If you can recognize any of these objects, you might be an old soul
At some point, we stopped counting the years when the new millennium started.
And with it, we’ve lost count of the days between now and the times we had to save files on floppy disks, or when we had to rush for double A’s because our Discmans were running out of juice. We’re living in the future back then, or at least that’s what we thought.
So now, we are faced with the realities of our age.
They say that the 90s kids bore the brunt of the nostalgia attack because they found themselves between the age of smartphones and the green-tinted screen of Gameboys. The freshness of these memories made us think that we’re just looking five or ten years back into the past. But in reality, that’s two decades — give or take.
Don’t believe us? Just look at these 20 pictures that would make you in denial of your age.
1.) Channel 3 is where it’s at
Remember channel 3? Mega T. does.
What reminds YOU of being an old school gamer? pic.twitter.com/NeyfaMazX1
— Origin (@OriginInsider) September 9, 2013
If you had to turn to Channel 3 just to play that sweet Atari 2600, you have to know that those back pains are caused by something else. Like age, for example. You see, back then, video games consoles or VCRs don’t have their own output channel unlike the TV’s today. You got to use the “unused” channel. And if the video is bleeding another frequency, Channel 4 comes in handy.
2.) You blew into one of these
We all know the drill, if it screen is all messed-up, you pull the cartridge out. Blow into the underside like a country song harmonica and you’re good to go. Fortunately, the kids of today only had to think about memory spaces in their phones.
3.) How to fix jumpy music
I'm this old pic.twitter.com/4YS3Hbuzmb
— Capitão Barba 🏳️🌈⃤ (@capitaobarba79) May 19, 2019
Show a kid a pencil and a cassette tape and they’d just think they have to write on it. Show the same thing to a 90s kid, and you’ll have a perfectly rewound tape. Be proud of yourself! You had to put extra effort just to listen to your favorite tunes.
4.) If you know, you know
It’s abandoned. It has no signage. But admit it, you know exactly what this place is, or was. This is your Friday nights. A place where you pick up your movie-night feature screening. Before the age of streaming, all we had was this, and the civic duty to always rewind the tape.
5.) Good ol’ elbow grease
If you think MJ is better than Lebron at this point I'm convinced that you still use these to roll up your car windows pic.twitter.com/mJSRxYkhns
— . (@Spence_DFS) June 23, 2018
The new drivers of this age won’t know the awkward pain of cranking your windows down just to call someone from your car window. Not to mention when the handle detaches and you’re left with a small knob. You’ll just have to accept the fact that that window will never open again.
6.) Private TV
Imagine having a TV that can play movies. No, not the “smart” ones! The ones that can play videotapes. Every kid wanted to have one in their own room so they can sneak in their favorite films when mom and dad are asleep. It was the future back then, folks, until WiFi compatible plasma TVs came along.
7.) DVD Trailers
Did you really own a movie if you never had it in DVD version? As discs dominated the market, we said goodbye to the clunky cartridges and said hello to the slim-cased CDs. The best thing about it is we can join the generation who never grew up with rewinders.
8.) “Give me the movie section”
Do you remember looking up movie times in the newspaper? pic.twitter.com/j1qxM53c1O
— The Old Man Club (@TheOldManClub) July 10, 2017
Today’s generation is spoiled when it comes to watching “on-demand”. But at the same time, they’ll never feel the thrill and the excitement of watching your favorite movie rerun when you find it in the month’s lineup.
9.) Prankbuster
When telephones became a common household fixture, a new problem emerged — prank callers. But telephone companies found a new way to track down these unwelcomed calls. Call a number and these bad boys will flash your number on the screen. What do you mean mobile phones nowadays have this feature?
10.) Gotta love that snooze button
I personally remember this from my childhood and my love-hate relationship with it. I hate the morning alarms but I love slamming on that big snooze button. It’s also perfect for those Quiet Storm tunes to lull you to sleep. Functional, compact, and elegantly designed. Thinking about it, I think I want to own one again.
11.) Harder than it looks
Anyone who played this knows that this game is harder than it looks! Back then, when kids don’t have mobile games, we had to settle with these “novelty” toys. The white button pumps a jet of air inside that plastic aquarium. The small rings get to ride that pocket of air and hopefully end up into one of those sticks. Or you could just turn the whole thing and wait for the rings to settle. Easy!
12.) It’s a trap!
You could just smell your grandpa’s cigarette through those doors! These little ashtrays only come from top-of-the-line cars back in the day especially when cigarettes are all the craze. Vaping kids don’t need this anymore. Which is good, because it’s not only ash that ends up in those “little coffins”. No, you don’t want to touch that “candied ball of slime”.
13.) Raised in the streets
An entire generation was raised on the streets! And when we say streets, we’re talking about this “innovative” rug that doubles as a play mat for your Hot Wheels. No matter the size of the car, they will cruise around this city like they own it.
14.) Wishbone
He might just be a dog in a Sherlock Holmes costume to some, but an entire generation had to run home after school because it’s on at 3:30 PM. Wishbone reimagines our favorite stories from Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Don Quixote, and Ivanhoe. Who would want to miss a show about a talking dog in different costumes?
15.) Fine-tuning
Is radio still even a thing nowadays? Kids of today won’t know the finesse involved when tuning to your favorite radio station. Just like your shower that gets too hot or too cold, radio tuning requires that hairbreadth precision. It’s either Boyz II Men or Boyz II Men with intermittent garbled white noise.
16.) How many licks?
I know who to ask…. pic.twitter.com/tLW2tLXOil
— Carl C Arredondo III (@carl_arredondo) July 31, 2018
Kids back then were faced with questions of valuable knowledge such as “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?” It depends on who you ask but they said it would take around 300 to 400. This iconic commercial begs to differ, though. It only takes 3.
17.) Towering collection
When you hop into your friend’s place and you see a towering collection like this one, you know they’re something else. Before the slimmer CD cases dominated both sides of your TV, these clunky cases contained the best movies of your childhood. Did we mention how much we love smelling these cases?
18.) Images you can hear
Remember that time when you’re opening your PC at an hour where you should still be sleeping? You thought you got away with it until that signature log-on sound blasts out. It’s strange to think that this version of Microsoft seemed a recent iteration when in fact it’s 20 years old.
19.) Splinter machines
This place smells like afternoons after school. We used to run this gauntlet from end to end, especially during “lava tags”. And as time goes by, the question remains: Did anyone think of sanding these splinter machines?
20.) The View-Master
The first time you peered into this, your jaw dropped at how the photos seemed to come alive. It’s like a personal slide show with lit-up reels ranging from scenic spots, space, cartoon characters, and short illustrated stories. They are so cool until now that you can have your photos converted into reels.
Feeling old yet? How many of these have you encountered so far in your lifetime? The world may have changed and “gadgets” may have evolved, but we’ll always be connected to the things we grew up with and the memories that came along with them.
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