obsolete items your kids will never recognize

[Not The Original Kermit]

I watched my 16 month old daughter destroy a cassette tape on the weekend and I realized that she probably has no idea what it is. I'm not even sure why I have cassette tapes lying around or where she found it because we haven't had a cassette tape player in our house in probably 10 years. It made me realize that many items I grew up with, my kids will never recognize. for example: Cassette Tapes, VHS tapes, Beta Tapes, Records. who knows, by the time they're old enough, DVD's might not even exist anymore. You always hear lots of talk about VHS and Beta but how many of you remember CED players?
They were some of the first videos my parents would rent when I was a kid, you'd have to flip the disc halfway through the movie, I first saw Popeye with robin williams on a CED disc.



or even film strips that you used to watch in school and you had to have a volunteer to advance the film strip when there was a tone on the audio tape.

I also realize I'm not immune to not knowing anything about old tech, first time I saw an 8 track I was confused.

 

[_MementoMori_]

I think you covered just about everything except for floppy drives!

 

[joshgambit]

LaserDisks come to mind...as does Minidisks, the old c-band satellite dishes.

Floppy disks, rotary telephones...

 

[whereisandy]

I have a stack of computer punch cards that my in-laws had from their days working at IBM. How about those old computur modem couplers that you had to attach to your rotary phones?

 

[jaredsmith83]

I was thinking rotary phones as well. VCR's will be a fun one to explain haha. Shoot, I wouldn't be surprised if phones without a touchscreen are obsolete in the next few years.

 

[Not The Original Kermit]

Also, we had a party line. Party line as in each house having a distinct ring tone not the "dating line" that has become synonomous with the term these days. Can't imagine trying to explain that one..

 

[joshgambit]

I have a stack of computer punch cards that my in-laws had from their days working at IBM. How about those old computur modem couplers that you had to attach to your rotary phones?

http://www.wimp.com/remembermodems/

 

[Derdonkderd]

I had downoloaded some "Animaniacs" to watch with my 8 year old daughter (her cartoons are largley terrible). When I told her we were going to watch some cartoons from when I was a kid, she asked if they were black and white. I was also taken back a bit when she asked one of my friends to pretend to be a mouse. She starting accting all squeeky and eating cheese. My daughter says "...Noooo, you have to make the button clicking sounds." Someone spends too much time on the computer evidently.

 

[inspiringK]

Ash trays in armrests (at the barber's, on planes, etc.).

Manual car window cranks.

Peanuts???

 

[mayhem]

Televisions with knobs.

 

[tinashubby]

8 tracks, and jam a pack of matches between the tape and player to make it work right...

 

[Jim]

A pay phone booth.

 

[srk1103]

35mm film.

 

[Prince]

I have an old disposable flash cube that I've saved just to show my daugher.

Remember those?

 

[The Zigster]

I was thinking rotary phones as well. VCR's will be a fun one to explain haha. Shoot, I wouldn't be surprised if phones without a touchscreen are obsolete in the next few years.

When our kids were smaller, visited Grandma and Granpa (who have a rotary phone). When it rang, they had no idea that is the sound a ringing type phone makes.

 

[Edcculus]

not tech related, but I mailed a letter the other day. As I was putting the letter in the box and putting up the little red flag, I wondered to myself if my 5 month old daughter would ever really mail a letter. I mean, I really don't put that many hand written letters in the mail anymore. Between skype and face time on the iPhone, I can be on a video chat with my mom instantly showing her my daughter doing things.

 

[Nick Danger]

Recently, a neighbor came across the hall to my apartment to ask me a question. She had her young daughter in tow (perhaps five or six years old) and the mother pointed to my large collection of LPs and said:

"That's how they used to listen to music in the old days."

Nice way to make a guy feel ancient...

Nick

 

[Nick Danger]

Oh, and one more: Clocks with hands.

Or even wristwatches, since so many people now pull out their cell phone to check the time.

Nick

 

[Seadooer]

Polaroid instant cameras. A great invention.

 

[BZiel]

TV antennas and their control boxes, and, within the next few years, incandescent light bulbs.