20+ Nostalgic Tech Items GenX and Millennials Never Imagined Would Become Obsolete in 2025

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Aug 14, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

It's 2005, you are sitting in front of your dad's PC, putting in a new CD so you can burn some of the new hit songs you heard on MTV through your satellite TV. You can't be more excited to put that CD in the player in your mom's car every day on the way to school. After that, you might pick up the landline to call your friend up, so they can bring their film camera, and you can go outside to take some random pictures at the park.

How many of the things we owned in the early 2000s would you have imagined would become obsolete only 20 years later? Back then, it felt like every new technology we were introduced was here to stay, and it seems crazy just how many of these technologies are long gone from existence. 

If you want a reminder of some nostalgic 2000s items that have absolutely no business existing in 2025, keep scrolling and read through the list below. Maybe it will remind you of the good old days, or maybe it will help you appreciate the tech we have today even more…

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  • 01
    ALL DISCS O/VIDEO CD OPEN "I don't know if anyone predicted records overtaking CDs"
    via titaniumdoughnut
  • 02
    What 00s tech would you not believe would be obsolete in 20 years if someone told you back then?
    via nojunkpeter
  • 03
    mizuaqua CD reader built into laptops.
    via mizuaqua
  • 04
    ForeignFrisian Never thought my MSN status updates would become memes instead
    via ForeignFrisian
  • 05
    Ekktz I don't know if anyone predicted records overtaking CDs.
    via Ekktz
  • 06
    Lance_E_T_Compte Ringtones
    via Lance_E_T_Compte
  • 07
    OneTip1047 Dedicated GPS to use in cars, the old style Tom Tom or Garmin units everyone had on a suction cup mount on their windshield from about 2000 to about 2015 or so.
    via OneTip1047
  • 08
    NoFirefighter2254 Burning CDs and feeling like you just created art.
    via NoFirefighter2254
  • 09
    TrueOrPhallus I don't think a lot of people realize how popular video rentals/blockbuster used to be before Netflix was streaming. Me and my buddies would get together
    via TrueOrPhallus
  • 10
    pick out some movies and just hang out and watch a few. Somehow it led to me watching more and better variety of movies than now but that also might be just different stages of life.
    via TrueOrPhallus
  • 11
    blue-coin iPod
    via blue-coin
  • 12
    iPod and wired headphones
    via slightly_different
  • 13
    Improvedandconfused Back in the early 2000s I thought phones would continue to get smaller and smaller, instead of bigger and bigger like they now seem to be getting smaller and smaller
    via Improvedandconfused
  • 14
    MyFurrylsStinky I didn't get my first cell phone until 2008 and barely even used it so if you'd tell me land line phones would become obsolete so fast, I would have been so confused.
    via MyFurrylsStinky
  • 15
    CapitanFlama Online blogs and forums. Now, every idea exchange happens on the same 3 to 5 social networks or sites that are heavily regulated, monitored and biased.
    via CapitanFlama
  • 16
    bobd607 getting very close to obsolete - satellite TV
    via bobd607
  • 17
    Cheezburger Image 10542085120
    via a454
  • 18
    amok_amok_amok headphone jacks on cell phones
    via amok_amok_amok
  • 19
    DemotivationalSpeak Mocap stuff from the Xbox 360. I thought it was so cool and everyone dropped it after a few years.
    via DemotivationalSpeak
  • 20
    UnluckyHoney34 Memory cards, most data now are stored in cloud
    via UnluckyHoney34
  • 21
    wisebongsmith phone calls. People started texting when I was 12 and It seemed like a terrible idea. Now people wont even call their friends to talk but have agonizingly long text conversations that could have been finished with a couple minutes of voice.
    via wisebongsmith
  • 22
    KathyWithAK Digital camera. They were like magic 20 years ago and a huge step up from developing film. Now, they've mostly fallen out of the mainstream because everyone carries a high end camera on their smartphone.
    via KathyWithAK
  • 23
    Keep in mind that film cameras had been around for almost 150 years when digital camera came and took their whole market away. Then in less than 10 years, they were also replaced.
    via KathyWithAK
  • 24
    Mathcmput Printers. I'm surprised no one has really said this one yet.
    via Mathcmput

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2000s throwback ipod record early 2000s millennials nostalgia technology CD askreddit cell phone gen x Tech Reddit millennial-nostalgia iphone
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