Digital technology has changed our world quite a bit and even the skills we use now are different from those of many years ago. In fact, some of the skills we once used every day at work or relied on to complete tasks just aren’t that important anymore. Some tools disappeared, others became automated—and a few were simply replaced by better options. Here are eleven digital skills that used to matter but are now slowly getting phased out. Anyone who still knows how to do these probably isn’t using them much anymore, if at all.
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Knowing How to Burn a CD for Data Transfer
Back when internet speeds were slower & cloud storage didn’t exist, people used blank CDs to move files around—you’d burn documents or music to a disc, then pass it along to someone. It was normal to keep a stack of CD-Rs next to your computer just in case, although most laptops rarely include disc drives. File-sharing tools like Dropbox and Google Drive are also everywhere, which means such a skill just isn’t needed anymore.
Syncing MP3 Players with Desktop Music Libraries
Speaking of music, managing your music library used to be a whole process that included organizing tracks in iTunes and syncing them to your MP3 player using a USB cable. You had to be really careful with the names & metadata or the player would display weird characters. Now, streaming platforms let you download songs directly onto your phone with no cables or file sorting, so people rarely manage music on desktop software at all.
Hand-Coding HTML Emails for Every Campaign
A while ago, most people sending a marketing email would probably build the whole thing in raw HTML, which involved writing out the structure and using inline styles. They had to test emails over & over in Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo and while that still sometimes happens, it’s not as common as it used to be. Platforms like Mailchimp and ConvertKit come with drag-and-drop builders that handle all of that—they automatically format emails to work across devices, so you don’t have to write any code at all unless you really want to.
Building Flash Animations for Websites
Adobe Flash used to be everywhere and web designers built entire websites & interactive animations with it. Flash was also the platform behind lots of online games and educational content, although most modern browsers no longer support it. Adobe officially ended support in 2020 and HTML5 took its place for animations & video—flash files don’t even load in most modern browsers. Anyone who spent years learning Flash has likely already moved on to different tools by now.
Manually Uploading Blog Posts Using FTP
Before content management systems became common, people would create blog posts in HTML and then upload them to their website using FTP tools like FileZilla. They’d have to manually edit code with every update and transfer files over a server connection, which did work, but it was a slow process. Today, platforms like WordPress and Ghost allow you to create, edit & publish blog posts right in your browser with no extra software. You don’t need to write a single line of code or use FTP at all.
Designing Custom MySpace or Tumblr Themes with CSS
If you were online in the early 2000s, there’s a good chance you spent hours tweaking your MySpace or Tumblr themes, which meant digging through CSS code just to move a sidebar. People would literally build entire identities around those layouts, although most modern platforms don’t give you that kind of control. You’re stuck with templates or locked-down designs and nobody’s editing code to make their social profile look cooler anymore.
Creating and Syncing Custom Ringtones
There used to be a time when everyone wanted a personalized ringtone and not just picking one—making one. You’d cut the exact part of a song you liked and convert the file, then sync it with your phone, which wasn’t exactly a smooth process because it wouldn’t always play right, or your phone wouldn’t accept the format. These days, the majority of phones come with a dozen built-in sounds and barely anyone bothers with custom ringtones.
Organizing Photos with Desktop Software
This used to be a regular weekend task—you’d import your photos from a camera, open up Picasa or iPhoto and spend time labeling, sorting & maybe deleting duplicates. You had to actually create albums and tag people’s names, although your phone does all of that while you’re not looking. It’ll organize your photos automatically by date & face, while searching for a specific one is easier than ever.
Editing Mobile Phone Photos on a Computer
But that wasn’t all for photos because anytime you wanted to edit them, you’d need to open up an editing program on the computer to do even the most basic touch-ups—just cropping something took a few steps. That process is long gone because your phone does everything, right there in the Photos app. Unless you’re doing professional editing, nobody’s moving pictures to a desktop just to edit them, as it’s much faster to do it on the spot.
Programming a DVR to Record TV Shows
Setting a DVR was its own skill because you had to scroll through the TV guide, pick the exact time slot & double-check that it wouldn’t clash with anything else—then you’d pray it didn’t cut off the last five minutes. These days, nobody really needs to record anything because if you miss an episode, you just stream it. Fewer people are even using cable, let alone digging through DVR menus, so what used to be routine is now anything but.
Syncing Contacts and Calendars with USB Cables
Trying to sync contacts was once a pain because you needed to plug your phone into your laptop and use some clunky syncing tool to sync everything together. You had to hope everything transferred without duplicates or missing birthdays—one wrong move and your calendar was a mess. These days, you just have to sign into your account for it all to just show up and that whole manual process is basically out of the picture.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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