Retro Tech Nostalgia

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VideoGameCritic
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Retro Tech Nostalgia

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 15th, 2023, 11:09 am

This article caught my eye about how retro tech continues to be an object of fascination, even for younger generations. We're talking vinyl, polaroid cameras, flip phones, Atari 2600s, etc.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/28/us/techn ... index.html

I haven't watched the new Star Wars series Andor, but I hear it also tries to go for a more interesting analog look to the tech. Makes sense since it's in the timeframe of Ep 4.

The thing is, is it just nostalgia at play? The thing is, I know quite a few young people who are really interested in vinyl records or classic games, and they were not around when those things were popular. Not even close.

So what is it that people find so attractive about the old tech? Will this trend continue?

Buttermancan
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Re: Retro Tech Nostalgia

Postby Buttermancan » January 17th, 2023, 5:33 am

Perhaps it's due to people being able to interact with the object in some way. Vinyl records are physical things that spin around the needle touches it and somehow it creates sound. From the press of a button the polaroid camera can take a great picture and give you a physical result to put on you wall. The workings of digital products such as Spotify are hidden in some code on a server somewhere and all we're presented with is a smart front end where people don't have much connection with the way it works.

mbd36
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Re: Retro Tech Nostalgia

Postby mbd36 » January 17th, 2023, 11:29 am

Perhaps the 70s, 80s and 90s seem like a better time to young people today, so they're drawn to the associated tech. Before smart phones and internet, before everything was digital.

Tron
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Re: Retro Tech Nostalgia

Postby Tron » January 17th, 2023, 5:23 pm

mbd36 wrote:Perhaps the 70s, 80s and 90s seem like a better time to young people today, so they're drawn to the associated tech. Before smart phones and internet, before everything was digital.


True dat. People like to touch things & own things. Mass manufacturing produces rubbish. No new retail stores can enter the market, but every second-hand store is always busy. Why buy a new product when you can get a cheaper one used that is of better quality?

newmodelarmy
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Re: Retro Tech Nostalgia

Postby newmodelarmy » January 17th, 2023, 7:53 pm

I am a big music fan and a few years ago I sold all of my cd's which I definitely regret. Thus, I know listen to nearly all my music digitally on my iPhone. That said, I got into Vinyl a few years ago and have a very modest collection. There is definitely something about listening to music, reading the lyrics, looking at the album cover, etc,...just like when I was a kid. I definitely missed it for sure. For Christmas, I got my teenage daughter a turnable and some speakers, she is loving it. I think it is part nostalgia but there is something to the physical media aspect for sure.

ThePixelatedGenocide
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Re: Retro Tech Nostalgia

Postby ThePixelatedGenocide » January 17th, 2023, 9:51 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:This article caught my eye about how retro tech continues to be an object of fascination, even for younger generations. We're talking vinyl, polaroid cameras, flip phones, Atari 2600s, etc.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/28/us/techn ... index.html

I haven't watched the new Star Wars series Andor, but I hear it also tries to go for a more interesting analog look to the tech. Makes sense since it's in the timeframe of Ep 4.

The thing is, is it just nostalgia at play? The thing is, I know quite a few young people who are really interested in vinyl records or classic games, and they were not around when those things were popular. Not even close.

So what is it that people find so attractive about the old tech? Will this trend continue?


It's always been a trend. Even when I was a kid, all my friends had a time in the past they'd want to visit if they could.

Besides.

Those with an interest in history want to know where we came from. Those with an interest in the arts and those with an engineering mind alike can enjoy the challenge of older limitations, and find inspiration from the solutions they forced people to come up with.

Finally, like Buttermancan said, it's a way to actually touch the past. It makes it more real in a way that digital never could.

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scotland
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Re: Retro Tech Nostalgia

Postby scotland » January 18th, 2023, 9:20 am

Retro tech nostalgia is fun, but selective. As a kid, the gas crises of the 70s changed the auto market, so those 1960s cars really were different. Most tech is just passed by, I think - do we pine for 1990s Dell PCs running Windows 95? Not really, neither do I miss my early digital cameras or even my film cameras with 24 shot rolls that needed developing, to get 8 good photos or something.

But I do think that there is something in us that wants relatively old skool or retro. The view from the top after hiking up there is better than just driving to the top. I enjoy setting up my old family computers even though its a task, but playing on those old systems is enjoyable. However, the bulk of my gaming is not on retro equipment anymore, just some of it.

I think that is the difference - main versus secondary. The article talks about 'dump phones', and I think for many of us, we'd probably not only have a dumb phone. Maybe a 2nd phone that is dumb - something to take out when we really do want the phone only for emergency contact. Do all the people buying vinyl not also use a music streaming service or some other modern way to listening to music. The vinyl is an adjunct - an extra thing added to their regular consumption.


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