Touchscreens and apps crept into our everyday life relatively fast, which meant the end of small interactions that most people never thought about—just walk into any public place and you’ll notice fewer smiles behind counters. They’ve been replaced by glass panels glowing blue and such a swap happened one task at a time. Here are twenty tasks that once involved talking to a real person but now happen on screens instead. Who knows what else tech will replace in the future?
Featured Image Credit: AllaSerebrina/Depositphotos.com.
Movie Theater Reel Change Huddles
An usher climbed the cramped stairs to the booth every twenty minutes in the days before digital projection—they’d check the tiny cue marks in the corner of the frame & whisper with the projectionist about timing the reel swap. This way, no splice flashed on screen and the pair logged running time on a clipboard, then went back down the aisle if the lamp dimmed. Now, a server playlist loads itself and nobody needs those rundown times.
Hand-Chalked Bowling Scores
Keeping score at a neighborhood alley required one teammate to sit on a squeaky stool and slide an acetate sheet under a projector. They’d chalk every strike, spare & open frame while their friends shouted totals over music—when you need to make a correction, the scorer wiped numbers with a damp rag & started again. However, automatic systems now track pins the moment they fall, meaning the tray and overhead transparency are no longer necessary.
Walk-In Newspaper Classifieds
To place a classified ad used to involve pushing past swinging glass doors at the newspaper office, then filling a three-part carbon-copy form and reading the text aloud. This way, the clerk could count characters & quote a price per line—you also paid in cash and signed for proof. But the same paper now posts listings through a web portal and prices them instantly. They’ll never hear how you pronounce “jalopy” as it’s just not relevant to them.
Quarter Desk At The Laundromat
Getting quarters for laundry meant sliding ten-dollar bills through a tiny drawer and watching the attendant break paper rolls open on a wooden block. You’d laugh about dryers that ate socks—the clerk often threw in an extra coin if a machine looked fussy. However, many laundromats now run on phone apps that load credit & start cycles remotely, then ping you when your laundry is ready.
Lobby Ledger Sign-In
Anytime you visited a corporate tower, you had to use a heavy brass pen to write your name & arrival time in a leather ledger—then watch the receptionist ring upstairs. They’d give you a cardboard badge with the date stamped in red shortly after. But most visitors now tap a wall-mounted tablet and follow on-screen arrows, without ever having a conversation about elevator speed.
One-Hour Photo Counter Consults
To get one-hour photo prints, you had to grab a numbered ticket & meet a lab tech in a striped vest, before reviewing negatives on a light box to decide between matte or glossy. The technician would always tell you about how to improve exposure on frame twenty-four before loading the film into a minilab. Yet smartphone apps now do it all—they’re able to crop, brighten & transmit files in the time it takes to say “photo.”
Librarian-Guided Microfilm Searches
In the dim corner of your hometown library, the one that smelled like dusty coat pockets, you’d use a microfilm rig to research headlines. You’d roll a black reel onto a squeaky spindle & nudge a rubber knob, then watch blurry columns race past till the right date snapped into focus. The librarian was often nearby to help and ready to rescue the film after you mis-threaded it for the third time. But today, you type some letters, press enter and then yesterday’s scandal pops up.
Librarian-Stamped Book Checkouts
Speaking of the library, every novel used to carry a paper passport and the librarian would use their rubber stamp to put an official-but-smudged due date on your book. It was a great chance for some small talk about your chosen book while the next reader sized up the display. But these days, a self-checkout pad glows, your stack beeps & you walk out with a receipt you’ll probably lose before reaching the bike rack.
Record Shop Listening Booths
You used to finish your Saturday chores by listening to some new albums using jumbo headphones at the record store. The clerk would slide the shiny disc in and let track one spin while you bobbed your head & mouthed half-wrong lyrics. Yet now, the preview for an album loads on your favorite streaming platform before you decide whether it’s worth pausing dinner for.
Downtown Ticket Office Exchanges
If there were any issues with a flight booked in the future, you’d go downtown where a bright-vested agent stamped a date & traced your route with a highlighter. They’d bundle fat paper coupons into a cardboard wallet that barely fit a pocket and while the ink smelled fresh, your patience did not. Nowadays, the airline app drops a fresh boarding pass into your phone and your printer never hears about it.
Campus Computer Lab Sheet
Getting a campus computer had its own ritual, which meant writing your name on a clipboard and praying the student monitor pronounced it right when your turn came. If you missed the call, you’d go back to the end and wait for the chance to use a PC again. Swipe cards now do everything all at once—they’ll even time-stamp your arrival without you needing to speak to anyone about it.
Doorman Buzz-Ins
Apartment visits used to be a lot more personable because they’d start with a quick nod from the doorman and perhaps a joke about the weather or two. He logged your name in a thick ledger, although modern entry systems now send barcodes directly to your phone. Even the doors are automatic and the only greeting comes from the elevator when it tells you what floor you’re on.
Hotel Room Service App Orders
If you were on vacation and felt hungry at 11:58 PM, you dialed “9” on the phone, rattled off your order, and got an estimated arrival that may or may not beat your bedtime. It’s quite a big change from today, when modern hotel apps show glossy photos & allow you to toggle extra pickles right from your phone. They’ll send the food straight to your room so you’re able to eat without waking a single human.
Airline Counter Bag Tags
But that’s not all for travel, as in the days before self-service kiosks, taking luggage to the airport used to end with an agent looping a paper tag & tearing off the claim stub. They handed it over like a golden ticket while you asked about seat swaps and watched the belt clank your bag away. Most self-service kiosks now spit out sticky tags in thirty seconds and the belt whirs before you’re even able to say “aisle, please.”
Post Office Tax-Day Stamps
April 15 had some things in common with school picture day—long lines, sweaty palms & people triple-checking envelopes. A clerk stamped a bold “APR 15” in red and weighed the stack before peeling off certified slips that never stuck straight. That’s quite a big change from electronic filing, which sends documents away in seconds, with the only red you see being on your coffee mug lid.
Bank Teller Deposit Slips
Friday deposit runs included blue forms and boxes that were much too tiny, as well as a pen on a chain that you’d use after counting your bills twice. The teller folded a crisp receipt into your passbook and sent you off with a “Have a good one,” which is rather unlike today. It’s much more common for you to put a paycheck on the sofa & snap both sides in the banking app. It’ll give you a green checkmark in the time it would’ve taken just to leave your home.
Telephone Pizza Orders
Almost every fast-food place has its own app now that allows you to build your pizza topping by topping and shows the pie in the oven. They’ll send you a notification when the driver’s three blocks away—but in the past, you made every dinner decision by phone. The experience was complete with a scratchy hold tone and a clerk repeating your address over shouting cooks, although the only person we speak to now is the delivery driver.
Pharmacy Phone Refill Requests
Whenever you needed another month of allergy pills, you phoned the pharmacy and simply hoped the tech caught every digit over the sound of the paging system’s crackle. But these days, push alerts now tell you everything you need on your screen. Just give one tap and the order slides into the pickup bin before you’ve even put the phone in your pocket.
Salon Appointment Books
Online booking apps have made going to the salon a much quicker process, especially since you don’t need to visit the place during open hours & shout over blow-dryers. In the past, it was normal to just wait there until a slot appeared and have a conversation with the receptionist while you did so. But apps allow you to book an appointment without speaking to someone—they’ll even send you a text reminder.
Dispatcher Phone Cab Requests
There wasn’t always an Uber or Lyft driver ready to pick you up without having a conversation, as before, a trip downtown started with a landline call to a dispatcher. They’d promise you that “car 47 is ten away” and you’d peer through the blinds, hoping the right yellow cab would honk. Everything’s gone digital now—just watch an icon crawl across a map toward your dot and wait for your phone to ping when it’s curbside.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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