Today, listening to music, watching movies, messaging or sending files can be done with a few taps. However, 20-30 years ago, using technology often required minor efforts, waiting and practical solutions. These habits, many of which seem strange to today’s young people, are actually among the clearest examples showing how fast technology is changing. Rolling the tape with a pen. One of the habits that those who lived in the cassette era knew best was wrapping the loose tape with a pen.
When the magnetic tape inside the cassette came out or wasn’t seated properly on the reel, most people would immediately look for a pencil or pen. The pen would be inserted into the threaded part of the cassette, then it would be turned by hand and the tape would be wound back into place. This process had become a common reflex known to everyone who used cassette tapes. Because when the cassette player swallowed the tape or the sound was distorted while playing the cassette, the problem was often solved this way.
While today it is enough to close and open the application when a song fails, in those years it was necessary to physically intervene to save the music. Recording a song from the radio to a cassette. In the period when there were no music platforms, one of the most common ways to access a favorite song was to record it from the radio. The cassette player was kept ready and the record button was pressed as soon as the desired song started on the radio.
It required special attention not to miss the intro of the song; if the presenter talked over the song, the recording would be considered distorted. That’s why many people would wait in front of the radio for minutes, sometimes hours. When the desired song was caught, he created a personal mixtape. This was the ancient equivalent of today’s playlists. The difference was that that list was prepared not by algorithm, but by waiting, choosing and working hard.
Rewinding the VHS tape When it came to watching movies, VHS tapes came to mind for a while. Movies were watched with large cassettes placed in the video player, the recordings were stored or movies were rented from video cassette shops. But watching the movie didn’t cut it. The tape would have to be rewound for the next viewer. That’s why the warning “Please rewind the tape” was one of the most familiar sentences of that period.
After the movie ended, the rewind button was pressed and the tape was waited to return completely to the beginning. While today it takes seconds to open, pause or continue a movie, in the VHS era there was even a small waiting period at the end of the viewing experience. The phone being busy while connecting to the internet. In the dial-up internet era, accessing the internet was an event in itself. The modem would make a long, scratchy, mechanical sound when connecting.
This sound was like the starting melody of the internet for many people. Once the connection was established, the computer would access the internet, but the home phone could not be used at the same time. If a member of the household picked up the phone, the connection could be lost. That’s why before accessing the internet, a warning was given that no one should use the phone. This may seem strange in today’s world of always-on Wi-Fi and mobile internet.
However, in those years, connecting to the internet was a process that required the silent agreement of everyone in the house. Trying to fit a file onto a floppy disk. For a while, the floppy disk was one of the most common ways to carry files. School assignments, small documents, simple programs and some recording files were carried on floppy disks. However, capacity was very limited. Therefore, in order to fit a file onto a floppy disk, it was sometimes necessary to shrink the content, delete images, or give up other files.
Considering that gigabytes of data are uploaded to the cloud within seconds today, the space offered by the floppy disk is quite small. Despite this, the floppy disk became one of the symbols of computer use for a long time. In fact, the fact that the save icon in many programs still has the shape of a floppy disk today preserves its trace in the technology culture of this period. Trying to avoid scratching the CD. CDs were once at the center of music, film, game and program archives.
But the most critical part of using a CD was keeping the bottom surface of the disc clean and scratch-free. When a CD is scratched, songs may skip, movies may lag, game installation may be interrupted, or the computer may not read the disc at all. That’s why CDs were stored in special boxes, zippered bags or plastic covers. The person holding the disc would usually hold it by its edges and try not to touch the shiny surface.
Even leaving it randomly on a CD could cause a reaction. There is no such physical risk in digital libraries today; However, having an archive in the CD era also required careful storage habits. Trying to fit into 160 characters in SMS. Before smart phones, the main way of messaging was SMS. However, SMS had a character limit and long messages could mean more fees. That’s why people tried to write what they wanted to say briefly.
Abbreviations such as hello instead of hello, tmm instead of okay, and nbr instead of what’s up have become common. These abbreviations were used not only for speed but also to save characters. Punctuation marks were reduced, some vowels were dropped, and sentences were trimmed so that the message could fit into a single SMS. Today, it is very easy to write long messages, send voice recordings or explain with visuals.
In the SMS era, writing short texts was one of the basic rules of communication. Sending files via infrared Before Bluetooth and internet-based file sharing became widespread, some phones had an infrared connection. To send a photo, a ringtone, or a small file, two phones would be held with their infrared points facing each other. If the devices moved a little, the connection could be interrupted and the transmission could start over.
That’s why it was necessary to hold the phones steady during file transfer. One of the familiar images of that period was two phones standing side by side on the table, looking at each other. Today it is normal to send a photo via messaging app in seconds. In the infrared era, sharing even a small file was a process that required attention and patience. Looking up news, weather and match results via Teletext Before smart phones, television was not just a device for watching broadcasts.
It was also one of the ways to access information. Thanks to teletext, news, weather, sports results, stock market information and broadcast streams could be followed on television. The three-digit page number is entered from the remote control and the relevant page is waited for. The pages would not open instantly. Sometimes the user would wait several seconds, or even longer, for the correct page to appear on the screen.
Despite this, Teletext has been one of the practical ways to get information quickly for many years. Although it may seem slow compared to today’s push notifications, it was an important habit that made television interactive in its time. Using pagers Before mobile phones became widespread, pagers were an important communication tool, especially for certain professional groups and busy people. A short message or phone number would appear on the device.
The person receiving the message would find a suitable phone and call back. This system was quite limited compared to today’s instant messaging world. However, it was an important solution to be accessible in those years. Carrying a pager meant that one could be called or summoned somewhere at any time. Today, while smartphones remain in our pockets with a constant internet connection, pagers remind us of a simpler but also more troublesome era of technology.
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