Reddit user motivetodayy asked:
"People born before 1980, What are some obsolete household items or gadgets from your childhood that younger generations may not even recognize?"
TV Tech
"Those GIANT projection TVs the size of a closet that only looked good if you were sat in the EXACT right spot. That one kid whose parents let him hook up his Nintendo to it was king."
"The same family probably had one of those satellite dishes in their back yard that were absolutely massive and made your house look like you were trying to spy on the Russians."
- nailbunny2000
How To Keep In Contact
- fidelkastro
"Wow, you just brought back some memories of me playing with one of these as a kid!"
- ajlm
"I worked for a large, billion dollar company in 2007 and the CEO/founder, 70+, who I had to meet with occasionally, insisted on having that exact phone book. He had a computer on his desk, and an executive assistant, and still HAD to have that mechanical phone book to access his phone numbers. Much to the dismay of the office manager when his old one wore out. By god, she found one. Edit for detail."
- -mopjocky-
"We still use this where I work...."
"And we are the ones supplying the natural gas to your homes and businesses. Till next time"
- braize6
Party Lines
"Phone lines that you share with a few neighbors. It was called a party line. Don't confuse this with the party line of the 90s where people could in a talk with several strangers at one time."
- Cultural_Standard_58
"I remember these! Knowing what series of rings was your phone number, and picking up quietly when the old ladies up the road were gossiping lol"
- cinkiss
GiphyPause So You Don't Get The Commercials
"The VCR recording clicker to pause the recording during commercials."
"Single button with a long cord to the VCR"
- queuedUp
Be Kind, Rewind — With Your Model Car
"VHS rewinder. Ours was shaped like a race car. Be kind, rewind."
- EddieRando21
"Ours was a red sports car!"
- fire_fairy_
"Whoever started the rumor that rewinding videos ruined your VCR made a lot of money in the late 80s."
- Peemster99
"My memory was that it took 10 minutes in the VCR player. Not in the Race Car Rewinder though."
- postmaster15
Home Intercoms
"The house I grew up in had an intercom system."
- Geek_off_the_streets
"Yep, wired intercom systems that could also play AM and FM music to all the rooms were a big fad in 1970s new home construction"
- Xyzzydude
The Origin of CC
"An actual carbon sheet that was placed between two sheets of paper to carbon copy the bottom paper from the top paper."
- tranquilseafinally
"Fun fact, this is where 'cc:' on emails comes from. ('bcc' is blind carbon copy, since the recipient can’t see other recipients.)"
- vandezuma
"And that's how I learned to copy my mother's signature on to bad school stuff."
- MickCollins
Smoking Was Everywhere
"‘Floor model’ ashtrays. Short stands that sat on the floor, and the top was an ashtray. Back in the day when people would just walk into your house and fire up a dart without asking, and nobody thought twice about it."
"The only place you didn’t smoke was in church."
- Joseph_Bloggins
"My Grandparents had ashtrays with places to hold cigarettes, when I asked, my mom said it was normal to provide cigarettes at parties, along with alcohol and food. 1950s and 1960s"
- Jbruce63
"No one in our family smoked, but we had a stash of ashtrays Mom would have us set out for company."
- mustbethedragon
"Remember the ones where you push a button and the floor of it hinges open to dump all the ash and butts into a compartment below?"
- GozerDGozerian
GiphyErgonomics Are Important
"A neck phone holder."
- modshavenopenis
"Those things always drove me nuts, it seemed like they were always made for giant people."
- Rokhnal
"We have these at my work for employees who have to spend a lot of time on the phone - though now that I think of it, maybe everyone's transitioned to headphones. Hmm."
- froglover215
"Grandma had one of these all throughout my childhood. I never "got" it until I hit 40...."
- Glum_Time3479
Milk Doors
"A milk chute built into our house. The milk man would leave the milk in the chute in the morning from the outside and we would pick it up from the inside."
"I am beginning to believe that this is a good idea again, albeit with a good sturdy lock on the inside door, so packages and food deliveries can be left out of sight but available to the homeowner from the inside. If I were building a house now, I would add that in to the plans."
- aeraen
"I would love to just have the whole fresh milk delivery thing again."
- dblshot99
"Growing up, our house had a milk chute. Never had milk deliveries, but we had cats."
"The milk chute became the cat door, which they learned and taught each other to open. Came in handy for when I'd lock myself out of the house."
- residentialnemesis
"I could contort my upper body through ours since I’d forget my keys a lot and could open the back door. Ah the latchkey days I remember them so fondly."
- raylab810
GiphySo Many Antennae
"My six year old daughter and I were walking through the parking lot of Auto Zone and she started laughing pointing at this like early 90s truck that had an old, aerial antenna sticking three feet out of the car hood and started laughing:"
'"Daddy that car has a whisker! It has a kitty whisker!'"
"She'd never seen an old antenna like that before."
- SeaTie
"My dad had a Mercedes back in the day and when you started the car, the antenna would extend up."
- lzwzli
"Now there’s no where for an antenna ball. Makes me sad."
- jburton24
Video Games Were Very Different
"Computer games that were loaded on cassette tapes"
- PrincessTusi
"Even before the cassette tape, they’d publish the games’ code in a magazine and you’d have to type it all in without any mistakes. No editor. No debugger."
- sapientia-maxima
"R…U.…N Enter. And pray to god you didn’t miss a colon somewhere"
- LadyGreyNoJoy
Mr. Yuck
"Mr. Yuck"
- Bmc00
"Child safety: Should we lock up these absolutely lethal chemicals? Nah, let's just put this green sticker on them!"
"This is also why the number for poison control was always on the first page of a telephone book, and often written as one of the emergency numbers on your telephone."
- MrHyde_Is_Awake
"As of a few years ago, you could still contact your local poison control office and request a sheet of these."
- ThatsABunchOfCraft
Analog Doorbell
"A doorbell that uses pipes to make sound. Most contemporary doorbells are just a box on your wall, a buzzer, or an app. That's if you even have a doorbell."
- Sigseg
"We would switch the pipes around at my friend’s house. It would drive his mum mad when the doorbell would ring and the time was all wrong."
- badpuffthaikitty
What now-obsolete technology did you grow up with that you think the young people around you would be confused by?
Reddit user Devastator1981 asked:
"What’s one thing you still prefer to do the old-fashioned way—regardless of technology—and why?"
My seriousness about potatoes is, apparently, a passion matched by many...
Board Games
"Physical board games/card games."
"Most of the app versions of the games I like aren't that great."
"Plus, it's more fun to play with someone."- Junkolm
Art Design Game GIF by Scorpion DaggerGiphyPhotos
"I print photos and keep them in photo albums."
"I like to keep the special moments of life as a book and go through it page by page."- SuvenPan
"There’s something satisfying and nostalgic about seeing the physical photos. I have my favorites displayed in frames, so I can see them every day. Makes me happy."- Gbrown546
Books
"Read. Love to have a book where I can turn the pages."- Jonsmile
"Books over a kindle always" - Warm_Quantity_326
"I prefer physical books instead of ebooks and kindles."
"I love the smell of books and I prefer the weight and feeling of books over an iPad."
"I also prefer the older style book covers."
"I hate it when the front cover of a book is just a photo of a movie adaptation, or some generic boring line drawing that will become very dated very quickly."- Exotic_Age7107
"Reading."
"I love the smell of a brand new book, flipping the pages, leaving little cliff notes and folds."
"I even love the act of buying the books! "
"The quietness while you’re browsing the stacks for whatever it is that catches your eye."
"Ebooks just can’t compare!"- dickmanphilips
"Books, where you can turn the pages, are so much more relaxing than swiping on a screen all day."
"Plus I love the smell of new books and the sound of the page when I turn it, but those darn paper cuts if you aren't careful."- Several-Orchid9640
Read Beauty And The Beast GIF by DisneyGiphyDrawing
"Drawing."
"I never really got the hang of digital art."
"It's much easier and more satisfying for me to have all of the tactile input from my work."
"Also, I sew, and along the same lines I prefer to hand-draft patterns."- WitheredFlowers
Buttons
"Physical buttons for climate controls in a car."
"I refuse to buy a car that only uses a touch screen for everything."
"Much safer to not have to fiddle with a touch screen while driving."- Ghertomp
"Physical buttons on most things."
"I understand how touch screens and trackpads are more flexible, but I really enjoy the tactile sensation, the certainty that you definitely pressed the right button."
"The extra sensation that allows you to more precisely press buttons, and the ability to press buttons with things besides your bare finger, like a gloved finger or your knuckle because you're holding something, and probably a few other things I can't think of right now"- Quazimojojojo
Pressing Season 3 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphyMenus
"Physical menus at restaurants."
"I'm with the boomers on this one"- cptfuzzybeard95
Compact Disc
"Buy music."
"Unfortunately buying cds just isn't as easy as it used to be."
"But I prefer physical media, and just convert it to digital."
"I hate streaming music."
"I don't trust the stuff I love to always be available."
"I like having ownership of what I listen to."- jbnagis
cd GIFGiphyWriting Notes
"Make notes on paper."
"I will typically use index cards because they are not as easy to 'fly away' or get crumpled or lost."
"But hey.... that's just me!"- NoBSforGma
"Taking notes."
"Im 16 so I am comfortable with typing on touchscreens and using keyboards, but when it comes to school notes I prefer writing with a pen."- ILIKEBACON12456
"Write and read with tangible paper."
"Writing a loved one a handheld letter means so much more than a quick text or a print of something."
"I considered early on in my relationship that me and my boyfriend don’t even know each other’s writing styles, so I’ve made it a goal to always write him something special for an event or just because."
"I also prefer reading personal books by physically turning the page."- notwideshut
Fire
"Cooking using firewoods."
"It gives more aromatic flavor to your food"- IshigamiiiIchigo4u
episode 19 cooking GIFGiphyCoffee
"Not sure if this counts, but I grind my coffee by hand and use a simple brewing method, either chemex or french press, to make it."
"I think having full control over the process leads to better tasting coffee than I get with any automatic machine."
"Also, having a ritual that I do every morning and takes a little elbow grease helps kickstart my day."- NebXan
Coffee Time GIF by Jones Brothers CoffeeGiphyChecks
"Balancing a checkbook."- mrsK35
Checking Out
"In-person checkouts."
"I don't know why but I just hate those automated self-checkouts."- Fire2xdxd
Cooking
"Making rice in a standard pot instead of a rice cooker."
"Idk if anyone’s tested it but to me the rice is fluffier and less dry in the pot."- famechangedme
olla GIFGiphySex
"I don’t like technology for (male) sexual pleasure, because I don’t want it to diminish the pleasure when I’m with my wife."- FixConnect3651
Stick Shift
"Shifting gears."
"I know automatics have taken over and stickshift is going the way of the dodo, but I'll always prefer a stick any day of the week."
"If you know when to shift and what gears you can cruise in for each road condition, you'll always get better mileage than an auto."
"That's why I can get up to 34mpg in my brother's challenger."
"Also, a clutch swap is cheaper and easier than a full auto rebuild."
"Sure manual trans failures do happen, but it's far less common than automatic failures."- Monkeys2Code
Dishes
"Weirdly enough doing dishes by hand instead of a dishwasher."
"If all my dishes are clean and i make a meal for myself it’s like 4 dishes, they clean up super easy while stuff is cooking."-
Lisa Simpson Mom GIF by The SimpsonsGiphyNow that you know what Reddit is still kicking it old school about, it's your turn in the confessional.
What do you do the good old fashioned way?
