Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why? – Another tech question. No problem.
I miss a lot of older technology.
- A good turntable for albums seemed like part of enjoying the music. Taking care of the vinyl records. It was part of the listening experience.
- I love digital photography now. But I do have warm feelings of darkrooms and chemicals.
- I miss the video game Pong. It was the only technology of the day that worked back then.
- 8 track tapes. Keeping them moving at the right speed was an artform. Folded matchbooks and other small wedges to keep the tape in place. And later, pencils to go with cassette tapes that got unruly.
- Black and white TVs with rabbit ears. Only 3 channels and no clicker to change channels. Didn’t cost a thing. No cable bill, no streaming bill, no internet bill.
- Paper maps. Once you figured out the route you remembered it and committed it to permanent memory.
- Speaking of memory, I used to like remembering the hundreds of phone numbers between my ears.
- It’s not gone yet but future generations will never have the pleasure of driving a manual gearbox. I pity them. It’s one of the great joys of driving.

July 18, 2026 at 12:18 PM
When I was a kid, we had several dozen technologies whose purpose was to let a kid watch a few silent, low-quality seconds of animation or a few still frames from a beloved TV show or movie. Fisher-Price movie viewer; 3D Viewmaster, etc. All 100% replaced by phones now.
July 18, 2026 at 5:51 PM
Learning to drive a stick shift car was a major right of passage for me. The first thing I did with that car was to install an 8-track player. Those events made it into my first book. All of the things on your list invoked fond memories on this end. None more so than the summer I purchased my Technics Belt Drive Turntable.