Just because there’s a host of fancy new gadgets and devices constantly being developed doesn’t mean that everyone’s rushing to embrace them. Many people are perfectly happy relying on the things they have and what they’re used to. New doesn’t always mean better… especially when the ‘ancient’ alternative is so reliable.
Case in point, the r/AskReddit online community recently had a blast opening up about all the ‘outdated’ technology that they don’t plan to stop using any time soon. From Windows XP to good old pen-and-paper, scroll down to see what they shared.
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Doors with physical keys. I don’t like the idea of every door needing technology to open. It feels less safe.
Agreed, not so much on safety, more by function. If someone wants to break your door down, they'll break your door down but technology malfunctions and fails. Similar to keyless cars with "push to start". If there's something wrong with that button or the communication between the electronic key fails, you're screwed.
Physical books. I tried to get into ebooks but it’s just not the same as a physical book. Plus books have that fresh paper smell that’s so nostalgic
‘Outdated’ and ‘obsolete’ tech is harder to root out than you might think. Case in point, Japan is notorious for relying on practically ancient technology, from fax machines to floppy discs. Recently, the nation declared ‘war’ on floppy discs, on which 1,900 law, government, and ministerial procedures still rely.
Meanwhile, fax machines are still used very widely in Japanese workplaces, instead of using email. One of the most technologically advanced and innovative countries on our planet still very much depends on ‘outdated’ tech structures.
It will be a cold day in hell before I get a fridge or a dishwasher with a computer built inside of it.
Dont mix up « computer » with « connected » Modern fridges have some computing capabilities to adapt to their environment and the contents, decreasing a lot the consumption. And that’s different from connecting it to the internet which is another trend.
Real buttons. Not everything has to be touchscreen-compatible and there's no comparison to gaming on a keyboard vs something touchscreen.
Gaming keyboards are the best. I have the same in until he picture. Click Clack
Physical calendar on our kitchen wall, with all our family and friends birthdays on it. We transfer the dates to the new calendar every year. Outdated yes, given our phone apps can easily remind us of important events, but the calendar is very visual and makes it easy for us to remember birthdays! Seeing who is coming up in the month, allows for better present organisation.
It’s our personal experience that so long as a piece of technology is reliable and does its job well, there’s no need to replace it with the newest model—or a fancy digital alternative. That’s why some of us (hi!) still listen to music on our iPods from two decades ago instead of using wireless headphones linked to our smartphones.
You’d also be surprised by how useful a simple notebook and a simple pen are even when you’ve got computers and fancy programs for work. Of course, we’re not discounting the power of tech or innovation: these are hallmarks of human advancement and development. But simpler is—at times—better. And something freshly developed by tech engineers doesn’t instantly invalidate what came before (though some companies would love for that to happen).
Physical media. Ain’t no copyright/license b******t can delete anything from my library.
Yep for this reason I keep my original CDs even though I play them as mp3s. Not going to stream. You do not know my taste, and no streaming service is clever enough to figure it out. My range is far too wide and my playlist is mood dependent.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting the latest and coolest gadgets. However, it does help if you actually understand why you want them. For many people, buying new tech and programs is a (not-so-subtle) way to show off their wealth, status, and power. Whether they realize this or not, they’re signaling to those around them that they have access to the best of the best.
Because human beings are social animals, many of us highly value our reputations. What our family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and even strangers think of us can impact us in a big way. Whether or not you’re a trusted (and trustworthy) member of society plays a huge role in the quality of your life.
Line dried laundry. Not exclusively as it's winter here and I have a dryer, but line drying is just so much better in every way.
Correct. Clothes dried in the fresh air, smelling beautiful. And such drying costs nothing, which is not without significance considering today's electricity prices. In addition, it is environmentally friendly.
Yes! I live in a rural remote town by the ocean and line-drying somehow makes the laundry smell even better than fancy dryer sheets. Even when I lived in big city Vancouver, I dried my clothes on my apartment patio and they smelled amazing.
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I wish I lived in a place where this was an option :( but spring/fall would result in clothes being COVERED in pollen and needing to be washed again, summer is so humid they'd never dry and grow mold
It's absolutely NOT. Clothes dryers are not standard across much of Europe. People either hang clothes outside year round, or sprawl them across the radiator, which is more time consuming to deal arranging, and much, much more time consuming to actually have DRY cloths. After 13 years of dealing with this BS, and my 35 year old wife, or her 60 year old mother having never used one in their lives....i bought one, just a few weeks ago in fact. The amount of lint, hair and pet fur that are pulled off in the dryer is staggering. Besides ending up with warm cloths, everything is softer, fabrics actually look consistent in color and texture, nothing is wrinkled, and most importantly there's not the ever constant, though varying degrees of clothing smelling like mold or mildew. While the smell factor doesn't usually apply during the warmer months....every other complaint is constant.
I'm sorry, I just can't agree with this. "Nothing is wrinkled"? Sure - as long as you take it all out the dryer straight away. Nothing gets wrinkled when line drying because the creases all fall out as the items dry. Not to mention the electricity saving from drying outside. Plus "Besides ending up with warm cloths [sic]" is only true for the first few minutes things come out of the dryer. Five minutes later everything is room temperature! We have a house of 5, so a dryer is pretty much a necessity in Winter, but I love it when Spring comes around and everything can be hung outside again.
Load More Replies... I prefer a dryer machine because once the clothing is hot you can take it out and fold it so that it irons itself. Line-drying always makes the laundry crunchy and wrinkled. Speaking as an african who has an abundance of sun and a shortage of electricity.
Same. Plus spiders in summer, not pleasant to find them hanging on your sheets when you brig them in. Then there’s the sweltering humidity. The clothes never dry and just get mildewy and gross outside.
Load More Replies... Except when your neighbour has a wood stove and heater and burns old boots (by the smell) producing copious amounts of smoke.
Line drying always leaves my clothes feeling a little stiff and scratchy.
My family always line-dried laundry. We didn't have a dryer when I was growing up. When I first married, back in the day, I also hung out my laundry. I stopped when I noticed that pollution started taking a toll on the clothes and insects would hide in them and I would bring all of it in to my home. I am very nostalgic about the scent of laundry that's dried in the outdoors.
Not much use in the winter in Scotland but otherwise agree except towels - but I just whack them in the dryer for 10 mins.
Don't Scotland have sort of the same climate as Danmark? I've lived forty years in Danmark and never had access to a dryer, and my mum sounds like she's managed without for at least two lifetimes:)
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Never used a dryer in my adult life and only once. In a blue moon as a kid.
I moved to Sweden, and we don't even own a dryer. Hang them in the basement with heated air from the furnace blowing around. As soon as it gets above 10C, outside drying. Can't beat it! Just have to plan sometimes.
I cannot afford to use my tumble dryer; I might as well set money on fire than use it to dry clothes (uk based)
Unfortunately, the one time I tried it, stuff smelled like car exhaust. too close to the streets and parking I guess.
I'm surprised the environmentalists aren't going around giving out clothes lines with pins.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE drying my clothes outside on a clothesline ~ especially in the summer!! They smell so fresh when you bring them in! :)
And if it's really cold and they freeze, once they defrost they're beautifully soft - even more so than with fabric conditioner!
We used to hang laundry on a clothes line. Black widow eggs hatched and the wind blew them onto our freshly laundered clothes.
I don’t own a dryer. I had one once, but prefer the line dry results. I actually used the dryer more as an iron than as a dryer.
Line drying is modern. It's bang up to date; solar and wind power. What could *be* more on-trend.
I love sleeping on newly washed sheets that have been dried on the clothesline. But I realize this is very dependent on where you live. Living in snow country, my laundry is dried in a dryer during winter.
The chore I detested as a kid in the 60s was hanging out the clothes. I hated that all the boys in the neighborhood could see our undies, and worst of all Mom made us hang out the rags, too. I think it also contributed to my horrendous allergies sleeping on pollen drenched sheets and cases. Sure enough, as soon as we left for college, she got a dryer.
Like OP I have both options. Why, in a country that has wall to wall sunshine, would you not line dry?
My mom always commented on how nice the laundry smelled off the line, but it never smelled fresh and nice to me.
Wired ear buds. Much cheaper, last for decades, don't require charging, and much less likely to lose one.
Only downside is cable management which is easy if you take 5 secs to properly bundle it up after use.
Cash
As long as there are black outs and internet outages or connection issues cash will never die.
However, it’s not through fancy gadgets that you’ll get other people’s respect. It’s our decisions, actions, values, and character that truly matter. How you connect to people—and doing so in a non-superficial way—is what you should focus on. Cool tech, fancy clothes, and overwhelming wealth can create a powerful first impression. But what matters is what lies beneath all of that.
If your reputation hinges on whether or not you’ve got the best car, the newest phone, and access to whatever new and exclusive AI app is trending, then you’re on shaky ground. On the flip side, the things you own and wear can filter out superficial people, too.
Someone who treats you poorly because you drive an old but reliable jeep, have an older-gen smartphone, and a durable but tired wristwatch probably isn’t worth getting to know beyond some polite small talk.
Desktop computers. Mouse and keyboard for life. It’s so much easier to be productive.
My analog watch with the hour, minute, and second hands.
Cars that dont have TVs glued to the dash.
What 'outdated' technology and software do you personally still use and plan to continue using in the future, Pandas? What advantages do you think older tech has over newer inventions? Feel free to share your thoughts with all the other readers in the comment section at the bottom of this article.
Drawing with a piece of paper and a pencil. You just can't beat it
CDs. Nothing beats having a physical copy of my favorite albums
A car with a key, not a fob
This disease has now spread to motorcycles. I'll never buy one without a physical key. It's the answer to a question nobody asked.
Handheld can openers. Dependable, fast, and portable.
stick shift
I drove a stickshift for many years. Did my drivers licence in a stickshift car. And it was really fine. But for most drivers - including myself - the technology nowadays with the automatic transmissions is really more than fine. They shift well, run smooth, are fuel efficient with 6-10 gears and are really comfy in slow traffic and traffic jams. Except you really are a sporty driver (but where can drive drive as such?), then you won't need a stickshift no more. At least I'm not missing it.
Writing letters. With paper & pen, through the postal service!
Corded tools and appliances. So many things I don't use enough to make it worthwhile if it only lasts as long as the battery, and then I have to decide between spending to keep using something old or to just get something new.
That battery powered weed whacker I only need a few times year? The battery is done after a few years anyway. If I get a corded one that sucker will last me decades. Same with lawnmowers, snowblowers, drills, screwdrivers, vacuum cleaners, etc.
If you have a lot of infrequently used tools that share the same battery system (eg Ryobi) you only need one or two batteries and you’ll get full use out of the battery.
For me, manual brooms/sweepers come to mind.
Robo vacuums just don't interest me. I love advanced tech when it makes sense, but for me this feels like a case of overkill. Not everything needs to be smart/automatic. I'm a big believer the future should be one of mixed-use tech.
We have a Roomba because I have fibromyalgia and suffer from fatigue. Admittedly it doesn’t do stairs or cobwebs but I’m happy with it. 🙂
I have a 1947 Singer model 15. Sure I need attachments to do button holes and zig-zag stitches but, I couldn't imagine using a modern machine.
Film, while I do have digital cameras as well, despite the incredible rise in cost I have still find myself shooting both 35mm and medium format film. I develop all my black and white film myself too, because the local lab charges more for it.
Vernier calipers, micrometers, etc: Why add a screen to something that never needed one?
Natural fabrics, I sew clothes out of wool, leather, cotton, linen, and silk. The only synthetic fabrics that ever made sense to me was nylon and kevlar, for normal clothes I just don't see the point in polyester, viscose, PU, etc. It is like we have a whole chemical industry researching worse materials to make things out of.
Viscose is made from wood fibres I believe. While it definitely has been processed it is made from natural fibres. Otherwise I agree about synthetic material for clothing. They end up smelly and don't breathe.
Since I work in an industrial setting - Probably Windows XP
Tube guitar amplifier! I know digital is getting better and better, but you just cant beat the warmth and response of a good tube amp.
Not obsolete, but most have a more “modern” version (cordless/digital/connects to the internet/etc) that is becoming more popular these days, and these folks don’t want to switch :)
Load More Replies... I'm 55yo. I keep handwritten lists. If I don't write it down, I don't remember it.
I save used envelopes and write my grocery lists on the back.
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FTW. The output is legible, AND they work instantly, no bootup sequence. Plus, send someone a laser printed letter, and they'll likely ignore it. Send one written on a typewriter and they'll react like it was written by hand, done just for them.
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wired mouse and keyboard. i do NOT want to be in the middle of something and have that s**t die, have to go searching for batteries, ugh what a pain.
As someone mentioned on the last article, which was posted just 2 weeks ago, its mostly pretentious redditors inflating their egos over paper calendars and can openers.
I found a perfect portable Olivetti in the original case with the instruction book at an estate sale for $25. This is just like the machine I had in college and made money typing papers for grad students.
Load More Replies... I have ADHD, and if I kept my notes and lists on little scraps of paper I’d never find them when they’re needed. I also much prefer having a library of books to read in my phone, instead of lugging 10 paperbacks with me. My key fob lets me get into my car and start it without digging through my purse, and line dried laundry is stiff and scratchy. Preferences are fine, but there’s nothing inherently noble about choosing older technology. It was once the newest thing, too!
Not obsolete, but most have a more “modern” version (cordless/digital/connects to the internet/etc) that is becoming more popular these days, and these folks don’t want to switch :)
Load More Replies... I'm 55yo. I keep handwritten lists. If I don't write it down, I don't remember it.
I save used envelopes and write my grocery lists on the back.
Load More Replies... FTW. The output is legible, AND they work instantly, no bootup sequence. Plus, send someone a laser printed letter, and they'll likely ignore it. Send one written on a typewriter and they'll react like it was written by hand, done just for them.
Load More Replies... wired mouse and keyboard. i do NOT want to be in the middle of something and have that s**t die, have to go searching for batteries, ugh what a pain.
As someone mentioned on the last article, which was posted just 2 weeks ago, its mostly pretentious redditors inflating their egos over paper calendars and can openers.
I found a perfect portable Olivetti in the original case with the instruction book at an estate sale for $25. This is just like the machine I had in college and made money typing papers for grad students.
Load More Replies... I have ADHD, and if I kept my notes and lists on little scraps of paper I’d never find them when they’re needed. I also much prefer having a library of books to read in my phone, instead of lugging 10 paperbacks with me. My key fob lets me get into my car and start it without digging through my purse, and line dried laundry is stiff and scratchy. Preferences are fine, but there’s nothing inherently noble about choosing older technology. It was once the newest thing, too!
