“Not Falling For Propaganda”: 40 People Swear By These Outdated Things They Refuse To Stop Using

As a person who is very into all things technology and has a bunch of older tech that just sits in drawers and collects dust, u/frozenflat was curious about whether other people have any retro items they can't live without. This simple curiosity is what inspired the Redditor to start this thread online.

After folks started sharing the 'obsolete' things they swear by, a couple of them caught the Redditor's attention. "One person mentioned iPod or MP3 player. I have a few of these and was thinking [it] might be nice to just have one of these hooked up to a sound system to play songs," he shared with Bored Panda.

"I still have an original iPod with all my songs on it and had, back in the day, hacked it to put Linux on it," he added.

u/frozenflat noticed that old tech that is now considered vintage is gaining more and more popularity. As a guitar and music enthusiast, he says there has been a shift from digital guitar effects and modelers back to physical analog pedals.

"This surprises me 'cause I moved towards digital [effects] for my guitar," he explains. "[With them, there's] less clutter and setup [than with] these physical effect pedals."

"Maybe it's because I grew up with records, 8-tracks, cassettes, then CDs and digital. [I like] not having all this stuff around. [I used] to have over 400 CDs; that took [up] so much room and was a pain to find the music you wanted," the Redditor points out the downside of the physical media revival.

Where music is concerned, u/frozenflat personally feels more in favor of digital. "Even when I play a record, it is a nice experience, but listening-wise, you have to flip the record and kind of babysit the experience. These are things I surely don't miss."

"To me, digital media has decluttered our world and our lives. After a while, the physical stuff controls you a bit [versus] just having Siri play your playlist while you sit back and enjoy some wine."

At the same time, Ron understands why young people are drawn to cassettes, CDs, vinyl, and even print books. "[It's] unique and gives them a sense of identity that they are so desperate to find," he observes. "They grew up in a world that was uniform, hard to stand out, be different."

He remembers how, back in the day, even showing up with a talking digital watch at school was the coolest thing ever. "I was the coolest kid, a mystical person that could summon talk from a watch," he remembers. The same would apply to kids who had a portable TV that could fit into a hand or even a CD player.

Nowadays, Ron says, almost every cool or trendy thing is too easily accessible. "Every kid has it in [a] matter of days," he points out. He's seen people on Reddit buying old Apple computers. "Why? They are slow, can't run much, and [don't] progress, but it is cool, retro, something that not many people have."

Ron also points to old-school pinball machines and their growing popularity. "This is something I grew up with [and] always loved because it isn't ones and zeros, it still takes skill. You control that small shiny ball. You feel like you have control but also a sense of randomness."

"You don't get that in some digital games. This is why new pinball machines are being made and are on the rise, and if you purchase one for $5-6k, you can sell it in a month for more."

"Play 'Addams Family' where Thing grabs your ball or 'White Water' where a fan blows on your face while you play. [This] connects you [the] analog world to a digital experience – nothing is quite like it."