There used to be a time when waiting was just part of life and if you wanted to check the weather or get results from a test, you planned ahead & gave yourself extra time. But technology has changed everything—it’s quite normal to get what you want almost instantly. Here are sixteen things that people used to wait patiently for but now expect to get in seconds. Perhaps we could learn to be patient once again.
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Getting Test Results by Post
After any kind of appointment, it was normal to wait days or even weeks for test results to arrive by mail—or hear back at a follow-up appointment. You’d have to pick up any copies in person, although most clinics today will upload lab results to secure online portals. You might even get a notification on your phone before the clinic even calls and any delay feels like it’s taking forever.
Ordering a Catalog Item
Shopping from a catalog like Sears or JCPenney once involved filling out an order form, writing a check & mailing it off—waiting weeks for the item to arrive was completely normal. Catalogs were thick and sometimes seasonal, so getting the wrong season’s catalog meant even more waiting. But it simply takes a few taps online, with orders arriving at the front door sometimes the next day.
Waiting for a Newspaper for Sports Scores
Sports fans who wanted final scores and stats had to wait until the next morning’s newspaper and it was even worse with late-night games because they didn’t always make it into early editions. Missing an updated copy forced you to guess until the evening news but today, final scores and highlight videos show up within seconds of a game ending. It’s all thanks to apps and live coverage.
Checking the Weather with TV or Radio
Similarly, you had to watch TV news or listen to the radio at specific times to get the weather forecast. If you missed it, you’d have to wait several hours until the next update or guess based on the sky—some people even bought Farmer’s Almanacs for long-term predictions. But you may just use weather apps these days to get minute-by-minute updates with radar maps, storm warnings & temperature alerts.
Finding a Phone Number
Finding a business or personal number used to be rather difficult because you had to flip through a thick phone book with tiny print—and hopefully, the number was listed. Some people kept stacks of Yellow Pages for nearby towns, too, just in case. Now, you can just search online for a number and even get directions to the address in a few seconds.
Making a Dinner Reservation
Anytime you wanted to book a restaurant table, you had to wait until business hours to call and sometimes wait for someone to check a handwritten reservation book. It was normal to call multiple times to confirm, although apps like OpenTable & Resy have changed that. You’re able to use these to see available times & book a table without even picking up the phone—you can even add notes about special occasions.
Finding Out Movie Showtimes
Likewise, you’d call a special recorded hotline or read the newspaper to find movie listings, with some theaters only updating movie times once a week. Of course, we have instant access to seating charts & ticket purchasing through apps these days that make things a lot easier. You have the freedom to pick exactly which seat you want in no time at all.
Waiting for a Taxi to Show Up
Rideshare apps allow us to simply tap a button & track our driver’s arrival minute-by-minute without making a single call, although it wasn’t always that way. In the past, we had to call a cab company and wait on hold, hoping a car would eventually show up. Sometimes you stood outside waving for one and there was no way to check if your driver was on the way.
Loading a Website on Dial-Up Internet
When the internet first became common in homes, connecting involved dialing through a modem that made loud screeching noises—loading even a simple website could take several minutes. And then there was the issue of the internet connection dropping if someone picked up the house phone, which was terrible. But most websites load in seconds and we expect high-speed access almost everywhere, even in coffee shops & airports.
Downloading a Song
Speaking of the internet, in the early 2000s, downloading one MP3 could take hours on a dial-up connection, which meant you sometimes left it overnight. You just hoped the file didn’t fail halfway—that’s quite different from now, when people expect to stream a song instantly with zero loading time. We’re used to downloading entire albums in a few seconds, whether that’s over Wi-Fi or mobile data.
Checking In at a Hotel
Checking into a hotel was once a lot harder because you had to stand in line at the front desk & fill out paperwork before getting a physical room key. It could take half an hour or longer during busy times—quite a big change from online check-in. You get digital room keys sent straight to your phone and kiosks that let you skip the desk completely, so you can go straight to your room.
Getting Instant Language Translation
Once upon a time, whenever you needed something translated, you were forced to pull out a clunky dictionary or ask around to find someone who spoke the language. You would sit there flipping pages, guessing half the words wrong and simply hoping for the best—but now we just use our phones. There’s no waiting involved as we just point the camera phone at a sign or paste a sentence into an app, which spits out a full translation before you even blink.
Looking Up a Word’s Definition
Likewise, not knowing a word in English meant hauling out a giant dictionary & flipping through a million pages. No dictionary on hand? Too bad—you were stuck until you got home or found a library, although today, you start typing the word into your phone and the definition pops up so fast you barely have time to finish spelling it.
Checking Stock Prices
There was a time when investors had to either wait for tomorrow’s newspaper or actually call someone to find out if their stocks tanked or not. Radio stations rattled off numbers at weird hours, which is rather different from now, when our phones instantly alert us to every tiny movement in the market. Second by second, penny by penny, you don’t need any patience to know what’s going on with the stock market.
Seeing Real-Time Traffic Conditions
Figuring out traffic was once pure guesswork as you either caught a traffic update on the radio (if you remembered to turn it on), or you hit the highway & were trapped for hours. These days, you just tap your phone to know exactly which roads are backed up within a few seconds. Our modern apps may even tell you which side streets could save you from delays.
Checking Flight Status
We didn’t always have flight apps to check our flight status and, instead, you’d have to call an airline & be prepared to sit on hold forever. Some people just showed up at the airport early and crossed their fingers, which sounds incredibly risky these days. We’re more reliant on quickly checking apps to see if the plane’s on time, where it is mid-air—even what gate it’s pulling into.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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