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We all like to think that age is just a number. And it kinda works until you come across a relic from the old times. Your heart starts pumping, and you gotta tell yourself "I ain’t a kid no more."

So when someone started the "I’m this old" Twitter challenge, it blew up in an instant. People started sharing pictures of old-school stuff that best represents how old they’ve gotten. From Myspace accounts and floppy disks to Accelerated Reader and Yogos Bits, there’s a relatable thing for virtually everyone. So let’s go down memory lane, where everything feels so much more recent than it actually is.

#1

Ring-Toss

Ring-Toss

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Beeps
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just WHY can’t you get those any more? I even had much more exciting ones with fish and baskets and all sorts of amazing scenery inside.

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#2

Old School Image Projectors

Old School Image Projectors

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Eli
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These things are still being used in schools in South Africa...

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varwenea
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I did my college homework presentations on that. That's how old I am!

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thee1nonlykRiS
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the class clown who would run up & doodle something innapropriate on the clear film while the teacher wasn't paying attention haha

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Les🐝an
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We had these 7 years ago in my first grade classroom, along with a bulky tv. Public school be like

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Mary Ciulla
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The lights had to be off in the schoolroom or, later, in the conference room, leaving me free to pretend that I was elsewhere.

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Bill
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You don't waste 10 minutes of class fixing issues like with the digital ones

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WiggleCat
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember that on the last day of school before the summer holidays, one of those things just started burning xD ( This didn't happen in my class though :'D)

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Auntie Panda
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I learned how to use one a d how to make the clear transfers used to project on a screen. I am so old.

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Joan Silverman
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The light at the top of the long neck projected images on the wall with “transparencies”

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Lisa Bo Bisa
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had one when I was teaching in CA in 2008. That's not that long ago, is it?

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Petr Cooper
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, we still use Meotar in all schools in Czech Republic...

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danielw
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So, for the Gen-Zer's out there, this is a shadow puppet stage.

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Sebastian Melmoth
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh wow...that takes me back. I’m old enough (just hit 46 on 3rd of May) to remember the ancient mimeograph machine they used ,back in the early 80s, to make copies at school. Purplish ink,chemical smell, and copies were damp after leaving the machine

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Hunter Bowden
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I saw these things in an Alabama school just a few years ago, lol.

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Dawn Soehren
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I loved these. They used one with clear plastic in a roll in college for math problems

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Eagle Girl
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ahhh, the forever ridiculed AV Club that now rules the world

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Denis Brown
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was a teacher during the peak of the overhead projector. They were the deal before laptop slide projections.

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Harley Hans Hoglin
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They still make a version of this. It uses a video camera, and a projector. You can use normal paper. I own one of these though.

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Brenda Oats
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I purchased one from our local church a few years ago that wasn't being used anymore. Bought a new bulb from ebay. Never getting rid of it.

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Dennis Wright
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I learnt to do presentation skills on these.... then came powerpoint

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Tiffiny
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I loved sitting right beside it and working ahead. I got so bored waiting for the next question to be revealed.

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Jenyfer Simmerman
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still had one of these until about 10 years ago, used it to make wall murals with my daughters,

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Jeff Diamond
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My wife used these when she started teaching about ten years ago.

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Living_Shadow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm gen Z and in elementary school, my teachers used these

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Useless Panda
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some classrooms at my high school still uses these. Budget cuts are awesome.

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Kelly Todd
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am a teacher and so miss my overhead projector. I still have overheads I created when I started teaching 25 years ago!

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Dutch VanZandt
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Still used in some schools in the UK that don't have interactive whiteboards installed...

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Shinomi Chan
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It was pain to try and put the paper EXACTLY in the middle during presentations.

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Kam
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I use one everyday in my French classroom and I love it

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SalZ
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In 2018, I taught with this at Colorado State University. Although many classrooms have been updated to latest technology. There remains many greenhouse and non building classrooms which still have this system. Another few years before all are upgraded.

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Lorrie Finley
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Overhead projector. A clear piece of plastic is placed on the plate and when the light is on whatever is written (or already typed) on the plastic shows up on the pulled down screen. The clear plastic sheets could be wiped off when using a removable ink marker.

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deanna woods
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some of my college professors still used these just recently.

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If any of these objects seem familiar, there’s a great chance you belong to the millennial generation, which covers anyone born from 1981 to 1996. That being said, the youngest millennials are now fully-grown adults. That means we can clearly spot the generational differences in comparison to to Generation X (born from 1965-1980) and baby boomers (born from 1946-1964).

According to Pew Research Center, millennials make up the 2nd largest generation in the US electorate, “a fact that continues to shape the country’s politics given their Democratic leanings when compared with older generations.” In general, this demographic group is “more educated but there’s a sharp economical divide between those with a college education and those without it.”

#5

Minesweeper

Minesweeper

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Steve Barnett
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Apparently, whatever your first choice was, it was never a mine. Never realised that. Just thought I was always lucky.

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To compare with their predecessors, millennials tend to be more conscious about their health and general well-being. A 2013 Aetna poll showed that “baby boomers were likely to define 'healthy' as not falling sick.” Meanwhile, millennials consider healthy eating habits and physical activity as the definitions of healthy. That explains why we have seen such a rise in food preferences like vegan, gluten-free, organic, and other natural alternatives.

On the other hand, there’s a steady tendency of decline in millennial homeownership. Business Insider suggests that this is due to the fact that as a whole “they have less money than their parents did at the same age.” According to this report titled “Are Millennials Different?” by The Federal Reserve: millennials have lower earnings, fewer assets, and less wealth compared to baby boomers.

#7

Car Radio With Removable Front Piece

Car Radio With Removable Front Piece

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varwenea
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The front piece is removable to discourage thieves from breaking into the car to steal it. Classic!

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#9

Etch-A-Sketch

Etch-A-Sketch

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thee1nonlykRiS
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some ppl have mad skills on these things! It blows my mind. I could barely make anything recognizable! haha

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#10

Watching Movies On VHS

Watching Movies On VHS

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Daria B
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, and do you remember when you had to play Final Fantasy 8 on 5 separate CDs? (The 5th was the installation disc, PC version)

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#12

Cassette Adaptors

Cassette Adaptors

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Daria B
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This was also useful for old and almost broken cassette players to play mp3 files on.

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#13

TV/Game Computer Switch

TV/Game Computer Switch

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#14

Laser Pointers

Laser Pointers

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varwenea
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Laser pointer with different tips to create different looks. High tech. 😉

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#15

Practical Jokes

Practical Jokes

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Rick
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had one with a loaded spring in it so when you reached to get one and pull it out, metal snapped down onto the victims finger or thumb. It was actually quite painful.

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#16

Lite-Brite

Lite-Brite

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kate h
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is a newer version. I got mine in the late 60's - it had black paper inserts with the patterns :)

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#17

Movie Classics

Movie Classics

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#18

Tetherball

Tetherball

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#19

Pogs

Pogs

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Mimimimi
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We had those too when I was a kid, but with pictures of the looney tunes on them! Flippo's!

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#24

Robo Pets

Robo Pets

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#26

Cheating Prevention

Cheating Prevention

AonSimba Report

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PotterHead
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had to use these when I was in 1st-3rd grade and i´m 13. They may be old but their still in use today so...

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#30

Invisible Ink

Invisible Ink

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Note: this post originally had 69 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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