Things that I miss in a digital world

I've been having a bit of a sort out recently, and going through some of my stashes of mementoes. It's made me feel a little sad at how much has been replaced now that there are digital alternatives. Maybe the options are more sustainable, and easier to use for the customer, but I think that we are missing out! Here are some things that either no longer exist, or that I feel won't be around for much longer.

Catalogues

The other week I received a Lakeland catalogue in the post and I was unashamedly thrilled. So many gorgeous pictures of Christmassy things to pore over. We took a trip to Ikea and I felt bereft that you can no longer pick up a catalogue to keep on the coffee table at home (I just looked it up, the last physical Ikea catalogue was printed in 2020). Yes, webpages and apps are more up to date with current prices, special offers and detailed information, but nothing beats flicking through colourful shiny pages filled with inspirational images. 

Physical tickets

I love keeping tickets to things - theatre, cinema, concerts, museums, travel and so on. I have a stash of cinema tickets from the 90s when I used to go every week with my friends, no matter what was showing. My books are filled with concert tickets that I've used as bookmarks. Now you enter a venue with a QR code, and once inside you never look at it again. 

Alarm clocks

I loved the battery alarm clock I had as a teenager. It was cube shaped and had a dial on the top which you could turn to see the time in different countries around the world. I loved looking at all the exotic countries and imagining what people were up to. I've tried to source myself something similar but I can't find one that I like. I have Echo Dot next to my bed which displays the time and acts as an alarm clock but it's just not the same.

Writing letters

As part of my degree I spent a year studying in Germany. I had quite a lot of free time, and I kept up a steady stream of written correspondence with my husband-to-be, my family and lots of my friends. I loved checking my little letter box and discovering a handwritten letter from home, and I've kept them all. These days communication would be more frequent via WhatsApp or social media updates, but it would be fleeting and transient. The age of bundles of love letters is gone forever, it's just not the same scrolling through short and insubstantial text messages. Of course there's nothing to stop me picking up a pen and writing to my friends, but they are busy people and I don't want to burden them with the thought that they would then have to take the time to write back to me!

Stamps

Stamps used to be so pretty! I know that Royal Mail do release special themed stamps, but I never see them because most letters that I receive just have the postage printed directly on the envelope. 

Photo credit Ali Bakhtiari via Unsplash

New album releases on cassette and CD

It used to be such an event going out to buy the CD when a new album was released, and listening to it while flipping through the little booklet that came with it containing the lyrics and photos. Now I listen to a new album release on Spotify and it's just not the same. My daughter tells me that you can still buy physical albums for bands which come with posters, photobooks etc. - but we don't even have a CD player any more!

Postcards

I've written before about how I love to collect postcards, and I remember sending and receiving postcards from all of my summer holidays. Now we just share regular photos in the family WhatsApp groups.

Paper maps

Whenever I visit somewhere new I always try to find a map to keep and remind me of my travels, I have boxes filled with maps and leaflets that I love to sort through. You can sometimes still get a map in a touristy place, but of course it's much easier to use an app that knows exactly where you are. You lose the souvenir though! I particularly enjoy looking at old maps of places like theme parks because they change so often and it's a little slice of time. But they are being slowly phased out and I know they won't be around for much longer.

Real dictionaries

I am very tempted to buy myself a physical copy of the Oxford English dictionary. I used to have several, including a huge one which was decluttered years ago. I'm sure that there's a dictionary app that I could use, but when I'm reading I don't want to be distracted by my phone to look up an unfamiliar word, it would make it harder to get back in to the book again.

Photo credit Joshua Hoehne via Unsplash

Packets of printed out photos

It used to be so exciting going to get photos developed, seeing how well your shots had come out and reliving all those holiday memories. You can of course get photos printed but it's so much more effort deciding which of the hundreds of photos to print, working out how to upload them, and trying to find the best deal when it comes to price. I also feel that the quality isn't as good as when printing from film. Most of my old photos are in boxes with some of my favourites in albums, and I love going through them. I need to make an effort to print out more of my digital pics!

What do you miss that now has a digital replacement?