The Disappearing Acts of Technology: 7 Items from My Youth

I may only be in my mid-30s, but the speed at which time has passed over the last couple of decades is astounding.

Remember when you wanted to rewatch a VHS tape? You couldn’t just pop it in and start; you had to first rewind it. Explaining that to today’s kids would probably sound like a tale from the dark ages!

And what about computers? You couldn’t simply save your work onto a CD; that was reserved for CD-ROMs. Instead, you had to save your files on a floppy disk—a square disk for those unfamiliar with the term!

It’s mind-boggling to consider how many cassettes, VHS tapes, and CDs are likely collecting dust in landfills around the globe right now.

I recall a friend trying to explain what an iPod was, along with the concept of MP3s. That same friend introduced me to Twitter at its inception, and I couldn’t grasp why anyone would want to communicate in such brief phrases or follow celebrities who did the same.

To be honest, I still find it puzzling.

During my lifetime, trends have come and gone, and technology has evolved rapidly. Here’s a list of seven items that have largely faded from use today (though I’m sure a few enthusiasts still cherish VHS tapes).

Next time your device is sluggish or acting up, think about how much slower technology used to be!

Walkman

Throughout my childhood, I owned several Walkmans. Being able to carry your music by clipping the device to your belt and wearing those felt headphones was revolutionary.

You could buy a single cassette at Woolworths (R.I.P.) for £2.99, featuring the single on one side and an extra track on the B-side. When CDs emerged, the price for a new release was around £3.99—not too shabby for that time.

The Walkman was iconic. Can you remember the amazement of discovering a model with transparent casing? I sure do!

And those headphones? They often left your ears sore from being so tight. Not something I miss!

Its time has passed, mainly due to the next advancement…

Discman

The Discman was the ultimate enhancement over the Walkman!

Previously, you could only take cassette tapes with you, but now you could carry CDs anywhere you went.

What made this so groundbreaking?

A CD could store more songs than a tape.
The sound quality was superior.
You didn’t have to rewind it (or flip it over) to hear a song again. Just skip forward or backward was a real innovation!

Of course, you had to be cautious about scratching the CD, and it was bulkier than a Walkman, but soon, Discmen were everywhere.

And what nearly replaced it but didn’t quite catch on? The Mini Disc—a tiny CD a few centimeters in diameter. I only knew one person who owned one, and it never seemed practical; perhaps that’s why it didn’t succeed.

What did succeed, though, is now somewhat outdated as well:

I had an iPod, and I absolutely loved it.

It’s incredible to think I once watched entire TV episodes and movies on such a small screen.

The concept was brilliant; for someone who wasn't heavily into music, the ability to buy individual songs for 79p instead of an entire album was genius. I never minded paying for a song if I could enjoy it on my computer and my iPod.

Having 1,000 songs on one device was nothing short of revolutionary!

And it wasn’t even large. Both the iPod and later nano versions easily fit in your pocket. No need to clip it to your belt like a Walkman.

You could buy pouches for iPods—accessories like covers and skins were the precursors to the phone accessories we see today!

And let’s not forget the games. Remember the bouncing ball game? You had to smash blocks with it, if I recall correctly.

How did we ever cope before the iPod?

With the next item on the list, that’s how!

Ghetto Blaster (Boombox)

The ultimate portable audio system of the 80s and 90s.

Depending on the model, you could listen to cassettes, CDs, and the radio all from one device.

They came in some truly outrageous colors. We once won a small, cute, compact, and, unfortunately, an eye-searingly bright orange one. Not a pleasant shade—more of an industrial orange.

Ghetto blasters had the option to run on batteries, allowing you to take your music outdoors without needing a power source. Although bulky and heavy, they were still far more portable than…

LPs

I might as well have mentioned a gramophone.

This is amusing, as I genuinely wish those large, environmentally unfriendly records would vanish. There’s hardly any space for such massive discs, and the cumbersome machines needed to play them often produced subpar sound.

Yet, people still cherish them for their nostalgic value. Why are you still buying records? I just don’t get it!

Why are record shops still operating in our towns? Mostly in London, I suppose. Ah, Southerners—enough said, haha!

In our home, we had very few LPs—just one Christmas album I remember. Sure, the cover art was interesting, but the sound quality was always crackly, and you couldn’t play them roughly as a child without the needle skipping!

After LPs, the next big thing emerged, only to become obsolete itself.

Cassette Tapes

Nothing on this list has quite the iconic look of a cassette tape.

You could do a lot with a cassette tape…well, not really.

If you wanted to hear a song on the other side, you had to either finish the current side, fast forward to the end, or flip it and hope to find where you left off among the songs.

Looking back, it was a nightmare, but completely normal during the 90s when I used them!

Do you remember needing a pencil to rewind a loose tape? You’d hope it would still play when you popped it back into the machine. Thankfully, it always did!

And similarly, we have the visual counterpart to cassette tapes, which were…

VHS Tapes

Growing up, my favorite movie was The Little Mermaid. I would watch it and immediately want to see it again. However, you couldn’t just press play; you had to rewind first. If you kept the screen on, you could witness the entire film play backwards.

In hindsight, VHS tapes were bulky and cumbersome. Recently, I found a bunch of empty cases and tossed them. They took up an entire box under the stairs!

You could buy blank tapes and record shows from the TV—a significant feat back then compared to today’s effortless scheduling with the press of a button.

When I was little, numerous programs featured presenters reading birthday cards. My parents sent one in that said, “Sarah’s special present is in Mummy and Daddy’s wardrobe.”

After the excitement of hearing my birthday card read aloud on TV, we searched their wardrobe and found a key taped to the door leading to the cellar (we lived in a flat in Germany, so everything was stored there, as there were no garages!), where a new bike awaited me!

I mention this because we recorded that birthday card being read on VHS. I think it’s still somewhere in the loft.

I don’t miss having to rewind films before watching them, nor do I miss their bulkiness. They occupied so much space! But if you think about it, in the 80s and 90s, you could record from TV without smart TVs or the internet.

That’s pretty remarkable technology!

So there you have it—a nostalgic look at what we’ve lost.

All of the above items are indeed obsolete. I’ll ignore anyone who claims they still use them!

There’s simply no need—technology has advanced at such a rapid pace that we no longer waste time rewinding or fast forwarding. We don’t have to clutter our spaces with bulky tech; everything is now sleek and streamlined.

But it’s perfectly fine to feel a little nostalgic every now and then, isn’t it?