Here Are The Top 5 Now “Obsolete” Skills

If you were born after 1985 you probably aren't familiar with these particular set of skills. That's okay because they have now become pretty much obsolete. Modern conveniences have made some of these skills unnecessary and some of them ancient and no longer needed.

During our lifetime we all see so many changes that some of the skills we needed in the past have become forgotten. Over 100 years ago a large number of the population could probably saddle up and ride a horse. With the invention of the automobile, that number is miniscule in comparison.

1.  Programming a VCR.  And someone who was once the manager at a Blockbuster says they'll never forget how to repair VHS tapes with a splicer. Most of us no longer have VCR's in our houses because they went away starting with the popularity of DVD's. If you have one, it is probably in the attic or basement collecting dust, waiting for the time when you want to watch old tapes of the family recorded on a video camera.

2.  Making brown paper bag book covers for schoolbooks. It's a wonder that kids today have any books to cover. Most of them are doing a huge percentage of their homework on their tablets. Back in the day, you would have to cover your books to protect them for the next year's students. If you didn't have nice wrapping paper, you would break out the grocery store brown bags and start cutting and folding.

3.  Rewinding cassettes with a pencil. Most people born after 1985 probably don't know what an audio cassette is and how the heck were you supposed to use them. Back in the day, most bands released their albums on both records and tapes. You could listen to your favorite music in the car or on a Boom Box so everyone withing 100 yards could hear it. They faded fast with the advent of CD's and the final nail in the coffin was the invention of the digital download age.

4.  Loading a 35-millimeter camera . . . and even developing the film. We all know why this skill has become obsolete, the culprits are the digital camera and your smart phone. There was a time when not every single moment was not captured in picture form because we didn't always have a camera in our hands and film was not cheap. Now we all have a camera at our disposal most of us can claim to having thousands of images on our phones. It spelled the demise of Polaroid and Kodak too. Developing film was a hobby for a lot of camera enthusiasts that has become extremley rare.

5.  Driving a stick shift.  Finally the last of the obsolete skills that have gone the way of non-power steering. They were both very much in use up and until the late 1980's. A lot of us learned how to drive on stick shifts and how to not "pop the clutch". Automatic transmissions had been around for decades but, slowly became the norm taking over the stick shift. If you have ever learned to drive a stick, you probably agree that it is more fun and you gives you the feel that you're in total control of the car. I for one miss it.