Bad things that used to be good

[Cherry Milk]

Shopping. I used to enjoy getting my weekly shopping, now its just shit. Everything is a poor version of what it was, its expensive and, the stores always have loud music.

 

[Lian Xing]

You might consider this one low hanging fruit but once you have tasted a gros michel banana you cannot return to the subpar bananas we have now.

I haven’t been able to eat pineapple since I had truly fresh pineapple in Hawaii years ago, not what you can get on the mainland. It blew my mind.

 

[Dagoth AMOGUS]

There’s a mentality that has permeated discourse on media, from both sides of the political aisle, that the portrayal of a concept in media is promotive of said concept regardless of the context said concept exists in. This has dragged down literally all media, where one has to toe the line regarding his target demographic in order not to be torn apart. This, combined with a belief that media needs to “avoid cliché” along with a shifted focus from characters and plots (to the point characters are only ever a venue for clichéd dialogue) to “worldbuilding,” is why the modern media landscape is so bleak.

Good freaking answer. Thank you.

 

[PovertySprocket]

Canada
It was a nice place where I am, but now it’s full of the worst kind of immigrants, 100x worse homelessness and extremely dirty everywhere. This started in 2012-ish but very noticeable after 2020.
I live in a shithole country now

In my neck of the woods, over the last 20 years the African population has increased 3000%. They now represent 1/10th of the town's population. Also the innept municipal government has been fucking with the hobo-camp downtown (did we even have hobos 20 years ago?). Creating a bucket exodus toward the once peaceful suburbs.

Oh Canada! Once our home and native land! Now a dumping ground for the third world ohhhhhhhhh! Put your head in the MAID machine patriots!!!

 

[skykiii]

Deadites - They used to be living once. One of them was even my girlfriend. I took her up to this mountain cabin. I should never have dug up that tape player. Who even studies ancient Sumerian anymore?

The 1300s - Peasants often tell times of the peaceful trade between Arthur the King (no, not that one) and Henry the Red, both valiant war heroes but also affable men who the evil never messed with, and the good never had cause to. Back then, the fields ran green with lush vegetation, and fragrant spices lined the markets, at least if the nostalgic tales of old wives are to be believed.

What ruined it? The deadites. Oh, some guy fell from the sky and killed them all, but he didn't stick around to help us mop up the bodies and that smell lingers.

The One Ring - A friend of mine mentions this time he forged a ring. He was kind of vague about it, but apparently when he had it, he had a lot more control over the land. Apparently there were nine people who became immortal servants or something. My friend really wanted control of these people he called "elves." Something about them owning a lot of forest land... I think my friend had a huge lumber firm. "More Doors" or something.

So apparently someone cut off his ring finger, and that's when it all went to shit.

Shitposting on Kiwi Farms - Used to happen all the time. Then some nut named Skykiii did it and people realized they couldn't post better shitposts than him so they stopped trying. Wouldn't be so bad, except Skykiii's sense of humor is rather predictable.

 

[Shiki Ouji]

Las Vegas

EDIT: And the Bay Area up to the Pacific Northwest

 

[74164978231]

Pretty much any form of entertainment. Most film is now a remake, sequel, or franchise. As late as the mid-2000s, there was still a lot of original stuff being produced. Music is Katy Perry and Taylor Swift (and others that sound like them) singing shit that all sounds the same. I know on this it's not just me becoming a grumpy old man who hates anything new because I work with some younger people and many of them prefer music as far back as the 80s over more recent stuff. Long running television shows were great in their first 10 seasons, then nosedive after that. The Simpsons and South Park used to be something I'd wait all week for, now they are totally unwatchable. Everything has to preach too, often in the most cringe-inducing way.

Ive come to the conclusion theres 3 types of people in media today.

Incompetent usually woke/dei retards.
Soulless suits who are slaves to money
Competent but sold out individuals trying to exist in an environment filled with the above two

Great example of this is Christopher Nolan. Memento? No blacks. The Prestige? No blacks. Absolutely top notch films. Now in 2026 with the Odyssey? Ugly blacks cast in the most whitest of roles.

 

[Rap Scallion]

The time before mass content consumption became a thing and when art was art. Everything is content to be consumed now, never just something to be enjoyed simply because it exists. Maybe it's just me, but a lot of people I know have no interest in revisiting movies or books they've already experienced, it's always gotta be something new in their hands. Is getting endless mileage out of your favorite stuff just not a thing anymore?

 

[Lady Bizness]

2.) Commercials - Been watching older commercials from my childhood and my parent's childhood, and it seemed as though there was some form of effort to appeal to the consumer. Nowadays it just seems random.

I guess it's because everything is algorithms, maybe? Don't want to take a risk, and why should you when the data says a consumer's pupils dilate when they see XYZ? Add in pressure from DEI initiatives and the current trends of the day and you get what you get. Maybe the wide variety of media people consume make it impossible to make a big splash anymore, something that everyone sees and talks about around the water cooler and therefore becomes part of culture.

My husband dug up this Eulle Gibbons Grapenuts add many years ago:

It just cracks me up. It's somehow meant to be persuasive, and maybe it was for its time, but to modern people it must be totally bizarre. But I remember old adds always had some angle trying to convince you that this product was worthwhile. Now it just seems like adds are going for brand recognition and brain worms. Nothing honest, and they're dishonest in a way that makes old dishonesty in advertising seem wholesome.

Anyway, when my husband or I see weird food or eat something questionable we'll say to each other "some parts are edible!"

 

[74164978231]

Now it just seems like adds are going for brand recognition and brain worms. Nothing honest, and they're dishonest in a way that makes old dishonesty in advertising seem wholesome.

Mass conception products are entirely marketed via comedy or social justice nonsense now. Why the product is superior is irrelevant, all that matters is that you remember that a emu made you laugh so thats why you buy that shitty insurance over shitty insurance competitor.

 

[Lady Bizness]

Mass conception products are entirely marketed via comedy or social justice nonsense now. Why the product is superior is irrelevant, all that matters is that you remember that a emu made you laugh so thats why you buy that shitty insurance over shitty insurance competitor.

Yeah fuck that little duck. I'm team emu now. I've gone no contact with my family because they're Aflac supporters who think I'm suffering from DDS (Duck Derangement Syndrome) but I'll see you at the No Quacks protest I'm wearing my wacky inflatable emu costume.

 

[Idiot Doom Spiral]

… I remember old adds always had some angle trying to convince you that this product was worthwhile. Now it just seems like adds are going for brand recognition and brain worms. Nothing honest, and they're dishonest in a way that makes old dishonesty in advertising seem wholesome.

This has been the case for quite a while, at least on UK TV. As far back as 2012/2013, co-incident with the rise of accursed social media and the currency of ‘lolz’, ads for things like MoneySuperMarket had nothing to do with actual information of the product; just some shocking or weird dance bullshit which got ‘viral’.

Ads in the bygone ages of the 80s and 90s feel these days like ancient technology from a lost civilization. The best ads could inform, be innovative in their own right, or tell a story in a 45-second slot which promoted the product.

Yellow Pages adverts were especially evocative at doing this, and the ‘Flyfishing by J.R. Hartley’ was an institution. My favourite one is the one below; tells a story about a stoner who parties while his parents are away and ruins the antique coffee table - applies humour, is relatable, directly promotes and conveys the service it advertises, and as a bonus has a young Max Branning from Eastenders:

 

[skykiii]

Ads in the bygone ages of the 80s and 90s feel these days like ancient technology from a lost civilization. The best ads could inform, be innovative in their own right, or tell a story in a 45-second slot which promoted the product.

Best commercial ever. There's plenty I remember but this one is actually heartwarming.

 

[Plantation Barbie]

I know we have a thread for this subject, but I just have to get this off my chest. The BBC needs to be drawn and quartered for whatever the fuck they're doing to Doctor Who.

Spoiler: Dr Who Then:

Spoiler: Dr Who Now:

Gee, I wonder why the ratings are tanking. This show was originally for adventures and wacky space aliens, now it's just some lonely wine aunt's poorly disguised fanfiction.

 

[skykiii]

I note that people apparently missed that this is supposed to be more focused on "remember when it was good?" and not so much on the "why it sucks now" aspect--we already have a lot of topics for lamenting the state of the modern world.

Oh well, I'll try to lead by example.

Shopping. I used to enjoy getting my weekly shopping, now its just shit. Everything is a poor version of what it was, its expensive and, the stores always have loud music.

I can add to this one.

I used to love going shopping. In childhood it could be anywhere that had toys or video games (moreso video games as I got older, and soon that was combined with book-shopping), and there was a palpable joy to going through the racks and seeing what all even existed. Even in rental stores, part of the fun was just seeing the sheer amount of adventures I could be having.

The 2000s was when I first hit a wall of not liking "modern" things, but even then I had a joy in my life: pawn shops, flea markets, any place that sold "used" goods. It was like it was still the early 1990s in those places! Well, kinda, sorta. If you were fine with the books having a layer of dust and the games being cartridge only.

Though honestly I think what made it great was just getting out of the house and going somewhere where things might change and you could be surprised.

Multiple things led to the downfall. First, the rise of collector markets and scalpers. Second, the internet competing with brick and mortar stores and driving them out of business. I think for a lot of things, COVID was the final straw. A lot of resale shops still exist but nowadays they're more likely to be just clothes and baby seats, and whenever I see something like games or books, its sports games or "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type things. Blech.

 

[VargReallyDidNothingWrong]

It can be anything.

It not only can be anything, it almost certainly is everything.

I can't name a single thing that's better now than it was 20 years ago. If you offered me a trip in a time machine back to the land of forever 1999 I'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

[poopshoes]

It not only can be anything, it almost certainly is everything.

I can't name a single thing that's better now than it was 20 years ago. If you offered me a trip in a time machine back to the land of forever 1999 I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I think as a culture we have reached a dead end and this is the result. Everything is being reduced to only its economic value and we all are becoming soulless machines because that at some point I guess is the inevitable. If civilization continues undeterred we will become more machine-like until we are replaced by actual machines because that's the cold logical endpoint of humanity and technology. We will make our species obsolete. We are the only other humanoid that still exists, I think we are witnessing our own extinction. It will happen one day and maybe that time has finally come.

 

[74164978231]

I can't name a single thing that's better now than it was 20 years ago. If you offered me a trip in a time machine back to the land of forever 1999 I'd do it in a heartbeat

Electronics, but that is the complete sole exception.

Though ironically these insanely more powerful and cheaper electronics are used to consume or create infinitely inferior media.

 

[Gianfranco Pizzaballa]

It not only can be anything, it almost certainly is everything.

I can't name a single thing that's better now than it was 20 years ago. If you offered me a trip in a time machine back to the land of forever 1999 I'd do it in a heartbeat

Lenses, contacts have become more comfortable and eyeglass lenses have become thinner.
Happy but surprised that Tom Baker is still around at 91. He was a wild child back in his salad years.

 

[skykiii]

So here's kind of an odd one.

Minecraft

What makes this odd is I'm not sure if this is a case where I changed or the game did. It's also a case of weird history.

Okay, so basically, for a long time I did not own any modern PCs or gaming consoles. This meant for a decade I could not actually play Minecraft, I could just watch Youtube videos like this classic.

During this era for me, Minecraft was in a weird place. It was both a fascinating game that sounded like the best game ever, but also I could kind of predict what kind of issues I would have with it thanks to my experience with games like Daggerfall.

My prediction turned out to be right on the money. It was essentially this: that Minecraft would be a game that seems to have limitless possibilities at first, but the more you play the more you realize its just kind of shallow and defined by pointless goofing off (though ironically this may be what made videos like the above so fun). Still though, I got at least a month or so of genuine enjoyment out of it.

Maybe I'm just imagining it but I do feel like a couple of things changed in the game itself, as well.

Didn't the music change at some point due to some sort of legal issue? I kinda miss the original incidental music.

Another thing I was never big on was the changes to the world randomization. Last time I played, I felt like all the worlds I got were rather samey, whereas when I first got the game I could get some genuinely weird geometry.

Then again, this is--like I said--a case where the game always felt shallow to begin with, and the designers don't try to fix this, they just fill the game up with more stuff, which actually makes the issue worse.