The world has changed rapidly in the past two decades. It doesn’t come as a surprise; it was a change of millennia after all. It seems as if the process of evolution sped up exponentially leading to changes we wouldn’t have thought of seeing. Here is a list of 12 things from the 90s and their 21st century counterparts.

1)      Dial phones vs. Smartphones.

Who doesn’t remember dial phones? The ones that came attached to a wire with buttons. Go a little further back in time and you’ll find yourself surrounded by phones that didn’t even have buttons but had a dial ring instead.

How times have changed though. We’ve entered the world of Smartphones. Back when I was a child, if someone had said to me that there would be touch phones in the future, I’d think they’re joking. Smartphones, however, have now completely taken over our lives!

2)      Blackboards vs. Smartboards:

Blackboards and chalk are one of the first few things I saw in school; something that would make me feel nostalgic if I ever saw it again. That however is not the case.

Our schools now have smart boards. Everything is connected to a computer. Hand gestures can make the contents of the screen move here and there. Who needs a chalk when you can write with your finger?

3)      Cassettes vs. CDs vs. cloud storage and USBs:

Cassettes were the in thing in the 90s, followed by CDs which gained a lot of popularity in the following century.

They both seem old now that we have cloud storage and USBs though…

4)      MSN messenger vs. Facebook and Whatsapp:

When MSN decided to discontinue with its messenger, I was one of the many who were teary eyed. The ‘hip’ thing from our teenage lives is now history.

We now have the popular Facebook chat and Whatsapp instead.

5)      Standing in line to pay bills vs. Online bill payment:

I remember the look on my mom’s face when I told her that all the bills could now be paid online. Long gone are the days when one had to stand in line to pay utility bills. They can all very easily be paid online!

6)      Brick Game vs. XBOX:

Who remembers that black or grey game that had a tiny screen and 100 games installed in it? There would be constant fights over who got to keep it the longest. Or the ever so popular Atari that all the ‘cool people’ had? That, however, is history.  

We now have battles between XBOX and Play Station. Massive events take place to launch them and millions of dollars are invested.

7)      VCR vs. Torrents:

Rented films and VCRs were the in thing back when I was a child. I had a whole library of films and a VCR in my room which was perhaps my most prized possession. Little did I know that both those things would become obsolete within a matter of time.

We now live in the world of Torrents, Netflix and numerous apps such as Popcorn time. Laptops have taken over VCRs whereas the film cassettes have been replaced by these alternatives!

8)      Antenna/Dish vs. Smart TVs:

It seems like we live in a very smart world! Antennas/dishes from the past have been replaced by the Smart T.V. Flip through countless channels and find what you are looking for instead of having to get people to adjust the antenna in a position where you’d get the maximum number of channels- 50 if you were lucky!