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Vinyl
Invented in 1931 the record was created to play music and other audio clips. For many years records dominated the music industry until easier things like CD discs came along. Slowly the life of the vinyl died and most believe it became obsolete around the late 90s. -
Reel-to-Reel
Reel-to-reel was invented in Germany in the late 90s and was used to play and record audio clips. Many say that it died in the early 2000s due to the many better and easier ways to record and play audio. -
Public Pay Phones
The first public pay phone was opened in 12 January, 1881, they were booths set up with phones to call people when you were out of the house. Much like landlines public pay phones became obsolete because of the smart phone. Around 2007 is when companies stop making pay phones. -
Phone Books
In 1878 phone books were invented. Phone books acted as a contact list for everyone in the area, these books held phones numbers for people and local companies. Once again the smart phone completely erased any use for a phone book. In 2007 along with public pay phones the use of phone books took a huge hit. -
MP3 Players
In 1997 the first MP3 Player was released giving a lite and portable way to listen to music. With the release of smart phones the MP3 Player slowly died down. Most believe that in the 2010s is when the MP3 Player became obsolete. -
Paper Maps
Paper maps have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. The first paper map has even been tracked back to 6th century BC, Maps serve as a way to help you travel from place to place. Maps are a very useful way to find your way around if you're in a place you're unfamiliar with, but with modern technology maps are way more accessible on a phone.Technology has once again made another useful thing obsolete. -
Newspaper
The earliest form of newspaper was last tracked back to 1566 in Venice. The newspaper at first was a way to spread local news and happenings, later the newspaper evolved into way to spread global news. Once things like the news and news apps came out the newspaper has seen less and less readers yearly. In 2011 the world news paper finally came to a end and newspapers ever since have become more and more obsolete. -
Landlines
Landlines were phones that were plugged into the wall and could not be moved around. With the creation of smart phones landlines were made obsolete. -
Cheque Books
The first cheque can be traced all the way back to 1659, soon after in 1717 British banks used pre-printed papers called cheques to send money to people and prevent fraud. Cheques became a way to transfer money around and acted as a method of payment. As time went on the cheque became less and less traditional. In 2008 40% of people said they used cheques regularly, but by 2014 only 8% of people said they used cheques regularly. -
Doorbells
The electric doorbell was first made in 1831 by Joseph Henry. The doorbell was a device used to notify anyone in a home that someone was at the front door by sending a ringing noise throughout the house when being pressed. The industry has taken a massive hit though because in 2019 an article was published stating that doorbell sales had gone down 600% just in the last five years. Just to top it off a majority of Millennials say that they will never use a doorbell again.
