As millennials, looking at trends from 2006 coming back and the younger generation calling them “vintage” now is a humbling reminder of our age. And in Singapore too, some things we used to do feel almost prehistoric now. Think tearing paper parking coupons, standing by the roadside trying to flag a cab, or carrying cash around just in case a shop didn’t accept cards. Back then, these were simply a part of everyday life.
Fast-forward to 2026, and technology has quietly taken a lot of that friction out of our routines. From ride-hailing apps and digital payments to biometric immigration clearance when we travel, plenty of things we once did manually can now be sorted with a few taps on a screen. Here are some everyday things Singaporeans used to do the analogue way – and how tech has made life a whole lot easier since.
Image credit: @anders.jpg via Instagram
Remember when going overseas meant handing your passport over at immigration and waiting for that satisfying chop? Passport stamps were practically souvenirs in themselves – frequent travellers could flip through the pages and get a little visual recap of everywhere they’d been.
These days, though, clearing immigration at Changi Airport is much more seamless. Since September 2024, passportless clearance has been fully rolled out across all four4 terminals, allowing Singapore residents to clear immigration using facial and iris biometrics instead of physically presenting their passports. Foreign visitors can also use passportless clearance when departing Singapore.
Image credit: Now Boarding by Changi Airport
Cameras at the automated lanes scan your face and irises and match them against your registered identity, so your biometrics can be used to verify your identity without you having to physically present your passport at the counter. In fact, ICA says the average immigration clearance time has dropped from 25 seconds to just 10 seconds per traveller, cutting it by about 60%. Super impressive, isn’t it?
That’s a pretty big upgrade from digging around your bag for your passport while panicking about holding up the queue behind you. But don’t get too carried away with the “passportless” part. You’ll still need to bring your physical passport along for travel, since other countries may require it and ICA can still ask for it for verification.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Before ride-hailing apps became second nature, getting a cab could feel like a mini mission. You either had to flag one down by the roadside, head to a taxi stand, or call for a booking. And all of those options still depended on whether there was an available cab nearby. You also had to consider peak hour, heavy rain, or a driver changing shift.
Now, most of that happens quietly in the background. Ride-hailing apps use GPS and real-time data to match you with a nearby driver, show you the fare upfront, and let you track the car as it makes its way over.
You can book your car while sitting at home watching Netflix as you wait for it to arrive. You can also see your driver and vehicle details before getting in, and pay in-app without having to prepare cash. So, instead of physically hunting for transport, we now just watch a tiny car icon inch closer on a map.
It’s one of those everyday conveniences that barely feels high-tech anymore – until you remember how much more effort catching a cab used to take.
Image credit: Ong Rui En
There used to be a whole ritual involved in watching a movie or listening to an album. You’d head to a DVD or CD shop, hunt down the title you wanted, buy or rent it, then make sure you actually had the right player at home. And once your collection started growing, there was the very real problem of figuring out where to store all those discs.
Image credit: Tagvenue
Streaming did away with most of that hassle. Platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and HBO let us access huge libraries of shows and movies almost instantly, while music streaming services put millions of songs on the same phone we already carry around every day. You don’t have to invest in a separate player or dig through a stack of cases to find the one movie you feel like watching.
The technology behind streaming – things like cloud storage and high-speed internet – may be doing a lot of work in the background. But the lifestyle upgrade is simple: entertainment went from something we had to physically own and organise to something we can pull up with a few taps.
Back in the day, there was only one way to do grocery shopping. Whether you’re at a supermarket or an old-school provision shop, you grab what you need before queuing up and waiting for a cashier to scan everything. So, even a quick snack run could turn into a mini wait if the queue was long.
Now, some stores in Singapore are cutting out that checkout step altogether. At Cheers AI Unmanned stores, for example, shoppers can scan in using the FairPrice Group app, pick up what they want, and walk straight out without stopping at a cashier or self-checkout counter. It’s ideal for quick grab-and-go runs if you’re in a rush.
Image credit: NTUC Fairprice via Facebook
Some of these stores also operate 24/7 – so you’ve got options if you start getting hungry in the middle of the night. It’s a pretty big leap considering many of us still remember when the most high-tech thing at the supermarket was the barcode scanner.
Image credit: Joyce Drinks Kopi via Heritage SG Memories
Drivers of a certain era will remember keeping a fat stack of parking coupons in the glove compartment. Or you might remember helping your parents carefully tear out the year, month, day, hour, and minute every time they parked. Tear the wrong tab and that coupon was basically gone; stay out longer than expected and it meant walking all the way back to the car to put up another one.
Then Parking.sg came along and made the whole process feel very unnecessary. Launched in 2017, the app lets drivers enter their vehicle number, car park code, and intended parking duration straight from their phone instead of displaying paper coupons. So you don’t have to worry if you’re taking a longer time than expected running errands – you can just extend your parking remotely without making a mad dash back to the car.
Image credit: Parking.sg
It also solves another very Singaporean parking problem: overpaying “just in case”. Parking.sg charges by the minute, and if you end your session early, the unused portion is refunded automatically. Add in reminders before your parking expires, and something that used to involve a lot of tearing, guessing, and checking the dashboard is now mostly handled from your phone.
Anyone who remembers carrying around photocopies of their IC or filling in the same block letters repeatedly will probably feel this one. Applying for government services used to mean literal paperwork, supporting documents, and sometimes an actual trip down to a service counter. And once you were there, you would have to spend time writing your name, NRIC, address, and other particulars all over again.
These days, a lot of that admin can be sorted digitally. Singpass now works as a trusted digital identification tool that lets residents access both government and private-sector services, verify who they are, sign documents, and authorise transactions online. The app even includes a Digital IC, so in many situations, you don’t even need your physical card to prove your identity.
Then there’s MyInfo, which takes the repetitive form-filling out of the equation. With your consent, it can pull verified details such as your name, contact information, and other government-held particulars into supported applications automatically.
Under the hood, secure digital identity and data-sharing systems are doing the heavy lifting. But for the everyday user, it means that what used to require forms, a scanner, and your neatest handwriting can now often be done in a few taps.
Not too long ago, leaving the house without cash meant there was a decent chance you weren’t getting lunch. This was especially the case if you were heading to a hawker centre or old-school neighbourhood shops.
These days, paying for everything from kopi to groceries can be as simple as scanning a QR code or tapping your card. Even splitting dinner with friends has gone from “I’ll pay you back next time” to sending the exact amount over via PayNow in seconds. You don’t even need someone’s bank account number.
And the convenience doesn’t stop at Singapore’s borders either. PayNow is linked with payment systems such as DuitNow in Malaysia and PromptPay in Thailand for cross-border transfers, while apps such as DBS PayLah! can be used to scan participating overseas QR codes, including DuitNow QR in Malaysia, PromptPay in Thailand, and QRIS in Indonesia.
Say bye bye to counting coins at the cashier, and hello to purchasing something with just a few taps on our phones.
When you think about it, a lot of the things that make our lives easier today started with someone spotting an everyday problem and figuring out a smarter way to solve it. That’s basically STEM in action. It’s not just about equations and experiments, but ideas that make real life work a little better.
That same problem-solving mindset takes centre stage in Science Centre Singapore’s National STEM Championship: Game On (NSTEMC:GO) 2026. Formerly known as the National Science Challenge, the revamped competition sees students put their knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to the test through challenges that call for teamwork, quick thinking, and plenty of creativity.
For instance, in the “Rocky Isle” challenge, teams were tasked to navigate a path by solving maths problems. The premise was that they had to guide a stranded crab back to the beach, and they had a precise 39 units of oxygenated water to work with.
A maths problem presented itself at each pitstop – from prime numbers to quadratic equations – and the answer corresponded with how much water each stop would use. Hence, the students had to study the map to find the one route that used up exactly all 39 units, following one-way arrows with no backtracking. Sounds tricky already!
So if you’ve ever wondered what Singapore’s next generation of problem solvers could come up with, catch NSTEMC on TheSmartLocal and Science Centre Singapore’s YouTube Channels. New episodes drop every Sunday at 6pm, and they’ll be a workout for your brain even from a viewer’s perspective.
This article was brought to you by Science Centre Singapore.
Cover image adapted from: Joyce Drinks Kopi via Heritage SG Memories, Ong Rui En, Wikimedia Commons.
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