Flip Phones and 9 Other Things Your Kids Will Never Understand

By Samantha Netkin

When you think about how far technology has come, it's hard to imagine ever having lived without everyday things like social media and laptops. The reality is these societal norms have only been around for the entirety of one generation's lifetime. To put that in perspective, we've compiled a list of obsolete objects that your kids will never understand. Read ahead for a trip back in time.

  1. Cassette tapes: There was no such thing as playlists or streaming. It was you and your little rectangle against the world.
Flickr user Stuart.Childs
  1. Phone books: The big yellow books that housed every phone number you could possibly need before you were able to look them up online.
  2. Navigating without GPS: Road maps! Actual pieces of paper you had to read in order to get from point A to point B.
  3. Flip phones: Before smartphones came flip phones. Remember the ones that had multiple letters on one button?
  4. Dial-up internet: The awful noise you'd hear as you waited for your server to connect. It took at least 10 minutes before you could get online.
  5. Phone booths: Those archaic stations that still exist on the streets of some big cities. One wouldn't dare get near them now.
Flickr user Eric Wittman
  1. Beepers: Before text messaging existed, people would page you with their digits to call them back or use numbers to create code words you'd have to decipher.
  2. Carrying a camera and a phone: Phones didn't always have a built-in camera. It even took weeks to get film developed from some cameras, like disposables.
  3. Doing research in the library: It took hours and hours to find information in books where contents were set in stone, unlike the ever-changing internet.
  4. Answering machines: A separate box used to store voice messages from people who called when you weren't home. Does anyone even check voicemail anymore?

More from NBC's Timeless
An unlikely team embarks on an unpredictable adventure through time to stop a mysterious criminal from changing our past. Don't miss Timeless, premiering Monday, Oct. 3, at 10/9c after The Voice only on NBC.