Technology may not define us, but it certainly marks time – The News Herald
“Advancements in technology come in leaps and bounds …”
－ Adrian Willings, contributing editor, “Pocket-lint”
Hello Downriver,
Time is marked in many interesting ways by humans.
Seconds, minutes, hours.
Days, weeks, months, years.
Eons, eras, periods.
Ages: stone, bronze, iron, space.
Revolutions: agricultural, scientific, industrial, technological, digital.
But a recent online list offered another way to measure time: by the things we use — and things no longer used.
On a site called “Pocket-lint,” writer Adrian Willings listed “41 obsolete technologies that will baffle modern generations.”
This was his introduction.
“We’re taking a nostalgic walk down memory lane, looking at some of the biggest, best and most memorable gadgets from the last century that have been outdated, outmoded or just forced into irrelevance by better, modern technologies.”
Depending on your age, some things may be familiar to you while others might not.
For example, for someone who has never played any gaming, references made to certain devices don’t mean anything: Gameboy (24), Nintendo N64 (20), Atari 2600 (32) or PS/2 Ports (39).
Sure, I’ve heard of them, but never used them.
But what about others?
Well, they helped label (not define) various stages of my life and today bring back wonderful memories — starting with telephones.
For example, I clearly recall using phone booths (No. 1) — Superman couldn’t change without one. They were a port in a storm; a place you could have a nice conversation for a dime (and then a quarter) — or call home for an emergency ride.
I also remember the rotary phone (2) — and landline party lines (and the etiquette we were taught as kids).
We were taught how to pick up the phone with a gentle touch, listen for any conversation that is already occurring, and then to quietly hang up. (No snooping.)
Other “phone” moments included the much-anticipated phone book (14) — plus the then-separate Yellow Pages.
Oddly enough, those books were far more valuable to me than looking up things online. You just had to grab the book and flip through pages. There was no waiting for a site loading, no typing in a name and no waiting.
And once cellphones arrived on the scene, my first was a “dumb” one (3) — that I bought at Sears — that only handled calls and simple texts. Today, however, I have my latest “smart”Phone.
I never had a pager or a beeper (4), though — but I also never felt left out; there’s something to be said for being unreachable — which is nigh on impossible today.
Some of the things on the list brought back specific memories — like the fax machine (9).
Sure, I’ve used them and I even have one of my own in my downstairs office (it works fine, curly paper and all), but what I remember even better was a monstrosity that sat in my cubicle at the old Mellus.
I believe it was called a “telefax” (please correct me).
It was a large rectangular contraption measuring 2 feet in length, with a phone case.
Our newsroom would get a call from one of our sister publications notifying us that they were sending a story — or even a photo — and our editorial secretary, Angie Nigal, would come into my cube and wrap some weird paper around the drum inside the contraption.
Then, with me off my phone, we’d wait for it to ring.
She’d answer it, hear the high-pitched squeal (which we would later come to know as our analog dial-in to the internet) and put the phone in the cradle.
Within the next 10-20 min, the machine would whirl and leave behind a foul, burning odor that would persist well after the process was completed.
Angie would then open the machine, unfold the paper, and voila! A remote story (or photograph) from another place.
Although it sounds like painting on a cave wall today, this was pre-internet stuff in the late 1970s.
This brings me to two items that predate computers and the internet: typewriters (17) and Encyclopedias (36)
The truth is that I grew up with Encyclopedia Britannica in my home, which was sold to me by a door-to–door salesman. (The company discontinued this sales approach 10 years ago.
The bound volumes were my main source of information during school years. They were also my best resource for homework assignments.
Today, of course, the internet is faster, but you have to wonder if a quick Google search will ever be as accurate as an entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica (unless, of course, you use the company’s online encyclopedia).
Now the typewriter, of course, still has value in this day and age — even if the actual technology does not:
We still use the “QWERTY” keyboard and the term “cut-and-paste” is a carryover from its heyday:
Think about it: The phrase makes no sense when it comes to our computers — but it makes perfect sense when literally taking scissors to typed copy and cutting and rearranging paragraphs with a glue pot.
I also used my electric typewriter until a few decades ago to type envelopes and mail my computer-printed correspondence. (I couldn’t get the printer to accept an enclosed envelope in the slot.
I’m now going to mention a related item: the daisy wheels and dot matrix printers (23).
You simply haven’t lived unless you dealt with the sheer noise of such printers in your office. They were the go-to tech for financial line-item reports — long before Excel came around.
There wasn’t an accounting office without one.
Of course, the technology surrounding computers and the internet has obviously evolved faster than you can say “10 terabytes.”
This brings me to digital audio cassettes (12) or floppy disks (8).
My introduction to floppy drives goes back to my days with the Mellus, when we made the transition from manual typewriters into word processors (not actual computers).
The floppy disks we used in these computers were truly “floppy” — they were 8-inch monstrosities that we had to lock in place, save our stories to and then manually pass around for editing.
Later, my own Apple computers used the smaller 3.5-inch floppy disk — and today, none of my computers use an external disk at all; if I need to pass something along it’s either through email, text or, if necessary, a flash drive.
And then, of course, you haven’t lived unless you heard that squeal of an analog dial-up modem (20) connect to the internet through your phone lines.
The truth is that of the 41 items listed, all but a handful (those game “things” I mentioned earlier) were part of my life at one time or another.
I’m not saying they shaped my life; they were tools.
However, they helped to define certain steps along the path: typewriters to word processors to computers.
Faxes to emails and text
Smart phones and party lines.
Vinyl records (29) to 8-tracks (41) and cassettes (10) To CDs to iPods (34) to smart phones to online, SiriusXM satellite radio (40), to cassettes (10) To CDs to MP3s (40), to cassettes (10) To cassettes (10) To CDs to iPods (34) to CDs (40).
Hardcover encyclopedias available on the internet.
35-mm film cameras (26) to Polaroid cameras (27) to disposable cameras (35) to digital cameras.
Paper maps (34 — still use them) to GPS (28) to iPhones that display routes on my car’s video screen.
Our world has been and will continue to be in constant motion — so every once in a while, it’s fun to take a look back at how far we’ve come.
You might be wondering: What will this list look like in 100 years?
Craig Farrand is the former managing editor of The News-Herald Newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected].
41 outdated technologies that will baffle the modern generation
- Telephone booths in public places
- Wired landlines and rotary phones
- Dumb phones
- Pagers and beepers
- Personal digital assistant (PDA).
- Laserdisc
- Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)
- Floppy disks
- Fax machines
- Compact cassette tape
- Video Home System (VHS).
- Digital Audio Tapes (DAT)
- Overhead projectors
- Phonebooks
- Portable DVD players
- Portable dictation devices
- Typewriters
- Slide projectors
- Minidisc players
- Dial-up and analog modems
- Walkman, Discman, and MP3 players
- Betamax
- Printers for dot-matrix and daisy wheel
- Gameboy and Gamegear
- Nintendo N64
- Film cameras
- Instant cameras from Polaroid
- GPS navigation systems
- Vinyl records
- Calculators
- Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
- Atari 2600
- Cathode Ray Tube Televisions
- Paper maps
- Disposable cameras
- Encyclopedias
- The Clapper
- Calculator watches
- PS/2 Ports
- Apple iPods
- 8-Track players
pocket-lint.com/obsolete-technologies-that-will-baffle-modern-generations