# Ubiquitous items from relatively recently youngsters may not recognise **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362 "2023-03-19T15:27:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/481 "2025-09-27T13:24:35Z")
My daughter (13) has never seen a CD or DVD, no tape of any kind, no floppy discs of any size. She doesn’t know anything about anything broadcast radio, she never watched linear TV. She never used a map. Never used a landline. For some reason she likes paper books better than ereaders so there’s that;) But she has never seen phone book or encyclopedia. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/482 "2025-09-27T13:33:08Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > She doesn’t know anything about anything broadcast radio, she never watched linear TV. My son, aged 12, doesn’t watch television like I do. I, a Gen X’er, turn on the tv to some random station, then will flip around looking for something to see. If I can’t find something, I’ll Just pick a channel and leave it there while I look at my phone. He only turns on the tv to watch a specific video (usually on YouTube). The concept of just leaving a tv on for background noise is completely foreign to him. The woman I just broke up with was similar. She was in her 20s, and would watch tv by going onto some app like Netflix and picking a particular show. It was weird to her that, when I watched broadcast tv, I had to deal with commercials while watching a show. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/483 "2025-09-27T13:35:07Z")
Back in the day we kids didn’t have “non-choking hazard, ASTM-approved” toys—we had ER co-pays with strings attached. Clackers doubled as concussion grenades, Lawn Darts had Navy-SEAL accuracy, Slip ’n Slides mangled spines like medieval torture devices, and Gilbert Science Kits basically asked, “_ever wonder what glowing in the dark feels like?”_ We survived—mostly. A little shrapnel, some uranium stains, a few broken bones, and a mild case of glow-in-the-dark scalp built character. Today’s kids get helicopter parents; we got real-time lessons in physics, ballistics, and radiation. [![](https://i.imgur.com/EpOLul0.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/EpOLul0.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/484 "2025-09-27T15:04:53Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > She doesn’t know anything about anything broadcast radio This is the one part of your post (referring to a 13-year-old) that surprises me. Unless one is Amish :), doesn’t one encounter FM radio being played by a car’s driver, at least occasionally? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/485 "2025-09-27T15:09:41Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > She was in her 20s, and would watch tv by going onto some app like Netflix and picking a particular show. It was weird to her that, when I watched broadcast tv, I had to deal with commercials while watching a show. Doesn’t she watch YouTube videos? Some of those have commercials in the middle, albeit without any kind of intro or pause beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/486 "2025-09-27T15:23:35Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > The concept of just leaving a tv on for background noise is completely foreign to him. I’m 48, and it’s completely foreign to me, too. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/487 "2025-09-27T15:27:58Z")
Just two says ago I saw someone had thrown out an art cyanotype kit ☹ At least it looked like they had used it. more mysterious items: [![](https://ts-warehouse.com/cdn/shop/files/wwtp100__1.jpg) ](https://ts-warehouse.com/cdn/shop/files/wwtp100__1.jpg) [![](https://www.retroreels.shop/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Akai-GX620-jpg.webp) ](https://www.retroreels.shop/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Akai-GX620-jpg.webp) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/488 "2025-09-27T15:32:31Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > This is the one part of your post (referring to a 13-year-old) that surprises me. Unless one is Amish :), doesn’t one encounter FM radio being played by a car’s driver, at least occasionally? I listened to NPR on FM Radio while my daughter was growing up, but in my wife’s car it has been satellite radio or streaming audio from an iPhone since my daughter was quite little. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/489 "2025-09-27T15:34:28Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > The concept of just leaving a tv on for background noise is completely foreign to him. It was to me too until I went to see “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” One of the opening scenes was a bunch of people in a family room/kitchen talking to each other with the TV going in the background, nobody paying any attention to it. I encountered it again with my partner’s 90-year-old mom. Very sad and annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/490 "2025-09-27T16:16:47Z")
Ooooh, ein Mäusekino! Ooooh, a mice movie theater! That’s what we called them. My Atari 520ST, my first computer around 1987, if my memory serves me well, was a bit bigger. Pity they were no match for Apple and Wintel, I bet on the wrong horse: [![](https://www.oldcomputers.net/pics/atari520st-1.jpg) ](https://www.oldcomputers.net/pics/atari520st-1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/491 "2025-09-27T16:31:12Z")
Not really surprising - I probably haven’t listened to broadcast radio by choice even in my car for over 20 years. It’s been cassettes/CDs/phone most of the time when I’m in the car alone. Sometimes satellite radio. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/492 "2025-09-27T18:01:11Z")
[![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/VW_K%C3%A4fer_Baujahr_1966.jpg/2560px-VW_K%C3%A4fer_Baujahr_1966.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/VW_K%C3%A4fer_Baujahr_1966.jpg/2560px-VW_K%C3%A4fer_Baujahr_1966.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/493 "2025-09-27T18:05:11Z")
Interesting. (and to @Mighty_Mouse and @The_Librarian) In my car, I’d say it’s satellite radio 40% of the time, streaming through a phone 35% (of which half the time is podcasts, the other half a passenger “deejaying” via YouTube), and local FM stations the other 25%. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/494 "2025-09-27T18:59:56Z")
Y’know, I think it’s gotten back to the point where real Bugs are more common than the fake imitation Bugs from a few years back, again. Because while there aren’t very many real Bugs any more, they’re all owned by people who value them and take meticulous care of them. But the imitation bugs are just another car, that’s disappeared off the roads as they’ve gotten older. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/495 "2025-09-27T19:05:29Z")
In our car we listen to Spotify or a podcast. Maybe she rode in a car with some friend’s mom where the radio was on, but she can’t name 2 radio stations or knows how to change the station. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/496 "2025-09-27T19:14:08Z")
Got it. Yeah, my 14-year-old kid wouldn’t know one station from another, either, but he must have a vague sense of what NPR is, having endured “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” during trips… ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/497 "2025-09-27T20:04:28Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > The concept of just leaving a tv on for background noise is completely foreign to him. And to me. Why in the world would you want to do that? Aren’t your power bills high enough alresdy? > [@The\_Librarian](#): > > My daughter (13) has never seen a CD or DVD Obviously led a deprived childhood! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/498 "2025-09-27T20:14:25Z")
Modern television sets use only a small amount of power while in use. And some people, like my mother, live alone and have the TV on in the background mostly for the sound. If you’re OK with silence, that’s fine and I like it too, but sometimes background noise is helpful. Don’t be judgemental. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/499 "2025-09-27T20:17:32Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > > [@Moriarty](#): > > > > The concept of just leaving a tv on for background noise is completely foreign to him. > > And to me. Why in the world would you want to do that? Aren’t your power bills high enough alresdy Maybe it was bad phrasing on my part. For me, I turn the tv on and then find something to watch. My kid will only turn the tv on to watch something specific. (And I do tend to put on something that I only partially watch, if I’m lounging around and can’t find a better option. On the weekend, it’s usually sports. In the evenings, while I unwind with social media or the dope, I might put on a marathon of some goofy tv show like family guy or bob’s burgers; it used to be the news pundits, but I’ve been boycotting that since the election) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/500 "2025-09-27T20:23:23Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > And I do tend to put on something that I only partially watch, if I’m lounging around and can’t find a better option. My father-in-law used to nap on the couch with some variety of ball game. If anyone tried to turn it off or change the channel, he’d wake up and say “Hey, I’m watching that!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=26)