After reading these articles, I feel really old...

[DeadPoolX]

I'd explain more, but it's easier to simply read this article: 100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About. For even more "depressing" fun, read this about a 13 year-old's experience with the original Sony Walkman.

[Datadog]

3-D movies meaning red-and-green glasses.

These things aren't out of the woods yet. Not until we get Digital 3D in the home anyway. Just a few months ago, I was watching "Journey to the Center of the Earth" on DVD with ye olde red-n-green. Those darn things seem to make a comeback every 20 or so years, so there's a certain novelty factor about them that'll keep them alive somehow. Even if they aren't used for movies anymore.

Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.

I cracked open an NES last year just to see if it really was dust in the cartridge. To my surprise, it turns out when you push down on an NES, it's actually turning on a hinge and bending the pins out of place. Do it enough times and the pins on the cartridge and the NES stop connecting. So really, blowing never did anything.

Not knowing who was calling you on the phone.

I still don't know who's calling me on the phone. Every other phone call I get is from a private number.

“Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.” But they’ve already seen episode III, so it’s no big surprise.

No worries. It's one of the worst kept surprises in movie history. I knew what happened to Luke's father by the time I was 5, and I still didn't watch any of the movies until I was 16. Word-of-mouth is more likely to ruin the surprise than Episode III ever will.

Cash.

My kids won't know what cash is? How far in the future are we talking about here? Do vending machines and shopping carts accept debit cards now? And can they run phone lines out to outdoor events?

[Tawmis]

Cash.

My kids won't know what cash is? How far in the future are we talking about here? Do vending machines and shopping carts accept debit cards now? And can they run phone lines out to outdoor events?

Er... two things. It costs money for you to use a shopping cart?!?

And second thing - outdoor events... Um, why use a payphone when more than likely they will have a cell phone?

[Datadog]

Er... two things. It costs money for you to use a shopping cart?!?

To borrow a shopping cart, we place a loonie in the slot. If we want the loonie back, we need to return the shopping cart.

And second thing - outdoor events... Um, why use a payphone when more than likely they will have a cell phone.

Payphones? Uh, no. I meant just about every outdoor event I've been to has "cash only" kiosks because there's no phone lines out there to operate their debit machines, and few places will ever accept credit cards.

[DeadPoolX]

Yeah, in Canada the shopping carts require a loonie or a quarter. I know Save-On only needs a quarter, but for some reason, Superstore wants a loonie. Oh well.

In the U.S., shopping carts are free -- but this results in people leaving carts all over the parking lot.

[Rudy]

So true, all these points. I still have this walkman from 20 years ago. It's in the basement somewhere. The thing weighs over a kilo and actually has a shoulderbelt, lol. When i got it, i was like totally amazed by it, proudly carrying it around all the time, along with a tape with 80ies music and some massive headphones. These days, when i look at the monster machine, i just can't believe how technology went forward in such a short time.
Same with my old radio: when i heard a good station on somebody else's radio, i always went checking the frequency. Then, when i got home, i started turning that button, bbbbzzzzz ggggrrrrhhhh wrawwrawwraw bbbbrrrrr. AHAA! I hear a voice in the distance! That was the point to start turning that giant antenna in every possible direction, carrying the radio to different places in the room and try not to stick somebody's eye out
Yeah, things sure changed... Sigh

[BBP]

So true, all these points. I still have this walkman from 20 years ago. It's in the basement somewhere. The thing weighs over a kilo and actually has a shoulderbelt, lol. When i got it, i was like totally amazed by it, proudly carrying it around all the time, along with a tape with 80ies music and some massive headphones. These days, when i look at the monster machine, i just can't believe how technology went forward in such a short time.
Same with my old radio: when i heard a good station on somebody else's radio, i always went checking the frequency. Then, when i got home, i started turning that button, bbbbzzzzz ggggrrrrhhhh wrawwrawwraw bbbbrrrrr. AHAA! I hear a voice in the distance! That was the point to start turning that giant antenna in every possible direction, carrying the radio to different places in the room and try not to stick somebody's eye out
Yeah, things sure changed... Sigh

That walkman of yours sounds awesome!

The author of that first article talks about vinyl records fading away, but I understand that they are coming back right now. I understood that vinyl was a much better medium for storing music than CDs were, and digital music still has a long way to go.
And road atlasses will never die, I think. Nowadays people call 112 (that's EU 911) when their TomTom breaks down.

[Datadog]

Unless I move back out to the country, my kids will never know what it's like to have only 4 channels, one of which is always fuzzy and requires one person to go outside and turn the antenna while the person inside keeps yelling "better! Better! Worse! Better!" We took our Chip 'n Dale Rescue Ranger reruns very seriously.

[dotkel50]

In the U.S., shopping carts are free -- but this results in people leaving carts all over the parking lot.

That's what teenage boys are for

When i was a kid we spent part of the summer on Cape Cod. We could only get one channel on the tv. Luckily it was the channel that broadcast the Red Sox games, even if it was pretty fuzzy.

[Rath Darkblade]

Heh. I remember some of these - heck, I still have to do some of these as part of my *job!* Like go to the bank to cash cheques once or twice a week. I still have a VCR, though I use it only rarely. I remember owning all kinds of 'Walkmen' and 'CD-Man' and whatnot - I still have a 'CD-man' that I never use - and old Vinyl records from the 60s and 70s and 80s! My parents have those.

There was a time before 'reality TV'... I think I remember it vaguely. Sigh. This is why I never watch TV anymore - I only use it to watch some favourite DVDs from time to time. The last time I turned on my TV was on a Sunday afternoon to see if there was anything on. Along with the usual dross like motorcycle racing, I found the 1960 adaptation of "The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells. I'd never read the book or seen any adaptations, so I figured 'Why not?' It actually wasn't half-bad for a Sunday afternoon matinee. At least it wasn't reality TV.

The scream of a modem connecting... sigh. Does no one else remember dial-up modems? I still have a 3.5-inch floppy drive and a couple boxes of 3.5-inch floppies, though I don't use them; I still work in DOS when necessary (to run commands like PING, IPCONFIG etc.); I used to support terminals accessing a mainframe, about 10 years ago... don't talk to me about boot disks. I still have mine.

Here's a few more of my own - Eudora Mail, Pegasus Mail, CRT screens (I used to have these, but haven't used them in yonks.) Physical dictionaries? I own two or three, and consult several at libraries and things to look up particularly uncommon words and phrases. Here's something that kids might never know about - live theatre... grmph.

Anyway, don't mind me. I just remember lots o' stuff from the 80s and early 90s...

[Tawmis]

Same with my old radio: when i heard a good station on somebody else's radio, i always went checking the frequency. Then, when i got home, i started turning that button, bbbbzzzzz ggggrrrrhhhh wrawwrawwraw bbbbrrrrr. AHAA! I hear a voice in the distance! That was the point to start turning that giant antenna in every possible direction, carrying the radio to different places in the room and try not to stick somebody's eye out
Yeah, things sure changed... Sigh

Rudy this post needed a warning... because the above nearly killed me...

[DeadPoolX]

Heh. I remember some of these - heck, I still have to do some of these as part of my *job!* Like go to the bank to cash cheques once or twice a week.

What kind of checks? Paychecks? Why not deposit those through a bank machine?

There was a time before 'reality TV'... I think I remember it vaguely.

Yeah, I remember that. It all went downhill starting with shows like Jerry Springer and so forth. People wanted "reality" in their TV programming.

The scream of a modem connecting... sigh. Does no one else remember dial-up modems?

I certainly do. Although my family was one of the early adopters of broadband connections, we used modems for a long time. I hate that modem screech and even worse, it still exists when faxing something.

I still have a 3.5-inch floppy drive and a couple boxes of 3.5-inch floppies, though I don't use them; I still work in DOS when necessary (to run commands like PING, IPCONFIG etc.)

My computer has a 3.5" floppy drive, but most don't anymore. Maia's computer doesn't, for instance.

DOS is still sometimes useful, especially since a file simply won't delete in Windows. A lot of people have no idea what it is or how to use it. I really can't blame them. DOS doesn't have much use today, unless you're using DOSBox.

Here's a few more of my own - Eudora Mail, Pegasus Mail, CRT screens (I used to have these, but haven't used them in yonks.) Physical dictionaries? I own two or three, and consult several at libraries and things to look up particularly uncommon words and phrases. Here's something that kids might never know about - live theatre... grmph.

The last physical dictionary I owned (well, actually it belonged to my parents) specifies Ronald Reagan as the President of the United States. Yes, it's just that old.

[Tawmis]

The scream of a modem connecting... sigh. Does no one else remember dial-up modems?

Oh gods, I do. I used to run a BBS... boy do I remember...

[Datadog]

"TURN OFF THE INTERNET! I NEED TO USE THE PHONE!"

[DeadPoolX]

"TURN OFF THE INTERNET! I NEED TO USE THE PHONE!"

I hated that!