# What's with the Millennial/Zoomer fascination with old crap? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344 "2021-01-12T17:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/61 "2021-01-13T16:05:05Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I really miss liner notes One word for you - Wikipedia. You can get more information than on liner notes. Say you read that the bass player on your album you’re plaing is Carol Kaye. Just reading a record sleeve, that’s it. But in Wikipedia, she’s hyperlinked. Then you see how much else she played on. Stuff you didn’t even realize (Frank Sinatra? The Supremes?) Then you’re like, WOW she was somebody! Why did I never hear of her? The you read about the Wrecking Crew, and then cross link to the Swampers, and the Wall Of Sound. Meanwhile, your diamond stylus is quietly eroding away your vinyl record. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/62 "2021-01-13T16:11:27Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > One word for you - Wikipedia. No. Absolutely not. I do not care that more information lies elsewhere. I want the liner notes I pull out of the record sleeve. It reminds me of the old days of computer games when they had big manuals and paper maps I could read. Never, ever, ever have online guides been a satisfying substitute. It’s the difference between reading a favorite book in hardcover and reading it on your phone. Same words. A whole different experience. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/63 "2021-01-13T16:13:59Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Every goddam thing has to be motorized these days. It pisses me off. You cannot get a car with crank windows, at all, ever. All the gadgetry is, oh, neat, but why the fuck? I do not need devices doing the simplest of tasks for me (electronic vernier calipers??) which means the practical hands-on things get pushed out and are no longer made. Then the gadget breaks and you have to relearn how to do that thing. I’ve got a car with hand-crank windows. Wait, OK, it’s 19 years old… What really pisses me off is the proliferation of touchscreen controls everywhere. Knobs and switches on my car’s dash means I can do things like turn on the headlights or wipers without needing to take my eyes off the road. I believe that is much safer. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/64 "2021-01-13T16:17:55Z")
> [@Lavender\_Pebble](#): > > It’s interesting to see what old format is chosen as the “interesting” format and what is not. I know, right? No one here seems to be advocating the “warmth” and “non-pixelated” quality of tintypes. (there was a lot more “hands on” experience with them, too.) Does anyone wax rhapsodic about the “pleasing quality” of 250 lines of resolution vacuum tube TV? (not the CRT, I mean the amps)? Do people say they love the nostalgic sound of the 15750 Hz flyback transformer? Is anyone out there making their home movies with a hand cranked silent movie camera, and saying how much they lurves themselves the jerky motion and the experience of working under lights that generate so much heat that the paint melted off the walls? Do they long for the days of flying in DC-3s across country? At 6000 feet, right through the weather. Especially when the pilot “forgets” to sync the engines? Funny people don’t want rotary dial phones, I mean what’s a little extra effort - learning how to make tone sounds with your voice, so you can get past the “push 1 for assistance” menu? Sure, maybe we should just go back to actual people - ask Mabel to connect you to Aunt Edith. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/65 "2021-01-13T16:20:57Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I do not care that more information lies elsewhere Well, if you have CDs, you have that! If you just want to be a curmudgeon, have at it. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/66 "2021-01-13T16:24:17Z")
I sort of miss processing film. Shooting film as a casual photographer, taking your canister to be developed, and getting a bunch of crappy photos having spent a small fortune on development was never fun. Shooting black and white, developing it in a darkroom in the basement, playing with the processing - that isn’t the same as editing digital photos. You can do a hell of a lot more with photoshop than you could ever do in a darkroom, but its somehow less intimate. I got rid of my enlarger decades ago, it wasn’t a hobby I wanted to pursue with small kids. And I don’t miss the smells. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/67 "2021-01-13T16:26:35Z")
> [@bump](#): > > you could go buy a super-cheapo at K-Mart or Wal-Mart, or you could go to an honest-to-God camera shop In 1977 I went to K-mart and got an honest to god good camera (Minolta SRT-202), and for half the going rate in high end camera shops. I used it until I got my first good digital SLR in 2005. And as a collectible, it’s probably worth more now than I paid for it. And I never use it. Digital is infinitely better. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/68 "2021-01-13T16:26:59Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I know, right? No one here seems to be advocating the “warmth” and “non-pixelated” quality of tintypes. (there was a lot more “hands on” experience with them, too.) There ‘s the slight difficulty that the oldest forms of photography required the use of hazardous chemicals. Tintypes are quite as bad as, say, daguerreotypes in that regard (the average lifespan of a daguerreotypist in the early days was 2 years - gee, turns out mercury vapor is really, really bad for you) but most peoples’ nostalgia is not so strong as to prompt them to either invest in the needed safety equipment or accept illness and vastly shortened lifespan. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Funny people don’t want rotary dial phones _\>sigh\<_ I miss my rotary phone - it was great, and sturdy/durable enough you could use it to ward off zombie hordes and still make calls on it afterward. But I have to admit on that one that my smartphone does have greater utility. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/69 "2021-01-13T16:30:38Z")
Nah…CDs don’t do it. Liner notes are a thing of the past. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/70 "2021-01-13T16:32:28Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I miss my rotary phone Other than one phone (and my smart phone) EVERY phone in my house is rotary. My Ericofone, my chrome pay phone, my 1930s bakelite phone, my heavy duty phone that you could bonk an intruder on the head and not drop your call, my green wall phone. And I never use a one, because I only get calls from spammers. But they all work. They’re just decorations now. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/71 "2021-01-13T16:37:13Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > It’s the difference between reading a favorite book in hardcover and reading it on your phone. Same words. A whole different experience. If you’re getting a different “experience” from a book in hand v on your phone, you’re not reading it right. I think you’re just putting me on now. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/72 "2021-01-13T16:40:16Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > If you’re getting a different “experience” from a book in hand v on your phone, you’re not reading it right. I think you’re just putting me on now. Wow…you really, really do not understand what is being discussed. I’m amazed by this. I certainly cannot convey this to you on a message board. It is akin to explaining “red” to a blind person. I’m truly sad you do not understand. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/73 "2021-01-13T16:44:14Z")
> [@Keith1](#): > > Going back many years I recall the first time with electric windows. I think someone came over to talk to me. I quickly discovered there would be no talking unless I started the car. WTF! Electric windows existed in the 50s. They aren’t some 90s thing, yet conversation didn’t become extinct. They found a way. (pro tip: turn the key to “on” without starting the car) And good luck in a large car or pickup when someone (like a highway patrol) comes to the passenger side and you have to get unbelted and slide over just to open the window to talk to them. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/74 "2021-01-13T16:45:23Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I’m truly sad you do not understand. My god, you’re SERIOUS! There’s no explaing to you, is there? The story is the same. I don’t care what format I read in. I’m reading the story, not the format. You should explain to the authors how it makes a difference to you. At best, they’ll laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/75 "2021-01-13T16:50:59Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > My god, you’re SERIOUS! Yes. I literally pity you. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/76 "2021-01-13T16:56:12Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I don’t know… maybe it’s having actually USED those old things and preferring the newer way. I mean, I remember absolutely loving the ability to immediately skip to the next track, or even skip to the 3rd track right away on a CD with just a press of the button, versus having to peer at the LP and try to get the needle right before the 3rd track, or doing a sort of binary search on a cassette trying to find the start of a song. And having things like remote controls that let me do it from across the room. THIS. Kids these days. They don’t know what we went through. Having instant track access in CDs was like science fiction. We weren’t living in the past, or present, anymore. This was The Future! Thne future we were promised! No more record noise, no more skips, no more discwasher/zerostat/lighting a candle to the Gods of Vinyl everytime you wanted to hear an album. And best of all, no getting up every 20 minutes to change the side! (record changers? Those were for kids. No such thing as a high-end record changer.) And digital! I have everything - even my vinyl collection, scanned and digitized - on iTunes. Having instant access to everty song I own is wonderous! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/77 "2021-01-13T16:57:59Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I literally pity you. That’s OK. I could care less what you think. Go read your liner notes, via (hand made)candlelight, on your hand cranked victrola. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/78 "2021-01-13T16:59:31Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I could care less what you think. I am glad to hear that you care. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/79 "2021-01-13T17:02:32Z")
> [@bump](#): > > maybe it’s having actually USED those old things and preferring the newer way. I mean, I remember absolutely loving the ability to immediately skip to the next track, or even skip to the 3rd track right away on a CD with just a press of the button, versus having to peer at the LP and try to get the needle right before the 3rd track, or doing a sort of binary search on a cassette trying to find the start of a song. And having things like remote controls that let me do it from across the room. And being able to take the music with me in my vehicle, or Walkman, whether it was cassette tape or CD was an enormous plus as well. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Having instant track access in CDs was like science fiction. We weren’t living in the past, or present, anymore. This was The Future! Thne future we were promised! No more record noise, no more skips, no more discwasher/zerostat/lighting a candle to the Gods of Vinyl everytime you wanted to hear an album. And best of all, no getting up every 20 minutes to change the side! (record changers? Those were for kids. No such thing as a high-end record changer.) This. Also, the talk about liner notes being gone with the LP’s: every CD I’ve ever bought had liner notes, and I enjoyed going through them, every time. That the font is maybe smaller and the layout somewhat different, and this makes it all an presence / absence situation is ridiculous to me. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/80 "2021-01-13T17:21:36Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Liner notes are a thing of the past. I’ve bought digital albums that have PDF liner notes. 😀 (Large, fancy and well designed too, with long essays, photos, and background info in them.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344.md?page=5)