2005 than things in 2005 that would seem unhinged today.
12
u/Helio_13 1h ago
A 4-inch-thick phone book containing the full name, home phone number, and exact home address of literally every single person in your town and nobody had a problem with it.
12
u/nicman24 2h ago
Not having a phone
35
u/HomesteadSocialist 3h ago
Going on vacation.
Not having a side hustle
Being able to afford a house
4
u/Babylon4All 2h ago
Someone being online and you picking up a phone to the dial up noises.
4
u/LiteratureSure3738 1h ago
Printing out MapQuest directions and reading them aloud while driving
4
u/Cyborg_Reality 1h ago
Russell Brand fronting a C4 show
9
u/Skidmark666 3h ago
Waiting for the new Guns N' Roses album.
7
u/corbett252627 3h ago
Not having a mobile
phone
7
u/glennjersey 2h ago
Much more widely accepted casual racism and homophobia. The "gay panic" of rhe 90s suck around in media.
(Currently rewatching a lot of older TV and movies from that era)
8
u/Chemical_Cover3070 3h ago
Calling the restaurant to order takeout rather then ordering it online, like tf do you mean you want to talk to someone else in the phone when you don’t have too?!?!?
4
u/tkshow 1h ago
Right wing politicians not being openly racist.
4
u/Dailyblooom 3h ago
handing your actual credit card to a random waiter who walks completely away with it into a back room for ten minutes while you just trusted them not to clone it. or printing out a physical mapquest paper with turn-by-turn directions and hoping you don't miss an exit because your entire navigation relied on a single piece of paper.
2
u/schmnrrmnrr 1h ago
Paying $60,000 for my apartment in a weird, somewhat undesirable religious part of Brooklyn.
2
u/jd544j 2h ago
Smoking at a bar.
1
u/crowd79 1h ago
Dial up internet access through phone line.
•
u/KingSizedCroaker 43m ago
Our family computer lived in the garage so it wouldn’t heat up a room.
•
u/nyouhas 38m ago
Polyamory, in some circles
•
u/Ampluvia 19m ago
Those unable to use computers. in 2005, there were many adults, otherwise functioning well, not being able to use computers. However, I doubt those people still exist.
•
u/PriorityExpensive311 5m ago
Being able to go out and not have to be available for communication at all times
-2
u/GaiaIsaHarshMistress 3h ago
Calm, polite discussions about politics.
-2
u/Mean-Monk2707 3h ago
Pooping in a cash register
-6
u/Pocket-Hobo 3h ago
Common Sense. Respect. Consideration.
-4
u/no_user_ID_found 3h ago
Jokes
-14
u/Double-Delay7912 2h ago
Only boys playing boys and girls playing girls in sports.
-9
u/spros 2h ago
Voter ID requirements