Things you miss about the technology in the ‘old days’...

[robcat]

I think the biggest thing I do miss (but not really for me, more for my children), is the excitement of the pop charts and buying records.

While iPods and iTunes are undoubtedly incredible things, and I love the immediacy of obtaining music or movies, I feel my kids have missed out on the sheer thrill of the Top 40 on a Sunday afternoon that my generation enjoyed.

Going to Woolworths or a local record store, buying a single, then listening to (andtaping the charts (trying to edit out the DJ)) was such a big part of being a teenager. Everyone was interested in the charts.

Now no-one is.

Reminds me of similar discussion with a couple of mates. Altough services like Spotify are great, the whole ritual of hearing a single in the radio, maybe taping it, waiting for an album to be released, going into town to get it, playing the whole album through - many times, appreciating the artwork/sleevenotes, devouring it, has gone. There’s nowhere near the same appreciation now. Instant gratification kills this.

This is can probably be extended to movies and tv. I’m old enough to remember the pre-video days, when you could only see a movie at the cinema, and a tv programme live. Even your favourite tv prog was an event - something to look forward to. I remember the weekly episodes of Dr Who, Blake’s Seven, The Tomorrow People and Six Million Dollar Man being highpoints of the week when I was at primary school.

Probably even extends to most consumer goods.

[snowman]

There was an 8110 in Matrix. As far as I could see the only difference to the production model was that the movie version had a spring loaded sliding flap in it. That never made it to the stores.

Edit:

Yep, my 8110 was the same, but as said you had to manual slide the cover down (oh, the drama! ).

It was very cool, though, and everyone admired my "Matrix phone"!

I think I still have it somewhere, but eventually no-one could hear me as the contacts in the cover stopped working to the microphone.

M

[Ventura]

I miss the simplicity of it. Rule in lif is to keep everything simple. Makes life easier and a lot less stressful.

[steptoe]

Dial a Disc..... midsixties - seventies.

Being able to call a number (16 or 160) from a public call box and listen to the latest hit record, which was changed daily.

[Cornholio]

I miss the smell of the dust on the warm thermionic valves.

[steptoe]

Things you miss about the technology in the ‘old days’.

Being able to fix things with a screwdriver and soldering iron, or with a good hard whack.

And owning the same piece of "tech" for years.

[TBKBABAB]

This all looks very very Hi-Tech to me, remember going on holiday to stay with my Grandparents in the mid 60's. My Grandfather worked for the AA
in York and he had a Phone in his car, think it was a Black Zephyr, looked something like this (the phone not my Grandfather)

[chrisparker]

And owning the same piece of "tech" for years.

The event of buying a new piece of tech. I have memories of going round the shops such as Vickers Audio, Sound Organisation and Richer Sounds in Leeds with my Dad to choose a new home stereo system. A proper day out, browsing and listening to different set-ups.

Now it's a quick read of Amazon reviews and choose between Bose or Sonos.

[Carlton-Browne]

Didn’t the actual “matrix” phone never actually make it to market? By the time it released it was bigger and less sleek IIRC?

The Nokia 7110 was the model designed to reap the interest created by the modified 8110 from the Matrix. Unfortunately they also added WAP functionality to it and the associated bugs meant that it was significantly late getting to market (the Wiki page suggests that it arrived in market 8 months after launch but the reality, if I recall correctly, was at least 12 months). Build quality was sh;te - mine went in the bin immediately after the microphone/flip went flying across the station platform one morning when I attempted to answer a call - I had one of the first ones when they became available from Vodafone Corporate.

Keyboard on psion 5

I'm surprised somebody hasn't done a Kickstarter adapting old Psions with a bluetooth module so they could be used with an Ipad. I'd buy that.

[chrisparker]

We had one of these in our kitchen long after black and white TV's had gone out of fashion. I used to come home from school and twist the dial until I found Happy Days on 4. That box had more charm than the slim black box my parents have in their kitchen now.

I also miss these:



I can still remember the phone numbers of all my friends.

[Plug]

This all looks very very Hi-Tech to me, remember going on holiday to stay with my Grandparents in the mid 60's. My Grandfather worked for the AA
in York and he had a Phone in his car, think it was a Black Zephyr, looked something like this (the phone not my Grandfather)

I bet that needed a long cable.

Cheers,

Plug

[Enoch]

On our first colour tv, when you switched it on, you had to press a second button, that brought up a green bar running from top to bottom on the screen.

You then made the bar as narrow as possible using the tuning buttons... that's when you knew the picture was as good as you could get it....

We thought it was brilliant...

[Neil.C]

I think the biggest thing I do miss (but not really for me, more for my children), is the excitement of the pop charts and buying records.

While iPods and iTunes are undoubtedly incredible things, and I love the immediacy of obtaining music or movies, I feel my kids have missed out on the sheer thrill of the Top 40 on a Sunday afternoon that my generation enjoyed.

Going to Woolworths or a local record store, buying a single, then listening to (andtaping the charts (trying to edit out the DJ)) was such a big part of being a teenager. Everyone was interested in the charts.

Now no-one is.

Couldn't agree more.

[Devonian]

I remember in the late 90’s getting a BT Cellnet phone which has some kind of tie up to Barclays and I could get the balance on my Barclaycard and current account and also the last 5 transactions. It was years before other phone I had could do that.

I also remember in 93/94 when I started working in finance, blokes would come round the office with suitcases full of phones to flog as it was the ‘new thing’. One of the managers got talked into buying a car phone for his calibra for £800 (a lot of money back then). Problem was being based in North Devon and having to drive across exmoor to,the motorway 3 times a week there was no reception for 90% ofmthe journey. Complete waste of money and within 12 months everyone was buying mobiles.

[verv]

I still have a rotary dial telephone. Black version of the cream pictured above. Love the whir of the numbers going back into place. :)

Rarely use it tho as mobile is far more convenient.

[bigmul]

This is how I was blocked from social media in the 80's

[Possu]

This is how I was blocked from social media in the 80's

You could've learned to dial by striking the impulses with the switch in the receiver cradle.

[alfat33]

You could've learned to dial by striking the impulses with the switch in the receiver cradle.

Did anyone else ever try phreaking?

[mikiejack]

I also remember in 93/94 when I started working in finance, blokes would come round the office with suitcases full of phones to flog as it was the ‘new thing’. One of the managers got talked into buying a car phone for his calibra for £800 (a lot of money back then). Problem was being based in North Devon and having to drive across exmoor to,the motorway 3 times a week there was no reception for 90% ofmthe journey. Complete waste of money and within 12 months everyone was buying mobiles.

My dad had one in the very late 80’s in a Rover 820. My mum drove an 825i
He regretted purchasing both Rovers and the Car phone, as all 3 were money pits.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[notnowkato]

Doing a bit of tidying up and found 3 Palm TXs. Were essential back then but those pesky smart phones displaced them. Now I am one the subject, Psions were just as indispensable, for a while. Happy simple days.

[AlphaOmega]

You could've learned to dial by striking the impulses with the switch in the receiver cradle.

I used to do that. I seem to remember trying it in a public call box. Can't remember if it was a free call though.

[oldoakknives]

I still have a rotary dial telephone. Black version of the cream pictured above. Love the whir of the numbers going back into place. :)

Rarely use it tho as mobile is far more convenient.

For some reason I pictured you with something more Art Deco, bit more stylish!

[Alpha4]

DOS. I felt like a proper IT Manager/techie when I was using DOS and UNIX command line stuff at work in the 90s.

[willie_gunn]

DOS. I felt like a proper IT Manager/techie when I was using DOS and UNIX command line stuff at work in the 90s.

Now you're making me feel very old.....Machine code....punched tape.....COBOL

[robcuk]

I really miss the lack of beeping when white goods have finished doing their job. Everything bloody beeps now. I've always known when my washing and drying machines have finished because they stop making a washing/drying sound - I don't need annoying beeps every 30 seconds ad infinitum until I swear, get out of my chair, head to the kitchen and switch them off. Same with the damn microwave. Worst of all is the toaster - despite the fact when the toast pops up it makes a loud mechanical "KERCHANG" noise, for some unknown reason it needs to beep 4 times as well. You know, just in case you didn't know what that freaking "KERCHANG" noise was 4 minutes after you put bread in the toaster.

We’ve recently replaced a Samsung washing machine which lasted 10 years, it used to play a two bar ‘Finished’ alert at the end of every wash. The new one, also Samsung plays a whole 1.30 tune now! JL support told us they’ve had several returned as it can’t be turned off :-)


Rob

Watches are like Dictionaries; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.
Samuel Johnson

[Saint-Just]

I replaced my 20 yo Miele washing machine a few months ago (by another Miele), and my microwave is 22 yo. None of my white goods make any noise apart from the fridge if left open and the classic microwave at the end of the timer... but the ring stops when I open the door, unlike modern ones that play their 3 or 5 rings regardless. I hate them for it!

[sestrel]

We had a radio rentals tv, had to put a shilling in the bloody thing afaik...

[Saint-Just]

Granada? That gave Private Eye the opportunity to expose Mr Arkell for taking bribes and gave birth to a formidable euphemism?

[Andyg]

life without "social" media.

As for technology I miss telex machines and IBM Golfball typewriters, just for the pleasure of seeing them work.

I also miss telegrams - simply because I never received one and I really miss the Exchange and Mart.

[gunner]

Being able to fix things with a screwdriver and soldering iron, or with a good hard whack.

I love this about my 993, pretty much everything (internal and external) can be removed with a screwdriver.

Wouldn't dare touch anything in the XC90.

[TheFlyingBanana]

life without "social" media.

As for technology I miss telex machines and IBM Golfball typewriters, just for the pleasure of seeing them work.

I also miss telegrams - simply because I never received one and I really miss the Exchange and Mart.

I can actually concur with this as I am no fan of social media at all - I think its effects are largely damaging to society overall, and to many individuals including teenagers especially.

Telex machines were before my time, but golfball printers those plotters that used the different coloured pens were quite hypnotic.

Exchange and Mart was always a bit of a (guilty) pleasure.

[Daddelvirks]

As a former radio pirate and audio "freak" I really miss those seventies tuners with analogue scale and huge signal strength meters. Those little lights everywhere made so "cosy"to look at.
I still have a Revox B760, one of the first digital synthesizer tuners, tucked away somewhere and would love to own a mint Marantz "scope" tuner when I have the space to place it somewhere.

[Mr.D]

We had a radio rentals tv, had to put a shilling in the bloody thing afaik...

No one bought a TV until the mid 90s. Everyone rented. The things were so unreliable the likes of Granada and Rumbelows and Radio Rentals would charge £30 a month for a premium set and give you a new one every two years.

[Dave+63]

I can actually concur with this as I am no fan of social media at all.

You've got to love the irony here!

[Martylaa]

My parents buying a Amstrad Double Deck video then me trying to copy all the latest video releases for my mates, cello taping a tab on the video tape (the one they used to remove to stop copying)...

[TheFlyingBanana]

You've got to love the irony here!

Noted!

Although I prefer to think of TZ as anti-social media for much of the time.

I was really referring to the cursed Facebook, Snapchat, instagram and other such brain rot.

[sestrel]

I remember the smell of the tv as the valves heated up. I would go round the back of it to watch the valves glowing through the slots..

My brother has an old joke. He is 11 years older than me, he likes to say when talking of black and white tv " you were lucky, before you came along, we couldn't afford black and white tv, we only had the black!

[vortgern]

No one bought a TV until the mid 90s. Everyone rented.

Mid 90s?

[Andyg]

Not really technology, but something from bygone days I really miss is a Whimpy Burger.

[Andyg]

Mid 90s?

My Dad never rented, hence we only got a colour TV in 1972, just in time for the Olympics.

[Dave+63]

Noted!

Although I prefer to think of TZ as anti-social media for much of the time.

I was really referring to the cursed Facebook, Snapchat, instagram and other such brain rot.

Can't say I disagree; I don't use any of them.
I do use WhatsApp occasionally though but that's not really social media as such.

[Zigster]

10 Print "Zigster is ace!"
20 Goto 10

I loved my ZX Spectrum. Christmas 1982 and it came in a box (from Santa) as it was mail order only back then.

[walkerwek1958]

I still have a rotary dial telephone. Black version of the cream pictured above. Love the whir of the numbers going back into place. :)

Rarely use it tho as mobile is far more convenient.

I still miss the tactile engagement of dialling numbers on an old- style phone. In the distant past we had two phones at work, one for external and one for internal calls. Getting a push- button phone that did both was a big step forward at the time......but I still miss the old dial- phones.

Paul

[Glamdring]

Even BT's revolutionary Trim Phone had a dial... Privatising it was the one thing that went well with that industry back then. Very soon we had a plethora of phones to choose from.

[The Hack]

Although any TZ member who has an average of 4/5 or more posts PER DAY throughout their period of membership is a bit of a social media addict already. :)

Can't say I disagree; I don't use any of them.
I do use WhatsApp occasionally though but that's not really social media as such.

[Dave+63]

Although any TZ member who has an average of 4/5 or more posts PER DAY throughout their period of membership is a bit of a social media addict already. :)

Guilty as charged!

[oldoakknives]

Not really technology, but something from bygone days I really miss is a Whimpy Burger.

The way they put the sausage round the tomato!!!
Remember going to a Wimpy in the 60's!

[Robsmck]

We have a 25 year old Dualit with a clockwork timer that ticks audibly then just stops with a click so you know it's done. The toast doesn't pop up, you have to press a leaver down, which means it stays warm until you can lift yourself off the sofa to butter it.

Bliss!

+1 for the dualit toaster. Mine has two regular slots and a toasted sandwich slot. Has outlasted two marriages with me.......

Sent from my SM-G920F using TZ-UK mobile app

[redmonaco]

I used to do that. I seem to remember trying it in a public call box. Can't remember if it was a free call though.

Yes, it was!! :0)

- - - Updated - - -

The way they put the sausage round the tomato!!!
Remember going to a Wimpy in the 60's!

I seem to remember that it was called a "Bender"...

[Captain Morgan]

I seem to remember that it was called a "Bender"...

In a bun...