Technolandy

Day 79/80 + bonus blog (of 2025/26) serendipity around misremembering nostalgia… thanks @msn 

#tEChursdAI saw me share some of the things we have ‘lost’ in 2025 and on Wednesday I shared the things that we teach, but don’t get to practice much outside of the classroom environment….

And then another share was shared… one of the MSN presentations trying to gaslight us with nostalgia about things in the 80s that ‘seem fancy now’… https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/17-everyday-things-from-the-80s-that-seem-fancy-now/ss-AA1pZ4uK?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=69613083ba1d4d3c9abdb2afc6f43dc3&ei=37#image=18

Supposed ‘simpler things’ but I am also mindful that nostalgia plays tricks on us – and the ‘good old days’… really weren’t.

The MSN list

1. Solid Wood Furniture – people remember the solidity, but forget the challenges in actually moving the stuff…. And if you moved frequently (by choice or by others choice) this was a mixed blessing – and we did finally have to abandon our ‘lasting generations’ harvest table after it didn’t do well on the last U-Haul…
2. Home libraries – again, maybe great for those who don’t move… but when one of our moves charged ‘by the pound’ my expansive library shifted online… so my physical shelves are much more curated than they were in previous decades… and the comment that ‘back then, books were more affordable’ makes me laugh – even with inflation et al, books per minimum wage (albeit a BC mindset) are set at about two-three hours of minimum wage today, whereas when I was purchasing them, it was 4-6 hours of work…
3. Home cooked meals – with more adults needing to work, this is a yearned for memory – even our kids (now adults) will ask for a visit to the family dining table from time to time… but with more work hours needed per family, there is less time for much more than either an instant pot/slow cooker plan or a quick turnaround meal (going out remains a luxury, and fast food ain’t the cheap easy option it once was).
4. Handwritten letters – take note that Denmark just ended its traditional postal service, and while I think Canada Post does a slightly different service because of the size of our country compared to places like Denmark… handwritten letters are strange – some like to think of them as thoughtful gestures (I still do letters to my staff once or twice a year) but the immediacy and legibility of typed text has shifted that communication strategy
5. Affordable college education – at least in canada, college tuitions aren’t the problem – finding an affordable rental in the cities where the universities are is becoming more and more of the flex.
6. Renting movies from Video Stores – was more stressful and challenging than most remember. Would ‘the title’ you want be available… could you reserve it for the weekend? Would the person before you be kind and rewind the tape? Then choosing ‘a’ title for communal viewing… the stress and near impossibility of it…
7. Vinyl records – I know my daughter loves the quaintness of her record collection – but Columbia record house taught me that records get damaged very easily and the quality is suspect at best – unless you like the scratches and bumps… CDs were great, and streaming mp3 digital copies is even better. No wear down problems, no scratches wrecking the storage device…. We are in a golden age where records are things people get to use, not have to…
8. Writing in cursive – some got good penmanship, others of us did not. Too much focus on legibility and not enough about the content… typed content allowed that shift to begin. Sure some view it as elegant and a refined skill… more of us will stick to printing and typing so we can actually read what we wrote ourselves… and if you were left handed… the sides of your hands were never clean…
9. Travel agent booking – finding time during the day to meet with an agent was also a challenge – my wife started as a travel agent and indeed the culture has shifted – though I know some would still find it nice to have someone else hit Expedia for them and come up with the trip of a lifetime… but nobody’s getting paid for that 
10. Durable appliances – gotta remember that some of those old ‘study’ devices were not exactly great for us nor the environment… lead lining, freon chemicals, asbestos… we focus on the metal on the outside but forget what some people were hoping the metal would protect the meal preparers from…
11. Car phones – were expensive and if you were ever beyond your local range – things got $$$ (as I found out when I lent my early cell phone to my sister while I went on a trip)
12. Station Wagons – mini vans and SUVs are so much better. Fuel efficiency plus more storage than what the wagons could accommodate – and the higher the driver rides, the more of the road they can see
13. Brick-and-mortar shopping. Part of me misses walking the malls and checking out the various stores. My nostalgia likes the idea of trying before buying (and I still often do for clothes) But I know for many, malls were overstimulating and high pressure zones. Best places for ‘people watching’ though…
14. Arcade games – having just rewatched Tron now that Tron Ares is available for streaming, I have nostalgia flashbacks about Flynn’s – an ideal arcade for people to go and spend their quarters… but when the quarters ran out… then it was more FOMO and depression that the dopamine was not still rushing. When the games switched to two quarters and then loonies… that made it less of a distraction and more of an investment – which is why home video games were more attractive. Arcades were great night clubs on tv shows and movies… less so in real life…
15. Rotary phones – people don’t remember the crackles… the snarls… the dropped calls… the party lines… the phone bills… the lack of privacy for ‘those calls’… they definitely had a lot of personality though and I still have a Mickey Mouse digital phone if anyone’s interested…
16. Polaroid cameras – I laughed at a show I saw recently where a couple did a ‘selfie’ using a Polaroid and the photo was perfect. None of those photos were great… few were even good. Go ahead and be nostalgia bated to try them out, but the cost of the film, much like 35mm cameras cost of developing, and the uncertain quality until you saw what developed reaffirm that digital photography has so many more positives
17. Free Drivers Ed – maybe in the US… never part of any of the schools I’ve seen in canada… 

Nostalgia is what makes me yearn for the false/curated memories of yesteryear, though when I think about it… the good old days – weren’t.