
Ask HN: What once useful product/services have you stopped using? - neilsharma
Silicon Valley touts that products need to be significantly better, that founder should &quot;build something people want.&quot; I&#x27;ve noticed that over the past 4-5 years, a lot of products&#x2F;services I once considered essential have completely dropped from my life. On occasion, a better alternative does indeed come along, displacing the old one. Mostly though, my behavior&#x2F;interest changed. I want more control and enjoyment of my time, money, health, and relationships with fewer complexities, and more often than not that means removing products&#x2F;services from my life rather than adding them. It means consolidating services (a single grocery store, a single media platform, a single file storage service) to minimize management of competing products&#x2F;services. It means realizing that &quot;fewer&quot; (or even &quot;nothing&quot;) is often the best option out there.<p>Or it could mean my needs changed and I simply haven&#x27;t found what the next compelling product is.
======
neilsharma
_Dropbox_ \- After two years of having over 20gb of free space, my university
campus cup reward expired (people got free space based on the # of students at
their university who signed up). I went down to < 3gb overnight and didn't
want to pay for what I once had. This was by far the worst marketing stunt
ever -- a 2 year "free trial" is not a sampler of a paid plan, it became the
expected free plan.

Also, I was already using Google Drive since Docs/Sheets had already replaced
MS Office. Don't need two services that do the same thing, especially when
Dropbox has made no noticeable updates to its service in years.

 _Gym Memberships + Workout Classes_ \- I used to be in a gym for 7-8
hours/week for years, but now I can't stand it. Realized I can get a
comparably effective workout doing calisthenics at a local park while
breathing fresh air and looking at the sunset and mountains.

 _Mobile Games_ \- If I only have a limited amount of time on entertainment,
I'm only going to play the best stuff out there.

 _Kindle /Ebooks_ \- I discovered the library. Massive selection of free
(well, tax-supported) physical books

 _Twitter_ \- Used to check it 5x/day, but got no utility out of it aside from
a few transient, impersonal messages to a handful of VCs, founders, and
journalists. Deleted my account, never looked back.

 _Facebook_ \- Socializing online using artifical interactions ("like",
"share", one line comments) made me feel less connected with my
friends/family. I still use their IM service from desktops, but refused to
install messenger on my phone

 _Cable TV_ \- Watching TV is incredibly frustrating with ads every 5 minutes.

 _Dedicated News Publishers_ \- Used to subscribe to the NY Times, WSJ, Time,
Atlantic Monthly, Scientific American, and the Economist. Although those
publishers still have great content, I'd rather read what the internet
surfaces (HN, Medium, random google searches)

 _Torrent Sites_ \- There's finally enough free or affordable quality content
to make torrenting less desirable, but maybe that's just because I've had an
income.

 _Retail Stores_ \- I now get all my food from Costco, Amazon (for misc
spices), and farmers' markets for less. As a result, I buy fewer pre-made
goods than I used to a few years ago and just cook in bulk. Far healthier and
cheaper. I don't go shopping anywhere except to buy clothes every few years or
medicine at a local pharmacy.

~~~
byoung2
_Gym Memberships + Workout Classes - I used to be in a gym for 7-8 hours /week
for years, but now I can't stand it. Realized I can get a comparably effective
workout doing calisthenics at a local park while breathing fresh air and
looking at the sunset and mountains._

I had a 24 hour fitness membership and a trainer when I worked in an office
but after I started working from home it made more sense to invest in a home
gym. So I got some Olympic barbells and bumper plates, a squat rack, bench,
resistance bands, battle ropes, medicine balls, and 2.5-55lb adjustable
dumbbells. The mailman and UPS guys hated me since I ordered it all in Amazon.
Much more convenient than going to a stinky gym and waiting for the rack to
become free while the bros talk about what supps they're taking.

~~~
neilsharma
Haha good call. I guess its not the machinery at the gym that's the problem,
but the culture, smell, and general atmosphere.

I have a (wobbly) pullup bar and a punching bag at home, though I'd need to
install some bars in the yard to get an acceptable home setup.

