Technology doesn't stop. If we stop to think about objects that society used 10 years ago, we will see that: either they evolved and adapted to new needs, or they became super obsolete and lost their meaning. Much of what we wore in the 1980s and 1990s is now incomprehensible to younger generations.
With that in mind, in this article we will cite 24 objects that make no sense to the Gen Z, but which were very useful for people who lived in past decades.
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24 objects don't make sense to young people
AM/FM radio
Long before podcasts and Spotify, people listened to music at home using an AM/FM radio. Just tune in to your favorite station. People still listen to the radio, just in their car or on their cell phone.
phone book
In a time when there was no internet, we resorted to telephone directories to look for telephone numbers and addresses of establishments – and even of people!
VCR or DVD
There was no streaming. We watched movies and series on DVDs or VCR tapes. And I had to rewind it before returning it to the rental company.
Landline
In the 1980s and 1990s, cell phones were a luxury that not everyone could afford. So people had landline phones in their homes. It worked the same way, but without games, without social networks and without mobility.
Public telephone
It was the same with pay phones, public telephones that saved us when we were out of the house and needed to communicate with someone.
CD case
This was our library Spotify.
Cd Player
And this was our audio player.
carbon sheet
This was a sheet that we put between two others to copy what we wrote on one to the other.
Switcher for playing video games
Before the HDMI cable or the AV, we connected the video game to the television through the antenna input and this device made the exchange of channel transmission for the images of the games.
tape rewind machine
Remember the story of rewinding the tape at the video store? So it is. This device made the job easier. It was also true for audio cassettes.
film for camera
Before the digital era, cameras had a film, with a limited number of images and super sensitive to handle.
magazine holder
A cozy place to store all your magazines – when they were still in print and not a pdf file.
car phone
This here was something for very chic people. Some people had a phone line inside their car,
Encyclopedias
The Wikipedia of past decades. A huge collection of books with all the knowledge in the world (or almost).
dial phone
In addition to landline, this phone had a disc in place on the keys.
ashtrays
From the time when you could smoke inside establishments and no one used electronic cigarettes.
tv guides
It was here that we saw the programming of television channels in the 1990s and early 2000s. There was no Twitter to know when a movie was on.
Typewriter
Today this is a vintage item and appreciated by hipsters and journalists.
pager
The pager was the beginning of what would become SMS. A device that displayed short messages. But to send them you had to call a phone number. Confusing, isn't it? Even for millennials.
diskette
We can say that it was the great-great-grandfather of the pendrive, right? With the ability of a photo. Or less.
phone neck support
For long calls – which were a fortune!
Calls identifier
Before cell phone screens, people bought a device to fit the landline. On the screen, tiny and rudimentary, we could see the number that called.
flash cubes for cameras
The flash blinded people and was placed separately in cameras. Good times (or not!)
Photo album
Who needs a heavy, dusty object when you have a photo gallery on your cell phone, in the cloud or on social media?
Graduated in Social Communication at the Federal University of Goiás. Passionate about digital media, pop culture, technology, politics and psychoanalysis.