David Lee King recently pointed to this list of ten gadgets that are about to go “extinct” (quotes below are from the original list):
- Landline phones. We still have one at home and I would gladly get rid of it as we seldom use it. Maybe when the fibre to the home line arrives…?
- Floppy disks. “If you still have a few lying around, they make great coasters.” Don’t miss these at all. They were so prone to failure, and so so small!
- Wristwatches. “No one wears a wristwatch anymore, unless he or she grew up with one.” Well this is the one gadget I still have and like using – yes I grew up with one. In fact I have had the watch I am wearing since I was about 12 years old…
- VHS Tape and VCRs. Threw our VCR out (literally) ages ago. We placed it carefully on top of our pile of discards for the regular council pickup, and someone took it away.
- Beepers. Never used ’em and why would you need one now, with a mobile? (Are there any professions that still use these? Thinking of doctors…)
- Film cameras. My first camera was an old SLR. I still think I took better pictures with it than I do with my convenient easy-to-use point-and-click digital camera, but I wouldn’t swap.
- Typewriters. “…today, all that remains is the illogical QWERTY keyboard, which was created to force the typist to go more slowly so the keys wouldn’t jam up.” I did used to love my typewriter but I do love the fact that my PC not only allows me to write, it can do so much more!
- Walkmans & discmans. I still have my old ones somewhere I think, but I am an iPod convert. I LOVE having my entire music collection on my iPod.
- Dialup. “Dial-up may seem to belong with smoke signals and carrier pigeons on the communications scrap heap, but if all you’re doing is checking your e-mail, it may make sense.” See #1.
- DVDs. We don’t watch DVDs either these days…
What about you?
8 Comments
Hmmm…I am looking at getting rid of the landline as I have an Unwired modem which bypasses it altogether. Though whenever I find a new place to live I’ll return to ADSL…which requires a landline. As for wristwatches, I grew up wearing them. Haven’t worn one in many years – admittedly that’s because I’ve gone backwards and have a pocket watch 🙂
Still have four of these!!! DVDs AND a VCR, too, which is silly.
not using the film camera though.
Coincidentally, I had a conversation at work yesterday about the qwerty keyboard and was able to inform two colleagues as the reason why the keys are in this particular layout.
We reminisced about how we learned to touch type (or not). I taught myself from a book on a manual typewriter.
As to the 10 items above, the VCR we still have until i finish transferring home video to DVD, beepers – never had one, and I’m not really a prolific mobile phone user, film cameras and lenses are in a plastic bag somewhere waiting to be tossed, walkmans and discmans are gone, dial up – well only if there is a problem with the ADSL (which is like, never) floppy disks – last weekend I transferred a heap of photos from these to hard drive and uploaded to flickr so they can be tossed too. I still like a wrist watch, but my husband has not worn one in many years since he lost it while swimming in the creek. His estimates of time are spookily accurate.
The wristwatch forever. Surely. My mother wears two, each of which has two faces, because at any one time my family is generally in four time zones. I still have and love, though don’t use, my granddad’s typewriter on which I learnt to type. It’s made of cast iron and weighs more than I do. You just don’t get technology like that these days.
I was thinking about that conversation that we had the other day – you, M, and i – about wristwatches and how M said he uses his mobile for the time. Which is fine, and i get that, but what if your mobile runs out of juice and you’re nowhere near a charger? How annoying would that be. Besides, having a good watch is sort of like having a beautifully crafted piece of art on your wrist.
Still have a landline… probably for a while longer since it still gets a fair bit of use.
Wristwatch – yep. Feel naked if I don’t have it. 😉 It’s kind of an accessory as much as anything. I’d be happy to have several for different occasions.
We threw out the fax machine though.
Still watch DVDs but have been playing with renting from iTunes but so far the range hasn’t been that appealing to us yet.
Film cameras are gone-burger. Well, in terms of me. DH still has a medium format film camera but if he could afford the digital version of it he’d be getting rid of that too.
Could never go back to dial up unless we were so poor we couldn’t afford broadband! LOL!
I started working for a one-person library at the beginning of this year which has a manual loan system, and loan pockets and cards in each book – and ever since I began I’ve been longing for a typewriter. The printer is at the other end of the office, and using it for these would be much too fiddly. I have been handwriting the cards and the spine labels too, and they would look so much better typed! (I plan to put in an automated loan system asap, but the IT section has to design a new catalogue first – it will be a while). Otherwise, still use a wristwatch (with Roman numerals!), still have a VCR, still use a landline. The tape recorder section of my stereo is almost unused though.
Thanks for all the comments, folks. I am going to enjoy watching how things continue to change over the coming years…