# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/161 "2021-01-21T03:04:04Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Hence the quotation marks. Good point, albeit I think a different one than mine. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/162 "2021-01-21T03:09:31Z")
As for me, I think the answer is mostly that older tech doesn’t just involve slapping a computer on it. It’s not some black box, but something you can actually see how it works in the real world, rather than software. It’s why I watch a lot of videos about this tech that likes to take the machines apart. That was also something I did as a kid–I’d take things apart to learn how they worked, or I’d watch videos of how they were made. That’s less of a thing with modern technology, where that sort of thing tells you nothing. This is, BTW, why I don’t find cassettes to be something to care much about, since they’re just playing back a magnetic tape. The idea that sound can be encoded with just bumps is far more interesting to me than needing something electronic to read it. I liken it to why kids would still make those tin can sttring phones even though walky talkies existed by then. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/163 "2021-01-21T13:56:18Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > As for me, I think the answer is mostly that older tech doesn’t just involve slapping a computer on it. It’s not some black box, but something you can actually see how it works in the real world, rather than software. Older tech is mechanical; newer tech is magical. Which is why this thread keeps making me think of Arthur Weasley (from Harry Potter)'s fascination with muggle technology. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/164 "2021-01-21T14:18:08Z")
> [@BertNobbins](#): > > There is no way that vinyl can objectively sound better than CD It doesn’t have to sound better. A cared for vinyl record contains enough encoded information to faithfully reproduce a musical recording with excellent fidelity. Or, put another way, the vinyl is not the bottleneck in your music system. The rest of it is convenience. Cassettes and 8 tracks were more portable, but sounded pretty lousy, and were less convenient in terms of changing songs. CD’s fixed that, were very portable, could change songs easily, sounded great and didn’t have sides/tracks to deal with. They’ve been supplanted by even more convenient digital music. What vinyl lacks in convenience it makes up for in ceremony. The act of raising the lid, placing the record on the platter, moving the needle over, closing the lid, is like making an offering to the music gods. And you still get a pleasing sound. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/165 "2021-01-21T14:20:32Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > What vinyl lacks in convenience it makes up for in ceremony Nicely put! ---
**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 21, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/166 "2021-01-21T14:46:09Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > What vinyl lacks in convenience it makes up for in ceremony. Yes. The whole ceremony: Open turntable cover Take record jacket out of protective sleeve Take vinyl protective sleeve out of jacket Take vinyl out of protective sleeve, handling ONLY by edges Place vinyl on turntable Take red cleaner brush and fluid bottle out of discwasher Use red brush to clean discwasher Apply cleaner to discwasher start turntable check stobe for correct speed clean vinyl using discwasher in the proscribed manner Replace fluid and brush in discwasher Use zerostat in the proscribed manner to remove static charge Use mini mirror and small brush to make sure stylus is clean and intact Light a candle and say prayer to Gods of Vinyl (this step optional) Move tonearm over and used viscous damped cueing to lower stylus to vinyl Do not close cover Enjoy In 20 minutes, do the exact same procedure to the other side of the vinyl And if you are not pure of heart and show the proper humility, the Gods of Vinyl will smite thee with a pop, crackle, hair, skip, or rumble. CD listening procedure Open drawer place CD in player Close drawer enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/167 "2021-01-21T14:53:19Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > This experience applies to millennials too. People seem to forget that the world only went fully digital within the last decade. With the exceptions of, perhaps, the oldest of old millenials (~40yo), they don’t have any memories of a fully analog world either, which is not the case for most Gen-Xers. You’ll be hard pressed to find any millennial that remembers CDs not existing, for example. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/168 "2021-01-21T14:57:22Z")
I’m not sure that uniformly cruddy is “better”. It’s like saying that if your bad food is served cold in a shoddy restaurant by a surly waiter, that’s more consistent and somehow better than having it served hot, in a nice place by a competent waiter. Yeah, the first one is uniformly awful, and the general experience might distract from the quality of the food, but it’s not “better” in any meaningful sense. And those games weren’t designed to be blurrier; they were just low-resolution. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/169 "2021-01-21T15:14:33Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Older tech is mechanical; newer tech is magical But it’s not. Not at all. It’s just _TINY_. You could in theory build a computer out of diodes and components from Radio Shack, it just would be enormous, hot and not very capable. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/170 "2021-01-21T15:16:39Z")
> [@bump](#): > > But it’s not. Not at all. It’s just _TINY_. Which means you can’t _see_ how it works. Hence, magic. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/171 "2021-01-21T16:17:59Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Which means you can’t _see_ how it works. Hence, magic. But it’s not. I can go in and open up my AM/FM clock-radio from 1993, and it’s just some integrated circuits on a circuit board connected to a digital display and some knobs/dials. Or I can go look at the 1930-ish vintage Atwater-Kent AM radio that my father-in-law gave us, and see all the tubes and rectifiers and stuff like that. It’s very clear how that one works, and not so much on the 1993 vintage radio. But both are just AM receivers- one’s just much tinier than the other. ---
**Author:** ![BertNobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BertNobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BertNobbins)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/172 "2021-01-21T17:38:15Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Or, put another way, the vinyl is not the bottleneck in your music system. It most definitely is, even in a mediocre system. Take any objective measurement you like and it is always so. And it gets more so each time you play the disc. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/173 "2021-01-21T18:06:41Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Interesting. I don’t ever recall it being fashionable to deliberately go backward on stuff like that, save maybe muscle cars, and I think that was more of a special case. Nobody wanted a 1970 sedan when I was in high school, while a 1970 Mustang would have been prized. Boomers are just as driven by fashion. The Mustang looked better, which is why it was prized. In 1984, you could buy this car for around $60-70K: [![](https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/images/car/2087/Ferrari-512-BBi-15204.jpg) ](https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/images/car/2087/Ferrari-512-BBi-15204.jpg) Today, that car will cost you almost $300K in great condition. As for other factors, it had a 0-60 time comparable to this car (which is far cheaper and definitely more practical) from today: [![](https://www.automotiveaddicts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2020-lincoln-aviator-4.jpg) ](https://www.automotiveaddicts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2020-lincoln-aviator-4.jpg) So, we boomers are just as guilty of following fashion trends, even if we didn’t revert to 8-tracks (which really sucked when it came to finding tracks). ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/174 "2021-01-22T15:41:57Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’m not sure that uniformly cruddy is “better”. It’s like saying that if your bad food is served cold in a shoddy restaurant by a surly waiter, that’s more consistent and somehow better than having it served hot, in a nice place by a competent waiter. No, it’s like saying having a picnic is better than eating at home. Personally I disagree with that, but I understand that it’s a different experience and accept that to some people there are aspects of having a picnic that make that experience better, overall, to them, despite the food being objectively worse. I’m also fine with them saying “the picnic food _is_ better”, even though I know they are objectively wrong and wouldn’t appreciate that food as much if it was served in a blind test without the trappings of the picnic alongside food that had been prepared to perfection without the constraints of picnicking. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/175 "2021-01-22T15:52:15Z")
> [@BertNobbins](#): > > It most definitely is, even in a mediocre system. You’re not appreciating what I mean by bottleneck. Play a record in a mediocre system, it will sound mediocre. Play a record in an exceptional system, it will sound exceptional. The record is not the thing that limits the quality of your sound. It may always be a step below a CD by certain objective measures, it may always be more expensive to play, but high quality music is encoded on that record. ---
**Author:** ![BertNobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BertNobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BertNobbins)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/176 "2021-01-22T15:58:47Z")
_Play a record in a mediocre system, it will sound mediocre. Play a record in an exceptional system, it will sound exceptional. The record is not the thing that limits the quality of your sound._ This is just not true. Once the music has been jammed through the vinyl quality bottleneck, no system, no matter how wonderful, can undo the damage done. How would you go about undoing wow & flutter? _high quality music is encoded on that record._ No, it really isn’t. Think of the compromises in , say, tracking angle, between the record lathe and the replay turntable. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/177 "2021-01-22T16:22:08Z")
Sure, but by that logic someone could watch old VHS tapes on their 50" flat screen, take their glasses off and claim it looks “better” that way. Which it doesn’t, it’s just that any defects are obscured by not having the glasses on. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/178 "2021-01-22T23:39:54Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > The shame about this is the hand drawing skills which are lost. I work for a design agency - basically none of the designers under 40 can really draw, whereas us oldies can still sketch when we need to. Well, it’s an eye-opener when design students start and are told “You’re not getting on a computer 'til you pass these analog classes. Now grab a pencil and paper.” (Yeah, I had to be the bad guy there…) We actually had a student get kicked out of a job interview, because the Creative Director had asked him to bring his sketchbook. The student ignored that and just showed his portfolio: “I know you said sketchbook, bu-bu-but, this was done in Photoshop and InDesign for a real client, then printed, see?” Creative Director: “You need to show that you solve your problems with a pencil before you ever get near a computer. So let’s postpone this interview until you can bring your sketchbook…” And this was at a leading Computer Games Company (I guess every _Call of Duty_ starts with Pencil Duty:) By the way, my favorite thing to do is to sit in a coffee joint or bar and draw, and I’ve got a small bag full of sketchbooks, real books, and analog tools (Blackwing pencils, Sakura markers, a compass, even french curves). And just to get this more on topic… Last week my millennial kid said “I really miss sitting in a coffee place, sketching with a good pen.” And he carries around a 35mm camera with “real” film, too. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/179 "2021-01-23T00:55:24Z")
[“The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience.”](https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a19180) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344/180 "2021-01-23T18:50:25Z")
That’s kind of my point; WHY is that attractive to anyone? It seems like a few steps backward in technology, quality and everything else for… some kind of reasons? I mean, I get the idea that there’s a sort of Zen-like thing to doing something like sharpening a knife with old-style whetstones instead of using a modern whiz-bang knife sharpening machine. But the meditative part is in the actual action of sharpening that way- it’s sort of time consuming and repetitive while requiring a certain degree of concentration. Merely listening to music on old-style equipment doesn’t do that for me; it just sounds worse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-millennial-zoomer-fascination-with-old-crap/930344.md?page=10)