The art of the mixtape and other lost pre-tech items
By AJ Chavar
Posted: 3/26/08, 12:19 AM EST Section: Feature
Cooking meat over an open flame may be old-fashioned, but it tastes a lot better than microwaving it. There's no doubt we've evolved, and now we don't use fire that much. We have microwaves, light bulbs and electric blankets.
But sometimes there's nostalgia for obsolescence, there are certain things that I miss that we have "evolved" past. Some things that I'm tied to, have now been replaced by new technology. Here are five out-of-date things that I still long for:
Maps
I remember the old family trips as a child, my dad staying up late, the map sprawled out in front of him as he plotted the shortest route for our trip. Now preparation consists of going to Google Maps (MapQuest sucks) five minutes before getting in the car.
I'm hard pressed to say this isn't an improvement over the old-fashioned map, but there's something about traveling that calls for uncertainty. I did a road trip from Colorado to California this past summer, and my companions and I decided to forgo the computer for a map, strangely enough we reached our destination no worse for the wear.
Then again, when I absolutely need to find a CVS within a five-mile radius, Google has my back.
Mail
I love e-mail. I have a serious addiction to my Gmail, and I love having correspondences on my computer forever - most of the time.
Not that I, uh, have any incriminating things in my e-mail. Well, no more than anyone else, but in an electronic format, things are out of your hands once sent.
That doesn't happen with printed mail. Even if you set out to write something you may regret later, the process calms you down a bit, you think clearer and revise. Thank-you e-mails are nice, but nothing compares to getting a thank you card in the mail.
Landlines
Remember when you went out in middle and grade school and you had to be sure to bring enough quarters with you for emergency calls home?
Cell phones make life easier: no remembering numbers, no times when your friends or family are unreachable... the downside: no time when you're unreachable.
But sometimes there's nostalgia for obsolescence, there are certain things that I miss that we have "evolved" past. Some things that I'm tied to, have now been replaced by new technology. Here are five out-of-date things that I still long for:
I remember the old family trips as a child, my dad staying up late, the map sprawled out in front of him as he plotted the shortest route for our trip. Now preparation consists of going to Google Maps (MapQuest sucks) five minutes before getting in the car.
I'm hard pressed to say this isn't an improvement over the old-fashioned map, but there's something about traveling that calls for uncertainty. I did a road trip from Colorado to California this past summer, and my companions and I decided to forgo the computer for a map, strangely enough we reached our destination no worse for the wear.
Then again, when I absolutely need to find a CVS within a five-mile radius, Google has my back.
I love e-mail. I have a serious addiction to my Gmail, and I love having correspondences on my computer forever - most of the time.
Not that I, uh, have any incriminating things in my e-mail. Well, no more than anyone else, but in an electronic format, things are out of your hands once sent.
That doesn't happen with printed mail. Even if you set out to write something you may regret later, the process calms you down a bit, you think clearer and revise. Thank-you e-mails are nice, but nothing compares to getting a thank you card in the mail.
Remember when you went out in middle and grade school and you had to be sure to bring enough quarters with you for emergency calls home?
Cell phones make life easier: no remembering numbers, no times when your friends or family are unreachable... the downside: no time when you're unreachable.
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