Do you remember the days when technology was a distant and painfully slow moving thing which never affected our daily lives? Well, things move so fast now that here are 10 everyday acts which you now probably never do.
Using a Public Telephone
I can still remember walking the streets of my home town with my pockets jangling with all the coins I was taking to the local phone booth. Sometimes there was even a queue outside. These days, the only thing you are likely to use a phone booth for is to see if you can break the world record for number of people squeezed into one (25).
Posting a Letter
I kind of miss posting letters. Even more exciting was receiving them. When was the last time you wrote down a letter and posted it instead of sending an email or having a video conference?
Making Your Own Music Cassettes
Making home cassettes with a mix of music on it was one of the most enjoyably frustrating hobbies in the world. For a woose like me there was even the vague thrill of wondering whether what I was doing was maybe illegal.
Going to the Bank
One thing I don’t miss is going to the local bank branch and joining a queue. I have stepped inside my local bank just a couple of times in the last 10 years.
Getting Photos Developed
The nervous excitement when waiting for photos to be developed was one of life’s little joys. Would your set of photos be a wonderful set of arty snaps or would your thumb be covering the good stuff in most of them?
Using a Fax
Do you remember when the phrase, “Could you fax that through, please?” was pretty normal? I used to hate the fax machine in my office, as I thought it was the most complicated piece of technology I would ever come across in my life.
Spending Ages Trying to Remember a Fact
The days before Google were pretty tough, weren’t they? One of your work colleagues would mention that he couldn’t remember the name of someone who appeared in a certain film or the lyrics to a song. This would spark a debate lasting about a week, as everyone tried to come up with the answer. Back in those olden days we had no option but to try and remember stuff, which was kind of annoying really.
Using Disposable Cameras
Disposable cameras were great because you used them once and then, basically, disposed of them. I always thought this was a fine idea and that we should have more throw away stuff in our lives.
Writing Things Down
In the days before phones and tablets people used to take down notes on bits of paper or their hands. I had a friend who used to go home from work every day with unintelligible scribbles on his hands and have to try and work out what it all meant before he washed them. Ok, you are right; it was really me that did this.
Recording TV Shows on VHS
Having a big pile of VHS tapes with handwritten labels on them was pretty cool. Losing 10 minutes of your life fast forwarding and rewinding every time you wanted to watch something wasn’t so great. It’s just as well we all had more a lot free time back in those days.
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