10 nostalgic childhood things from previous generations that no longer exist today

Childhood never comes back.

Childhood is possibly the best time of our lives. We get to live those carefree days when we don't have to worry about paying our bills or stress about the problems around us. We can simply have fun with our playmates and toys and make lifelong memories. However, as we grow older, we slowly start to realize that things are not how they used to be anymore. With changing times, a lot in our environment evolves or disappears completely. So, Reddit users had plenty to share about their childhood once u/lil-gatorwrangler popped a question to the community that read: "What is something from your childhood that no longer exists now?" Here are some of the best answers by people which are bound to hit you with a wave of nostalgia.

1. Cereal box goodies.

Cool spoons from cereal boxes!!! I miss the color-changing and straw ones. u/pompomcinnamon. True. I can remember when they had aircraft simulator video games inside. It was so much fun to play these games. They were properly shitty and very short, but as a child, I had my fun. The lightsaber spoons were also great, I think I even have one somewhere. u/memesforbismarck. Reading this brought a memory back to me from my childhood. I had a Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck fork and spoon. I remember them from about age 6 or 7 (early 70's). I used them until I was about 12. I wish I still had them, I have no idea what happened to them. Now that my mom is gone, I would give anything to have these sorts of things that bring back the great memories. At least I have the memories. u/shaydey1857

2. Wired telephones.

Yelling “SOMEBODY GET THE PHONE” u/Jfonzy. I loved how you would call a family home and they'd pass the phone around so a call was like a visit with the whole family. I have friends and relatives with small children and I never get to talk to the small children because people don't pass cell phones around like they did the old Ma Bell handset. u/VaporsAndSpleen. I get what you're saying, but I grew up with two sisters. The phone NEVER rang more than once if they were home. In my house, it was "GET OFF THE DAMN PHONE" u/Chknbone

3. Old-school game shows on TV.

Nickelodeon game shows. I miss Legends of the Hidden Temple and Guts. u/ShawshankException. I can just hear the "Temple Run" music as I'm late for work and climbing the garage steps, and I'm fumbling with my keycards like a panicking child dumbfoundedly assembling the Silver Monkey. u/IAmNotRacistBuuut. Every time I have to take a headrest out and put it back in my car seat, I pretend I am completing a mission from LotHT. u/ReineDePlatine

4. Old toy brands.

KB toys. u/AcademicSavings634. Yep. I don't know how many of them were like this but ours had two huge toy soldiers on either side of the entrance like columns. It was awesome. They always had outdated toys which I loved as a kid. I confused myself. We had two. The toy soldier columns were at the one in the mall that had current toys. We also had a Kaybee Outlet in a shopping center that had the outdated toys I loved. u/dziggurat

5. Good programs on TV.

When MTV ACTUALLY played music. u/Backwoods87. When I was a kid my TV basically stayed on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, BET, and MTV. It's so weird thinking about kids now just being able to watch whatever they want whenever they want. u/esoteric_enigma. Yes! CN or Nickelodeon was always on when we were at Grandma and Grandpa’s and they even got a subscription to the Disney Channel before it became a basic cable channel, and all my parents got were the free previews. My grandparents were awesome. u/italianbro89

6. No more Christmas bonus.

I recall hearing about a concept mentioned in movies known as a 'Christmas bonus.' u/mockhouse. I actually worked at a place where I got to see the idea of a Christmas bonus die.

They had, for years, given out a Christmas bonus the 2nd week of December that was a cash bonus equivalent to about 1 week's pay. It wasn't huge but it was just that little extra for people already living paycheck to paycheck to have something to buy the wife and kids some Christmas presents. Then one year some dude in management came up with this really awesome idea. Instead of giving each employee a couple hundred dollars in cash, we should totally give them a frozen turkey. On Christmas morning the owner of the company woke up to find hundreds of rotting turkeys on their front lawn. We never got a Christmas bonus again at that company - cash or cold turkey. u/varthalon

7. Loss of privacy.

Privacy. Mostly in the sense that we didn’t have big Meta mining our data/location/listening. u/iliketomakemoney. Yeah, privacy is dead. I work at a government job where I have to find people’s addresses a lot. I just press a button and can usually get a confirmed location from the last couple of days based on “public information” (a.k.a. information that apps sell). It’s very seldom that I can’t find information on someone, and when that happens, I have colleagues who have access to other software that can turn up stuff for them. I feel like Dr. Evil sometimes. u/Masquerade0717

8. The ambiance of the arcades and malls.

Arcades and malls are just not the same. u/BoobootheDude. The mall in my hometown has an arcade in it and my son and I frequent it and play laser tag. It's exactly as it was when I was a kid except the Kmart is now some women's clothing store. I know it isn't long for this world so we go as often as possible and it is usually just us there but we have such a blast. I wish I had friends like him when I was 10. u/OfferChakon

9. Putting photos in albums.

Photo Albums. My mother has been cataloging some of the old photos she never got around to putting in albums recently. It is a different experience than looking through someone's phone at curated pictures. You would get the pictures back and 90% of them would go in the album. No editing, no my hair looks like crap. You would find photos of yourself years later that you never knew existed. When your grandparents die and you start looking through albums for their memorial and can reminisce. It is so nice. u/HighFiveYourFace

10. No room for boredom.

Boredom. With a battery on your phone and preferably an internet connection. You just can't be bored the way we used to be. When a wet weekend meant being stuck in the house with only 4 channels. Two showed black-and-white movies, that were just filler and the other two showed sports. u/Wil420b. I remember I used to be a massive reader as a kid. Now I never "find the time" between all the mindless stuff I do on my phone (he says posting on Reddit) and all the shows on the streaming services that I simply must watch. My own fault, but also a symptom of the times. u/ThrowingStuffAway490