Most People Don’t Recognize These Gadgets. Have You Ever Used One?

That’s a fun topic 😊 Here are some old-school or unusual gadgets that many people today don’t immediately recognize — but they were once common (or oddly innovative):

1. Rotary Dial Telephone

Before touchscreens, you had to rotate a dial for each number. Slow, satisfying, and impossible to text from.

2. Floppy Disk

Used to store files before USB drives and cloud storage. The “save” icon 💾 is based on this!

3. Pager

Doctors and professionals carried these to receive short numeric messages before mobile phones became widespread.

4. Portable CD Player

Also called a Discman. You had to carry CDs and hope it didn’t skip when you walked.

5. Overhead Projector

Teachers placed clear sheets on it to project notes before PowerPoint took over classrooms.

6. VHS Camcorder

Recorded home videos on bulky tapes long before smartphones.

7. PalmPilot

A personal digital assistant — kind of a pre-smartphone for contacts, notes, and calendars.

8. Slide Rule

Engineers used this to calculate before calculators were common.

9. Film Rewinder

Used to rewind camera film manually after shooting a roll.

10. MiniDisc Player

A short-lived but beloved music format between cassette and MP3 players.

Technology moves fast — today’s everyday device can become tomorrow’s mystery object.

So now I’m curious… which of these have you actually used? Or should I make a list of even stranger forgotten gadgets? 😄