It feels like retro technology is having a real moment again. The iPod is making a return to prominence. Compact discs are on the rise. Dumb phones are specific choices consumers are making, and the rise of cameras without external connectivity continues.
There’s good reasons why. Cameras free of the computational processing, and filters can provide a more authentic representation of a scene. Some believe the warm sound of vinyl records is better than even the most uncompressed digital music.
The common thread? A growing aversion to the all-conquering smartphone that has taken us away from the activity only being listening to music, making phone calls, or taking photographs. The constant interruptions have made those activities feel secondary.
The digital detox is real. We have screen fatigue. We miss the tactile operation of technology where a button push or lever operation offers a satisfying sense of doing. As for Gen-Z, a constantly connected society is all they’ve ever known. Some want to unplug and are discovering a way to do that. Tech design is also boring these days. And retro tech is anything but. It’s bold and flamboyant and packed with individual personality.
This stuff happens in waves, of course. Every piece of retro tech has its day – a few years ago it was gaming, then vinyl, then cassettes and now CDs and iPods. Here are three more things I’d love to bring back and three more I’d leave in silicon hell.
Typewriters
I love typewriters so much I had one tattooed on my inner forearm. There’s something so marvellously satisfying about the imprecise clattering of keys and the deliberate act of sitting down to write. To me, those sounds represent the act of creation and labour.
Devices like the Freewrite have brought the typewriter into the modern era with small displays and the only connectivity designed for the saving and safeguarding of documents. Amidst a maelstrom of services attempting to convince us AI can assist writing, choosing a typewriter is a rejection of that and a commitment to authentic art.
VHS and DVD players
Physical media is having a moment again, as the last vestiges are ebbing away. Sony’s decision to cease production of physical game discs puts game preservation efforts at risk. Especially as the company is also randomly pulling paid-for digital items like games and movies from gamers’ libraries.
Given the changing nature of society, depictions in TV shows and movies things that were acceptable at the time of creation now, are being pulled from digital libraries. This makes physical media connections all-the-more important. I’d love to see an all-in-one physical media player that ensures physical media collections are not only supported but encouraged moving into the new generations.
Proper slide-up phones
Dumb phones are increasingly popular as a way to say “no” to the attention-seeking smartphones in our pockets. Even if they’re just the weekend blower where we switch off from the digital trappings, not to mention the aforementioned omni-presence of the AI era.
Is there a middle ground? I think so. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip series, for example, provides solace from the main screen, but the cover screens are getting more and more like their candy bar colleagues. Previously, you may get an indication you’re have a notification, plus the time. Now it’s a full-on phone where you can use min versions of apps and play videos.
No more! Phones like the Flip Light don’t have a cover screen at all. It has a scaled back operating system with no AI, but still access to messaging and maps. There’s just one camera, GPS, Bluetooth and a headphone jack. And the physical keyboard and small screen means we’re more inclined to call each other rather than spend ages typing out messages.
While we’re at it, bring back home phones!
RAM be damned.
Notice a pattern here? There’s no requirement for masses of RAM that is driving up the prices of technology everywhere. This year’s iPhones could cost up to $300 more. As for the next-gen games consoles? Forget about it! Let’s return to tech that doesn’t require enough memory to power a small village. I want the Walkmans, the Nintendo DS, the Casio digital watches that’ll tell you the time. The RAM crisis is spawned by the Generative AI that so many people are rejecting wholesale. So let’s just, you know, stop buying that technology and simplify a bit.
And the three things I don’t…
Printers – Has anyone ever owned a printer that wasn’t a piece of junk that constantly played-up, got jammed, and required constant refilling with ink that often cost more than the printer itself? The move to a largely paper-less society has killed the printer. May it rest in the misery it caused us.
Adobe Flash Video – Steve Jobs’ crusade against the flash video format is one of his greatest gifts to the world. The early web was built on it. Advertisements, browser games, videos, you name it. It was hogged resources and looked an absolute mess. Jobs’ decision that, from the off, flash wouldn’t be supported by Safari on iPhone led to some short term pain. However, it was the necessary extinction event for the old .FLV. Viva HTML5!
Rollerball mice – Typewriters are one thing, the penchant for mechanical keyboards is another. However, a return to these dust-loving, momentum-crippling accessories is off the table for me. We do not miss twisting off the cap to remove that day’s gunk, just so we could point our cursor at the right icon.
Read the full article here
