Nowadays, technology moves fast. In just the course of a few years, the capabilities of smartphones have surpassed what most humans can do on a Monday morning before their first cup of coffee. Technological advances can improve our quality of life, but as we embrace new technologies, we forget the old.
Unfortunately, that means most kids born in 2015 (and beyond) won’t know some of the coolest things in life, like:
1. Having colorful (and numerous) floppy disks piled on your desk, in your room, and at the bottom of your school bag
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2. Having countless “favorite” cassette tapes
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3. Old chat clients (ICQ, AOL, MSN) where you could ask fun questions like “a/s/l?”
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4. What happens when you combine a pencil and a cassette tape (e.g., rewinding your music manually)
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5. Making a mix tape or burning CDs for long trips in the car
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6. Using a phone book to look up someone’s number
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7. …oh, and actually memorizing those phone numbers
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8. What an old-style phone actually looks like
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9. Having to use a VCR to record things on live TV you want to see later
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10. Blowing into a video game cartridge if the game isn’t working
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11. Knowing what a dial tone sounds like
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12. Passing notes in class instead of texting your friends
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13. Holding and reading a real newspaper
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14. Consistently carrying around cash, instead of relying on credit and debit cards
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15. Navigating a city by using a map (and knowing how to do so)
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16. Renting VHS tapes from video rental stores if you wanted to see a movie at home
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17. …and knowing to rewind those movies before you return them (if you were lucky, you’d have a rewinder)
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18. Hearing the glorious handshake sound every time you used dial-up Internet
19. Having to wait many, many minutes for the TV Guide channel to scroll through the listings (and sobbing if you looked away for a second and missed the channel you wanted to see)
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20. Having actual conversations
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So, do your young friends (and future children) a favor and make sure they know the agony of accidentally scratching a favorite CD. They’ll be better for it.
