Every generation is defined by the technology they are most familiar with. Kids nowadays have their smartphones, drones, and iPads. In the ’90s and early 2000s, things were different. Due to the rapid tech innovation in recent decades, many people who grew up during that time are nostalgic for gadgets that have become obsolete.
As technology advances increasingly quickly, some of the devices we once used have become obsolete. Are you familiar with any of these gadgets that have faded into obscurity over recent years?
1. Overhead Projectors
Seeing a teacher roll in with an overhead projector used to signal a much more exciting school day than typical, like a slide show or something much more interesting than the contents of the corresponding textbook. However, with the invention of smart televisions and intelligent whiteboards, overhead projectors have faded away.
2. Fax Machines
Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, developed fax machines. This gadget allowed exact copies of documents to be sent from person to person. Unfortunately for fax machines, modern communication techniques like email have left fax machines only to be found in offices and doctors’ offices.
3. Pagers
Pagers were first developed to improve communication among law enforcement officers but eventually evolved to meet the communication needs of the consumer market in the 1980s and ’90s. While they still serve use in hospitals, cell phones eventually caused pagers to fade away among the public.
4. Floppy Discs
Most people haven’t used floppy discs for computer storage since the 1990s, but back then, they were a go-to for people to save their important documents. Nowadays, most computers have large enough internal storage drives or cloud storage available, leaving no need for floppy discs.
5. Wristwatches
Today, wristwatches function as jewelry, but they were once an essential tool on one’s person to check the time. Now, most people carry smartphones that show the time on their home screen without any big hand and small hand calculations, causing wristwatches’ initial intention to fade away.
6. Landlines
Until recently, you would be hard-pressed to find a household without a landline phone attached to the wall. Thanks to the introduction of cell phones, the days of landlines and listening in on family members’ phone conversations are a thing of the past.
7. DVDs
When DVDs appeared, they wooed the consumer market with their slim design and higher video and audio quality compared to then-prominent VHS tapes. DVDs have since faded away with the development of streaming service platforms.
8. Desktop Computers
By the late ’90s and early 2000s, desktop computers were considered a staple in every household. Over the years, they became less bulky and more advanced. Despite this, laptops, tablets, and smartphones have caused desktops to fade in appearance from many households.
9. Film Roll Cameras
Until recently, film rolls and disposable cameras were among the most popular forms of affordable photography. If you went to a theme park or on a family vacation before 2010, chances are someone brought a disposable camera.
Over the years, technology has become more advanced, and most smartphones are already equipped with a camera, leaving no use for these formerly popular cameras.
10. Portable DVD Players
Just when DVD players couldn’t improve, electronics companies developed portable players. These laptop-like devices took movie watching on the go for the first time. Hello, road trip entertainment! Unfortunately, portable DVD players have faded away with the increasing popularity of tablets and other streaming-capable devices.
11. Portable CD Players
CDs were an advancement compared to cassette tapes, but it was somewhat inconvenient to carry a stereo around. Portable CD players have an audio port, allowing music lovers to have a private and portable music experience in their headphones. It is rare to spot a portable CD player with smartphones dominating today’s music-listening market.
12. Phones With Keypads
It is hard to find anyone who does not have a smartphone nowadays. Smartphones are entirely button-free, with the power and volume buttons being the only exception. But before the first touchscreen appeared in the mid-2000s, everyone was texting with a keypad, much like a computer keyboard. While these phones have mostly faded away, they are returning in small batches as a trend (who knew?).
13. Calculators
Surprisingly enough, calculators have begun to fade from everyday daily use. While basic calculators and other adding machines may be helpful in math class, most adults don’t find daily use for their advanced mathematical capabilities, especially when smartphones come equipped with basic calculator applications.
14. Traditional USB Chargers
While most devices are compatible with traditional USB ports (USB-A and B ports), our charging chords evolve as quickly as the devices themselves. With this technology, devices with traditional ports fade out and are replaced with faster and smaller USB-C ports.
15. Universal TV Remotes
Over the last two or three decades, the home entertainment system has evolved extraordinarily rapidly. When systems with multiple attached devices, including speakers, televisions, and DVD players, were developed, the need for a remote that could control each device from one remote was needed. But as technology has continued and most of these tasks can be done wirelessly, universal remotes have faded.
16. Blu-Ray Discs
Blu-ray discs first appeared in the early 2000s. Blu-ray discs are said to have better audio and video capabilities than DVDs. Unfortunately for Blu-ray, streaming services would very quickly render them useless.
17. 3D TVs
Have you ever wanted to experience a 3D movie in your own home? If you said no, most electronics customers would agree with you. After their development in the mid-2000s, 3D TVs quickly failed in the consumer market. Unfortunately for the inventors of this product, the movie theater is an essential aspect of seeing a movie in 3D.
18. Phone Booths
Once a staple of everyday life, phone booths and public telephones are now all but obsolete since so many people have cell phones. They used to be an easy way to contact family, friends, or strangers for just a few coins. Nowadays, many have been removed from public spaces or turned into tourist attractions or mini-art projects by locals.