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Why is our generation so drawn to "old tech"?
I have been thinking pretty obsessively about this recently.
Over the past six or more months, I have seen so many people carrying around iPods, Nintendo DS's, listening to vinyl, buying record players; some even using cassettes and VHS tapes. This switch from new iPhones to a yearning for a "retro" flip phone shouldn't make sense: having every kind of media in our pockets should be the ultimate goal; the ultimate ease of entertainment. So why are we yearning for older, frankly worse, technology?
I think that as humans, as teenagers or young adults, we crave novelty in what we do. When you were a kid, choosing a DVD to play on your TV in the living room was something to fight over with your siblings, having to sit through advertisements whilst waiting for the next part of your favourite episode of Power Rangers, even waiting for your Xbox 360 to boot up to play Minecraft were interactive, essential aspects of media consumption. Having to press tactile buttons to type out the message "hi whr u at?" whilst trying to keep your character count to an absolute minimum made every message thoughtful and intentional. Needing to switch between different pieces of technology to access different types of media made everything you did a decision - DS or Xbox. In this current age, we are able to play Netflix whilst scrolling Tumblr, or have a FaceTime call whilst playing an app game. This "convenience" is no longer just "convenience." It is overstimulation. It is losing the novelty of consuming media. It is making us more complicit to having dopamine handed to us, instead of intentionally seeking it out. Even listening to music feels like background noise when you are able to endlessly stream from Spotify, not having to select a song, just hit play on a playlist.
This degradation of novelty and effort has had such an overwhelming, overstimulating impact on our generation, to the point that sacrificing audio quality to be able to rewind a cassette, or limiting graphics to play old PSP games doesn't even seem like a loss at all. Having that tactile and sensory function holding something in your hand and truly owning it, in an age where "purchase" no longer means permanence, but a loan.
I see this especially in how consoles operate today. Back in the day (the '90s, which I was not alive for), you had to purchase a floppy disc to play a game; now, you hit download on steam and it is stored in a digital collection. Back in the day, you had to purchase DS cartridges; now, you open the Nintendo store and hit download. Back in the day, you had to purchase a physical disc to play a game on your Xbox; now, at fear of not repeating myself enough, you. have. to. download. it.
This problem grows worse when you look at the usage of AI and how our overreliance on convenience degrades our critical thinking skills and our dopamine receptors, to the point that we are actively trying to de-revolutionise technology. And I think that is great.
Take pictures on your digital camera. Listen to records. Play on your DS.
Because at the end of the day: entertainment was made to entertain us. Not to have us endlessly scrolling or mindlessly going through the motions.
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This man
I like old tech, because that is what I grew up with.
Not just that, it is almost way better than new tech. my main computer is from 2012, still rocking 13 years later. My main TVs are from 2006 and 1990, both still rocking 19 and 35 years later. My TCL Roku TV didn't even make it to 5 years, when my old Sharp I was using lasted 20+ years.
I also grew up not only on the Wii, but also on the N64. There is no doubt about it. I like old tech because new tech is super less innovative, and breaks way easier in my opinion.