Old fucks of Reddit, what actually changed for the better?

1. The card catalogs at public libraries were a magnificent shrine to how fucking awful something could be and still be necessary. Missing cards. Losing your scratch paper on your way to the book. Book went to purgatory, card still existed. Found the fucking book, realize it's not really what you need, head back to the card catalog while praying for death. In fairness, there were many fewer homeless people jacking off in libraries back then, but that's a trade I'm willing to make again in a heart beat. The computer is so much better.
   — Halafax


2. Access to your money. Ran out of cash and the place you are at doesn't take checks? Well, you are screwed until you could actually physically go to the bank to take some money out. ATMs were extremely few and far between. Many places didn't want to deal with the hassle of credit cards. Especially for small amounts. Now nearly every place take cards. Many places will let you even withdraw cash at the checkout when you purchase something. (Cheaper than the ATM in many cases.) The bank closed? There's online banking and 24 call line to check on your accounts. It is so much more easier.
   — inksmudgedhands


3. When I was a kid we had the cold war but no Internet. I much prefer the other way around.
   — DanTheTerrible






4. Virtually everything. I'm 40, and I think I'm supposed to reminisce about how things used to be better, but they weren't. The library used to be about the card catalog and whosit's periodical guide (I would look it up, but I'm thrilled I don't need to remember what it's called). Travel used to be about carrying a shload of cash and/or travellers checks. Dining out used to be synonymous with reeking of cigarettes. TV used to be wiggling an aerial around until the picture was discernible. Or twisting a tuning knob on a cable box until the picture was discernible (or, admittedly, twisting the tuning knob far enough you could almost make out the soft porn on the neighboring pay channel...which I would acknowledge as a loss, except for the internet). Do you want to watch *The Wizard of Oz*? Don't worry, they air it once a year. Do you want to watch *Forbidden Planet*? Tough luck. Grocery shopping! It's easy to miss how much better grocery shopping is now than it used to be until you walk into a store (Fareway, I'm looking at you) that hasn't updated in the last thirty years. Exterior doors you can barely fit a cart through. A big steel rail to your left when you walk in to make sure you funnel through produce first - if you can call that a produce section. I hope you didn't want an Anaheim pepper, a kiwi fruit, a fennel bulb, or bok choy, because no dice. Iceberg lettuce, though, you are *set*. Aisles too narrow for two carts to pass. No bakery. No deli. No bulk grains. Directions - I haven't had to given someone *directions* to a place in almost twenty years, and I love it. No more slowing way down in traffic to try and make out that old, faded, dirty street sign to see if it's your turn. No more worries about getting hopelessly lost. No more trying to figure out if you should give someone the simplest route or the fastest route. No more trying to keep the map neat and partially folder in your lap with just the right section visible while you drive. "6 to 8 weeks for delivery." Enough said. I've never had to blow on a downloaded game and wiggle it about in hopes of getting it to boot. I don't have to spend $18 (or $11.95 at The Exclusive Company) for that one good track from that one band. I don't have to set IRQs, COM ports, or DMAs to try and convince a sound card to work alongside a network card. I can buy coffee that isn't pre-staled for my convenience in a giant steel can (though I admit I sort of miss steel coffee cans. I just don't miss the product they contained). Pay-at-the-pump means I'm never staring at my gas gauge and praying there's enough to get home because the gas stations are closed. Banking web sites mean I don't have to balance my checkbook just to know if I can make rent (note I said "balance my checkbook," not "budget my money." I specifically mean the practice of updating the ledger in your checkbook to know how much money was in your bank account). I don't have to keep a pencil around to try and save my tangled cassette tape. I don't have to hover over a tape deck listening to the radio to try and get that one song recorded. If I get stuck somewhere, I don't have to hike to the nearest farmstead and ask to use their phone. My car insurance just includes roadside assistance; I don't need to have a separate contract with AAA. Restaurants don't throw a sprig of parsley on every plate for no good reason anymore. I mean, seriously. Parsley? What am I even supposed to do with that? Edit: I am dumb - I just noticed this comment got gilded. So oblig. thanks for the gold, kind stranger!
   — C0ntrol_Group


5. Medicine. All kinds of medicine. My grandma and mother spoke of pneumonia as a deadly disease, those who survived it were outliers. Now if you got simple pneumonia it is "take this antibiotic and stay home for two weeks". We can reattach severed limbs and fingers. We have cyborgizations: artifical limbs and ears. Dentistry does miracles, when I was a kid there were no braces. Then braces appeared and they were to straighten kids' teeth only. Then it turned out I'll have braces fitted for my teeth soon. Teeth implants. Organ implants. Everything. Modern medicine is a miracle.
   — weirdnik


6. Safety in workplaces, vehicles, and buildings. New standards have notably reduced deaths in all categories
   — TerkeySoop






7. The environment in general in the US Lakes, streams, rivers, forests, parks all cleaner (they used to be on fire, dead, and you could not swim in them or fish).
   — so5643


8. When I was a kid we had 4 or 5 channels on th tv. That was it. Your shows on at 8 and you forgot? Too fucking bad. You missed it, it's gone. tV is sooo much better now☺️
   — wadude


9. I don't think anyone missed Polio...
   — --user---






10. War and violence are way down. It never seems that way, but it is.
    — cutelyaware


11. The life of non-smokers. Imagine airplanes, restaurants, & amusement parks filled with people smoking. For us non-smokers it SUCKED! So much better now.
    — rubber_necker


12. Microsoft Word. I lost a lot of assignments due to freezes and errors. I got into a habit of hitting control-s every 10 seconds. Still do it a lot even though it's not as warranted.
    — Wottiger