Yahoo Lifestyle 22 Wildly Specialized Skills Older Adults Perfected Over The Years That Are Very, Very, Very Obsolete Today
Even as a younger millennial, I sure have some skills that would puzzle younger folks (like my ability to craft the perfect AOL Messenger away message). Recently, I posted about more of these seemingly "obsolete" skills older adults have perfected that have been rendered somewhat useless today. After that, even more folks from the BuzzFeed Community chimed in with their "outdated skills." Here are a few of them.
1."Programming in HTML 3. I was told in high school that the Internet was the future and that we should learn to make a website. Sure, websites still exist, but there are so many sites where you can just drag and drop what you want. There is no need to code everything's exact position anymore."
2."I know how to kill a chicken, pluck it, take the insides out of it, and cut it into pieces before I fry it. I grew up on a farm in the '60s where we butchered our own meat. It's a lost skill now."
—Anonymous, 63, Minnesota
3."How to properly write, format, and structure a formal letter. I'd argue it's not a completely outdated skill because many companies and organizations still ask for a cover letter along with your CV. As an editor and proofreader who gets cover letters and formal business emails to go over, it's actually rather appalling how so many people can't write and structure their emails and letters properly."
"Learning how to write formal and informal letters was something that was drilled into us at school. I still fondly remember those pen-pal programs with schools from different parts of the world where we got to practice our letter-writing skills. I highly doubt such a program exists in schools now. Such a shame."
4."Mapmaking by hand with a process camera. I learned it as part of my geography degree about five years before MapQuest and then Google Maps. I joke that it's basically an ancient skill now. Oh, and I once got a job as a courier because I could fold up a map properly!"
—Anonymous, 60 Delaware
5."Manually making change and counting back the difference in cashiering with paper money. Only people of a certain era know how to do it."
6."I made $300 an hour in the '90s editing photos with Adobe Photoshop. Now, my daughter can do the same thing with an app."
—Anonymous, 54, California
7."I can embroider, cross-stitch, use a sewing machine, and sew by hand to alter clothes. If my clothes rip in a way I deem unsuitable, I can mend them. Sewing is an art fewer people learn every year."
8."One of my summer jobs was working as a switchboard operator, where I had to plug in a cord to answer the caller and then plug in the other cord to the plug of the person being called."
—Anonymous, 82, California
9."I still remember how to use a 3½-inch floppy disk and Windows '98."
10."Sound editing magnetic tape for radio broadcasts. You used a white grease pencil to select the material to cut, a single-edge razor blade to cut it, and a metal block with diagonal slots to make the cuts. When that was done, you copied the completed broadcast onto an 8-track tape and put it in the rack for the on-air producer to run at the scheduled time."
—Anonymous, 76, Colorado
11."I learned how to speak and write Esperanto because it was supposed to be the next international language."
—Gina, 74, Canada
12."Touch typing. A lot of people at work are shocked I can type so fast without looking and ask if I was formally trained, and I have to say, 'Nah, just MSN Messenger.'"
"Same. I learned my sweet, sweet typing skills from MSN Messenger. And to think I used to get yelled at by my parents for wasting my time 'chatting with my friends online.' The joke's on them because I'm now an exemplary touch typist."
13."Being able to tune an engine using spark plugs, points, and a condenser. I had an old 1957 Chevy truck and taught myself how to tune the engine by ear. Every now and then, I will go to an auto parts store and ask for points and a condenser. I get the weirdest looks."
—Anonymous, 66, Arizona
14."I learned how to splice and repair VHS tapes when I worked at Blockbuster."
15."I have 'pocket knife skills' that began in Brownies and Girl Scouts. I can use a pocket knife as a substitute for a can opener, whittle wood shavings to start a fire, peel an apple, and carve simple items like fishing lures or birds. My grandkids are shocked that I still carry a small pocket knife, but it still comes in very handy! I long for the 1960s when we brought our pocket knives to school so we could whittle on the playground. We never considered that it would ever be thought of as a weapon."
—Deana, 62, Tennessee
16."The phonetic alphabet — nobody seems to use it anymore. When someone is spelling out, they'll use, like, 'D for duck' or 'Y for yoyo.'"
17."I practiced orthopedic surgery for almost 45 years and originally used plaster casts for fractures. Now, every orthopedist uses fiberglass casts — an entirely different technique of molding and shaping. Also, an orthopedic surgeon rarely performs open surgery. It is all arthroscopic. Many surgeons have likely never removed a torn knee cartilage by open technique. The arthroscopic technique is far superior in visibility and speedy recovery."
—Bob, 85, North Carolina
18."I could hook up a VCR, program the time, and program it to record TV shows! So I wouldn't miss a show if I were away from home. I also did this for my grandma if she couldn't watch The Young and the Restless."
19."I was excellent at what was called 'paste-ups and mechanicals' in the graphic design world. In order to print any design, I used to have to 'spec type,' which means determining how much space a particular typeface or font will fill at different font sizes. Then I would messenger that request to be hand delivered to a 'type house' (there was no email, texting, or even faxing), who would then set that type, print it out, and messenger it back to me. This might take three to four days."
"Then, I would roll melted wax on the back of that type, cut it out of the paper, and carefully position it (paste it) onto a sheet of white cardboard on which I had drawn the dimensions of the graphic design element I was creating.
The process is now possible in the blink of an eye."
—Francesca, 73, New York
20."I'm an elder millennial, and my outdated skill is being able to quickly type text messages on a standard T9 keyboard using both thumbs. Very useful and sort of cool in the noughties. It's no use now that everything has a touchscreen. I love my smartphone and had no problems learning to use it, but it did make my former typing skills very obsolete."
"I was good at it, too, but oh so quickly, I lost the skill. Got my first BlackBerry with a full keyboard in about 2008. In 2014, I got a cheap burner phone while traveling in Greece, and I couldn't remember those texting skills I'd cultivated less than a decade earlier. It had only been six or seven years, but that skill was looooong gone."
21."DJing with vinyl. I still have about 10,000 records in my living room, but no one cares anymore."
—Zachariah, 65, Los Angeles
22."I can still balance a checkbook to the penny!"
—Anonymous, 49, Texas
Do you have any skills that might be considered "obsolete"? Tell us about them in the comments, or fill out this form to remain anonymous.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
