My niece asked me to explain what a 'landline' was for her school project.

I was visiting my sister in Denver last week, and her 10-year-old needed to interview someone about 'obsolete technology.' I spent a good 20 minutes describing the coiled cord, the wall mount, and the shared family phone number, and she looked at me like I was describing a horse-drawn carriage. It really highlighted how something that was central to my whole childhood is just a historical artifact to her. What's a piece of your everyday tech from growing up that would baffle kids today?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler_wilson2mo ago

Trying to explain a VCR to my nephew felt like describing ancient hieroglyphics.

joelwells2mo ago

My old Walkman with the anti-skip button.

eric_murray261mo ago

I saw a thing about how kids don't get the concept of "be kind, rewind." You had to physically rewind the whole VHS tape before taking it back to Blockbuster or you'd get fined. @joelwells mentioning the Walkman is the same vibe. It was all physical media you could hold, and if you lost the little plastic tab on a cassette, that was it, you couldn't record over it anymore.