Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why?
The technology I miss most isn’t really a single device; it’s the rituals that came with it. I learned maths on a slide rule before calculators took over, and wrote with fountain pens filled from bottles of ink. Writing by hand forced you to think. Your handwriting became part of your identity.
I also miss the Sony Walkman. Mine had two headphone sockets, so a friend and I could walk along listening to exactly the same album at exactly the same moment. Music felt shared rather than streamed into separate worlds. And not was an excuse to tether a girl close to your shoulder – my wife went along with it! She wasn’t even my girlfriend when I tried that one on her.
Perhaps the technology I treasure most is my father’s old 8mm cine projector. I still have it, along with boxes of film he shot from before I was born until I was about six. We had the footage digitised years ago, and that’s convenient, but it isn’t the same. Nothing beats drawing the curtains, dimming the lights, threading a few precious minutes of film through the projector, hearing the gentle clatter as it starts, and watching those flickering images come alive on a screen. The projector doesn’t just show the past—it recreates the atmosphere in which those memories were first shared. I must ensure it all works for a mega family reunion we’ve planned for 2027.
A close second would be my Psion. It slipped into a coat pocket, had a superb keyboard, and was perfect for writing stories anywhere. In many ways it did what today’s foldable phones promise, but without notifications or distractions. It existed for one purpose: to let you write. I could set up my ‘office’ anywhere.
We’ve never had more powerful technology, yet I wonder whether we’ve lost something in the process. I’d happily trade a little convenience for the return of slower, more deliberate technologies that encouraged us to write, listen, watch, and remember with greater care. In many situations no tech is the best non-use of tech, this particular applies to teaching and coaching in all its forms. The sharp mind and attentiveness of good teacher cannot be replaced or bettered by AI, or interactive and digitised learning. It just gives you scale.
Leave a Reply