Products from the 1980s Millennials Won’t Recognize

If you were able to enjoy the 1980s, you lived through one of the greatest decades. The 1980s were a carefree and enjoyable decade with big hair and big movies. Better yet, the 1980s helped introduce some of the most iconic products and brands ever. Unfortunately, not all of these products and brands are still around today. 

From VCRs to pagers to the rotary phone, the 1980s gave way to all the neon you could ever hope for. Everyone made mix tapes on their Walkmans and home videos became real with the introduction of camcorders. As great as these products were, the sad truth is that not all of these products would be recognizable by Millennials today. So, let’s take a look at some products from the 1980s that the millennial generation can’t name.

Long before text messages and FaceTime, the pager was how we communicated with friends and family. Outside of the medical field, millennials won’t know anything about these devices. This was primitive texting at its finest in the 1980s. By the start of the 1980s, a few million pagers were in circulation only to have tens of millions floating around by the decade’s end.

If you had the opportunity to do a sleepover at a friend's house in the 1980s, it was all the more fun if there was a waterbed. This product is exactly what it sounds like, a bed filled with water. The hope was that it provided increased comfort for different types of sleepers. Unfortunately, waterbeds aren’t super reliable products and they were ridiculously heavy.

This was one of the most important products of the 1980s for kids. Parents bought Speak & Spell in droves. First introduced in 1978, the Texas Instruments product spoke full words. As a word was typed in you would be prompted if it was right or wrong. There were even swappable cartridges holding about 200 words each.

Before the internet when you could look up anyone and everyone’s phone number, the Yellow Pages existed. This giant phonebook gave you access to both people and places. Whether it was making a restaurant reservation or finding a plumber, you’d use the Yellow Pages in the 1980s.

There’s almost zero chance millennials would recognize a rotary phone. They may have seen one in a movie, but outside of that, a rotary phone looks like it belongs in a museum. There’s just something truly iconic about how the rotary phone worked with its funny way of dialing.

For a millennial, cameras are either digital or on a smartphone. The concept of a camera that requires a strip of film would be entirely new to them. The same can be said for taking pictures over to a Walgreens or local photo store to get pictures developed.

Today’s millennials are used to computers storing hundreds of megabytes of data. However, in the 1980s, it was the floppy disk that ruled and could store around 2.8 megabytes. The 3.5-inch floppy disk was introduced in 1987 and millennials won’t recognize this computer industry icon.

The concept of a dedicated fax machine must seem like something out of the movies to millennials. Who needs faxing in the world of email? Well, in the 1980s, fax machines were a terrific way of being able to communicate. The instant transmission of documents was both convenient and important for any number of reasons.

A generation that has grown up on the PlayStation and Xbox would be hard-pressed to identify video game consoles from the 1980s. More specifically, the Atari 2600 would look like something out of a museum. The NES might be recognizable, but the Atari sure wouldn’t be with its joysticks and weird cartridge placement.

Thinking through what life was like before voicemail would be hard for millennials. Given this, it’s unlikely they would recognize a dedicated answering machine. These single-purpose machines were there to help us know who called and why. It was great for appointments or to know that Grandma was calling and wanted to say hello.

The iPhone has helped popularize the candybar smartphone design or one single piece of hardware. However, cell phones in the 1980s looked far different. The Motorola DynaTac phone was a giant piece of technology compared to today’s smartphones. The antenna was almost as big as phones are today. Millennials would look at this tech as something out of the movies.

This was a personal favorite toy in the 1980s. Released in 1987, the Koosh ball was made out of rubber bands tied together. Almost a year after it was released, Koosh balls were everywhere and sold almost 50 million by 1994.

Okay, so there’s a chance a millennial can identify a VCR but there’s little chance they know how to use them. First introduced in the 1980s, VHS beat Betamax for market control and by the 1980s, it was the dominant video format. Being able to record your favorite shows or watch your favorite movies again and again was nothing short of spectacular.

First available in 1978, the LaserDisc format jumped in popularity over the 1980s. The promise of LaserDisc was a higher-quality video than both VHS and Betamax. Unfortunately, LaserDiscs never gained widespread use outside of higher-income households in North America and only 16 million were sold worldwide. At the time, VCR players were selling roughly this number every year.

When you want to capture video today, there’s a better-than-good chance you’ll be using your smartphone. Well, back during the 1980s, middle-class parents all over had a camcorder. Add a standard VHS tape to the handheld camcorder and you could shoot for around two hours before needing to swap tapes. Today, camcorders look downright ancient to a millennial.